History of Medicine ; History, Ancient

Introduction: This study aims to describe the content of several pre-independence medical journals published in British Malaya. Methods: The content of five journals were retrieved from National Library of Singapore e-resources and print collection of the Reference Library, Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The content of these journals was classified and descriptive analysis performed. Results: The five journals identified were Journal of the Straits Medical Association, Journal of the Malaya Branch of the British Medical Association, Malaya Medical Journal, Malayan Medical Journal and Journal of the Malaya Branch of the British Medical Association (new series). A total of 81 issues with 873 articles were retrieved. Almost one-third of articles were concerned with these topics: malaria, mosquito control, beri-beri, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, helminthiasis, leprosy and cholera. One-fifth of the articles were case reports and 95% of the articles were written by single authors. Discussion The content of these journals is a good resource for those who are interested in the history of medicine – it provided substantial details on the state of public health and chronicled the medical writings of medical workers in British Malaya. It illustrates well the introduction of Western medicine to tackle health problems that arose from the interplay of immigration, poor environmental sanitation and economic exploitation.
History of Medicine

This paper aims at probing into evolving course of DOU Han-qing's works catalogue. On the basis of summarizing and referring to study achievements of our predecessors, through analysis of book lists and relative works and chapters, it is hold that the catalogue which were not attained by ZHULiang-neng possibly are the contents of acupuncture reinforcing and reducing methods; the books printed and published by ZHULiang-neng include the contents of both channels and acupoints; the book, Zhinan, which was attained by DOUGui-fang, includes the content catalogue of needling methods; Fu Zhenjiu Zashuo in Zhenjiu Sisu. Zhenjiu Zhinan also were extracted by DOU Gui-fang from Illustrated Manual of Acupoints of the Bronze Figure, and The Zhenjiu Biji Taiyi Zhi Tuxu and Dongzhi Yezhe Gongshuo should belong to The Fu Zhenjiu Zashuo.
Acupuncture ; history ; Books ; history ; History, Medieval ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history

China ; History of Medicine ; Medicine/standards*

No abstract available.
History of Medicine ; Korea

With a reflection on the grand quantitative analysis in previous historical investigations, microhistory came into being in Italy in the 1960s and the 70s. Microhistory is, in principle, the intensive historical investigation of a relatively well defined smaller object. Notwithstanding, it still has the ambition to draw a larger picture of the history. Microhistory is also characterized by its preference to the exceptional individuals or phenomena, its "narrative" style and the delicate way it deals with historical sources. Essentially, microhistory endeavors to bring the individual's role, the concrete life as well as the diversity and complexity of history to the historical writing. At first, microhistory did not have intersection with the medical history. Nevertheless, the history of medicine echoes microhistory in bringing the concrete and vivid life beings to history. Mainly due to this similarity, historical surveys on medicine from the perspective of microhistory are increasing and gradually develop into a remarkable trend in the international historical academy from the 1980s onwards. As the microhistory is rising and its influence is expanding, the microhistorical approach has been practiced to a certain extent in the historical writings on medicine in China. Concentrating on an individual person, a single event, a particular drug or a specific concept, there already have some studies conduct intensive historical investigation on a small scale. A small part of these researches, for example, those of Chang Che-Chia, Li Shang-jen and etc. could be regarded as perfect examples of microhistory. However, no relevant research is carried out explicitly under the heading of microhistory, instead, they are the offspring of the "new history". Besides, most of these researches could not be regarded as real microhistories, strictly speaking. They do not practice microhistory consciously and they have a long way to go to improve the delicacy of the analysis, to reinforce the narrative style and to grasp the social context of the individual or the event (the link between micro and macro levels). Nevertheless, these studies anyway indicate the invisible influence of microhistory and have paved a way for the future microhistorical investigations on medicine. We believe that microhistory is an undercurrent about to emerge in the field of Chinese medical history. It is the right time to advocate and promote the self-conscious microhistorical investigation, promptly and strongly, while updating the ideas and methods of it to make it a dominant trend rather than an undercurrent in the studies of Chinese medical history. Its rise would not only display the value and significance of microhistory in a better way, but also would help medical history to realize its core idea of history of life, therefore to propel our inquiry into Chinese medical history.
China ; *Historiography ; *History of Medicine

No abstract available.
History of Medicine* ; Korea*

Records of ethnic medicine in the Kokuryo, Baekjae and Shilla dynasties can be found in foreign literature, and evidence that a medicine unique to Korean was being developed in the Koryo dynasty can be found in Korean historical records. With the founding of Chosun, Hyang-yak medicine was established, and a medicine purely and uniquely Korean took root. The Chosun dynasty saw the development of a new form of medicine called Dong-Ui medicine, and an independent system emphasizing practicality was established as the new tradition of Korean medicine. Korean medicine continued in the Chosun dynasty without significant changes from the Koryo dynasty. However, tides of enlightenment brought Western medicine onto the shores of the Korean peninsula. Western medicine began to gain the recognition and trust of part of the royal court. Nonetheless, ordinary people still preferred Dong-Ui, Korean medicine, and they did not have a full understanding of Western medicine. As Chosun began to adopt enlightenment policies in the footsteps of Japan through the Kabo (1894) Revolution, Japan drove the Ching rulers out of the Korean peninsula and openly started interfering in Chosun's internal affairs. After repelling Russia, Japan's intervention in the Korean peninsula became even more aggressive, taking over Chosun's politics, diplomacy and military. Its encroachment on Chosun's sovereignty was at times even more cruel than during Japan's Meiji period.
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; History of Medicine, Medieval ; History of Medicine, Modern ; Korea ; *Medicine ; Medicine, Traditional/*history ; Political Systems/*history

Biomedicine is a conceptualized technical term for current medicine in a historical perspective. Physics, chemistry and biology are considered to be the sciences basic to biomedicine. This medical model depends essentially on a mechanistic approach based on understanding of the structure and function of the body. The biomedical model assumes that illness can be explained in terms of morphological, physiological and biochemical derangements or dysfunctions(a reductionist concept of disease). As medicine of primitive ages and ancient times can be conceptualized in terms of witch-philosophical medicine, medicine of the Middle Ages can be conceptualized in terms of religious medicine. The early steps by which modern medical sciences have been gradually built up appeared in the 10th and 17th century. In those ages direction and methodology forward scientific medicine were established. Medicine of Renaissance ages can be conceptualized in terms of religious medicine. The early steps by which modern medical sciences have been gradually built up appeared in the 10th century. In those ages direction and methodology forward scientific mechanical medicine. Remarkable progress has been made in biomedicine in the last three centuries. There has been a rapid change of society in this century, and sciences and technology play a leading role in the changes. The technical explosion in modern society has exerted a great influence on medical field. Hospital care has gained its strength from armament of technical facilities. This type of delivery of medical care leads to costly medical expenses and dehumanizing medical care. Pattern of mortality and morbidity neglect the demographic transformation of industrial societies. Demographic changes lead to fundamental changes in disease pattern. Medical problems that are a complex mixture of physical, psychological and social elements have noticeably increased recently. A biomedical approach appears to be inadequate for such a pattern of disease. A new biopsychosocial medical model is put forward. This model is assisted by the formulations of general system theory(Von Bertanffy). As of today when we are approaching the 21st century, traditional medical education, medical training, and medical services are needed to make up for its weak points in terms of biopsychosocial medical model.
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; History of Medicine, Early Modern ; History of Medicine, Medieval ; History of Medicine, Modern ; *Medicine ; Science/*history

This article deals with the emergence of the codes of medical ethics and their change in Korean history. The modernized medical codes or covenants by the group of medical doctors has been made from the mid-twentieth century, although Korea has a long tradition of medical ethics, so called the Confucian medical ethics, Insul or Uido which were taken on very strong paternalistic characters. The history of the codes of medical ethics in contemporary Korea showed several revisions in 1961, 1965, 1979, and 1997 since the first establishment in 1955. Changes of political circumstances, the cultural level of the people, medical care system, and medical power leaded to the revisions. Throughout the revisions the codes or covenants of medical ethics in Korea has changed from simple translations of the codes by the World Medical Association and the American Medical Association to the reflexes of domestic medical situations; from the ones based on paternalistic doctor-patient relationship to more democratic ones; from the ones that only medical ethics were expressed to the ones that bioethics was expressed too.
English Abstract ; Ethics, Medical/*history ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 21st Cent. ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; History of Medicine, Early Modern ; History of Medicine, Medieval ; History of Medicine, Modern ; Korea