History of Medicine ; History, Ancient

Besides the changes in weight measuring units, the other units also changed. "Larger and smaller liter" affected traditional Chinese medicine. Length measuring units was little used, and the irregular measuring units such as imitate units, quantity units, and assessing units remained in some extent. Because the regular measuring units gradually replaced the irregular ones, some doctors made investigates to the conversion of these measuring units.
History, Ancient ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history ; methods

Based on Huangdi' s Internal Classic and a great deal of clinical verification, in combination with new discoveries of the nerve, the meridian electromagnetic field and the quantum physics for role of thought outside body, it is proved that the main mechanism of the reinforcing-reducing method in Huangdi's Internal Classic is to promote flow of qi with the doctor's thought, with the needle very few twisted and rotated; discover new mechanisms of the reinforcing-reducing method, newly explain and clinically verify many basic standpoints about the reinforcing-reducing, and name as "acupuncture therapy of promoting qi with thought". The method has a strong reinforcing-reducing function and do not need the needle feeling, and is directly related with doctor's idea. It is emphasized specially that it can be carefully adopted only when full syndrome differentiation is made and strictly obey the contraindications in Huangdi's Internal Classic, otherwise it has very serious danger. This kind of model that doctor's mental effect is translated into the patient's biological effect put forward new problem, new thinking for brain sciences and modern acupuncture studies.
Acupuncture Therapy ; history ; History, Ancient ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history

On account of the dense cuticles of the fresh stem and the light, hard and pliable texture of the dried stem, Dendrobii Caulis is difficult to dry or pulverize. So, it is very important to the ancient doctors that Dendrobii Caulis should be properly treated and applied to keep or evoke its medicinal effects. The current textual research results about the preliminary processing, processing and usage methods of Dendrobii Caulis showed that: (1) In history the clinical use of fresh or processed Dendrobii Caulis as teas and tinctures were very common. (2) Its roots and rhizomes would be removed before using. (3) Some ancillary approaches were applied to shorten drying times, such as rinsing with boiling mulberry-ash soup, washing or soaking with liquor, mixing with rice pulp and then basking, etc. (4) According to the ancients knowledge, the sufficient pulverization, by means of slicing, rasping, hitting or pestling techniques, was necessary for Dendrobii Caulis to take its effects. (5) The heat processing methods for Dendrobii Caulis included stir-baking, stir-frying, steaming, decocting and stewing techniques, usually with liquor as an auxiliary material. Among above mentioned, steaming by pretreating with liquor was most commonly used, and this scheme was colorfully drawn in Bu Yi Lei Gong Pao Zhi Bian Lan (Ming Dynasty, 1591 CE) ; moreover, decocting in advance or long-time simmering so as to prepare paste products were recommended in the Qing Dynasty. (6) Some different processing programs involving stir-baking with grit, air-tightly baking with ondol (Kangs), fumigating with sulfur, which appeared in modern times and brought attractive outward appearance of the drug, went against ancients original intentions of ensuring drug efficacy.
Dendrobium ; History, Ancient ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; history

The purpose of this paper is to show the influence of Early greek medicine on Plato's Cosmology. Alcmaeon holds that health depends on proportion (equality; isonomia) or proportioned mixture of opposing factors. This notion dominated nearly all greek medicine, and also influenced Plato's cosmology greatly. Generally early greek doctors believed that man consisted of opposing factors, though these are designated differently. Alcmaeon takes powers - hot and dry, cold and hot, vitter, sweet and the rest as those factors. On the other hand, Philistion of Locri adopts the four element theory of Empedocles. He conceives that human body as a mixture of the four elements, and health consists in proportion of these opposing four element, basically as Alcmaeon. This notion is accepted by Plato. Only Plato differs from Philistion in that he does't consider the four elements as the ultimate factors. In Timaeus Plato explains that the Demiourgos constructed the four elements through introducing 'proportion' into the primitive materials (the oppositives) by means of shapes and mumbers. And Plato thinks that the cosmic body and soul was constructed basically in the same way as the four elements. This is true of the human body and soul. Also Plato explicates diseases from standpoint of proportion or symmetry. Moreover according to Philebus, the good states (i.e. 'health', 'music', 'seasons' etc) in the cosmos arises out of the right mixture of the limit and the unlimited. In other word this mixture is proportioned mixture of the oppositives by aid of ratios. In short Plato believes that both the cosmos itself and the good states is proportioned mixture of the oppositives. Thus Plato' cosmology is fundamentally based upon Alcmaeon's or Philistion's concept of Health.
English Abstract ; Greece ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; *Medicine ; Philosophy/*history

Lack of historical records causes some difficulties in the historical studies of ancient Korea. It is the same case as that of the history of medicine. We imagine what the situation of medicine was like in ancient Korea with a bit of historical records. In ancient times, medicine had very close relation with religions. In ancient Korea, it had very close relation with Buddhism. According to {Sam Kuk Sa Ki and {Sam Kuk Yu Sa buddhists monks treated patients with the religious rituals. In this article, the authors would like to present a record which had been unnoticed until now. It is the commentary of Wonhyo on a certain Buddhistic cannon called {Kum Kwang Myung Kyung. A chapter of this cannon is on the theory of medicine, causes of diseases and treatments. We can presume Wonhyo's knowledge of medicine at that time through his commentary on this chapter.
Buddhism/*history ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; Korea ; Religion and Medicine

In ancient china, four famous literatures, Huang Di Nei Jing, Nan Jing, Ben Cao, Shang Han Lun appeared, which made the foundation of oriental medicine. Huang Di Nei Jing, the book of acupuncture, is the most essential literature among these four litertures. So the question asking the identity of oriental medicine can be turned into the question about the identity of acupuncture. The investigation into origin will not be the only way to study of identity but one of the most attractive means. So we can answer with the study of origin to the question about identity. Acupuncture is comprised of theories like jing mai, qi xue and technical factors like moxibustion, bian which is like present operating knife. To trace the origin of acupuncture, we must investigate not only technical factors but also theories. But it will be impossible to trace every theories underlying the acupuncture in this small thesis. This is the reason that I restricted my attention to the principle of preventive medicine, regimen. Before the excavation of Mawangdui, the belief that acupuncture started long ago before Han period had been generally accepted. But there was not any proof proving the presence of acupuncture in the excavated literatures representing the Han period medicine. This fact announced that we must draw the time of establishment of acupuncture back after the Mawangdui literature buried in B.C. 168. But we can find the proof of the presence of acupuncture just before B.C. 168 in Shiji written by Si Mi Qian. Through these facts and inferences that we got until now, we can reach a conclusion that acupuncture would have appeared around 190-176 when Chun Yu Yi was practicing as a doctor. As you know, in the Mawangdui literature, what was associated with jing mai was moxibustion. But at the same time, moxibustion was being used just as the experience medicine technique without theory. So the moxibustion would has been about to be associated with jing mai theory in Mawangdui period. The word zhen jiu, the acupuncture and moxibustion, means there was a way to reconcile two techniques. It was by assuming bu and handing xie over to acupuncture that moxa can coexist with acupuncture. bian is used for infection treatment more than bloodletting tool in ancient china. but there is a bridge between acupuncture with bian. Acupuncture inherited its appearance from bian. It is generally believed that blood-letting is commonly developed in the classic east and west medicine. But the blood-letting could be harmonious with the old chinese belief that vitality must be retained in the body? No. The blood-letting is not generally practiced in ancient china. We can scarcely find the evidence of blood-letting in the ancient literature now in hand except Huang Di Nei Jing. Blood-Letting widened its territory in ancient chinese medicine with the help of the medical version of wuweierwubuwei principle which means 'not do anything, then everything does'. But soon lost its territory. Even in the Huang Di Nei Jing, We can find its disappearance. What is the reason? For its disharmony with chinese life idea, 'not lose essence'. Acupuncture replaced the blood-letting. It was the response of the ancient chinese healers to the regimen spirit and harmonious with chinese life view. Regimen spirit, the medical version of 'wuweierwubuwei' does not pursue cure after being ill but defense before disease. Acupuncture, meeting the demands of time, appeared in pre-han period as the association with jingmai theory which may be developed in regimen field, inheritence of moxa's esperience, and the shape of bian.
Acupuncture Therapy/*history ; Bloodletting/history ; Books/history ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/history ; Moxibustion/*history

The treatise On Ancient Medicine is nowadays one of the most admired, and most studied, of those making up the Corpus Hippocraticum. But this favored position is not a ancient phenomenon, but a modern phenomenon. The treatise contributed to the establishment of the Empiric school of medicine. Empiricists seem to have written commentaries of Hippocratic works. But the attention paid to this work in antiquity was short-lived. In the second century A.D., Galen knew the work, but he did not devote a commentary to it. He almost totally ignored it and his powerful influence made the treatise drop out of sight from later antiquity to early modern times. On Ancient Medicine was not regarded as one of the major works of the Corpus Hippocraticum until in 1939, Emile Littre was a strong advocate of the view that the work was a genuine work of Hippocrates, and placed it first in his ten-volume edition of 1839-1861. Later, some scholars advocated Littre' view, but much more scholars rose against his position. Most of studies of the work motivated by the desire to answer the Hippocratic question reached conclusions that was vague. After all to conclude that Hippocrates was the author of this work would be rash.
*History of Medicine ; History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; History, Ancient ; Literature/*history ; Manuscripts, Medical/*history

Trauma and the need of medical care exist since the beginning of human history. This research is aimed to identify and analyze trauma in antiquity. After a review of bibliography, the first reports of trauma (in Europe) were found in the Greek Epics of Homer. The analysis of these texts showed that injury could be caused to any part of the human body. The main cause of trauma was primarily participation in wars (178 cases), and then participation in sports (6 cases) and other activities (6 cases). This study identified a total of 190 injuries in both Homer epics. The more serious injuries, many of which proved fatal, were observed from participation in military activities.
Athletic Injuries ; history ; Greece ; Greece, Ancient ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Military Medicine ; Warfare ; Wounds and Injuries ; history

This dissertation is concerned not with medical theories, but with practices of Greek physicians, and I have addressed the subject of medical ethics as related to the Hippocratic tradition. And I have attempted a synthetic account of Greek physicians' actual practice and its ideals in the Hippocratic tradition. My understanding of the tradition succeeds the revelations in the first chapter of my doctorial thesis, one of them is the fact that Hippocratic tradition is amalgamation of ethical code with rational or scientific medical theory. In the first chapter of this dissertation, I have attempted a social history of Greek physicians by analyzing Hippocratic writings. The Hippocratic collections, Corpus Hippocraticum, throw light not only on the origins and early development of classical medicine, but on its place in Greek Society. In the second chapter, I aim at understanding of the medical morality in its practice by analyzing the Corpus. Particularly the Oath shall be examined. Some questions, above all, such as "Was it ever a reality or merely a 'counsel of perfection'?" can not be answered. But by the way of the examination of the deontological treatises, the characters of the ethics of Greek physicians become clear. It was the result of outward performance in the relation of inner intention. In the result Greek physicians were the first to attempt to establish a code of behaviour for the medical profession and to define the doctor's obligations to the society.
English Abstract ; Ethics, Medical/*history ; Greece ; History of Medicine, Ancient