The ancient teacher-disciple tradition is regarded as one of the most celebrated practices within the Chinese medicine world. Such traditions of secrecy, private wisdom and honor are deeply rooted in the theories of Confucianism. This paper only explores the surface of this ancient culture, by investigating relevant popular ancient texts and common Chinese proverbs, as well as utilizing personal experiences, in order to reflect on how the ancient Chinese perceived such practices within their own society and how secret teaching was passed on from teacher to student, including the revelation of secret formulas and their importance and how that tradition differs from our modern-day perspectives. Various rare manuscripts from the author's personal library are employed in order to provide relative examples of the importance of secret knowledge, and how these secrets applied in the traditional healing.
Culture ; Drug Prescriptions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Knowledge ; Manuscripts as Topic ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Students ; Teaching

Chinese tongue diagnosis was initially developed to quickly and efficiently diagnose and prescribe medicine, while at the same time allowing the doctor to have minimal contact with the patient. At the time of its compiling, the spread of Yersinia pestis, often causing septicaemia and gangrene of the extremities, may have discouraged doctors to come in direct contact with their patients and take the pulse. However, in recent decades, modern developments in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the spread of antibiotics in conjunction with the advancements of microbiology, have overshadowed the original purpose of this methodology. Nevertheless, the fast approaching post-antibiotic era and the development of artificial intelligence may hold new applications for tongue diagnosis. This article focuses on the historical development of what is the world's earliest tongue diagnosis monograph, and discusses the directions that such knowledge may be used in future clinical research.
China ; Diagnosis, Differential ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Medicine in Literature ; history ; Plague ; diagnosis ; history ; microbiology ; therapy ; Tongue ; chemistry ; Yersinia pestis ; physiology

Upon his untimely death, Michal Boym (1612-1659) left behind an enormous written legacy; covering a diverse range of interests in fields such as Chinese linguistics, cartography, botany, zoology, philosophy and medicine. This article attempts to examine Boym's De indiciis morborum ex linguae coloribus & affectionibus (The signs of disease on the tongue, colors and affections), a translation of a previously unidentified Chinese text. The text specifically deals with the subject of tongue diagnosis, in relation to contagious diseases that were still raging in the 17th century China. Arriving to China at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Boym was able to personally witness the early development of tongue examination as an independent specialty; he recognized its significance and tried to incorporate it into his ultimately unfinished Chinese medical corpus. Boym's work eventually facilitated the assimilation of tongue observation in European medicine during the 19th century.