CHINESE MEDICINE developed over thousand of years, almost without any outside influences from other medical systems. The Nei Ching (Book of Medicine) is an ancient medical work. According to legend, it was written over 4,000 years ago by the Yellow Emperor, Huang Ti. The book was more likely to have been written some time about 200BC, but it has formed the basis for most Chinese medical literature since.
CHINESE MEDICINE is largely based on the concept of yin and yan, which stand for opposing states and condition. Yin reprensennts states such as feminine, dark and wet. Yang represent the opposing states of masculine, light and dry. In the Nei ching, yin and yang are said to control the body ,which is thought of as a tiny country with rulers and administrators. The `country` also has a communication system of 12 rivers, based on the great rivers of China. These rivers divide into much smaller channels which carry blood and a liquid called ch`i (vital energy).
These channels connect organs to one another. For example, the kidney connects to the ear, the lungs to the nose and the heart to the tongue. When these channels are in good working order, the body is healthy. Points along the channels can be used to influence the flow of ch`i.
As with Hinduism, Chinese religions discouraged dissection. For this reason, medicine was based largely on these channels and their influences on the body. Treatments often involved the use of acupuncture, where needles were inserted into one of the hundreds of points where ch`I channels were thought to run. This stimulated (perked up) the flow of ch`i and restored good health. Sometimes cones of dried herbs were burned on the skin at these points, for the same purpose. Acupuncture has been practiced for more than 4,500 years. It remains central of Chinese Medicine and is also used in the West, especially as a treatment for pain and a cure for addiction (dependency on a drug).
Chinese Medicine depends mostly on herbal remedies. Many of these herbs have been incorporated into Western medicine, such as castor oil, camphor, chaulmoogra oil to treat leprosy and iron to treat anaemia. Ginseng is a widely-known Chinese remedy, used to keep a person alert, called a stimulant. The ancient Chinese invented vaccination as a way to treat smallpox. They injected a small amount of pus from a smallpox sore into healthy people. This gave them a mild form of the disease and made them immune (resistant) to full-blown infection. Europeans did not discover vaccination until the AD1700s.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
THE ARAB MEDICINE
During the period of the Byzantine Empire, the works of Greek and Roman doctors were collected together. Some appeared in the languages used at the fringes of the empire, such as Persian and Syrian.
Meanwhile the Arab Empire was growing in power and influence. It conquered Persia and Syria. At first, the Arabs favoured their own traditional treatments were lost. Doctors began to turn to ancient Greek ideas and ranslated Greek texts into Arabic. This mean that ancient Greek learning spread throughout the Arab Empire, into Europe and around the Mediterranean.
Important centres of learning sprang up in Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus in the Middle East, and in Toledo, Cordoba and Seville in what is now Spain. Arab scientists and doctors published copies of the early medical works. Some of these were later translated into Latin and used in European medical schools from the 1200s.
Arab medicine did not contribute much new knowledge, but Arab writers made detailed descriptions of diseases and their diagnoses. Surgery suffered in early years, because dissection was banned, so little was known about anatomy. However, an Arab surgeon in Cordoba wrote a text on surgical techniques for surgery on the eye and the internal organs.
The Arabs were interested in alchemy (trying to transform cheap metals into gold, and searching for a source of eternal life). Their alchemical experiments led them to find many drugs by accident. Alchemists also developed techniques for purifying chemicals that are still used today. Arab pharmacists complied long lists of these herbal remedies, gathered from the places they conquered.
Some describe more than 3,000 different drugs. Some of these drugs were very unusual. The real value of Arab writings, however, was how carefully they recorded information. These great works were painstakingly copied and circulated throughout the Arab empire.
Meanwhile the Arab Empire was growing in power and influence. It conquered Persia and Syria. At first, the Arabs favoured their own traditional treatments were lost. Doctors began to turn to ancient Greek ideas and ranslated Greek texts into Arabic. This mean that ancient Greek learning spread throughout the Arab Empire, into Europe and around the Mediterranean.
Important centres of learning sprang up in Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus in the Middle East, and in Toledo, Cordoba and Seville in what is now Spain. Arab scientists and doctors published copies of the early medical works. Some of these were later translated into Latin and used in European medical schools from the 1200s.
Arab medicine did not contribute much new knowledge, but Arab writers made detailed descriptions of diseases and their diagnoses. Surgery suffered in early years, because dissection was banned, so little was known about anatomy. However, an Arab surgeon in Cordoba wrote a text on surgical techniques for surgery on the eye and the internal organs.
The Arabs were interested in alchemy (trying to transform cheap metals into gold, and searching for a source of eternal life). Their alchemical experiments led them to find many drugs by accident. Alchemists also developed techniques for purifying chemicals that are still used today. Arab pharmacists complied long lists of these herbal remedies, gathered from the places they conquered.
Some describe more than 3,000 different drugs. Some of these drugs were very unusual. The real value of Arab writings, however, was how carefully they recorded information. These great works were painstakingly copied and circulated throughout the Arab empire.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC HEALTH is not a new idea.
The Romans understood the need for clean water supplies and built huge aqueducts to bring in water to the centre of their cities, along with water pipes and public baths.
They also constructed elaborate sewage systems to remove waste from their cities. The Romans were not even the first to build aqueducts. The Etruscans had started to build them in 312BC.
Ancient Chinese and Indian religious writings had recommended good diet and hygiene to protect health, but in medieval Europe, all of this was forgotten. The church frowned on washing, as it seemed too much like a bodily pleasure. There was no concept of hygiene, and sewage and rubbish were just thrown out into the street. It is no coincidence that during this period Europe was ravaged by plague, leprosy, tuberculosis (TB, also known as consumption), typhoid and cholera. People thought that these diseases were spread by miasma (unpleasant smells). This idea probably did encourage some disposal of waste. The miasmic theory of infection persisted into the 1800S, until the effects of bacteria were finally demonstrated.
The cholera epidemics had already brought matters to a head. For centuries the River Thames had been London`s sewer and source of drinking water. It was black and stinking, and finally everyone had had enough. The government commissioned a report from a civil servant called John Chadwick, which turned out to be the most influential document ever prepared on the subject of public health. It was published in 1842. The report described the probable causes of disease in the poorer parts of London, and also suggested practical ways to solve the problem. These public health measures included supplying houses with clean running water and proper sewage drainage.
Not long after this came the first proof of the risks from contaminated water, during a terrible cholera outbreak in 1854. John Snow, a London doctor, realized that many cholera cases were clustered in a small area near Broad Street. Investigation showed that they all drew their water from a public pump. Snow removed the pump handle, and within a few days the epidemic stopped. Even so, it took several years for the medical profession to accept that cholera was not spread by foul air, but by drinking water contaminated by sewage.
The Romans understood the need for clean water supplies and built huge aqueducts to bring in water to the centre of their cities, along with water pipes and public baths.
They also constructed elaborate sewage systems to remove waste from their cities. The Romans were not even the first to build aqueducts. The Etruscans had started to build them in 312BC.
Ancient Chinese and Indian religious writings had recommended good diet and hygiene to protect health, but in medieval Europe, all of this was forgotten. The church frowned on washing, as it seemed too much like a bodily pleasure. There was no concept of hygiene, and sewage and rubbish were just thrown out into the street. It is no coincidence that during this period Europe was ravaged by plague, leprosy, tuberculosis (TB, also known as consumption), typhoid and cholera. People thought that these diseases were spread by miasma (unpleasant smells). This idea probably did encourage some disposal of waste. The miasmic theory of infection persisted into the 1800S, until the effects of bacteria were finally demonstrated.
The cholera epidemics had already brought matters to a head. For centuries the River Thames had been London`s sewer and source of drinking water. It was black and stinking, and finally everyone had had enough. The government commissioned a report from a civil servant called John Chadwick, which turned out to be the most influential document ever prepared on the subject of public health. It was published in 1842. The report described the probable causes of disease in the poorer parts of London, and also suggested practical ways to solve the problem. These public health measures included supplying houses with clean running water and proper sewage drainage.
Not long after this came the first proof of the risks from contaminated water, during a terrible cholera outbreak in 1854. John Snow, a London doctor, realized that many cholera cases were clustered in a small area near Broad Street. Investigation showed that they all drew their water from a public pump. Snow removed the pump handle, and within a few days the epidemic stopped. Even so, it took several years for the medical profession to accept that cholera was not spread by foul air, but by drinking water contaminated by sewage.
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