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Chinese Notions of the Internal Structure of the Human Body.

A,B-The brain. C-Larynx. D-Pharynx. a,a,a,a,a-Lungs. b-Heart. c-Pericardium. d-Bond of connexion with the spleen. e-The oesophagus. f-Bond of connexion with the liver. g-Bond of connexion with the kidneys. h-The diaphragm. i-Cardiac extremity. j-The spleen. k-The stomach. -Omentum. m-The pylo n,n,n,n,n,n-The liver. o-The gall-bladder. p-The kidneys. 4-The small Intestines. -The large intestines. s-Caput coli. t-The navel. u-The bladder. -The "gate of life," sometimes placed in the right kidney. w-The rectum. z,y-The urinal and fœcal passages.

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the bile contained in them, under the idea that it will impart courage. The spleen (j) lies between the stomach and diaphragm, and assists in digestion, and the food passes from it into the stomach (k), and thence through the pylorus (m) into the large intestines. The omentum (7) overlays the stomach, but its office is unknown, and the mesentery and pancreas are entirely omitted.

The small intestines (q) are connected with the heart, and the urine passes through them into the bladder, separating from the food or fæces at the caput coli (s), where they divide from the larger intestines. The large intestines (r) are connected with the lungs, and lie in the loins, having sixteen convolutions. The kidneys (p) are attached to the spinal marrow, and resemble an egg in shape, and the subtle generative fluid is eliminated by them, above to the brain and below to the spermatic cord and sacral extremity; the testes, called wai shin or outside kidneys, communicate with them. The right kidney, or the passage from it (v), is called the "gate of life," and sends forth the subtle fluid to the spermatic vessels. The bladder (u) lies below the kidneys,

and receives the urine from the small intestines at the iliac valve.

The osteology of the frame is briefly dispatched; the pelvis, skull, fore-arm, and leg, are considered as single bones, the processes of the joints being quite dispensed with, and the whole considered merely as a kind of internal framework, on and in which the necessary fleshy parts are upheld, but with which they have not much more connexion by muscles and ligaments than the post has with the pile of mud it upholds. The irrigation of the body with blood is rather complicated, and authors vary greatly as to the manner in which it is accomplished. Some pictures represent tubes issuing from the fingers and toes, and running up the limbs into the trunk, where they are lost, or reach the heart, lungs, or some other organ as well as they can, wandering over most parts of the body in their course. Theories are furnished in great variety to account for the nourishment of the body and the functions of the viscera, and upon their harmonious connexion wit each other, and the five metals, colors, tastes, and planets, is founded the well-being of the system; with all they hold an intimate relation, and their actions are alike built on the all pervading functions of the yin and yang-those universal solvents in Chinese philosophy. The pulse is very carefully studied, and its condi

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tion regarded as the index of every condition of the body, even to determining the sex of an unborn infant; great parade is usually made by every practitioner in examining this important symptom. A diseased state of an organ is supposed to be owing to a disagreement of the yin and yang, the presence of bad humors, or the more powerful agency of evil spirits, and until these agencies are corrected, medicines cannot exercise their full efficacy. The surface of the body receives the closest attention, for there is not a square inch without its appropriate name. Plasters and lotions are applied to these places according to the diagnosis of the disease, predicated on the dual theory; and the strolling quacks and regular practitioners both administer the rationale and the dose together, considering, probably, that the medicine would lose half its efficacy upon the organs it was intended to affect if it was not mixed with faith to operate upon the sentient principle lodged there.

The practice of the Chinese is far in advance of their theory, and some of their treatises on dietetics and medical practice contain good advice, the result of experience. Dr. W. Lockhart, now of Shanghai, has translated a native treatise on midwifery, in which the author, confining himself principally to the best modes of treatment in all the stages of parturition, and dwelling briefly on the reasons of things, has greatly improved upon the physiologists. This branch of the profession is chiefly in the hands of women. Surgical operations are confined, for the most part, to removing a tooth, puncturing sores and tumors with needles, or trying to reduce dislocations and reünite fractures by pressure or bandaging. Sometimes they successfully execute more difficult cases, as the amputation of a finger, operation for a harelip, and insertion of false teeth. In one case of dentistry, four incisor teeth made of ivory were strung upon a piece of catgut and secured in their place by tying the string to the eyeteeth; they were renewed quarterly, and served the purpose tolerably well. The common practice of acupuncture, or thrusting needles of different sizes and lengths into the parts affected, has good results among some bad ones. That of applying cauteries and caustics of various degrees of power is more general, and sometimes entails shocking distress upon the patient. Cases have presented themselves at the hospitals, where small sores, by the application of escharotics, have extended until a large part of

the tissue, and even important organs, have been destroyed, the charlatan amusing his suffering patient by promises of ultimate cure. The moxa, or burning the flowers of the amaranthus upon the skin, is attended with less injury than the use of these acrid irritants.

Turning in of the eyelashes, or entropium, is a common ailment, and native practitioners attempt to cure it by everting the lid and fastening it in its place by two slips of bamboo tightly bound on, or a pair of tweezers, until the loose fold on the edge sloughs off; the eye is, however, more frequently disfigured by this clumsy process than the trouble remedied. Poultices made of many strange or disgusting substances are applied to injured parts. Dr. Parker mentions a man, who, having injured the iris by a fall, his doctor ordered half a chicken to be laid on the eye as a cataplasm, and the other half to be eaten. Venesection is rarely attempted, but leeches and cupping are employed to remove the blood from a particular spot. Blood-letting is disapproved in fevers, "for," says the Chinese reasoner, "a fever is like a pot boiling; it is requisite to reduce the fire and not diminish the liquid in the vessel, if we wish to cure the patient.” Many of the operations in cases of fracture present a strange mixture of folly and sense, proceeding from their ideas of the internal structure of the human body conflicting with those which common sense and experience teach them are necessary. Father Ripa's description of the treatment he underwent to prevent the ill effects of a fall will serve as an illustration. Having been thrown from his horse and left fainting in the street, he was carried into a house, where a surgeon soon visited him. "He made me sit up in bed, placing near me a large basin filled with water, in which he put a thick piece of ice to reduce it to a freezing point. Then stripping me to the waist, he made me stretch my neck over the basin, while he continued for a good while to pour the water on my neck with a cup. The pain caused by this operation upon those nerves which take their rise from the pia mater was so great and insufferable that it seemed to me unequalled, but he said it would stanch the blood and restore me to my senses, which was actually the case, for in a short time my sight became clear and my mind resumed its powers. He next bound my head with a band drawn tight by two men who held the ends, while he struck the intermediate parts vigorously with a

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piece of wood, which shook my head violently, and gave me dreadful pain. This he said was to set the brain, which he supposed had been displaced, and it is true that after the second operation my head felt more free. A third operation was now performed, during which he made me, still stripped to the waist, walk in the open air supported by two persons; and while thus walking he unexpectedly threw a basin of freezing cold water over my breast. As this caused me to draw my breath with great vehemence, and as my chest had been injured by the fall, it may easily be imagined what were my sufferings under this infliction; but I was consoled by the information that if any rib had been dislocated, this sudden and hard breathing would restore it to its natural position. The next proceeding was not less painful and extravagant. The operator made me sit on the ground, and assisted by two men, held a cloth upon my mouth and nose till I was almost suffocated. This,' said the Chinese Esculapius, ' by causing a violent heaving of the chest, will force back any rib that may have been dislocated.' The wound in my head not being deep, he healed it by stuffing it with burnt cotton. He then ordered that I should continue to walk much, supported by two persons, that I should not sit long, nor be allowed to sleep till ten o'clock at night, at which time I should eat a little thin rice soup. He assured me that these walks in the open air while fasting, would prevent the blood from settling upon the chest, where it might corrupt. These remedies, though barbarous and excruciating, cured me so completely that in seven days I was able to resume my journey."-Ripa's Residence, p. 67.

Mercury, in its common preparations of calomel or red precipitate, is exhibited by Chinese physicians, but their list and use of mineral medicines is small. The number of apothecary shops in towns indicates the great consumption of medicine; their arrangement is like the druggist shops in the west, though instead of huge glass jars at the windows filled with bright colored liquids, and long rows of vials and decanters in glass cases, three or four branching deer's horns are suspended from the walls, and lines of white and black gallipots cover the shelves. Hartshorn is reduced to a dust by filing, for exhibition in consumption. Many roots, as rhubarb, gentian, &c., are prepared by paring them into thin lamina; others are powdered in a mortar with a pestle, or triturated in a narrow iron trough in

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