[86592] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Compare Debt Consolidation Options
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Debt Consolidation)
Thu Aug 11 09:07:37 2016
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 09:00:40 -0400
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To: <mit-talk-mtg@charon.mit.edu>
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<p>We were led into this train of thought by an article in the /North Ch=
ina Daily News/ of 10th July 1874, in which the writer speaks of China as &=
quot;a luxuriant mental oasis amidst the sterility of Eastern Asia," a=
nd "possessing a literature in vastness and antiquarian value surpasse=
d by no other." He goes on to say that the translations hitherto made =
"have conveyed to us a faint notion of the compass, variety, solidity,=
and linguistic beauties of that literature." Such statements as these=
admit, unfortunately, of rhetorical support, sufficient to convince outsid=
ers that at any rate there are two sides to the question, a conviction whic=
h could only be effectually dispelled by placing before them a few thousand=
volumes translated into English, and chosen by the writer of the article h=
imself. When, however, our enthusiast deals with more realisable facts, =
and says that in China "there is no organised book trade, nor publishe=
rs' circulars, nor Quaritch's Catalogues, nor any other catalogues whether =
of old or new books for sale," we can assure him he knows nothing at a=
ll about the matter; that there is now lying on our table a very comprehens=
ive list of new editions of standard works lately published at a large book=
-shop in Wu-chang Fu, with the price of each work attached; and that Mr Wyl=
ie, in his "Notes on Chinese Literature," devotes five entire pag=
es to the enumeration of some thirty well-known and voluminous catalogues o=
f ancient and modern works. Baron Johannes von Gumpach. Died at Shangha=
i, 31st July 1875. EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE A ramble through a native town in=
China must often have discovered to the observant foreigner small collecti=
ons of second-hand books and pamphlets displayed on some umbrella-shaded st=
all, or arranged less pretentiously on the door-step of a temple. If innoce=
nt of all claims to a knowledge of the written language, he may take them f=
or cheap editions of Confucius, with which literary chair-coolies are wont =
to solace their leisure hours; at the worst, some of these myriad novels of=
which he has heard so much, and read--in translations--so little. It possi=
bly never enters our barbarian's head that many of these itinerant book-sel=
lers are vendors of educational works, much after the style of Pinnock's Ca=
techisms and other such guides to knowledge. Buying a handful the other day=
for a few cash, we were much amused at the nature of the subjects there=
in discussed, and the manner in which they were treated. The first we opene=
d was on Ethnology and Zoology, and gave an account of the wonderful types =
of men and beasts which exist in far-off regions beyond the pale of China a=
nd civilisation. There was the long-legged nation, the people of which have=
legs three /chang/ (thirty feet) long to support bodies of no more than or=
dinary size, followed by a short account of a cross-legged race, a term whi=
ch explains itself. We are next told of a country where all the inhabitants=
have a large round hole right through the middle of their bodies, the offi=
cials and wealthy citizens being easily and comfortably carried /a la/ seda=
n chair by means of a strong bamboo pole passed through it. Then there is t=
he feathered or bird nation, the pictures of which people remind us very mu=
ch of Lapps and Greenlanders. A few lines are devoted to a pygmy race of ni=
ne-inch men, also to a people who walk with their bodies at an angle of 45 =
degrees. There is the one-armed nation, and a three-headed nation, besides =
fish-bodied and bird-headed representatives of humanity; last but not least=
we have a race of beings without heads at all, their mouth, eyes, nose, &a=
mp;c., occupying their chests and pit of the stomach! "And of the cann=
ibals that each other eat, The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow b=
eneath their shoulders." The little work which contains the above valu=
able information was published in 1783, and has consequently been nearly on=
e hundred years before an enlightened and approving public. About 24 ca=
sh go to a penny. Not to dwell upon the remaining portion, devoted to Zoolo=
gy, and containing wonderful specimens of various kinds of animals and bird=
s met with by travellers beyond the Four Seas, we would remark that the geo=
graphy of the world, notwithstanding some very fair existing treatises, is =
little studied by Chinese at the present day. More works on topography have=
been written in Chinese than in probably any other language, but to say th=
at even these are read is quite another matter. Geography, properly so call=
ed, is almost entirely neglected, and in a rather extensive circle of liter=
ary acquaintances, it has never been our fortune to meet with a single scho=
lar acquainted with the useful publications of Catholic or Protestant missi=
onaries--the latter have not contributed much--except perhaps the mutilated=
edition of Verbiest's little handbook. To describe one is to give a fair i=
dea of all such native works for the diffusion of knowledge. We found in ou=
r little parcel a complete guide (save the mark!) to the /Fauna/ and /Flora=
/ of the Celestial Empire, besides a treatise headed "Philosophy for t=
he Young," in which children are shown that to work for one's living i=
s better than to be idle, and that the strength of three men is powerless a=
gainst /Li/. Now as /Li/ means "abstract right," and as it is an =
axiom of Chinese philosophy that "right in the abstract" does exi=
st, we are gravely informed that neither the moral or physical violence of =
any three men acting in concert can hope to prevail against it. So much for=
the state of education in China at the present day, the remedy for which u=
nwholesome condition will by no means readily be found. From time to time a=
few scientific treatises are translated by ambitious members of the missio=
nary body, but such only tend to swell the pastor's fame amongst his own im=
mediate flock: they do not advance civilisation one single step. The very f=
act of their emanating from a missionary would of itself be enough to deter=
the better class of Chinese from purchasing, or even accepting them as a g=
ift. "The principal priest . . . declined the gift of some Chri=
stian books."--From /Glimpses of Travel in the Middle Kingdom/, publis=
hed in the /Celestial Empire/ of July 3d, 1875. DENTISTRY Roaming in quest =
of novelty through that mine of marvels, a Chinese city, we were a witness =
the other day of a strange but not uncommon scene. We had halted in front o=
f the stall of a street apothecary, surgeon, and general practitioner, and =
were turning over with our eyes his stock of simples, dragons' teeth, tiger=
s'-claws, and like drugs used as ingredients in the native pharmacopoeia, w=
hen along came a man, holding his hand up to his jaw, and apparently in gre=
at pain. He sat down by the doctor and explained to him that he was sufferi=
ng with the toothache, to get rid of which he would like to have his tooth =
removed. The doctor opened his patient's mouth and inspected the aching too=
th; then he took a small phial from his stock of medicines, and into the pa=
lm of his hand he shook a few scruples of a pink- coloured powder. He next =
licked his finger and dipped it into the powder, and inserting this into th=
e man's mouth, rubbed it on the aching tooth and gum. He repeated this thre=
e or four times, and then concluded by turning the patient's head upside do=
wn; when, to the no small astonishment of many of the bystanders, among who=
m was apparently the man himself, the tooth dropped out and fell upon the g=
round. The doctor then asked him if he had felt any pain, to which he repli=
ed that he had not, and the payment of a small fee brought the /seance/ to =
a close. At our application the tooth was picked up and very civilly exhibi=
ted to us by the owner himself; it was evidently fresh from a human jaw, th=
ough there had not been the slightest effusion of blood from the man's mout=
h. The thought had naturally suggested itself to us that the whole thing wa=
s a hoax, and that the patient was an accomplice; but if so, the doctor was=
no novice at sleight of hand, and the expression of astonishment on the ot=
her man's face when he found his tooth gone, was as perfect a specimen of h=
istrionic emotion as it has ever been our lot to behold. That night we had =
visions of a large establishment in Regent Street, with an enormous placard=
announcing "Painless Dentistry" over the door, and crowds of duk=
es and duchesses mounting and descending our stairs to have their teeth ext=
racted by some mysterious process imported from China, and known to ourselv=
es alone. Next day we proceeded to rummage through our Chinese medical libr=
ary and see what we could hunt up on the subject of dentistry. The result o=
f this search we generously offer to our readers, thus, perhaps, sacrificin=
g the chance of securing a colossal fortune. In the "New Collection of=
Tried Prescriptions," a sort of domestic medicine published for the u=
se of families in cases of emergency when no physician is at hand, we find =
the following remarks:-- Method for Extracting Aching Teeth. "A tooth =
ought not to be taken out, for by doing so the remaining teeth will be loos=
ened. If the pain is very acute and interferes with eating or drinking, the=
n the tooth may be extracted; otherwise, it should be left. Take a bream ab=
out ten ounces in weight, rip it open and insert 1/10 of an ounce of powder=
ed arsenic. Then sew up the body and hang it up in the wind where it is not=
exposed to the sun or accessible to cats and rats. After being thus hung f=
or seven days, a kind of hoar-frost will have formed upon the scales of the=
fish. Preserve this, using for each tooth about as much as covers one scal=
e. When required, spread it on a piece of any kind of plaster, press it wit=
h the finger on to the aching place, and let it stick there. Then let the p=
atient cough, and the tooth will fall out of itself. This prescription has =
been tested by Dr. Wang." Another Method. "Take a head of garlic =
and pound it up to a pulp. Mix it up thoroughly with one or two candareens'=
weight of white dragon's bones, and apply it to the suffering part. In a l=
ittle while the tooth will drop out." It will be noticed that the abov=
e descriptions are neither without one or other of two characteristics alwa=
ys to be found in the composition of Chinese remedies. In the first recipe,=
the ingredients are simple enough, and all this is required is time, seven=
days being necessary for its preparation. Now, as it is very unlikely that=
any one would collect the "hoar-frost" deposit from the scales o=
f a bream stuffed with arsenic, in anticipation of a future toothache, and =
as he would probably have got well long before the expiration of the seven =
days if he set to work to make his medicine only when the tooth began to ac=
he, the genius of the physician and the efficacy of the recipe are alike se=
cure from attack. In the second case, the very existence of one of the drug=
s mentioned is, to say the least, apocryphal; and although such can be purc=
hased at the shops of native druggists, any complaint on the part of a dupe=
d patient would be met by the simple answer, that the white dragon's bones =
he bought could not possibly have been genuine! A few days after the above =
incident, we returned to the dentist's stall, and asked him if he had any p=
owder that would draw out a tooth by mere application to the gum or to the =
tooth itself? He replied that such a powder certainly existed, and was comm=
only manufactured in all parts of China, but that he himself was out of it =
at the moment. He added, that if we would call again on the 4th of the 4th =
moon, before 12 o'clock in the day, he should be in a position to satisfy o=
ur demands. In conclusion, we append a quotation from the /China Review/, w=
hich appeared in print after our own sketch was written:-- "Despite th=
e oft-repeated assertion as to painless, or at least easy, dentistry in Chi=
na, very few people seem prepared to admit that teeth are constantly extrac=
ted in the way described by (I think) a former correspondent of the /Review=
/. He stated that a white powder was rubbed on the gums of the patient, aft=
er which the tooth was easily pulled from its socket; and this I can substa=
ntiate, noting, however, that the action of the powder (corrosive sublimate=
) is not quite so rapid as represented. A short time since I witnessed an o=
peration of this kind. The operator rubbed the powder on the gum as describ=
ed, but then directed the patient to wait a little. After perhaps ten minut=
es' interval, he again rubbed the gum, and then, introducing his thumb into=
the mouth, pressed heavily against the tooth (which was a large molar). Th=
e man winced for a second as I heard the 'click' of the separation, but alm=
ost before he could cry out, the dentist gripped the tooth with his forefin=
ger and thumb, and with very little violence pulled it out. The gum bled co=
nsiderably, and I examined the tooth so as to satisfy myself that there was=
no deception. It had an abscess at the root of the fang, and was undoubted=
ly what it professed to be. When the operation was over, the patient washed=
his mouth out with /cold/ water, paid fifteen cash and departed." MED=
ICAL SCIENCE In spite of the glowing reports issued annually from various f=
oreign hospitals for natives, and the undeniable good, though desultory and=
practically infinitesimal, that is being worked by these institutions, we =
cannot blind ourselves to the fact that western medical science is not maki=
ng more rapid strides than many other innovations in the great struggle aga=
inst Chinese prejudice and distrust. By far the majority of our servants an=
d those natives who come most in contact with foreigners never dream of con=
sulting a European doctor; or if they do, that is quite as much as can be s=
aid, for we may pronounce it a fact that they never take either his advice =
or his medicine. They still prefer to appear with large dabs of green plast=
er stuck on either temple, and to drink loathsome concoctions of marvellous=
drugs, compounded according to eternal principles laid down many centuries=
ago. In serious cases, when they employ their own doctors, they are apt to=
mark, as Bacon said, the hits but not the misses; and failure of human ski=
ll is generally regarded as resulting from the interposition of divine will=
Directly, however, a foreigner comes upon the scene they forget at once t=
hat medicine is an uncertain science, and expect not only a sure but an alm=
ost instantaneous recovery; and, unfortunately, a single failure is quite e=
nough to undo the good of many months of successful practice. One Chinaman =
bitterly complained to us of a foreign doctor, and sweepingly denounced the=
whole system of western treatment, because the practitioner alluded to had=
failed to cure his mother, aged eighty, of a very severe paralytic stroke.=
A certain percentage of natives are annually benefited by advice and medic=
ine, both of which are provided gratis, and go home to tell the news and ex=
hibit themselves as living proofs of the /foreign devils'/ skill; but in ma=
ny instances their friends either believe that magical arts have been broug=
ht to bear, or that after all a Chinese doctor would have treated the case =
with equal success, and accordingly the number of patients increases in a r=
atio very disproportionate to the amount of good really effected. Besides, =
if faith in European doctors was truly spreading to any great extent, we sh=
ould hear of wealthy Chinamen regularly calling them in and contributing to=
wards the income of those now in full practice at the Treaty ports. It is a=
bsurd to point to isolated cases in a nation of several hundred millions, a=
nd argue that progress is being made because General This or Prefect That c=
onsented to have an abscess lanced by a foreign surgeon, and sent him a flo=
wery letter of thanks with a couple of Chinese hams after the operation. Th=
e Chinese as a people laugh at our medical science, and, we are bound to sa=
y, with some show of justice on their side. They have a medical literature =
of considerable extent, and though we may condemn it wholesale as a farrago=
of utter nonsense, it is not so to the Chinese, who fondly regard their kn=
owledge in this branch of science as one among many precious heirlooms whic=
h has come down to them from times of the remotest antiquity. We alluded in=
the last Sketch to a work in eight small volumes called "New Collecti=
on of Tried Prescriptions," a book which answers to our "Domestic=
Medicine," and professes to supply well-authenticated remedies for so=
me of the most common ills that flesh is heir to. This book gives a fair id=
ea of the principles and practice of medical science in China. It is divide=
d into sections and subdivided into chapters under such headings as the /ey=
e/, the /teeth/, the /hand/, the /leg/, &c. &c. We gave a specimen =
of the prescriptions herein brought together in our late remarks upon the m=
ethods of extracting teeth, but it would be doing an injustice to the learn=
ing of its author if we omitted to point out that in this book remedies are=
provided, not only for such simple complaints as chilblains or the stomach=
-ache, but for all kinds of serious complications arising from the evil inf=
luence of demons or devils. One whole chapter is devoted to "Extraordi=
nary Diseases," and teaches anxious relatives to give instant relief i=
n cases of "the face swelling as big as a peck measure, and little men=
three feet long appearing in the eyes." "Seeing one thing as if =
it were two," would hardly be classed by London doctors as an extraord=
inary disease, and is not altogether unknown even amongst foreigners in Chi=
na. "Seeing things upside down after drinking wine," belongs in t=
he same category, and may be cited in proof of a position take up by most o=
bservers, namely, that the Chinese are a sober people. "Seeing kaleido=
scopic views which turn to beautiful women," "the flesh becoming =
hard as a stone and sounding like a bell when tapped," "objecting=
to eat in company," and such diseases have each a special prescriptio=
n offered by the learned Dr Wang with the utmost gravity, and accepted in g=
ood faith by many a confiding patient. Chinamen look with suspicion on the =
sober treatment of the West, where no joss-stick is burnt, and no paper mon=
ey is offered on the altar of some favourite P'u-sa; though, if they knew t=
he whole truth, they would discover that intercessory prayers for the recov=
ery of sick persons are considered by many of us to be of equal importance =
with the administration of pills and draughts. Further, like our own agricu=
ltural classes, they have no faith in medicine of any kind which does not m=
ake its presence felt not only quickly but powerfully. This last desire was=
amply fulfilled in the case of one poor coolie who applied to an acquainta=
nce of ours for some foreign medicine to cure a sick headache and bilious a=
ttack from which he was suffering. Our friend immediately bethought himself=
of a Seidlitz powder; but when all was ready, the acid in one wine-glass o=
f water and the salt in another, the devil entered into him, and he gave th=
em to his victim to drink one after the other. The result was indescribable=
, for the mixture /fizzed inside/, and the unfortunate coolie passed such a=
/mauvais quart d'heure/ as effectually to cure his experimenting master fr=
om any further indulgence in practical jokes of so extremely dangerous a na=
ture. MEDICAL SCIENCE, NO. II Luxuriating in the "mental oasis" o=
f Chinese literature in general, and the "New Collection of Tried Pres=
criptions" in particular, we have been tempted to carry our researches=
still further in that last- mentioned valuable work. It would have been su=
fficient to establish the reputation of any European treatise on medical sc=
ience had it contained one such simple and efficacious method for extractin=
g teeth as we gave in our chapter on Dentistry; but Chinese readers are not=
so easily satisfied, and it takes something more than mere remedies for co=
ughs, colds, lumbago, or the gout, to ensure a man a foremost place among t=
he Galens of China. Even a chapter on "Extraordinary Diseases," m=
arvellous indeed in the eyes of the sceptical barbarian, is not enough for =
the hungry native mind; and nothing less than a whole section of the most m=
iraculous remedies and antidotes, for and against all kinds of unheard-of d=
iseases and poisons, would suffice to stamp the author as a man of genius, =
and his work as the offspring of successful toil in the fields of therapeut=
ic science. Thus it comes about that the author of the "New Collection=
of Tried Prescriptions" gathers together at the close of his last vol=
ume such items of experience in his professional career as he has not been =
able to introduce into the body of his book, and from this chapter we purpo=
se to glean a few of the most striking passages. To begin with: Mr Darwin w=
ill be delighted to hear, if this should ever meet his eye, that the growth=
of tails among mankind in China is not limited to the appendage of hair wh=
ich reposes gracefully on the back, and saturates with grease the outer gar=
ment of every high or low born Celestial. Elongation of the spine is, at an=
y rate, common enough for Dr Wang to treat it as a disease and specify the =
remedy, which consists in tying a piece of medicated thread tightly round i=
t, and tightening the thread from time to time until the tail drops off. In=
order, however, to guard against its growing again, a course of medicine h=
as to be taken, whereby any little irregularities of the /yin/ or female pr=
inciple may be corrected, and the unpleasant tendency at once and for ev=
er checked. The symbol of the /yin/ and the /yang/, or male and female =
principles, has been used in the beading of the cover to this volume. The d=
ark half is the /yin/, the other the /yang/. We then come to elaborate dire=
ctions for the extirpation of all kinds of parasites, white ants, mosquitoe=
s, &c.; but judging from the plentiful supply of such pests in every pa=
rt of China, we can only conclude that the natives are apathetic as regards=
these trifles, and do not suffer the same inconvenience therefrom as the m=
ore delicately- nurtured barbarian. The next heading would somewhat astonis=
h us, accustomed as we are to the vagaries of Chinese book-makers, were it =
not that the section upon which we are engaged is supposed to contain "=
;miscellaneous" prescriptions, which may include anything, though it i=
s a somewhat abrupt transition for a grave medical work to pass from the de=
struction of insects to a remedy against /fires/! "Take three fowl's-e=
ggs, and write at the big end of each the word /warm/, at the small end the=
word /beautiful/. Then throw them singly to the spot where the fire is bur=
ning brightest, uttering all the time 'fooshefahrun, fooshefahrun.' The fir=
e will then go out." There are several other methods, but perhaps this=
one will be found to answer the purpose. Further on we find a most practic=
able way for pedestrians of discovering the right direction to pursue at a =
cross road. "Carry with you a live tortoise, and when you come to a cr=
oss road and do not know which one to choose, put down the tortoise and fol=
low it. Thus you will not go wrong." For people who are afraid of seei=
ng bogies at night, the following is recommended:--"With the middle fi=
nger of the right hand trace on the palm of the left hand the words /I am a=
devil/, and close your hand up tight. You will then be able to travel with=
out fear." Sea-sickness may be prevented by drinking the drippings fro=
m a bamboo punt-pole mixed with boiling water, or by inserting a lump of bu=
rnt mortar from a stove into the hair, without letting anybody know it is t=
here; also by writing the character /earth/ on the palm of the hand previou=
s to going on board ship. Ivory may be cleaned to look like new by using th=
e whey of bean-curd, and rice may be protected from weevils and maggots by =
inserting the shell of a crab in the place where it is kept. The presence o=
f bad air in wells may be detected by letting a fowl's feather drop down; i=
f it falls straight, the air is pure; if it circles round and round, poison=
ous. Danger may be averted by throwing in a quantity of hot vinegar before =
descending. A fire may be kept alight from three to five days without addit=
ional fuel by merely putting a walnut among the live ashes; and a method is=
also given to make a candle burn many hours with hardly any perceptible de=
crease in size. We close Dr Wang's "New Collection of Tried Prescripti=
ons" with mingled feelings of admiration and regret: admiration, not i=
ndeed for the genius of its author, or any new light which may have been le=
t in upon us during our study of this section of the "mental oasis&quo=
t; of Chinese literature, but for the indomitable energy and skill of those=
who have helped to emancipate us from similar trammels of ignorance and fo=
lly; regret, that a nation which carries within its core the germs of a tra=
nscendent greatness should still remain sunk in the lowest depths of supers=
titious gloom.</p>=20
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