◇◇新语丝(www.xys.org)(xys4.dxiong.com)(www.xinyusi.info)(xys2.dropin.org)◇◇   中国人的荒谬观念——对医学惊人的无知(节译)   纽约时报 1890年4月2日   (翻译gadfly)   昨天下午亨利·德雷顿博士宣读了一篇题为“医学在中国”的论文。该论文 由在广州医院工作的E.P.斯威教授撰写后交给亨利·德雷顿博士在人类学学院宣 读。斯威博士宣称,科学在中国不存在,几个世纪的积淀下来的惯例,留下来的 是一大堆理论,揣测,传统和迷信,但很少(有用的)知识。   一个原因是中文。中文是所有语言当中最冗长累赘的一种。因为自己学不会, 中国学者往往对其他语言无动于衷。但人本身的无知和偏见是比这个更大的障碍。 中医的学习方法和传授知识的手段难以克服。单单一本关于药理和治疗的著作就 有40卷,引述了756名作者。一本关于植物的书共有60卷,1715幅插图。虽然人 体中找不到一寸中国人忘了起名的地方,但是因为人体解剖在中国是被禁止的, 中国人对生理解剖有一套最荒唐的概念。他们认为食物通过脾进入胃,咽喉可通 心脏,灵魂位于肝脏部位,而胃既是呼吸之处也是欢乐之源。他们认为头盖骨就 是一整块,手臂也一样。右肾是命门,各器官都与水、木、金、火、土有关。故 有“心火,肺金,肾水”之说。   所有诊治都离不开相生相克的双重原则,草药,符咒,神像,和其他许多奇 咒怪符的手段都可以用于治疗。手术在中国是完全是一片空白。因为他们相信, 肢体不全的人来世转生,仍然会缺胳膊少腿。学医的人是通过一个铜制模型来学 人体解剖,铜人身上布满了穴眼,并标上经脉的名称。中医里经脉共有三类,每 个手腕的经脉又可细分为24种。因此,中国的医学生要学习144种脉象才能熟悉 中医系统。【注:中医里有七表八里九道共二十四脉,但google不到2x3x24=144 的依据】此外,神像也被投入使用,病人什么地方患病,相信只要按摩神像的相 应部位就可以治愈。因为谁都可以当医生,所以遍地都是庸医和骗子。即使如此, 法律还是规定耽误病情等同于骗钱,所以有一例病人死亡都有可能导致医生掉脑 袋。   ABSURD CHINESE NOTIONS   REMARKABLE IGNORANCE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY IN CHINA   Published: April 2, 1890   The New York Times   “Medical Science in China" was the title of a paper read before the Academy of Anthropology yesterday afternoon by Dr. Henry S. Drayton. The paper had been prepared by Prof. E. P. Thwing of the Canton Hospital, and was sent by him to Dr. Drayton to be read before the academy. Dr. Thwing declared that science did not exist in China. The usages of centuries had crystallized, and there was an abundance of theories, speculations, traditions, and superstitions, but very little knowledge.   One cause of this was the Chinese language, the most meager and tedious of all tongues. The Chinese scholar was indifferent to other tongues because he was unable to study them in his own. But still greater obstacles than this were the ignorance and prejudice of the people. The method of study and the means of information afforded a Chinese doctor were difficult to overcome. A single Chinese work on materia medica and therapeutics was in 40 volumes, with quotations from 756 authors. A work on plants was in 60 volumes, with 1,715 engravings. As the dissection of the body is forbidden in China, the Chinese have the most absurd notions of anatomy and physiology. They believe that food passes from the spleen into the stomach, that the larynx leads into the heart, that the soul is in the liver, and that the pit of the stomach is the seat of breath and the source of joy. They regard the skull as one bone, likewise the arm. They regard the right kidney as the gate of life, and hold that each organ is related to earth, air, fire, metal and water. Fire rules the heart, metals the lungs, water the kidneys, and so on.   All application is made on the dual principle of action and reaction, and herbs, incantations, idols, and numerous other pagan means are used in treatment. The medical students study anatomy from the copper model of a man, which is pierced with holes and marked with the name of pulses. These pulses are divided into three wrist pulses, and each wrist pulse is subdivided into twenty-four others. Therefore the Chinese medical student has to study 144 pulses in order to become familiar with the Chinese system of medicine. The idol is also brought into use, and it is believed that the part in which the patient suffers may be cured by rubbing a corresponding part of the idol. Anybody may become a doctor, and consequently quacks and impostors are abundant. Still the law holds that to prolong a disease is equivalent to stealing the money obtained from the patient, while to have a case terminate in death may result in the doctor losing his head. In spite of all these difficulties the Chinese race constantly increases.   Surgery is utterly unknown to the Chinese, as they believe that any disfigurement in life will be transmitted to the next world - that a one-legged man will become a one-legged angel. And yet the Chinese are capable of becoming excellent surgeons, for they have all the coolness and deftness. The changes within the last fifty years in the practice of medicine in China had been marvelous. The invasion of European and American doctors had wrought a great change, and the Chinese were at last gradually awaking to the necessity of a scientific study and practice of medicine. The people had learned where to find relief and were denouncing their priests and quacks. China was an unlimited field for women physicians, as a Chinese woman would suffer almost anything before she would submit to treatment by a male. Vaccination had been recently introduced and sixty mission hospitals in China with eighty doctors in attendance, and an effort was being made to establish an asylum for the insane, something hitherto unknown in China. The conservatism of the Chinese was a great barrier to advancement in the knowledge and practice of medicine, but it was being overcome slowly but surely.   In the discussion that followed, J. Stewart Happer, who was born in China and had spent much of his life there, gave some interesting information about the country and its people. He said that the opportunity for individual development was as great in China as in the United States. Civil service was in its best form there, and any poor Chinese boy might rise to the highest government office. (XYS20100424) ◇◇新语丝(www.xys.org)(xys4.dxiong.com)(www.xinyusi.info)(xys2.dropin.org)◇◇