In this minute attention to the many variations of the pulses, the Chinese
aided their study, by attending to age, sex, stature, constitution, the
seasons, the passions, and the comparative state of health and disease.
In a person of high stature, the pulse was full--concentrated in
diminished individuals--deep and embarrassed in fat subjects--long and
superficial in the meager--soft in the phlegmatic temperament--tremulous
in the lively and the active--slower in man than in woman, excepting when
threatened with disease--full and firm in the adult--slow and feeble in
old age--soft and vivacious in infancy.
The rhythm of the pulse was affected by the passions, though chiefly in a
transient manner:--moderately slow, in joy--short, in grief--deep, under
the impression of fear--precipitate and regurgitating, in anger. In the
spring, they maintained that the pulsation was tremulous--replete, in
summer--spare and superficial, in autumn--dry and deep, in winter. Much
mysterious ceremony was observed by the Chinese physicians in this
investigation; they felt the pulse with four fingers, which they
alternately raised or dropped on the vessel, as if playing on a musical
instrument.
In this profound study, they attributed to every disease a peculiar state
of the pulse by which it could be recognised and ascertained, and at the
same time it enabled them to form a favourable or unfavourable
prognostic. Some of these rules are curious. If the pulses stop before
fifty pulsations have been counted, disease is at hand; when an
interruption in the course of the circulation takes place after forty
pulsations, the patient has not more than four years to live; when an
interruption takes place after the third pulsation, three or four days are
the probable term of existence; but the patient may linger on for six or
seven days more, when the interruption only succeeds the fourth pulsation.
Idle as these speculations may appear, it is to be feared that while the
Chinese paid such minute attention to the state of the circulation, more
distinguished and learned schools do not consider this powerful indication
of the strength or weakness of the vital functions with sufficient care
and discrimination, and perhaps a translation of the works of
_Ouang-chou-ho_, might not be altogether useless in the present
enlightened age. I have no hesitation in saying that this important
investigation is sadly neglected in medical education--so much so indeed,
that the different appellations given to the varied state of the pulse,
are neither well defined nor generally understood. The French physician
Bordeu has given much valuable information on this subject, which occupied
the ancients as much as it seems to have fixed the attention of the
Chinese. We find that the Indians, in the time of Alexander, accurately
studied this important point.
Notwithstanding the assertion of Sprengel, Hippocrates was a most
attentive observer of the state of the pulse. Thus we find him giving the
name of [Greek: sphygmos] to that violent and spasmodic beating of the
artery, which was not only sensible to the touch, but evident to the
bystander's eye--in more than forty passages of his immortal works do we
find important references to the pulse, which he also declared could
enable us to detect the secret workings of the passions. Many were the
ancient physicians who have minutely entered into these investigations,
amongst them we may name Herophilus, Erasistratus, Zeno, Alexander
Philalethes, Heraclides of Erythrae, Heraclides of Tarentum, Aristoxenes.
Several of the doctrines founded on these observations were most absurd,
attributing the various conditions of the circulation to the _Pneuma_ of
the heart and arteries; such were the doctrines of Asclepiades, Agathinus,
Galen, and many others; and amongst the Arabians we find _Thabeth Ebn
Ibrahim_ asserting that by the state of the pulse he could ascertain what
articles of food had been taken--in more modern times Baillou, Wierns,
Boerhaave, Hoffmann, have sedulously applied themselves to this most
essential study, and Schelhammenn asserts that the pulse never once
deceived him.
The effect of our passions on the circulation is much more powerful than
is generally believed, and they are a more fertile source of our maladies
than is commonly apprehended. We can readily conceive why the Spartan
Chilo died through excess of joy whilst embracing his victorious son.[53]
In the treatment of disease, the Chinese, so fond of classification,
divide the medicinal substances they employ into heating, cooling,
refreshing, and temperate; their _materia medica_ is contained in the work
called the _Pen-tsaocang-mou_ in fifty-two large volumes, with an atlas of
plates; most of our medicines are known to them and prescribed; the
mineral waters, with which their country abounds, are also much resorted
to; and their emperor, _Kang-Hi_, has given an accurate account of several
thermal springs. Fire is a great agent, and the _moxa_ recommended in
almost every ailment, while acupuncture is in general use both in China
and Japan; bathing and _champooing_ are also frequently recommended, but
blood-letting is seldom resorted to.
China has also her animal magnetizers, practising the _Coug fou_, a
mysterious manipulation taught by the bonzes, in which the adepts produce
violent convulsions.
The Chinese divide their prescriptions into seven categories.