In spite of the glowing reports issued annually from various foreign
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 making more rapid strides than many other innovations in the great
struggle against Chinese prejudice and distrust. By far the majority
of our servants and those natives who come most in contact with
foreigners never dream of consulting a European doctor; or if they do,
that is quite as much as can be said, 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 plaster 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 skill is generally regarded as resulting from the
interposition of divine will. Directly, however, a foreigner comes
upon the scene they forget at once that medicine is an uncertain
science, and expect not only a sure but an almost instantaneous
recovery; and, unfortunately, a single failure is quite enough 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 medicine, both of which are provided gratis, and go home to
tell the news and exhibit themselves as living proofs of the _foreign
devils'_ skill; but in many instances their friends either believe
that magical arts have been brought 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 ratio very
disproportionate to the amount of good really effected. Besides, if
faith in European doctors was truly spreading to any great extent, we
should hear of wealthy Chinamen regularly calling them in and
contributing towards the income of those now in full practice at the
Treaty ports. It is absurd to point to isolated cases in a nation of
several hundred millions, and argue that progress is being made
because General This or Prefect That consented to have an abscess
lanced by a foreign surgeon, and sent him a flowery letter of thanks
with a couple of Chinese hams after the operation. The Chinese as a
people laugh at our medical science, and, we are bound to say, 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 knowledge in this branch of science as one among many
precious heirlooms which 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 Collection of Tried Prescriptions," a book which answers to our
"Domestic Medicine," and professes to supply well-authenticated
remedies for some of the most common ills that flesh is heir to. This
book gives a fair idea of the principles and practice of medical
science in China. It is divided into sections and subdivided into
chapters under such headings as the _eye_, the _teeth_, the _hand_,
the _leg_, &c. &c. We gave a specimen of the prescriptions herein
brought together in our late remarks upon the methods of extracting
teeth, but it would be doing an injustice to the learning 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 influence of demons or devils. One whole chapter is devoted
to "Extraordinary Diseases," and teaches anxious relatives to give
instant relief in 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 extraordinary disease, and is not altogether
unknown even amongst foreigners in China. "Seeing things upside down
after drinking wine," belongs in the same category, and may be cited
in proof of a position take up by most observers, namely, that the
Chinese are a sober people. "Seeing kaleidoscopic 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 prescription offered by the learned Dr
Wang with the utmost gravity, and accepted in good 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 money is offered on the altar of
some favourite P'u-sa; though, if they knew the whole truth, they
would discover that intercessory prayers for the recovery 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
agricultural classes, they have no faith in medicine of any kind which
does not make 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 acquaintance of ours for some foreign medicine to cure a
sick headache and bilious attack 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 of water and the salt in
another, the devil entered into him, and he gave them 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 from any further indulgence in practical jokes of so extremely
dangerous a nature.