XIII. But the greatest injustice that the vulgar have been guilty of in
this particular, is in the conception they have formed of the abilities
of the Chinese. Why do I say the vulgar? When you hear men dignified with
university honours, whenever they have a mind to heighten an extravagant
action, or mode of proceeding that is contrary to all reason, say at
every turn, _this could hardly have happened among the Chinese_; which
amounts to the same thing, as making the conduct of the Chinese, the
standard for measuring extreme barbarism. This certainly cannot tally
very well with the idea those people entertain of themselves, which is,
that they are the quintessence of policy, ingenuity, and penetration;
for it is a proverb among them, that the Chinese have two eyes, the
Europeans but one, and that all the rest of the world are totally blind.
XIV. The truth is, that they have great reason to believe this; for
they excel in their civil government and policy all other nations.
Their precautions for preventing civil, and avoiding foreign wars are
admirable; and learned and wise men, are not held in such estimation by
any other people in the world, as by them, and it is to such only, that
they confide the reins of government. This alone, is sufficient to give
them credit for being the most rational of mankind. The excellence of
their inventive faculty is evident, from their being the first people,
who hit upon the three famous inventions, of printing, gun-powder, and
the nautical needle; for the knowledge of these in China, is supposed
to be much anterior to our acquaintance with them in Europe; and there
are also some well-grounded suspicions, that they were communicated to
us from the Chinese. They excel exceedingly, in whatever arts they apply
themselves to attain; and notwithstanding our utmost exertions, we in
Europe, have not been able to equal, nor even to imitate them in many.
XV. There is great reason to believe they excel us in their knowledge
of medicine, and in their mode of applying it. Their physicians, are
both physicians and apothecaries; and it was formerly the custom in all
nations to unite the two professions in one; would to God it was the
same now! They keep in their houses all the medicines they make use of,
which consist of various simples, whose virtues they have well examined
and understand; which they collect, prepare, and apply. They are very
attentive to, and take a long time in examining the pulse; and it is
very common for them to be near an hour in exploring its movements. But
the information they get from this circumstance, and the appearance of
the tongue is such, that by revolving these particulars in their mind;
they without asking any questions, either of the sick person or those
who attend him, pronounce on what sort the distemper is, the symptoms
that attend it, the time the patient was taken ill, together with all the
antecedent and subsequent circumstances, that have accompanied, and will
accompany it.
XVI. I am well aware, that this will appear incredible to our physicians;
but the various accounts we have of China, some of which, have been
written by men of most exemplary and unexceptionable characters, all
agree in vouching the truth of these particulars, so that our refusing
to give credit to them, would seem rash and unreasonable. But if I could
possibly have entertained any doubt of this matter, our illustrious Don
Joseph Manuel de Andaya y Hara, the worthy Prelate of Oviedo, would
have removed them, who confirmed these relations to me, upon his own
experience of a Chinese physician that practised in Manila, the capital
of the Philippine Islands, of whom he told me wonderful things, both with
respect to his prognostics and methods of cure. I am persuaded that some
of our physicians about the court, have got the Book of Andrew Cleyer,
the first physician of Batavia, intituled _Medicina Chinensium_, which
was printed at Augsburgh. The diary of the learned of Paris in the year
1682, makes mention of it; and in that may be seen more at large, many of
these accounts.
XVII. But, skilful as the Chinese physicians are in the practice of
their art, the Chinese people are not behind them, in their skilful and
wise regulations for the government of the physicians. If the physician,
after having examined the pulse and the tongue, does not hit upon the
distemper and the symptoms of it, which rarely happens, he is dismissed
as unskilful, and another called in. If he does hit upon the foregoing
particulars, which is most commonly the case, they confide the cure to
him, and he immediately goes home, and fetches from his house a bag of
simples, which he gives directions for the using of, pointing out the
manner in which, and the quantity of each that should be applied or
taken. When he has compleated the cure, he is paid amply for his time
and attendance, and also for the medicines he has expended; but if the
patient does not recover, the physician is not paid, either for the one
or the other; so that the money of the sick person, is saved if he does
not get well; and the physician, loses both his time and his medicines
if he does nor cure him. It is much to be wished, that such a regulation
subsisted among us; for although Quevedo some time ago complained of the
want of it, he did not know it was established in China. It is true, that
he made the complaint in a bantering way, but I believe he felt the want
of the regulation very sensibly.
XVIII. We may say in general of Asia, that this was the country in which
arts and sciences originated; letters owed their birth to Phenicia; and
were from thence transported into Egypt and Greece; and the knowledge of
astronomy came from Chaldea, and from thence was circulated into various
other countries.