Science and Civilisation in China, Part 6, Medicine

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, Apr 13, 2000 - History - 280 pages
The latest volume in Joseph Needham's magisterial review of China's premodern scientific and technological traditions introduces the history of medicine. Following the deaths of Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-Djen, a considerable amount of written material on the development of Chinese medicine awaited publication. This material has been gathered together by the editor, Nathan Sivin, in the five essays contained in this volume. They offer a broad and readable account of medicine in culture, including hygiene and preventive medicine, forensic medicine and immunology, and the examinations taken by some Chinese physicians for more than a thousand years. Professor Sivin has edited the essays, expanding them where appropriate and incorporating the results of recent research. His extensive introduction discusses the contributions of Needham and Lu, placing the essays in context, and surveys recent scholarship from China, Japan, Europe and the United States.
 

Contents

3 The fathers and their history p
45
4 Influences of bureaucratism on Chinese medicine p
52
6 Acupuncture p
60
b Hygiene and preventive medicine p
67
3 Ancient literature p
70
4 The Yellow Emperors treatise p
74
5 Hygiene mental and physical p
76
6 Principles of nutritional regimen p
78
6 Attenuation p
143
7 Variolation in the West p
145
8 Vaccination p
149
9 The background religious tradition in China p
154
10 The ethnographical dimension p
164
11 Conclusion p
168
Editors note p
169
e Forensic medicine p
175

7 Personal hygiene and sanitation p
84
8 Care of teeth p
90
the example of rabies p
91
10 Comparisons and conclusions p
92
c Qualifying examinations p
95
2 Medical posts p
96
3 Medical teaching p
98
5 Provincial medical education p
104
6 Sung medical education p
105
7 Sung medical examinations p
108
8 Islamic influence on Europe p
111
9 Chinese influence on Islam p
112
10 Conclusion p
113
d The origins of immunology p
114
2 Smallpox in history p
124
3 Aetiology and theory in China p
127
4 The earliest mentions of inoculation p
134
5 Methods of inoculation p
140
1 Sung Tzhu and his times p
177
2 The Hsi yüan chi lu p
178
3 Forensic medicine in China before Sung Tzhu p
179
4 The bamboo slips of Chhin p
181
5 Earlier evidence p
186
6 The development of the subject in Yüan and Ming p
187
7 The development of the subject in Chhing times p
188
8 Matters of medical interest p
192
9 Some comparisons with Europe p
196
Editions and translations of Hsi yüan chi lu p
199
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
201
List of abbreviations p
202
Chinese and Japanese books and articles since +1800 p
212
Books and articles in Western languages p
219
GENERAL INDEX Table of Chinese Dynasties
235
Romanisation conversion tables Index 235
236
Copyright

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