16th-century disease-causing critters from Japan
These 16th-century Japanese illustrations and descriptions of microbes are charming and fascinating. I want a copy of this book, translated into English. It would be great to read to my kids as bedtime stories.
Long ago in Japan, human illness was commonly believed to be the work of tiny malevolent creatures inside the body. Harikikigaki, a book of medical knowledge written in 1568 by a now-unknown resident of Osaka, introduces 63 of these creepy-crawlies and describes how to fight them with acupuncture and herbal remedies. The Kyushu National Museum, which owns the original copy of Harikikgaki, claims the book played an important role in spreading traditional Chinese medicine in Japan. Here are a few of the beasties found in the book.
Link
Jinshaku (Honton) resembles a tiny boar that runs wild through the body. Those infected with Jinshaku develop a weak pulse, a dark complexion, a craving for salty food, and bad breath. Acupuncture is an effective treatment.
the latest
latest episodes
Interesting to think about how continued pursuit of this mental model could have lead to some proper treatments. They may not have been able to see or realize the true cause (virus, bacteria, parasite), but they had the right ideas. You don't have to see an atom to understand chemistry, but you have to have the mental model of the atom to see how it works.
Beats the heck out the not so old habit of bleeding people and trying to remove bad "humors" or "vapors".
As a person plagued by a tiny boar that runs wild through my body I appreciate Boing Boing bringing attention to the plight of sufferers world-over.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go slop my Jinshaku.
Building on what Holtt said: if you believe (correctly, as it turns out) that disease is caused by malevolent creatures inside the body, this might lead you to look at how they are spread, which would lead you to figuring out how to stop the spread of many diseases as you learn that some go through the air, others through water, etc.
no, no, you have it all wrong. This was all actually true then. Viruses sprang into existence when we conceptualized them.
There's a manga series (later an anime and even later a live action movie) called Mushishi that deals with these creatures. The manga and anime aren't exactly tailored for Western tastes and the movie makes little to no sense out of context, but they're still fascinating because of the approach to spiritual medicine which borders on the scientific.
The anime series just wrapped up its North American DVD release. I'd recommend it if you have any tolerance for more traditional manga-style pacing (ie., it's very slow).
Well said Joe. Very interesting what-if or alternate history concept.
@#5: Yeah, you beat me to it, I was going to recommend Mushishi. Very good, Very slow. The individual episodes are more vignettes then building toward a central story line.
Beats the heck out the not so old habit of bleeding people
Bleeding people is medically sound. Leeches are used to maintain good blood flow through grafts and reattached bits. Wounds also heal better with a bit less blood on board.
Although it's not really my genre, a lot of this stuff seems to remind me of alchemical texts, especially (and I guess unsurprisingly) Taoist ones. Phrases like :
"It is known to come up into the host’s mouth and poke its head out. Try to grab it, and you choke for air, but let go and it returns peacefully to the stomach."
and
"When the two bugs come together, their wiry legs get tangled up, the female bug spits up red fluid, and the male spits up white."
almost seem like they could be dropped into any of them.
ever heard the story about the origin of the cadesus symbol?
In hermetics, the caduceus is a double headed phallus.
I was thinking more of winding a Guinea worm out of your leg with a stick
We've all been there.
Yes, these imaginary beasties are real, and the only real way to treat them is with imaginary medicine, acupuncture or homeopathic remedies. What could be more effective against non-existent maladies than treatments that either block or unblock the non-existent "Chi" flowing through the body, or "medicine" with the "active ingredient" reduced to a level far below trace element status.
Quick story. When Nixon went to China, he was shown a patient being operated on, with only acupuncture for anesthesia. Mao was trying to show the superiority of Chinese medicine. This incident was at least partly responsible for the popularity of acupuncture in the west. Years later, Mao's physician defected, and said that the patient was actually pumped full of morphine. No big surprise to me.
Superstitious heathens. Disease is caused by demons which must be cast out in the name of Jesus Christ.
Nonsense. Diseases are caused by an imbalance of humours governed by the patient's natal chart.
wil9000, thank you for projecting your fantasies about liberals on everyone here. Now go back to JunkScience dot com kay? Thx.
I know what I'm talking about. As an altar boy I had to regularly assist our parish priest in the exorcism of a demon which caused him painful swelling. I had to vigourously massage the afflicted body part as he called out to Jesus before the demon was expelled in a jet of foul-smelling ectoplasm. This happened on many occasions until I reached the age of fourteen when the demon was finally defeated and my help was no longer needed.
WIL9000, I see you have also read "The private Life Of Chairman Mao" by Dr. Li Zhisui as well.
Old Dragon Breath himself?
though this has merit, i'd always want to back up the diagnosis with a Phrenological study to make sure the patient was not the type to make up symptoms or weather they are worth saving at all.
I've always wanted to open a retro-phrenology practice
"Interesting to think about how continued pursuit of this mental model could have lead to some proper treatments. They may not have been able to see or realize the true cause (virus, bacteria, parasite), but they had the right ideas."
Except it didn't. And, no, it's not interesting, it's superstitious and ignorant. A tiny magical boar is not a model of germs, it's just a random fantasy. An imaginary monster cannot develop into a scientific theory, because there is nothing to cause that development. The important leap is from 0% to 1% factual accuracy; from there, reaching 90% factual accuracy is relatively easy.
so, are we back to the "willow bark is primitive magic" and "ASA in a plastic bottle is science sprung complete from a chemist's brow"?
I've always wanted to open a retro-phrenology practice
I appreciate the set-up, but I'm not going to deliver the punch line.
Oh dear. I didn't spot that the first time I read it.
we're sorry.
re #8 yes bleeding wounds/grafts is good- but what they did in the olden tymes was a 'bit' more severe- usually dropping you by a few pints to balnace you out...