True Chinese Acupuncture (Translated) E-Book

George Soulié de Morant

• Herausgeber: David De Angelis
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Before publishing the complete and voluminous exposition I prepared on acupuncture, with precise translations of the Chinese texts, references and quotations, I decided, in order to answer the questions of many physicians, to describe here the essential part of the method, the main points, and the way to treat some diseases, in front of which Europe is more or less unarmed. The public, on the other hand, by means of this volume, will be able to distinguish, among the physicians who practice acupuncture, those who have drawn on the sources, and those who, given the great development taken by this method, pretend to apply it without having studied it, relying either honestly on suggestion, or, less honestly, on the ignorance of their clientele or even on the power of publicity. In fact, since I was the first to introduce in France the method of needles and "Moxa", which I had studied in China since 1901, thus enabling scholars in America and Europe who had only vague and confused ideas about the method to put it into practice, the experiments have multiplied more and more. Success was confirmed. It could no longer be ignored.

Leseprobe

TRUE CHINESE ACUPUNCTURE

Doctrine - Diagnosis - Therapy

George Soulié de Morant

Translation and 2022 edition by ©David De Angelis

All rights reserved

INDEX

What is healed with acupuncture?

Points, Tsiue

Meridians, Tsing

Energy circulation

Energy, Tsri

Energy and disease. Fullness or emptiness

Chinese wrists

Tone or disperse

Needles

Moxa

Massages

The disease

The patient

Relations between organs

Personality

Some diseases

Nervous System

Digestive system

Respiratory system

Circulatory system

Urinary tract

Motor apparatus

Indispensable points

Introduction

Before publishing the complete and voluminous exposition I prepared on acupuncture, with precise translations of the Chinese texts, references and quotations, I decided, in order to answer the questions of many physicians, to describe here the essential part of the method, the main points, and the way to treat some diseases, in front of which Europe is more or less unarmed. The public, on the other hand, by means of this volume, will be able to distinguish, among the doctors who practice acupuncture, those who have drawn on the sources, and those who, given the great development taken by this method, pretend to apply it without having studied it, relying either honestly on suggestion, or, less honestly, on the ignorance of their clientele or even on the power of advertising. In fact, since I was the first to introduce in France the method of needles and "Moxa", which I had studied in China since 1901, thus enabling scholars in America and Europe who had only vague and confused ideas about the method to put it into practice, the experiments have multiplied more and more. Success was confirmed. It can no longer be ignored. It must be acknowledged that if Dr. Paolo Ferreyrolles had not at first wrested from me what I had learned in China, Europe would still be ignorant on this subject. As for me, consul, sinologist and scholar, I became a Chinese doctor only because of the wonderment aroused in me by the effects obtained with such small means, and for the sole purpose of studying an art almost miraculous to my eyes. Back in Europe, the skepticism I encountered soon prevented me from speaking. But it was mainly thanks to Drs. Marcel and Theresa Martiny that, under strict scientific control, the study of true Chinese acupuncture was continued and was able to establish itself, without deviating or distorting itself with the blind application of misunderstood formulas and with uncertain or fictitious results. After them, Dr. Flandin of the Bichat Hospital and his assistants Drs. Macé de Lépinay and Gallot, using my papers and what was reported to them by Dr. Ferreyrolles, submitted the method to strict experimentation by the University. They reported their successes and failures to our great Scientific Societies. Drs. G. Landowsky, Barishac, Poret, M. Lavergue, Sauvageot, Bonnet-Lemaire, etc., have obtained, thanks to this method, often sensational cures. Some daring physicians, after reading my articles or those of the followers, have successfully tried new cures. Others, faced with the success of the method, have claimed to have invented it, without having studied it even superficially. It is therefore time to clarify and bring together the notions that have been scattered in many documents so that the experiments that have been carried out in China for so many centuries do not remain useless due to misunderstanding of their guiding principles, and so that honest and conscientious researchers can have an additional means to relieve their patients.

But, one would think: how did it happen that acupuncture waited so long to become known here in Europe? How come it was a sinologist and not one of our doctors who introduced it to us? In this regard, we must premise that it was not completely ignored. The missionaries and especially the Jesuit scholars of the Scientific Mission of Peking in the seventeenth century reported the wonders and described the essential points. But the dogmatism of the human spirit has always prevented the admission of a new formula that would oblige to modify the positions taken, mentally and materially. Pasteur was vituperated before he was deified. Radium was denied from the beginning. Homeopathy is not yet taught in the universities. Although the notions reported by the Missionaries were very succinct, Dr. Berlioz of Tours (father of the composer) and Dr. Julius Cloquet professor at the University of Paris, began, around 1825, to treat some sick people with needle pricks. But, given their ignorance, they did not practice true Chinese acupuncture at all, since they plunged very long needles into the internal organs, and left them stuck for 20 and 30 hours. Nevertheless the study of their experiments is instructive. But the cruelty of the treatment, in spite of some interesting successes obtained, soon put an end to the great vogue which Dr. Cloquet knew for some years. The real Chinese acupuncture, because of this false application was discredited. Europe ceased to be interested in it, despite the fact that in 1863 the consul Dabry published an important work on Chinese medicine, and gave a more exact idea of acupuncture. To get to know the real method needed the concurrence of several favorable factors. First of all, it was necessary to know correctly the spoken Chinese language; then the written one, which is very different from the spoken one. Moreover, it was necessary to make a European Chinese dictionary of medical terms; and this exists only now through my work, and only in manuscript. It was also necessary to have a thorough knowledge of Chinese etiquette so as not to hurt a susceptibility equal to that of one of our luminaries of science who, let us suppose, unaware of our language and customs, would come to us asking for instruction. Our doctors sent to China to teach you our methods do not know Chinese. They go there to teach, not to learn. Could they, without feeling handicapped, go to school with a native teacher, assuming he would allow them to be taught? And it was necessary that I, introduced by the missionaries to whom the hospital I visited belonged, should see real miracles taking place before my eyes! The Chinese doctor agreed to instruct me and find me the necessary books. Later on, being a judge at the Shanghai Joint Court, I found at the Medical Directorate an eminent expert in acupuncture, who completed my education. And so it was that I, as a sinologist, obtained the right to practice in China; and I was able to transmit to French science a variety of reflexotherapy that it had not yet studied.

In China, the method seems to have been known and perfected since the twenty-eighth century BC, an era shortly after the discovery of copper. The circulation of the blood, and the function of the spleen, etc., were already known then. And since then, such study was never neglected. The books that appeared from century to century have all been preserved. I own the collection. Japan, which had adopted the Chinese medical art from the remotest era, in 1884 founded European-style medical faculties. Our medical art soon took a great development there and Japanese scientists gained considerable fame with it. But the Japanese public, as our medical art became more and more surgical, feared more and more for its body and its purse; vaccines, serums, injections with unknown effects, x-rays and operations, instead of the cure of before. And he returned to acupuncture. In the meantime, clinicians noticed that many diseases in front of which our art is unarmed were cured instantly by acupuncture; and then they practiced it more and more. European scientists then set out to study the needle method in the light of our scientific principles. The results remained confirmed, and partly explained. Today this great movement is affirmed. Acupuncture resumes its predominance. Distinguished scientists, such as the learned Savada, Nakaama, Fujii and others, are directing its study. Let us strive to help them, and to associate ourselves with their work, for the good of suffering humanity.

What is healed with acupuncture?

The true realm of acupuncture is the functional disorder; on the other hand, organic lesions belong to surgery or other methods of treatment. Nevertheless, even in the case of injuries there is very often a significant improvement in the disorders caused by it, without, however, the organic state being improved.

But that complete and definitive cure, which must be achieved in the case of pure functional disorder, cannot be hoped for when an organic lesion exists. In fact, the existence of an organic lesion is almost always brought out by patient investigation, when acupuncture, though applied in good order, has given relief but only for a few hours or a few days. As for the internal organs, it is possible and easy to increase or decrease their functionality. The liver can be, in a few hours, either activated in case of atony or calmed in case of irritation or congestion. Tachycardia and bradycardia are also quickly corrected. Stomach and intestines can be modified considerably in their functionality. The kidneys and bladder can also be restrained or excited. Some organs obey easily, always, and definitely: so for example the liver. Others, on the contrary, are less easy to be put back on the right track. Among these, the kidneys are the most recalcitrant. The spleen and even the gallbladder, about which the western methods of exploration allow only very imperfectly to know the activity, have easily controlled and regulated their functionality by the method of wrists and needles. For the organism, then, the needles are truly sovereign. Aches and pains of any nature give way instantly and definitively, unless there are organic lesions, in front of a few punctures made in the appropriate places. Contractures, even old ones, are almost always released. It is even possible to increase muscle strength. Diseases caused by microbes, which could be supposed to be outside this range of action, also yield with incredible rapidity. The Chinese, with this method, even cure cholera in a few hours. Even the organs of the senses can be improved. There is no doubt that certain deafnesses and various ocular ailments have benefited greatly from the needles. But this subject was not well known to me and still needs to be studied. The percentage of healings obtained varies according to the diseases. It certainly reaches 90% in pain, liver diseases, contractures, nervous disorders of the heart, etc. ... The kidneys, on the other hand, do not give more than 60% of cures; the bladder more than 75%. But it will take many more observations before we can say whether the failures are due to the impotence of the method, or to the ignorance of the one who applies it.

Points, Tsiue

From the method, what is easiest to ascertain and most material are the points. Their existence cannot be denied. The patient can find them on himself. By themselves they constitute an important discovery of physiology and therapy. Although the points, if used according to the recipe, can give cures, such a practice does not mean to know and apply the method; it is only worth to obtain uncertain or short-lived successes.

Indeed, in order to readily find the painful points, it is indispensable to know the wrists; and even more indispensable is to know the wrists in order to be able to establish the depth and duration of the puncture, which constitute the conditions of the effect to be obtained. And in order to understand the points well and remember their action well other than by pure blind memory, one cannot disregard the knowledge of the meridians and the hypothesis of the circulation of energy. The undeniable fact is that when there is a dysfunction of an internal organ, and only in this case, certain points of the skin become sensitive and even painful to the touch. This sensitivity ceases as soon as the function returns to normal. Everyone can observe this on himself or on others.

These points are just 2 millimeters in diameter. One can press at a distance of 5 millimeters from them without awakening any reaction; but as soon as one touches the very points the sufferer squeezes his eyes. A special sensation is reported, often compared to the "bleu" of a recent contusion. The intensity of this sensation varies, with the same disturbance, according to the degree of nervous sensitivity of the subject. These points are arranged along lines called meridians. Each organ awakens the sensitivity of a specific meridian, and not others. This centrifugal action is used to control the diagnosis, because the sensitivity of certain points allows to affirm the dysfunction of the organ to which they correspond. Never points also have a centripetal action. By acting on them in certain ways (see the chapter on Toning and Dispelling) one can modify the functionality of the organ with which they are tuned. The Chinese, for such action, use needles or moxa or massage. The study of these means represents an important chapter of the method. It has also been observed that in cases of nervous or muscular pain, the same groups of nerves or muscles always fall ill at the same time; that these groups correspond to meridians; and that the organ in relation to these meridians is almost always disturbed at the same time as the nerve-muscular group. Hence, a twofold method of treatment; either local, by means of the pain center points; or at a distance (more effective and durable) by means of the points that control the diseased organ.

Finally, it was found that in each line, certain points have special effects on the organ, whatever the mode of treatment. There are in fact:

1) Accelerator points, which serve to tone the organ.

2) The braking points, which serve to calm, "disperse" the organ.

3) The "source" points that regularize both accelerated and slowed organ.

4) The "consensus" points that fortify without accelerating, and calm inflammation.

5) "Herald" points, etc.

The Japanese added the "master points" of both organs and certain disorders.

It is essential to know all these points in order to act precisely on the organs.

Fig. 1 - The meridians

Meridians, Tsing

When, after having stung or compressed the points of a large number of patients, we have revealed that many of them, at the moment of pressure, declare that they feel "something passing by"; and, without knowing anything about the method, they nevertheless indicate with their finger the path of "what is passing by" following exactly the lines of the points; and when finally we have revealed that they always indicate in the same direction the passage of "this something", then we feel forced to admit the existence of what the Chinese have called "meridians" by analogy with the north-south lines of the globe. These lines, however, are not evident on all patients. The more predominant is the training to physical life, the less likely there are to detect them. The whites, of less ancient civilization than the Far Easterners, are more insensitive in comparison with these. But to deny the existence of these meridians under the pretext that they are not always easily detected, would be anti-scientific. Moreover, this would seriously impede the successful use of needles. Without the meridian, in fact, one cannot conceive the relationship of points with the organ; one cannot understand or use the hypothesis of energy circulation; one cannot admit the existence of the pulses. It is necessary to clarify that the lines of the points are not formed by an imaginary alignment of points. They really exist. This is proved by the fact that by pricking on the line, even if not on the points, we obtain modest but real therapeutic results, which are not obtained by pricking on the right and left of the line, i.e. outside it. These meridians arouse the objection of anatomists that they do not follow any materially known course, such as that of arteries, veins, nerves, etc.. Only one meridian, that of the heart, recalls a well known path in Europe: that of brachial pain in angina pectoris, a path clinically admitted, but that neither physiology nor anatomy have ever explained.

Thus, each organ corresponding to a line of points or meridian on the skin surface. Along this line circulates, always in the same direction, "some thing". These meridians are divided into two large groups: those located on the external face of the limbs which are designated as yang, "solar" or "external, exposed to the sun"; and those which run along the internal face of the limbs and are called ying, "shadowy, lunar, internal". Each of the above two groups is divided into two, according to the upper and lower limbs. Thus we have the yangs of the hands on the outer face of the upper limbs, and the yangs of the feet on the outer face of the lower limbs; the yings of the hands and the yings of the feet on the inner faces

The list of upper and lower extremities is as follows:

1) Arm, outer face:

small intestine meridian: cheou traé yang;

meridian of the three "heaters": cheou chao yang;

large intestine meridian: cheou yang ming;

2) Arm, inner face:

Lung meridian : cheou traè ying;

meridian of the "heart envelope and sexuality": cheou tsiue ying;

heart meridian: cheou chaos ying.

3) Lower limb, external face:

Bladder meridian: tsou traè yang;

Biliary bladder meridian: tsou chao yang;

Stomach meridian: tsou yang ming.

4) Lower limb, inner face:

Liver meridian: tsou tsiue ying;

Spleen and pancreas meridian: tsou traé ying;

Kidney meridian: tsou chao ying.

To these twelve meridians, some authors (especially Roa Cheou Po-jenn of the XIIth century, based on the Ling-tchrou of the XXVIIIth century B.C.) add two median lines: one on the anterior face of the trunk ending at the mouth; the other on the posterior face of the trunk and the head ending at the upper jaw. But no branch of communication between these two lines and the twelve meridians is described, while the branches of communication of the two lines between them, and of the twelve meridians between them, are described. These two lines would thus form a small circulation, next to the large one.