1850.
Reports of Medical Missions,
303
and the Tien-chú Kidu-the term used by the Roman Catholics for the Christian religion-which was given. She asked, did we read, or rather re- peat the King-the Sacred Book? I explained the nature of private, social, and public worship. She asked, had we many converts?—I said, very few. Why? Because the Chinese were very hardened and wicked, and because we did not baptize any without some good evidence that they were true Chris- tians. She strongly confirmed the truth of the first point, deeply regretting that it should be so, and highly approved of the second. She asked about con- fession; she said she confessed once a year to a spiritual father, a foreigner from Macao, who dressed in Chinese costume-did we do so ? I said we con- fessed daily not into the ear of man but unto God, the Searcher of hearts and the Pardoner of sin; the Scriptures taught us so. We then conversed on the Sacraments-our term for the Lord's Supper she did not understand: she had another term. I described the ordinance as we read it in Corinthians, and justified the use of wine. She took the cake once a year. She knew five native priests, who she said were all good men; she called them shin fú, spirit- ual fathers. They had no church or chapel in Canton, they had wished to build one, but the neighborhood would not suffer its erection; the one formerly in use had been pulled down by the authorities. She did not know how many Catholics there were in Canton. Her son was studying English to become an interpreter; he was not an idolater, but could not become a Christian, he said, and continue in business. The old lady can read her religious tracts a little, sometimes attends our services on the Sabbath-day, and is in many respects superior to the generality of her country women.
Insanity.
Considering the phlegmatic temperament and temperate habits of the Chi- nese, it might be anticipated that this malady is not of frequent occurrence; and I think future inquiry will prove that insanity prevails to a much less ex- tent in China than in Europe. It has been rarely mentioned in the lists of diseases treated by the medical missionaries, and on referring to the Golden Mirror of Medical Practice, a standard work in China, I find a very meagre description of the symptoms, cause, and treatment of this disease. Idiocy in properly distinguished from lunacy, and this latter is divided into two kinds kwảng and tien; the first (mania) belongs to the ying principle, with an excess of fire or excitement; the second (dementia, incoherent madness) partakes of the yin, with fluidity in excess, a state of depression; there may be a transition of one into other.-Lunatic asylums are unknown in China.
Several young and grown up persons, idiotic from their birth, have been brought for treatment, some of them with remarkably formed heads, flattened on one side, smaller than natural, or conical; but during eight years of practice among the Chinese, I have had an opportunity of witnessing only two cases of insanity. They were both men about 40 years of age, one residing in the suburbs near the northern gate of this city, and the other on the river side. The former case exhibited the usual symptoms of incoherent madness. He was chained by one foot and hand to a large block of granite; and his wife and mother were in the greatest terror when I proposed he should be unloos- ed for a time, for the chains were evidently galling to his flesh. They said he would kill them, or set the house on fire; he had been mischievous when his hands were free, and was often furious if displeased. He was incessantly chattering to himself; his chief theme was inoney and the gods. It appeared that his mind had been much depressed by losses in trade, and the death of his children. When questioned by me mildly and firmly, he gave a rational reply, but immediately after relapsed into his usual state of incolierency. He seldom took food, and still more rarely slept. His mind seemed wholly absorbed with a succession of confused and imperfect ideas unconnectedly expressed. His head was hot, general circulation lauguid, and body emaciated. He was visit ed twice, and under treatment a month, but with no permanent benefit. Large doses of opium were borne at first with advantage.
The second was a mild case of Mania. He was occasionally furious, but had little to say
In reply to questions, he would sometimes answer rationally,