Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 230

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Notices of Japan, No. VIII.

APRIL,

The only sciences that can be said to be cultivated in Japan, are medicine and astronomy, and upon these were are assured that original works, as well as transla. tions of all accessible European publications, are constantly appearing. Of the merits of the original works we have no means of judging, save by inference from the reports of the abilities and knowledge of the Japanese physicians and astrono mers; and on this head, those of the medical travelers are favorable. Dr. Von Siebold dwells eulogistically upon the zeal with which physicians from all parts of the empire thronged about him to acquire medical science of a higher character than their own; and his opinion of the intelligence and knowledge evinced by their questions has been already mentioned. The latter remark applies equally to the astronomers; and it may be added, that their sense of the scientific superiority of Europe, alone places the Japanese far above the self-sufficient Chinese.

Of the proficiency of the medical profession in Japan, some further notion may be formed from the assertion that acupuncture and moxa burning are native inven- tions. The former of these remedies, having been introduced into this country, needs no description; but it may be worth mentioning, that among the books brought to Europe by Heer Titsingh, is one containing accurate directions for its use, with an enumeration of the maladies it is calculated to relieve, and accom- panied by a doll, upon which is marked every part of the frame adapted to the operation, according to the several cases. Moxa burning is a means of blistering, or making an issue, by actual cautery, or burning balls of flaxen down, made by triturating the leaves of mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), upon the skin.*

The drugs employed in Japanese pharmacy are mostly animal and vegetable, chemistry being for too superficially and imperfectly known to allow physicians to venture upon mineral remedies. But botany, as connected with the knowledge of simples, is diligently cultivated, and the medicines used are said to be generally. beneficial; the chief reliance, however, is upon diet, acupuncture, and the moxa. Superstition is the main obstacle to the progress of medicine and surgery; its baneful influence was apparent in what has been incidentally mentioned respecting the obstetric department of the science: and the pollution incurred by contact with death renders dissection, and consequently anatomical science, impossible.

In astronomy, the proficiency made is yet greater, perhaps, from there being no superstitious impediments in the way of progress in this science. The Japan- ese astronomers study the most profound works that have been translated into Dutch, and have learned the use of most European instruments. These they have taught Japanese artists to imitate, and Meylan saw good telescopes, barometers, and thermometers, of Japanese workmanship. In consequence, the almanacs, which were formerly imported from China, are now constructed at home, the cal- culation of eclipses included, in the colleges at Yedo and Miyako.

The measurement and division of time are in Japan very peculiar, and not very easy to be understood. For chronological purposes, cycles are employed; of these there are three, unconnected and concurrent. The one is formed by a somewhat complicated blending of astronomy with other branches of natural philosophy ; the remaining two are simple, and may therefore be first mentioned.

The cycle habitually used in history for dates is the nengo. This is a period of arbitrary, and therefore ever-varying length, from one year to any number of * [The use of the actual cautery is very common, acconding to Kæmpfer: and a great number of the people who crowded the decks of the Morrison had scars on their bodies showing where it had been applied.]