Engelbert Kaempfer: The History of Japan, London 1727

Internet Edition by Wolfgang Michel, Kyushu University, Fukuoka-City, Japan. © Nov.1997

 

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IV. An account of the Moxa, an excellent Caustic of the Chinese and Japanese, with a Scheme shewing what parts of the human body are to be burnt with that Plant in several distempers.

Introduction.

Here are in Asia three Helicons, that of the Arabs, Bramines and Chinese. Whatever nations inhabit that vast extent of ground, which reaches from Europe to the very extremities of the East, and so far as our Antipodes, have all the arts and sciences flourishing among them, derived from these three chief seats of the Eastern Muses. I forbear enlarging at present upon several things, which might be urged in proof of my assertion, confining myself only to what relates to my own profession. It is not in the least to be wonder'd at, that so many nations, and these so widely differing in their religion, customs, language, and the very nature of the climate, which they inhabit, should have also different principles of the healing art, different remedies, different precepts and methods of cure. The differing Helicons, which gave birth to all the learning of the East, easily account for it. Thus far however they are observed to agree, that being ask'd their opinion about the causes of distempers, they have so frequent a recourse to winds and vapours, that they seem, in imitation of our divine Hippocrates, Lib[er]. de flat[us]. to look upon them as the general causes of almost all diseases incident to human bodies, particularly those which are attended with pain. Upon this principle is grounded their method of cure, and the frequent use of caustics, which they say are the most effectual remedies to discuss and expell all manner of winds and vapours. But then indeed it is a great question with them, what sort of Caustics are the most proper to answer this end, whether fire, or hot irons ? To try the joint strength of Vulcan and Mars upon human bodies, they esteem a cruelty, not only needless in itself, and to no purpose, but altogether unbecoming a rational Physician, who can, and ought to have no other intention in the application of Caustics, but to discuss and resolve the viscid matter, which is the cause of the pain and distemper, and afterwards to make room for it to come out. Hence it is,
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that they are more favourably inclined for a slow and gentle burning, and, in a word, will prefer those Caustics, which are found proper, by vertue of their aperitive salts, to open and dissolve the obstructions, and to draw out the cause of distempers, slowly indeed, but with safety, that, I say, they will preferr them before all the cruel apparatus of other more violent cauteries, which by their sharp and burning vitriolick and cutting quality, miserably corrode and destroy the parts they are applied to. For the same reasons it is, that the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Arabian Physicians, to whom we Europeans are indebted for the invention and many improvements in the Physical art, chose to apply burning mushrooms, or the fiery roots of Struthium and Aristolochia, preferably to hot irons: That some others used hot melted Sulphur; others again spindles of box dipt in burning hot oil, and applied to the affected part. But it is foreign to my present purpose to enumerate all the various Caustics in use among the ancient Physicians. Whoever hath a mind to be farther inform'd about this matter, may consult Mercatus, Pr. L. 4. c.I4 p. I62. or M. A. Severinus, among the modern writers. My design is to give some account of those Caustics only, which are in use, at this day, in several Asiatick Countries.

¤ 2.
Various Causticks used in Asia.

The Arabians, and those Asiatick nations, which received their arts and sciences from them, as, for instance, the Persians, and those of the Great Mogul's subjects, who embraced the Mahometan faith, so far as I could learn upon diligent enquiry, never make use of any other Caustic, but woollen cloth dy'd with woad, or what the French call Cotton Bleu. They take a piece of this blue cloth, wrap it together, tight and close, into the form of a Cylinder, about half all inch in diameter, and two inches long. They apply this Cylinder to the part, and then set fire to the top of it, letting it glow and burn down insensibly, till it is quite consumed into alhes. This Caustick is not only extremely painful, but besides lasts very long, and troubles the patient sometimes a quarter of an hour, and longer, before it is burnt out, and the heat over. It is likewise attended with very bad consequences frequently corroding and eating through the flesh, so as to occasion sordid and almost incurable ulcers, which I know to be true, insomuch, as during my stay in those Countries, many patients under these circumstances applied to me for relief. The burning being over, the Surgeon hath nothing more to do, but to anoint the part, and when the Eschara, or Crust comes off, to promote the suppuration. I am apt to believe, that the extreme and lasting pain, occasion'd by these Causticks, and the great diffculty of curing the ulcers, which too frequently follow the application thereof, are the reason, why the inhabitants of these Countries make so little use of them, for all they are so much commended by their Physicians in their writing and conversation. I have just now mentioned the Glastum, or Dyers Woad, and must beg, leave to add something farther upon this subject. The Causticks of the Arabian Physicians must be
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of a substance diet with the decoction of this Plant, upon a supposition that it encreases the Force of the fire, which supposition, they say, is far from being imaginary, but grounded on a continued experience of many centuries. This opinion of the Arabians is also supported by a notion, which very much prevails among the common people in Europe, that burning a piece of cloth dyed blue with dyers-wood, and holding it it under the nose of People in Epileptick convulsions, or possess'd with the Devil, as as some call it, will take off the fit more effectually, than the smoak either of white linnen, or any other stuff whatever. Thus much I can affirm, as matter of fact, that in my own practice in the Indies, I found it very successful in external inflammations, to apply blue bandages and rags, in fomentation and otherwise, instead of common white linnen, to which in the like cases they are certainly preferable.
2. Among the Brahmines, and Indian Heathens.

The Brahmines, Gymnosophistae the ancient Greek writers, who are the Philosophers, Divines and Physicians, of the Indian Heathens, and all those Pagan nations, which follow their doctrine, do not confine themselves to one single Caustick, like the Arabians, but make use of many, according to the variety of cases and distempers. They say, that the bidden causes of diseases are not all of the same kind, and that their changes are equally various, that consequently the use of one single caustick cannot with any probability be supposed equally successful in all cases, but that such a one must be chosen, as hath been found, by repeated experiments, to agre best with the nature of the distemper, and the constitution of the patient. But what various sorts of Causticks the Brahmines make use of, and how they ought to be applied, I could not learn, for all I diligently enquired, as indeed it is almost impossible for foreigners, in general, to penetrate into the secrets of these mysterious doctors. The most common Caustick, used in these Countries (for the rest, whatever they be, are applied but seldom) is the pith of the Junci, or rushes, which grow in morassy places. It is no matter, what sort of rushes it be, provided it be somewhat thicker and larger than the common Scirpus. This pith they dip into Sesamus's-seed-oil, which plant grows in great plenty in their fields, and burn the skin with it after the common manner. I took notice, that the Malayans, Javans and Siamites make use of this pith in burying their dead, which custom, it is highly probable, obtains also amongst several neighbouring nations.
3. Among the Eastern nations beyond the Ganges.

Advancing still farther beyond the Ganges, we shall there meet with another excellent Caustick, preferable to all the rest, and very much used by the Chinese and Japanese. These two nations trace up its origin to the remotest antiquity, and pretend that it was known long before the invention of Physick and Surgery, and that consequently the use of it is sufficiently supported by a continued experience of so many ages. This ancient and so much commended Caustick goes by the name of Moxa, not only in China, but in all other Countries, where the learned characters and language of the Chinese are known, as in Japan, Corsea, Quinam, the Luzon,
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or Philippine islands, the island of Formosa, and the kingdoms of Tunquin and Cotsijnsina. 'Tis the history of this Caustick, I now propose to give, flattering myself, that the reader will easily excuse, if instead of the Chinese names, which I am very sensible would be the most acceptable, I insert the Japanese ones, which I did not only for their being easier, but chiefly, because having staid in the Country myself for some time, I was better acquainted with them.

2.

Preparation of the Moxa.

Moxa is a soft down, or flaxy substance, of a grey or of ashcolour, very apt to take fire, though it burns but slowly, and with a moderate heat, there being scarce any sparkling observed, till it is quite consumed into ashes. It is made of the dry leaves of the Artemisia vulgaris latifolia, or common mugwort with broad leaves, which are pluck'd off, when the Plant is very young and tender, and hung out in the open air for a long while. The Japanese say, that it is not at all times equally proper to gather the mugwort for making the Moxa, but that it must be done only on such days, which have been by their Astrologers singled out for this purpose, and have the advantage of a particular benign influence of the Heavens and stars, whereby the virtues of this Plant are greatly increas'd. These days are the first five days of the fifth Japanese month, call'd Gonguatzgonitz by the natives, which according to the Gregorian almanack answer to the beginning of June, and sometimes, but seldom, the latter end of May. For, as I have elsewhere observed, the Japanese begin their year with the newmoon, which is next to the spring equinox. The Plant must be gather'd early in the morning, before it loses the dew, which fell in the night, and then hung out in the air on the Westside of the house, till it is full dry. It is afterwards laid up in the garret, and it must be observed, that the older it is, the tenderer and better down may be obtained from it, for which reason some keep it ten years. The fresh and young Mugwort is by the Japanese call'd Futz, and, when it is full grown, and come to perfection, they call it Jamoggi. And here I cannot forbear taking notice, that it is customary, both in China and Japan, for men to change their names, when they come of age, or have been rais'd to any considerable post. In the like manner different names are frequently given to Plants (not to mention other things) according to their different state of perfection, and differing uses. This variety of names, 'tis true, conveys to our mind a clear and distinct idea of things, as they are at different times, and under different changes, but on the other hand it so multiplies the numbers of words, as to become very troublesome to the memory. The preparation of the Moxa is a matter of no great art or difficulty. In the first place, the leaves are beaten with a pestle into the form of a coarse flax, and then rubb'd with both hands, till they lose the coarser fibres, and harder membranous parts; which being done, there remains
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only that soft, delicate, homogeneous, and so much commended down, which nature bestow'd on the young Mugwort preferably to other plants.

4.

What person are fit to be burnt with the Moxa, and in what distempers.

The burning of the Moxa hath nothing in the least to terrify people, and to deter them from going through the operation. It burns so slowly, that scarce any sparkling can be discern'd, and it might be doubted, whether it burns at all, were it not for a thin scarce visible smoak arising from it, which however is not at all disagreeable to the smell. The pain is not very considerable, and falls far short of that which is occasion'd by other Causticks, or actual Cauteries. Those Cones indeed, which the Japanese call Kawakiri, that is, Skin-Cutters, are something more painful, being the first two or three tents successively applied to the skin. 'Tis from these Cones that the Japanese call the new taxes, laid on them by their Princes and Governors, Kawakiri, because they say they are very hard to be bore at first, but become much easier in time. I have seen many times the very boys suffer themselves to be burnt in several parts of their body, without shewing the least sense of pain: For they burn indifferently, and without regard, old and young, rich and poor, male and female; only women big with child are spared, if they have not been burnt before. The intent of burning with the Moxa is either to prevent or to cure diseases. But it is more particularly recommended by their Physicians as a preventive medicine, for which reason they advise the healthy, more than sick people, to make use of it. This practice of theirs they ground upon the following principle, that by the very same virtue, whereby it dispells and cures present distempers, it must of necessity destroy the seeds of those to come, and by this means prevent them. Hence it is, that in these extremities of the East, all persons, who have any regard for their health, cause themselves to be burnt once every six months. This custom is so thoroughly and so religiously observed in Japan, that even those unhappy persons, who are condemn'd to perpetual imprisonment, are not deprived of this benefit, but are taken out of their dungeons once in six months, in order to be burnt with the Moxa. The burning with the Moxa, by way of prevention, requires but a few tents, and those very small ones, but if it be intended to cure a distemper, there must be more, and larger, particularly if the cause of the distemper lies deep, and is consequently so much the more difficult to be removed.
If you ask either the Chinese or Japanese, in what distempers it be proper to burn with the Moxa, they return the following answer, That it is proper in all those distempers, where an occult vapour, and which lies, as it were, imprison'd within the body, occasions a dissolution of the solids, and a sense of pain, and hinders the affected part from duly performing its functions. Considering things in this view, there is scarce a distemper, of all that infinite number, incident to human bodies, but the Japanese and Chinese Physicians will advise their Patient to be burnt with the Moxa for it, which quickly, as they pretend, and in a very short time, destroys and removes its
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cause. This Caustick is not unknown to those black Asiatick nations, which inhabit the torrid Zone. They learnt it from their neighbours, and it is not long ago that its use was introduced among them, with that difference only, that they apply much larger tents, or cones, than either the Chinese or Japanese, of whom they had it, in proportion as the distemper is difficult and dangerous, or as its cause lies deep in the body. Even the Dutch in the Indies have lately experienced, what a good effect may be expected from burning with the Moxa in arthritick, gouty, and rheumatick distempers. This Caustick breaks the force of the saline and tartarous particles, which the too plentiful use of Rhenish wines leaves in the blood, and which being fix'd about the joints, and particularly irritating that sensible membrane, which encompasses the bones, are the cause of gouty paroxysms. It dissolves the stagnating lymph, which being gather'd about the articulations, occasions Rheumatick and Arthritick pains, provided a larger cone or tent be applied for either of these purposes, and provided it be applied in time, before the morbid matter be accumulated so far as to break and lacerate the capillary vessels, to tear the membranes and muscles, in which it is lodged, and thereby to occasion those tumours and impostumations, which are frequently the consequences of these dangerous distempers, and which will then yield no farther to any emollient or dissolvent medicine whatever. However, it may not be amiss to observe, that although in the hot Asiatick Countries the use of this Caustick hath been found upon experience very successful in the above-mention'd distempers, yet the like success cannot be reasonably expected from its application in our colder European climates. In hot Countries the perspiration is stronger, the fluids thinner, the pores widet, the muscles and membranes more relaxÕd. Sometimes also, by the application of this Caustick, the pain will be only removed, and not entirely taken off. The force of the saIine particles will be broke in those parts, which are burnt by the Moxa, and sometimes perhaps it will penetrate so deep as to burst and tear the periostium. This will doubtless take off the sense of pain in these very parts, but be no hindrance to its shifting to others. The Brahmines indeed go farther, and confidently assure their patients, that the pain, being once removed, will never return, if they do but abstain from eating of flesh, and from strong fermented inebriating liquors, such as wine, beer, and the like. These, they say, breed new crudities, which, when they come into the blood, will fall down again upon the legs, and there lay a new foundation for gouty paroxysms. Bushofius, a Minister of the Gospel at Batavia in the Indies, went too far, when he recomrnended the Moxa to his Countrymen in Europe, as an infallible remedy for the gout. I have reason to apprehend, that many a patient in Germany found himself disappointed in his expectation: This is what the learned Dr. Valentini, a German Physician, and Member of the Academy of Sciences founded by the late Emperor Leopold, complain'd of, and not without reason, in a printed letter of his to Dr. Cleyer, to whom it was deliver'd in my presence. The neighbouring
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black Asiatick nations make more use of the Moxa, than the Chinese and Japanese themselves, in Epileptic fits, and all Chronical distempers of the head. Their way is to burn a good quantity of it all along the Sutura Coronalis, which sometimes hath been attended with so good a success, that some patients recover'd, who had been given over by the Physicians.

5.

Places to be burnt with the Moxa.

The Chinese and Japanese Physicians widely differ in their opinions concerning the parts of the human body, which it is proper to burn with the Moxa, in order either to cure, or to prevent particular distempers. And although superstition and self-conceit have a very considerable share in their reasonings, yet they all plead either their own experience, or that of their master, for what they assert. If their different opinions were to be brought together, I believe, that in some distempers there would be scarce any one part of the human body left, but what some of them would single out as the most proper to be burnt with success. The common people seldom recede from the common places and rules, handed down to them from remotest antiquity, and represented, for the benefit of the publick, in particular printed schemes. They are still more superstitious about choosing the proper time, when particular parts of the human body ought to be burnt in particular diseases: And here great regard is had to the situation and influence of the Constellations of the Heavens, for it is agreed on all hands, that even when tthey are come to a resolution, what parts it is proper to burn, yet the operation ought not to be performÕd on an ill day, and in an ill hour, when, according to their way of reasoning, the less favourable influence of the Stars gives room to apprehend an ill success. In this again their judgment and opinions are so various, that if there was any attention given to what every one in particular thinks and advises, it would be scarce possible to find any good day or hour at all. What they chiefly aim at in choosing the proper places for burning with the Moxa, is to find out such as are the most conveniently seated, either to draw out the vapours, which are the supposed cause of the distemper, or to remove them from the affected part. These they all pretend to be well known to them by the observations of their ancestors, and by their own experience. No part of the human body suffers so much by this Caustick, as the back side, all along the Spina Dorsi, on both sides quite down to the loins. I found the backs of the Japanese (and this is likely to be the case of all other Asiatick nations, that make use of the Moxa) of both sexes so full of scars and marks of former exulcerations, that one would imagine they had undergone a most severe whipping. But to whatever degree they be disfigured by the Moxa in this and other parts of their body, their beauty is, according to their notions, not in the least lessen'd thereby. And as to the back in particular, it is a very easy matter for the Japanese to uncover it, and they do it very frequently when they go even about a slight work, letting their gowns, which are tied about their girdle, fall down behind their back, lest they should
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be spotted with their sweat, they wearing no shirts, by which means their wounds and sores, in both sexes, are laid open to view.

6.

I come now to the operation itself, which requires no great nicety or skill. A small quantity of Moxa is rolled or twisted, between the thumb and fore-finger, into the form of a Cone, almost an inch high, and something less broad at the bottom. This Cone is put on the part which is to be burnt. Some wet the bottom a little with spittle to make it stick to the skin. This done, they put fire to the top with a thin burning splinter, which the Japanese call Senki. The Cone being consumed, whi.h is done in a very short time, another, if needful, is applied to the same part, and burnt as before. This is repeated as often as the Patient desires, or the Operator directs, or the case seems to require. The Surgeons, whose business it is to perform this operation, are call'd by the Japanese Tensasi, that is, feeling people, or, according to the literal sense of the word, people that penetrate with the touch, because, before the operation, they always feel about, and examine the part, which the Caustick is to be applied to. The little rods, or candles, which they make use of to put fire to the Caustick, are the very same which the Heathen Priests burn in the temples before their idols, and whereby they measure the hours of devotion, in imitation, as it were, of the fires, which it is customary to make in camps, to indicate and to measure the time for watching. They burn but slowly, and have a very fragrant strong scent. They are made of the slimy bark of the Taab tree, as they call it, or Taabnoki, that is, Laurus Japonica sylvestris, wild Japanese bay-tree, one of the tallest and largest trees growing in the Country. This bark is reduced into a powder, and mix'd with Aloe wood, or its resinous and dearest part, callÕd Calamback, and with other sweet-scented species, according to every oneÕs fancy, all reduced into a powder. These powders are mixwd with water to the consistence of an Electuary, or thick pulp, which must first undergo a sufficient kneading, and being then put into a bason with many small round holes at the bottom, and weights being laid upon it, there are squeez'd out through these holes long round pieces, or rods, scarce thicker than a straw, which being taken of, are laid on lathes and dried in the shade, and afterwards sold in shops for burning candles, and for the use above-mention'd, by bundles wrapt up in paper. These Senki candles however are not so absolutely necessary for the operation, but that they may be rank'd rather among the more elegant and less useful Apparatus of Surgeons. Any common splinter, or straw, will answer the end full as well, and these are what the common people make use of. The main art lies in the knowledge of the parts, which it is proper to burn in particular distempers. The chief intention of burning is, to draw out the humours and vapours, which lying concealed in the body, prove the cause of the sickness. And although, upon this supposition, one would reasonably imagine that place to be the
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most proper which is the nearest to the affected part, yet the operators frequently choose such others, as are not only very remote from it, but would be found, upon an Anatomical inquiry, to have scarce any communication with it, no more than by the common integuments. As strange as that Polish nobleman thought it, to have a clyster order'd him, when he complain'd of a pain in his head, so surprizing will the effects of this Caustick appear to foreigners, when applied to places which seem too remote from the affected part, to suppose any communication with it. A few instances will serve to explain this. In Indigestion, and sickness of the stomach, and loss of appetite, they apply the Caustick to the shoulders. In pleuritick cases they burn the Vertebrae of the back, and in the tooch-ach the adductor Muscle of the thumb, on that side where the pain is: and so on. I am sensible, that the most skilful Anatomist would be at a loss to find out any particular correspondence of these remote and differing parts with one another.

7.

Modes of burning.

There are several things required, and many particular rules to be observed, in the application of this Caustick, with regard chiefly to the place which is the most proper to be burnt, to the time, when the operation is to be performÕd, to the number of Cones, which must be applied successively, to the situation of the Patient, when under the operation, to the proper diet to be undergone both before and after, and other the like circumstances. The following are the chief and most general rules. Tendons, Arteries and Veins must be avoided with all possible care, in order to which the operator must not only call to help his eyes, in a careful examination of the parts, but make use also of his fingers, and feel whereabouts they lie. Whatever situation the Patient was in, when the properest place for the application of the Caustick was examined and determined, in that same he must remain, whilst the operation is perform'd, whether he was sitting or standing. He that is to be burnt, must sit on the ground cross-leg'd, after the fashion of the Eastern nations, holding the palms of his hands to his cheeks, that posture being the nearest to that in the mother's womb, and thought the most proper to shew the situation and interstices of the muscles. Those that are to be burnt in the legs, must sit on a stool or chair, holding their legs down into a tub of warm water, because, they say, that in these parts, which are so remote from the fountain of heat, the perspiration must be promoted by art. Those persons, who are of a tender sickly constitution, must not have more than three Causticks applied at a time, to any part of their body whatever. To strong people ten, twenty and more, must be order'd, according to the nature of the distemper. There are no certain rules to go bv, as to the number of Cones, which must be burnt on any part successively, or whether the same must be applied alternatively, this depending in a great measure upon the Patient's patience, and the operatorÕs pleasure. The day after the operation,
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and for some following days, the operator examines and dresses the part. If he finds it dry and not suppurated, he ]ooks upon it as a very bad sign, and a proof that nature is scarce strong enough to throw out the morbifick matter. In this case he endeavours to promote the suppuration, by applying pounded onions. Thus far what I could learn concerning the Moxa, by conversing with the Surgeons of the Country, and those persons, who malce it more particularly their business to burn people with it.
As to the more particular rules of this burning art, they have tables printed in Chinese and Japanese characters, of which I here present the Reader with one, which I endeavourÕd to explain and translate, so well as the nature of the Chinese verse, wherein it is wrote, and the principles of their Philosophy would admit of. I have likewise added two Schemes, (vid. Tab. XLIV.) being two different views of the human body, wherein is shewn, what parts are proper to be burnt in certain distempers, with the particular names of these parts. They are sold in booksellers shops, and by mountebanks, who cry them up in the streets and publick places, to allure the common people to buy, for a trifle, all the rules and precepts of an art, which they are ignorant of. The text, as I found it in the Japanese orginal, is printed in Italick characters, and the few notes, which I was able to add to explain the same, in Roman, enclosed within two books.

KIUSIU KAGAMI

. A Treatise (in the literal sense a Looking-glass) shewing what parts of the human body are to be burnt with the Moxa.
Chap. I.
Shews the method of burning deliver'd in verse in certain propositions, whereby this whole art is discover'd to the world.
1. In the head-ach, swimming of the head, fainting fits, in the DSEOKI, (Dseoki is a particular kind of an inflammation in the face, occasioned by a scorbutick disposition of the body, which is very common in this Country. Persons, who labour under it, are frequently affected with swellings in their faces, and sometimes the whole head, attended with an almost intolerable sense of heat and burning, and this very often from slight causes, as from bathing, and excesses in drinking, and exercise. This swelling is often followed by an inflammation of the eyes.) in a dimness of the eyes, occasioned by a too frequent attack of the Dseoki, in pains of the shoulder after head-ach, in asthma's and streightness of breath, it is proper to burn that part of the human body, which is call'd KOKO.
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2. In distempers of the Children, particularly swellings of the belly, loosenesses, loss of appetite, in the itch and exulceration of the noses, as also in shortness of sight, the region of the SIUITZ, (or eleventh vertebra) must be burnt on both sides with fifteen or sixteen cones, leaving one SUN and a half's distance (about two or three inches) between the two places, which they are to be applied to. Remark I. Siuitz, or the eleventh, is so called from its being the eleventh vertebra in number, computing from the fourth vertebra of the neck, that being the most apparent of any, when the head is bowed down forwards towards the breast. The same rule must be observed with regard to all the other vertebrae, whereof the number only is mentioned. Remark 2. Sun is properly speaking a measure, whereby they measure the length of things. They are of two different sizes, the longer is made use of by merchants, the shorter by builders, and workmen. The Sun, as it is above mentioned, with regard to the method of burning with the Moxa, must be understood of neither of these, but its length taken from the second joint of the middle-finger of that very person on whom the operation is to be perform'd, as bearing the most accurate proportion to other parts of the same body.
3. In the Sakf (a chronical and intermitting kind of a colick,) in the Senki, (or that colick, which is endemial to this Country, and hath been amply treated of in Numb. III. of this Appendix) and in the Subakf, (or gripings of the guts occasioned by worms) you must burn on both sides of the navel at two Suns distance. This place is called TENSU.
4. In the obstruction of the menses, and influxes; in whites, in piles, and the exulceration of the haemorrhoids, and in the Tekagami, (an intermitting sort of a cold, attended with pain and heaviness in the head) you must burn the place KISOO or KITZ, on both sides with five cones. To find out this place, you must measure from the navel streight down four Suns, then sidewards at right angles four Suns on each side, so that there be eight Suns distance between the two places to be burnt.
5. In a difficult delivery you must burn three cones on the extremity of the little finger of the right foot. This will give instant relief, and promote the delivery.
6. In want of milk in nurses, jive cones must be burnt between the two breasts in the middle.
7. In arthritick pains and rheumatisms, in pains of the legs, as also in strangury, or retention of urine, you must burn about eleven cones, on the thighs about three inches above the knees, (or on the place for issues.)
8. In swellings and pain of the belly, in pain at the heart from a quotidian fever, in pain of the stomach, and loss of 9. In pain of the hips and knees, for weakness of the legs in particular, and of all members of the body in general, you must burn the place, called JUSI. (Jusi is that place on the thighs, which one may reach with the
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extremity of his middle-finger, holding his hands streight downwards in a natural situation.
10. Those, who have a hardness and swelling in the Hypochondria, as also those who have frequent shiverings, or relapses of putrid fevers, must be bttrnt in the place called SEOMON. (Seomon is just beneath the last false rib on each side. The burning of this place is extream painful. I should have thought it more proper to write it Schomon, or Siomon, but hearing the Japanese pronounce it themselves, I found that they make a short e of it.) 11. In claps you must burn in the middle of the place called JOKOMON. (Jokomon is above the privities in the middle between them and the navel.)
12. Those persons who are subject to colds, bleeding at the nose, or swimming of the head, will Jind great benefit, if they cause from fifty to an hundred cones to be burnt (successively) in the place, called FUUMON. ( fuumon is the region of the Os sacrum.)
13. Those who are troubled with tumours and ulcers in the anus, must have one cone burnt three suns from thc extremity of the Os Coccigis: (The burning of this place is attended also with a very great, and almost intolerable pain.)
14. In the procidentia ani, the Os Coecygis itself must be burnt.

Chap. II.
Nindsin, (the spirits of the Stars) lodges in the spring about the ninth vertebra, in the summer about the fifth vertebra, in autumn about the third, and in winter about the fourteenth, and near both hips: For this reason care must be taken not to burn any of these places, at the times abovementioned.
2. Upon the turning of the four seasons of the year, you must asoid burning either the place, called Seomon, or the fourteenth vertebra, because instead of being benefcial, it would rather prove hurtful, and encrease the distemper. 3. You must entirely abstain from burning in rainy, wet, or too hot weather, and on a cold day.
4. You must not lie with your wives three days before, and seven days after the burning.
5. Angry, passionate people must not be burnt, before their passion is calmed. Weary people, and who are just come from their work, must not be burnt, till they have rested themselves. the same rule is to be observed, as to hungry people, or such as have eat too much.
6. People must abstain from drinking of Saki (a spirituous fermented liquor, brewed out of rice) before they are burnt, but after the operation hath been performed, it is not only safe but advisable to do it, because it promotes the circulation of the spirits and blood. (The Japanese knew long ago, that the fluids circulate in our body, but how, and after what manner the circulation is performed, they are still ignorant of.)

[p.46]

7. Great care mest be taken not to go into a bath of sweet water, for three days after the operation. (The Japanese are very great lovers of bathing, and use it every day. I believe that this is the reason why the pox spreads so much less, than it would be otherwise like to do in so populous a Country.)
8. Medicines should be given to cure the distempers incident to our body, and the burning with the Moxa should be ordered to preserve us from them. For this reason even those, who are otherwise in a good state of health, should be burnt twice a year, once in the second month (March) and once in the eighth (September.) (The proper days for burning, and which are favoured by the influence of the Stars, are set down in their almanacks.)
9. You must feel the pulse before you burn: If it be too quick, you must act prudently, because that shews that your patient hath got a cold.
10. The places to be burnt, must be measured by SAKU and SUNS. the length of the Sun must be determined from the middle joint of the middlefinger, in men in the left and in women in the right hand.

Chap. III.

Women who would have done breeding, must have three cones burnt on the navel.

Chap. IV.

Women that would be glad to have children, must have eleven cones burnt on the side of the twenty-first vertebra.


TOPTOP
inserted by FC2 system