On the early history of syphilis in China / by George Thin.

  • Thin, George.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the early history of syphilis in China / by George Thin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/10 (page 6)
    There is a tradition mentioned by a writer 400 years ago (utterly untrustwortliy), that syphilis came from beyond the Ling Piao hill in Canton province. ' To give a brief summary of the above statements, it is to be noted that,— 1. In the book of Odes is a song, the theme of wliich is under- stood by the most ancient Chinese commentators to hinge on a dis- ease of the sexual organs, which was common enough to be con- nected with the idea of a specific remedy. The odes were collected by Confucius, who was born B.C. 551. 2. The commentators of the earlier Han dynasty, in commenting on this ode, give this disease a recognised name, the hateful dis- ease, state that it debars from sexual intercourse, and that the remedy for it is a plant which, from the earliest records to the pre- sent day, has been used for the treatment of syphilis. These com- mentators lived B.C. 200. 3. From the reluctance of Chinese authors to use in their writings the vulgar names of their time for venereal disease, and fr-om the same feeling prompting to the use of general and collective terms for disease for its designation, the imagination of the student being supposed to supply the want of more defined information, a general ignorance as to the very early existence of syphilis has been gene- rated among Chinamen, even of moderate erudition. Facts related by writers who lived about the beginning of the Christian era, about cases to which these general terms for disease were applied, point out these cases as venereal. 4. In the seventh century, the venereal chancre is described under a specific name, which places its nature beyond doubt. From that time onwards, various allusions to it are found in literature. In modern times, these ancient notices had been overlooked, partly from the change of nomenclature, and partly from the works in which the notices occurred not being likely to come before practi- tioners as objects of study. PRINTED BY OLIVER AND BOYD, EDJNBUROH.