Complementary and Alternative Medicine, When Rigorous, can be Science
In October 2003, during the 12th Congress of Oriental Medicine in Taipei, the National Palace Museum organized an enormously pertinent exhibit in Gallery 313 derived largely from the museum’s collection of ancient medical texts that includes classics on numerous topics. It is entitled Life is Worth More than Gold: A Special Exhibition of Ancient Medicinal Classics. In the English translation of the Chinese description clues are embedded that pertain to the origins of both Western medicine and the history of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as briefly described: “Disease has always been a great topic of concern in human society. From prayers and spells to the birth of medicine as a rational science, man has been able to develop all sorts of medical treatments to combat against different illnesses and ailments, because, as the Chinese proverb has it, ‘life is worth more than a thousand gold pieces.’ Towards the end of the Eastern Han (the 3rd century), typhoid was rampant in China, and the fatality rate was extremely high. Chang Chung-ching, with his extensive clinical experience, wrote the Treatise on Cold-Induced Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases, and thereby established the foundations for ‘treatment based on differentiation of symptom-complex’ in traditional Chinese medicine. After that, as governments began setting up medical institutions and experiences of private doctors came to be valued, many important medicinal theories, treatments and much pharmaceutical knowledge were gradually organized systematically. Advancements in pharmacology were particularly notable. For example, the Newly-Revised Materia Medica issued by Emperor Kao-tsung of the T’ang dynasty in the 10th year of his reign (659) was the first pharmacological encyclopedia edited and published by the government, and a copy was taken to Japan by Japanese emissaries soon after its completion.”