POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Collection of medical and surgical tools from China

Object No. 96/253/5

This collection of 32 metal instruments is contained in a cardboard box with a hand written English label on the lid: 'Surgical instruments from rural China'. The instruments are metal with significant corrosion. They include: 12 acupuncture needles (including two with a label 'Needles used for acupuncture'); 5 scoops; 6 pinchers; 3 knives (including one with a label 'Surgeons knife: rural China'); 2 scrapers; 2 cutters; 2 lancets; and a hook. They are thought date from the early 20th century China and have been used for minor surgical procedures and acupuncture. The acupuncture needles in this set are short metal needles with a flat triangular shaped head ending in a sharp point, similar to a surgical scalpel blade, with wire twisted around the other end to form the handle. This type of acupuncture instrument was probably used for bloodletting through phlebotomy, or opening a vein, performed by applying pressure above the vein to distend it and then pricking to allow the blood to flow. The small labelled surgeon's knife consists of two larger opposing similar triangular scalpel-like blades, suitable for finer dissection, joined at their ends and the hook would have served as a skin retractor. The various pinchers function as forceps and the small scoops could be used for curetting and removing extraneous tissue. These surgical instruments were utilized for performing minor surgical procedures on the external body such as the lancing of abscesses, removal of skin lumps and the debridement of ulcers and wounds with application of herbal pastes and powders. Such procedures were traditionally performed by certain healers or 'externalists' who specialised in this area, and largely inherited their profession with experience and knowledge passed on through the family lineage. In traditional China the prohibitive influence of Confucius, with emphasis on the sacredness of the body and objection to dissection, hindered the development of internal surgery and anatomy. Medical development was also influenced by the Taoist doctrine of Yin Yang and the Five Phases (elements) that evolved to illustrate a detailed system of mutual correspondence. Phenomena of the visible and invisible world are understood as subject to mutual dependence through associations along lines of correspondence. Manipulations of one element in a specific line of correspondence can affect other elements of the same line. Influences on and within the body, explained earlier within concepts of demonology and a magical system of healing, came to be understood within an integrated system where all conceivable natural phenomena possess a transformative basis called Qi, pronounced 'chi', often translated as vital energy flow, but conceived as containing the tension between substance/matter and activity/energy. The Chinese system of traditional medicine understands health as a state of dynamic balance of Qi energies within the body and in relation to its external environment. Within the body Qi is in constant motion in a network of invisible channels or meridians in the body and undergoes continuous change, reflecting the dynamic interplay between aspects of restraint (yin) and exuberance (yang) and influenced by Qi from external phenomena. Health and well-being are contingent on the unobstructed flow of Qi and harmonization of the two aspects with cycles of change within the body. The meridians connect the interior of the body with the exterior and the basis of acupuncture theory is that working with certain points on the body will affect the Qi and blood that travel in the meridians below through lines of correspondence. Acupuncture is used to act on aspects of Qi; supplement Qi when it is depleted, drain any surplus and regulate its flow. The earliest mention of acupuncture as a therapeutic needling technique to influence Qi is cited in a historical text from approximately 90 B.C.E. Earlier practices suggested as conceptual precursors for acupuncture include the use of pointed stones to treat abscesses, and small lancets and swords to prick affected body parts where pain and swelling indicated the presence of a malevolent demon. Subsequently lancets were used in bloodletting to treat stagnation in blood vessels and to stimulate the flow of Qi and the use of the familiar filiform acupuncture needles within this therapeutic context may have gradually developed from the use of bleeding lancets on defined points of the skin. The acupuncture needles in this set are very different to the very fine stainless steel filiform needles standardised for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and developed in response to Western influenced improvements in technology and a concern for pain-free treatment. Bloodletting is still counted among acupuncture techniques in modern China but is mainly carried out using fine needles at the peripheral points of the fingers and toes and combined with other therapies. Minor surgery has been increasingly taken over by Western trained doctors in China since the integration of TCM and Western biomedicine under the Communist government from the mid-20th century. In turn TCM, emphasising acupuncture and herbal therapies, has generated an increasing presence in Western countries like Australia since the 1970's.These instruments provide a contrast to the boxed sets of Western influenced minor surgical instruments from the same missionary display and study collection that were also acquired by the museum. The crude acupuncture needles point to some of the different cultural and political influences acting on the development of Chinese medicine in the 20th century and are interesting to compare with the set of more contemporary acupuncture needles in the museum's collection. The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library, F.N.L. Poynter, ed, 'Chinese Medicine:An Exhibition Illustrating the Traditional System of Medicine of the Chinese People,' London, 1996, p6 Unschuld, Paul U, 'Medicine in China: A History of Ideas, California', 1985, p235-249 Unschuld, Paul U, 'Medicine in China: A History of Ideas, California', 1985, p235-249