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Soumi answered on
Apr 11 2021
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Title: American History
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Differential Approaches to Medicinal Practices by Different Cultures and Their Varied Outcomes 5
Methods used by Each of the Chosen Culture 7
Nature of their Medical Knowledge 9
Conclusion 11
Bibliography 13
Introduction
Modern medical science is not a result of scientific basis, solely because it is actually, based upon the ancient medical history and knowledge. It would be essential to consider that diseases existed even when modern science was not there, and people were still able to heal as well as defend themselves from those diseases. History of medicine from different cultures as well as communities reflects that societies as well as medical approach took a turn towards a much modern approach. Therefore, it is evident that medicinal knowledge did exist. Nevertheless, the extent of prevalence varied among different communities. Certain communities or cultures had better medicinal knowledge compared to others, and this can be considered as a major factor behind the extinction of certain civilizations[footnoteRef:1]. Asian countries have always been considered as one-step ahead of other countries with respect to the medical knowledge they possessed. [1: Times of India, Lifestyle habits that silently impact your bone health Available from https:
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/lifestyle-habits-that-silently-impact-your-bone-health/photostory/71952118.cms (2020)]
This assignment will focus upon Indian and Chinese cultures of medical treatment. It has been evident from Indian historical text ‘Atharvaveda regarding the use of plants as well as he
s for the treatment of many diseases. Ayurveda is the traditional medicinal knowledge followed among Indian culture, along with the evidences of surgical methodology, which was only possible in Indian culture[footnoteRef:2]. Likewise, Taoist physicians from China have been famous for their traditional medicinal knowledge, and the symptoms of a disease may vary among individuals. Traditional Chinese medicines are considered to be more than 3,500 year old, and includes use of he
s, acupuncture, massage, cupping therapy, and much more. [2: Jaiswal, Yogini S., and Leonard L. Williams. "A glimpse of Ayurveda–The forgotten history and principles of Indian traditional medicine." Journal of traditional and complementary medicine 7, no. 1 (2017): 50-53.]
There are many basic textbooks related to Chinese medicinal practices, which have been defining the traditional medicinal knowledge, have been collected and reported to be written in the 5th century to the 3rd century BC, while foundational manuscripts or medicinal knowledge from Indian culture have been reported to be more than 600 BCE. Therefore, both of the cultures reflect one of the cultures with the history of medical knowledge. Western medicines did not prevail, it was somewhere around 18th century when western science and medication practices became prevalent in China[footnoteRef:3]. However, before Qing dynasty, there was proliferated distribution of books, also known as advanced encyclopedias based upon the traditional Chinese knowledge. Treatment of disease in both Indian and Chinese culture was based upon spiritual aspects; therefore, a special attention was given to god and related rituals before the implication of actual treatment. [3: Huang, Lin, Qi Lv, Duoli Xie, Tieliu Shi, and Chengping Wen. "Deciphering the potential pharmaceutical mechanism of Chinese traditional medicine (Gui-zhi-shao-yao-zhi-mu) on rheumatoid arthritis." Scientific reports 6 (2016): 22602.]
Both of the above-mentioned cultures will be critically analyzed based upon the historical data as well as literature available. In order to conduct the research, secondary qualitative approach will be implied, where previously published research articles, journals, and scientific data will be collected and analyzed. Collection of research articles and studies would be done through resource li
ary, books as well as other journal articles, which could be collected from databases such as Google scholar. Inclusion-exclusion criteria will be based upon the relevance of information to the topic. Collected data will then be used to answer further questions such as, the treatments procedures used by these cultures, nature of medical knowledge, and belief system followed by selected cultures.
The concept of self-healing has been implicated by both the chosen cultures – Indian and Chinese, in their respective ways, which have sometimes, been efficient and sometimes ineffective. However, the activities of both the cultures’ scientists have led to a number of important discoveries concerning the health as well as the healing of their people. Hence, at this point, the bases of many medical and medicinal practices are these cultural beliefs, which have
ought in a similarity in the scientific practices, with the cultural beliefs. It has been observed that it is more so because there is a religious influence to them. The people and their religious beliefs have more forced them to trust these practices than analyzing them on the grounds of scientific approaches.
Differential Approaches to Medicinal Practices by Different Cultures and Their Varied Outcomes
The approach between the Chinese and the Indian medicinal practices were observed to be strikingly different from each other because, the approaches of the Chinese medical practitioners were more of philosophical than being scientific, while that of the Indian medical practitioners where more concentrated upon the scientific approach of wellbeing, more impregnated with pharmacological medicines made from he
s. For the purpose of understanding this contrast between these two cultures’ medicinal practices better, the example of using medicines can be considered, which was strikingly different in both the case from one another. In case of the Chinese medical practitioners, they believed the healing of the body could be possible only through the well-being of the mind, which can help the flow of positive energy be facilitated from the mind to...