Ŭi sahak
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Historical Article
[The introduction of compendium of materia medica and praxis in the late Joseon dynasty].
Sakae Miki said Classified Emergency Materia Medica had been the dominant standard of herbology throughout Joseon Dynasty, and that Compendium of Materia Medica had only been accepted so lately that a few books used herbological result of it in the late Joseon Dynasty. But according to Visiting Old Beijing Diary written by Munjoong Seo in 1690, Compendium of Materia Medica was in fact introduced before the year 1712, the year Miki Sakae argued to be the year Compendium of Materia Medica was accepted to Joseon officially. Now, we can assume that the introducing year of Compendium of Materia Medica was faster than Miki Sakae's opinion by the following reasons; the effort of Joseon government and intellectuals to buy new books of Ming & Ching; the publishing year of the book for living in countryside regarded as the first citing literature of Compendium of Materia Medica. ⋯ Essentials of Materia Medica quoted Compendium of Materia Medica briefly focusing clinical use, and Handbook of Prescriptions from Materia Medica also re-compiled Compendium of Materia Medica to practical use according to the form of Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine. It means that the results of Compendium of Materia Medica have been used positively, based on the herbology of materia medica from countryside. From this point of view, the hyphothesis there weren't any herbological progress after accepting Compendium of Materia Medica in the late Joseon Dynasty by Sakae Miki can be denied.
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Biography Historical Article
[The formation and background of Claude Bernard's general physiology].
Claude Bernard, a French physiologist in the nineteenth century, strove to establish experimental physiology as a medical branch and scientific field. In 1854, he started his lecture series on general physiology at the Paris Faculty of Sciences, which was continued at the National Museum of Natural History since 1869 when Bernard's chair was transferred from the Faculty to the Museum. At the Museum, Bernard titled his lecture series the"Phenomena of Life Common to Animals and Plants," which revealed the main characteristic of his general physiology. ⋯ At the museum, zoologists, botanists, and physiologists worked together, and the peculiar natural history tradition of the institution enabled scientists to study animals and plants at the same time. Although there existed some conflicts between experimentalists and naturalists, Bernard could wisely figure out the problem by asserting that the role of a physiologist was to disclose, by experimentation, the fundamental principles that lay behind the superficial facts of life that were already discovered by natural historians. At the Museum, Bernard could break down the distinction between the animal and plant kingdoms in the domain of experimental physiology, and it can perhaps be considered a step toward the formation of the general science of biology.
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The Korean Journal of Medical History published in 1992 provides spaces for publication to medical historians who have been growing increasingly since the 1990s, thereby stimulating studies in the modern history of medicine in Korea. Through research published in the Korean Journal of Medical History and other journals, the course through which medicine in Korea in the modern times has been formed and the content of medicine that composed that course are elucidated. This article concludes that the various research tend to posit the view that the modern history of medicine in Korea evolves through a process of accommodation with Western medicine rather than being a complete transplantation of Western medicine, and describes medicine as it is viewed by consumers rather than the operators of medicine. ⋯ Given that medicine is one area that drives changes in Korea in contemporary times, the outcomes obtained through this field can be sufficiently utilized when studying other areas. For instance, agony over the modernity of missionary medicine being studied recently provides meaningful implications in understanding the modernity of Korea. However, the importance of substantiation should not be overlooked as theories not supported by thorough documentary evidence are weak.
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Historical Article
[The trend and prospect of studies on the history of Western medicine in Korea.].
Studies on the history of Western medicine in Korea began to be actively conducted and published since the restart of the Korean Society for the History of Medicine in 1991, which had been originally inaugurated in 1947, and the publication of its official journal, the Korean Journal of Medical History in 1992. In 1970s and 1980s, even before the start of the Journal, articles on a history of Western medicine were published mainly written by physicians in medical journals. This paper aims to provide an overview of the publications on the history of Western medicine in Korea, comparing papers published in the Journal with those published in other journals. ⋯ In contrast, however, the number of researchers published in the Journal, the number of the papers and its topics - all decreased in recent years. Only three papers on the history of diseases have been published in the Journal, while eleven published in other journals. In order to stimulate research on the history of Western medicine in Korea, concerted efforts are necessary including academic communication among various disciplines, formulation of a long term plan to enlarge the pool of researchers and readers of the history of Western medicine, and development of strategic educational programs for both graduates and undergraduates including students of medicine and of humanities in Korea.
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Biography Historical Article
[The life of Dr. RO Kishun, a reflection of modern Korean medical history of the borders].
RO Kishun was born on February 2, 1893 in Ongjin County, Hwanghae Province of Joseon Korea. He graduated from the Medical Training Center, a campus associated with the Joseon Government-General Hospital, in 1915, and from Kyushu Imperial University School of Medicine in 1917. He continued his medical study at the university in 1929, majoring in biochemistry, and earned a doctorate in medicine in 1932. ⋯ RO's life brings modern historians' attention to the issue of determining geographical territories and nationality, in that his life unfolded at the borderlands or frontiers of Joseon Korea, China, and Japan, where the history of the three nations met and intermingled with one another. He was a biochemist and researcher, practicing physician and medical professor of the era under Japanese Rule and the one following it. In modern Korean medicine, his life is viewed as a history of the borders, or a transnational legacy going beyond individual history of Korea, China, and Japan.