THE ANCIENT ART OF FEELING THE PULSE

Abstract

Based on a paper read before the Osler Club, 1949 The Ars Sphygmica or ancient science of the pulse dates back into antiquity to long before Galen's time.It is probable that Chinese and Hindu physicians were skilled in feeling the pulse before the dawn of Hippocratic Medicine,-and Oriental pulse-lore appears to have developed quite independently of Greek influence. CHINESE SPHYGMOLOGYAccording to legend, Chinese sphygmology was founded by the Emperor Hoamti who is said to have been the author of several books on the pulse about 2500 B.C., and to have been very skilled in the art.Knowledge of Chinese pulse-lore was first brought to Europe by Jesuit missionaries, one of whom, Father Boym, translated the books of Wang-cho-ho on the pulse in 1652, and this translation was published by Cleyer in 1682 in an illustrated Latin work.I have not seen Cleyer's book, but I possess the French translation of Wang-cho-ho's Secret of the Pulse, by Father Hervieu, published in du Halde's Description of the Chinese Empire, and good accounts of the Chinese pulse doctrines are given by Floyer (1707), Menuret (1768), and especially by Ozanam (1886).Wang- cho-ho lived during the Tsin dynasty, several centuries B.C., and he refers to other works on the pulse both ancient and modem.FIG.1.-Chinese pulses after Cleyer. (1)Cun corresponds to upper part of body, palpated by ring finger. (2)Quoan, middle part of body, middle finger.(3) Che, lower part of body, index finger (from Ozanam).The Chinese physician visited his patient in the morning, before taking food, when free from all cares and distractions, and he was enjoined to banish all other thoughts from his mind in order to concentrate on the pulse.This was important because the pulse was timed by the respiration of the physician, four pulsations to each respiration being the natural rate in adults.The patient's arm having been placed on a cushion, the pulse was then palpated at three separate places by the physician's index, ring and middle fingers respectively (Fig. 1).At each site, light, moderate, and firm pressure was applied in turn so as to elicit the superficial and deep pulses.The pulse was examined at both wrists, the physician using his left hand for the patient's right pulse, and vice 423on July 26,

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