Oh-Min Kwon

A Study on Herbal Formulas and their origin in Mayaku-ku(麻藥考)

Objective : This article shows that while Seishu Hanaoka(華岡靑洲) is known to have developed an effective anesthetic formula composed of traditional herbs and performed the world first partial mastectomy under a general anesthesia in 1804, anesthetic formulas very similar to those developed by him were widely recorded and deemed used in Japan and Northeast Asia before his invention. The origin of the formulas will be tracked down to compare with the several formulas broadly administered in the region. Methods : Historical literature analysis was adopted to achieve the objective. 1. Mayaku-ku (麻藥考): this book is the main medical classic by Nakagawa Syutei(中川修亭) that introduces Seishu Hanaoka, his anesthetic formulas and mastectomy. 2. Northeast medical classics: Seuideukhyobang (世醫得效方) in 1337, Uibangryuchui (醫方類聚), Uihui(宜彙) and so on. Result : Herbs such as aconitum and datura were applied as a anesthetic agent early on before the Chinese Yuan dynasty. In Korea as well, some old medical books documented such use of those herbs and relevant formulas. Conclusion : Formulas that counted as invented and employed by Seishu Hanaoka as anesthetics, in fact, had been widely known and used in the region before his era. We should pay due attention to his creativity that combined a western surgical intervention and traditional anesthetic agents and successfully performed a newly introduced surgical practice in Japan. The point is that Hanaoka took note of anesthetic herbs or formulas traditionally inherited in North-east Asian medicine and successfully applied them to the surgical procedures for breast cancer, or mastectomy and mammotomy. This history alerts us to neglected or forgotten potentials of traditional medicine in anesthetic treatment and more.

Recognition of Medicinal Efficacy of Pepper as an Introduced Species in Traditional Medicine

The aim of this study is to look at how pepper was used in traditional medicine. In other words, this study aims to take a look at the process by which the medicinal nature & efficacy of pepper in traditional society was perceived and arranged through the aspects of the use of pepper as an exotic crop for treating diseases. This study investigated cases of using pepper for medical treatments by referring to books on traditional medicine in Korea. The old records about pepper are mainly in empirical medical books from the late Chosun dynasty. Nevertheless, the records about pepper tend to decrease in medical text as time goes by. Such a phenomenon can be attributable to the fact that people began to use pepper for daily food life rather than for medicinal purposes. Pepper was used mostly for digestive trouble such as vomiting, diarrhea, and stomachaches, and it was also applied to mental and aching diseases caused by the sound of body fluids remaining in the stomach. In addition, there were many cases where pepper was used externally for surgical disorders. Such symptoms for treatment are linked to, or in a complementary relationship with, research results in modern times. Boiled pepper was generally taken in the traditional herbal decoction method, and in the case of surgical diseases, it was applied externally. The cases of using old pepper, using pepper with seeds or without seeds, and using pepper mixed with sesame oil belong to a sort of herbal medicine processing, which usually aimed at changing the medicinal nature of pepper. In addition, in relation to the eating habits at that time, pepper was used as seasoning and to make red pepper paste with or without vinegar. There are two words used for pepper in the medical textbooks, 苦椒 (gocho) and 烈棗 (yeoljo). These words are translated into Korean as gochu, so we can identify this word as a nickname for pepper.