Hippocratic Medicine in China: Comparison with a 9th Century Chinese Manual on Bone Setting: 希波克拉醫學與中國 - 第九世紀的中國跌打手冊與希波克拉醫學文獻庫之比較

Chinese history annals recorded cultural interchange between China and the Roman Empire during the Han dynasty. The first medical missionaries were Nestorian Christians from the Middle East who arrived in China in ad 635. They introduced Western medical practice into China. This paper compares the first comprehensive Chinese treatise on bone and joint injuries by a hermit monk named Lin and the Hippocratic Corpus. Based on external knowledge from the author's background as well as textural comparison the text of Hippocrates, a remarkable similarity is noted. Although these similarities could have arisen by chance, it is reasonable to hypothesize that traditional bone setting in China originated from the Hippocratic tradition and was later integrated with indigenous herbal medicine.

中文摘要中國歷史史冊有證據顯示中國和羅馬帝國之間的文化交流在漢代已經出現。第一羣醫療傳教士來到中國始於公元635年，他們是來自中東的景教基督徒，把西方的醫術引進中國。於是就有了第一個對中西醫學經典的全面性比較之研究，它以一個自稱藺道人之隱士所著作的【中國骨傷手册】和西方的希波克拉底醫學文獻庫作對比，在作者的背景和希氏的文獻內容分析，有着明顯的相似性。雖然可能是偶然發生的，然而照合理的推論使然，中國的固有跌打術可能源於希氏的醫學傳統，後與土產草藥醫療融合起來。註: 中國的首本骨科著作《仙授理傷續斷秘方》------自漢代末，古羅馬帝國巳與中國交往。西方醫學源自希臘醫學之父希波克拉底；當中不少學說亦隨啇人傳教士東來，最早到者乃基督教之景教派。唐朝會昌年間有一自稱藺道人之隱士著有【骨傷手册】，流傳至今，其中不乏與西方希氏之治療方法有異曲同工之處。更有學者推斷藺氏乃西方東來之景教徒，因受迫害而隱居山中。然而中西方之骨關節創傷學也可以是各自發展形成，相同之虎亦可能純屬巧合而矣！