Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 139, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1910 — METHODS OF CHINESE DOCTOR. [ARTICLE]

METHODS OF CHINESE DOCTOR.

Treatment Pere Rlpa Underwent s Wai Severe, bnt K(Reacton*. This is the Chinese medical treatment which a Roman Catholic priest, Pere Rlpa, underwent, according to ths London Lancet: Having been thrown from his horse and left fainting in the street, he was carried Into a house where a doctor soon visited him. “He made me Bit up in bed, placing near me a large basin filled with water, in which he put a thick piece of Ice to reduce it to freezing point Then stripping me to the waist, he made me stretch my neck over the basin while he continued to pour tho water on my neck with a cup. The pain caused by those nerves which take their rise from the pia mater was so great and so insufferable that it seemed to me hnequ&led, but he said It would stanch the blood and restore me to my senses, which was actually the case, for in a short time my sight became clear and my mind resumed its powers. He next bound my head with a band drawn tight by two men, who held the ends while he struck the intermediate parts vigorously with a piece of wood, which shook my head violently and gave me dreadful pain. This, he said, was to settle the brain, which, he supposed, had been displac-

ed, and it is true that after the operation my head felt more free. “A third operationywas now performed, during which he made me, still stripped to the waist, walk in the open air supported by two persons and while thus walking he unexpectedly threw a basin of freezing water over my breast. As this caused me to draw my breath with great vehemence and as my chest had been injured by- the fall, It may easily be imagined what were my sufferings under this affliction, but I was consoled by the information that if any rib had been dislocated this sudden and hard breathing would restore It to its natural position. The next proceeding was not less painful and extravagant. The operator made me sit on the ground and, assisted by two men, hold a cloth upon my mouth and nose till I was almost suffocated. ‘This,’ said the ChlneseAesculaplus, ‘by causing a violent heaving of the chest will force back any rib that may have been dislocated.’ The wound in my head not being deep, he healed it by stuffing It with burned cotton. He then ordered that I should continue to walk much, supported by two persons; that I should not sit long nor be allowed to sleep till 10 o’clock at night, at which time I should eat a little thin rice soup. He assured .me that these walks In the open air while fasting would prevent the blood from settling upon the chest, where It might corrupt. These remedies, though barbarous and excruciating, cured me so completely that In seven days I was able to resume my Journey.’’