초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Cheong Yagyong(1762～1836), the most famous thinker in 19th century Korea, did a marvellous job in medical field as well as other areas such as Confucian studies, history, and government policy. He introduced smallpox variolation and vaccination firstly in Korea. He wrote very large medical book about measles. He had some interested in Western medicine. He denied traditional medical theory of correspondence. These things suggested that he be the champion of the nineteenth century Korean medicine. This paper has interests in the whole pictures of Cheong Yagyong’s medical thought and practice, its development, and its impacts on the society. Why did he have interest in medical area? As a Confucian scholar he thought he should study all areas of Confucian learning: medicine should not be ruled out. As one of the governor class with Confucianism, he thought his medicine should contributed on improvement of people’s health. As an individual body, he thought he should study medicine for keeping his health. Just before 1897, Cheong Yagyong, a young promising official, run into wrestling with measles, the most cruel disease in his time, and ended up compiling a medical book, Maguahoetong(麻科會通, full understanding of measles). He also discovered a powerful method of preventing smallpox in a chinese text and tried to come up with its real practice in 1800. After his exile to the remote country in 1801, his official interest in medicine changed into more private, practical, and sophisticated one. He compiled a medical handbook for population in the exiled place in 1801. This book included the herbals produced in that region or people could get easily. During his 18 years exiled period he could not help depending on his own practice, it made his medicine be more competent enough to be invited to King’s illness after his returning home. A book, Uiryeong(醫零, small treatise on medicine) reveled Cheong Yagyong’s medical thought during his exiled period. Based on his clinical experiences, Cheong Yagyong explored what was good medicine. He evaluated the medicine relying on simple herbals more effective than relying on complex of many herbals. He criticized severly on the ‘superstitious’ aspects of pathology, physiology, and diagnoses based upon five phases theory, for example, “one organ had an influence on other organs following five phases theory.” Galen’s pathology based on four constitutions, worked as an evidence of his rightness in that criticism. Once during 1828～1835, he read smallpox vaccination from a Chinese text translated from English, and included it in his writings. But he erased all the parts revealing Western origin in order to avoid being suspected as the follower of Western religion. From medical historians’ veiws, his accomplishment in medicine was astonished. He was the first introducer of smallpox variolation and vaccination in Korea. His eight volumes of book about measles, titled Maguahoetong, took the hightest place in that area of East Asian medicine at his time. His good bibliographical sprit and understanding of clinical experiences melted in the book. His criticism on some theories of traditional medicine was the most logical and severe before the 19th century in Korea. Application of Western medical patholgy in attacking traditional medicine was not be found other scholars' writings before him. How much did Cheong Yagyong’s medicine have impacted on the society? His study on smallpox variolation contributed greatly on getting a doctor, named Yi Jongin(李鐘仁), practise it on hundreds of thousands of people. His books about mesles got a highly reputation from medical field. His medical practice helped his neighbors get over their sickness. His medicine based on simple herbals rooted in the society as one of the representative of the time. His smallpox vaccination failed to draw wide interests, however. His sever criticism on medicine was also not widely accepted in medical community enough to pave the way to new medicine. His interests in Western medicine never had deep impacts on the society. We can see a big gap between Cheong Yagyong’s medical doings and its real impact on the society. What made this gap? As a Confucian, like in other areas, Cheong Yagyong did his best in medical area such as keeping his health, curing his neighbors, finding miraculous therapy, and seeking for good medicine, and overcoming health problems of his time. But as a Confucian officer, the time he took power was too short to realize his medical ideas. As a Confucian doctor, he did not poured his far surpassing passion and ability on the reform of medicine and medical care. Medicine was just one branch of his wide Confucian learning.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Confucian doctor, Maguahoetong(麻科會通, full understanding of measles), measles, smallpox variolation, smallpox vaccination, Uiryeong(醫零, small treatise on medicine), Western medicine.
