관점의 전환, 경전의 해부 — 청말(淸末) 『의림개착(醫林改錯)』의 ‘뇌수설’을 중심으로

Abstract

Yi Lin Gai Cuo, consisting of two volumes and one book, is known to be an archive of innovative anatomical accomplishments. However, it is often overlooked that the author, Wang Qing-ren, was a medical professional who emphasized his identity as a job doctor. Yi Lin Gai Cuo was not an encyclopedia with guaranteed totality and completeness; rather, it was a medical book aimed at disease treatment. The main emphasis of this paper lies not in the precision of the medical knowledge provided by the atlases, but rather in the presence of anatomical insight which formed the foundation and facilitated the translation of such knowledge into clinical application. What Wang Qing-ren pursued was not merely an interpretation of the body, but a practical knowledge meant to be applied in clinical practice. The errors and inconsistencies within the traditional medical community which he tempted to amend sprouted from the mismatch between what was prescribed and its theoretical basis. He centers his critique on the culture of ‘Yi Lin’, an intertwined combination of medical thought and practice, based on the Confucianist ‘benevolence’. As a result, one harsh criticism of contemporaries towards Wang was that he was ‘heartless’, meaning he lacked the virtue of benevolence. Interestingly, the clinical cases of ‘Discourse on the Brain Marrow’ presented by Wang predominantly focus on diseases that have now been established to have a significant correlation with the brain, such as ‘hemiplegic paralysis’ articulated in the terms‘non-benevolence’ and ‘numb’. Chinese Confucianism analogizes human organs to the structure of Bureaucracy, which is an important indicator of the traditional culture of Chinese medicine. It is worth noting that Wang Qing-ren dissected these metaphors through the lens of medical knowledge based on anatomical observation. This paper examines the critical rationales provided by Yi Lin Gai Cuo. ‘Discourse on the Brain Marrow’ overturned prevailing traditional perspectives on the treatment of related diseases, therefore being of great academic value and historical significance.