The divergence between traditional Chinese medical scholars and doctors of Western medicine in their views of the human body organs arises from the difference in their research methods. For instance, Western scholars dissected the human body and by this means found the position of the heart, located the blood vessels in the heart, distinguished the arteries from the veins, and came at the two arteries that originate in the aorta and supply blood direct to the heart tissues---the coronary arteries. They saw that the heart has two atria and two ventricles, both pairs of which are separated by valves. They went on further with their work of dissection and discovered the sinoatrial node, the atrioventricular node, and the atrioventricular bundle---those strictures that control the rhythm of the heartbeat. Thus they acquired a basic acquaintance with the functions of the heart.

Although traditional Chinese medical scholars also engaged in dissections of the human body, this did not lead to establishment of the foundation of understanding by traditional Chinese medicine of the physiological functions and pathological states of the human body. For example, traditional Chinese medical scholars’ knowledge of the existence of the pericardium is derived from dissections done in former times. But traditional Chinese medical scholars’ knowledge of the functions of the heart organ was gained through observation and generalization of the outward manifestations of the physiological and pathological states of the human body.

Western medicine considers the lung to be a respiratory organ, the kidney an organ of the urinary system, the liver an organ for production and secretion of the bile, and the spleen an organ concerned with immunity. However, traditional Chinese medicine deems the lung not just an organ used for respiration but closely connected with the water metabolism of the whole body. It conceives of the kidney not simply as a urinary system but as an organ needed for reproduction, for the growth and development of the human body, and even for the breathing of air. These variances are due chiefly to differences in the research methods employed and the resulting divergences in theories formulated through generalization.

<< Back