Acupuncture is a method of treating disease, which was dis­covered and used by the Chinese, in their great oriental wisdom, over five thousand years ago, i.e. three thousand years before Christ. The Chinese postulated that there are two vital forces at work in the universe, named respectively Yinn and Yang. Yinn has the attributes of the moon, viz. "silver," softness, femininity, also coldness, whereas Yang has the quality of gold, copper, warmth, strength, masculinity. When these two forces in the human are balanced in their flow of energies, in their respective directions up and down the body, through what is called their different meridians, perfect health exists and is maintained.

Disease develops owing to there being either too much Yang (over stimulation) present or too much Yinn (sedation). There is an imbalance of these two forces. In modern language we have "positive" and "negative." In the terminology of physiology we have the "Sympathetic and the Para-sympathic Nervous System," behind the functions of which may be considered the Yang and Yinn forces respectively.

The meridians just mentioned, of which there are fourteen in number, can be looked upon as "paths" along which these forces travel at lightning speed. They must not be confused with the anatomical nerve paths. The Chinese had diagrams of the human body on which they traced these Yinn and Yang meridians; along them points for treatment were marked. To-day, there are splen­did modern wall charts. The best are by Dr. Stiefvater, one of the authorities on acupuncture in Germany.

This healing method finds support in an extraordinarily rich and ancient experience. The first of the early books on the sub­ject in Chinese were translated into French and were published in France so far back as the 17th century and continued over the 18th up to the present day.

Acupuncture is now widely used by medical doctors in France; and German physicians, with their characteristic thorough­ness have followed the example of the French doctors so that this form of treatment is spreading all over Germany. Their literature on this therapy is rapidly growing. I myself possess no less than seven German works on the subject, and it is from a careful study of these that I am able to use this valuable and effective therapy in my own practice. Unfortunately, there are no books on acupuncture printed in English so far as I have been able to ascertain.* But encyclopedias mention it.

What is the modus operandi of this therapy? Well, let us see what the word "acupuncture" means: "acu"—sharp, pointed, needle-like. (We have the word "acute" in English); "puncture" is self-explanatory. Hence, acupuncture is a prick made with a needle. Very fine gold, silver or steel needles are used, first on the spots that are painful either spontaneously or on digital pres­sure, then on the different points shown on the meridians to be influenced. The effect of the insertion of the gold, silver, or steel needle or needles into these releases locked up energy.

Dr. Hunneke states that a short circuit is thus created, and that with this release of energy pain disappears and the balance of forces is established and the tone of the whole organism im­proved. Whatever the theory or the method may be, it assuredly works; and in confirmation of this I shall now cite a case of acute appendicitis which was cured in a most remarkable way. But first let me say this, that although the very thought of inserting needles into the skin may cause you to shudder, in spite of the thousands of injections that are given almost every hour of the day, you may take it from me as an actual fact that the many patients whom I have treated experienced either no pain whatso­ever, or only such a very trifling sensation as to make no odds. They have no hesitation at all in having the treatment repeated as many times as may be necessary, even asking for it because of the excellent results obtained. And be it noted, no substance is injected.

Now to a case of appendicitis treated by Dr. Neils Krack.

One winter evening he was called out to a nine-year-old young­ster. The roads were so iced over that it was impossible for him to use his car, and although i« was only a short journey to the boy's home it was also extraordinarily difficult and time consum­ing to make it on foot. The doctor found the lad suffering from very severe pains in the right lower abdominal region, with nausea and vomiting. The pulse rate was 118 a minute and the tempera­ture was 103. A point on the lower abdomen named "Mac-Burney" was acutely painful on palpation, and there was also a localized pain in that area.

There existed a condition of very acute appendicitis, the ap­pendix being on the point of perforation, which, in the ordinary way of things, ought at once to be operated on. However, the hospital was 12 kilometers away, the roads frozen over so that no transport was possible, and even if attempted would only have added further danger to the patient. So what was to be done in the circumstances? The doctor, who had only recently become versed in acupuncture, and, fortunately, had his set of gold and silver needles with him, decided to resort to acupuncture. He knew that the "appendix point" for acupuncture is to be found on the outside of the lower right limb, somewhat to the front, and about 3 to 4 inches below the knee, and that this part is painful only in appendicitis cases on digital pressure. The doctor inserted a silver needle subcutaneously and left it there for about thirty minutes.

* Since the above was written there has now been published by Health Science Press the first English book on the "Chinese System of Healing" by Denis Lawson-Wood, at \2s. 6d., plus 9d. postage with a foreword by Leslie O. Korth, M.R.O.

During this time of sedation the slight tingling upwards caused by the needle subsided, the pulse rate was now reduced to 90 from 118 a minute and the temperature 99.6F. Pain had dimin­ished to such an extent that the lad became cheerful. Next morn­ing before surgery hours, full of qualms and misgivings, the doctor called upon his patient, only to find, much to his amaze­ment, that the boy's bed was empty. He was out playing with his companions quite all right. No complications set in and there was no recurrence of the trouble.

Since the "appendix point" on the lower part of the leg is found to be painful on pressure only in acute and chronic appendi­citis it takes on an important differential diagnostic significance. If the spot is painful on digital pressure then it can be taken that there is definitely an inflammatory diseased appendix. Sometimes the patient states that on pressure being applied to this point, there is also a sensation of pain in the region of MacBurney's point on the right side of the lower abdomen.

As we have already seen, during the treatment of acute appendicitis by acupuncture there occurs a lessening of physical pain, a dropping of bodily temperature and a reduction of the pulse rate, all of which indicate a reduction of the inflammation. Dr. Krack finds that a complete cure takes place by the following day. No kind of medicament is required, but a twenty-four hour fast supports the healing process.

Allopathic medicines and previous over-indulgence in alcohol can make the acupuncture treatment ineffective.

In cases of chronic or sub-acute appendicitis just one treat­ment will not usually suffice. This must be repeated at intervals of eight days. The painfulness or otherwise of the "appendix-point" on the leg provides the best indication for leaving off the treatment.

Attendant on such treatment one can see, after the local restoration, a general recovery of the patient, in that his bodily condition enjoys an all round improvement; there is an increase in his strength and in his functional capacity.

Taking all necessary precautions and using the acupuncture treatment aright many appendectomies can be avoided.

Dr. Krack, in the course of the last few years, has successfully treated by acupuncture about thirty-five acute appendicitis cases together with numerous chronic ones. After a successful treat­ment of a few acute cases he had them operated on later because of previously formed adhesions, but on these occasions no in­flammatory signs of the appendix could be seen. Only in one single case did the acupuncture fail. Fortunately the severely inflamed appendix could be removed surgically in time before perforation took place. The cause of this failure was due to a great and long abuse of alcohol by the patient, and "fast" living.

Fantastic as the above citation may appear to be, I myself have proved the efficacy of this acupuncture therapy in appendi­citis as well as in many other complaints.

A patient of mine for many years was a victim of chronic appendicitis, but he refused to submit himself to operative mea­sures, notwithstanding the fact that no treatment brought with it any good results. Recollecting the acupuncture technique em­ployed by Dr. Krack, I palpated for and quickly found the "ap­pendix-spot" on the right lower limb. This point was acutely painful on digital pressure. I inserted a steel needle, which, believe it or not, the patient did not feel, and I left it there for thirty minutes. Shortly after the needle was in, the patient spon­taneously stated that all nausea had gone and so had the great tension in the appendicular region on the right side of the lower abdomen; and with this release all discomfort disappeared too —there and then.

Another patient, this time a young lady, was in continual pain in the mid-dorsal region of the spine, which medical doctors, physiotherapists and osteopaths had failed to cure over the years. All my osteopathic efforts, too, were without any result, so I resorted to acupuncture. The result of the first treatment was spectacular, but it could not be and it was not expected that just this one treatment would suffice, having in mind the chronicity of the trouble. The pain returned, but it was now considerably less and the patient, of her own accord, asked for the needle treat­ment, as she had found it so effective and curative.

It may be asked—and it is a fair question—why doctors here in our own country do not use acupuncture in view of the splen­did results achieved by doctors in France, Germany and other countries?

Most British doctors seem to fight shy of anything that is ancient in medical practice, but stripped of its mumbo-jumbo (which, after all, may not be mumbo-jumbo at all to the initiated) these ancient healers seemed to have had an intuitive wisdom that far surpasses so-called medical science of to-day.

Then again there appears to be no literature in English on acupuncture, and even if there were, the subject requires long, patient and assiduous study and an acquisition of a deftness in applying the technique.

There ate also translation difficulties, in that the French medical specialists in acupuncture have had to make up their own terminology from the Chinese equivalent terms, which we here would either have to learn and adopt, unless we could establish an English terminology.

However, with a knowledge of either French or German, or both, British practitioners are not prevented from studying the authentic works of Dr. Soullie du Morant, Dr. de la Fuye, Dr. Niboyet and Dr. Chamfrault, in French; and those of Dr. Erich Stiefvater, Dr. Ernst Busse, Dr. Heribert Schmidt, Dr. Walter Lang (who wrote a book on acupuncture and the nervous system) and Dr. Broddle, in German. They could also study something written by the Japanese physician Prof. Dr. Sorei Yanagiya on Ein-Stich-Akupanktur (One Prick Acupuncture) which was pub­lished in German.

In conclusion of this great and complicated subject, I wish to dispel any impression that may have been conveyed by this article that acupuncture is the one and only therapy that can restore the balance of the vital forces in the body. Of course not; there are other alternatives, and neither this nor any other therapy can have more or less permanent beneficial results unless the WAY OF LIVING is such as to establish harmony in mind, body and spirit.

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