Seals of Excavated Tombs
Another valuable source of information about the diseases of the late Chou period (the Warring States period, i.e., the fifth to third centuries B.C.) is the seals that have been discovered in excavated tombs.
These are important also because they demonstrate an early development of specialization in medical practice. Thus, for example, we have the seal of physician Wang, who specialized in speech defects (yin); physician Chang, who claimed to be able to cure external lesions (yang); physician Kao, who specialized in the care of ulcers (yung); physician Kuo, who dealt with edematous conditions (iso), very likely beriberi; physician Thu, who specialized in removing nasal polypi (Λsi); and physician Chao, who was expert in psychological diseases (yu1). These are only a few examples taken from those that Chhen Chih has collected. From the Warring States period also there are a large number of records written with ink on strips of wood or bamboo, but these have not so far yielded much of medical interest. Medical material on this medium indeed exists, but it derives largely from the army records of the later Han dynasty (first and second centuries A.D.), which is later than the period we are discussing here.
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