This new Western scientific medicine used the scientific process where the effects of various medicines on diseases were done so well that the test procedures could be repeated again and again with a very high probability that the same medical findings will crop up. This scientific allopathic medicine practice had formally burned the bridge behind leaving prior western medicinal procedures to the history books alone (Bailey, 2002). The old western medicine includes the very popular Greek “four humours” and all other old western medicine theories.
Western medicine then had spread as far away as the United Kingdom and the United States in the early nineteen hundreds where the two Canadians William Osler and Harvey Cushing made a name for themselves in western medicine. Western medicine made a strong turn during the black death where this type of medical practice was rejected in a major way during the fourteen hundreds. In the Black death, the traditional Western theories and practices to science and medicine commanded that the theory of any prominent doctor or scientist regarding every disease or health related should be taken as seriously as bible truth.
Should anyone question the theories of these doctors and scientists, such person should be considered an anomalous person. Further on, many persons including Vesalius paved the way to renovating some medical theories and even literally threw out the theories of great authorities at that time. The great authorities here included Galen, Avcenna/lbn Sina Sina and Galen among others. This was greatly influenced by the Catholic Church’s decreasing hold on the people of Venice. Then, Western medicine moved on forward scientifically. Western medicine then used algorithms of medical practice or methods of doing things.
This method was again buried by the newer scientific methods of medical studies. Western medicine now uses the scientific medical practice combined with global information technology. The scientific medical research states that each information is evidentially collected for deeper analysis and developing standard protocols are passed on all medical persons or health care professional concerned (Loudon, 1997). History of Oriental Medicine Oriental medicine is often called Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) focuses on traditional Chinese practices that have been developed thru actual application for many years in China.
Oriental medicine includes the theories, diagnosis and treatment procedures which is popular in Chinese herbal medicine (Nutton, 2004). Lately, TCM has evolved into Oriental medicine, which includes other traditional East Asian medical systems such as traditional Japanese, and Korean medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine includes the theory of Yin and Yang. It states that the processes of the human body are related and in constant communication with the environment. Any violation of the harmony between the human body and the environment results to a disease.
This Yin and Yang theory tells the ‘doctor’ how to treat and understand the disease of the person. Consequently, the doctors understand this disharmony and help the person get well by returning the original harmony inside the sick person’s body. The other theories of Oriental medicine include the five elements, Zang Fu organ theory, the human body Meridian system and others. According to the Zang Fu theory, the body is divided into yin and yang. The yin organs are also called zang and comprise of the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and pericardium.
On the other hand, while the yang organs or fu are the small intestines, large intestines, gall bladder, urinary bladder, stomach and san jiao. Each zang organs is paired with a fu and make up the five elements. The five elements are basic concepts in Chinese culture. These are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. These elements refer to the normal cycle of anything in the world. To make it clearer, wood is burned by fire and fire can be put out by earth or soil and metal pierces earth and water corrodes metal and wood sips water. It is actually the cycle of life.