Exploring our archives

Acupuncture has been practiced in China, Japan and Korea for centuries and along with other ‘traditional’ or ‘complementary’ therapies remains a controversial topic in Western medicine. In the Hooke folio, an account of a meeting on the 18 January 1682 records the Royal Society discussing a letter from a Wilhem Ten Rhyne, from the factory of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) which asks that his manuscript on the use of acupuncture in Japan be published in English. The letter also describes the use of artemisia vulgaris, commonly known as mugwort, a herb used traditionally in Europe and America. In Oriental medicine it is known as moxa and is used in combination with acupuncture to stimulation circulation. The use of moxa to cure gout had also been discussed in a meeting of 1st August 1678, leading to a wider discussion about the effects of heat on the human body. This led to the observation that, like Chinese and Japanese doctors, Galen had paid more attention to the pulses in various parts of the body than was usual among surgeons of the day.

The Royal Society continued to debate the benefits of both moxa and acupuncture: a letter of 1692 from Wilhelm Ten Rhyne answers a list of queries about the specific uses of the techniques in Japan. These remedies had also been noted by Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716) in his ‘History of Japan, giving an account of the ancient and present state and government of that empire. . .To which is added, part of a journal of a voyage to Japan, made by the English in the year 1673’. Kaempfer’s manuscript was not published for almost a century acquired by the botanist and President of the Royal Society Hans Sloane who saw to the translation of the work by Johann Caspar Scheuchzer and its publication in 1727.

The benefits of ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ medicines are still hotly debated. While some claim that acupuncture essentially has a placebo effect, other research has suggested more tangible medical effects, most recently in treating Parkinson’s disease. The effects of artemisia vulgaris are a matter of continuing debate, some studies (for example the study of Cardini and Weixin published in JAMA in 1998) suggest it can assist in breach births by promoting fetal activity. A recent Royal Society policy paper on the issue stresses the importance of large scale randomised control trials in exploring the effects of types of therapies.

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Malaria is a major health problem and is thought to be responsible for about 18% of all deaths of children aged under five years in sub-Saharan Africa, or between 700 000 and 900 000 children each year, as well as aiding the spread of other diseases such as HIV/AIDS by weakening the immune system. Trials to develop an effective vaccine are ongoing. However, treatments using the anti-malarial properties of the bark of the chinconcha tree have been known for centuries, and used for many years against the disease until its active ingredient, quinine, began to be produced artificially.

The folio records a letter from the Royal Society’s prolific correspondent and later member Henri Justel, which mentions ‘Jesuits Bark’, the name being given to the bark of the Peruvian chinconcha tree. The letter does not survive, but the bark was not forgotten and together with numerous other substances it was boiled together with water, spirit of wine and white wine (RB. 6. 213, 1685) in Mr Pappin’s ‘digesting’ machine. Impressed, Pappin reported back that the bark lasted three or four time longer than bones before being reduced to a powder. There is no mention of the medical properties of the bark here, however, and the next reference to it in the Royal Society records occurs in the Philosophical Transactions of 1737/8. By this time the bark is clearly in demand: the author Dr Grey gives detailed information about the four different types of tree in Peru, their various effects and preparations, and reports that the drug enters Europe through Panama. He goes on to express concern that the exploitation by the Spanish will soon wipe out the local indigenous population who had been well aware of the anti-malarial properties of the plant well before the arrival of the colonisers, and that the bark will become scarce due to over-exploitation.

Anti-malarial drugs and the development of insecticides that kill the mosquitos carried the disease were of course a valuable tool in the exploration and final colonisation of Africa by European powers during the next century. This provided impetus for the identification of the parasite of the genus Plasmodium and the artificial production of quinine. Concerns like those expressed by Grey about the availability and intellectual property surrounding anti-malarial drugs still exist today. Problems with malaria prevention include the tendency for insects to develop resistance to insecticides like DDT, as well as their potentially negative environmental and health effects. The Royal Society has continued to engage with the problem of malaria: Hiliary Ranson is currently conducting research into the DNA of insecticide-resistant plasmodium in an attempt to evolve a method of blocking the process of development of resistance. Her research is demonstrated by this interactive tool. The recent winner of the Royal Society’s Pfizer Award, Dr Alex Nzila has taken a different approach: focusing on drug resistance in humans, he has shown that resistance can be reduced by combining an existing anticancer drug, methotrexate, with folic acid.

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