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Abstract
The purpose of the present essay is to throw light on the process of generating the materia medica in China. Western forms of medical pluralism led to the appearance of the first known materia medica in approximately the 4th century BC. In the East, by contrast, the emergence of a materia medicacan merely be localized to a period certainly no later than the 2nd century AD. Thus, existing theories suggest a gap of more than five centuries between the evolution of the materia medica in each of the two hemispheres. This gap, the author suspects, is much too large. The study shows that one can track four lineages of material medica in the transmitted literature of the Han period. However, each lineage appears to be an upgraded form of materia medica. Thus, the emergence of a materia medica must have antedated these four lineages. The author concludes that it is precisely this multiple reproduction of a materia medica that reflects the human interest in establishing and consolidating an infrastructure for health care. L'objet de cet essai est d'éclairer le processus d'élaboration des materia medica en Chine. Les formes occidentales de pluralisme médi cal ont conduit à l'apparition des premières materia medica connues approximativement au ive siècle avant notre ère. En Extrême-Orient, en revanche, l'émergence d'une materia medica ne peut être située que dans une période qui ne doit pas être postérieure au iie siècle de notre ère. En d'autres termes, les théories existantes suggèrent un décalage de plus de cinq siècles entre l'évolution des materia medica dans l'un et l'autre hémisphère. Ce décalage, pense l'auteur, est beaucoup trop grand. La présente étude montre que l'on peut retracer quatre lignées de materia medica dans les textes des Han qui nous ont été transmis. Or, chacune de ces lignées se présente comme une forme révisée de materia medica. L'émergence d'une materia medica doit donc être antérieure à ces quatre lignées. L'auteur conclut que cette reproduction multiple de materia medica reflète en fait l'intérêt humain pour établir et consolider une infrastructure sanitaire.
The literary-critical presentation before us confirms this; but it shows that, in addition to the Yahwist and Priestly Documents, the Jehovist - who constructed the plague on the cattle and the hail storm - played a significant part and that the editor of the final text expanded upon his source. The thematic and formal lines of connection between the individual layers and the literary dependance of the latter upon the earlier are worked out, and a case is made for the location of the Jehovist in the time of the exile. An examination of the list of plagues in Ps. lxxviii and cv leads to the conclusion that the authors took over the final version of the tale of the plagues from Ex., but that for them the Jehovist number of seven plagues has won through.
This study confirms the correctness of the more recent documentary-hypothesis and draws attention to necessary modifications.
The literary-critical presentation before us confirms this; but it shows that, in addition to the Yahwist and Priestly Documents, the Jehovist - who constructed the plague on the cattle and the hail storm - played a significant part and that the editor of the final text expanded upon his source. The thematic and formal lines of connection between the individual layers and the literary dependance of the latter upon the earlier are worked out, and a case is made for the location of the Jehovist in the time of the exile. An examination of the list of plagues in Ps. lxxviii and cv leads to the conclusion that the authors took over the final version of the tale of the plagues from Ex., but that for them the Jehovist number of seven plagues has won through.
This study confirms the correctness of the more recent documentary-hypothesis and draws attention to necessary modifications.