Uisahak. 2016 Apr;25(1):111-45. doi: 10.13081/kjmh.2016.25.111.
[Article in Korean]
Abstract
This
article aims to investigate the shaping of knowledge and discourse on
ginseng, especially among physicians and botanists, since its
introduction to France from the 17th century until the early 18th century. In France, knowledge on herbal
medicine, including that of ginseng, was shaped under the influence of
the modern state's policy and institution: mercantilism and the Académie
royale des sciences. The knowledge of herbal
medicine developed as an important part of the mercantilist policy
supported systematically by the Académie. The East Asian ginseng,
renowned as a panacea, was first introduced into France
in the 17th century, initially in a roundabout way through
transportation and English and Dutch publications of travel tales from
various foreign countries. The publication activity was mainly conducted
by Thévenot company with the intention to meet the needs of French
mercantilism promoted by Colbert. It also implied interests on medicine
in order to bolster the people's health. The Thévenot company's activity
thus offered vital information on plants and herbs abroad, one of which
was ginseng. Furthermore, with Louis XIV's dispatching of the Jesuit
missionaries to East Asia, the Frenchmen were able to directly gather
information on ginseng. These information became a basis for research of
the Académie. In the Académie, founded in 1666 by Colbert, the king's
physicians and botanists systematically and collectively studied on
exotic plants and medical herbs including ginseng. They were also key
figures of the Jardin du Roi. These institutions bore a striking
contrast to the faculty of medicine at the University of Paris which has
been a center of the traditional Galenic medicine. The research of the
Académie on ginseng was greatly advanced, owing much to the reports and
samples sent from China and Canada by Jartoux, Sarrazin, and Lapitau.
From the early 18th century, the conservative attitude of the University
of Paris, which was a stronghold of conservative Galenic Medicine,
began to change with its new interest on foreign medicine herbs,
including Chinese medicine. In our opinion, this change is exemplified
in a paper, that is to say in a thése de licence or thése quolibétique
in French, submitted to the Faculty of Medicine in 1736 by Folliot de
Saint-Vast under the direction of Jacques-François Vendermonde. During
this period, the knowledge of Chinese Materia Medica was introduced,
despite of textual adaptation and interpolation, through the
"translation" of Chinese medicale books such as Bencao Gangmu. The
Chinese medical books were presented to the French academic public by
doctors and Jesuit missionaries active in China. The assessment of the
ginseng was generally favorable yet, although physicians and doctors
began to take more caution on considering it as a panacea.
KEYWORDS:
Académie royale des sciences; Botany; Ginseng; Herbal Medicine; Louis XIV; Mercantilism; translation
