Metric Skeletal Traits of the Excavated Bones from the Tombs of Paju Cultural Remains / 체질인류학회지

GyeongGi Provincial Museum and Korea Army Museum performed identification of Paju cultural remains. These areas were in particular situations because many kinds of mines still remained under the ground since Korean War. The identification and metric measurements were not easy because the excavated bones were destroyed partially and totally. Nine skeletons were excavated from the lime-soiled mixture tomb; six remains among nine were buried together in same grave and three remains were buried within wood coffins. Although many human skeletons were damaged and destroyed, period of the bones could be estimated at about late Chosun Dynasty with artifacts and epitaph that were found together. All the remains had been measured their full skeletal lengths before they were collected. The shortest and longest length of them reached 140 and 162 cm each with the average 152.6 cm but we could hardly estimate real heights of all remains with only these data. Each skeletons collected were classified into axial and appendicular skeletons and we obtained all the possible metric values of skull, mandible and sacrum from axial skeletons and clavicle, humerus, radius, ulna, pelvis, femur and tibia from appendigeal skeletons. In case of missing or severely damaged bones, we couldn't get metric data or could get only individual values. Although some demographic informations are still missing, these results will be used as a set of metric database for the systematic and detailed ancient physical anthropology studies.

King Jung-jo's Medical Philosophy / 의사학

King Jungjo who introduced the advent of cultural renaissance of Chosun Dynasty as little been known about his work in medicine. With a wide knowledge in medicine, he was the only one among the kings who wrote a book on medicine, called "SueMinMyoJeon". In this paper, his perspective on medicine will be looked into based on "The Annals of the Chosun Dynasty", "Seungjeongwon Ilgi", "Hong Je jun Se", "KukGoBoGam", "Ildkrok", "JeJungShinPyun", "SueMinMyoJeon" etc. King Jungo valued empiricism in the field of medicine. He deepened understandings in medicine while taking care of King Youngjo, the late king. And it led him to author "SueMinMyoJeon" himself, and further ordered the publications of "JeJungShinPyun" "MaGuaHeoiTong". These two books were conducted to include empirical cases of folklore remedy. King Jungjo's medical philosophy can be epitomized in filial piety and realization of people-serving politics, which are the essentials of Confucianism. His filial piety towards the late king, Youngjo and his mother is shown in his devotion when taking care of them. Especially the way he examined the differentiation of diseases and corresponding treatments is well described in "The Annals of the Chosun Dynasty". "JeJungShinPyun" was also published and it came handy for folk villagers in times of medical needs. Later this book influenced "BangYakHaepPyun" by Hwang Do Yeon. King Jungjo emphasized pragmatism in spreading medical knowledges, thus removing the theoretical contents that are related to Taoism, especially the ones on alchemy from "DongEuiBoGam", when publishing "SueMinMyoJeon". Even the excerpts from "SoMun" were taken out, if not practical. King Jungjo, however, discussed the importance of healthy regimen and mentioned himself practicing it from the book "IlDeukLok", which seems to be the only book that derailed from the pragmatistic track. King Jungjo put emphasis on consistency between diagnosis and treatment. In diagnosing, Meridian pulse was taken important as a means of finding the origin of disease, while deploring how doctors then neglected to study.

Re-evaluation of the Medical Practice and the Medicine in the Later Half of the Chosun Dynasty / 의사학

The state-running medical institutions which had been instituted in the earlier period of the Chosun dynasty substantially downsized during the reconstructing process after the major wars with Japan and Qing dynasty. The downsizing was mainly due to the malfunctioning public financial system; but it was also due to the growth of the private medical market. The growth of the private medical market reoriented the focus of the public health system of the Chosun dynasty from providing treatment for every minor disease to providing the more efficient policy against epidemic. Hwal-in Seo (a temporary local public health center established for epidemic) became a new core of the dynasty's health policy under the phrase of "Ae Rye (saving the rituals)." As the changes of the dynasty's public health policy, the growing private medical market had been admitted into the public domain. Chosun government once had declared Sa Yak Gye (a private mutual-aid group for medicine) illegal and prohibited the private groups to be organized. Instead, with the policy change mentioned above, the government tried to support the private mutual-aid group for medicine while forbidding sales of fake medicine, restraining rise of price of medicine. Especially the Do go merchants often caused the sudden rise of price of medicine by bulk purchasing. Medical practice was reassessed as the period when it was considered as one of the lowest professions had been over. Although the Yangban class still refused to be a professional medical practitioner themselves, they also well understood the value of medicine as a field of study to save human and dismissed negative perception on medicine. Medicine as a field of study and medical practice, which had been underestimated under the ruling system influenced by the Song Confucianism and the status system of the Chosun dynasty, faced a new era. The whole society guaranteed more free practices of the medical practitioners and they were recognized for their works. With the change of social environment, the government officials gradually realized needs to discuss how they could educate and recruit medical practitioners to provide advanced medical treatment and what provisions they had to legislate to ensure the stable supply of the medicine. It is certain that the transformation developed in the medical environment and the changes of the public health policy up to 18th century Chosun dynasty accompanied the emergence of the commercial society. However, the overall social urge was still not enough to induce the actual law-making process. The change of the public health policy and the growth of the private medical market were surely the evidence of the transforming Chosun society; at the same time, they also revealed the immaturity of the medical environment which was not able to lead new health policies.

Eyelid Shape of the Chosun Dynasty: Analysis of 101 Portraits

The aim of this study is to elucidate the morphology and preference of the eyelid shape of the Chosun dynasty. One hundred and one portraits of Chosun dynasty were analyzed. Portraits of early(1392-1550), mid(1551-1700), and late (1701-1910) Chosun dynasty were 26, 17 and 58 respectively. The most of the portraits were men of noble birth(86). Others were the portraits of the Kings(4) and Monks(4), Women(4) and patriots(4).The double fold were observed in 20%, among them 65% were outfold. Epicanthal fold were present in 16% Thirty-one% had hooding of the upper eyelid. Sixty nine% had Wrinkles of the lower eyelids. Sixty three had baggy lower eyelid and lower lid ectropion were observed in 6% and 1% respectively. According to the Korean aphorism of the portrait drawing of Chosun dynasty "If one hair is different, the portrait is another man's", the portraits were drawn like a photograph. In this aspect our attempt to light up the eyelid shape of several hundreds years ago when photographs were not available have validity.

Was the Beauty of Chosun Dynasty Different from that of Japanese Edo Dynasty or Present Korea?: Anthropometric Analysis of Portraits

The aim of this study is to elucidate whether the beauty of Chosun dynasty was different from that of Japanese Edo dynasty or present Korea by anthropometric analysis. We analyzed faces of 6 portraits of beauty of Chosun dynasty and 5 of Japanese Edo dynasty, and 9 photographs of prize-winner in the beauty contest of Korea during resent 3 years. We measured the 20 anthropometric items on each portraits and calculated 17 proportional indices of the face. Portraits of beauty of Chosun dynasty had the greater value on 1 proportion index(ratio of nasal width to intercanthal distance) and less value on 3 proportion index(ratio of horzontal dimension of palpebral fissure to intercanthal distance, Ratio of height of vermilon to transverse width of mouth, eye fissure inclination) than Edo dynasty. Portraits of beauty of Chosun dynasty had the greater value on 1 proportion index(ratio of height of upper eyelid to total facial height) and less value on 3 proportion index(ration of vertical dimension of palpebral fissure to total facial height, ratio of nasal width to intercanthal distance, eye fissure inclination) than nine prize-winner of beauty contest of Korea. In conclusion, beauty of Chosun dynasty has lower eye fissure inclination, wider nasal ala, and thiner lip than one of Edo dynasty. Beauty of Chosun dynasty has oriental eyelid, wider upper eyelid, narrower eye fissure, lower eye fissure inclination, narrower nasal ala than present beauty.