New facts about the “Manchu anatomy” book, equivalent to the Vesalius› anatomy / Монголын Анагаах Ухаан

ABSTRACT

@#Since anatomist and doctor Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) knew that a thorough knowledge of human anatomy was essential to surgery, he devoted much of his time to dissections of cadavers and insisted on doing them himself, instead of relying on untrained assistants. As a result, he created his famous work called “De humani corporis fabrica libri septem” in 1543. This creation was evaluated as scientific discoveryin Europe.</br> Two hundred forty years later, Dominique Parennin (1665-1741)wrote the book “ManchuAnatomy”by the order of Kangxi Emperor (1654-1722). Thebook was written by hand and the Kangxi Emperor was given three copies. The whole name of the “Manchu Anatomy”is «Imperially-Commissioned Complete Record on the Body. Unfortunately, the Kangxi Emperor did not allow the publication of the book. It was indeed sad that Kangxi Emperor, who distinguished himself by his unusual intelligence and was noted for his encouragement of the arts and sciences, failed to perceive the importance of the «Manchu Anatomy». Had it been printed and disseminated it certainly would have revolutionized Chinese medicine, as Vesalius› «De humani corporis fabrica libri septem” did for European medicine.</br> However, Dominique Parennin has sent another special copy to the Royal Academy of Science in Paris, which he was a corresponding member. In a letter dated May 1, 1723 accompanying the «Manchu Anatomy» he wrote in old French Vous serez peut-etre surpris que je vous envoye de- si loin un traite d›Anatomie, un corps de Medecine, et des questions de Physiques ecrites en une langue, qui, sans doute, vous est inconnue; mais votre surprise cessera quand- vous verrez que ce sont vos propres ouvrages que je vous envoye habilles a la Tartare. Oui, Messieurs, ce sont vos pensees et vos ingenieuses decouvertes. In this study, we have translated this letter into Mongolian and explained the content of letter. Thanks to this book, in Europe and America, the book is known as the Manchu Anatomy, and many researchers published several books and scientific articles about the book. However, there is no one who has found that this book has been translated into Mongolian except the Manchu language. Our next study is to compare the Manchus and the Mongolian texts of this book.