고려시대의 중국 의학지식 도입과 그 추이 : 신효결명산(神效決明散)을 중심으로

Abstract

This article is intended to explore the formation of Medical knowledge in the pre-modern era. I tracked the progress of Sinhyogyeolmyeongsan(神效決明散) of Taepyeongseonghyebang(太平聖惠方), Chinese medical book, after it had introduced into the Korean Peninsula. Sinhyogyeolmyeongsan is a prescription to treat the symptoms of atrophy of the optic nerve close to the blind. In Goryeo s Hyangyakgugupbang(鄕藥救急方), the symptom of severely weakened vision was defined as ‘Optic nerve atrophy(靑盲)’ according to the theory of East Asian medicine. And it was prescribed to be treated with turnip seeds(蔓菁子) produced in Goryeo. However, monks, shamans, and fortune-tellers of Goryeo were already presenting their own cause for blindness and how to respond. Thus, there was a competition between religious responses that relied on Buddhism, Taoism, and shamanism, and East Asian medicine armed with pathology and herbal theory, over the acceptance of Sinhyogyeolmyeongsan. Of course, Sinhyogyeolmyeongsan was not the only medical response to Optic nerve atrophy. In Hyangyakgugupbang, a prescription for pig gallbladder(猪膽) had already been included with Sinhyogyeolmyeongsan. And the prescription for sleeping silkworm and prescription for dog s milk appeared when investigating the prescriptions for Optic nerve atrophy up to the reign of King Sejong in Joseon. So there was also competition among prescriptions inside East Asian medicine. However, Sinhyogyeolmyeongsan was not seen from the end of the 16th century. Instead, a variety of other prescriptions appeared. In other words, Sinhyogyeolmyeongsan based on trust, became familiar after hundreds of years of use, but was wiped out by the trust of new prescriptions. In this way, the choice factors of prescription or medical system are familiarity, trust, and cost. The combination of these three factors determines the fate of prescription and medical system.