The relevance of acupuncture.

It is difficult to pick up a newspaper today witlhout reading something about acupuncture. Considcering that acupuncture has been well-known and in continuous tuse for about 5000 years, one wonders wlhy it is the focus of so much attention in the UnitedI States to(lay and whetlher it miglht hold a promise relevant to some of the most turgent problems facing American Medicine. Acupuncture is part of a system of folk medicine developedl in Clhina and practiced in many countries of the world. In antiquity as well as today its pllilosoplhy lhas been base(I on a uniique way of looking at life; its attitude to the lhuman bocly ancl the functions of its various organs bears none but the most obscure connection to the modlern scientific basis of Western medical practice. For a variety of psyclhological, sociological, and political reasons considerable effort lhas been put into accommodating the theory and results of acupuncture to Western Science(l). Recent reports of the spectacular success of actupunctuire anestlhesia have inteinsifiecd this effort. On the otlher hand, one wonders if it is possib)le that the success of acupuncture can be attributed to the same factors that make for mtuclh of the effectiveness of WVestern Mteclical Science? When the claims for acupunictutre are examined it is impossible to evaluate them(2). The illinesses treatecl are not properly (lefine(d an(l the methods of determining the effects of treatment are not dlescribe(d. Nevertheless, it is a fact that acupuincture is accepted in Chinese society by both l)atients an(l physicians as a procedlure witlh lhealing properties whiclh serves real lhealtlh needs(l). It is well knowvnthiat the majority of complaints witlh whliclh patients come to physicians are those wlhiclh do not lend themselves to the curative effects of modlern science. Una M\IacLean lhas emplhasized this in a recent studly of folk meclical practices in Nigeria(3). Slhe lhas pointed out that in both W\estern and native African poptulations many complaints are selflimiting, many patients lhave clhronic illnesses witlh alternating perio(ls of remission and relapse and many patients seek medical lhelp because they are anxious or upset for one reason or anotlher. WVhether the patienit is on the National Healtlh Service in Britain and goes along to see hiis general practitioner, or wlhetlher lhe lives in a village in Africa and visits the herbalist, if lhe is in fact suffering from one of these three types of disturbances, the prescribed treatment will be credlited with the "cure"(3). In other words, most patients consulting a person trained in healing arts will emerge from the meeting feeling better. For most of these patients the science of