Western traditional medicine: history, practices, and contemporary applications

Western Traditional Medicine

Jacme's Pestilence and the Western Traditional Medicine Framework

Jacme's (1949)[footnoteRef:1] description of pestilence is based on the idea that it is caused by a change in the quality or substance of the air that he defines as alteration and putrefaction respectively. The pestilence is caused when the air in a place has changed its quality or substance due to external conditions. The pestilence is caused by a contra-natural change that Jacme illustrates as the wind being less warm than usual in the summers and less cold than usual during winters. As opposed to water, the pestilence of the air is more disastrous for human beings because they breathe the surrounding air all the time. The pestilence affects living things that Jacme classifies into three orders on the basis of the presence of life and growth, feelings and reason. Human beings lie in the third degree and are affected by pestilence occurring in plants and animals, who make up the first and second degrees of living beings. Pestilence also occurs in certain places and is therefore localized according to Jacme's interpretation of it. [1: Duran-Reynals, M.L., Translator, Jacme d'Agramont: "Regiment de Preservacio a Epidimia o Pestilencia e Mortaldats," Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 23 (1949) p. 57.]

Jacme's description of pestilence can be understood in terms of the western traditional medicine framework. The western traditional medicine framework is based on the belief that every element possesses its own nature and that disease is caused when the flow or proportion of the elements of that nature is altered. For instance, Empedocles brought forth the conception of the four elements of air, fire, earth and water that had to be in balance to maintain health of the system (Hergenhahn 2009)[footnoteRef:2]. Similarly, Heraclitus believed in the flow and transformation of the elements into one another. The view of Jacme that air possesses its unique nature in terms of qualities and substance that can become altered by external forces reflects the concept of nature held by the traditional western medicine framework. [2: Hergenhahn B.R., An Introduction to the History of Psychology, (Cengage Learning, 2009), 36.]

2.0 Jacme's Causes of Pestilence and the Western Traditional Medicine Framework

The first cause given by Jacme for pestilence is the agency of God. According to Jacme, pestilence is inflicted upon a community by God as retribution for disobeying Him and by committing sins. Jacme refers to biblical history to provide anecdotes of pestilence and God's assertion of His own power over human beings. A second supernatural cause for pestilence is the positions of the planets and stars in the sky. By their alignment and distance from one another, planets and stars can also bring about death and pestilence on Earth. A third cause for pestilence given by Jacme is the movement of the winds. According to Jacme, the substance and quality of air can be altered to bring about pestilence. Damp and humid air is more likely to cause pestilence that cold and dry air. Jacme also discusses other causes of pestilence such as topography and geography, which include the elevation of the geographical region and exposure to sunlight and wind. He also discusses the role played by an unclean environment and poor hygiene in engendering pestilence in a community, street or household.

Jacme's explanation of the causes of pestilence can be explained in the light of the principles and concepts of western traditional medicine. The concept of Hippocratic infection can be invoked here to explain the causes of pestilence in traditional western medicine. According to the Hippocratic ideas, infection of the kind called pestilence was caused by bad air and was therefore epidemic in nature, affecting all the human beings breathing the air (Jones 1923)[footnoteRef:3]. The Hippocratic tradition also believes that the air became bad because its composition had been altered by the addition of pollutants. However, the ideas of Jacme also include supernatural forces including God and astronomy. The western traditional medicine tries to explain disease without the use of supernatural forces and Jacme's idea differs from the traditional western framework in this regard. [3 W.H.S. Jones, Breaths 6, (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1923).]

3.0 Jacme's Symptoms of Pestilence and the Western Traditional Medicine Framework

Jacme notes celestial signs and symptoms of the impending pestilence. Jacme states that the people in the community to be infected by a pestilence witness fiery bodies moving across the sky as a foreboding of pestilence. Another indication of the coming pestilence according to Jacme is that there appear rapid fluctuations in the temperature of the air so that the temperature rises and drops randomly and unusually. There are visible changes in the appearance of the air and surrounding atmosphere that indicate that the area is already infected by a pestilence. In particular, Jacme states that the air appears to be cloudy but does not result in any rainfall. Secondly, the air appears to be more dusty than usual and may even appear to have assumed a green or yellow colour. People also develop fevers rapidly that can be deceptive in that the body temperature seems normal but the individual may still have a fever. There occur problems with stool and flatulence. Bad breath is also an indication of pestilence present. The fevers give rise to bad sores and abscesses on the body. The fruit also appears to be blighted as an indication of pestilence.

Jacme's ideas about the symptoms of pestilence can be explained in terms of the western traditional medicine framework. The traditional framework interprets symptoms as part of the diagnosis of the disease. The typical symptoms studied under this framework include changes in temperature and the appearance of the skin, which is also a part of the symptoms presented by Jacme. The western traditional medicine framework also diagnoses the disease on the basis of the examination of the stool and urine. Jacme also describes the appearance of the excreta such as stool as part of the symptoms of pestilence. Hippocrates too studied symptoms appearing on the skin, eyes as well as fevers. Galen also mentioned fever and diarrhea as symptoms during the Antoine Plague of 165 CE (Kohn, 2008)[footnoteRef:4]. [4: George Child Kohn, Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence 3, (New York NY: Infobase Publishing, 2008), 9.]