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The Classification of Acupuncture |
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In 1991 the World Health Organization came out with a "proposed standard international acupuncture nomenclature" (WHO 1991). The initiative began in 1960. The report notes that the whole system of acupuncture of 361 points was complete in about A.D. 300 but the past 20 years had seen an explosion, with 48 extra points being added (WHO 1991, 12). The WHO report gives a typical sequence of reasons for developing an international classification: "Even when the practice of acupuncture was largely restricted to China, Japan, and neighboring Asian countries, the lack of a uniform nomenclature caused serious difficulties in teaching, research, and clinical practice" (WHO 1991, 1). The bottom line was scientific development: ''Putting acupuncture on a firm scientific basis requires rigorous investigation of the claims made for its efficacy. Many institutions and modern medical colleges are carrying out useful investigations to this end. Some are looking into the physiology and mode of action of acupuncture treatment, others are studying its efficacy in certain pathological conditions. These workers need to exchange information with one another regularly so as to facilitate their clinical and basic research. Such international communication is possible only if a common language is used by all concerned" (WHO 1991, 5). |
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So now the "triple energizer meridian," the "conception vessel'' and the "governor vessel" are internationally known and accepted terms. Ironically, the classification system retains an interesting (literal!) indexicality: the 48 points were only recognized if they were at least 0.5 cun from a classic acupuncture point, where a cun is: "the distance between the interphalangeal creases of the patient's middle finger" (WHO 1991, 14). |
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The structural aspects of classification are themselves a technical specialty in information science, biology, and statistics, among other places. Information scientists design thesauri for information retrieval, valuing parsimony and accuracy of terms, and the overall stability of the system over long periods of time. For biologists the choice of structure reflects how one sees species and the evolutionary process. For transformed cladists and numerical taxonomists, no useful statement about the past can be read out of their classifications; for evolutionary taxonomists that is the very basis of their system. These beliefs are reflected in radically different classification styles and practices, for |
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