History Department, Faculty of Arts, KU Leuven, Blijde Inkomststraat 21 - bus, 3307, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
School of Economics, Shanghai University (SHU), Shanghai Baoshanqu, Nanchenlu 333, Building no. 3, rm 307B, Shanghai, 200444, China.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2020 Nov 9;16(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s13002-020-00407-y.
Connections between China and the new Spanish colonies in America are known for an exchange of silver for silks and porcelains. That also medicinal drugs and medicinal knowledge crossed the Pacific Ocean is hardly known or discussed. Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms ("New World" or "Peruvian balsam") is a botanical balsam that has a long history of medicinal use, particularly as antiseptic and for wound healing. Except for a Chinese article discussing the reception of balsam in China and Japan, no scientific studies on its impact in China and Japan and the channels of transfer from the Americas to Asia exist.
Description: (1) This section provides a general introduction into Commiphora gileadensis ("Old World" balsam) as a medicinal category and discusses the specific medicinal properties of Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms. The section "Historical research and uses" provides a brief survey on some historical analyses of balsam. Aim, design, setting: (2) Applying a comparative textual and archaeological analysis the article critically examines Chinese and Japanese sources (texts, maps) to show (i) what Chinese and Japanese scholars knew about balsam, (ii) where and how it was used, and (iii) to identify reasons why the "digestion" of knowledge on balsam as a medicinal developed so differently in China and Japan.
This chapter discusses the introduction of "Peruvian balsam" into, its uses as a medicinal as well as its scholarly reception in early modern China and Japan and introduces the channels of transmission from Spanish America to Asia. It is shown that Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms was partly a highly valued substance imported from the Americas into China and Japan. But the history of the reception of medicinal knowledge on Peruvian balsam was significantly different in China and Japan.
In Japan, the knowledge on Myroxylon balsamum was continuously updated, especially through mediation of Dutch physicians; Japanese scholars, doctors and pharmacists possessed a solid knowledge on this balsam, its origin and its medicinal uses. In China, on the contrary, there was no further "digestion" or development of the knowledge on either Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms or Commiphora gileadensis. By the late nineteenth century, related medicinal and even geographic knowledge had mostly been lost. The interest in "balsam" in late Qing scholarship was pure encyclopaedic and philosophic.
中国与美洲新西班牙殖民地之间的联系以丝绸和瓷器换取白银而闻名。药用药物和医学知识也跨越了太平洋，这几乎不为人知或讨论。巴拉圭乳香（Myroxylon balsamum（L.）Harms var.pereirae（Royle）Harms）是一种具有悠久药用历史的植物香脂，特别是作为防腐剂和用于伤口愈合。除了一篇讨论香脂在中国和日本的接受情况的中文文章外，没有关于其在中国和日本的影响以及从美洲到亚洲的转移渠道的科学研究。
描述：（1）本节介绍 Commiphora gileadensis（“旧世界”香脂）作为药用类别，并讨论 Myroxylon balsamum（L.）Harms var.pereirae（Royle）Harms 的具体药用特性。“历史研究与用途”部分简要调查了一些关于香脂的历史分析。目的、设计、设置：（2）应用比较文本和考古分析，本文批判性地审查了中国和日本的来源（文本、地图），以展示（i）中国和日本学者对香脂的了解，（ii）它的使用地点和方式，以及（iii）确定为什么中国和日本对香脂作为药物的知识消化发展如此不同的原因。
本章讨论了“秘鲁香脂”传入中国、在早期现代中国和日本的药用用途以及在其从西班牙美洲传入亚洲的传播途径。结果表明，Myroxylon balsamum（L.）Harms var.pereirae（Royle）Harms 部分是一种从美洲进口到中国和日本的高价值物质。但是，秘鲁香脂药用知识的接受史在中国和日本有很大的不同。
在日本，关于 Myroxylon balsamum 的知识不断更新，特别是通过荷兰医生的调解；日本学者、医生和药剂师对这种香脂、其来源及其药用用途有扎实的了解。相反，在中国，对 Myroxylon balsamum（L.）Harms var.pereirae（Royle）Harms 或 Commiphora gileadensis 没有进一步的“消化”或发展。到 19 世纪后期，相关的药用甚至地理知识大部分已经丢失。晚清学术界对“香脂”的兴趣纯粹是百科全书式的和哲学性的。
