A series of 2,200-year-old Chinese texts, written on silk and found buried in ancient tombs, contain the oldest surviving anatomical atlas, scientists say.

The texts were discovered in the 1970s within tombs at the site of Mawangdui in south-central China. The tombs belonged to Marquis Dai, his wife Lady Dai and their son. The texts are challenging to understand, and they use the term "meridian" to refer to parts of the human body. In a paper recently published Sept. 1 in the journal The Anatomical Record, a research team led by Vivien Shaw, an anatomy lecturer at Bangor University in Wales in the United Kingdom, argues that these texts "are the oldest surviving anatomical atlas in the world."

Additionally the texts "both predate and inform the later acupuncture texts, which have been the foundation for acupuncture practice in the subsequent two millennia," the researchers wrote in the study. The find "challenges the widespread belief that there is no scientific foundation for the 'anatomy of acupuncture,' by showing that the earliest physicians writing about acupuncture were in fact writing about the physical body," they added.

Related: In photos: 1,500-year-old tomb of a Chinese woman named Farong

The texts, which are written in Chinese characters, are difficult to understand. "The skills necessary to interpret them are diverse, requiring the researcher firstly to read the original Chinese, and secondly to perform the anatomical investigations that allow a re-viewing of the structures that the texts refer to," the researchers wrote in the paper.

But if the texts are read carefully, it can be seen that the "meridians" refer to parts of the human body. For example, the text says (in translation) that one meridian starts "in the center of the palm, goes along the forearm between the two bones following straight along the tendons, travels below the sinew into the bicep, to the armpit, and connects with the heart." The researchers contend that this description of a "meridian" actually refers to the path of the ulnar artery, the main blood vessel of the forearm.

Another example from the ancient text describes a "meridian" in the foot that "starts at the big toe and runs along the medial surface of the leg and thigh. Connects at the ankle, knee, and thigh. It travels along the adductors of the thigh, and covers the abdomen." This "meridian" actually describes the "pathway of the long saphenous vein," the conduit that carries blood from the legs back to the heart, the researchers wrote.

The team concludes that the texts "represent the earliest surviving anatomical atlas, designed to provide a concise description of the human body for students and practitioners of medicine in ancient China."

Although the human body and ancestral remains were considered sacred in ancient China, the remains of law breakers were not always given this honor. The researchers believe that ancient Chinese medical researchers dissected the corpses of prisoners to help them understand human anatomy. For instance, the Han Shu (Book of Han), a tome that covers the history of the Han Dynasty, records the dissection of the criminal Wang Sun-Qing in A.D. 16, the researchers noted in the study.

Until now, the oldest known anatomical atlas of the human body was thought to be from Greece, done by ancient Greek physicians such as Herophilus (335280 B.C.) and Erasistratus (304-c.250 B.C.) however most of their texts have been lost and are known only from what other ancient writers wrote about them. As a result, the Chinese texts are the earliest surviving anatomical atlas, the researchers said.

Related: Photos: Tiny looms Found in Chinese tomb

Vivienne Lo, a senior lecturer and convenor of University College Londons China Centre for Health and Humanity who is not affiliated with the research, said that she is hesitant to use the word "atlas" to describe these texts, and thinks that "map" or "chart" is a more appropriate term. Lo said that the term "atlas" was a term that was used more during the 17th and 18th centuries and doesn't seem appropriate to apply to a 2,200 year-old text. Lo also noted that some of the finds discussed in the paper such as the fact that prisoners were dissected to provide anatomical information have been published by other researchers before.

TJ Hinrichs, a history professor at Cornell University who has conducted research into ancient Chinese medicine but is not affiliated with this research, also did not think that "anatomical atlas" was an appropriate term to describe these texts. Live Science has reached out to other experts not affiliated with the research, however most were not able to reply at time of publication.

Originally published on Live Science.

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2,200-year-old Chinese text may be oldest surviving anatomical atlas - Live Science

John Paul IIs Evangelium Vitae Gave a Voice to Those Promoting Respect for Life

COMMENTARY: Four reasons why, 25 years later, the documents value has not diminished but increased.

Twenty-five years after it was issued, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) still matters to everyone struggling to increase respect for human life.

First, it explained what we knew deep down: that the legal and cultural struggles over abortion and euthanasia were always about much more. They were about whether or not truth existed, whether God was the Lord of Life, and whether we were first self-maximizing individuals or rather interdependent members of a community with special responsibility for the weakest. It always seemed to members of the communities fighting for respect for life that we were fighting for this and more.

John Paul II gave this voice. He pointed to elements of the spirit of the age, which he described as: skeptical or even in denial about the existence of truth; wedded to individual autonomy; categorically opposed to suffering and dependency; and convinced of individualistic, material and man-made notions of progress and freedom.

His words were oddly reassuring to those concerned about promoting respect for life. In the course of a typical argument, our opponents seemed to deny everything written in embryology textbooks, the fact of radical human weakness and interdependence, and God. Evangelium Vitae confirmed that this was probably true in many cases, meaning that a full-blown pro-life argument always also needed to engage these points, as well. This predisposition of the spirit of the age also helped to explain why its so darn hard to change another persons mind. Respect for human life is always also about all these other things, not just about whether or not its okay to end another human life.

Second and closely related, Evangelium Vitae brought us to the full realization of how impoverished our understanding of family had become. Instead of thinking about our family as the human beings hand-picked for us to specially care for, the movements for abortion and euthanasia suggested that we had a special right to terminate the lives of family members. As John Paul II wrote:

Even more serious is the fact that, most often, those attacks are carried out in the very heart of and with the complicity of the family the family which by its nature is called to be the sanctuary of life (11).

The work of respect for life at every stage would have to pay attention to strengthening a sense of obligation and service to family, especially the weakest members.

Third, Evangelium Vitae explained that, no, we werent crazy to wonder how abortion rights or the right to die got so popular precisely at the same time as a noticeable intensifying of movements on behalf of human rights. John Paul II wondered aloud, too, asking how [t]he process which once led to discovering the idea of human rights rights inherent in every person and before any constitution and state legislation is today marked by a surprising contradiction. Precisely in an age when the inviolable rights of the person are solemnly proclaimed the very right to life is being denied. He added further that the state is allowing attacks [against] human life at the time of its greatest frailty, when it lacks any means of self-defense.

In other words, the pro-life movements are also charged with convincing our hard-charging, self-maximizing, autonomy-craving friends and neighbors that a truly human life and a valid set of human rights pays extraordinary attention to the weakest, including the unborn, the disabled and the elderly in particular.

And fourth, Evangelium Vitae reminded even the cynics among us of the gorgeous case for the value and beauty of every human life. Its sweeping review of both the Old and the New Testament evidence makes the case that against all the odds, it seems God finds us worthy of love and wants us to make this visible to all those given to us in the Good Samaritan way. This usually begins with family but extends to all who are strewn across our path.

So did Evangelium Vitaes insights make everything all right? Of course not, but it put all the movements for life on a superior footing and revealed the full extent of their vocation. The movements could better understand what is really ailing contemporary society and the breadth of the work before them. They are ever more aware that no one wants to have a baby without a loving community to welcome them and that no one wants to live at all without the hope of deep, abiding relationships.

John Paul IIs call in Evangelium Vitae for a new feminism for women to take leadership roles so as to transform culture so that it supports life has also been a galloping success. It is stunning to see the number of women today running not only centers for pregnant women, but a wide array of the leading pro-life efforts.

At the same time, it must be said that some of the trends John Paul II highlighted have stayed the same or worsened. The notion of the self-made man or woman has reached new heights/depths with the movement for transgenderism. Demands for human rights still and regularly fail to mention the unborn, the elderly and the disabled; and they more often prescribe death as the compassionate solution to their problems.

Still, Evangelium Vitae reminds all of us in the trenches that we are in excellent company and executing worthy work work that accomplishes far more than meets the eye, even as it clashes with powerful and entrenched worldviews. And it reminds us that we have the constant companionship in our labors of one of the great intellects, hearts and souls of the 20th and 21st centuries: Pope St. John Paul II.

Helen Alvar is a professor

of law at Antonin

Scalia Law School at

George Mason University.

Link:
John Paul II's 'Evangelium Vitae' Gave a Voice to Those Promoting Respect for Life - National Catholic Register