ABSTRACT
Acupuncture is the insertion of solid needles into specific points of the skin. Some of the earliest needles were chipped from stone, suggesting that acupuncture was practiced in the Neolithic periods. The exotic practice of acupuncture fascinated the first western physicians who came to the Orient. A large Chinese colony where acupuncture was practiced adjoined Dejima, and numerous Japanese acupuncturists walked the lanes of Nagasaki huck-stering their art. The records on the reception of acupuncture in most countries of Western Europe are fragmentary. In Europe, there is widespread interest in acupuncture, and it is practiced by a significant number of physicians. Acupuncture was shunned for many decades by the scientific community. The focus of scientific interest has shifted to endorphins—literally, “the morphine within.” Endorphins, a part of the body’s natural mechanisms for dealing with pain, are produced in the brain and most copiously in the pituitary gland.
