Historical Bibliography Updated: June 16, 2026
Recherches historiques sur la médecine des chinois.
Publication Details
Paris: Didot Jeune, 1813 CE.
The first Western history of Chinese medicine. Lepage, a pupil of Pierre Sue, was a friend and colleague of pioneer sinologist Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat. In his medical thesis Lepage presented an overview of what was then known of Chinese medicine, drawing on Jesuit letters and other 18th-century European narratives of travels in China. Lepage “advocated understanding the state of the medical sciences among other peoples” and “proposed the long-range task of studying Asian systems and the more immediate one of reviewing those of the Chinese” (L. Barnes, Needles, Herbs, Gods and Ghosts: China, Healing and the West to 1848, p. 237.)
Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
Thematic Classifications
| Catalog Metadata | Reference Information |
|---|---|
| Entry Number | #14178 |
| Permanent Link | https://staging.historyofmedicine.com/entry/16493 |
| External URL | recherches-historiques-sur-la-mdecine-des-chinois |
Geographic Context
Publication place: Paris