ACUPUNCTURE1 1Received April, 1974.

Acupuncture has been used in China for at least 4,000 years and according to some authorities was said to have been devised about twenty-six centuries B.C. Its use in Britain dated back to the early years of the nineteenth century and indeed it was a subject which appeared on the pages of the first volume of the Lancet in 1823. It has also been used in France and elsewhere in Europe for about the same period of time in the treatment of diseases and of pain. In spite of such a long history it has never gained widespread acceptance in the West, a fact which in itself probably indicates that acupuncture has only limited application to modern medicine. Recent interest in the West in acupuncture stems from its use as a method of providing analgesia for surgical operations, a technique which was introduced to China in 1958