G. Lambrechts, Ph. Rogers
Belgium
Comparing textbooks in the study of acupuncture, shows us that not all authors give us the same information on the same subject. Not all the branches of all the meridians are similar in different textbooks. This makes it very difficult for students to decide which one is correct. The basis for these differences is found most probably in the fact that the Chinese sources can differ depending on the year and region of its origin.
In my opinion modern scientific data sometimes can give us an answer on some of these questions.
The path of the carious meridian Chong Mai in the face is one of these problems. Some authors mention a branch that travels to the nose, while others say that it ends in the eye or even that there is no branch to the face.
Although there are more places on the traject, where there are differences between the authors, I think that what concerns the traject to the nasal cavity, we can find the proof in modern scientific data, with specially the work of Prof Martha McClintock, that have proven a link between reproductive – genital – sexual behaviour, the nasal cavity (with Jacobson’s Organ) and pheromones. Pheromones are volatile chemicals, secreted in minute amounts by insects and animals. Transmitted in air or water, pheromones act as chemical messengers; they can provoke behavioural or physiological changes in other animals of the same, or different, species.
We argue that the function of the vomeronasal organ in sensing pheromones, the role of pheromones in sexual expression, the usefulness of the Chongmai in some nasal conditions, strongly suggest a functional link between the Chongmai and the nose.
We must continue to search for new data to help to clarify and unify acupuncture theory.