Wan Quan (1495–1585), also known as Wan Mizhai, was a

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

. He was the third in his family to practice medicine. He advocated that children be frequently exposed to sunlight and fresh air and trained to resist cold. He also believed that frightening a child was harmful to him or her, as was overfeeding or overmedicating. Wan was the first individual to have written about

variolation Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox (''Variola'') with material taken from a patient or a recently variolated individual, in the hope that a mild, but protective, infection would result. On ...

, an early

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

technique, in his treatise ''Douzhen Xinfa'' (痘疹心法), published in 1549.Needham J (1999). "Part 6, Medicine". Science and Civilization in China: Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 134.

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REHMANNIA SIX FORMULA - ''Liuwei Dihuang Wan''

1495 births 1585 deaths Ming dynasty writers 16th-century Chinese physicians People from Huanggang Writers from Hubei Physicians from Hubei Chinese male non-fiction writers {{China-med-bio-stub