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In the second century A.D.， not long after the time of Chang Chung—ching， the Sage of Medicine， lived Hua To， everywhere honored as the God of Surgery.He was born about A.D.190， in the romantic period of the Three Kingdoms.A native of Ch'iao， of the state of P'ei，he had his education at Hsu T'u.About the time when Ch'en Kuei was Prime Minister， he obtained the degree of Master of Arts.Though many literary positions were offered him， he refused them all and confined himself to medicine.
Hua To was said to have used very few drugs in his prescriptions.He was so accurate in dispensing that he never needed to use scales to weigh any ingredient， even though prescribed in minute doses.In acupuncture he only needled at a few spots.He was not only most accurate in diagnosis， but his rare ability in prognosis seemed to grow out of his mathematical precision.Hua To was a pioneer of hydrotherapy， using it with marked success in cases of long continued fever.On one occasion， in spite of the cold weather， he had the patient， a woman， sit inside a stone trough and ordered his assistants to pour a hundred bucketfuls of cold water over her.When only seven or eight buckets had been emptied the patient shivered so violently that his assistants were frightened and wanted to stop.Hua To， however， insisted on their giving the full number.After about eighty bucketfuls had been poured， vapour， gradually rising to a height of two or three feet， began to appear around the patient's body.The hundredth bucketful poured， Hua To lighted a fire to warm the bed for the patient， who was heavily covered with quilts， until a thorough sweating ensued.The patient recovered under this heroic treatment.
