The American author studied Chinese medicine in Chinese in Taiwan, a Chinese-speaking area. Several of his books on Chinese medicine have been published in the United States, where, as a member of the state board of examiners certifying medical degrees in acupuncture, he decided to write this summary work for students of Oriental medicine in the West.
The reader is presented with a general overview of the theory and practice of acupuncture and burning (moxibustion) in a system of reminder tables, based on original Chinese sources. In the author's words: "I intend it as a supplement to official education, or as a handbook, from which the knowledge can be easily refreshed after graduating from school... What must be avoided under all circumstances is that ... the translator outlines an incomplete picture of Chinese medicine for students who do not know Chinese, which differs significantly from that of their Chinese-speaking peers, and results in imperfect, incoherent knowledge." The reader will also find point combinations suitable for treating more than a hundred diseases in the book, in accordance with the separation according to the Eastern diagnosis following the Western diagnosis. Doctors already practicing acupuncture, medical students wishing to acquire concise knowledge, and even more goal-oriented lay people interested in the subject can all benefit from this work, written in an extremely concise form. Tragically, in 1993, before his sudden death at the age of 43, The author worked on this book for months in Budapest, in order to present a revised and improved work to his Hungarian readers.
Dr. Pál D. Zmiewski is buried in Budapest as an honorary Hungarian in the Farkasréti Cemetery.