First theory of body's interior

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Chinese were one of the early civilizations to have developed religion, writing, and early form of medicine / treatment around 1500 BC.  They are also credited with have developed a reasonably evolved understanding of the flow of blood and energy through the entire body based on observation of the anatomical circulatory system. This period of innovation in medicine is attributable to the Shang Dynasty (1766 - 1122 BC). During that time, the Chinese believed that sickness and disease was the result of  Upsetting the ancestor gods and being cursed. 

Curing the sick then involved getting rid of the curse by performing prayers and rituals to the ancestors. Prayers were also performed to make it rain, pacify volcanoes, and to address famines in the kingdom. 

Around the same time, the Chinese and other civilizations in the East developed the theory of Points and Channels of energy, which formed the underlying basis for acupuncture. The theory was based on centuries of observations around:

• Applying pressure to certain points of the body (e.g., warriors being hurt in battle with pointed arrows) relieved pain or discomfort in other paths
• Some forms of sickness made certain parts of the body tender
• Exposing certain parts of the body to heated stones or pointed wood needles, provided relief of certain symptoms, such as constipation

Once the ancient Chinese recognized these patterns, they started formalizing a practical form of treatment based on pressure points and flow of energy:

• Any single point can provide symptomatic relief across multiple different ailments, and multiple such points can work in concert to provide targeted relief for specific sickness or disease. Then they developed complicated maps of pressure points that all need to be triggered to address each individual malady
• Another thing they could gather from observation that these points were all connected in some form, as pressing one point had impact on another area of the body that was far removed from the point being pressed. This lead them to the conclude the the existence of energy Qi, that flows through the entire body following the body's interior circulatory systems

Come to think of it, these observations were made about 3,000 years before the Gray's Anatomy was written!!