雷斧와 세종의 淋疾에 대하여

During the reign of the King Sejong(世宗, 1418-1450), the royal court actively sought after the prehistoric stone tools. Known as the thunder axes, they were believed to be the tools of the Thunder God, thus, having special medicinal power. As such, Chinese medical encyclopedias from the 8th century on had treated them as rare and potent medicine. It appears that the 15th century Korean government also needed them to treat the king`s disease. While his disease was recorded as gonorrhea, it merely means that he had some kind of urinary problem, not the infection of urethra as commonly thought. Descriptions on Sejong`s symptoms appear to indicate that, in his 40s, he had been suffering from urolithiasis, or urinary stone, a disease which had been believed to be curable by taking powder of the thunder axe or drinking its boiled water. His grandson, King Seongjong(成宗), could have suffered from the same disease. Two hundred years later, it also might have struck King Sukjong(肅宗).