Moxibustion

one of the traditional Chinese medicine therapy

plays an important role in the treatment of a variety of clinical conditions

particularly the chronic and deficiency problems.In the present paper

the author reviewed the history of development of moxibustion therapy

and the related materials and heating temperature in ancient China

and also reviewed the history of heating therapy(similar to moxibustion)appearing in ancient Egypt

Greek

Libya

India

Europe

etc.The author thinks that the efficacy of moxibustion intervention mainly depends on the heating temperature and the heated area of the skin(not the heating materials)according to his own research group's experimental outcomes.Some problems of moxibustion should be noted

for example

the ignited moxa-smoke induced environmental contamination which may lead to chronic injury particularly to the health of the related practitioners.The author forecasts that some succedaneous materials of mugwort as physical heating energy(mechanical

electrical

microelectronic

solar energy)

chemical

biological and medical heating reagents(acupoint receptor-activator)

etc.

high technique medical devices are probably developed in the future

minimizing some defects of moxa and expanding clinical application of moxibustion therapy.