According to missionary accounts, a wide range of Tibetan patients were attracted to the 18^thcentury form of Western medicine offered by the Capuchins in Lhasa. Other European travellers in the pre-modern period record a similar demand for their medical services, but it is difficult to assess the rationale for that demand in the absence of more extensive and balanced sources. Greater overall efficacy seems doubtful in an era before the biomedical revolution of the late 19^thcentury, but their availability and their offering of professional services without monetary aims must have been factors, along with a certain novelty. The