Physiological activation and optimal level were common concepts among both the classical Chinese theory on pharmacotherapy established by Chan Chun-Chin and Duffy's hypothesis, although the former was published at the 2nd century. In the Chinese theory, an optimal activation level had been deductively defined as an ideal individual's optimal level. Actual individuals' levels of activation were estimated by means of pulse palpation and compared with the ideal individual's optimal level. In Duffy's activation hypothesis, inductive definition of the optimal level and various indicators of the physiological activation resulted in inconsistent outcomes and large individual differences which overwhelmed differences in activation level manipulated by experimental conditions, even though the hypothesis contributed to psychophysiology and personality studies. In this paper, we analyzed and illustrated procedures for estimation of pulse in the Chinese theory from a perspective of tactile sensory-evaluation of perceived pulse by palpation, and compared with measurement method on Duffy's hypothesis.