bubble_chart Description

Qing Dynasty, written by Lin Zhi-han. Completed in 1723. This book is a specialized text on diagnostics of Chinese medicine. The author, based on the emphasis on both color and pulse in the Neijing, extracted the essence of ancient and modern discussions on the four examinations, occasionally adding Lin's own views, compiling them into this book. The book details the clinical applications of the four diagnostic methods: inspection, listening and smelling, inquiry, and pulse taking and palpation. The contents often combine pathological explanations with diagnostic principles and introduce treatments based on diagnoses. Important parts of the book are often composed into four-character verses for easy memorization. Therefore, this book can be considered a highly practical specialized text on diagnostics of Chinese medicine.

The entire book consists of 8 volumes, followed by an additional Guan Kui Fu Yu volume. Volumes 1 to 2 cover inspection, including 57 medical discussions on observing physical form, vitality, and the five colors (Wuse), detailing various changes in the face, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, teeth, neck, nails, hair, eyebrows, and tongue. Volume 3 first discusses the observation methods for children's fingerprints and the purlicue, followed by listening and smelling, including 13 medical discussions on listening to sounds, detailing how to judge the severity and location of diseases based on the patient's sounds. Later, it discusses inquiry, including topics such as the patient's lifestyle, preferences, and the "ten questions," mainly based on Zhang Jing-yue's "ten questions," comprehensively describing the patient's condition, the course of the disease, and the surrounding environment. Volumes 4 to 7 cover pulse taking and palpation, including 93 medical discussions on the original pulse body and the significance of taking the pulse at the cus kou, first discussing the methods and locations of pulse diagnosis and the general theory of pulse differentiation, then detailing the forms, differentiation, and associated diseases of various pulse manifestations based on Li Shi-zhen's "pulse studies." Volume 8 mainly consists of two parts: the first part discusses the indications and contraindications of abnormal pulses, belonging to the content of pulse taking and palpation, explaining the common 30 clinical conditions and their corresponding pulse manifestations, showing how to understand the progression of the disease from the pulse manifestations. The latter part is a summary of the five movements and six climates, mainly including diagrams and verses, explaining the relationship between diseases and climate changes. At the end of the book is Guan Kui Fu Yu, originally a separate book, published together with this book in the first year of the Yongzheng reign. Its content is Lin's collection of ancient teachings, expressing his own views on pulse diagnosis, introducing the original pulse body, and focusing on the normal and abnormal changes of floating, sinking, slow, and rapid pulses, providing some inspiration to readers.

Lin believes that the four examinations?inspection, listening and smelling, inquiry, and pulse taking and palpation?each have their unique roles, and are equally important in clinical practice, interconnected, complementary, and inseparable. Therefore, this book does not overly emphasize pulse taking and palpation, nor does it neglect the other three diagnostic methods. To correct the societal tendency at the time to overemphasize pulse taking and palpation while neglecting inspection, listening and smelling, and inquiry, Lin first collected classical texts, then added the essence of ancient sages, placing inspection at the forefront of the four examinations, separately discussing the other three diagnostic methods, restoring the order of inspection, listening and smelling, inquiry, and pulse taking and palpation as in Suwen and Nan Jing. In discussing the four examinations, Lin not only emphasizes the general principles but also pays attention to differential diagnosis. This book translates ancient texts, extracts the subtle words of ancient sages, and gathers the essence of past philosophers, emphasizing the comprehensive analysis of the four examinations, making it a valuable reference. The main existing versions include: the Yu Ying Tang block-printed edition from the fourth year of the Yongzheng reign; the lithographic edition by Shanghai Hui Wen Tang Xin Ji Book Company during the Republic of China period (including Guan Kui Fu Yu); and the 1957 lead-printed edition by the People's Medical Publishing House.