小儿药证直诀

Assessing longevity: in infants the pulse is faint and hard to detect; when the physician takes the pulse, the child often cries out in alarm, so the examination cannot be carried out reliably—this is the second difficulty. Since the pulse cannot be relied upon, one must depend on external signs. Yet the child's bone qi is not yet formed, and its bodily form and voice are not yet settled; it weeps in sorrow and laughs with joy, and its changes are inconstant—this is the third difficulty. To diagnose by inquiry is the skill of the physician, but infants mostly cannot speak, and even if they speak, their words are not sufficiently trustworthy—this is the fourth difficulty. The zang-fu organs are soft and weak, readily becoming deficient or excess, readily cold or heat; moreover, what is used is mostly rhinoceros horn, pearl, longgu, and shexiang—if the physician cannot even distinguish these, how can he cure the disease? This is the fifth difficulty. In all these hidden and profound matters, the difficulties are indeed many. I have often pondered this, and have also seen with my own eyes ignorant physicians recklessly applying formulas and drugs and killing the child—four or five out of ten—truly lamentable! As for the methods of treating infants, they are scattered throughout various books, and many derive from the speculative theories of recent times, vague and hard to rely upon; to seek their essential subtlety, how could it be easily obtained! The Imperial Physician's Assistant Qian Yi, styled Zhongyang, was a native of Wenshang. In his treatment of infants he encompassed ancient and modern methods, and moreover had many personal insights, and was renowned in his time. His methods were simple, easy, refined, and precise, as clear as pointing to the palm. My late father, having passed the examination in the Zhiping era, was appointed commandant of Xucheng and came to know him. When I was five or six years old, I suffered from fright, gan, pi, and jia diseases, repeatedly reaching a critical state, and Zhongyang always rescued me and cured me well. At that time Zhongyang was still young and unwilling to transmit his book lightly. What my family has transmitted amounts to only a dozen or so formulas! At the beginning of the Daguan era, when I first took office at Ruhai, Zhongyang was already old. Among relatives and old friends I first obtained several dozen entries on the differentiation of patterns. Six years later I again obtained miscellaneous formulas. Those obtained in his later years were all the more marvelous. On arriving at the capital, I again saw a separate edition. But as they were written they were transmitted, all in disorder, with no system at first, and each had its gains and losses, so I was able to collate them. I arranged them in order of precedence, deleted repetitions, corrected errors, and replaced vulgar expressions. The upper volume treats pulse, patterns, and treatment methods; the middle volume records cases he once treated; the lower volume contains the various formulas—and thus the book was completed. Thereupon the methods of ancient and modern times for treating infants could not be surpassed. I reflect that universal love is the mind of the benevolent, and cherishing the young is the transmitted instruction of the sages—how could this benefit not be spread abroad! I will transmit it to those who love to do good, so that the young may escape the suffering of untimely death and the old may have no sorrow of mourning their children—this is my aspiration. Thereby I make manifest Zhongyang's art for endless ages.\x Preface by Yan Jizhong, Court Gentleman for Instruction, of Daliang\x