Medicine and culture : proceedings of a historical symposium organized jointly by the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, London, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, New York / edited by F.N.L. Poynter.

Date:
1969
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Medicine and culture : proceedings of a historical symposium organized jointly by the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, London, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, New York / edited by F.N.L. Poynter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    just the time when we believe that the Huang Ti Nei Ching was being put together. The biography of Shunyü I by Ssuma Chhien is contained in the same chapter of the S h ih Chi as that of Pien Chhio already referred to. The second part is much more important however, because it contains twenty-five clinical histories related by Shunyü I as well as his replies to eight specific questions all on the occasion of an imperial decree commanding him to reveal the nature of his practice about —154. To the life and times of Shunyü I has been consecrated by Bridgman the most scholarly monograph yet produced in the field of the history of medicine in China. Born in —216 in the old territory of the State of Chhi, Shunyü I had practised widely among princes as well as officials and common people, and after having held the post of Granary Intendant from —177 onwards he was ten years later accused and taken to court upon charges of malpractice, but acquitted after the supplication of his youngest daughter. This was the famous occasion when mutilative punishments were revoked, alas only temporarily. Shunyü I died between —150 and —145. It is possible to explain the nature of nearly all the cases attended by Shunyü I in modern terms, and though a few of these interpretations may be subject to revision, the majority are perfectly clear. We have thus a unique record of medical practice and knowledge in the —2nd century. On the occasion of his interrogation in —167 Shunyü I referred to the chief book which had been handed down to him by his teacher Yang Chhing (or Kungchhêng Yang-Chhing). This was the Mo Shu Shang H sia Ching (Treatise on Sphygmology in two Manuals) one of these being associated with the name of Huang Ti and the other with that of Pien Chhio. It seems fairly certain that this was some early form of the Huang Ti Nei Ching. Shunyü I further mentioned what appear to be the titles of separate chapters or tractates within this corpus as follows : 1 . Wu Sê Chen (Diagnosis by the Five Colours) 2. Chhi Kai Shu (The Art of Determining the Loci of the [Eight] Auxiliary Tracts). This was undoubtedly a treatise on acupuncture. 3. Khuei Tu Yin Yang (The Determination of the Degree of Yin and Yang [involved in different diseases]). 4. Pien Yao (The Drugs that effect Changes [in the Body]). 5. Lun Shih (Discussions on [the Use of] Mineral Drugs). The fact that no parallel titles to any of these can be found in the bibliography of the Chhien Han Shu (Dynastic History of the Former Han Dynasty) suggests that all these titles were those of chapters or tractates within the Mo Shu Shang Hsia Ching. And indeed, as