Abstract
This is a very brief and rather odd case. It is unclear what Xu Shuwei had in mind including this case in the collection, apart from differentiating two Bind syndromes, Chest Bind and Visceral Bind. The patient here is a merchant who was living on his boat. Exposure to the weather evidently led to Cold Damage disorder. After Xu examines the patient he asserts that his disorder is not Chest Bind, perhaps referring to the diagnosis of another physician, but rather Visceral Bind. Xu concludes that he cannot save the patient. The next day, the patient indeed succumbs to his disease. Xu provides a quotation from the Treatise as well as a few diagnostic signs, one of which is tongue fur, to enable his readers to differentiate this syndrome.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Visceral Bind is a disorder that resembles Chest Bind in its symptoms: feeling of fullness, hardness, and tenderness of the chest, frequent diarrhea, regular appetite, white greasy or slippery coating of the tongue, and a pulse that is sunken, tense, and very small (Zhongyi da cidian, 2nd ed., p. 1453 and p. 1363 respectively). It arises when Mature Yang disease is mistakenly treated by draining downward, and the pathogenic qi takes advantage of this error to further penetrate into the body and bind to the yin sinews. I am using Weisman’s translation (Learner’s Character Dictionary of Chinese Medicine, digital edition) for the sake of simplicity; it is the yin visceral system of functions that the pathogen binds to.
- 2.
Here Xu Shuwei is drawing from a line in the Treatise (辨太陽脈證并治下, 1); see Yu 1997, p. 56.
- 3.
Bibliography
Other Sources:
Mitchell, Craig, Feng Ye, and Nigel Wiseman. 1999. Shang Han Lun (On Cold Damage); Translation and Commentaries. Brookline, MA: Paradigm Publications.
Yu, Bohai 于伯海, et. al. 1997. Shanghan jinkui wenbing mingzhu jicheng 伤寒金匮温病名著集成 [Collected Famous Works on Cold Damage, Golden Casket, and Febrile Disorders]. Beijing, Huaxia chubanshe.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Goldschmidt, A. (2019). Case Number 67. In: Medical Practice in Twelfth-century China – A Translation of Xu Shuwei’s Ninety Discussions [Cases] on Cold Damage Disorders. Archimedes, vol 54. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06103-6_68
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06103-6_68
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-06102-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-06103-6
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)