A Brief Guide to Diagnosing and Treating Illness

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Chapters: 12

Summary

A Brief Guide to Diagnosing and Treating Illness is one juan, written by the Qing dynasty Shaoxing physician Zhang Wanxiang and compiled by the modern physician Qiu Qingyuan (courtesy name Jisheng) into the first collection of the San San Medical Books. According to the preface by Bao Yuehu written in the second year of the Republic (1913), Zhang Wanxiang lived at Ximachi in Shaoxing; he loved studying medicine even while reading books, read widely, and after middle age had many successes in diagnosing and treating patients, from relatives to strangers, and was praised by many for a time. Bao Yuehu's family had been friends with Zhang's for generations; he saw this ancestral manuscript from Zhang's worthy grandson, considered its discussions to be "in accord with the ancients without being bound by them," named it A Brief Guide to Diagnosing and Treating Illness, and recounted how he obtained the book. The book is not long and focuses on brief pattern discussions: it first discusses the tongue coating, then treats cold damage, warm pathogen, wind-warmth, heat entering the blood chamber, dysentery, summerheat, latent summerheat, and measles, each categorized, and is followed by two juan of Zhang's medical cases. The author values tongue observation in diagnosis and treatment, emphasizing that tongue coating and pulse should be considered together to judge the course and prognosis of illness; the book also records observations of differences in patients' constitutions and tolerance to medication by region, such as Shaanxi people preferring warm dredging, Henan people being able to use rhubarb, and Suzhou-Hangzhou people using no more than one qian of bupleurum and magnolia bark, which well reflects his clinical experience. The overall style cuts the complicated to make it simple, presenting key points of pattern differentiation through dozens of concise cases; compared with case books of the time that "list many formulas but few pattern discussions," it emphasizes analysis of pattern and treatment. This book is reference material for studying the Qing dynasty Shaoxing medical school and the differentiation and treatment of warm diseases.

Editor's review

这是一本容易被忽略、却很有味道的小书。全书只有一卷、数十则，读起来不费力，却处处可见老医家的判断力。张畹香论病不铺陈方药，而是先把舌象、脉象与病程讲清楚：伤寒温邪几日解、暑症在上焦还是中下焦、舌苔由碧滑转净意味着什么，皆以察舌为枢。序作者包越瑚称其“衷诸古而不泥古”，并非虚誉。书中还保留了地域用药差异的实录——陕西人喜温通、河南人大黄可用至两许、苏杭人柴胡厚朴不过一钱，这种从临床中磨出来的经验，是许多规整医案书里读不到的。本书原为裘庆元所辑《三三医书》第一集之一种，篇幅短、门槛低，适合作为阅读清代医案的入门选本，也适合对温病辨治与舌诊感兴趣的读者随手翻阅。需要提醒的是，本书为民国铅印旧籍的整理本，文字简古，部分条目仅有案语而方药从略，读者最好具备一定中医基础，或配合《伤寒论》《温热论》等书对读，方能体会其精要之处。

Who it's for

A good fit for

对清代医案与温病辨治感兴趣的中医读者
希望从短篇医案入手学习察舌辨证的初学者
研究绍兴医派、三三医书及近代中医文献的学人
喜欢读简练古奥医话、可随时翻阅的普通读者

Not a good fit for

完全没有中医基础、希望按病查方的读者
期待系统教材式理论与完整方剂讲解的读者
只想找现代白话养生读物的读者

Reading tips

先读包越瑚序文，弄清成书缘起与全书体例，再进入正文各证。
读「舌苔」一节时可对照《伤寒舌鉴》等舌诊专书，边读边做舌象与证候的笔记。
每则医案先自行试判证型，再看作者结论，体会其辨证取舍。
不必求快，此书篇幅短而信息密，适合每日一两则，反复回看。

Preface to A Brief Guide to Diagnosing and Treating Illness
Synopsis
Tongue Coating
Cold Damage
Warm Pathogens
Wind-Warmth
Heat Entering the Blood Chamber
Dysentery
Summerheat
Latent Summerheat
Measles
Appendix: Two Volumes of Medical Cases (Main Text)

FAQ

《医病简要》的作者到底是谁？

原撰者为清代绍兴医家张畹香，书稿由其孙辈出示，经包越瑚作序定名，近代医家裘庆元（裘吉生）辑入《三三医书》第一集，因此部分书目把编者著录为裘吉生。

这本书收录在哪些丛书里？

主要见于裘庆元所辑《三三医书》（又名《秘本医学丛书》《九九医学丛书》）第一集，现代有中国中医药出版社《三三医书》整理本及《医案秘本十五种》收录本。

全书讲哪些病证？

据书前目录，依次为舌苔、伤寒、温邪、风温、热入血室、痢、暑、伏暑、瘄子，后附张氏医案两卷，以温病与伤寒辨治为主。

书中的方剂完整吗？

本书以证论与案语为主，部分条目方药从简甚至不列方，重点在辨证思路与用药分寸，需配合其他方书参考。

需要什么基础才能读？

建议具备基本中医理论常识，熟悉《伤寒论》六经与温病卫气营血概念；若为纯兴趣阅读，可先看序文与舌苔一节，逐步进入。

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About the author

张畹香 Author

Zhang Wanxiang is an author who left a work of medical case records in the literature of modern traditional Chinese medicine. Publicly available information is very limited: his years of birth and death, native place, courtesy name, and medical training are not clearly recorded, so it is difficult to sketch a full picture of his life. The only known work under his name is Zhang Wanxiang's Medical Cases, a medical text consisting mainly of clinical records that preserve examples of his diagnostic thinking and prescriptions. The genre of medical cases emphasizes factual accounts of illness, pattern identification, and treatment, allowing readers to understand how the author handled specific conditions; the book therefore has some reference value for the study of modern Chinese medical practice. Given the scarcity of materials, assessments of Zhang Wanxiang should rest on this collection of medical cases, neither overstating his influence nor overlooking his documentary significance as a recorder of clinical experience.

Qiu Qingyuan (Qiu Jisheng) Author · Chinese · 1873–1947

Qiu Qingyuan, courtesy name Jisheng, was a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and lived from 1873 to 1947. A modern Chinese physician and a collector and publisher of medical books, he devoted himself to gathering and organizing medical texts and amassed a collection of more than three thousand titles, on which he based his editorial and publishing work. In 1924 he compiled and published the Sansan Medical Books, and in 1936 he completed the Collected Rare Medical Books, making important contributions to the preservation and circulation of scarce medical works. He also founded the Hangzhou Sansan Medical Society and the Sansan Hospital, combining textual scholarship with medical practice, and was known as one of the "Three Outstanding Figures of Zhejiang." Eighteen of his works are held in the collection, including Fifteen Secret Medical Case Records, Three Secret Texts on Cold Damage, Five Secret Texts on Comprehensive Clinical Practice, Six Secret Texts on Internal Medicine, Three Secret Texts on Materia Medica, Three Secret Texts on Gynecology, and Two Secret Texts on Pediatrics. Most are compilations of rare medical texts covering medical cases, cold damage, various clinical specialties, and materia medica, with an emphasis on practical clinical use and textual preservation; they have had a positive influence on the transmission of modern Chinese medical scholarship.