Ancient Formulas for Modern Illnesses

Ancient Formulas for Modern Illnesses is a manuscript of clinical case records left by the renowned Northeast Chinese physician Hu Xingyuan (1866–1945), organized by Wang Guoli in the early 1980s and printed by the Shenyang Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Materia Medica. The book is modest in length and records, by illness and syndrome, the author's actual cases of using ancient formulas—especially the classical formulas of the Treatise on Cold Damage and the Essentials of the Golden Cabinet—to treat the common and difficult diseases of his time: first the patient's symptoms and pulse signs, then the prescribed formulas with modifications, and then the effects and outcomes after taking them, in the typical "explaining formulas through cases" format. The book's deepest effort lies in connecting "ancient formulas" with "modern illnesses": for the same formula used against seasonal diseases, miscellaneous diseases, and various stubborn male, gynecological, and internal conditions of the time, how to adapt it to the syndrome and how to adjust dosage and combination—all can be seen in the author's thinking in the case notes. Many of the recorded cases are unexpected, such as using Danggui Sini Decoction with Evodia and fresh ginger to treat penile retraction and failure to ejaculate after intercourse, arguing from "cold congealing the liver meridian," a case repeatedly cited by later physicians. This book is an internally organized and printed record of an old doctor's experience, with a limited print run; copies in circulation are mostly scans, so its value lies mainly in the original case records and the author's diagnostic eye rather than in systematic textbook-style theoretical exposition. It is suitable as a desk reference for clinical practitioners of classical formulas.