Xinlu Jing (Fontanel Classic)

The Xinlu Jing is one of the earliest extant pediatric monographs in Chinese medicine. Its title derives from the notion that a newborn's fontanels remain unclosed, and it is also known as the Shiwu Xinlu Jing. The work is absent from historical bibliographies earlier than the Tang, first being recorded in the Song Shi: Yiwen Zhi as "Shiwu Xinlu Jing, two juan"; it is generally regarded as a work composed in the late Tang or early Song under the name of Shiwu. The original was lost after the Ming, and the present text was reconstructed by the editors of the Siku Quanshu during the Qianlong reign of the Qing from the Yongle Dadian, thereafter transmitted and printed by bibliophiles such as Chen Zhan and Ding Bing, whose Danggui Caotang Medical Series includes it. The work comprises two juan: the upper juan discusses pediatric pulse methods, diseases and patterns, treatment, and the special diagnostic and differential methods for pediatric illnesses, with detailed discussion of fright, epilepsy, seizures, malnutrition, dysentery, and fire cinnabar patterns; the lower juan records fifteen presentations of fire cinnabar (erysipelas), with treatments largely drawn from secret formulas, totaling sixteen patterns and nineteen formulas. The text occasionally touches on incantatory healing, preserving much early medical content. Its style is concise and well organized, and many of its diagnostic and therapeutic experiences are not found in later medical works, making it an important document for studying the origins of Chinese pediatrics and the early face of pediatric diagnosis and treatment. The Song Shi: Fangji Zhuan records that Qian Yi was renowned for his mastery of the Xinlu Jing, and later writers on pediatrics often trace their lineage to this work. This edition is part of the China Medical Science and Technology Press series Clinical Classics of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Chinese Medicine, and binds the Xinlu Jing together with the Bao Ying Yi Zhi Lu by Wu Ninglan (courtesy name Rongtang) of the Qing for convenient comparative reading. The Bao Ying Yi Zhi Lu, also known as You Ke Yi Zhi Lu, was published in the seventeenth year of the Jiaqing reign (1812) and comprises two juan with a supplementary juan: the upper juan covers rearing, discussing neonatal care and nutrition such as wiping the mouth, washing the infant, cutting and cauterizing the umbilicus, nursing, and swaddling; the lower juan covers fetal diseases; the supplement covers miscellaneous disorders and sores, offering a fairly complete, clear, and practical account of infant care.