Medicinal Signs

1. First read the format notes at the beginning of the volume to clarify the meaning and relationships of the sections on primary indications, secondary indications, evidential examination, and so on, then read drug by drug.
2. For each drug, compare the relevant formula passages in the Treatise on Cold Damage and the Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet to see how the author works back from formula-patterns to drug indications.
3. Focus on the "error correction" and "cross-examination" sections, noting the author's grounds for refuting older views, and jot down differences from current materia medica works.
4. After finishing the book, select three to five commonly used clinical drugs for a thematic review, comparing their defined indications with those in later materia medica.

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