Yīfāng Jiédù 醫方絜度
A Measure of Medical Formulas by 錢敏捷 (Qián Mǐnjié, zì Qínmín 勤民, fl. mid-late 19th c., 清)
About the work
The Yīfāng jiédù is a 3-juǎn analytical formulary by the literatus-physician Qián Mǐnjié 錢敏捷, who selected c. 260 post-Zhòngjǐng formulas from the received corpus, glossed each with editorial commentary on the prescribing rationale, and supplemented several with formulas of his own clinical testing. By the author’s deliberate choice, the jīngfāng (classical formulas of Zhāng Zhòngjǐng) are not included — the work covers only the “later-worthies” hòuxián fāngyì 後賢方義 post-classical material. The title jiédù “measure” implies a calibrated yardstick for evaluating the post-classical formulary corpus.
Prefaces
The work carries a single preface by Qián Huǎnzhī 錢緩之, the author’s younger brother:
先兄勤民秉性聰穎，細承庭訓，不僅醫道，即天文、地理、奇遁等書，無不洞悉原由。與儒人談古論今，互相辯論，均皆折服。此書乃君採擇後賢方義，匯成一書，名曰：《醫方絜度》，卷分三帙，方共二百六十有餘首。
(“My elder brother Qínmín, by natural talent acute and well grounded in family teaching, ranged not only over medicine but over astronomy, geography, and the divinatory arts (qídùn); in disputation with Confucian scholars he invariably prevailed. The present work is his selection and analysis of the formulary intent of later worthies, gathered into three juǎn, comprising more than 260 formulas. He annotated each, with his own tested additions; only the jīngfāng of Zhòngjǐng are excluded.“)
The preface notes that “though the work is not a yìfāng (companion text) to Zhòngjǐng, it implicitly carries forward the project of the sages.” The original draft of this preface was a loose-leaf in the author’s manuscript copy and was transferred to the head of the printed edition by Qián Huǎnzhī, who fixed a few transcription errors. The preface bears no date.
The work then opens with a verse on water for decoction (jiānyào yòngshuǐ gē 煎藥用水歌) — an unusually scholarly recognition that the choice of water for decocting drugs is itself a pharmaceutical variable, with different water types (rapid current, bǎifèi “hundred-boilings,” gānlán “sweet wave,” fresh well-water, dìjiāng “earth-broth,” làxuě hánbīng “winter-snow cold-ice”) indicated for different syndromes.
Abstract
The work is mid-late-Qīng in date — Qián Huǎnzhī’s preface implies the elder brother predeceased the printing, and stylistic features place composition in roughly the 1850–1890 range. The exclusion of jīngfāng and concentration on the post-classical corpus is a deliberate methodological choice that contrasts with the contemporary jīngfāng revival represented by Lù Màoxiū’s 陸懋修 Bùxiè fāng KR3ed064: where Lù argued that the jīngfāng alone were authoritative, Qián argued that the hòuxián tradition deserved its own analytical treatment on its own merits. The work thus stands at the late-Qīng methodological fault-line between jīngfāng purism and post-classical methodological pluralism.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Modern Chinese punctuated editions exist in Zhōngguó yīxué dàchéng 中國醫學大成 reprints and in Mìng-yī fāng-shū dà-chéng 名醫方書大成 collectanea.
Other points of interest
The author’s polymathic range (medicine + astronomy + geography + qímén dùnjiǎ 奇門遁甲 divination) is a marker of mid-Qīng literati-medical identity in its richest form: the physician who is a scholar of everything and brings classical erudition to clinical practice. The preface’s emphasis on this point is a deliberate construction of cultural authority.
Links
- Wikidata: no dedicated entry.
- 醫方絜度 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB