Wúshì Yīfāng Huìbiān 吳氏醫方彙編
Wú’s Compendium of Medical Formulas by 吳杞 (Wú Qǐ, zì Zhàngxiān 杖仙, fl. mid-Qiánlóng era, Qīng; Āndé 安德, Ānhuī)
About the work
A mid-Qiánlóng era specialised formulary devoted principally to yángyī 瘍醫 / wàikē 外科 (external medicine — abscesses, malignant boils, dorsal carbuncles, liúzhù, luǒlì, rǔyán, dermal ulcers) by Wú Qǐ, a self-taught Ānhuī gentleman-physician who, after curing his own tongue-disease in 1734, turned his attention systematically to external medicine. The compilation comprises 4 juǎn of jīngyàn (tested) prescriptions assembled over twenty years of practice.
Prefaces
Self-Preface (zìxù) by Wú Qǐ, dated Qiánlóng 9 jiǎzǐ mid-spring jíwàng = early spring (2nd lunar month, 16th day) 1744, signed Āndé Wú Qǐ Zhàngxiān fǔ zhuàn 安德吳杞杖仙甫著 at the Wǎnxiāngtáng 晚香堂.
“Medicine is a small Dào. And the yángyī (external-medicine specialty) is only one branch of medicine — those who do not cure are derided as practising the carving-of-insects small-art. Of those occasionally devoting their hearts to the LíngSù texts, some despise yōngjū (abscesses) as unworthy of study — not knowing that the zàngfǔ (organs) issue forth through the sìzhī pífū (limbs and skin), and the qìxuè nèi yǔ wài wèishǐ bùxiāng biǎolǐ yě (the internal-and-external blood-and-qì are never not in surface-and-interior relationship to one another).
“In mid-autumn of jiǎyín [= 1734] I suffered a tongue-affliction. I called physicians who took many days to treat me — but in the end I did not recover. I treated myself by shīxīn (master-mind), and was fortunate to be cured. From then onwards I devoted some attention to this Dào.
“I am of shallow learning. How am I worthy to speak of it? But always I have set my heart on study — particularly fearing lest my shallow skill and meagre talent bring on me the criticism of cǎojiān rénmìng (treating human life like wild grass). Therefore I have respectfully gathered my tested formulas of recent years and compiled them in a fascicle — perhaps of use to the poor villages and remote countryside.”
Preface by a guest of Wú Qǐ’s house (the Wǎnxiāngtáng), dated 1751 (Qiánlóng 16):
“In Qiánlóng 16, I lodged with Mr. Wú Zhàngxiān, and saw those seeking medicine fill his gate; on inquiring I learned: in his earlier years he had once been afflicted with a cough; the physicians he called did not cure him; later he himself grasped an established formula and recovered. He thereupon devoted himself wholly to the study of the upper masters — to anyone seeking [his treatment], even to the meanest servant he would not refuse. He led me into his studio; the drug-substances were all of his own careful preparation; further he brought out his recorded compilation of ancient and modern good prescriptions, with his own preface, and asked me for some words to head it.”
Abstract
A precisely-dated 1744 spring compilation by Wú Qǐ of Āndé 安德 (Ānhuī), with second preface from 1751. The work is one of the better-documented mid-Qiánlóng wàikē formularies and reflects the broader Qīng revival of wàikē clinical practice that culminated in the imperially-sponsored Yīzōng jīnjiàn 醫宗金鑑 of 1742 — a work that may have influenced Wú’s decision to compile his own specialised collection.
Wú Qǐ is interesting as a representative of the gentleman-physician auto-didact type of mid-Qīng popular practice: a literate but non-degree-holding scholar who, after personal experience of illness and successful self-treatment, devotes himself to lay-clinical practice. The 1751 visiting-guest preface portrays Wú’s clinic as serving the full social range (“even the meanest servant he would not refuse”) and emphasises Wú’s hands-on drug-preparation practice (yàopǐn jiē zì jīngzhì — “the drug-substances are all of his careful own preparation”).
The work was widely reprinted in the late Qīng; a modern critical edition has not been issued, but the work is preserved in late-Qīng woodblock printings.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. The work is briefly catalogued in the Zhōngguó zhōngyī gǔjí zǒngmù (2007).
Links
- See 吳杞.
- Cognate wàikē formularies: KR3ed123 Wàikē jīngyàn fāng (Xuē Jǐ); the imperially-sponsored Yīzōng jīnjiàn 醫宗金鑑 (KR3ed074, 1742) for the broader Qīng wàikē revival context.
- 吳氏醫方彙編 (jicheng.tw)
- Kanseki DB