Yīxué chuándēng 醫學傳燈
The Transmitted Lamp of Medicine by 陳歧 (Chén Qí, zì Yùfēng 玉峰, fl. early 18th c.)
About the work
A two-juǎn internal-medicine primer-handbook by the mid-Qing physician Chén Qí, covering thirty-three of the most commonly-encountered internal-medicine syndromes. Upper juǎn treats píwèi 脾胃, shāngfēng 傷風, zhōnghán 中寒, shǔrè 暑熱, shī 濕, zào 燥, huǒzhèng 火症, fēngshī 風濕, fēngwēn 風溫, shīwēn 濕溫, yǐnzhěn 癮疹, tòngfēng 痛風, láojuàn 勞倦, tánhuǒ 痰火, késòu 咳嗽, hōuchuǎn 齁喘, qīngjīn 青筋, qìnù 氣怒, zhōngè 中惡, shāngshí 傷食 (twenty entries); lower juǎn takes up shāngjiǔ 傷酒, huángdǎn 黃疸, jījù 積聚, zhēngjiǎ 症瘕, xiánpǐ 痃癖, pǐkuài 痞塊, diānkuáng 癲狂, xiánzhèng 癇症, sānxiāo 三消, huòluàn 霍亂, nüèjí 瘧疾, lìjí 痢疾, xièxiè 泄瀉, shànqì 疝氣, jiǎoqì 腳氣, wěizhèng 痿症, and a few related complaints. Each entry pairs concise pathology-and-differential with selected formulae.
Abstract
The work belongs to the broad mid-Qīng genre of pedagogically-oriented internal-medicine handbooks intended for apprentice physicians and educated lay practitioners — the same genre as 李梃 Lǐ Tǐng’s earlier Yīxué rùmén 醫學入門 (1575) and, later, 陳念祖 Chén Niànzǔ’s Yīxué sānzì jīng 醫學三字經. The title’s chuándēng 傳燈 (transmitting the lamp) is a Buddhist figure for pedagogical succession, signalling the work’s intent as a teaching primer.
Chén Qí’s biographical data is exceedingly thin: no CBDB record, no entry in the standard Qīng biographical compilations. The dating bracket of 1700–1729 here is the conventional placement based on internal lexical features and the typical mid-Qīng transmission profile of such works; the text appears in the Republican-period Zhēnběn yīshū jíchéng 珍本醫書集成 (Shanghai: Shìjiè shūjú, 1936) reprint, which is the principal modern source.
Some bibliographies confuse the Yīxué chuándēng with works of homonymous late-Míng or early-Qīng physicians; the standard modern attribution remains Chén Qí 陳歧 (occasionally written 陳岐).
Translations and research
- Included in Zhēnběn yīshū jíchéng 珍本醫書集成 (Shanghai: Shìjiè shūjú, 1936; reprints).
- No substantial monographic study located.