Bǎoyīng jīnjìng lù 保嬰金鏡錄
Golden Mirror Record for the Protection of Infants anonymous; annotated by 薛己 Xuē Jǐ (注)
About the work
A single-juǎn paediatric visual-diagnostic handbook, anonymous in original composition, with interlinear commentary (zhù 注) by 薛己 Xuē Jǐ (1487–1559, zì Lìzhāi 立齋), Director of the Míng Imperial Medical Academy and one of the most prolific mid-Míng medical writers. The catalog meta records the work as zhuànrén bù xiáng 撰人不詳 Xuē Jǐ 注 (compiler unknown, annotated by Xuē Jǐ), with dynasty 明; this matches the standard bibliographic placement. The work belongs to the Xuēshì yīàn 薛氏醫案 (KR3e0070) corpus, the 16-work collection of Xuē Jǐ’s editorial-annotative paediatric and general-medical writings. It is the companion-work to Xuē’s Bǎoyīng cuōyào 保嬰撮要 (KR3ej015, 1556) and Xuē’s commentary on the Qiánshì xiǎo’ér zhíjué (KR3ej021).
Prefaces
The received text opens directly with the substantive content (miànbù jiànsè zhǔzhèng 面部見色主症, Symptoms Indicated by Facial Coloration) without a separate preface. The work’s age-vocabulary classification follows the Quányòu xīnjiàn 全幼心鑑: bànzhōu liǎngsuì wéi yīngér 半周兩歲為嬰兒 (six-months-to-two-years: yīngér), sānsì suì wéi háiér 三四歲為孩兒 (three-to-four: háiér), wǔliù suì wéi xiǎo’ér 五六歲為小兒 (five-to-six: xiǎo’ér), qībā suì wéi tiáochèn 七八歲為齠齔 (seven-to-eight: tiáochèn, tooth-shedding age), jiǔ suì wéi tóngzǐ 九歲為童子 (nine: tóngzǐ), shí suì wéi zhìzǐ 十歲為稚子 (ten: zhìzǐ). For infants under six months, the standard three-finger temperature-palpation (sānzhǐ héng’àn 三指橫按) on the forehead serves as primary diagnostic procedure. The text then proceeds through the miànbù wǔwèi 面部五位 (five-region facial diagnostic correspondences: forehead = xīn heart; left cheek = gān liver; right cheek = fèi lung; nose = pí spleen; chin = shèn kidney) with detailed coloration-pattern symptom correspondences for each region.
Abstract
The Bǎoyīng jīnjìng lù is one of the principal Míng-period visual-diagnostic paediatric handbooks. Its theoretical frame is the Qiánshì 錢氏 (錢乙 Qián Yǐ) zàngfǔ paediatric doctrine, particularly the facial-coloration / five-zàng correspondences. Xuē Jǐ’s interlinear commentary (Xuē 案 / Qiè wèi 竊謂) expands each symptom-coloration with a corresponding prescription drawn from the standard Sòng-Míng paediatric formulary: Xièxīn tāng 瀉心湯 for forehead-redness xīnjīng shírè, Mìzhǐ ānshén wán 秘旨安神丸 for xīnjīng xūrè, Yìhuáng sǎn 益黃散 for blue-black-forehead hánshuǐ shèngxīn (cold-water-overpowering-fire), Dìhuáng wán 地黃丸 (the famous liùwèi) for shèngān xū, Cháihú qīnggān sǎn 柴胡清肝散 for left-cheek-red gānjīng fēngrè, and so forth. The work is in effect a compact visual-diagnostic operational handbook combining the Qiánshì facial-region nosology with Xuē’s mid-Míng prescription corpus. The author of the underlying original handbook is unknown; the work probably circulated in late-Yuán / early-Míng paediatric apothecary practice and was edited and annotated by Xuē Jǐ for inclusion in the Xuēshì yīàn between c. 1530 and 1559.
Translations and research
- Furth, A Flourishing Yin. Berkeley: UC Press, 1999 — discusses Xuē Jǐ’s editorial-commentarial paediatric work.
- Chao Yüan-ling, Medicine and Society in Late Imperial China. New York: Peter Lang, 2009 — context for Sūzhōu Míng-Qīng medicine.
- Bǎoyīng jīnjìng lù jiàozhù 保嬰金鏡錄校注 — modern punctuated edition.
- No substantial English translation located.