Yōngjū shénmì yànfāng 癰疽神秘驗方
Spiritually Secret Tested Prescriptions for Carbuncles and Ulcers by 陶華 (Táo Huá, zì Shàngwén 尚文, hào Jiéān 節庵, c. 1369 – c. 1463) — early Míng physician of Yúháng 餘杭 (Zhèjiāng); edited posthumously by 薛己 (Xuē Jǐ, 1487–1559).
About the work
A short formulary-style early-Míng wàikē monograph organised around the Yōngjū shí duàn guān 癰疽十段關 — a linear “Ten Stages of yōngjū” staged-treatment scheme covering the canonical clinical phases. Táo Huá is a celebrated Shānghán specialist nicknamed Táo yī tiē 陶一帖 (“Táo One-Dose”); the present surgical work is a much shorter companion to his celebrated Shānghán liù shū 傷寒六書 (KR3ef038, 1445). The text is undated internally; given Táo’s lifespan and the absence of an authorial preface in the source file, the composition window lies in his mature practising years (Xuāndé – Jǐngtài). The transmitted text was later 校刊 jiàokān (edited and recut) by Xuē Jǐ in the 16th c., and Xuē’s editorial voice — the yú àn 愚按 (“my humble opinion”) interpolations — is the principal late-Míng layer of the work.
Abstract
There is no authorial preface in _000; the file is essentially the text proper, opening directly with the Yōngjū shí duàn guān 癰疽十段關. No tíyào / preface located in source.
The “Ten Stages” scheme covers the canonical clinical phases of carbuncle development: initial qì xíng (qi circulation); nèishū 內疏 / tuōlǐ 托裡; dà kě 大渴 / fā rè 發熱 (great thirst / fever); ǒutù 嘔吐 (vomiting); chuǎn jí 喘急 (rapid breathing); mù xié shàng shì 目斜上視 (eyes deviated upward); sì zhī chén zhòng 四肢沉重 (heaviness of the four limbs); shí bù xià 食不下 (inability to take food); shēng sī miàn fú 聲嘶面浮 (hoarseness and facial oedema); xiōng mǎn fù tòng 胸滿腹痛 (chest fullness and abdominal pain). Each phase pairs a leading formula (rénshēn bàidú sǎn 人參敗毒散, nèituō fùjiān sǎn 內托復煎散, nèishū huánglián tāng 內疏黃連湯, tuōlǐ róngwèi tāng 托裡榮衛湯, zhúyè huángqí tāng 竹葉黃耆湯…) with secondary options and an XuēJǐ yú àn 愚按 commentary. The work closes with separate treatments of dīngdú 疔毒 (Huíshēng dān 回生丹, Fēilóng duómìng dān 飛龍奪命丹), chángyōng 腸癰, fèiyōng 肺癰, biàndú 便毒, tiěxiù fāng 鐵鏽方 (cold-iron rust as drug), and a sequence of case histories. The yú àn voice corrects Táo on points of xūshí 虛實 — a transparent Xuē editorial layer.
The text’s significance lies in its early-Míng staging system, which became influential in formulary literature; transmitted via Xuē Jǐ’s editing into mainstream wàikē teaching. Its emphasis on staged differential treatment — rather than single-shot gōng (attack) or tuō (support) — bridges Sòng / Yuán and Míng approaches.
Táo Huá’s conventional lifedates 1369–1463 (or c. 1369 – c. 1450 in some references) are widely cited but not securely documented; he was a Hángzhōu Yúháng physician active in the early Míng. Not in CBDB.
Translations and research
- Modern punctuated reprints in Táo Huá yī-shū hé-biān 陶華醫書合編-type series.
- Biographical entry in 《浙江醫人考》 and Yī biān míng-yī lù (yibian.hopto.org).
- No substantial dedicated study located.
Other points of interest
The Xuē Jǐ editorial layer is unusually substantial — many yú àn passages run to several lines of xūshí analysis — making the work a de facto TáoXuē composite and one of the better cases for studying how Xuē Jǐ remediated earlier Míng surgical literature into his own wēnbǔ framework.