Abstract
In this case Xu Shuwei discusses another patient to whom he could offer no cure. This time it is what he considers to be one of the most dreaded of the Attenuated Yin syndromes: ‘tongue curled back and retracted scrotum’. This is a brief case with a briefer discussion. Xu does not mention a better-known section in the Basic Questions (suwen), the ‘Discourse on Heat [Disorders]’, that completes the pathological picture. This section describes the penetration of the pathogen into the body over 6 days. On the sixth day, the Attenuated Yin tract, which is associated with the liver system of functions, receives the pathogen, causing the scrotum to retract. Instead, Xu applies a section of the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon – Divine Pivot (Lingshu) to explain a prognosis of Cold Damage disorder, integrating these two ancient books in practice.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Jurong County is located between Nanjing and Zhenjing, in the southern part of Jiangsu province.
- 3.
Xingke (overcome) is an astrological term; its meaning in this context is unclear.
- 4.
‘Tongue curled back and scrotum retracted’ are diagnostic signs in Chinese medicine; see case record #22. The body of the tongue contracts and cannot straighten out, and the scrotum shrinks upward, retracting into the groin. This syndrome appears when the Heart, Liver, and Kidney functions are all damaged at the same time. See Zhongyi da cidian, 2nd ed., p. 628.
- 5.
This quotation is from the Lingshu 經脈, juan 3.10 (line 32), p. 261.
- 6.
Jin includes the ligaments and tendons; cf. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) sense 1 of “sinews.”
- 7.
This is why the scrotum is involved.
Bibliography
Other Sources:
Guo, Aichun 郭靄春, editor. 1992. Huangdi neijing suwen jiaozhu 黃帝內經素問校注 [Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon: Basic Question – critically annotated]. Beijing: Renmin weisheng, 1992 (2 vols).
Unschuld, Paul U. and Hermann Tessenow (with the assistance of Zheng Jingsheng). 2011. Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: An Annotated Translation of Huang Di’s Inner Classic: Basic Questions. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
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Goldschmidt, A. (2019). Case Number 27. In: Medical Practice in Twelfth-century China – A Translation of Xu Shuwei’s Ninety Discussions [Cases] on Cold Damage Disorders. Archimedes, vol 54. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06103-6_28
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