Early C20 Chinese Lithograph: 'Fan' diseases

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Early C20 Chinese Lithograph: 'Fan' diseases. Wellcome Collection. In copyright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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Huitu zhenjiu yixue (Illustrated Acupuncture Made Easy), by Li Shouxian, was composed in 1798 (3rd year of the Jiaqing reign period of the Qing dynasty). It comprises two volumes (juan), plus a supplementary volume containing illustrations of the 'Seventy-two fan'. The 'Seventy-two fan' are not mentioned in any other early Chinese medical sources. Judging from the accounts given in this text, fan must be a generic term for a category of acute illness of unexplained origin. The word fan is qualified by names of animals and insects to characterise the external manifestations of these illnesses. This illustration shows the manifestations of Unstaunchable Bleeding (xue liu bu zhi) fan, Deer fan and Camel fan. According to the captions, the signs of these conditions are as follows: In Unstaunchable Bleeding fan, the patient bleeds uncontrollably. It is treated by administering 'living human sinews' (nail clippings) knotted with human hair, calcined and finely powdered, washed down with yellow rice wine. This treatment can be adopted when when there is bleeding from all parts of the body. In Deer fan, the patient, the patient brings up bloody froth, and the comes out in a purple rash resembling plum blossom. This can be cured by piercing the rash with a needle and administering Deerhorn glue (lujiao jiao, colla cornus cervi) washed down with good-quality yellow rice wine. In Camel fan, the patient resembles a cow lying down, brings up white foam, and has purple boils behind the ears. This can be cured by piercing the boils with a needle and applying dried cow manure burnt to ash, mixed with sesame oil.

Lettering

TITLE: Unstaunchable Bleeding (xue liu bu zhi) fan; Deer fan; Camel fan. CAPTIONS: See 'Description of Image Content'

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