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 Cat fan, Stork fan, Rat/mouse fan and Goose fan.
According to the captions, the signs of these conditions are as follows:
In Cat fan, the patient twitches his/her nose, clutches at his/her heart, and claws at the floor with both hands. This can be treated by needling the temples so as to draw blood, and then administering realgar (xionghuang) powder in liquor.
In Stork fan, the patient suffers from nausea and vomiting, the root of the tongue becomes hard, and red boils appear underneath the tongue. It is treated by lancing the boils with a needle and applying gunpowder.
In Rat/mouse fan, lesions resembling 'rat wounds' (laoshu chuang) appear on the neck or chest. This is treated with the front claws of a cat, baked till brown and powdered, and mixed with sesame oil (xiangyou) to produce an ointment.
In Goose fan, the patient leans forward, craning his/her neck. The remedy for this is three goose quills boiled in water, and given to the patient to drink.
