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 Pearl on the Buddha's Head (foding zhu) fan, Bloody Heart-Clutching(?) (xue yong xin) fan, Aphasia (wuyu) fan and Willow-bark boil (liupi ding).
According to the captions, the signs of these conditions are as follows:
In Pearl on the Buddha's Head fan, the patient suffers from head pains and is red in the face. If allowed to linger, this condition cannot readily be cured. It can be treated with the beak of a stork from a chinaberry tree (lianshu), calcined till brown and powdered, administered with yellow rice wine.
In Bloody Heart-Clutching fan the patient has suffocating pain in the heart and chest, and clutches at his/heart. To treat this, one can employ acupuncture on the root of the tongue, and strike the lower part of the body, front and back. One can also give powdered radish, washed down with yellow rice wine. If there are black blisters under the tongue, these should be lanced with a needle, and realgar applied. The heart region, both front and back, should also be gently patted; if red and black circles appear, the treatment is successful.
In Aphasia fan, the patient is unable to speak. To treat this, tianmen (Celestial Portal) is needled once, then the arches of both feet, then both quchi (Pool at the Crook) points.
In the case of Willow-Bark boil, the head shakes constantly, and vescicles appear next to the navel. The method of treatment is to lance these and apply powdered, calcined willow gall(?) (liuding). The longer they continue and the larger they become, the harder the condition is to cure.
