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 Eagle fan, Chicken fan, Duck fan and Magpie fan.
According to the captions, the signs of these conditions are as follows:
In Eagle fan, the patient grimaces, suffers from heart pain, and loses consciousness. This can be treated by needling the joints of the arms and legs so as to draw blood, and then applying realgar (xionghuang) powder.
In Chicken fan, the patient behaves like a sick chicken, and is agitated and restless and suffers from palpitations. The treatment for this is to administer chicken's gizzard membrane (jineijin) baked till brown and powdered, washed down with liquor.
In Duck fan, the patient tenses the mouth and shakes the head. This is treated by needling the throat so as to draw blood.
In Magpie fan, the patient has aches and pains in the head and body; the eyes are dim and the heart is painful; and purple boils appear under the tongue. This is treated by lancing the boils with a needle and applying realgar powder, and then administering a draught of realgar powder in liquor.
