历史学最新文献

From the perspective of philology, this study is the first to explore the author information,manuscript content,and literary value of the unpublished and unique manuscript He Yao Zong Bu. Firstly, by examining the physician's birth year, residence, social interactions and handwriting style, it can be determined that the manuscript's author is Yang Shoushan, a renowned doctor of the Shicai School of the Wumen Medical School during the Qing Dynasty. He Yao Zong Bu is one of the two traceable manuscripts currently known that have been handed down by Yang. Secondly,the main content of this book is Yang Shoushan's compilation of nearly 400 surgical formulas and their preparation methods drawn from previous medical experts in Suzhou. The book is concise in structure and rich in formulas,providing a substantial amount of reference material for future generations to study the characteristics of surgical diagnosis and treatment in the Wumen Medical School and summarize surgical thought. Thirdly, the manuscript He Yao Zong Bu contributes rich documentary material to the analysis of the academic thought of Yang Shoushan, a physician of the Shicai School of the Wumen Medical School, medicine. It also provides solid documentary evidence for elucidating the style and pattern of Chen Xintian's surgical formulas,a famous surgeon of the Wumen Medical School.

The term 'Fang-Shu' (Calculation and Arts) broke the monopoly of early witchcraft in the Spring-Autumn Warring Period (AD770-AD221) and was widely spread by the regime. It was developed into a theory to understand universe, nature and social phenomena in the Qin and Han Dynasty. It, then, gradually influenced theoretical construction in almost all fields, including medicine. It was found that 'Fang-Shu' altered medicine in terms of the human body, cognition of diseases, drugs, etiology and pathogenesis. This was seen in the materials in the Spring-Autumn Warring Period, based on the newly unearthed documents such as Tianhuai Medical Bamboo Slips and Wan Wu, the Han Dynasty Bamboo Slips in Fuyang, and the medicine classics like the Inner Canon (Nei Jing) and the Divine Husbandman's Classic of Materia Medica (Shen Nong Ben Cao). 'Fang-Shu' theory continued to develop until the East Han Dynasty.

A dictionary compilation of the important figures in traditional Chinese medicine is very important. The Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine Figures contributes greatly to the research of traditional Chinese medicine figures and traditional Chinese medicine history because more than 18,000 traditional Chinese physicians are included, along with rich data and a clear index. However, some problems are still worth discussing. These problems mainly focus on lack of consistency with the style, incomplete data of physicians, mistakes in the relationship between characters, and lack of consistency of the style of the sections. In this sense, these problems give the following warnings for dictionary compilation of relevant Chinese medicine. First of all, a variety of data sources, such as databases should be involved. Additionally, literature materials should be fully studied and examined. And thirdly, the publication needs to maintain consistency from the beginning to the end. Most importantly, as many as possible of those famous members of medical schools should be included.

Compendium of Medicine (Yi Xue Gang Mu) has forty volumes, compiled by Lou Ying in the Ming Dynasty. The classification of this book was based on the diseases of viscera and relevant treatment methods. It has unique literature research value because it involved a large number of medical literature before the Ming Dynasty including Inner canon of Huang Di and many great works of popular physicians after that. By comparing Compendium of Medicine (Yi Sue Gang Mu) with Classified Materia Medica (Zheng Lei Ben Cao), it can be seen that there are 577 references from Classified Materia Medica in Compendium of Medicine, involving 78 archive or physician abbreviation with 66 ancient books or works of doctors. This means that 78 abbreviation in Compendium of Medicine were out of 220 abbreviation in Classified Materia Medica. Therefore, it indicates that Classified Materia Medica plays an important role in Compendium of Medicine compiling. In the process of citing Classified Materia Medica, Compendium of Medicine made some mistakes of citation, such as wrong provenance because of the original sources unchecked or the trace unknown, wrong spelling of names, confusion because of abbreviation, misunderstanding because of similarity, and a book with different names. These issues of citation style of Compendium of Medicine and their utilisation in practice provide meaningful references for textual research.

In the studies of the efficacy of licorice unearthed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, licorice was mainly used for traumatic injuries. This was recorded widely in the Eastern Han, Jin and Tang Dynasties, and the drug compatibility, processing and their uses were in line with the literature recorded in the Qin and Han Dynasties. Licorice was also provided evidence with the effect of traumatic injury treatment by modern pharmacological studies. However, the efficacy of licorice is mainly believed as "harmonizing all medicines" in current clinical practice, but ignored the main efficacy of licorice for "trauma". This means the study of the efficacy of licorice is meaningful and essential for current clinical practice.

Yao Xing Ji Yao Bian Du was a book on materia medica, compiled by Yue Chang, a physician in Wujin, Jiangsu, in the Qing Dynasty. This book was first published in the 23rd year of Dao Guang in the Qing Dynasty (1843) and there are three versions remaining. They were the movable-type printing of the Song Yang Study of the Tao's in 1843, the reprinted version of the Song Yang Study in the 30th year of Dao Guang (1850) , and the version of the Yi Hai Tang in the first year of Xian Feng (1851). This book involved 374 herbs, describing each of their shapes and colours, features and tastes, and meridial distribution with poems of five or seven characters, as well as their functions and prescriptions. It attached many herbs from the formulas of physicians and a 'Brief Guide of Medicine' to the poems, indicating herb features and Chinese medical culture. The book had both academic value and literature value because it integrated theories and practice. This paper examines the life of Yue Chang and his book, and clarifies the content and version sources of the Yao Xing Ji Yao Bian Du. It also corrects the mistakes of version recording to the following books: the General Catalogue of Chinese Ancient Books, the General Catalogue of Chinese Ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine Books and the Dictionary of Chinese Medical Books.

This paper attends to examine the historical materials related to smallpox in the Republic of China Daily from 1916 to 1949, in terms of the prevalence of smallpox, diagnosis and treatment, and societal responses recorded. It was found that smallpox had many different names recorded in the newspaper, and most of them related to the symptoms and the epidemic features. It was reported that smallpox, as an epidemic, occurred almost every year from 1916 to 1949. Among them, six serious outbreaks happened in 1918, 1921-1922, 1926, 1929-1930, 1932-1936, and 1946. It was found that smallpox was prevalent in winter and spring with its symptoms in the four periods: onset, rash, pustulation, and decrustation. Its treatment focused on clearing heat (Qing Re) and detoxification or warming and tonifying (Wen Bu) with traditional Chinese medicine.

'Rong Xing Zhi Shu', seen in the unearthed medical literature Ba Li-Tianhui Medical Slips, was believed to be a medical theory on body knowledge in the Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties. It was not well and fully studied based on the relevant records in the literature and the lacquermeridian portraits found in the same tomb. This paper examines the relevant terminology on body knowledge and analyses the meaning of 'Rong Xing Zhi Shu'. It was found that 'Rong Xing Zhi Shu' implied ancient views of bodyclassification and treatment. Such an understanding of body parts and the understanding of treatment in accordance with physiological characteristics was reflected in the following theories of traditional Chinese medicine, represented by the Huang Di Nei Jing (Huang Di Inner Canon), although ancient language might have been lost.

Grapes originated from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, as well as Asia Minor, the South Caucasus and other regions. Grapes were introduced to the Xinjiang area of China around 600 BC through the Iranian Plateau and Central Asia. Grapes were spread from the Western Regions (a term in Han Dynasty for the area out of Yu Men Guan) to the Central Plains (Birthplace of Chinese civilisation) with the opening of the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty. The medicinal and edible features of grapes had been recorded in ancient western medical books. The medical cognition of grapes were further developed and were incorporated into the local medical system through absorbing foreign experience and integrating them with local medical practice by physicians from both the Western Regions and the Central Plains. The medical cognition of grapes from the physicians of the civilisations was identical though with minor differences. This indicates the multidimentional specialties of different medical systems and the history of the effective exchanges and mutual learning between the two medical systems.

The character Bu () of Baibu (), pronounced as BANG (), referred to root of a plant. The original BAND () should be the character Bu (), which had the same meaning with BANG (), ie., root of a plant. Baibu () was actually Baibu (), based on plant features of numerous and clustered roots. The root shape of plant Baibu and Tian Men Dong (, a plant which has the same name with Baibu but looks different) look very similar with the character pattern Bu () in Jia Gu Wen (Chinese character inscription on bones or tortoise shells in the Shang and Zhou Dynasty). The alias of Baibu, Pofucao (), and Baibing () attached to Baibu () in Compendiu of Material Medica (Ben Cao Gang Mu), might be the change of pronunciation phonetically. The Mu () in Beimu () and Zhimu (), the Fu () in Beifu () and the Mo () in Suanmo (), are all the change of pronunciation phonetically, meaning roots of plants.