[Examination of the Tanyin chapter of the "Heji Jufang"]

An examination of the tanyin chapter of the "Heji Jufang", the world's first national pharmacopoeia and the major pharmacopoeia of the Northern Sung era, yielded the following findings:(1) In the tanyin chapter, we identified many examples of discussions based on the theory of "lung and stomach disorders". Since this theoryis not found in medical books before the Tang era, and since many examples can be found in the "Heji Jufang" and other medical books of the same period, we believe this is a view of pathology peculiar to the Northern Sung era.(2) A comparison of the components of prescriptions used in the "Waitai Miyaofang" and the tanyin chapter of the "Heji Jufang" revealed that the former contains many strong diuretics, purgatives, and crude drugs of a hot nature, while the later contains few of these but many diuretics that have a mild antitussive effect. We believe the use of medicines in the latter is related to the treatment of "avoiding diuretics and purgatives which could adversely affect pi qi."(3) We pointed out that the er chen tang in the tanyin chapter of the "Heji Jufang" is merely one prescription of a group of prescriptions to treat a morbid condition caused by the disorders of the stagnant tanyin. We revealed in the "Yijianfang" and "Wangbing Huichun" the process by which, with the passage of time, that er chen tang came to be widely interpreted as the basic prescription for tanyin, including chronic cases.