Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica, Volume 1

My silk-bound book chests original: "Xiang zhi qie" (緗之篋); "Xiang" refers to the light yellow silk used for book covers, a metonym for a scholarly library have long been so full that their contents overflow the baskets. Bundled and stored on high shelves, they have piled up into several thousand volumes. Lately, I have grown somewhat weary of this clutter. During a quiet year, I inspected the collection and burned those works that were of no use.

Among the twelve works in this collection, the two manuscripts for Incantation Therapy 祝由 (Zhuyou): an ancient medical category involving spiritual healing, prayer, and incantations and The Itinerant’s Medical Lore 串雅 (Chuanya): literally "Elegant Strings," referring to the knowledge and "calling cards" of traveling "bell-doctors" were nearly lost; in the spring of the Jichou year 1769, I had already thrown them into the flames. However, because the youngsters in the house snatched them away from the fire, they were preserved for the time being.

Starting from the Jiaxu year 1754, I began compiling the Gathering Fur from the Medical Forest original: "Yilin Jiye" (醫林集腋); "Gathering fur from underarms" is a metaphor for collecting small, precious fragments from many sources to create a valuable whole. I examined more than ten thousand medical books held in the collection of my neighbor, Old Man Huang Fanweng, and cross-referenced them with old secret volumes from the Jiangnan and Fujian regions. I collected those formulas that were repeatedly proven effective and titled the work "Gathering Fur" to show that making a refined selection is no easy task.

Among my relatives and friends, some showed me their own proven prescriptions, and I acquired others during my travels. Over the years, these additions grew into the Proven Prescriptions original: "Chuanxin Fang" (傳信方); literally "Prescriptions for Passing on Trust". In the spring of the Yihai year 1755, Mr. Wang Zishi of Hunan rented a room at my residence. I noticed a volume on Incantation Therapy on his desk; Mr. Wang used these methods with consistent success.

In my spare time, I borrowed his book to make a copy. Later, I also obtained a manuscript from the Zhang family, as well as excerpts from The Confucian’s Duties Toward Parents original: "Rumen Shiqin" (儒門事親); a famous medical text by Zhang Congzheng and the transcriptions of the two masters Wan Quan and Xue Ji original: "Wan Xue er jia" (萬薛二家); two of the most influential physicians of the Ming Dynasty. I selected and tested these remedies, deleting those that were absurd and retaining only those that were effective and convenient for a practitioner to use.