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(Manuscript revised by nephew Guisheng)
Generally, human diseases include those that respond to similar categories and those that appear similar but are fundamentally different. Taking warm disease (Wen Bing, febrile disease caused by warm pathogenic factors) and damp-warm disease (Shi Wen, febrile disease complicated with dampness) as examples: Warmth is the gradual onset of heat, while dampness belongs to the category of Yin. As warmth transforms into heat, the practitioner should naturally employ water-natured methods to control fire. Dampness arises from the Spleen, which is a Yin Earth organ. In warm disease complicated with dampness, it is clearly a combination of dampness and heat, which differs distinctly from the combination of dampness and cold. However, administering sweet-cold herbs may promote dampness due to the sweet flavor's property. Therefore, one must understand that warm disease results from the discharge of Yang Qi; once it occurs, heat manifests immediately. Even if there is some constraint on the exterior or interior, it merely presents as slight chills at the initial stage, followed by feeling only heat after one or two days, where exterior and interior symptoms are consistent. The irritability is unbearable, like extreme summer heat. Thirst is intense, like extreme summer heat, where cool drinks are consumed in large quantities. Mental confusion involves disordered speech or even mania. Urine is red and scanty; stool is dry, hard, or urgently loose. The tongue is crimson with prickles, dry, cracked, black, and withered. The pulse is surging and large. This is completely different from damp disease, where after several days, there remains a sensation of cold and damp oppression, with internal heat but not significant external heat. The irritability in damp disease is stifling rather than intensely hot; although heat damages fluids and induces thirst, the presence of dampness in the middle jiao means patients often only moisten their lips when drinking, preferring hot drinks to resolve stagnation because dampness tends to congeal. Mental confusion in damp disease manifests as dream-disturbed lethargy. Urine is red and turbid; stool is loose without forceful expulsion, or constipated but not dry; occasionally dryness occurs due to the Spleen's dampness failing to promote transformation and rotation. Crimson tongue color in damp disease is limited to the edges and tip; the tongue body is mostly moist; areas of withered blackness often have white coating underneath; or if no coating exists, the tongue is pale and flaccid, even dry and mirror-like. The pulse is rapid and fine, or slippery and muddy. Warm disease inherently shows signs of burning and damaging Yin, resembling an uncontrollable prairie fire. Complicated dampness inherently shows evidence of obstructing Qi mechanism and pervasive steaming. By adhering to these distinctions to differentiate between warm disease and damp-warm disease, and formulating treatments according to symptoms, even if not perfectly accurate, it will be close to the truth.