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The diseases of infants and children can be summarized into two aspects: heat (Re, 热) and phlegm (Tan, 痰). This is because infants possess a "pure yang" constitution (Chunyang zhi ti, 纯阳之体). They are constantly held in arms, wrapped in warm clothing, and even items like diapers are dried over fire, causing both internal and external heat. Heat generates wind (Feng, 风), and wind and fire fan each other; with continuous breastfeeding, phlegm is inevitably produced. Phlegm, refined by fire, becomes hard as glue or lacquer. Since milk intake continues, old and new phlegm accumulate daily, leading to chest and abdominal distension, stuffiness, and crying. If one forces feeding to stop the crying, it results in high chest qi obstruction, staring eyes, and hand convulsions. This is labeled as "convulsive disease" (Jingfeng, 惊风), but it is not due to fright; rather, it is death from suffocation due to overfeeding! At this time, if parents are told to reduce clothing and stop breastfeeding, they will likely become extremely angry, arguing that the child is already weak and emaciated, and asking why they should be made cold and hungry, often cursing the doctor. Doctors who do not understand this principle either use harsh, drying medicines or employ tonics such as Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen, 人参). Once phlegm congeals and qi stagnates, there is no cure. I have seen this too often. I advise making the temperature suitable, stopping milk and food, nourishing stomach qi with clear rice water, and slightly using herbs to resolve phlegm and regulate qi. Those who listen are cured nine out of ten times; those who do not understand and dismiss this as madness have zero survival rate out of a hundred.

Regarding smallpox treatment (Douke, 痘科), it is particularly absurd. Smallpox is inevitable for children and is not a malignant disease. When the weather is mild, deaths are rare. In extreme cold or heat, only those with deficient yuan qi (Yuanqi, 元气) and dense eruptions may occasionally die. The initial stage requires eruption, and the later stage requires full pustules, both relying on essence and blood. However, before the eruption begins, large doses of Rheum Palmatum Root and Rhizome (Dahuang, 大黄) and Gypsum Fibrosum (Shigao, 石膏), amounting to several taels, are used to suppress the eruptive mechanism and damage yuan qi. Subsequently, dozens of earthworms (Qiu Yin, 蚯蚓), several larvae of beetles (Qilao, 蛴螬), and all sorts of extreme cold and hot substances, such as centipedes (Wugong, 蜈蚣), scorpions (Quanxie, 蝎子), chicken heads (Jitou, 鸡头), and pig tails, are used. Additionally, coarse materials like Hedyotis Diffusa Herba (Dideng, 地丁) and Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (Yinhua, 银花), amounting to several taels, are decocted and forced down the throat, increasing toxicity and damaging the spleen and stomach. Even if a doctor were to consume these foul substances themselves, it would surely lead to gastric failure and intestinal rupture, let alone an infant! Those who use such medicines invariably predict the exact day of death, rarely missing. The parents praise their accuracy, unaware that the child dies precisely from the medicine administered. Occasionally, a child with robust yuan qi survives by luck, leading people to believe that only such potent medicines can save them, spreading the story and revering it as a divine prescription! Even more bizarre is that for adults, doctors dare not use Scutellariae Radix (Huangqin, 黄芩) or Hordeium Vulgare Fructus Germinatum (Maiya, 麦芽), fearing they might weaken the body; yet for infants, they administer Gypsum Fibrosum and Rheum Palmatum Root and Rhizome in amounts of taels or jin without any hesitation, reaching such extremes. One can only cry out to heaven in despair, but no one believes.

Furthermore, there is the fabrication of the "Mantis Child" (Tanglangzi, 螳螂子) theory, which involves cutting open the inside of the cheek to extract bloody phlegm. This method originated from a money-making scam by a sorceress on the coast during the late Ming Dynasty and was prevalent only in Suzhou and Songjiang, resulting in many deaths. Generally, infants with phlegm-heat who nurse for a few days will develop swelling in one or both cheeks and lose appetite, a condition called "jealousy of milk" (Dulu, 妒乳). Applying powder of Menthae Haplocalycis Herba (Bohe, 薄荷) and Natrii Sulfas (Puxiao, 朴硝) once or twice cures it; even without treatment, it resolves spontaneously. The extracted phlegm clots vary in size, leading people to believe in the pathology. However, the hollow space inside the cheek exists in everyone; cutting it causes regeneration, so it is not a disease. Otherwise, why has no child anywhere else died from "Mantis Child," while it appears exclusively in Suzhou and Songjiang? This is another harm, hence mentioned here.