Library

After the third day of reporting the eruption of smallpox, if the progression is neither too fast nor too slow, those that appear first rise first, and those that appear later rise later; they are distinct in size, not connected in chains, with pointed and round shapes, firm and solid, red and vibrant in color, the body plump, the face and eyes gradually swelling, filling with pus according to schedule, normal diet and bowel/bladder movements, and without other complications, this indicates no disease in the exterior or interior, a sign of great auspiciousness, and no medicine is needed.

1. Although the smallpox has erupted, if the color appears grayish-white and the swelling is flat like a tin cake, one must observe the patient's Zang-Fu Qi. If the patient can eat, has regular bowel movements, and has no other complications, it is auspicious; if the patient cannot eat, or suffers from vomiting and diarrhea, or itching, it is inauspicious.

1. For every portion of smallpox that erupts, a corresponding portion of toxin is expelled. If by the fifth or sixth day the eruption is not complete and the color is not red and vibrant, there is likely no hope for survival.

1. Three days of distension (swelling) is sufficient. If all pustules are full at the apex and red-purple, it is inauspicious; severe swelling of the face and eyes is also inauspicious.

1. During the time when distension should occur, if although pustules appear all over the body, the head and face do not erupt at all, or if the pustules do not swell but the flesh does, causing the skin and flesh of the head and face to become red, swollen, and puffy like a gourd, while the pustules themselves fail to rise, death is certain.

1. During the distension phase, if the tops of the pustules all over the body have holes like needle pricks and are purple-black, death is certain.

1. If the color of the pustules is dry and not moist, dull black and unclear, or if the grayish-white color gradually leads to inversion/collapse (reversal), or if purple blisters appear, death will ensue.

1. During distension, if there is severe pain in the waist and abdomen, or abdominal distension preventing eating, or shortness of breath with coma, or restlessness and agitation, or diarrhea with irritability and thirst, or white lips with phlegm rattling, or delirious speech, crying and groaning, as if seeing ghosts and spirits, death will ensue.

1. During distension, if vomiting and diarrhea do not stop, milk and food are not digested, or if blood appears in stool and urine, death will ensue.

1. If pustules on the hands and feet appear and then disappear, rise and then recede, or if pustules all over the body appear and vanish with the swelling, accompanied by restlessness and wheezing/asthma, death will ensue.

1. After the pustules have begun to distend, if there are six or seven small ones clustered together into a mass, among which there is one large pustule that is flat, broad, and crooked, it is inauspicious.

1. If the pustules erupt purple, and piercing them releases black blood resembling leaking roof water, death will ensue.

1. If during the eruption stage, the heads of the sores immediately contain white pus, regardless of location, it is not a good omen; this applies not only to the lips and mouth.