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(Attached: Uterine Prolapse)

Three *li* west of the West Gate of Wu County, Suzhou Prefecture, there was a woman suffering from unbearable itching in the vagina. Due to her widowhood and lack of anyone to relay her condition, physicians were unaware of the specific illness, and all treatments failed. She then went to Suzhou to seek diagnosis from Ye Tianshi. Ye Tianshi subtly probed to understand her intent. Ye Tianshi prescribed washing with a decoction of *Cnidii Fructus* (Shechuangzi) and internal administration of *Guilu Erxian Jiao* (Tortoise Shell and Deer Antler Two Immortals Glue). She recovered in four days. For vulvar erosion caused by parasites (*Yin Shi*), an effective method involves boiling liver, shaping it into a rod, drilling dozens of holes into it, inserting it into the vagina, and leaving it for a long time before removal; parasites will be found inside the holes of the liver. Replacing it with another similar liver rod allows the parasites to be expelled completely, leading to self-healing. This is also a good method.

Wang Mengying’s Note: There is also the syndrome of uterine prolapse (*Yin Ting*). It can be treated using six *liang* of calcined alum (*Fei Fan*, i.e., dried alum), one *liang* of *Persicae Semen* (Taoren), five *qian* each of *Schisandrae Fructus* (Wuweizi) and *Realgar* (Xionghuang), and four *qian* of *Chalcanthite* (Tonglü). These are ground into fine powder, mixed with refined honey to form pills, each weighing four *qian*. The pills are coated with Realgar powder from the prescription and inserted into the vaginal opening (*Yumen*). Severe cases will be cured after two uses.

Wang Yutai stated in the preface to *Nuke Zhengzhi Zhunsheng*: "Specialized prescriptions for women have existed for a long time." Historical records state that when Bian Que passed through Handan and heard that the locals respected women, he became a physician specializing in leukorrhea (*Daixia*), demonstrating versatility in his speech and skills. However, "leukorrhea" is merely one disease among women! Menstrual regulation, miscellaneous syndromes, pregnancy, and childbirth involve countless sufferings and myriad treatment methods; can they be fully summarized by just "leukorrhea"? The three volumes of Zhang Changsha's (Zhang Zhongjing's) *Zabing Fanglun* (Treatments for Miscellaneous Diseases) circulating in the world include women's diseases as one part. Although these prescriptions yield miraculous results, they unfortunately did not spread widely. Sun Simiao's *Qianjin Fang* (Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold) specifically places women's diseases at the beginning. This is likely based on the principle that the *I Ching* (Book of Changes) is founded on Qian and Kun, and the *Shi Jing* (Classic of Poetry) begins with the meaning of "Guan Ju." His view was: "It is necessary to teach children and daughters to study these three volumes of women's prescriptions thoroughly, so that in times of emergency, there would be no need for fear or anxiety." However, those proficient in medicine did not highly praise this approach. In the early Dazheng era of the Tang Dynasty, Bai Minzhong governed Chengdu. When someone in his family died due to difficult labor, he sought famous physicians and received 378 prescriptions compiled by Zan Yin, titled *Baoji* (Precious Treasure). During the Song Dynasty, Li Shisheng from Puyang obtained twenty-one articles on obstetrics, which contained theories but no prescriptions; Medical Professor Guo Jizhong added prescriptions to them; Chen Wuzhai commented extensively on their merits and defects in *Sanyin Fang*; and Du, a physician from Wuzhou, supplemented them, resulting in *Chanyu Baoqing Ji* (Collection of Precious Celebrations for Childbearing). Chen Ziming Liangfu from Linchuan believed that previous books had scattered guidelines without unity, and their details were simple and incomplete. Physicians were limited to simple methods and could not explore deeply or read comprehensively. Some, upon finding one prescription ineffective, would be at a loss; others, lacking prescriptions to rely on, would guess and speculate. Thus, he collected the best aspects of various schools, attached family-tested prescriptions, and edited them into chapters. Divided into eight categories, each containing dozens of conditions, totaling over 360 treatises, followed by prescriptions. The guidelines and details were clear and impressive, forming *Daquan Liangfang* (Complete Excellent Prescriptions). With the publication of *Liangfang*, the care and treatment of women would be greatly perfected. However, its discussions mostly adopted Chao Yuanfang's *Bingyuan*, attributing ninety percent to wind-cold, with drugs leaning towards harsh and hot properties, and no one systematically analyzed their appropriateness. Later, Xue Ji Xinpu began annotating *Liangfang*. His discussions balanced cold and heat, largely relying on nourishing the spleen and stomach and tonifying qi and blood, rather than focusing solely on eliminating disease. He can be considered a good physician saving the times. Nevertheless, what Chen compiled were mostly ancient specialized secret formulas with clear origins and endings, which should not be overlooked. Xue, however, deleted and altered everything according to his own ideas, causing ancient formulas to be lost. I deeply regret this. Therefore, in this compilation, I append the original form of Chen's work while deleting biased and impure content, preserving only about sixty to seventy percent. All of Xue's theories are included, taking advantage of his focus on nurturing righteousness, which is simple and easy to follow, making it no difficulty even for women to learn. If we consider the disciples of the Yishui school (Li Donggeng and his students), they were physicians proficient in medicine succeeding Zhang Changsha. Their every prescription and theory is extracted here, which is absent in other books. Carrying these while passing through Handan would likely avoid the worry of being looked down upon. Matters such as accumulating virtue to conceive, safe delivery, storing clothes, auspiciousness/inauspiciousness, and directions are not matters for physicians, so they are deleted and not recorded.

Wang Mengying’s Note: Leukorrhea is merely one disease among women, and not everyone suffers from it. Why did Bian Que become a leukorrhea physician upon hearing that women were respected? Because discharge from the vagina is a physiological phenomenon present in women from birth, originally not a disease. Later generations, because the Dai Mai (Dai Vessel) does not primarily function to bind and contract, came to refer to women's turbid discharge as "leukorrhea syndrome." Thus, Bian Que acting as a leukorrhea physician is like modern pediatricians calling themselves smallpox physicians. Smallpox is indeed one syndrome in pediatrics, but it is also something many people experience, and since society universally values children, people are happy to be smallpox physicians.