庚午冬,余受苏州朱姓之请,频行有竺氏者来延治盲肠炎,有急不待缓之势。而朱姓之中风又不能略迟,
不得已允以当夜归来。夜返申时,在站为其迎往。病患年三十许,服务于沪宁铁路。道其家人曾患盲肠炎剖
腹而死。其父羲庵先生年七十有八,见其子病而焦灼,惶急之象,溢于言表。病象在右少腹奇痛,右
足不能伸。予只针归来、三里、气海数穴,其痛立时即止,足亦
能直。三次后即行走如常,来寓就诊,五日其病如失。羲庵先生仁和旺族,善绘事而能诗。因其子鹿奇先生之
疾,即写竹屏四幅,中有一诗,“横截风烟竹两竿,黄山白岳出群看,金针度尽
人间厄,太乙真传不用丹”之句,乃见其子大病之愈出乎意外,极其高兴,故诗画皆生气勃勃也。
师君兰亭老而健,某年来沪,寓于浦应仙家。夜半睡醒,忽口眼歪斜,语言难出而半身肢体同时麻痹。延
西医王某治之,谓此病西法并无专药。如延余诊,当有效。师仍游疑,复请某国医博士,多方疗治,犹不见
轻,乃请余治。予谓病在少阴,痱症也。为针气海、环跳、肾俞等穴。顷刻之间,麻痹半身即能自行
转侧,十日即完全告愈。某西医闻之曰奇矣。师君时已六十有三,次年又生一子。
书家颜二民患肠癖十余年,其苦万状,中西医治终未能愈。乙丑余由陕军谢职归,遇于邗上,殷殷求
治。为针手阳明数穴,以泻其热而通其壅,数日而愈。颜书一联(铁骑威边徼 金针度世
人)以志感谢。肠癖之症,虚实并有,颜乃实,故效速。如属虚症,则养阴补脾,清胃固脱,缺一不可。
甚矣,同一用针,同一治病,而其难易相差如此。是故学针易,识症难也。
In the winter of the Gengwu year, I was invited by a Zhu family in Suzhou. While frequently attending to patients, someone from the Zhu family came to invite me to treat appendicitis (blind intestine inflammation). The condition was urgent and did not allow for delay. However, a stroke patient in the Zhu household could not wait either. Reluctantly, I agreed to return that night. Returning at Shen hour (3-5 PM), I was welcomed at the station. The patient was about thirty years old and worked for the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway. He mentioned that a family member had died from appendicitis after abdominal surgery. His father, Mr. Xi'an, was seventy-eight years old. Seeing his son ill, he was anxious and distressed, with his panic evident in his words and demeanor. The symptoms were severe pain in the lower right abdomen and an inability to extend the right leg. I only needled the Guilai (ST29), Zusanli (ST36), and Qihai (CV6) acupoints. The pain stopped immediately, and the leg could be straightened. After three treatments, he could walk normally. He visited my residence for treatment, and within five days, the illness disappeared. Mr. Xi'an was a prominent figure in Renhe, skilled in painting and poetry. Due to his son Mr. Luqi's illness, he painted four bamboo screens, one of which contained the poem: "Bamboo poles cutting through wind and smoke, standing out among Huangshan and Baiyue; The golden needle relieves all worldly misfortunes, The true transmission of Taiyi requires no elixir." This reflected his unexpected joy at his son's recovery from serious illness, making both the poem and paintings vibrant with life.
Master Lan Ting was old but vigorous. In a certain year, he came to Shanghai and stayed at the home of Pu Yinxian. Waking up at midnight, he suddenly experienced facial paralysis (deviation of mouth and eyes), difficulty speaking, and simultaneous numbness/paralysis of half his body. He consulted Western doctor Wang, who said there was no specific medicine in Western medicine for this disease. If I were consulted, it would likely be effective. Master still hesitated and consulted a Chinese medicine doctorate from another country, trying various treatments, but saw no improvement. Thus, he asked me to treat him. I said the disease was in the Shaoyin channel, known as Fei syndrome (a condition characterized by flaccidity and loss of sensation). I needled Qihai (CV6), Huantiao (GB30), and Shenshu (BL23) acupoints. Within moments, the paralyzed half of his body could turn and shift on its own. Ten days later, he was completely cured. A Western doctor heard of this and said it was miraculous. Master was then sixty-three years old and had another son the following year.
The calligrapher Yan Ermin suffered from Changpi (dysentery) for over ten years, experiencing extreme suffering, without cure from Chinese or Western medicine. In the Yichou year, after resigning from the Shaanxi army and returning home, I met him in Hanshang. He earnestly requested treatment. I needled several acupoints of the Hand-Yangming Large Intestine channel to drain heat and unblock stagnation. He recovered in a few days. Mr. Yan wrote a couplet ("Iron cavalry intimidates border regions; The golden needle saves the world") to express his gratitude. Changpi involves both deficiency and excess patterns. Mr. Yan's case was excess, hence the rapid effect. If it were a deficiency pattern, nourishing Yin and tonifying Spleen, clearing Stomach heat and securing collapse, would be indispensable. Indeed, using acupuncture and treating diseases may seem similar, yet the difficulty varies greatly. Therefore, learning acupuncture is easy, but identifying syndromes is difficult.