Library

Xu Lingtai stated: The diseases of infants are limited to two categories: heat and phlegm. This is because infants possess a "pure yang constitution" (Chunyang zhi ti, a physiological state characterized by vigorous growth and relatively abundant yang qi), are often held in arms with warm clothing, and even their swaddling clothes are heated by fire.

Internal and external heat accumulation leads to abdominal distension, fullness, and incessant crying. Parents then force-feed milk to stop the crying. Consequently, symptoms such as chest Qi stagnation, staring eyes, and hand convulsions appear, which are commonly labeled as "convulsive wind" (Jingfeng). In reality, this is not convulsive wind but rather extreme discomfort due to overfeeding and bloating. At this time, if one advises the parents to reduce clothing and stop breastfeeding, they will likely become extremely angry, arguing that the child is already so weak and emaciated that freezing and starving them is inappropriate, often cursing the physician. These physicians fail to understand this principle; instead, they either use harsh, drying drugs or tonify with Ren Shen (Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma). By the time phlegm congeals and Qi stagnates, the condition becomes incurable. I have seen many such cases. If advised to regulate warmth and cold, suspend breastfeeding, nourish Stomach Qi with clear rice water, and use mild herbs to resolve phlegm and regulate Qi, eight or nine out of ten would recover. However, those who do not understand this logic and dismiss it as madness rarely survive; out of a hundred, none live.

Regarding smallpox treatment, it is particularly absurd. Smallpox is an inevitable childhood disease, not a malignant one. Deaths are rare when the weather is mild. Only during extreme cold or heat, especially in children with deficient Yuan Qi and dense pustules, are there occasional untreatable cases. The initial stage aims for eruption, and the later stage for filling with pus; both rely on the transformation of essence and blood. Yet, before eruption, physicians administer large doses of Da Huang (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma) and Shi Gao (Gypsum Fibrosum) to suppress the eruptive mechanism and damage Yuan Qi. Prescriptions often include earthworms (Qian Chong) and ground beetle larvae (Qi Cao), increasing toxicity and damaging Stomach Qi. Such noxious substances would cause gastric failure and intestinal rupture even if taken by the physician themselves, let alone an infant. Physicians using these drugs often predict the exact day of death, missing only rarely. Surprisingly, parents praise the physician's accuracy, unaware that the child died from the prescribed medicine. Infants with robust Yuan Qi who survive by chance lead parents to believe that only such potent drugs can save the child, causing these prescriptions to be widely circulated and revered as divine remedies.

Even more bizarre is that while physicians hesitate to use Huang Qin (Scutellariae Radix) or Mai Ya (Hordei Fructus Germinatus) for strong adults, fearing they might weaken the body, they recklessly use Shi Gao and Da Huang in amounts of ounces or jin without hesitation, acting with extreme cruelty. It is helpless to cry out to heaven and beat one's breast in protest, yet people do not believe. Furthermore, the fabrication of "Mantis Child" (Tanglangzi) emerged, involving cutting open the infant's cheek to extract "blood-phlegm." This practice originated from fraudulent women on the coast during the late Ming Dynasty to extort money and was prevalent only in Suzhou and Songjiang, resulting in many infant deaths. It seems that infants with phlegm-heat develop small bumps in the cheeks after a few days of nursing, varying in size. People mistakenly believe this is a disease, not knowing it is a normal anatomical structure present in everyone, which regenerates if cut. Otherwise, why has no child anywhere else died from "Mantis Child"? Why only in Suzhou and Songjiang? This is another harm, hence mentioned here.