医之伐病犹将之伐敌也夫□□战攻之地以取胜用兵者固皆有是心及一旦为背水阵则观者
愕然
矣非有淮阴为之辩柝则孰知其出于兵法是兵之不可以无其说也兵不可以无说医其可以无说乎
里中张杲季明自其伯祖子充以医显京洛间受之于范忠宣其祖子充盖学于其伯祖而有得者也于
是其父寿仁之季明又继之源流深远真所谓三世之医也季明善观书五 间凡书之有及于医者必
记之名曰医说始见则曰已得几事矣 见则曰近又得几事矣其意欲满千事则以传诸人予念医家
之书本之以素问灵枢广之以难经脉诀而药之君臣佐使咸萃于本草世因不外是而为医也今有出
一奇以起人之沉 则必相与惊异以为昔人所未到自明者观之其不有似于背水阵乎故予知是书
之为有益也 已自岁冬季明携以过我且曰书虽未成请
姑先梓之以勉杲之意所勿及会予有鄢郢之役殊倥偬然念季明请甚笃又颛颛于其业搜选宜
必精
故不暇之尽撰而徒叹其当盛年着书遽肯出与人共之其存心有足大者岂非逮事其祖多异闻故不
以得之纸上者为己私分也欤此予所以益重季明也遂书以冠医说之首己酉岁十月六日朝奉大夫
权发遣郢州罗顼序
宓牺氏以木德王风姓也一曰庖牺氏亦曰太昊蛇首人身生有圣德母号华胥都于陈作瑟有三
十六
弦其理天下也仰则观象于天俯则观法于地鸟兽之文与地之宜近取诸身远取诸物于是造书契以
代结绳之政画八卦以通神明之德以类万物之情所以六气六腑五脏五行阴阳水火升降得以有象
百病之理得以类推炎黄因斯乃尝味百药而制九针以拯夭枉矣(出帝王世纪)
治病如同将领讨伐敌人。在交战攻取之地，用兵者固然都有取胜的心志；但一旦摆出背水一战的阵势，旁观者就会感到惊愕。如果没有韩信（淮阴侯）为之辨析推演，谁能知道这是出自兵法呢？这说明军队不可以没有理论解说，医生难道可以没有理论解说吗？
同乡张杲，字季明，他的伯祖父张子充凭借医术在京洛一带显名，从范忠宣公那里学医。他的祖父张子充也是向伯父学习并有所心得的人。到了他的父亲和季明这一代，又相继继承，源流深远，真可以说是世传的三代名医。季明善于读书，每当看到书中涉及医学的内容，必定记录下来，命名为《医说》。刚见到时就说：“已经得到几件事了。”再次见到时说：“近来又得到几件事了。”他的心意是想凑满一千件事，然后传给别人。我心想，医家的书籍，以《素问》、《灵枢》为基础，以《难经》、《脉诀》为扩展，药物的君臣佐使都荟萃于《本草》之中，世人因此不外乎这些来行医。现在有人提出一个奇招来挽救人们的沉疴，人们一定会互相惊讶诧异，认为这是前人未曾达到的境界。从我看来，这难道不类似于背水一战吗？所以我知道这本书是有益的。
己酉年冬季，季明带着书来看望我，并且说：“书虽然还没写完，请暂且先刻印它，以此勉励我的意思，这是我力所不及的。”恰逢我有鄢郢之地的公务，非常匆忙。但我考虑到季明的请求十分诚恳，又专心于他的学业，搜选内容一定精当，所以来不及详细撰写序言，只是感叹他在盛年著书，却肯拿出来与人共享，其用心值得大大称道。这难道不是因为他侍奉祖父，听闻了许多奇异的故事，所以不把所得的知识当作自己的私有财产吗？这就是我更加看重季明的原因。于是写下这些话作为《医说》的序言。己酉年十月六日，朝奉大夫、权发遣郢州罗顼作序。
太昊宓牺氏以木德王天下，姓风。一说叫庖牺氏，也叫太昊。他蛇头人身，生来就有圣德，母亲名叫华胥，建都于陈地。他制作瑟，有三十根弦。他治理天下，仰观天象，俯察地理，观察鸟兽的纹理和大地的适宜之处，近取之于自身，远取之于万物。于是创造文字契刻来代替结绳记事的政治，画八卦来通晓神明的德行，分类万物的情状。因此，六气、六腑、五脏、五行、阴阳、水火、升降得以有形象体现，百病的道理得以类推。炎黄二帝因此才尝遍百草药物，制作九针，以拯救夭折和枉死之人。（出自《帝王世纪》）
Treating disease is like a general campaigning against an enemy. In the place of battle and attack, those who employ troops certainly have the heart to seek victory; yet once they deploy the "back-to-the-river" formation (a desperate tactical arrangement), onlookers are astounded. Without Han Xin (Marquis of Huaiyin) to analyze and deduce it, who would know that this stems from military strategy? This shows that armies cannot exist without theory; how much more so can medicine exist without theory?
My fellow townsman Zhang Gao, courtesy name Jiming, had his great-uncle Zichong become renowned for his medical skills in the Jing-Luo region. Zichong learned medicine from Fan Zhongyan (Posthumous Title: Zhongxuan). Zichong's father (Zhang Gao's grandfather) also studied under his elder uncle and gained insights. By the time of his father and Jiming, the lineage continued, with deep roots and long flow, truly representing three generations of hereditary physicians. Jiming was adept at reading books; whenever he encountered texts mentioning medicine, he recorded them, naming the collection *Yi Shuo* (Medical Sayings). Upon first seeing something, he would say, "I have obtained several matters." Upon seeing more, he would say, "Recently I have obtained several more matters." His intention was to accumulate one thousand such matters to pass on to others. I reflect that medical books are based on *Suwen* (Basic Questions) and *Lingshu* (Spiritual Pivot), expanded by *Nanjing* (Classic of Difficult Issues) and *Maijue* (Pulse Aphorisms); the roles of Jun-Chen-Zuo-Shi (Sovereign-Minister-Assistant-Courier) of herbs are all gathered in *Bencao* (Materia Medica). The world therefore does not go beyond these to practice medicine. Now, if someone produces a unique approach to rescue people from severe illness, people will surely be amazed and consider it unprecedented by predecessors. From my perspective, is this not similar to the "back-to-the-river" formation? Thus, I know this book is beneficial.
In the winter of the Jiyou year, Jiming brought the manuscript to visit me and said, "Although the book is unfinished, please allow me to have it printed first, as a means of encouragement for my efforts, which I could not achieve alone." At that time, I was occupied with official duties in Yan-Ying, extremely busy. However, considering Jiming's sincere request and his dedication to his profession, ensuring the selection must be precise, I did not have time to write a comprehensive preface. I only sighed that he wrote this book in his prime yet was willing to share it with others; his mindset is worthy of great praise. Is it not because he served his grandfather and heard many extraordinary stories, so he did not treat acquired knowledge as private property? This is why I value Jiming even more. Therefore, I wrote this to serve as the preface to *Yi Shuo*. On the sixth day of the tenth month of the Jiyou year, Lu Xu, Chao-Fu Da-Fu (Counselor) and Acting Prefect of Yingzhou, wrote the preface.
Taihao Fuxi ruled the world with Wood Virtue, surname Feng. Also known as Paoxi or Taihao. He had a snake's head and a human body, born with sage virtue. His mother was named Huaxu. He established his capital at Chen. He created the se (zither) with thirty-six strings. To govern the world, he looked up to observe images in the heavens and looked down to observe laws on earth; he examined the patterns of birds and beasts and the suitability of the land. Taking near references from his own body and far references from all things, he invented written characters (shuqie) to replace the politics of knot-tying. He drew the Eight Trigrams (Bagua) to understand the virtue of spirits and categorize the nature of all things. Thus, the Six Qi (Energies), Six Fu (Hollow Organs), Five Zang (Solid Organs), Five Elements (Wu Xing), Yin-Yang, Water-Fire, and Ascension-Descent were given form, and the principles of a hundred diseases could be inferred by analogy. Yan and Huang (the Yellow Emperor and Shennong) thereby tasted hundreds of medicinal herbs and crafted the Nine Needles to save those from premature death and wrongful demise. (From *Diwang Shiji* / Chronicle of Emperors and Kings)