杨时泰。字穆如。嘉庆己卯举人。工医事。自明以来。江南言医者。类宗周慎斋。慎斋
善以五行制化。阴阳升降。推人脏气而为剂量准。雍正以后。变而宗张路玉。则主于随病立
方。遇病辄历试以方。迨试遍。则束手。时泰于医。深得慎斋阃奥。尤善以脉之并见变见。
揣测人脏腑寒热虚实。其用药一准刘若金。备得金元四家补泻开合精理。凡值错杂难明病。
每每敛数味成方。一若抉而去者。人咸推服焉。以道光丙戌大挑一等。署山东莘县知县卒。
着有本草述钩元。即约刘若金之书而剃其繁芜者也。
道光六年丙戌。余在京师。馆于成果亭中丞家。瞿丽江比部持此书未订本见赠。翻阅数
过。爱不能释。遂手自装订。暇即就其中论义。删而约之。历丁亥戊子。乃并其前后征引各
条。旋就辑次。业未卒。自都还南。馆于泰属之康二如鹾尹署。二如喜谈医。馆政最简。遂
出全力掇拾此编。其年冬。手钞卷数自后半起。历庚辛壬三载告成。犹病其末数卷未归一律
也。
道光癸巳十一月十二日冬至节杨时泰识
道寓于物。而物不足以该道。理宣于言。而言不足以尽理。此言医者所以滞于言。不免
害于理也。世言某物可治某病。及如法治之。而效者仅一。不效者恒九。则不得不深辨其所
当然。各辨其所以然。言之缕缕。载之陈陈。古书所以简。今书所以繁矣。简则难明。繁则
易讹。欲求繁简之得宜。必明乎道之所归而无歧。要于理之至当而有断。此杨君穆如于本草
述所以有钩元之作也。夫本草湛深简古。洵三代以来师弟以口耳相授受者。两汉而下。仲景
元化扬其波。贞白约其流。甄权日华助其澜。慎微畅其归。皆于物之体用符节相应处。指其
所当然而已。金元四家颇欲明其所以然。而不校其性情功用之贴切于病机病情。凭空结撰属
金属木入肺入肝诸语以联系之。谓有分派配合之妙。恐后人之滞于言者贻误不少。潜江刘若
金先生着本草述。其旨以药物生成之时度五气五味五色。以明阴阳之升降。实欲贯串四家。
联成一线。惜文辞蔓衍。读者几莫测其所归。杨君以博雅通儒。精治素理。为之去繁就简。
汰其冗者十之四。达其理者十之六。而其旨粲然益明。择精语详。了如指掌。厥后为令山左。
循声卓着。以良吏而兼良医。活人无算。惜乎簿书劳瘁。不禄以终。未及以所着付梓人。藏
稿于家者几十余载。会君门人伍仲常秘读奉讳归里。惧是书之湮没。竭力谋剞劂。予喜是书
之有成也。爰濡笔而为之序。
道光壬寅八月中秋节毗陵邹澍谨序
杨时泰，字穆如。他是嘉庆己卯年的举人，精通医术。自明代以来，江南地区谈论医学的人，大多尊崇周慎斋（周之干）。周慎斋擅长运用五行制化、阴阳升降的理论，来推断人体脏气的状态，并以此作为用药剂量的标准。雍正年间以后，风气转变，人们转而尊崇张路玉（张璐），主张根据病情灵活制定方剂，遇到疾病就尝试使用各种方药。等到试遍了各种方法，却往往束手无策。杨时泰在医学上深得周慎斋的精髓，尤其善于通过脉象的兼见和变见，推测人体脏腑的寒热虚实状况。他用药完全遵循刘若金的原则，充分掌握了金元四家（刘完素、张从正、李东垣、朱震亨）在补泻、开合方面的精妙道理。凡是遇到错综复杂难以辨明的病症，他常常收敛几味药物组成方剂，就像拨开迷雾看清本质一样。大家都推崇并信服他的医术。他在道光丙戌年通过大挑考试获得一等名次，代理山东莘县知县一职后去世。著有《本草述钩元》，这是约略了刘若金的《本草述》一书并剔除其中繁杂冗余部分的作品。
道光六年丙戌年，我在京师（北京），寄居在成果亭中丞家中。瞿丽江比部拿着这部书未定稿的版本赠送给我。我翻阅了几遍，喜爱得爱不释手，于是亲手装订。闲暇时就针对书中的论述义理进行删减和概括。历经丁亥、戊子两年，再将前后引用的各条内容整理编排。工作尚未完成，我便从京城回到南方，寄居在泰州康二如盐运使署中。康二如喜欢谈论医学，馆阁政务最为清闲，于是我拿出全力搜集整理这部书稿。那年冬天，我开始手抄后半部分的卷数，历经庚、辛、壬三年宣告完成。但仍遗憾最后几卷未能统一体例。
道光癸巳年十一月十二日冬至节，杨时泰记述。
道寓于万物之中，但万物不足以涵盖道的全部；道理通过言语宣示，但言语不足以穷尽道理。这就是从事医学的人容易拘泥于言辞，从而难免损害对医理的理解的原因。世间常说某物可以治疗某病，等到按照这种方法去治疗，有效的仅占十分之一，无效的却常有十分之九。这就不得不深入辨别其必然性，分别探究其所以然。古人书籍之所以简练，今人书籍之所以繁复，原因就在于此。简练则难以明白，繁复则容易出错。想要求得繁简得当，必须明确道的归宿而不产生歧义，要在道理的极致恰当处有决断。这就是杨穆如先生撰写《本草述钩元》的原因。《本草》深奥古朴，确实是夏商周三代以来师徒之间口耳相传的内容。两汉以后，张仲景、华佗发扬光大，陶弘景（贞白）梳理流派，甄权、日华子助长波澜，陈藏器（慎微）畅达归趣，都是在事物的体用相符相契之处，指出其必然规律罢了。金元四家颇想阐明其所以然，却不仔细考察药物性情功用与病机病情的贴切程度，凭空编造属金、属木、入肺、入肝等话语来联系牵强附会，声称有分派配合的妙处，恐怕后来者拘泥于言辞而贻误不少。潜江人刘若金先生撰写《本草述》，其宗旨是根据药物生成的时间推度五气、五味、五色，以阐明阴阳的升降，实欲贯通金元四家的学说，将其联成一线。可惜文辞蔓衍冗长，读者几乎无法测知其所指归向。杨君以博学雅正的通儒身份，精通治理事理的学问，为此书去除繁杂追求简约，淘汰了十分之四的冗杂内容，阐明了十分之六的道理，使得主旨更加鲜明清晰，选择精当语言详尽，让人一目了然。此后他担任山左（山东）的地方官，政绩卓越显著，以良吏兼良医的身份，救活的人数不胜数。可惜因文书劳碌憔悴，未能享尽天年而终老，来不及将所著之书交付刻印，藏书在家几十多年。恰逢他的门人伍仲常守孝回乡，担心这本书湮没失传，竭力谋求刊刻出版。我喜欢这本书得以问世，于是提笔为之作序。
道光壬寅年八月中秋节，毗陵邹澍谨序。
Yang Shitai, courtesy name Muru. He was a Juren (provincial graduate) in the Ji-Mao year of the Jiaqing reign and was proficient in medical practice. Since the Ming Dynasty, physicians in the Jiangnan region generally revered Zhou Shenzhai (Zhou Zhigan). Shenzhai was skilled in applying the theories of the mutual restriction and transformation of the Five Elements (Wuxing) and the ascending and descending of Yin and Yang to deduce the state of visceral Qi, using it as a standard for dosage. After the Yongzheng reign, the trend shifted towards revering Zhang Luyu (Zhang Lu), who advocated formulating prescriptions flexibly according to the disease, trying various formulas upon encountering illnesses. However, after exhausting these trials, one would often be at a loss. Yang Shitai deeply grasped the essence of Shenzhai’s teachings in medicine, particularly excelling in inferring the cold, heat, deficiency, and excess conditions of the Zang-Fu organs by analyzing concurrent and changing pulse manifestations. His medication strictly followed the principles of Liu Ruojin, fully mastering the subtle logic of tonification, purgation, opening, and closing among the Four Masters of the Jin and Yuan dynasties. Whenever facing complex and obscure diseases, he would often combine a few herbs into a prescription, akin to dispelling confusion to reveal the truth. People widely admired and trusted his medical skills. In the Bing-Xu year of the Daoguang reign, he passed the "Da Tiao" examination with first-class honors and served as the acting Magistrate of Shen County, Shandong, where he died. He authored *Bencao Shu Gouyuan* (Essentials Extracted from Bencao Shu), which is an abridged version of Liu Ruojin's *Bencao Shu*, removing its redundancies.
In the Bing-Xu year (1826) of the Daoguang reign, I was in the capital, residing in the residence of Vice Minister Chengguo Ting. Qu Lijiang, a Bubu (Ministry official), presented me with an unedited manuscript of this book. After reading it several times, I cherished it so much that I bound it myself. During my leisure, I edited and summarized the theoretical discussions within. This process spanned the Ding-Hai and Wu-Zi years. Later, I compiled and arranged the citations from the beginning and end. The work was not yet finished when I returned south from the capital and took up residence in the Yuncheng (Salt Transport Commissioner) office of Kang Er'ru in Taizhou. Er'ru enjoyed discussing medicine, and his official duties were minimal. Thus, I devoted myself entirely to collecting and editing this manuscript. That winter, I began hand-copying the latter half of the volumes. Over the course of three years (Geng-Xin-Ren), the work was completed, though I still regretted that the final volumes lacked uniformity.
Recorded by Yang Shitai on the Winter Solstice, November 12th, Gui-Si year of the Daoguang reign.
The Dao (Way/Principle) resides in things, yet things cannot encompass the entirety of the Dao; principles are expressed through words, yet words cannot exhaust the principles. This is why those engaged in medicine may become stuck in verbal descriptions, inevitably harming their understanding of the underlying principles. The world often claims that a certain substance can treat a specific disease. When treated according to this method, only one out of ten cases is effective, while nine are not. Therefore, one must deeply distinguish the necessity ("so what") and investigate the rationale ("why"). Ancient texts are concise because of this; modern texts are verbose. Conciseness makes understanding difficult; verbosity leads to errors. To achieve a proper balance between conciseness and detail, one must clarify the ultimate direction of the Dao without ambiguity and make decisive judgments on the most appropriate principles. This is why Master Yang Muru wrote *Bencao Shu Gouyuan*. *Bencao* materials are profound and ancient, indeed transmitted orally from master to disciple since the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, Zhou). Since the Han Dynasties, Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo promoted them; Tao Hongjing (Zhenbai) streamlined the flow; Zhen Quan and Ri Hua assisted the waves; Chen Zangqi (Shenwei) clarified the destination. They all pointed out the necessary correspondences between the nature and function of substances. The Four Masters of the Jin and Yuan dynasties attempted to explain the rationale but failed to carefully examine whether the nature and function of drugs closely matched the pathogenesis and clinical presentation. Instead, they fabricated connections such as "belonging to Metal," "belonging to Wood," "entering the Lung," or "entering the Liver," claiming subtle synergies in classification and combination. This likely misled later generations who became stuck in verbal dogma. Mr. Liu Ruojin of Qianjiang wrote *Bencao Shu*. His aim was to deduce the Five Qi, Five Flavors, and Five Colors based on the time of drug generation to illuminate the ascending and descending of Yin and Yang, intending to integrate the teachings of the Four Masters into a single thread. Unfortunately, the text was verbose, leaving readers unsure of its ultimate goal. Master Yang, a learned Confucian scholar proficient in administrative principles, removed the redundancy and sought simplicity, eliminating forty percent of the superfluous content and clarifying sixty percent of the underlying logic, making the main themes even more distinct. The selection was refined, the language detailed, and the meaning clear as day. Later, serving as an official in Shanlu (Shandong), he achieved outstanding merit, acting as both a capable administrator and a benevolent physician, saving countless lives. Alas, exhausted by bureaucratic labor, he died before he could have his works printed, leaving manuscripts at home for decades. Upon the return of his disciple Wu Zhongchang to his hometown for mourning, fearing the book would be lost, Wu exerted great effort to arrange for its publication. Delighted that the book has come to fruition, I take up my pen to write this preface.
Respectfully prefaced by Zou Shu of Piling on the Mid-Autumn Festival, August, Ren-Yin year of the Daoguang reign.