Geology

In recent years (c.1080 CE), a riverbank of the Yellow River near Yongning Pass in Yanzhou collapsed, sinking dozens of feet into the ground. A forest of bamboo shoots was thus discovered beneath the soil. There were hundreds of stalks with their roots and stems interconnected, and all turned to stone….Yanzhou has never been known to have bamboos. These were buried dozens of feet below the ground, and no one knows from what era they date. Could it be that in remote antiquity, the area was low-lying, and the climate was humid enough to suit the growth of bamboo? On Jinhua Mountain in Wuzhou, there are stone pines, as well as other objects like peach pits, reed roots, snakes, and crabs that have all petrified; however, these are originally native to the area and thus not particularly surprising. But this bamboo forest was found deep underground in a place where bamboo does not grow, and it is not a thing native to this region. It is truly an extraordinary phenomenon.

In the Zhiping period (1064-67 CE), a family of Zezhou was digging a well, and they discovered something coiled like a dragon or serpent. Initially they were terrified and did not dare to touch it. After a while, seeing that it remained still so they gingerly touched it, and it turned out to be made of stone. The ignorant villagers smashed it into pieces. Chen Bochun was then serving as the magistrate of Jincheng County. He managed to acquire one fragment of the scales, which resembled the scales of living creatures. This was likely a case where a serpent or a dragon-like creature had transformed into stone, similar to the petrifaction observed with stone crabs and other such things.

Astronomy

Prior to the Han dynasty (202 BCE-9 CE, 25-220 CE), it was believed that the North Star is in the center of the sky, so it was called the Ji Xing (the Polar Star). However, since Zu Geng examined the celestial pole with the armillary sphere (astronomical instrument) and found that the true north celestial pole—which truly does not move—lay just beyond the North Star, a little more than one degree away. During the Xining period (1068-1077 CE), I received an imperial commission to supervise the Astronomical Directorate and to comprehensively study daily records using the armillary sphere to locate the Polar Star. After nightfall, it would appear in the sighting tube but soon move out of the field of view. I realized therefore that the tube was too narrow to accommodate the orbit of the Polar Star. So, I gradually widened the tube to observe it. After observing for three months, the Polar Star’s orbit finally remained within the sighting tube, never disappearing. Thus, I knew that the north celestial pole was actually more than three degrees away from the Polar Star. Every time the Polar Star passed through the tube, I recorded it in a separate chart. I drew a circle with the star’s position marked in it. I charted its positions early, in the middle of and late at night. I produced over two hundred charts in total. On every single night, the Polar Star traced the circular path without deviation. I have documented this research in detail in my “Xining Calendar Memorial.”

Meteorology

The home of the eunuch Li Shunju was once struck by a violent thunderbolt. From the western room of the main hall, a brilliant flash of lightning passed through the windows and blazed past the eaves. People thought the hall would be burnt and rushed outside to avoid the fire. When the thunder ceased, the building remained intact, but the walls and window paper were all blackened. There was a wooden curio cabinet containing various objects. Among them, the silver reinforcing the lacquerware melted and flowed onto the ground. Yet the lacquerware itself was not scorched. A treasured single-edged sword, extremely sturdy and solid, had melted into liquid within its scabbard, yet the scabbard remained intact. It is commonly believed that fire should first consume thatch and wood before melting metals; yet here metals and minerals were melted while thatch and wood were unscathed. This is beyond the understanding of ordinary people. Buddhist scriptures state: “Dragon fire is intensified by water, while human fire is extinguished by it.” This principle is indeed correct. Humans merely comprehend matters within their own realm. But beyond that realm, phenomena are boundless. Isn’t it difficult to attempt to grasp the profoundest truths with our meager worldly knowledge and perception?

I. The Definition of “Medicine”

6. Medicine is the science by which we learn the various states of the human body, in health, when not in health, the means by which health is likely to be lost, and when lost, is likely to be restored to health. In other words, it is the art whereby health [the beauty of the body–long hair, clear complexion, fragrance and form] is conserved and the art whereby it is restored, after being lost.

7. Although some divide “medicine” into a speculative (theoretical) and a practical (applied) part, you have assumed that it is wholly speculative “because” you say “it is pure science.” But truly every science has both a speculative and a practical aspect. Philosophy has a speculative and a practical side. So has medicine. The difference between the two need be explained only in the case of medicine. Thus—

When, in regard to medicine, we say that practice proceeds from theory, we do not mean that there is one division of medicine by which we know, and another, distinct therefrom, by which we act. We mean that these two aspects belong together—one deals with the basic principles of knowledge; the other with the mode of operation of these principles (within the body). The former is theory; the latter is applied knowledge.

8. ‘Theory” of medicine is that which, when mastered, gives us a certain kind of knowledge, apart from any question of treatment. ‘Thus we say that “there are three forms of fever and nine constitutions.”

9. “Practice” of medicine is not the work which the physician carries out, but is that branch of medical knowledge which, when acquired, enables one to form an opinion upon which to base the proper plan of treatment. ‘Thus it is said: “for inflammatory foci, the first agents to employ are infrigidants, inspissants, and repellants; then we temper these with mollificants; and, finally, when the process is subsiding, resolvent mollificants will accomplish the rest. But if the diseased focus contains matter which depends for its expulsion on the integrity of the principal members, such treatment is not applicable. Here the theory guides to an opinion, and the opinion is the basis of treatment.

Once the purpose of each aspect of medicine is understood, you can become skilled in both, even though there should never come a call for you to exercise your knowledge.

10. Another thing—there is no need to assert that “there are three states of the human body—sickness, health, and a state which is neither health nor disease.” ‘The first two cover everything. Careful consideration of the subject will make it clear to the physician either that the threefold grouping is unnecessary or that the group which we reject is unnecessary.

11. To medicine pertains the (study of the) human body—how its health is maintained; how it loses health. To know fully about each of these we must ascertain the causes of both health and sickness.

12. Now as health and sickness and their causes are sometimes evident to the senses and sometimes only perceived by means of the evidence afforded by the various symptoms, we must in medicine gain a knowledge of the symptoms of health and sickness.

It is a dictum of the exact sciences that knowledge of a thing is attained only through a knowledge of the causes and the origins of the causes—assuming there to be causes and origins. Consequently our knowledge (of health and sickness) cannot be complete without an understanding both of symptoms and of the principles of being…