The Research And Analysis On Clinical Cases Of Tongue Diagnosis Among The Medical Records Of The Qing Dynasty

Chinese medicine's clinical cases are a combination of concepts, reason, meaning and medicine upon the response of a specific symptom. Thus, Chinese medicine clinical cases are a vivid recording of medical activities from the past as well as precious experience from past doctors. As a well known doctor Liu once said in his thesis: "whether it is a chess game or a military campaign, they are all governed by specific strategies; and clinical cases are like the strategies in medical field." His thoughts are confirmed when Mencius once said, "the most outstanding comes from repetitive practices," and clinical cases is thus the case.The development of clinical cases started first as a recording of all types of illness and symptoms. It eventually developed into modern recordings in books and writings. It has now become a specific field of study and is treasured by most medical field personnel. Modem recording of clinical cases can be divided into two categories: collection of data and research. People who collect clinical cases data will focus on the arranging the cases into specific categories, the origins of symptoms, analyze and categorize the significance of the case. Once these data are stored in files, one can research through the clinical cases to find useful comments or derive innovative concepts based on the concepts recorded in those clinical cases' data.This research thesis is based the combination of clinical cases and tongue diagnosis. From the 51 volumes of medical records published during the Qing Dynasty, the research of tongue diagnostic clinical cases was done. From these medical records, the research of tongue diagnosis was focused on the relation between tongue expressions and their specific symptoms or illness. It is believed that, through this research, there are special meanings of tongue diagnosis in the field of Chinese medicine. Thus, this research thesis will be presented in the following categories and hope to stimulate any possible future development of tongue diagnosis:Part I, research focusing on documentary clinical cases.This chapter is divided into the concepts of tongue diagnosis (section 1), the contents of tongue diagnosis (section 2), and the meanings of tongue diagnosis in Chinese medicine (section 3). As a part of Chinese medicine, the concepts of tongue diagnosis are based on the prepositions of Chinese medicine. As early as in the Huang-Di period, people have done research on the formation of tongue and its basic functions. As time progresses, Chinese medical researchers have come to conclude that the tongue texture and its expression has great relationship with the patients' internal organs. In other words, the expression of tongue is reflected by the health of the patients' body and its internal organs. Thus, many doctors can use this expression to suggest possible treatments.In section 4 of this chapter, there is a review of all the documentaries used in this research. It included as early as the documents from Spring Autumn Warring States period to recent documents. Therefore, one should have a clear understanding of the history and developments oftongue diagnosis.Section 5 of this chapter focuses on the recent tongue diagnosis research within the nation and its international status. Many researchers have been using modern technology to research on tongue diagnosis, many of them have even reached the cellular level. As the advancement of new technology, tongue diagnosis research has reached a new field.Part : the main part of this thesis-the application of Qing Dynasty's clinical cases.The introduction of the usage of clinical cases is the first step. Only when one understands its development and concepts can one start interpreting the significance of each clinical case. All these clinical cases or medical records have accurately recorded the medical activities when they took place. The arrangement and understanding of these medical records are very important in the development of tongue diagnosis.Then, the chapter focuses on the how and why the specific cli...