File:Early C20 Chinese Lithograph; 'Fan' diseases Wellcome L0039479.jpg

Huitu zhenjiu yixue(Illustrated Acupuncture Made Easy), by Li Shouxian, was composed in 1798 (3rd year of the Jiaqing reign period of the Qing dynasty). It comprises two volumes (juan), plus a supplementary volume containing illustrations of the 'Seventy-twofan'.The 'Seventy-twofan' are not mentioned in any other early Chinese medical sources. Judging from the accounts given in this text,fanmust be a generic term for a category of acute illness of unexplained origin. The wordfanis qualified by names of animals and insects to characterise the external manifestations of these illnesses.This illustration shows the manifestations of Blood-Reek Touching the Heart (?) (xuexing moxin), Elephantfanand Lionfan.According to the captions, the signs of these conditions are as follows:In Blood-Reek Touching the Heart, when eating or drinking, the patient perceives a foul, pungent taste like raw fish or meat. To treat this, if purple boils are found underneath the tongue, they should be lanced with a needle so as to draw blood, and realgar (xionghuang) powder should be applied. If the condition does not improve, the eye sockets should be wiped with Chinese wild ginger (xixin, asarum); if there are purple vescicles, they should be lanced with a needle so as to draw blood, and recovery will follow.In Elephant fan, the patient is tearful (has a runny nose?), has heart pain, and loses consciousness. This can be treated by needling (tiao) the shoulders, carrying out moxibustion on the anus so as to cause bleeding, and applying realgar (xionghuang) powder externally.In Lionfan, the patient suffers from palpitations and headache, and blisters erupt all over the body. This can be treated by lancing the largest blisters with a needle and applying realgar powder, and then administering a draught of salted vinegar water.
Woodcut