The Pharmacology of Systematic Correspondence

[Guest guest]

Bob, and All,

 

I want to draw everyone's attention

to the section of Paul Unschuld's

extraordinarily clear and insightful

treatment of the developmental foundations

of Chinese drug therapy that is contained

in section 7.2.3, The Pharmacology of

Sytematic Correspondence, of Medicine

in China: A History of Ideas.

 

Here are two brief quotes that suggest

the relevance of Unschuld's discussion

to our recent thread about flavor and

channel entry.

 

from p. 179-180:

 

The T'ai-su, that is, the version closest to the Han nucleus of the

Huang-ti nei-ching scriptures, presents, in the chapter " T'iao-shih "

(Regulating One's Diet), a first categorization of primary substance

qualities (i.e., " yellow, " " green, " " black, " " red, " and " white " as

colors, and " acrid, " " sweet, " " sour, " " bitter, " and " salty " as

flavors) along the lines of the Five Phases doctine. From these

primary qualities, secondary qualities are derived to describe the

properties that natural substances can develop in the body, such

as " hardening, " " collecting, " " dissipating, " " calming, "

and " moistening. " Through an association of these primary and

secondary substance qualities with the five kinds of grains, fruit,

domestic animals, and vegetables on the one hand, and with the five

bodily depots on the other hand, a conceptual tool was provided to,

first regulate the daily intake of the resepctie qualities in

accordance with a proper balance of the Five Phases, and, second, to

add or decrease any of those qualities in accordance with

extraordinary conditions, such as illness. Thus, the T'ai-su

introduced therapeutic diatetics of systematic correspondence.

 

from p. 183:

Thermo-influence and flavor were, in the final analysis, nothing more

than yin and yang influences, which could be supplied to the body as

needed.

 

 

Ken