ESSENTIAL SUBTLETIES ON THE SILVER SEA

Essential Subtleties on the Silver Sea presents the first translation into English of the complete Yin-hai jing-Wei, a classic fifteenth century text on Chinese ophthalmology. As one of the few original manuscripts on traditional Chinese medicine translated into a Western language, this work offers an unprecedented view of the practice of medicine, and specifically eye care, in premodern China. Superbly translated from the classical Chinese and extensively annotated by Jürgen Kovacs and his colleague Paul U. Unschuld, one of the foremost authorities on traditional Chinese medical literature, the text provides detailed descriptions of the etiology, symptomology, and therapy of every eye disease known to fifteenth-century Chinese practitioners. Many descriptions are accompanied by medical illustrations from the period. Also included are sections devoted to Chinese medicine in general, eye surgery, special methods of diagnostics, pharmaceutics, and all aspects of ophthalmic treatment. In a lengthy introduction, Kovacs and Unschuld provide the first in-depth analysis of the development of a specialty within Chinese medicine and examine the significance of the Yin-hai jing-wei from both historical and clinical perspectives. Concluding the volume are a list of drugs mentioned in the text and a complete bibliography.