Chen Song Yu, Li Fei. A clinical guide to chinese herbs and formulae

1st Ed. — Edinburgh etc. Churchill Livingstone, 1993. — 304 p. — ISBN: 0443046808.The essence of Chinese herbal medicine is in the art of adapting a formula to a particular patient's disharmony. An adapted formula is like a mirror reflection of a particular imbalance of Qi. The harmonization of herbs within a formula is comparable to the balancing of acupuncture points within a treatment. However, balancing the herbs within a prescription is all the more intricate as careful
account should be taken of the tastes of the herbs.
After diagnosing the patient's disharmony and deciding on a strategy of treatment with an appropriate formula, adapting it must take into account many different factors: the constitution
of the patient, the state of his or her digestive system, his or her mental-emotional state, the combination of tastes and energies within the formula, and the harmonization of herbs with different movements (floating or sinking, ascending or descending). Taking all these factors into account, to adapt the chosen formula to the unique patient's disharmony is a very delicate and intricate task.
Such a task can be carried out if one masters not only the action of herbs and formulae, but also the differentiation between herbs and formulae with similar functions. The main emphasis of this book is exactly to illustrate how to combine herbs and how to differentiate between single herbs and formulae in relation to one's chosen treatment strategy. The book does this admirably and fills a gap in the existing literature on Chinese herbal medicine.
The case histories are an invaluable part of the book illustrating how formulae are adapted in practice.
The authors of this book, Professors Chen Song Yu and Professor Li Fei are eminent teachers from the Nanjing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine which is one of the foremost institutions for the teaching of Chinese medicine. Between them, they have accumulated over 60 years of clinical practice and teaching, and they are the authors of many mportant textbooks of Chinese herbal medicine.
The translator of the book, Associate-Professor Jin Hui De is head of the interpreters'group of the Nanjing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He was co-translator of the now famous 'Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture' as well as many other Chinese medicine textbooks in English. He is uniquely
qualified to translate medical texts as he is also a doctor of Chinese medicine.
This book is therefore a welcome addition to the scanty literature on Chinese herbal medicine and one that deserves to be in every practitioner's clinic.