To cure curvature of the lumbar spine and shaking ( palsy ) of the head.

Stand firmly, bend the head, curve the lumbar spine, and perform the act of showing reverence. In doing this kung, let the hands and soles of the feet be on the same level. Revolve the air in 24 mouthfuls.

* One of the Eight Immortals of Tauist fable, and an ardent votary of transcendental study. He was a pupil of the patriarch Lu, Mayers says, "and having been carried up to the supernatural peach tree of the Genii he fell from its branches, and in descending entered upon the state of immortality."

In one work the Figure is designated - " The Dragon wagging his Tail." - For the cure of lumbago.

Soup for expanding the small blood-vessels.

Prescription. - Take of ch'iang-hwo, fang-chi roots and bulbs (?), pai-shu, tang-kwei, pai-shao, chiang-hwang , turmeric (Curcuma longa ), of each 1 ounce; liquorice

7 mace, hai-t'ung-p'i either Acanthopanax, ricinifolium or Bombax malabaricum, 1 ounce. Dose 3 mace, with 10 slices of ginger. Make a decoction.

No. 25. - Miss Chao-ling's manner of making disease go. - To cure cold, numbness, and extreme pain of the leg and foot.

Stand erect, extend a finger of the left hand, with the right hand nip the belly of the arm. Revolve the air in 24 mouthfuls.

A similar exercise is termed - The Patriarch Lu's Method of causing the blood and air to circulate. - For the cure of pain of the back and shoulder.

Stretch out the left arm and press the inner aspect of the fore-arm with the right hand, and vice versa. Take 22 breaths.

The Fang-feng T'ien-ma Powder. Prescription. - Take of t'ien-ma Gastrodia elata, fang-feng, liquorice, chw'an-hiung, chiang-hwo, tang-kwei, pai-chih, hwa-shih Talc, of each 2 ounces; ts'ao-wu-t'ou Aconite, pai-fu-tse Arisæma sp., ching-chieh-sui of each 5 mace. Powder, take warm wine, and dissolve in a little honey, take 1/2 to 1 mace; and mix with it. Take of this medicine until you feel slightly numb, and then stop.

No. 26. - Lu Ch'un-yang's* Figure of sustaining the Pulse. - To cure the hundred (all) diseases.

Sit upright, let the two hands press the 'sun' and 'moon,' two lateral acupuncture apertures two inches below the heart, 9 times; circulate the air 9 mouthfuls.

Another method is to press the knees with the two hands, twist the body right and left, and with each turn of the body revolve the air in 14 mouthfuls.

* Lu Tsu or Yen or Tung-pin or Ch'un-yang for he is known by all these names, was born

755 A.D. He was one of the most prominent of the later patriarchs of the Tauist sect, of whose doctrines he was an ardent votary. He was invested with the magic formulas and a sword of supernatural powers with which he traversed the Empire, slaying dragons and ridding the earth of divers kinds of evils during a period of upwards of 400 years. In the 12th century, according to Mayers, temples were erected to his honour and were dedicated to his worship under the title Ch'un-yang, which he had adopted. Several such temples exist at Peking. He is worshipped especially by the fraternity of doctors and barbers. He and Ko Hsien-weng ( No. 18 ), each at 64 years of age, met their teachers and embraced the Doctrine. For an account of this patriarch, see the writer's articles on Medical Divinities and Divinities in Medical Temples (Chinese Recorder, Volume 3, 1870).

The Figure resembles in every respect No. 7, also No. 1 of the Ornamental Sections.

A similar exercise is elsewhere termed - The March of the Blood Vessels.

Prescription. - Use 1 wei-ling-hsien Clematis sp., on the two days known as ping-tingand wei-sze horary characters, dry it in the shade, powder, pass through a sieve; 2 mace for a dose in warm wine; avoid tea. It is well, while cutting the drug, not to hear the sound of water. To be taken on an empty heart, and in summer there will be no epidemics, and in autumn no ague and dysentery, and all diseases will be banished easily and without trouble, as the title of the Prescription intimates.

Corresponds with Amiot's No. 7 for sustaining the health.

No. 27. - Ch'en Hsi-i imitating the Cow descending from looking at the Moon -

To cure spermatorrhoea only.

When there is about to be an emission, let the middle finger of the left hand plug the right nostril, and let the right hand middle finger press the wei-lu aperture, coccyx, ( where the seminal road or vessel is supposed to be situated), and so stop the flow of the semen; revolve the air in 6 mouthfuls.

The kung is sometimes termed - A Cow grasping the Moon.

The Shen-hiung Soup.

Prescription. - Take of ginseng, kow-ch'i, yuen-chi, hwang-ch'i, liquorice, kwei-shen [see tang-kwei], tu-chung (roasted), pai-shu, ti-kuh-p'i root bark of Lycium chinense, p'o-kuh-chi'h (roasted), of each the same quantity. Add I slice of ginger and 7 lotus seeds deprived of their core. Make a decoction with water, and take.

No. 28. - Fu-yeu-ti-chun drawing the Sword from its Scabbard. - To cure all sorts of cardiac pains.

Stand erect and firm like the character (a nail), raise the right hand and look to the left; if the left hand be raised, look to the right. Revolve the air in 9 mouthfuls, turn the head, and look to the four quarters.

The above is elsewhere termed - The Immortals unsheathing the Sword. - For the cure of cardialgia.

With the raising of the right hand, the body is turned in the opposite direction, and vice versa.