沈彤《释骨》考略

Study on Shen Tong and his book Shigu

沈彤为清代乾隆年间经学家和考据学家,与方苞、惠栋等经学大家交往密切。清代名医徐灵胎为其同乡好友,沈彤寓居徐灵胎医馆期间受针灸医生所请,同时因"耻其为吾身所具而不知,又伤唐以后论撰有贻误后人者"而撰《释骨》。《释骨》为一部中医骨骼解剖专书,取《黄帝内经》《针灸甲乙经》中骨骼名称、部位、形态而考释之,训释体例具有"以经证字,以字解经"的特点,虽篇幅精悍而影响颇深,初刻于清乾隆十六年(公元1751年),刊成不久即流传日本,成为针灸经穴及注释《黄帝内经》的重要参考书,同时,它在中医解剖史上也具有重要意义。

Shen Tong is a scholar of Qing Dynasty in classics study and textual criticism.He kept close contacts with masters of classics such as Hui Dong and Fang Bao.Xu Lingtai,a famous doctor in the Qing Dynasty,was his fellow townsman.He had lived in Xu’s hospital for a period of time,during which an acupuncturist asked him some questions about acupoint.Since he was ashamed of his ignorance of the structure of human body and worried about the erroneous exposition that had been circulated since the Tang Dynasty,he decided to write the book later known as Shigu.Shigu(Explaining bones) is a TCM anatomy book on bones.The main contents in this book included the names,locations and appearances of bones in all parts of body which had been mentioned in Huangdi’s Internal Classics and A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion.The exegesis and styles of this book are characterized by the statement that" to confirm the word by classics,and explain classics with the word".Although short in length,it had a profound influence.It was first published in Sixteenth years of Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty(1751),and spread to Japan soon after its publication,becoming an important reference book for acupuncture and moxibustion as well as the explanation of Huangdi’s Internal Classics.It is of great significance in the history of TCM anatomy.