夏禹铸曰。摹看手指筋纹。乃医家异教。盖指面筋纹。生来已定。岂因咳嗽而变为反弓。惊积而化为鱼刺。膈热而
结为
流珠。肝气粗而来蛇状之理。即曰能变能化。亦不过反弓知咳嗽。鱼刺知惊积。流珠知膈热。蛇来知气粗而已。外有何
知。况二指一面。仅大小二肠所属。非五脏诸经并见之地。即曰并见。一指长不过寸许。阔不过分余。设也膈热而兼气
粗。气粗而兼咳嗽。则流珠与反弓蛇来并相撕混。请从何辨。又诀曰。初关乍入宜支退。筋透三关命必亡。常见筋透三
关。竟无病者。亦有病时透三关。而必不亡者。此种道理。殊不知解。余两代经过不验。不忍隐而不言。见之者幸勿执
迷不悟。
禹铸曰。治病不可关门杀贼。脏腑之病。必有贼邪。或自外至。或自内成。祛贼不寻去路。以致内伏。是谓闭门杀
贼。如伤寒贼由外入。法宜表散。心火贼自内成。清利为先。是知降心火而不利小便。除肺热而不引大肠。治风热而不
发表药。夹食而不导消。痢初起而不通利。疟始发而遽用截方。凡此皆闭门之弊。不第不能杀贼。而五脏六腑。无地不
受其蹂躏。则闭门之害。可胜道哉。凡有心幼科者。又不可不知也。
禹铸曰。治病不可开门揖盗。若脏腑有虚。外虽伤感。误为表散分利。惹来别症。是谓开门揖盗。试以脾虚作泻论
之。脾虚惟恐补之不及。一用分利。则正气日下。而脾愈伤。便来脾慢之症。譬之六国之病在弱。离横合纵。乃季子补
救之策。解约散纵。自开吞并之门。是乱臣亡国。与分利崩脾。无异理也。至于肺虚误为发散。心虚利水。肝虚抑肝诸
类。当从脾虚分利而类推之可也。
夏禹铸说：描摹观察手指上的筋纹，这是医家中旁门左道的说法。因为指面上的筋纹是先天生成的，早已定型，怎么会因为咳嗽就变成反弓形，因为惊悸积滞而化为鱼刺状，因为膈部有热而结成流珠状，因为肝气粗大而出现蛇状呢？即使说这些筋纹能变化，也不过是通过反弓形知道有咳嗽，通过鱼刺形知道有惊悸积滞，通过流珠形知道有膈热，通过蛇形知道肝气粗大罢了。除此之外还能知道什么呢？况且食指和中指这一面，仅仅归属于大肠和小肠，并不是五脏和各条经脉共同显现的地方。即使说能同时显现，一根手指长度不过一寸左右，宽度不过一分多。假如既有膈热又兼肝气粗大，肝气粗大又兼有咳嗽，那么流珠、反弓和蛇形就会混杂在一起，请问从何处进行辨别？
又有口诀说：“初关乍入宜支退，筋透三关命必亡。”（意思是：如果指纹只出现在风关且突然向内，应当阻止其深入；如果指纹穿透了风关、气关、命关直达指尖，则性命难保。）但我常见到指纹穿透三关的人，竟然没有生病的；也有生病时指纹穿透三关，但必定不会死亡的。这种道理，很多人都不懂。我家两代人经过临床验证，发现这些说法不灵验，不忍心隐瞒而不说出来，希望看到的人不要固执迷惑而不醒悟。
禹铸说：治病不可“关门杀贼”。脏腑的疾病，必然有邪气（贼邪）存在，或者是从外部侵入，或者是从内部产生。祛除邪气如果不寻找出路，导致邪气内伏，这就叫做“闭门杀贼”。例如伤寒之邪由外而入，治法应当用解表发散的方法；心火之邪从内生，清利心火应放在首位。因此，降低心火却不通利小便，清除肺热却不引导至大肠，治疗风热却不用发表药，夹带食积却不导滞消食，痢疾初起却不通利肠道，疟疾刚开始发作就急忙使用截断方剂。凡此种种，都是“闭门”的弊端。这不仅不能杀死邪气，反而让五脏六腑无处不受邪气的蹂躏，那么“闭门”的危害，哪里说得完呢？凡是从事儿科的医生，又不可以不知道这一点。
禹铸说：治病不可“开门揖盗”。如果脏腑本身虚弱，虽然外表受了伤感，却误用解表发散或分利小便的方法，从而招致其他病症，这就叫做“开门揖盗”。试以脾虚导致的腹泻为例：脾虚唯恐补益得不够及时，一旦使用分利小便的药物，正气就会日益下降，脾脏更加受伤，于是出现脾慢（脾气虚弱运化无力）的症状。这好比战国时期六国因国力衰弱而患病，苏秦提出的合纵策略是补救的办法；而如果解散盟约、破坏合纵，就等于打开了被秦国吞并的大门。这与乱臣贼子导致亡国，以及错误使用分利药物导致脾脏崩溃，道理是一样的。至于肺虚误用发散，心虚误用利水，肝虚误用抑肝等方法，都可以从脾虚误用分利这个道理类推出来。
Xia Yuzhu stated: Tracing and observing the vein patterns on the fingers is an unorthodox method among physicians. The vein patterns on the finger surfaces are congenital and fixed from birth; how can they transform into a "reverse bow" shape due to coughing, change into a "fish spine" shape due to fright and accumulation, form "flowing pearls" due to heat in the diaphragm, or appear as a "snake" due to coarse liver qi? Even if one claims these patterns can change, they merely indicate that a reverse bow signifies coughing, fish spines signify fright and accumulation, flowing pearls signify diaphragmatic heat, and snake shapes signify coarse liver qi. What else can they reveal? Moreover, the area of the index and middle fingers belongs only to the Large Intestine and Small Intestine channels, not to the locations where all five zang organs and various meridians manifest. Even if they did manifest simultaneously, a single finger is no more than one cun long and slightly more than one fen wide. If there were both diaphragmatic heat and coarse liver qi, and coarse liver qi accompanied by coughing, the patterns of flowing pearls, reverse bows, and snakes would be mixed together. From where could one distinguish them?
There is also a rhyme stating: "If the pattern enters the initial segment abruptly, it should be restrained; if the pattern penetrates all three segments, life is doomed." (Meaning: If the fingerprint appears suddenly at the Wind Gate [Feng Guan] and moves inward, its progression should be halted; if it penetrates the Wind, Qi [Qi Guan], and Life [Ming Guan] gates reaching the fingertip, death is inevitable.) Yet I often see individuals whose patterns penetrate all three segments who are actually healthy. Conversely, some patients with patterns penetrating all three segments do not die. Many people fail to understand this principle. Having observed through two generations of clinical practice that these theories are invalid, I cannot bear to remain silent. I hope those who read this do not remain stubbornly deluded.
Yuzhu stated: In treating diseases, one must not "close the door to kill the thief." Diseases of the zang and fu organs inevitably involve pathogenic factors ("thieves"), whether invading from outside or forming from within. Removing pathogens without providing an exit route, thereby causing them to linger internally, is called "closing the door to kill the thief." For instance, in Taiyang disease (Exterior Syndrome), pathogens enter from the exterior, so the treatment method should be to release the exterior and disperse. Heart Fire (Heart Heat) forms from within, so clearing and draining should be prioritized. Therefore, lowering Heart Fire without promoting urination, clearing Lung Heat without guiding it to the Large Intestine, treating Wind-Heat without using exterior-releasing herbs, failing to guide and digest food stagnation when present, failing to promote bowel movement in early-stage dysentery, or hastily using formulas to arrest malaria upon its onset—all these are the drawbacks of "closing the door." Not only will this fail to eliminate the pathogens, but the five zang and six fu organs will suffer devastation everywhere. How can the harm of "closing the door" be fully described? Any pediatrician must know this.
Yuzhu stated: In treating diseases, one must not "open the door to invite the robber." If the zang and fu organs are deficient, and although there is an external injury or pathogen, mistakenly using exterior-releasing or diuretic methods may attract other complications; this is called "opening the door to invite the robber." Let us discuss diarrhea caused by Spleen Deficiency. In Spleen Deficiency, one fears insufficient tonification; however, once diuretics are used, righteous qi declines daily, further injuring the Spleen, leading to symptoms of Spleen Sluggishness (chronic weakness of Spleen function). This is analogous to the Six States during the Warring States period suffering from weakness; Su Qin's strategy of vertical alliance was a remedial measure. Dissolving the alliances and breaking the vertical coalition is like opening the door for annexation. This is no different in principle from traitors causing the fall of a nation or using diuretics incorrectly causing the collapse of the Spleen. As for mistakenly using dispersing methods for Lung Deficiency, diuretics for Heart Deficiency, or suppressing Liver methods for Liver Deficiency, these can be inferred by analogy from the case of Spleen Deficiency treated incorrectly with diuretics.