Reading Wang Tao's formula collection as a network of formulas, disease presentations, and cited texts
The Waitai Miyao is a large Tang-period medical work associated with Wang Tao, known for collecting numerous medical texts, prescriptions, and descriptions of disease presentations. Wisdom Terra treats it as an important source for constructing formula-based gateways.
Its value lies not simply in the number of formulas. Tracing which medical texts and physicians are cited for which disease presentations, and with what explanations, offers clues to later understandings of formulas and citation relationships between medical works.
Extracting formula names alone loses the source and disease context. Wisdom Terra therefore separates formula names, disease classifications, cited sources, locations within the work, and later re-citations. This is also important preparation for studying the prescriptions of historical physicians.
| Gateway | Information to Organize |
|---|---|
| By Text | Arrangement of volumes, sections, disease presentations, and formulas. |
| By Formula | Formula name, composition, medicinals, cited source, and associated presentations. |
| By Symptom | Distinguish classical disease names from modern-language explanations. |
| MLMN | Connections to etiology, location, zang-fu, channels, and formula layers. |