fullness and no desire to eat or drink.4(153)

The same chapter clearly attributes cough to a combination of invasion of an external pathogenic
factor and improper diet:

The skin is in relation with the Lungs; when an external pathogenic factor

[Wind-Cold] invades the skin, it progresses to the Lungs. When cold food and

drinks enter the Stomach, they go upwards to the Lungs via the Lung channel

[which starts in the Middle Burner] and give rise to Cold in the Lungs. The

combination of exterior and interior Cold causes cough in the Lungs.5(154)

The chapter on cough ends by giving indications for treatment: "For cough of the Yin organs
needle the [Back] Transporting points; for cough of the Yang organs needle the Sea points; for
cough with oedema needle the River points."6(155) The "Complete Book of Jing Yue" (1624)
distinguishes cough caused by invasion of an external pathogenic factor from that due to an
internal disharmony.7(156)

Aetiology and Pathology

External Pathogenic Factors

External Wind is the main cause of exterior coughs. Wind penetrates the skin and the
Defensive-Qi portion which is controlled by the Lungs. It therefore impairs the descending of
Lung-Qi and causes cough. This is an exterior type of cough which, with proper treatment,
disappears rather quickly without leaving any consequence.

Wind combines with other pathogenic factors and the most likely to cause a cough are
Wind-Cold, Wind-Heat and Wind-Dryness.

Wind-Cold invades the skin and Defensive-Qi portion impairing the descending of Lung-Qi and
thus causing cough.

Wind-Heat enters via the nose and mouth and affects the throat. It causes a cough by invading
the Lung channel in the throat and preventing the descending of Lung-Qi. The cough caused by
Wind-Heat is of a drier type than that caused by Wind-Cold.

Wind-Dryness, rare in the British Isles but rather prevalent in the American South-West, also
invades the Lung channel in the throat and causes a very dry and ticklish cough. Besides
impairing the descending of Lung-Qi, Wind-Dryness also dries up the Lung's fluids and the
resulting cough is more persistent than that caused by Wind-Cold or Wind-Heat.