Song, Ci, 1186-1249 Compiler text text xx 1500 1700 monographic Hangzhou, Zhejiang Hu Wenhuan [1500 to 1700] chi

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1 online resource. Xi yuan lu (Collected cases of injustice rectified) was compiled by Song Ci of Southern Song. This is the world's first-ever systematically written book of forensic science. It summed up the achievements in forensic science prior to and during the Song dynasty. Song Ci (1186-1249), courtesy name Huifu, a native of Jianyang (in present-day Fujian), received his jinshi degree in the tenth year (1217) of the Jiading era. He served successively as provincial judicial commissioner in Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Hunan, in charge of penal and prison affairs. He made an extensive collection of Nei shu lu and earlier works, drew on his own experience in the field, and compiled this work. It begins with the imperial decree on the inspection of bodies and injuries, an introduction to investigative procedures, and notes on the difficulties of investigation. The chapters that follow are on initial and repeated postmortem examinations, bone examination, and on identifying, by the appearances of bodies, various causes of death, and emergency treatment methods for detoxification. It also contains detailed explanations, with illustrations, about different kinds of death, such as suicide, murder, and death from natural causes. There are chapters on methods of reviving persons after hanging, use of splints for broken bones, detecting traces of wounds in the sun under an oil-cloth umbrella, applying a silver needle to detect poison, and other applications, all based on scientific knowledge. The work's first printed edition, dated the seventh year (1247) of the Chunyou era of Emperor Lizong of Southern Song, no longer exists. The earliest extant print edition is from the Yuan dynasty, held in the collection of Beijing University Library. This copy is a Ming edition in two volumes from the series of Ge zhi cong shu (Collectanea of works inquiring into and extending knowledge), published by late-Ming scholar Hu Wenhuan. The Yuan and Ming editions have similar unity and coherence in writing, but both have omissions and errors; also, the juan numbers were altered. Huang Pilie, the Qing bibliophile, compared this copy to the Yuan copy held in his collection and added a postscript, in which he identified the differences between the two editions. There is also an additional juan in the front of the Ming copy called Ti shi (Literary style), which includes the years of the Dade and Yanyou eras (end of the 13th century-early 14th century) of the Yuan dynasty, obviously not written by Song Ci. The work has been translated into many languages, including English, French, Dutch, German, Russian, Japanese, and Korean, and has influenced the development of forensic science in many countries. Title devised, in English, by Library staff. Original resource extent: 2 volumes : stitch-bound ; 26.8 x 14.4 centimeters. Original resource at: National Library of China. Content in Chinese. Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions. 1247 Chinese classics Chinese literature Crimes Forensic sciences Human body Medicine, Chinese Wounds and injuries China 363 951 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.wdl/wdl.17865 2021666510 DLC 210507 20250607105714.3 22054755 Converted from MARCXML to MODS version 3.8 using MARC21slim2MODS3-8_XSLT1-0.xsl (Revision 1.172 20230208) eng