Palpating and following · men xun

At a glance

Pinyin

mén xún

Simplified

扪循

Literal

捫 is to lay the hand on — 說文 glosses it as 撫持, to stroke and hold, and adds a second sense, 摹, to trace a copy — and 循 is to go along, 說文's 行順, moving with the grain. So the pair covers two different hands-on acts: holding the flat of the hand on the place, and running along the course of the channel. Chapter 27 lists them first in a series of eight preparatory manipulations before the needle goes in, and then again at the very end, where 審捫循三部九候 is what the physician is left with once the pulse has stopped swelling and there is nothing to wait for.

Shuowen

《說文解字》：捫，撫持也。从手門聲，一曰摹也；循，行順也。从彳盾聲。捫者以手撫按其處，循者順其道而行之。本篇之目：必先捫而循之；審捫循三部九𠉀之盛虚而調之。與《靈樞》「扪而循之，切而散之」同文。