本文的內容，主要談「割股」療親現象中所涉及的兩個醫療概念：人部藥與「血 氣」概念。 「割股」療親行為是對中醫本草人部藥的一種實踐與擴展，在這一行為中應用到 的人體器官，與醫書所記載的人體臟器相比，擴大得相當多。醫者常根據（本草 拾遺）自我衍申，要求病人的家屬割股、割肝、刺血、斷指。而「割股」者在「割 股」行為中，尤多「想當然爾」地「自我解釋」人部藥，不論其是否對症，也不 論是否合於醫裡，即行割股、斷指、割肝。到最後，（本草拾遺）所記載的「人肉 療羸疾」，隨著這種民間行為的自我創造、自我衍申，漸漸成為一種啟示性的話語， 各形各色的病痛，皆與「割股」連上關係。「割股」經歷了「變異」與「膨脹」的 過程。 在「割股」療親現象中．還存在著一些特別的觀念，如認為身體有「上淨下 不潔」的區別。其次，則為「同類相補」的觀念。在「割股」行為中，常見有「以 同類之物相補」的例子，如以目補目、以皮補皮、以血補血等。再者，即為「血 氣相補」、「血氣相連」的看法。在「割股」行為中，存在著病人老邁氣血虛弱， 須以人的血肉補充元氣的看法。在一些例子中，或者認為人肉蘊含「真氣」，或者 認為人的血氣可以相互感應，特別是醫者或當事人常認定親人血肉可以相補，尤 其是兒女的血肉，被邏輯化地視為血氣相感的最佳來源。也就因為「割股」療親 強調以「同氣」親屬才會有效，因此便排除了「異氣」、沒有家族關係的外人；透 過血緣的網絡，還可以將對象擴展到家族中的其他成員，包括直系血親與旁系血 親等。這種「割股」的網絡，隨著，「家」的範圍的不斷擴大，「割股」現象也不 斷延伸；更進而可以以「寄」的方式，寄送割下來的體肉，醫治異地的親人。 總而言之，「割股」是一種帶有親族性的民俗醫療行為。以人的身體組織入藥。 並非是中國所獨有的一種醫療行為，然而中國「割股」療親現象中所涉及的以人 為藥，與其他世界文明及中國方書中所應用的人藥，有很大的不同。其最大的特 點即在於它是一個具有「排他性」的人藥醫療行為，沒有親屬關係即無用「武」 之地。

　　　　　The purpose of this article is to examine two concepts involved in the behavior of self-sacrifice to cure one's parent's illness: the human-flesh as a medicine and the idea of "vitalism." Use one's flesh to cure one's parent's illness is a practice and expansion of the human medicine in the Chinese medical theory. As shown in historical records, many more kinds of body parts were used than what was written in medical books. In this article, it is shown that medicine men over-explained the book 本草拾遺, and asked a patient's family members to donate their own thighs, livers, blood or fingers. And many flesh providers also explained medical texts by themselves to meet their own world views. Therefore, many flesh providers regardless of symptoms, provided their own flesh at their own will. As a consequence, the applications of human medicine kept expanding, from simply "curing chronic diseases" as mentioned in 本草拾遺, to a mindset that associated human flesh with many other diseases. It is logical to say, the idea of flesh-medicine actually underwent the process of "diversification" and "expansion". Certain ideas were observed among flesh-medicine records. For example, many believed that upper parts were cleaner than lower parts, thus instead of legs and thighs, many donated their arms, shoulders, breasts or rib-sides. And many also believed in body part mirroring, for example, to use the eye to cure eye diseases, skin for the skin, blood for the blood, liver for the liver, heart for the heart, etc. Then, it is believed that one's vitalism would affect another's. Some believed that a patient's weakness could be strenghened by taking a healthy person's flesh and blood. Either the human flesh from the youth was full of "vitality," or it could revitalize an aged person. It is widely believed that flesh from close relatives, mostly one's children, was especially useful. Thus flesh curing was only valid within the family where they shared the same "vitality," and those who did not share it, were not useful. Due to this reason, flesh-curing was solely intra-family. Through some Extended explanations, direct and collateral lines were both included. A flesh-provider can be of biological relationship, or of marriage or adoption relationships. As the definition of the extended family, many more were eligible than what were thought to be. Both biological or social relatives were allowed to donate flesh. Furthermore, one could even mail the flesh to remote relatives. The logic behind would be that the family tie remained valid regardless of space and time. Despite of the distance and time, flesh from a relative could still be of use. In a word, flesh-medicine is a kind of folk medicine of family aspect, where one's body could be another's medicine. Moreover, as a child or a daughter-in-law, one's body not only belongs to himself, but also belongs to his family. Human flesh as a medicine is practiced in China, but this family aspect made it somewhat different from other cultures' versions.