Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org From an edition published in 1537 (16th year of the Jiajing reign period of the Ming dynasty). In Chinese medicine, the stomach is one of the six fu viscera. It corresponds to the anatomical organ of the same name. It serves mainly for the ingestion and digestion or 'decomposition' of food and drink, which then proceeds down into the intestine. Thus the proper direction of stomach qi is downward. The stomach channel of foot yangming connects with the spleen, with which it stands in a mutual internal-external relationship, and the two organs are jointly involved in the processes of digestion and assimilation; thus they are often known collectively as the 'root of the acquired constitution' (houtian zhi ben). Collected Gems of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), Vol. 1 states: 'The stomach weighs 2 jin (Chinese lb, c. 500 gr.) and 1 liang (Chinese oz., c. 50 gr). It measures 1 chi (Chinese foot) and 5 cun (Chinese inches) [across]; it is 2 chi 6 and cun in length and 5 cun in diameter. It has a sinuous shape. It can contain 2 dou (1 dou = c. 1 decalitre) of grain [solids], 1 dou and 5 sheng (1 sheng = c. 1 litre) of water [liquids].'. Woodcut Library of Zhongguo zhongyi yanjiu yuan (China Academy for Traditional Chinese Medicine) Zhenjiu juying (Collected Gems of Acupuncture and Moxibustion) Gao Wu (Ming period, 1368-1644) Published: 1537