Niuyi jinjian 牛醫金鑑

Niuyi jinjian 牛醫金鑑 "The golden mirror of bovine medicine", also called Niujing beiyao 牛經備要 or Niujing daquan 牛經大全, is a book on veterinary medicine whose author and date of compilation are unknown.

In the transmitted shape, it consists of 148 small chapters. The first ten chapters are instructions for inspecting the physical appearance of cattle (Xiangniu fa 相牛法). Ch. 11-68 are general discussions about medical care for bovines (Yiniu zonglun 醫牛總論). They describe the internal organs of cattle and their function, typical diseases with their symptoms and origins, and discourses on the right treatment methods and application of medicine. Two sections refer to the history of veterinary medicine in China and explain what qualifications were necessary to become a proficient veterinarian. Ch. 69-148 discuss individual diseases by telling their exact designations and providing prescriptions for their treatment. These are basically the same as used in older books on bovine medicine, but the author(s) of the Niuyi jinjian made some corrections concerning the origin and treatment of some diseases, for instance, the composition and preparation of medicine, or the replacement of traditional prescriptions by thoroughly new ones. Some diseases are described for the first time in this book, for instance, nasal furuncles (biding 鼻疔), dental noma (yagan 牙疳), or tumours (yingliu 癭瘤); in some cases, the name of a single symptom refers to a variety of illnesses and necessary treatments, such as the symptom of the inability to keep the foetus in place is tied to illnesses as foetal restlessness, foetal death in the womb, gonorrhoea in pregnancy (yunshen baizhuo 孕娠白濁), difficulty in giving birth, and incomplete ejection of the placenta after parturition (elu bu jin 惡露不盡). The text also includes some information on surgical treatment.

Manuscripts of the text were circulating in the province of Jiangsu. The first modern, annotated version was edited by Zou Jiezheng 鄒介正 and published in 1981 by the Nongye Chubanshe 農業出版社.