Wu Fang: Ancient Physician & Founder of Infant Cranial Fontanel Diagnosis

Wu Fang (also written as Wufang) was a physician of high antiquity. Tradition holds that he was a minister to Emperor Yao, skilled in the medical arts, and able to distinguish life from death. He authored the Lu Xin Jing (Classic of the Cranial Fontanel), though this text has not survived to the present day. According to legend, he was a shamanic physician who used the infant cranial fontanel method to prognosticate premature death or longevity and to judge the life-or-death outcome of diseases. Handed down through the ages, this tradition included pediatric formulas, and he is regarded as a shamanic healer who divined the life span and illnesses of infants and children.