Tool, path, direction, count — the four things that separate them
Six treatments follow, one family: strokes run along or beside the spinal column, differing in exactly four things — what tool, what path, which direction, how it is counted.
They also share a set of glyphs, and this is the first group in the atlas where a point is likely to be met drawn rather than spelled. The full plate is in The Shorthand, "The Shorthand"; below is the family's own corner of it, described in words.
The six glyphs of the arrow family, described in words
Drawn on the card · Read it as · How it is drawn
\ ° / — also written ↖o↗ · Back arrow · A small circle with a stroke leaning away from it on each side, up-left and up-right, like two arms opening. Often preceded by three small arrows in a row
↑o↑ · H arrow · Two upward arrows with a small circle between them. Both heads point up
A ring-topped stem with a downward arrowhead · On the spine · A short stem, a small open ring at the top, an arrowhead below pointing down
↕ ° ↕ · Beside the spine · A double-headed vertical arrow, a ring-topped stem, a second double-headed arrow — the arrows standing either side of the stem, as the fingers stand either side of the spine
↑ \ · ↓ · Round arrow · An upward arrow, a plain vertical bar, a downward arrow, side by side
A plain ring-topped stem with no arrowhead at all · Up Arrow · The bare ring-and-stem. A different point, and not in this article — see Uncommon Problems
Three rules for reading them. An arrowhead shows the direction of your own push, never a flow inside the patient. The presence or absence of the head changes the point — ring-stem with a downward head is On the spine, the same stem bare is Up Arrow. And the number of heads is the number of directions the stroke travels.