"Lingyan lishao 靈言蠡勺 (Humble Attempt at Discussing Matters Pertaining to the Soul).... One of the most important themes taken from Aristotelianism was the question of the soul, as appears from several writings devoted to this subject. Francesco Sambiasi (1582-1649) and Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) presented the theory of Aristotle's De Anima in Lingyan lishao 靈言蠡勺 (1624). Aleni gave a synopsis of this work, and of Parva Naturalia, in Xingxue cushu 性學觕述, written in 1624, but printed in its entirety only in early 1646 during the Longwu reign (Southern Ming) in Fujian." -- Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, vol. 1, p. 607. See also p. 445, 613, and: "...In accordance with the state of knowledge at the time, which viewed the soul as being closely associated with the nerves" (i.e. nervous system, medicine), p. 791.

"Lingyan lishao 靈言蠡勺 (Humble Attempt at Discussing Matters Pertaining to the Soul).... One of the most important themes taken from Aristotelianism was the question of the soul, as appears from several writings devoted to this subject. Francesco Sambiasi (1582-1649) and Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) presented the theory of Aristotle’s De Anima in Lingyan lishao 靈言蠡勺 (1624). Aleni gave a synopsis of this work, and of Parva Naturalia, in Xingxue cushu 性學觕述, written in 1624, but printed in its entirety only in early 1646 during the Longwu reign (Southern Ming) in Fujian." -- Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, vol. 1, p. 607. See also p. 445, 613, and: "...In accordance with the state of knowledge at the time, which viewed the soul as being closely associated with the nerves" (i.e. nervous system, medicine), p. 791.
Local access [Duceux-De Anima.pdf]

N.B. Although the following description applies to the Jesuit Archive edition (which differs slightly), the background still applies. For full bibliographic and textual citation see: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).

JapSin II, 60
Lingyan lishuo 靈言蠡勺
Transmitted orally by Bi Fangji 筆方濟 (Francesco Sambiasi) and written down by Xu Guangqi 徐根光啟.
Two juan. Bamboo paper with a paper case. Wooden blocks reengraved and published by the Shenxiutang 慎修堂 (in Hangzhou). No date or place of the original publication.

The cover bears a label with the title in Chinese and a Latin inscription: "De Anima vegetati | va, sensitiva, | rationali | a p. Franc. Sambiasi | S.J."

This book deals with the nature of the three kinds of souls: the vegetative, the sensitive and the rational soul. The term ya-ni-ma 亞尼馬 is a transliteration of the Latin word anima (soul). In 1919, when the scholar Chen Yuan (1880–1971) had this book reprinted, he stated that among all the philosophical treatises published in the Tianxue chuhan the Lingyan lishao is the best. We are told that the Shenxiutang edition was reprinted in the Chongzhen period. According to Pfister (p. 142, no. 1) this book was [first?] printed in Shanghai or Jiading in 1624 and based on the Tianxue chuhan. A century later this book brought about the conversion of Surgiyen (see Sunu, ECCP), a member of the Manchu imperial clan (see DMB 2:1151, L.C. Goodrich).
Cf. Feng 1938, pp. 167–168; Hsü 1949, pp. 200–204; SKTY 3:2631–2632; Courant 6863–6867; Couplet, p. 15; BR, pp. XXXII–XXXIII.
Source: Chan, Chinese books and documents in the Jesuit archives in Rome: a descriptive catalogue: Japonica-Sinica I-IV, p. 365-366.