《仙传外科集验方》Vol. 3

(The preceding text) Take it with three bowls of water.

When someone has accidentally taken a poisonous medicine and is in critical condition, there may still be a chance to save them as long as the area over the heart remains warm. This applies to harm caused by hot-natured medicines. Take a single ingredient, fangfeng (Saposhnikovia root), pound it, and mix it with cold water to drink.

Another remedy: pound bai biandou flowers (white hyacinth bean flowers), add water, and drink.

Several other methods are given: mix bean powder with water and drink, or mix rice malt sugar with water and drink; alternatively, pound fresh ginger and drink the juice.

To counter the poison of shumang, use fangfeng alone: pound it and mix it with cold water to drink. Another remedy is to pound bai biandou flowers with water and drink; bean powder or rice malt sugar mixed with water may also be used, or fresh ginger can be pounded and taken.

Shumang poison can also be treated by pounding muban root, adding water, and drinking several bowls. Muban root is also known as the root used to make blue dye. Another remedy is to pound the root of the Chinese tallow tree with water and drink it. Alternatively, take jingmiancao, press out its natural juice, add about one small cup of wine, then mix in an equal amount of cooking oil and drink. The poison will be expelled several times; afterward, eat meat porridge promptly to restore strength.

To counter castor bean poison, boil coptis root into a decoction and drink it.

To counter menghan poison, drink cold water.

To counter Gu poison, dry and grind sweet flag root into powder, then take it with a decoction of licorice. Continue until the symptoms subside. Here, “Gu poison” refers to harm attributed in the text to Gu creatures or Gu sorcery.

Incantation for Countering Gu Poison, Transmitted by the Immortals

When entering a household believed to have been targeted by Gu sorcery, silently recite this incantation three or seven times upon first entering: “My father is an earthworm; my mother is a snake woman. I have seven thousand kin, and I know every one of you.” One character in the original incantation is missing; this translation follows the meaning of the surviving text.

After entering, silently recite the incantation, look up and count the roof beams once, starting on the left, then lower your head. If the host brings tea, wine, or food, discreetly pluck a pubic hair from inside your clothing and place it on the plate, calling this “returning it to the host.” Then silently recite the incantation three times as before. The scripture says that if there is a drug in the plate, a worm-like creature will appear. Tie it with the pubic hair, and you will know that the person who cast the Gu spell has also been afflicted by Gu.

Another remedy is called “Grime Powder.” However, the text that follows repeats and is damaged, preserving only the instructions to take a pubic hair, place it on the plate, and silently recite the incantation. Its specific preparation cannot be determined.

There is another prescription called “Grime Powder.”

Take a piece of alum and have the patient hold it between the teeth and suck on it. If the alum tastes sweet, this is taken to mean that the patient has been poisoned by gu, a harmful influence said in ancient times to be caused by gu insects or other malign entities. In that case, gather the grime that has accumulated between the teeth of a comb, in any amount, and have the patient swallow it. This will make them vomit the harmful substance from their body.

To counter poisoning from aconite, Sichuan aconite, or tianxiong, boil large or small black beans and drink the liquid.

To counter poisoning from blister beetles, drink the liquid from large or small black beans. The root of the hosta plant, crushed and mixed with water, can also counter various poisons.

For poisoning from accidentally eating wild mushrooms, dig a pit in yellow earth, pour in cold water, and stir until muddy. Wait a little, then drink the water. This is called “earth slurry” and is said to counter this kind of poison.

Another prescription: Take an appropriate amount of licorice nodes, the rhizome of the licorice plant, and fry them once in a cup of sesame oil. Do not let them turn black. When the oil has cooled, take it; it is said to counter poison.

For poisoning from accidentally eating pufferfish, if the situation is urgent and no medicine is available, quickly pour in a large amount of cooking oil to induce vomiting and expel the poison.

There is also a remedy called “Poison-Expelling Powder.” It is said to work very well for poisoning by any kind of drug, making the worms come up in vomit.

Take equal amounts of alum and sweet flag, an aromatic herb, and grind them into a fine powder. Mix two qian with freshly drawn water and take it. After two doses, it should begin to work.

Prescription for “Immortals’ Poison-Expelling Pills”:

Indigo paste, native copper, wild ci (a plant that grows in fields), Japanese shield fern, Sichuan lovage, dust, wall earth, coptis, peach root (remove the bark and take the inner wood, dry by roasting, then grind separately), areca nut, red beans, mung beans, new bricks, and new roof tiles. The bricks and tiles must be newly made and never exposed to water. First soak them in a latrine for fourteen days, then soak them in running water for another fourteen days. Dry them in the sun and grind them separately. Use two liang of each of the thirteen ingredients above, and one liang of licorice nodes.

Grind the medicines into a fine powder, place them in a tin vessel, and mix with water. Add a thick paste made by cooking glutinous rice flour, then pound the mixture until even and form it into pills. When boiling the medicine, continue until the pills float on the surface of the water. Pound the mixture three thousand times more, and make each pill about the size of a pellet. Just before taking it, grind a pill in water until dissolved, then swallow it.

Spirit-Bestowed Taiyi Powder is used to treat cold damage with either Yin or Yang patterns. It is also used when Yin and Yang patterns occur together and it is not yet clear whether the illness is exterior or interior.

Ingredients: Sichuan cimicifuga, white peony root, purple perilla leaf, dried kudzu root, aged tangerine peel, Sichuan lovage root, green tangerine peel, licorice, cyperus rhizome, and dahurian angelica root.

Grind equal amounts of these ingredients into a powder. Take three qian at a time, adding one and a half bowls of water and three slices of fresh ginger. Boil until about four-fifths of the liquid remains, then take two doses in succession. For headache, add three stalks of scallion white with their roots attached. For stagnant Qi and distention of the chest and abdomen, add bitter orange. It may be taken by postpartum women, infants, and the elderly.

Treating Chest Bind in Cold Damage (symptoms such as fullness and distention of the chest and pain when pressed during the course of cold damage):

Seven cun of rhubarb root and fourteen grains of croton seed, shelled.

Grind these into a fine powder and mix with saliva to form a cake. Place it on the navel, then apply moxa cones on top. Stop when the heat has penetrated into the abdomen. The number of cones burned (each cone counts as one moxa application) is not fixed. Afterward, soak a handkerchief in warm water and wipe away the medicine. The original text says this method has saved many people.

Treating Malaria:

Seven qian of high-grade dichroa root and three qian of areca nut.

Grind these into a fine powder, mix with egg white, and form pills the size of Chinese parasol tree seeds. Take thirty pills at a time with warm wine or vinegar soup: take one dose on the night before the malaria attack, then another at the fifth watch (about 3–5 a.m.) on the day of the attack. The original text says this is certain to work; if the illness has lasted a long time, take a larger dose to seek an effect.

One prescription: Slice Chinese yam, mix it with egg white, and steam it on top of rice three times. Then remove the egg white, dry the Chinese yam in the sun, and grind it into powder. Make pills with mashed rice. Take a dose before bed and another early in the morning, swallowing twenty pills each time with wine. The original text says that recovery follows if the medicine causes neither vomiting nor diarrhea.

Another prescription: Grind sweet wormwood and cassia bark separately into powder. If the chills are severe, use more cassia and less wormwood. Take two liang of mature, unpeeled ginger, crush it to extract the juice, mix the juice with hot wine, and drink it. Cover yourself with clothes and bedding and lie down; the original text says this should bring relief. If the fever is severe, use more wormwood and less cassia, and take it in the same way, mixing cassia and wormwood in a ratio of three to seven.

Another prescription: The original text says this remedy is highly effective regardless of how long the illness has lasted.

Take one liang of Chinese yam root, choosing a thin, slender piece like a chicken bone. Chop it, soak it overnight in good vinegar, then place it in an earthenware vessel and cook until dry. Grind it into powder. For each dose, take two qian and boil it in one cup of water until reduced by half. Strain out the herbs and let the liquid cool, then drink it at the fifth watch, before dawn. The original text says it is highly effective if it causes neither vomiting nor diarrhea.

Another prescription: Use equal amounts of anemarrhena, fritillaria, Chinese yam root, and betel nut, and chop them. Boil them in one cup of wine and one cup of water until reduced by half, then strain out the herbs. Cover the liquid with cotton cloth and leave it outdoors overnight. At the fifth watch, face east and drink it cold. The original text says one dose is effective for cold-type or heat-type malaria, as well as cases that have lasted a long time and resisted treatment. It adds that a woman must not prepare the medicine.

Prescriptions for bloody or pale, watery dysentery:

Take twelve gallnuts, half roasted and half raw. Remove the seeds, keep the flesh, dry it over a low heat, and grind it into powder. For bloody dysentery, take it with a decoction of raw licorice root; for pale, watery dysentery, take it with a decoction of toasted licorice root. Take it only on an empty stomach. In severe cases, take at most one additional dose.

Pills for dysentery:

Two large pinellia tubers, seven shelled croton seeds, one qian of pine soot, and one piece of Chinese ink, about the size of half a pinellia tuber.

Grind the ingredients together into powder. Melt three qian of yellow wax with a little clear oil, mix it with the powder, and form pills the size of mung beans. The original text gives only the method for making the pills and does not record how they should be taken.

Take two large pieces of pinellia, seven shelled croton seeds, one qian of lilyturf charcoal, and one piece of Chinese ink about the size of the pinellia. Grind them together into a fine powder. Melt three qian of yellow wax with a little clear oil, mix in the powder, and form pills about the size of mung beans.

Take seven pills at a time. For red dysentery, swallow them with licorice-root decoction; for white dysentery, with dried-ginger decoction. When there is cramping in the abdomen, urgent straining, and a feeling of incomplete evacuation, take them with decoction of root bark. For diarrhea with undigested food or brought on by exposure to cold, take them with cool dried-ginger decoction. For diarrhea caused by summer heat, take them with cooled boiled water. The original text says this remedy is highly effective.

For a formula to treat refusal to eat due to dysentery, first determine whether the patient’s condition is cold, hot, or an imbalance of cold and heat, and address the exterior and interior symptoms. If the palms are hot and the eyes are red, this is a heat condition: use Báidúsǎn, decocted with aged rice. If the palms are cold, or the stool is only white, this is a cold condition: grind lotus seeds without removing their hearts into powder and mix with rice water. Take three qian at a time. Once the patient can eat, treat according to whether the condition is cold or hot.

Another formula: take red hibiscus flowers, remove the calyxes, dry them in the shade, and grind them into powder. Toast two flatbreads and sprinkle the flower powder on top to eat. Before eating, use broth to help the patient open their mouth, then feed them the medicinal powder.

For heat dysentery, take equal amounts of bupleurum and baikal skullcap. Decoction them in equal parts wine and water until reduced to seven-tenths of the original amount. Let the liquid cool before taking it, either on an empty stomach or early in the morning. For bloody dysentery, add more baikal skullcap.

Another formula: take one pitted smoked plum, mix it with fine-quality spring tea powder, and take it mixed with vinegar water.

For diarrhea accompanied by tendon cramps and spasms, decoct aged mugwort and Chinese quince in water, then add a little vinegar and a pinch of salt and drink.

Another formula: decoct three qian of evodia fruit with mugwort leaves, reducing the liquid to one and a half bowls, and take it in three portions. The text says it is effective. If these medicines are not available, decoct mugwort leaves with roasted fresh ginger and drink while hot.

When abdominal pain from “intestinal-scraping sand” strikes, it can become unbearable. The Yin type causes abdominal pain and cold hands and feet. Check the body for red spots; dip a rush pith in oil, light it, and cauterize the spots. The Yang type causes abdominal pain while the hands and feet remain warm. Insert a needle about one and a half fen into the backs of all ten fingers, near the nails. If the flesh around the nails and on the backs of the fingers reacts, prick until blood appears; the condition should ease after the bleeding. First stroke down both arms to draw the stagnant blood toward the fingertips, then let the blood.

If the pain is so severe that it cannot be endured, death may follow within moments. Ancient formulas call this illness “dry cholera” (with symptoms such as abdominal pain, but without the ability to vomit or have normal bowel movements). As an emergency measure, mix one liang of salt with hot broth and make the patient drink it. It is said that once the salt’s Qi reaches the abdomen, the condition will settle. Another method is to heat stone grit until red-hot, then quench it in cold water. After some time, drink one or two he of the clear water.

Another formula: take equal amounts of aged camphorwood, aged tangerine peel, and old wall earth. Add water and simmer until concentrated, strain out the ingredients, and drink three or four doses in succession. The condition should ease.

A formula for cholera with vomiting and diarrhea, when no medicine can be kept down:

Forty-nine mung beans and forty-nine peppercorns.

Grind the two ingredients, add water, and decoct them for drinking. If thirst is severe, grind them into a fine powder and mix with freshly drawn well water. The text says this works very well.

When cholera causes persistent, watery diarrhea, take a handful of fresh mugwort, add two bowls of water, and decoct it down to one bowl. Drink the whole dose at once. If fresh mugwort is unavailable, simmer old mugwort leaves until concentrated and drink the liquid.

Another formula: one liang of quince, half a liang of Evodia fruit (soaked in boiling water seven times), two qian of fennel, and two qian of licorice.

Chop the ingredients. For each dose, take four qian, add one and a half cups of water, three slices of ginger, and ten leaves of perilla, then decoct. Take on an empty stomach.

The text says that this moxibustion method for carbuncles, abscesses, and swellings on the back in their early stages has been tested many times and proved effective.

As soon as you notice a carbuncle (a pus-filled lump deep in the skin) forming on the back, whether or not pus has yet formed, cover the area with damp paper if there is redness, heat, swelling, and pain. Observe where the paper dries first; that is the center of the swelling. The source then continues, “Take a large decoction and drink it on an empty stomach,” but the method described is incomplete.

Moxibustion for an early back carbuncle, a purulent infection of the skin and tissues beneath it, has proved effective time and again.

As soon as you notice a carbuncle on the back, whether or not pus has formed, first cover the area with a piece of damp paper if it is red, hot, swollen, and painful. Observe where the paper dries first: that is the center of the carbuncle. Cut a slice of garlic about three qian thick and place it over the center. Make a small cone of moxa and light it, applying three moxa cones—that is, until three cones have burned through. Then replace the garlic slice and continue moxibustion. If the area is painful, continue until the pain stops; if it was not painful to begin with, stop when pain begins. The earlier the condition is noticed and treated, the better. If treated within the first day or two, all ten cases out of ten may be cured; after three or four days, about six or seven in ten; after five or six days, about three or four in ten. After more than seven days, moxibustion should no longer be used. If more than ten pus points appear in one area, grind garlic into a paste, shape it into a cake, and spread it over the points. Place several moxa cones together and burn them there; this can also stabilize the condition.

If redness and swelling have just begun on the back and a yellow spot of pus about the size of a millet grain appears beneath the skin, slice a single-clove garlic and apply moxibustion as described above. The next day, remove the scab, and the pus will drain on its own.

The bamboo-tube method for drawing out toxins can be used for various severe sores. Take a length of bitter bamboo one or two inches long, preferably with a node at one end. Scrape off the green outer skin, ideally until it is as thin as paper. Choose a tube sized to fit the sore. Use this method when a toxin sore is just beginning.

Use five qian each of white tribulus, Atractylodes, tallow-tree bark, and magnolia bark.

Chop the four ingredients, add water, and boil them in a small pot. Put the bamboo tube described above into the pot and cook until the liquid is nearly dry. While the tube is still hot, press it against the sore with your hand. After a while, it will attach to the sore by suction, so you do not need to keep holding it. Boil another bamboo tube with the same quantities of the ingredients. Once the first tube has cooled, pull it off by hand and replace it with the hot tube, repeating the process. The pus will be drawn into the bamboo tube, and the sore will heal.

Ten-Point Powder, used to treat carbuncles.

Then press it down with your hand again. Take the same medicinal ingredient as before and, using the original quantity, prepare another tube of medicinal liquid by decoction. When the first bamboo tube has cooled, pull it off by hand, replace it with the hot tube, and follow the same method as before. The pus will be drawn into the bamboo tube, allowing the sore to heal.

Tenxuan Powder is used to treat yongju—deep, pus-forming swellings of the skin.

Yongju is generally caused by Qi and blood flowing poorly, while Wind and toxic influences obstruct and congeal in the affected area. This formula is used to disperse Wind, free the flow of Qi and blood, draw out pus, relieve pain, and help new flesh grow at the wound. The text says that before a sore has formed, the formula can make it subside quickly; once it has formed, it can hasten its rupture and drainage. It also says that the remedy works without first having to try other so-called “Five Poisons” medicines, a traditional general term for potent or toxic drugs.

The scholar Xu says: “Once there was a man with a sore on his back that no medicine could cure. He eventually took this formula, swallowing five or six qian of the powder with one sheng of hot wine. After a while, his condition had improved by seven-tenths. After taking it several times, the sore ruptured and drained pus; within half a month, the wound had closed. There was also a woman with a sore between her thighs as large as a bowl. She recovered after taking this formula. Another person developed a sore on his head. After taking the medicine, he drank until he was drunk and lay down; when he awoke, the illness was gone.”

The ingredients must be carefully selected, and the medicine must be taken consistently. Continue taking it after the wound has closed, to nourish the body weakened by the illness and prevent a later recurrence. Those who cannot drink wine may take the powder with a strong decoction of muxiang; however, the text considers it better to add a little wine. The ingredients are listed below.

Use ginseng from Silla. Remove the rootlets, chop it finely, and dry it by roasting. Choose Sichuan angelica with roots as thick as a horse’s tail; wash and roast it dry. For huangqi, choose the cottony variety. Select pieces over a foot long, like arrow shafts and without branches. Wash and cut them into inch-long sections, pound them, and pull them into strands. Soak them thoroughly in salt water, then roast them over a low fire until crisp. Choose fine Sichuan lovage, wash it, slice it, and roast it dry. Use fresh fangfeng; wash, slice, and roast it dry. Choose thick, purple magnolia bark, scrape off the coarse outer layer, soak it overnight in ginger juice, then stir-fry and roast it. For licorice and platycodon, choose the bitter, hollow-rooted kind; wash them, remove the rootlets, slice them, and roast them dry. Wash and roast the angelica dahurica dry. Choose cinnamon bark that is curled and thin, scrape off its coarse outer layer, and do not roast it over a fire.

The ten medicinal ingredients listed above should be clean and dry before being weighed. Use two liang each of ginseng, Chinese angelica, and astragalus, and one liang of each of the other seven ingredients. Grind all the ingredients except cinnamon together into a fine powder, then add the cinnamon powder and mix well. Take three qian each time, gradually increasing the dose to five or six qian. Buy extra cinnamon, grind it separately into a fine powder, and weigh it after grinding. It is said that if the ingredients are prepared sincerely and carefully and the medicine is taken regularly, it will be effective.

The yellow-wax pill is used to treat sores on the back, abscesses, and various malignant sores, and is said to be effective for all of them. One person whose body was covered in sores resembling snakeheads also improved after taking it.

Use any quantity of raw alum, ground into a fine powder. For every liang of alum, use seven qian of yellow wax. Melt the wax, remove it from the heat, add the alum powder, and stir well. Form the mixture into pills the size of Chinese parasol tree seeds. Take ten to thirty pills at a time, at any hour, with rice water or warm water. If a sore has not yet broken open, the pills may help it subside; if it has broken open, they are said to help it close. Taking them a dozen or more times is said to bring results. They are also suitable for poisoning caused by taking mineral medicines. Another account says that taking only one or two dozen spoonfuls of alum powder with warm water is also effective. Choose mountain yellow wax, preferably yellow in color. This formula is said not to harm the internal organs and to relieve pain; older people, children, and those who are weak may all take it. It can also protect the membranes and the heart, preventing heat toxin from invading inward and making the illness critical. Its benefits are too numerous to describe fully.

The Quercus-wood decoction is used to treat sores on the back and abscesses, whether the sores have already formed or not. Its ingredients are simple and inexpensive, making it accessible to people in poverty seeking treatment.

Use four liang of dried Quercus leaves. Use one liang each of the center and stalk of a dried lotus leaf, daylily root, licorice segments, and garden burnet root.

Chop the medicinal ingredients listed on the right into a coarse powder. Each time, take half a liang, decoct it in two bowls of water until reduced to half a bowl, and drink it in two doses, once in the morning and once in the evening, until the illness is cured. Abscesses that have already formed pus will rupture on their own; those that have not will gradually subside. Avoid all poisonous or unclean foods.

Another prescription for treating yongju (toxic sores): pound the leaves of jilangying, add a little salt, and apply the mixture to the affected area, leaving the opening of the sore uncovered. It is said to work quickly.

A prescription for treating luoli (tubercle-like lumps in the neck): Take a black hen’s egg and make a small opening at the top. Beat the white and yolk together. Take one banmao (a poisonous insect), remove its head, wings, and legs, and put it inside the egg. Seal the opening with paper and steam the egg over rice until cooked. Peel the egg and remove the banmao. Eat the egg on an empty stomach, one each day, until the illness is cured.

Another prescription: Take thirty worm-free Chinese honey locust pods, tie them into a bundle, wrap them in palm bark, and bind them tightly. Soak them in a toilet cesspit for one month. Then take them out and soak them for another month in a long stretch of flowing water; do not use still water. Remove the palm bark and dry the pods in the sun—do not roast them. Pound them and sift the powder. For every liang of honey locust powder, add half a qian of musk and seven whole scorpions; grind them finely and mix well. Each time, take two qian with warm wine or hot broth. It is said that recovery comes after taking no more than two or three liang in total.

For treating dingchuang (acute suppurating sores): The ancients believed that if a dingchuang did not rupture, its toxin would enter the stomach and intestines, making it difficult to save the patient.

Grind cicada slough into powder and mix it with honey water to make half a bowl; drink it. Then mix a small amount of the powder with saliva and apply it to the sore, which will rupture on its own.

Another prescription: Take three or four dark plums, remove the pits, and pound the flesh. Bind it tightly over the sore with silk cloth. Then pound chrysanthemums, including their roots and stems, and take them with wine; those who do not drink wine may take them with broth. Remove the plums on the following evening, and the sore will rupture on its own.

Another formula: Grind raw honey and scallions that have been stored for a year into a paste. First prick the furuncle (a swollen sore caused by furunculosis), then apply the paste and wrap it with cloth. After about the time it takes to walk five li, when the furuncle seems to have been drawn out, wash off the medicine with hot vinegar water.

To treat chronic ulcers on the lower leg: Use only dragon’s blood (also called xuejie, a medicinal substance), grind it into a fine powder, and apply it to the sore until the powder dries.

Another formula: Grind gu dan and wumingyi (a mineral medicine) finely, mix them with clear oil, and apply. If the sore is moist, dust the powder on dry.

Another secret formula: Take yellow earth repeatedly fired in a kiln or stove and grind it into a fine powder. Add powdered phellodendron bark, red halloysite, yellow lead, and light powder (traditional medicinal substances), and mix well. Blend with clear oil and apply; if the sore is moist, dust the powder on dry.

Another secret formula: Take yellow earth repeatedly fired in a kiln or stove and grind it into a fine powder. Add powdered phellodendron bark, red halloysite, yellow lead, and light powder, and mix well with clear oil. Put the medicine on oiled silk and lay it over the sore, then bind it firmly with cloth or silk. Even if the sore itches badly, do not lift or disturb the dressing by hand. Leave it in place until the sore has healed, after several dozen days, then remove it.

To treat zhu sores (ulcerative skin conditions) and scabies: Take equal amounts of realgar, sulfur, coptis, Chinese glorybower seed, and scissors grass, and dry them by roasting.

Grind these ingredients in equal proportions into a fine powder. Separately, fry seven croton seeds in sesame oil until they turn black, then remove them. When the oil has cooled, add high-quality light powder and mix in the previously prepared medicinal powder. Apply to the affected area.

The Palms-Together Powder is used to treat various scabies and leprosy sores (skin conditions including scabies and leprosy).

Take one and a half liang of aristolochia seeds, use them raw, and grind them into a fine powder. Separately grind two and a half qian of alum and three qian of sulfur into fine powders.

Mix these medicines with clear oil and spread the mixture on the hands. Rub the hands together to warm the medicine, then breathe onto the hands and inhale its vapors through the nose. This treatment will relieve the sores.

To treat severe sores: If the swelling is as large as a plum, jujube, or small bean, grind together one liang of Sichuan pepper and two liang of garlic and apply. Change the dressing three times a day until healed.

To treat sores that have remained wet for years: Dry winter melon leaves by roasting, grind them into a fine powder, and apply it to the sore. This formula has repeatedly proved effective.

To treat breast abscesses: Burn one qian of snake slough to ash. Roast half a qian of licorice and grind it into a fine powder. Take it mixed with warm wine. If the sore has already ruptured, grind the ingredients into powder and mix them with raw oil to apply.

Another formula: Burn soap-pod and mix the ash evenly with clam shell powder.

To treat breast abscesses: Burn one qian of snake slough to ash. Char half a qian of licorice, then grind it into powder. Take it mixed with warm wine. If the sore has already burst, mix the same medicine with raw oil and apply it to the affected area.

Another formula: Burn Chinese honey locust to ash and mix it evenly with clam powder. Take it mixed with wine, while rubbing and pressing the affected area by hand to disperse the lump.

Another formula: Collect the bamboo chopsticks used for eating zongzi at the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth month. Burn them to ash and take the ash mixed with wine. It is said to disperse the lump and to have worked on repeated use.

Another formula: Pound verbena with wine, then stir-fry it until it resembles a crushed mallet head. Take a piece of ginger, drink one or two bowls of the medicine while it is hot, then apply the hot residue to the affected area.

To treat Shuiheng sores, a type of sore named in the original text: Take one gardenia fruit, remove its shell, place a piece of alum inside, and burn it in a fire. Grind the gardenia together with the alum into powder and apply it to the sore. First wash the affected area with water, then apply the medicine.

To treat sores called gan sores in the original text: Calcine calamine, quench it in vinegar, then grind it into powder and mix it with oil before applying. The effect is said to be better if fragrant tea and “child’s mud” are also added.

Another formula: Crush fresh gingko nuts and apply them to the affected area. This may also be used for pubic lice.

Another formula: Mix phellodendron bark with egg white and stir-fry the mixture three to five times. Grind it into powder, mix it with clear oil, and apply. If the affected area is moist, sprinkle the dry powder directly onto it.

Another formula: Burn one olive, including its pit, to ash. Mix it with oil before applying; it may also be used for pubic lice.

Another formula: Mix phellodendron bark with egg white and stir-fry the mixture three to five times. Grind it into powder, mix it with clear oil, and apply. If the affected area is moist, sprinkle the dry powder directly onto it.

Another formula: Burn one whole olive to ash, mix it with oil, and apply.

To treat various sores on the head: Boil an egg, remove the yolk, and fry it until it releases oil. Mix the yolk oil with calomel, a traditional topical medicine containing mercury, and apply it to the affected area.

Another formula: Take one packet of Pingwei San, add calomel, mix with clear oil, and apply.

To treat mouth sores: Grind equal amounts of licorice and alum into powder. Hold it in the mouth and let it dissolve slowly. Separately, crush evodia fruit, mix it with vinegar, and apply it to the soles of the feet.

Another formula: Grind gallnuts into powder and sprinkle it on the affected area.

Another formula: For heat in the Three Burners accompanied by sores on the mouth and tongue and unbearable pain, grind equal amounts of mirabilite, schisandra, talc, honey-fried phellodendron bark, calcined alum, stir-fried lead tetroxide, calcined mineral gypsum, and corydalis into powder. Sprinkle it over the sores; it is said to take effect after a short time.

To treat various swellings and sores, including abscesses (red, swollen skin sores filled with pus): if a sore has already broken open, this may help it heal; if it has not yet broken open, it may help the swelling subside.

Take equal parts of saltpeter, schisandra berries, talc, honey-roasted phellodendron bark, calcined alum, stir-fried litharge, calcined cold-water stone, and corydalis. Grind them into a powder and sprinkle it over the sore. It should begin to take effect shortly.

To treat various swellings and abscesses, whether already broken open or not: this may help open sores heal and unbroken ones subside.

Grind monkshood into a fine powder and mix it with well water drawn at dawn. Apply it to the swollen area, leaving the head of the sore uncovered. If the sore has already broken open, do not apply it to the opening. Adding hibiscus leaves makes it more effective.

To treat “kidney wind” (here, a condition involving itching around the scrotum), with symptoms including an itchy scrotum and whiteness of the hands:

Roast a pig’s “bao” (an unidentified internal organ in the original text) over a fire until cooked. Eat it on an empty stomach and wash it down with wine mixed with salt. Also wrap soap-pod in glutinous grass, burn it to produce smoke, and fumigate the affected area. After more than ten treatments, the condition should be cured. Alternatively, take Clear Heart and Lotus Seed Drink.

To treat “coiling-snake cinnabar” (a red rash that spreads in a band across the skin), grind the clay from the center of a stove into a dry powder, mix it with vegetable oil, and apply it.

Another remedy: chew glutinous rice flour with salt, then apply the resulting paste to the affected area.

Another remedy: grind an embroidered iron nail until it yields liquid, then apply the liquid to the affected area.

Another remedy: mash malan herb, mix it with vinegar, and apply it; this should cure the condition.

A “snake-head finger” (a painful, swollen sore on a finger) causes unbearable pain and has a foul odor.

Roast a centipede until dry and grind it into a powder. Mix it with pig bile and apply the mixture.

Another remedy: grind raw black beans into a powder and put it inside a yellow gardenia shell. Tie the shell to the finger to ease the pain.

To treat sores on the eyebrows, take five or seven pig leg bones. While they are still fresh, split them open and remove the marrow. Melt the marrow in a copper pot, gradually adding as much white pine resin powder as needed, and stir to make an ointment. Remove it from the pot and leave it on a new brick for a while to dissipate its excess heat. Then grind it into a powder and add calomel. Divide it into as many applications as there are pig bones. Mix each application with oil and apply it; when the affected area is damp, sprinkle on a thin layer of the powder.

To treat throat ailments, take one liang of Sichuan false spikenard and boil it down to a bowl of liquid. Hold the liquid in the mouth for a while before swallowing. Three doses should cure the condition.

After processing the alum by heating it until dry, set it on the ground for a short while to dissipate its fire toxicity. Then hold it in the mouth and let it dissolve slowly. This works very well.

To treat wind throat obstruction, an emergency in which the throat suddenly swells and blocks, making breathing difficult: Take one plump soap pod, remove the seeds, and chop it finely. Soak and grind it in a large bowl of clear water, then strain off the concentrated liquid. Add a mouthful of raw hemp juice and mix well, then drink it all at once. Next, repeatedly stir the throat with a goose feather to bring up saliva, continuing until all the saliva has been expelled. Then treat with medicines that disperse wind toxin.

Another prescription: Grind white medicinal powder with vinegar, hold it in the mouth, and then spit out the toxic saliva. This works very well.

To treat “double tongue,” a swelling beneath the tongue that rises up as though one tongue were overlapping another: Grind raw white alum, levigated lead cinnabar, and Chinese galls into a fine powder. Mix with honey and apply to the tongue. After a short while, rinse the mouth with water and apply it again. Continue until the swelling subsides.

Another prescription: Apply a little cattail pollen to the tongue, and the swelling will go down.

To treat a swollen, stiff, obstructed tongue accompanied by chest oppression and agitation: Mix equal amounts of soot from burnt herbs and table salt, thin with well water, and apply to the tongue.

For throat obstruction and “double tongue,” another treatment is to grind mirabilite and white alum into a fine powder and sprinkle it into the mouth.

You can also grind excellent vinegar with copper sulfate, hold it in the mouth, and spit out the saliva. This works very well.

To treat food reversal—vomiting after eating and difficulty swallowing food: This illness is life-threatening in eight or nine cases out of ten. Often the medicine is not ineffective; rather, patients are repeatedly forced to eat or given broth, which only makes the vomiting worse. This prescription holds that patients should not be forced to eat and should temporarily stop taking broth. First, take Laifu Pill and medicines for summer heat to confirm that the condition is not latent summerheat. Then take medicines such as Yangzheng Lingsha. When hungry, dry-roast rice until fragrant and eat it without any liquid. After three days, the vomiting will stop and eating will return to normal. The treatment is as follows:

Pound seven sheng of sugarcane to extract its juice and one sheng of ginger to extract its juice. Mix them well and divide into three doses.

Take one red date, remove the pit, and wrap the whole civet cat inside it. Simmer until cooked, using both a gentle flame and a strong flame. Then remove the cat and eat only the date. Take it on an empty stomach with plain boiled water.

Also take one cup of donkey urine each day; it is said to be beneficial.

For persistent nausea and vomiting: Nine Immortals Cakes

Ginseng, two qian; southern costus root, two qian (unprocessed by heat); licorice, one qian; Arisaema rhizome, two qian (washed seven times with ginger juice); pinellia rhizome, five qian (washed seven times with ginger juice); bitter orange, one liang (remove the pith and stir-fry with flour); alum, one liang (choose a clear, pure grade and calcine until dry); fermented soybeans, one liang (calcined); and magnolia bark, five qian (soak in ginger juice, then stir-fry until dry).

Prepare equal portions of the nine ingredients and grind them into a fine powder. On a clear night, leave the powder exposed to the dew overnight. Then mix it with a decoction of ginseng and magnolia bark to make small cakes, each about the size of a coin laid flat, and dry them over a gentle flame. For each dose, take one cake and place it between two slices cut from a large piece of fresh ginger. Wrap it in paper, dampen the paper, and simmer over a gentle flame until cooked. Chew the ginger and cake together, and wash them down with a decoction of Pingwei Powder prepared according to the original formula. Avoid all raw and cold foods. During treatment and recuperation, keep the patient in good spirits for the remedy to take effect.

Used for long-standing nausea and vomiting that has resisted treatment, and for persistent vomiting in children.

Take half a liang of high-quality sulfur and grind it finely. Add two and a half qian of mercury and grind them together until no grains remain. For each dose, take three qian. First heat one cup of wine with fresh ginger juice, then stir in the powder. Take on an empty stomach, adding the wine gradually as you mix the medicine until smooth. After taking it, cover yourself with a quilt and wait until you perspire.

For wasting-thirst: Miraculous Powder

White peony root and honey-prepared licorice.

Use equal amounts of the ingredients listed above. Coarsely grind them into a powder. For each dose, take three qian and simmer in one and a half bowls of water until reduced to about eight-tenths of a bowl. Strain out the dregs and drink. Take it three times daily, at any time. Stop taking it once the symptoms have ceased.

Miraculous Pills for Treating Wasting-Thirst

Two liang of litharge and one liang of Coptis root, with the fine roots removed.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and make pills with steamed-cake paste, each about the size of a parasol-tree seed. Swallow them with a strong decoction of silkworm cocoon shells and salt; wine or a decoction of eggplant root may also be used. Take five pills daily, increasing the dose by five pills each day, up to a maximum of thirty pills. Do not take more. Stop once the thirst has subsided.

Once, a traveler staying at an inn suffered from wasting-thirst. During the night, unable to find water, he ladled up some broth from a pot and drank it. His illness was cured. The next day, he went to find out what had been in the pot and learned that it had contained a decoction of silkworm cocoon shells.

Another formula: Burn the wood used to pierce a bull’s nose into ash, taking care to preserve its medicinal properties and not burn it to white ash. Grind it into powder and mix it with wine to take. Alternatively, chop the wood and simmer it in water to make a decoction. It is said to work after a few doses.

Treating Inability to Urinate

Simmer Chinese tallow tree bark in water, mix in Wuling San, and take. It is said to restore urination quickly. If no other medicine is available, a decoction of Chinese tallow tree bark alone may be used.

Another formula: Nine qian of Japanese catnip and one qian of rhubarb. Simmer and drink. It is said to work very well.

Treating Inability to Pass Stool, Including Constipation in Older People Caused by Debility and Wind Pathogens

Burn aged Chinese honey locust pods to ash, preserving their medicinal properties. Cover them with a bowl and leave them buried in the ground overnight. In the morning, take them on an empty stomach with wine. It is said to bring quick relief. Alternatively, crush radish seeds and swallow them with cold water; this can also relieve constipation.

Another formula: Nine qian of rhubarb and one qian of Japanese catnip. Simmer in water and take on an empty stomach in the morning. It is said to be effective.

Treating Inability to Urinate or Pass Stool Lasting Three to Five Days

Burn Chinese honey locust pods that have not been damaged by insects to ash. Mix five qian of the ash with rice broth and take. It is said to be effective.

Treating Blood in the Urine

Take a generous amount of plantain seeds and leaves. Wash them, crush them, and extract the juice. Drink it frequently to relieve urinary strangury, which involves painful or difficult urination and related symptoms.

For the treatment of sand and stone strangury (passing sand-like or stone-like material during urination, with unbearable pain):

Take one soft-shelled turtle, which must have nine ribs. Roast it until crisp, grind it into a fine powder, and mix one spoonful with wine. Take it until the symptoms ease.

Another remedy: Take a handful of wild Achyranthes root. Wash it, then boil it in five bowls of water until only one bowl remains. Strain out the herb residue, grind a little musk and frankincense into a fine powder, mix them into the liquid, and drink it.

Another remedy: Take the black “ge” (this is the term used in the original; the specific medicinal substance is unclear). Roast it until crisp, grind it into a fine powder, and mix one spoonful with wine. Take it until the symptoms ease.

Another remedy: Wash wild Achyranthes root, then boil it in five bowls of water until only one bowl remains. Strain out the herb residue, add a little musk and frankincense, grind them finely, mix well, and take.

Another remedy: Take 120 black beans, licorice root, and “dou cun” (the medicinal name is unclear in the original). Chop them and boil them in fresh water. While hot, add one qian of powdered talc and take on an empty stomach.

For the treatment of blood strangury (blood and pain during urination), the condition is generally thought to result from bodily depletion.

Take five qian of Pingwei Powder (a formula for regulating the Spleen and Stomach), add one qian of dragon bone, and decoct them together. Take on an empty stomach; improvement should follow after several doses.

Another remedy: Burn white plum until reduced to ash while retaining its medicinal properties, then grind it into powder and add a little musk. Mix with wine and flour to make pills the size of tung seeds. Take fifty pills at a time with warm water.

For the treatment of white turbidity (cloudy, whitish urine) and frequent cloudy urination:

Take aged winter melon seeds, roast and grind them into powder, and take about five qian mixed with rice water on an empty stomach. Taking it regularly should bring results.

Another remedy: Take four liang of white poria and one liang of polyporus. Boil them in one bowl of water until only half a bowl remains. Remove the polyporus, keep the poria, then roast it dry and grind it into powder. Use melted wax to make pills the size of a marble. Each morning, chew one pill thoroughly and swallow it with a decoction of rush pith, jujube, and ophiopogon; alternatively, take Cao Xian Fenqing Decoction.

For chronic Spleen diarrhea (an ancient term for diarrhea caused by Spleen and Stomach weakness): Take four liang of fresh ginger and one liang of coptis, chop them, then…

For chronic diarrhea caused by Spleen deficiency, take four liang of fresh ginger and one liang of Coptis rhizome. Chop them and stir-fry together over low heat until the ginger slices are dry and crisp and have turned deep red. Remove the ginger slices and keep only the Coptis; grind it into powder. Take two qian each time, mixed with plain tea and taken on an empty stomach. You may also take the yellow-wax pills mentioned earlier; see “Prescriptions for Carbuncles and Sores.”

For edema, boil black beans until cooked, remove their skins, then roast them dry and grind them into powder. Mix with rice water and take two qian at a time.

Tui Che Wan (Cart-Pushing Pills) are used for yellow swelling and edema. Take half a jin of white flour, two liang of alum, and one liang of green vitriol. Stir-fry all three together until red, then use rice paste prepared with vinegar to make pills. Take thirty pills at a time with jujube decoction.

Another prescription for yellow swelling: Take one liang each of sparganium rhizome, vinegar-boiled zedoary, roasted atractylodes, magnolia bark soaked in rice-washing water and then stir-fried, and aged tangerine peel stir-fried with ginger juice after removing the white pith; also take half a liang of licorice and two liang of green vitriol. Grind the first six ingredients into powder. Grind the green vitriol together with glutinous rice flour, mix into a paste, and form pills. Take fifty or sixty pills at a time with rice water. Avoid pork, hen, rooster, goose, beef, mutton, and other foods regarded as “harmful.”

Secret prescription for yellow swelling, edema, alcohol-related jaundice, and painful accumulations in the abdomen. Take half a jin of green vitriol and one large cup of rice vinegar. Mix well, place in an earthen basin, and heat over a fire until dry. Then add half a liang each of Ping Wei San and Wu Yao Shun Qi San. The text next says, “If you do not observe dietary restrictions, you may add pot-bottom ash,” meaning that pot-bottom ash may be added when dietary restrictions are not observed.

Grind the ingredients into powder and use boiled vinegar to make a paste for forming pills. Take nine to eleven large pills at a time, increasing the dose to twenty or thirty if desired. Take on an empty stomach with southern wine or ginger-and-salt water.

There is also a secret, unnamed pill for edema, hard and distended fullness in the chest and abdomen, swelling and pain throughout the body, cough, and wheezing. The text also says, “and □7 treats these conditions.” The ingredients are one liang each of red poria, kansui, and euphorbia root, sliced, with a note that they must not be used together with licorice; and half a liang each of Genkwa, areca nut, green tangerine peel, and black morning glory seed.

Grind the ingredients listed above together into a fine powder. Mix with a thin flour paste and form pills about the size of a parasol tree seed. Take thirty pills at a time, adjusting the number according to the severity of the illness and the patient’s strength or weakness. Use the following decoctions to wash the pills down:

For general edema, use a decoction of seaweed and psoralea fruit. For facial swelling, use a decoction of aged tangerine peel; for abdominal swelling, a decoction of cimicifuga; for swelling of the lower back, a decoction of garden cress seed; and for swelling of the limbs, a decoction of mulberry root bark. For swelling of the feet, take a small handful of raw rice, rinse it with water, rub and crush it, then steep it in boiling water. Drink the rice water with the pills.

If diarrhea does not stop after taking the medicine, soak the hands and feet in cold water; the diarrhea will then cease. Women must not take this medicine during pregnancy or after childbirth. Take it on an empty stomach at dawn, before daylight. If the feet and knees are swollen, lie down after taking the medicine with the feet together, allowing the fluids to flow between them and then leave through urination and bowel movements; the swelling will subside. Do not take any other medicine on the same day, especially licorice. Also avoid salt for six months; it is said that this will prevent the swelling from returning.

Do not take too much of this medicine, or take it every day. If the swelling has not fully subsided after one dose, take another dose every three days. On the other two days, take the raw-ingredient Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria and Cinnamon Twig (Wuling San) and Jiahe Powder, decocted with ginger and jujube. These are said to regulate the Spleen and Stomach, improve appetite, and help fluids drain away, so that the swelling subsides.

Formula for bloody stool: Char mume fruit until the outside is scorched but its medicinal properties remain. Use any quantity, and form pills with rice paste cooked in vinegar. Take them with a decoction or wine.

Another formula: Dry Chinese goldthread and arborvitae leaves by roasting, then grind them into a fine powder. Take on an empty stomach, mixed with wine.

Another formula: Grind fine catnip flower spikes and round cardamom seed. Take three qian at a time, mixed with glutinous rice water, three times daily.

Another formula: Grind Chinese gall into a fine powder and form pills the size of parasol tree seeds with salted plum mashed into a paste. Take fifty pills at a time with wine or a decoction.

Another formula for bleeding from below: Use any quantity of Baiyaojian, burning half to ash and leaving half raw. Grind them together into a powder and form pills the size of parasol tree seeds. Take fifty pills at a time with wine or a decoction.

For bloody diarrhea, take any amount of Baiyaojian. Burn half to ash and use the other half raw; grind them together into powder, then knead the powder with soft rice into pills. Take thirty pills each time, swallowed with rice water.

For intestinal bleeding, hemorrhoids, anal fistulas, and similar ailments, take only bai zhi (Angelica dahurica). Soak it overnight in water used to rinse rice, then remove and slice it. Heat the ground, sweep away the ashes, lay paper on the ground, and spread the bai zhi slices over it. Dry them by roasting, then grind them into powder. Take daily, mixed with wine.

One recipe: Remove the seeds and outer skin from zao jiao (honey locust pods). Roast it with honey, then grind it into powder. Make pills with rice paste and swallow them with rice water.

One recipe: Roast the leaves or seeds of cang er (cocklebur) until dry, grind them into powder, and take them mixed with honey.

For external application or washing: Mix pu xiao (mirabilite) with well water drawn at dawn and use it to wash the affected area. For external application, mix honey with Ji Su pills and pu xiao, then apply to the affected area.

One recipe: Take one qian each of copper verdigris and mi tuo seng (litharge), add a little musk, and grind them into powder. Mix with saliva and rub onto the affected area.

When hemorrhoids prolapse and make it difficult to sit or lie down, this remedy works quickly. Wash the chives and soak them in boiling water in an earthenware or wooden vessel. While the water is hot, steam the affected area over it. When the water has cooled enough to be tolerated by hand, use it to rinse the area. This works best.

One recipe: Mix with saliva and rub onto the affected area.

When hemorrhoids prolapse and make it difficult to sit or lie down, this remedy works quickly. Wash the chives and soak them in boiling water in an earthenware or wooden vessel. While the water is hot, steam the affected area over it. When the water has cooled enough to be tolerated by hand, use it to rinse the area. This works best.

One recipe: Cook watermelon rind. Once it becomes fragrant, use it to steam and wash the area as described above.

Another method: Cut fresh ginger into thin slices and place one on the most painful hemorrhoid. Make a moxa cone from moxa wool, place it on the ginger slice, and apply three moxa burns. Once yellow fluid has flowed out, the swelling will subside on its own. If there are two or three hemorrhoids at the anus, wait three to five days, then apply moxibustion to each one in the same way. This method has been tried many times with very good results.

For rectal prolapse: Mix wulongwei (dust accumulated on a roof beam) with mouse droppings. Light the mixture and place it in a bucket to produce smoke. Have the patient sit over the bucket and steam the area several times; the prolapse will no longer protrude.

For coughs.

Remove the root crown from ginseng and the root crown from fangfeng. Soak banxia in hot water. Use licorice. Scrape away the inner white layer of dried tangerine peel, then stir-fry it. Remove the root crown from jiegeng, then stir-fry it. Remove the skin and tip from apricot kernels. Remove the nodes from ephedra. Scrape off the rough outer bark of mulberry root bark, then stir-fry it. Use perilla. Remove the fibrous membrane from douling, then stir-fry it. If douling is unavailable, substitute poppy capsules: remove the inner membrane and stir-fry them until dry. Use half a smoked plum each time.

These are the preparation instructions for the medicinal ingredients. “Douling” is the name of a medicinal herb; “poppy capsules” are the fruit pods of the poppy.

Grind equal amounts of the medicines listed above into a coarse powder. For each dose, take three qian, add five slices of fresh ginger, and boil. When the liquid has reduced to seven-tenths of its original volume, strain out the dregs. When you have slept until the end of the first watch—an ancient measure of the night, roughly seven to nine in the evening—take the entire dose. On the second night, you may take the medicine with the dregs or strain them out. Adjust the medicines according to the severity of the condition:

For chronic cough or coughing brought on by exertion, add schisandra fruit. For vexing heat in the five centers—the palms, soles, and chest—add Chinese wolfberry root bark. For dry mouth, add ginseng and ophiopogon. For abundant phlegm, add processed arisaema. For abdominal distension, add stir-fried bitter orange; for chest oppression, add bitter orange. For distension of the lungs, add stir-fried mulberry root bark. For constipation, add areca peel. For frequent waking in fright at night, add ginseng and polygala with its core removed. For inability to sleep when lying flat, add bitter lepidium seed. For rapid, labored breathing, lower back pain, and weakness in the legs and knees, add Chinese quince and lindera root. For numbness in the hands and feet, add lindera root and stephania root. For cough after exposure to cold, add dried ginger, cinnamon bark, and asarum. For loss of voice, add chebula fruit and mint.

When coughing attacks are persistent, boil Nine-Treasure Drink separately and take it with a mixture of child’s urine and water. For coughing up blood, add thatch flower and lotus rhizome node. For coughing up clots of phlegm tinged with blood, add burnt cattail pollen and thatch flower. For pink phlegm, add lily bulb, Chinese gall, and thatch flower, burn all three together to ash while retaining their medicinal properties. If swallowing food is difficult, add white peony root and white atractylodes, and boil them with ginger and jujube. For sudden coughing up of blood, or heat in the five centers, boil Poria Heart-Tonifying Decoction separately and take it with thatch flower and cattail pollen. For dryness of the throat and mouth, add ginseng and kudzu root. For aversion to wind, labored breathing, and coughing due to cold damage, boil Minor Blue Dragon Decoction separately. For seasonal colds, add mulberry root bark and poppy husk when taking Gold-Flecked Herb Powder. For cough from wind with headache, add Sichuan lovage root and angelica dahurica, and boil with ginger and scallion. For fever and cough due to cold damage, remove the poppy husk and add bupleurum and scutellaria. For tidal fever with cough, simmer Ginseng and Perilla Drink slowly. Pregnant women should take Lily Powder only.

For any medicines that have been burned to ash, first put them in a medicine cup, then pour in the prepared decoction and take them together. After taking this medicine, take Pinglao Pill on an empty stomach with rice water.

When coughing, strictly avoid raw, cold, salty, and sour foods. Also avoid grilled, fried, and greasy foods; drink less alcohol and eat less wheat-based food. Mutton, young duck, fishy foods, and tofu should also be avoided, as should sexual intercourse.

Ginseng and Ass-Hide Gelatin Powder: Used to treat all kinds of persistent cough. The ingredients are equal amounts of ginseng, ass-hide gelatin (stir-fried), coltsfoot flowers, and poppy capsules (stir-fried with rice). Grind them into powder. Take three qian at a time, decocted with one smoked plum, and take at midnight.

Anemarrhena and Fritillaria Powder: Used for severe wheezing that makes it impossible to lie flat, accompanied by abundant phlegm and saliva. Grind anemarrhena and fritillaria into a fine powder. Before bed, mix it with warm water and take it. For severe wheezing, add powdered pepperweed seed; for a cough that persists, add powdered “douling.” If it is unavailable, use poppy capsules instead, removing the fibrous membranes without processing them.

Black Dragon Pills: Used to transform phlegm and stop coughing, for people of any age and for coughs of any duration. It can treat all kinds of cough. The ingredients are one liang each of calcined alum and calcined “chifan”; two qian of processed arisaema; two qian of “baiyaojian”; one qian of Chinese gall, soaked overnight in rice water; one qian of Chinese honeylocust thorn, with the skin and fibrous membranes removed; two qian of dried, stir-fried smoked plum flesh; and two qian of processed pinellia. Grind the ingredients into powder and make them into pills the size of wutong seeds using flour paste. Take thirty pills at a time: for a cold cough, take them before bed with thin ginger tea; for a hot cough, take them at bedtime with clear tea.

Phlegm-Transforming Pills: One qian of calcined alum, arisaema that is half raw and half cooked, and prepared pinellia. Grind the ingredients into powder and make small pills the size of wutong seeds using paste made by cooking ginger juice. Take twenty or thirty pills after meals with ginger tea; for a hot cough, take them at bedtime with clear tea.

The Old Edition’s “One-Pinch Gold”: One liang each of anemarrhena and fritillaria, and ten croton seeds, with the oil removed.

Grind the medicine into a fine powder and mix it evenly with the medicine prepared earlier. For each dose, take one zi (about a quarter of a qian), and use three slices of fresh ginger. Dip both sides of the ginger in the powder, lie down in bed, chew slowly, and swallow. Then go to sleep; the pain will settle, and you will certainly have diarrhea the next day. Children should take half the dose.

For loss of voice

Take one pod of Chinese honey locust, with the skin and seeds removed, and three radishes, sliced.

Simmer the ingredients together in a bowl of water until less than half a bowl remains, then take the decoction. The voice should return after no more than three doses.

For nosebleeds

Take half a cup of fresh radish juice and half a cup of wine. Mix them, warm the mixture in a hot-water bath, and drink it. It should take effect.

Another formula: Burn a woman’s hair to ash and mix it evenly with powdered cyperus root. Take it with hot liquid.

One formula: Take any amount of gardenia fruit and burn it while preserving its medicinal properties. Grind it into a fine powder and inhale it through the nose to stop the bleeding.

Another formula: Mix turmeric powder with a decoction of silver grass flowers and take it. You may also roll the greasy dirt from a wheel into a pill and insert it into the nostril; this is said to be very effective.

Miraculous Spirit Elixir: for wind disorders of the head and severe, unbearable headaches

One liang each of bright sulfur and saltpeter.

Grind the ingredients together into a fine powder, then use water to form pills the size of a fingertip. Chew and swallow with tea on an empty stomach.

Another formula, called “Three Spirits Powder,” treats the eight kinds of wind disorders of the head: take equal parts of aconite and asarum, add a little minium, and grind to an extremely fine powder. Inhale it through the nose.

Lingxu Yuanjun’s Elixir for Wind Disorders of the Head

Take two large Sichuan aconite roots. First boil them once in river water and discard the water; then add fresh water and boil them, repeating until they have been boiled seven times in all. Pound them into a coarse powder, then stir-fry with salt until yellow. Take four liang of Liaoning asarum, remove the roots and dirt, and soak it in wine; a little musk; and half a jin of fine-grade tea buds.

Grind all the ingredients into a fine powder. Take three qian per dose, mixed with light tea after meals and before bed. After a while, drink hot soup to bring on sweating, and continue until you sweat or mucus runs from the nose.

For pain from Qi in the heart and spleen

Grind cinnamon bark into a fine powder and mix it with boiled water, or take it mixed with wine.

One formula: Take any amount of late-season silkworm droppings, soak them in boiling water, then strain out the dregs and drink the clear liquid. This is said to stop the pain immediately.

Another prescription: Grind corydalis (Yanhu Suo) and pepper into powder, then mix with wine and take.

Shenying Powder is used to treat pain caused by disorders of the small intestine. Grind corydalis and pepper into a fine powder. Take two qian each time, decocted with half a cup of wine and half a cup of water, and drink.

When the small intestine or bladder area is swollen and hard, grind cyperus rhizome into powder and take it mixed with a decoction of seaweed.

Another prescription, Four Sages Powder, is used to treat hernia and swelling of the external kidney (here, the scrotum). Grind equal amounts of stir-fried fennel, stir-fried pangolin scales, stir-fried scorpion, and southern costus root into powder. Take two qian mixed with wine, or mix it with a decoction of seaweed. The prescription notes that the pain will stop after one dose and that the remedy works well.

Another prescription: Take a handful of lantern plant, including stems and leaves, and put it in a pot. Add a large piece of crushed fresh ginger and raw wine, then simmer together. Take it hot on an empty stomach.

Another prescription: Remove cinnamon from Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria, then add black morning glory seeds, balloon flower root, and plantain seeds. This is called Pancong Powder; it is said to take effect after a few doses.

Another prescription: Take equal amounts of fennel, powdered frankincense, poria, balloon flower root, akebia stem, and licorice. Add a handful of rush pith and an appropriate amount of light bamboo leaves, then decoct and drink. Repeated doses are said to work.

To treat one-sided hernia: First take Fuyuan Tongqi Powder, then Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria, three qian of each dose. Remove cassia twig from the latter and add equal amounts of black morning glory seeds and scalded evodia. If the abdomen is distended, add lightly stir-fried bitter orange and wheat bran; if the pain is severe, add star anise and decoct.

To treat purple wind patches: Boil one liang of sulfur in vinegar for a day. Then take three cuttlefish bones and grind them together into powder. After bathing, dip fresh ginger in the powder and rub it repeatedly over the affected area. Afterwards, carefully avoid exposure to the wind and rest briefly. Repeated applications are said to eradicate the condition.

Another prescription: Grind anemarrhena into powder, mix it with vinegar, and rub it on the affected area.

To treat vomiting blood and coughing up blood: Dry oriental arborvitae leaves on a roof tile over heat, then grind them into powder. Take three qian mixed with rice water. Three to five doses are said to be effective.

Dry lotus leaves and grind them into a fine powder. Mix about two qian with rice water and drink.

Another method: Drink warm urine immediately after urinating.

Another method: Calcine the black soot from the bottom of a pot, grind it finely, and mix it with well water to drink.

If a fish bone or another bone is lodged in the throat, grind two qian of frankincense into a fine powder, mix it with water, and drink several mouthfuls.

Another method: Hold granulated sugar in the mouth and let it melt slowly, then swallow it little by little. The text says the lodged bone is supposed to come loose. You may also boil ramie root (the root of the plant used to make cloth) with smoked meat containing bone and drink the broth; chew and swallow cardamom seeds and licorice; or swallow mirabilite, a mineral medicine. If a fish bone is stuck, place a fish bone on the crown of the head; the text says this will make the bone come loose.

Another method: Whether a chicken bone or a fish bone is lodged in the throat, grind mirabilite finely and mix it with ji su, an ancient medicinal plant, to make pills about the size of a pellet. Lie on your back and let three to five pills dissolve in the mouth. The text says the bone will dissolve on its own.

If you accidentally swallow a needle, breathe on a magnet and use it to draw the needle out. You can also eat plenty of pork or mutton so it will pass in the stool.

If a child accidentally swallows a copper coin, heat charcoal until red-hot, quickly pound it into powder, and boil it in a decoction to drink. Then take ji su pills, prepared and taken as described above: make them about the size of a pellet and, lying on your back, let three to five dissolve in the mouth. The text says they will make the coin dissolve on its own.

If you accidentally swallow a needle, breathe on a magnet and use it to draw the needle out. You can also eat plenty of pork or mutton so it will pass in the stool.

If a child accidentally swallows a copper coin, heat charcoal until red-hot, quickly pound it into powder, and boil it in a decoction to drink. The text says this works immediately.

If iron, stone, or a bone fragment has been swallowed, cannot be expelled, and the situation is urgent, grind equal parts of “yang 8 bu liu xing” (as written in the original) and phellodendron bark with its coarse outer layer removed. Use moistened steamed cake to form pills about the size of a pellet, coat them with indigo, and thread them onto a string to hang in a well-ventilated place. Take one pill at a time, dissolve it in cold water, and administer it.

For a venomous snakebite, immediately drink one or two bowls of good vinegar. The text says this can prevent the poison from spreading through the blood. You may also drink one or two cups of clear oil. Then apply medicine, or tie off the area on both sides of the wound with a head cord. Next, grind bai zhi into powder and mix about half a liang with clean water to drink. The text says that soon afterward yellow fluid will flow from the bite, the swelling will subside, and the skin will close.

Another method: Grind realgar into powder and apply it to the wound; it may also be mixed with water and taken orally.

Another remedy: Grind equal amounts of alum, realgar, and yellow wax into a powder, then form it into pellets about the size of a fingertip. Whenever there is a wound, place a pellet on an incense spoon, heat it until it melts, and drip it onto the wound. Alternatively, hold a bamboo tube against the injured area and drip the melted medicine through it. This can prevent the toxin from spreading and is especially effective.

To treat insects that have crawled into the ear: Pound Chinese chives to extract their juice, mix it with vinegar, and pour it into the ear. Alternatively, warm peach leaves over a fire and insert them into the ear; the insect will come out at once. You can also pour clear oil into the ear to make the insect emerge, or cut a rooster’s comb and drip its blood into the ear. The original text repeats the methods using chive juice, vinegar, warmed peach leaves, and clear oil.

For bleeding from the ear: Grind dragon bone into a fine powder and blow it into the ear. Alternatively, calcine alum until it is dry, grind it into powder, add musk, and blow the mixture into the ear to stop the bleeding.

For ears that are persistently moist and discharge pus or yellow fluid:

One qian of minium, two and a half qian of stir-fried red peony root, and two and a half qian of Lingxiao flower.

Grind all the ingredients together into a fine powder and blow it into the ear. If the symptoms do not subside, add one qian of alum, two and a half qian of calcined rouge gallnut (the original text has damage affecting the dosage and order of the ingredient names), and roasted whole scorpions. Grind them into a fine powder and blow the mixture into the ear; this will dry it out.

For long-term deafness, when no sound can be heard:

A pea-sized piece of dense magnetite, one small portion of musk, and camel-and-crane oil (the medicine name as given in the original text), kept in a bamboo tube.

Wrap them in fresh cotton and place them in the affected ear; hold a little raw iron in the mouth. When it feels as though wind and rain are sounding inside the ear, this indicates that the remedy is working. It must be done three to five times.

For bites from poisonous insects: Take a long twist of paper, dip it in sesame oil, light it, and use the smoke to fumigate the wound. The text says the poison will disperse with the oily smoke.

For abdominal pain after accidentally swallowing a horse leech: Shape pond mud into a pellet and swallow it with water; the creature will then pass with the stool.

For spider sores: Apply goat’s milk to the affected area or rub it with clear oil, and the sores will heal.

For a bite from a rabid dog, take plenty of juice extracted from pounded chive roots. Alternatively, boil the white bark of a peach tree and drink it, or apply moxa to the wound three to five times. You can also grind genuine alum into powder and apply it to the wound.

For a centipede bite, chew some dogwood fruit and rub it on the affected area, apply chicken droppings, or mix ginger juice with powdered mussel shell and spread it on the skin. You can also cut into the bark of a mulberry tree, collect its sap, and apply it to the wound; the book says this brings a quick recovery. If the pain is unbearable, apply moxa to the affected area three to five times. Another method is to light a wick soaked in refined oil and use its smoke to fumigate the area for pain relief. The book says this also works well for bites from other poisonous insects.

For a wasp sting, wash the affected area with hot wine; the book says this works quickly. You can also apply refined oil.

For a tiger bite, first drink a bowl of refined oil, then wash the wound with it. Next, boil kudzu root in water and use the liquid to wash the injury. You can also mix brown sugar with water and apply it to the wound, then drink one or two bowls of the sugar water.

For a snakebite, take this remedy:

Grind five qian each of asarum and dahurian angelica root, and two and a half qian of realgar into a fine powder. Add a little musk. Take two qian at a time, mixed with warm wine.

Another remedy is to grind fritillaria bulb into powder, mix it with wine, and drink it while cold. Those who can drink wine should take as much as they can. Clear fluid will seep from the wound. Once it has all drained, apply the remaining medicine to the wound.

For a scald or burn from fire, mix charcoal powder with water and apply it, rub cinnabar into the affected area, or apply genuine tung oil. You can also pound cypress leaves and apply them to the painful area, or pound the flowers and leaves of marshmallow and apply them.

The book also says that after a scald or burn, one should immediately hold the injured area near a fire and endure the pain for the time it takes to eat a meal; then the pain will stop. It also says not to cover the injury with cold water or cold objects, because this prevents the heat from escaping and may cause the flesh to rot. Take great care.

If a wound from a knife or axe will not stop bleeding and the pain is unbearable, pound a certain medicine and apply it.

For a burn, immediately hold the injured area near a fire, and endure the pain for about the time it takes to eat a meal. Afterward, it will no longer hurt. Do not apply cold water or anything cold to the wound, or the heat will be unable to escape and the flesh will surely rot. Take particular care.

If a wound from a knife or axe bleeds without stopping and is unbearably painful, stir-fry the white part of a scallion until hot, mash it, then apply it to the wound while still hot and bind it in place. The pain and bleeding will stop. Replace the scallion when it cools, applying fresh hot scallion to the painful area. You can also mash scallion leaves, stir-fry them until hot, and apply them. Another method is to grind old lime finely, add an equal amount of powdered rhubarb, and stir-fry the mixture until it turns pink. Then apply it to the wound.

Another method is to burn soot from the bottom of a pot, grind it finely, and apply it. You can also stir-fry Bletilla rhizome and gypsum, grind them into a fine powder, and sprinkle it on the wound to help it close.

Another remedy is to grind nameless mineral (a medicinal mineral) into powder and apply it to the injured area.

For pain from a sprained hand or foot, mash fresh ginger, mix it with flour, and stir-fry the mixture until hot before eating it. Adding some white scallion is even better.

If something gets into the eye and cannot be removed, dissolve ink in clean water and place a drop at the corner of the eye; the foreign object will come out.

For pus draining from the ear, grind alum into a fine powder and blow it into the ear three times a day. It is said to work quickly.

If a needle, iron splinter, bamboo thorn, or wooden splinter gets into the flesh and cannot be removed, grind a dozen or so dried black sheep droppings into powder, mix with water to make a thick paste, and apply it in a thick layer to the injured area. The pain will stop, and the splinter will come out by itself. Another remedy is to chew chestnut kernels and apply them; you can also mash black beans, mix them evenly with water, and apply the paste.

Another method is to mash castor beans. First place a piece of silk over the injured area, then apply the medicine and check it frequently. When the splinter becomes visible, remove the medicine to prevent it from tightening and pinching the healthy flesh as well. Adding white plum flesh and mashing it together is said to work even better.

For hands and feet cracked by winter cold, mix Bletilla powder with water and pack it into the cracks. Keep the area away from water for three to five days.

To treat heels cracked and ulcerated by cold, rub them with ginger, scallion, and mugwort at noon on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, for about the time it takes to eat a meal. It is said that the condition will not recur afterward.

Toothache: Take a handful of sweet wormwood and boil it in a bowl of water. When the liquid has reduced by half, remove it from the heat. Let it cool until warm, then hold it in the mouth and rinse; the pain will stop.

Another prescription: Grind lesser galangal and kusnezoff monkshood into a fine powder and rub it on the teeth. Spit out any saliva that gathers in the mouth; do not swallow it. After spitting, rinse the mouth with salt water.

Another prescription: For cavities and toothache caused by wind, take the medicine according to whether Yin and Yang are deficient or excessive.

In spring, take Zhengqi Powder. In summer, take Baidu Powder with rhubarb and bitter orange added. In autumn and winter, take Five Accumulations Powder and Wind-Dispelling Powder.

Another prescription for cavities and toothache caused by wind likewise says to take the medicine according to whether Yin and Yang are deficient or excessive. In spring, take Zhengqi Powder. In summer, take Baidu Powder with rhubarb and bitter orange added. In autumn and winter, take Five Accumulations Powder and Wind-Dispelling Powder.

To expel intestinal worms: Grind areca nut into a fine powder and mix it with honey water. The patient should eat little the day before and take no food in the evening. Take the medicine at dawn the next morning, during the fifth watch.

To treat a toxic infection in the palm: Pound fresh mulberry leaves and apply them as a poultice to the affected area. It is said that this will cure it.

This concludes volume ten of Secret Prescriptions from the Immortals for External Medicine.

Volume eleven of Secret Prescriptions from the Immortals for External Medicine was compiled by Zhao Yizhen, styled Yuanyangzi, of Junyi. It contains prescriptions for treating various miscellaneous ailments.

For a child with feverish discomfort in the palms, soles, and chest, and thirst: Cook black beans and give them to the child to eat; this will calm the symptoms.

For a child with chronic fright disorder—a type of childhood seizure that develops gradually and often involves clouded consciousness—with occasional convulsions: Grind lindera root in water, warm it, and give it to the child.

For children with acute or chronic convulsions, grind twenty Zhenling pills, ten Laifu pills, and ten Baiyuan pills into a fine powder and mix them together. Use glutinous rice paste to form pills about the size of mung beans. Give older children five pills per dose and younger children three. For chronic convulsions, give the medicine with a decoction of northern jujubes and aged tangerine peel. For acute convulsions, mix it with fresh ginger juice diluted in boiling water.

Children may develop ten kinds of “dan swellings,” an ancient term for illnesses marked by red, swollen, hot, and toxic skin lesions. The scholar Xu said that if these ten kinds of erysipelas are not treated within three days, the pathogenic toxin enters the stomach and intestines, making the condition difficult to save. Identify the type carefully, then treat it accordingly. The original text lists them as follows:

First, Flying Stove Dan: swelling begins at the crown of the head, and the skin becomes shiny. Apply juice made by grinding the white part of scallions.

Second, Auspicious Stove Dan: redness, swelling, and pain begin on the head. Mix red bean powder with egg white and apply it.

Third, Ghost Fire Dan: redness and swelling begin on the face. Mix “pet heart earth” with egg white and apply it.

Fourth, Heavenly Fire Dan: red spots appear on the back. Mix mulberry root bark powder with sheep fat and apply it.

Fifth, Heavenly Stove Dan: both arms become red and swollen, with a yellowish hue. Mix ash from burned willow wood with water and apply it.

Sixth, Water Dan: both sides of the torso become puffy and swollen. Mix iron filings with pig manure and apply it.

Seventh, Hu Ci Dan: yellow swelling begins above the navel. Grind betel nut into powder and mix it with rice vinegar.

Eighth, Wildfire Dan: both legs become red and swollen. Mix frankincense powder with sheep fat and apply it.

Ninth, Smoke Fire Dan: red and white spots appear on both legs. Mix earth from beneath a pig trough with sesame oil and apply it.

Tenth, Hu Lou Dan: yellow swelling begins in the genital area. Mix earth from beneath a leaking section of the roof eaves with sheep fat and apply it.

Phellodendron bark, coptis, Dahurian angelica root, and Chinese gall are used for children’s scalp sores, fetal toxins, and various severe sores and pox caused by wind-heat.

Grind equal amounts of Phellodendron bark, Coptis rhizome, Dahurian angelica root, and Chinese gall into a fine powder. Mix it with well water drawn at dawn until it reaches a moderately thick consistency. Spread the paste inside a bowl and invert the bowl over two bricks, leaving a gap between them. Burn mugwort in the gap so its smoke steams the paste until it turns black and dries. Remove the paste and grind it into a fine powder again. Mix it with clear oil and apply it. If there are worms, mix the powder with oil that has been heated and apply it by rubbing.

Another formula: Grind equal amounts of Chinese gall and Dahurian angelica root into a fine powder. If the affected area is oozing pus, apply the powder dry to absorb it. If the area is dry and scabbed over, mix the powder with clear oil and apply it.

If a child’s eyes are uncomfortable after smallpox has broken out, grind Chinese grassleaf flower into a fine powder and administer it with white persimmon, pork liver, or intestine candy.

The Shengxi Fuming Powder is used to treat various eye disorders.

Formula: two liang of red peony root, one liang of Baikal skullcap root, two liang of akebia stem, two liang of mulberry root bark, two liang of Chinese gentian, two liang of Saposhnikovia root, two liang of Notopterygium root, two liang of the tip of Chinese angelica root, eight qian of rhubarb, and six qian of bitter orange, with the pith removed.

Cut the ingredients into small pieces. For each dose, take five qian, add one and a half cups of water and a little fresh mulberry root bark, and simmer until about eight tenths of the liquid remains. Take after eating. If the eyes are red and the opacity is thick, add raw clam powder. If the eyes are painful and swollen, add raw rehmannia root.

Eye drops: Finely chop thoroughly washed Xuan Coptis, put an appropriate amount in an earthenware vessel, add water, and simmer until reduced by half. Strain out the herbs. Pour the liquid into an earthenware cup and set it over a hot-water kettle to steam until the liquid has further reduced. Add a little borneol, then store it in a clean container or horn tube for use as eye drops. It may also be applied to ulcers of the eye. When straining the decoction, use clean, finely woven silk or cotton cloth to keep dust and particles out of the liquid.

Used to treat sudden redness and swelling of the eyes, with ulceration.

Five qian of huanglian, three qian of danggui tail, three qian of poxiao, two qian of banxing, two qian of huangbai, and one qian of chuanxuduan.

Chop the ingredients and place them in a small cup. Set the cup over a pot of water and steam the herbs in the dense vapor. While the liquid is still hot, dip into it and apply drops to the eyes.

Another method for treating red, blurred, and painful eyes: Keep the eyes tightly shut; do not open them. Take a bowl of hot water and scoop it up by hand to pour over and wash the eye area. Stop when the water cools. Wash several times a day, and the eye symptoms will improve. The essential point is to keep the eyes closed while pouring the water over them.

To treat an eye film that obstructs vision, soak ten liang of clean poxiao in hot water, then pour it into a bamboo strainer and filter it through good-quality paper. Put the filtered liquid in an earthenware bowl and boil it down over charcoal until dry, then leave it on the ground overnight. Separately, take two liang of purified huangdan and half a qian of musk, and grind them together into an extremely fine powder. Sift it through silk, then add borneol and grind it finer still. Apply drops to the eyes.

To fumigate eyes that have suddenly become red, boil mint, jingjie, and fangfeng in an earthenware bottle. While the decoction is hot, let its vapor fumigate the eyes, then scoop up the liquid by hand and wash the eyes.

“Bone-Transforming Pill,” used to treat disorders of the lower back and legs caused by wind-dampness. Take six liang of caowu, scrape off a little of the outer skin and the tips, and grind it into powder. Mash two liang of fresh tofu into it and shape the mixture into a cake. Put the cake in boiling water and cook until it floats, then boil it a little longer before removing it. The cooking time must be judged carefully: if it is boiled too long, its medicinal strength will weaken; if it is not boiled enough, its effects will be too strong.

Separately, take three liang of cangzhu soaked in rice-washing water and dried over a fire, one liang of clean tianma, and half a liang of quanjie washed free of soil and lightly stir-fried. Grind these with the caowu cake into powder. Use rice paste to form pills the size of parasol-tree seeds. Do not eat in the evening. Before bed, chew papaya and swallow twenty pills with warm wine. By midnight, the medicine’s effects will have spread through the body and legs; a sensation of numbness indicates that it is taking effect.

Tendon-Relaxing Powder is used to treat poor circulation of blood and vessels, constriction of the sinews and channels, joint pain, and difficulty walking. It is regarded as a superior formula for invigorating the blood and transforming Qi. Grind equal amounts of corydalis, Chinese angelica, and cassia bark into a fine powder. Take two qian per dose, mixed with warm wine on an empty stomach.

Channel-Unblocking Elixir is used to treat various ailments of the lower back, legs, and feet. Take four liang of fenugreek, two liang of which are stir-fried together with four liang of sea-sand until the fenugreek turns red. Separately, stir-fry four liang of croton until red, remove the husks, and use only the intact seeds. Sea-sand is commonly called “bamboo-garden dung.” It is gathered in the eighth or ninth lunar month: cover a bamboo winnowing tray with paper, dry the material in the sun, then beat it with bamboo to remove the leaves and collect the seeds. The original text also cautions that sellers may adulterate it. Take another four liang of cocklebur plant and dry it over a low heat; it is commonly called “wild eggplant leaves” and is known in materia medica as xier. Finally, take four liang of left-twining vine, leaves and all, and dry it over a low heat.

Grind these three ingredients into a fine powder. Use good unfermented wine to cook a flour paste, then form pills about the size of parasol-tree seeds. Swallow thirty or forty pills with unfermented wine. For lower-back ailments, take them when partly hungry; for ailments of the knees, legs, or feet, take them on an empty stomach.

Plaster formula for treating sores and ulcers of various kinds: Take one jin of clear oil and fry two liang of hair in it until the hair dissolves. Add, in whatever amounts are convenient, licorice root sections, the tip of Chinese angelica root, coptis, croton, castor seeds, cucumber, and false-ginseng seeds, half a liang of each. Bring the mixture to a boil twice, then strain out the herbs. Add five liang of water powder and boil again. Add seven liang of red lead and bring it to a boil; lastly, add one liang of powdered frankincense and stir continuously with a peach or willow twig. Drop a little into water. If it forms a bead and does not stick to the hand, the plaster is ready.

Another prescription: Take five liang of sesame oil, twenty-eight croton seeds, and a willow branch twenty-eight cun long. Fry them together over a flame. When the croton seeds have turned black, strain out the dregs, then gradually add two liang of Gucinnabar, stirring constantly with the willow branch. Drop the liquid medicine into water. If it sets into a paste without dispersing or sticking to the hand, remove it from the heat. Add one qian of powdered frankincense and stir well. Store it in an earthenware vessel; once cool, spread it on the affected area.

Divinely Bestowed Xiangsu Powder: This is used to treat epidemics that spread in any of the four seasons. A prescription book records that, long ago, a great epidemic broke out in a city. An old man with white hair taught a wealthy household to prepare this medicine and distribute it to the people. All the sick in the city recovered. Later, plague demons questioned the household, and the wealthy family told them the truth. The demons looked at one another and said, “This old man has already taught three people.” Then they bowed their heads and withdrew.

While taking this medicine, avoid pungent or fishy foods, alcohol, and meat; it is said to be effective against them all. During the Yuan dynasty, an epidemic spread in Taihe County, Ji’an, Jiangxi. One night, after seeing patients, a physician was on his way home when he suddenly encountered a divine being riding a horse, with attendants behind him. Realizing that this was no ordinary person, the physician hurriedly prostrated himself. The divine being demanded to know who he was, and the physician replied that he practiced medicine. The divine being then asked what medicines he used to treat illness. The physician said he prescribed according to the nature and severity of each case, whether cold or heat. The divine being said, “That is wrong. Just use one kind of Xiangsu Powder.” The next day, the physician tried this method, and it proved effective in every case. His medical skill became widely known, bringing him prosperity. He honored this deity throughout his life and recorded the event.

Four liang of cyperus rhizome, dry-fried and stripped of its fuzz; four liang of perilla leaves; one liang of aged tangerine peel; and one liang of honey-fried licorice root.

Pound the ingredients into a coarse powder. For each dose, take three qian and decoct in one zhan of water until about seven-tenths remains. Strain out the dregs and drink hot. Take it at any time, three times daily.

The “Immortal Formula Three-Tonic Pill” is said to powerfully replenish all kinds of deficiency and debility. Old or young, anyone who is ill is said to benefit from taking it.

Take two liang of buguzhi (Psoralea fruit) and dry-fry it between sheets of paper until fragrant and cooked; one liang of white fuling (Poria), with the skin removed; and one liang of myrrh, soaked in wine made without added ash. Once the myrrh has absorbed the wine and become like malt syrup, grind the buguzhi and fuling into a fine powder. Mix the powder with the soaking wine to make a paste, then form pills the size of wutong seeds. Take twenty or thirty pills at a time on an empty stomach, with warm water. The immortal formula says that someone once took this medicine and remained youthful in appearance into old age. This is because buguzhi replenishes the kidneys, fuling nourishes the heart, and myrrh nourishes the blood. When all three are strengthened, the body naturally becomes stable.

For alcohol jaundice—a condition caused by drinking that makes the body and eyes turn yellow—accompanied by spleen jaundice, grind mubiezi (musk cucumber seed) and mix it with vinegar. Take one or two cups. It is said to promote a bowel movement and bring relief.

For persistent night sweats, grind gallnut into powder, mix it with saliva, pack it into the navel, and bind it firmly with a cloth. The sweating should stop overnight.

To treat genital sweating, wash huangqi (astragalus root) and cut it crosswise into thin slices. Put the slices in a pan, sprinkle with wine, and fry until crisp, then grind them into powder. Cook a pig’s heart and eat it dipped in the powder. This is said to be effective.

Another formula: Take equal amounts of shechuangzi (Cnidium fruit) and shichangpu (sweet flag rhizome), grind them into powder, and sprinkle it on two or three times a day.

To treat prickly heat, cut a cucumber in half and rub the cut surface over the affected area.

You can also bathe in a decoction made from jujube leaves.

Another formula, called “Jade Essence Powder,” uses four liang of genuine clam shell powder, one liang of talc, two liang of mung bean powder, and an equal amount of shichangpu. Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and sprinkle it on two or three times a day.

Prickly heat can also be treated by grinding four liang of genuine clam shell powder, one liang of talc, and two liang of mung bean powder, then rubbing the dry powder onto the affected area.

To treat what the source calls “□ga”—the character is damaged and the meaning unclear—take as many castor beans as needed, remove their coarse shells, and roast them. Eat the sweet ones and spit out the bitter ones. Eating more is said to be effective.

When the tongue suddenly swells and protrudes from the mouth, this is poisoning from a centipede bite. Cut the comb of a rooster and collect its blood in an earthenware cup. Soak the tongue in the blood, then swallow the blood; the tongue will shrink back.

If someone is dazed, sees ghosts or other apparitions, and becomes delirious, use Pingwei Powder, a formula for regulating the spleen and stomach, with cinnabar powder mixed in. Take it with jujube decoction.

For “pig-cold-wind syndrome,” use Rushing-as-a-Sage Powder. It is said to be effective for both men and women, regardless of how long they have been ill. The ingredients are equal amounts of clematis root, extra saposhnikovia root, cut mustard, stephania root, ephedra, apricot kernels, asarum, Sichuan lovage, and angelica dahurica. Chop the herbs, add three slices of fresh ginger, and decoct them in good wine. Drink it hot when the illness flares up.

Afterward, roast a large piece of yellow [unclear], collect the juices that seep from both ends, mix them into aged wine, and drink. Then swallow a Heart-Calming Pill with gold leaf. Avoid foods that can trigger wind disorders or are poisonous.

For treating severe wind disease.

“On Severe Wind Disease,” by Xiaoranzi.

“Great Wind” is an ancient name for severe skin diseases such as leprosy. Many causes have been proposed: excessive sexual activity that depletes Qi and blood; prolonged anger, sorrow, shock, or fear; or pent-up emotions. Other explanations include a weakened constitution, exposure to wind after drinking, entering water while sweating, being exposed to wind after bathing, sleeping outdoors while drunk, or infection by wind toxins through injuries to the hands or feet. Sudden exposure of the skin to wind and rain, cold, or dampness is also listed as a possible trigger. The Jing says that disease pathogens travel along the channels and collaterals, enter the internal organs, and then emerge in the limbs. As they fumigate and permeate the body inside and out, they produce blisters, ringworm, and sores.

The Jing divides the causes into three categories: “Water Wind,” the disease’s progression through the body, and improper self-care. It also calls the worst consequences the “Five Deaths”: numbness of the skin is “skin death”; cutting without pain is “flesh death”; ulceration and pus are “blood death”; loss of the hands or feet is “sinew death”; and a sunken bridge of the nose, damaged eyes, turned-out lips, or even loss of the voice is “bone death.” It holds that once the disease reaches this final stage, treatment is unlikely to succeed.

The Jing also describes the signs of the “Five Winds” according to the affected organs and channels: when the Lung channel is diseased, the eyebrows fall out first; when the Liver channel is diseased, purple blisters appear on the face; when the Kidney channel is diseased, the soles of the feet ulcerate first; when the Spleen channel is diseased, the whole body becomes covered as if with ringworm; and when the Heart channel is diseased, the eyes are affected first. These categories reflect the theories of organs and channels used by physicians in ancient times.

The Jing also notes that the disease may appear in succession among ancestors, parents, spouses, and other family members. It may also be associated with contact, while living away from home, with unclean places or objects. The disease can take many forms and cause unbearable suffering; some people die within a year or six months. Treatment is more likely to succeed if begun early, but diagnosis must be careful: even a slight error in treatment can lead to a very different outcome.

The author criticizes people who refuse to study the disease because they find it repulsive, as well as those without medical skill who casually bleed patients with knives or needles, fumigate them with burning arsenic, use moxibustion to draw out saliva, or soak them in poisonous herbs. The author considers these methods largely ineffective, and warns that even temporary relief may be followed by a recurrence. The Jing recommends that patients live separately in a quiet room, abstain from alcohol and sex, calm the mind and repent, and avoid spicy foods, meat and fish, salty sauces, and raw or cold foods. They should then take prescribed medicines and wash or fumigate the body as directed. The text claims that with this treatment, new flesh grows over ulcerated areas, old sores gradually fade, the ears and nose clear, the skin becomes comfortable, eyebrows and facial hair grow back, the complexion improves, and the internal organs become calm and harmonious.

On the first day, take Xiaofeng Powder: one liang each of fragrant white angelica root, scorpion (remove the stinging tip of its tail), and ginseng. Grind them into a fine powder. Take two qian each time. At noon, eat only rice porridge; avoid ginger, pepper, and all foods considered hot in nature. Do not eat in the evening. On the morning of the second day, take the powder on an empty stomach, mixed with warm wine. Delay breakfast. The original text says that slight bodily warmth after taking it is an appropriate response.

On the second day, take Zhuifeng Powder (a blood-purging medicine): six liang of rhubarb, one liang and eight qian of Sichuan cicada anus (that is, turmeric; the smaller pieces are preferred), and one liang of Chinese honeylocust thorns. Grind them into a fine powder. For the first dose, take five to seven qian, then add two and a half qian of dafeng oil and a little purified sodium sulfate. Mix with a bowl of good boiled wine. The wine should not be hot, only slightly warm.

After taking the medicine, do not eat rice porridge in the evening. Wait until the xu hour (7–9 p.m.), then place a basin of warm water on a table and prepare a little sugar-cooked or honey-cooked food (food cooked with sugar or honey) on a plate. Do not let the patient see the medicine beforehand. After finishing it, put down the bowl and immediately rinse the mouth with water, then hold the honey-cooked food in the mouth to cover the medicine’s taste. Do not lie down; have someone stay with the patient while they sit for a while. The original text says that severe abdominal pain and more than ten bouts of diarrhea after taking it are nothing to worry about; afterward, recuperate with thin rice porridge.

The original text says that this drastic purgative is unsuitable for the elderly and frail, and may be used only by those under fifty. Strong, robust people should take it three times within ten days, following this sequence: Xiaofeng Powder, Zhuifeng Powder, Mofeng Pill, Qingfeng Powder, Zhuifeng Powder, Mofeng Pill. Frail, thin people should take it once within ten days; after some improvement, robust people should take it once every ten days. After taking it for two months, switch to once every twenty days, and keep an accurate record of the dates.

These are methods for taking medicine and recuperating recorded in an ancient formula book, and they include a regimen involving powerful purgatives.

Take the “Grinding Wind Pills” from the third day onward, twice a day.

Grinding Wind Pills: Sichuan angelica, qianghuo, duhuo, Sichuan chuanxiong (use the smaller pieces), bright gastrodia, asarum, saposhnikovia, schizonepeta, jue lingxian, ephedra (remove the joints), fleeceflower root, shijingzi, burdock seed, toad leaf, cocklebur herb, and zhoumiancao (that is, disongs). Use one liang of each of the sixteen ingredients. Dry them in the sun and grind them into powder; do not heat them over a fire. Make a paste from rice flour boiled in good wine and use it as a binder to form pills about the size of wutong seeds. Take thirty pills at a time, either before or after meals, twice a day.

Washing medicine: Use three liang each of lycium root bark, schizonepeta, sophora root, and asarum. Chop and mix them. For each treatment, take two liang and boil them in river water, then use the liquid to steam and wash the whole body. The original text says the treatment is effective only when the washing draws blood. Bathe in a large tub or vat, with enough water to submerge the whole body, and soak for an extended time.

Medicine for external application: When sores are severely ulcerated, begin applying this over the whole body on the fourth day. Use two liang of firm black dog’s spine (identified in the original as eucommia bark), six qian of sulfur, two liang of calcined alum, four liang of cnidium seed, two liang of gypsum, and a little mirabilite. Grind everything into a fine powder. Mix it with rendered lard or sesame oil and apply. If the sores have not ulcerated, there is no need to apply the medicine or steam-wash the body.

A variant edition adds that this formula can be used for various wind disorders; numbness of the muscles; itchy or painful skin; scabies, leprosy, and ringworm over the body; various sores and hives; wandering wind on the face (skin symptoms that move from place to place); sensations like insects crawling; purple or white patches of leucoderma; and sores on the legs and feet caused by wind pathogens descending from the kidneys.

Grind the following into a fine powder: jiangguangwu (two liang), Chinese angelica (one liang), fleeceflower root (three liang), dahurian angelica root (two liang), lightyellow sophora root (two liang), Clematis root (remove the stems; two liang), vitex fruit (one and a half liang), pubescent angelica root (one liang), Sichuan lovage rhizome (one liang), siler root (two liang), schizonepeta spikes (two liang), notopterygium root (one liang), red peony root (one liang), Tribulus fruit (remove the spines and stir-fry; one liang), and earthworms (remove the soil; three liang). Add aconite-leaved aniotic root (one liang), gardenia fruit (one liang), and one black snake. First soak the black snake in good wine, then boil it until the wine has evaporated. Remove the bones and take the flesh; dry it in the sun or by warming it. Grind all the ingredients to powder.

Stir-fry sesame seeds until cooked (two liang), and shell the chaulmoogra seeds (three liang). Grind them together into powder and mix with the earlier ingredients. Use rice paste cooked with wine as a binder, and form pills the size of parasol-tree seeds. Take thirty or forty pills at a time, with tea or wine.

Another prescription: Clematis root, fleeceflower root, ground pine, siler root, vitex fruit, schizonepeta, toad herb, asarum, burdock seed, Chinese honeylocust thorn, Chinese angelica, cocklebur herb, gastrodia rhizome, honey-prepared licorice root, notopterygium root, pubescent angelica root, ephedra (remove the nodes), red sage, Sichuan lovage rhizome, and lightyellow sophora root, all in equal amounts. Grind to a fine powder. Boil the ingredients, then use the decoction to make a paste and form pills the size of parasol-tree seeds. Take forty or fifty pills at a time, with tea or wine.

Another prescription for growing eyebrows: Dry Chinese honeylocust thorns by roasting them, and burn deer antler to ash while retaining its medicinal properties. Grind equal amounts of the two ingredients to a fine powder, mix with fresh ginger juice, and apply to the eyebrows once a day. It is said that the eyebrows will then grow naturally.

Moxibustion to eliminate the root cause: Apply three cones of moxa at the cleft where the tendons and bones meet at the tip of the big toe, and at the finger joints. Each cone means lighting one tuft of moxa and applying it once, to help expel toxins from the body.

End of Secret Prescriptions of External Medicine Transmitted by Immortals, Volume Eleven.

Appendix: When the strength is there, perform acts of kindness.

For those living in the world, offering help and doing good deeds are of the greatest importance. If you have the means, act at once; it is a real pity to let the opportunity pass. The wealthy and powerful can easily affect other people’s fortunes and misfortunes, so when circumstances arise, they should keep others’ needs in mind. Show others a little more leniency, and they will receive that much more kindness. Do your utmost to perform good deeds, continuing to offer help in every way you can. Follow the example of the sages, whose concern embraced all under Heaven; such merit is the greatest.

Selling grain at fair prices is one of the most important ways to help. The Han Ancestor Celestial Master (a Celestial Master honored in Daoism) taught people to establish merit, beginning above all with helping the people. Those with money can buy extra grain at harvest time, or store grain from their own fields. When food becomes scarce, they can sell it at the original price. They lose nothing, yet offer great help to others. In the past, Huang Chengshi of Chengdu did just this. He earned the esteem of the True Lord of the Purple Palace, Zhang Shangshu (a Daoist divine title), was entered into the registers of the immortals, and his family enjoyed wealth and honor for generations. Another good practice is to sell grain at a modest discount from the prevailing market price.

Helping the sick is a great act of goodness. If you can devoutly prepare Xu Zhenjun’s Ruyi Elixir (an elixir said to have been passed down by Xu Zhenjun) and give it to others, it can treat many illnesses and is especially quick to cure epidemics. Another good practice is to give away suitable medicines, or to print and distribute effective prescriptions.

In summer, provide people with soup and water; in winter, give clothing to the elderly and the sick. Care for widowers, widows, orphans, and those without support. Take in abandoned children. If someone dies without a coffin, provide the timber. When people face danger, hardship, or want, offer help according to their circumstances.

Delivering the beings of the netherworld—saving the dead and helping its other inhabitants—costs little and brings great results. Ge Xiangong (a Daoist immortal) attained the Dao through such good deeds, and the Perfected Sa (a Daoist immortal) likewise attained the rank of an immortal. Masters of the Dao in every generation have valued this practice. By regularly performing sacrificial and transformative rites for the netherworld, one can extend blessings to its inhabitants. Even simply skipping a meal and giving the food to the dead and other beings is a kindness of no small consequence. Practitioners who understand the Dao should study widely and investigate deeply, grasping the principles behind the transformations of life and nature and exploring the reversal of Water and Fire (a Neidan method in which Yin and Yang transform and return to their source). This practice is not solely for transcending the world; one should also deliver the beings of the netherworld. You can begin accumulating good deeds and merit through these acts. As for cultivating the Dao, you must rely on instruction from a master and must not betray the trust placed in you.

The suffering of life borne by all beings is fundamentally the same as that borne by humans. If we can refrain from killing, we should avoid taking life as much as possible. Begin by not killing living beings and by accumulating good deeds and merit. The Dao must be cultivated under a teacher’s instruction, and we should not let others down.

The suffering of life borne by all beings is fundamentally the same as that borne by humans. If we can refrain from killing, we should avoid taking life as much as possible. Treat insects, birds, and animals alike, without distinction. The fasting practices described in Daoist scriptures, as well as the release of living creatures, both take the avoidance of killing as their central purpose. The Three Officials—the Heavenly Official, the Earthly Official, and the Water Official—examine people’s good and evil, merits and faults during the Three Primordial Festivals: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Primordial Festivals.

Building and repairing bridges and roads, digging wells and clearing channels, undertaking beneficial projects, removing dangers, encouraging people to do good, resolving doubts, and putting an end to disputes are all practical ways to do good. When the wealthy undertake these deeds, they can help more people and receive abundant blessings in return. Their good fortune and longevity increase, and their families inherit lasting blessings. Those who study the Dao can combine good deeds and merit with their cultivation; naturally, they will have the opportunity to meet a teacher and receive guidance. For those with limited means, doing these things is especially difficult. The Realized Person Yangsu of old said: “The ancients accumulated merit and did good by aiding those in hardship throughout the world. The wealthy find it easier to do good, while the poor find it difficult. For those who do good despite such hardship, the merit they accumulate may be ten or even a hundred times that of the wealthy.”

A New Guide to Saving Lives in Cold Damage, Heat Illness, and Convulsions

Written by the Daoist Nurturer of Life of Ningchuan

There are also precautions to observe with epidemic diseases. The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon says: “After cold damage and heat illness have been cured, certain symptoms sometimes remain. Why is this?” The meaning of the term “residual effects” is unclear in this passage.

During an epidemic, there are restrictions on diet and daily routines. The Huangdi Neijing says: Why does a cold-induced febrile illness sometimes return shortly after recovery? Qibo replies: Eating meat or eating too much can both cause the illness to recur. “Recurrence from food” refers to a patient forcing themselves to eat while the fever is still intense. The residual heat has not yet subsided, and it clashes with the grain Qi produced by eating. Heat is added to heat, and the illness returns. Wang Qixuan explains that when residual heat remains in the body, it is as though it lingers throughout its various parts; “recurrence” means becoming ill again.

After a febrile illness has just subsided, Qi and blood have not yet returned to balance, and the residual heat has not been cleared. If the patient exerts themselves too soon, this is called “recurrence from exertion.” Zhang Changsha discussed the exchange of Yin and Yang after a cold-induced illness. In his commentary, Cheng Wuji explains: when a man has not fully recovered from illness and has intercourse with a woman, this is called “Yang exchange”; when a woman has not fully recovered and has intercourse with a man, this is called “Yin exchange.” This is because the Yin and Yang of man and woman respond to one another, and the lingering poison of the illness is transmitted with them, as if the illness itself had shifted. “Recurrence from sexual activity” refers to a patient causing the illness to return through their own sexual indulgence; it is also called “recurrence from sexual exertion.” The classic says this depletes the body’s true Qi and stirs up pathogenic heat, leaving the body’s healthy Qi weak and the pathogenic Qi strong, so the patient is difficult to save.

In the past, Gu Zixian recovered from an illness but did not believe Hua Fu’s diagnosis. When he was near death, his tongue protruded several inches, just as the diagnostic signs had indicated. This should serve as a warning.

Recurrence from exertion: illness returning because of overexertion

Combing the hair too soon after illness may bring on head-wind; washing the face too soon may cause heat and flushing in the head; washing the feet too soon may lead to numbness in the feet; bathing too soon may bring on fever and a dazed, oppressive feeling. Irritability and anger may produce a disorder of blockage and fullness in the chest and abdomen. Traveling a long distance may leave the legs weak and powerless, or even bring on a lingering wind disorder. Excessive activity may cause paralysis on one side of the body, while excessive thought and mental strain may deplete one’s strength. After illness, one should not get up too soon or wear oneself out with worry and effort, or the illness may return.

Recurrence from food: illness returning because of improper eating

When a febrile illness has just passed or a serious illness is only just beginning to heal, eating mutton may bring the illness back, causing shortness of breath and chest tightness, and may even lead to death. Eating sheep’s heart or lungs may cause a relapse and put one’s life at risk; eating sheep’s blood or liver may cause severe diarrhea. Eating beef during dysentery can make the illness difficult to cure; eating sheep’s or pig’s intestines may turn it into a chronic affliction. Eating horse meat may be fatal, and eating poultry too soon after an illness may also be fatal.

Eating ox liver may cause persistent bloody stools. Eating dog meat may cause jaundice and even death. Eating roasted meat may bring on wasting-thirst, an ancient term for symptoms such as excessive thirst and urination. Drinking broth made from various bones may cause fever and lead to what is known as “bone steaming,” a term for chronic low-grade fever. Eating rabbit may trigger heart disease; eating yellow cattle meat may cause food to stagnate and harden into abdominal masses; eating chicken may cause parasitic buildup. Carp may cause a relapse; eel may cause vomiting and diarrhea; salted fish may cause jaundice; eating goose may bring on cholera, an ancient general term for severe vomiting and diarrhea; eating clams may be fatal.

Eating damp flour-based foods may cause tidal fever. Eating cucumbers or muskmelons after an illness may cause a relapse and put one’s life at risk. Eating eggplant may bring on malaria; eating white hyacinth beans may cause coldness to become obstructed in the chest; eating hollyhock may damage the eyesight. Eating raw vegetables of any kind may trigger heart disease and prove fatal, and may also prevent one’s complexion from returning to normal. Drinking alcohol too soon may cause delirium and chest tightness; drinking spirits may cause swelling. During an epidemic, drinking cold water just after sweating has brought down a fever may damage the pericardium—the organ and channel system as understood in Chinese medicine—leaving the body weak and difficult to restore.

Sun the Perfected (Sun Simiao) says in his discussions of prescriptions: “After a febrile illness has just passed or a serious illness is only just beginning to heal, eating fatty foods such as pork, sheep’s blood, or fatty fish will certainly cause severe diarrhea, and may even lead to death when no medicine can help. If one eats pancakes, pastries, millet rice, sliced raw fish, grilled meat, maltose, or preserved meat…”

Sun Simiao’s discussion of prescriptions states: Those recovering from a febrile illness or a serious disease will suffer severe diarrhea if they eat rich, greasy foods such as pork, sheep’s blood, or fatty fish. Even a doctor may be unable to save them. If they eat cakes and pastries, millet, raw fish, roasted foods, malt sugar, crab, dried meat, dates, chestnuts, or fruits such as peaches, apricots, plums, and Chinese plums—or other hard-to-digest foods—their Spleen and Stomach Qi will still be too weak to digest them, and the diarrhea will not stop. Unless treated with medicine, this may be fatal; even with medicine, their condition may worsen and become difficult to treat.

Having intercourse within a hundred days of recovery, before one’s strength has returned, may cause death. Even those in robust health should abstain for sixty days. After an illness, one should eat only thin porridge cooked until very soft. It is better to eat sparingly and remain a little hungry than to eat one’s fill, and one must not eat any other food. Even if the patient very much wants something else, do not give it to them. If they are thirsty after an illness, they may take Tianshui Powder, a formula for clearing heat and relieving summer heat, and eat watermelon or pears to quench thirst and dispel lingering pathogenic heat.

I have practiced medicine for more than forty years and have seen many patients. Whenever I have cured someone with a febrile illness, I have written out these post-illness prohibitions for them in the hope of preventing a relapse. Yet I now see some people of shallow understanding who take pride in their usual good health, or think their illness was not serious. They happen to eat something they should not after recovering and do not relapse, so they treat their experience as a general rule and are swayed by what others say. They do not understand that people’s constitutions differ in strength and illnesses in severity. They make reckless judgments that apply to everyone, and often lose their lives as a result. There are too many such cases to count. Some mothers, out of love for their children, and some wives, out of love for their husbands, secretly give them food when they want it, without considering the danger to their lives. They think only of satisfying their appetites and end up harming them. Alas, these principles can be explained only to people who understand; they are difficult to make clear to ordinary people. Those with discernment must therefore be cautious. I have gathered material from the writings of the sages and compiled these prohibitions under the title The Mirror for Preserving Life.

When children suffer from smallpox or measles, there are ten prohibitions to observe. These should also be followed during the silkworm-raising season in the household.

Avoid the foul odor of underarm body odor, the noxious stench of ditches, the smell after sexual intercourse, menstrual and other bloody odors, the smell of alcohol and meat, the odor of smallpox toxins after they have entered the body, and the smell of children who have drunk alcohol. When smallpox toxins erupt, avoid the odors of sulfur, mosquito repellent, and other poisons; contact with them may cause a person with red-eye disease to suffer pain that is difficult to relieve. Also avoid the pungent smell of musk and the dampness rising from the sweat of people with epidemic diseases. Keep cilantro (also called coriander) close at hand on all sides to disperse the odor of sweat. Avoid as well the smell of accidentally singed hair, the fishy stench of fish bones and the like, wood smoke, the smell of scallions, garlic, and chives reaching the mouth and nose, and the smell of cooking greasy foods.

These taboos come from the Quan Ying Ji and must not be violated, or the illness may change in nature. This is something I have experienced firsthand. Some say that rural children are left to grow naturally, and that even when these taboos are broken, no change seems to occur. This is probably because people differ in wealth and inborn constitution.

Cilantro wine: Used when a child’s smallpox is about to erupt, to help the pustules come out. Take three liang of cilantro and chop it. Bring two large bowls of wine to a boil, then pour it over the cilantro and cover it tightly at once so the aroma does not escape. When the wine has cooled, strain out the herbs. Lightly spray the liquid on the child’s neck and back, chest and abdomen, and both feet, making sure these areas are dampened, but do not spray the face. Put the herbs in a pouch and hang it inside the bed curtains. Have the wet nurse drink the remaining liquid.

The Records of the Grand Historian says there are six circumstances in which illness cannot be cured: first, arrogance and willfulness, with no regard for reason; second, valuing money over life; third, failure to regulate clothing and food appropriately; fourth, imbalance of Yin and Yang and insufficiency of the Qi of the internal organs; fifth, such bodily weakness that medicine cannot be taken; and sixth, belief in shamanic arts and disbelief in physicians.

Liu Hejian, “Poem on Nursing Infants.”

Children should be cared for attentively and watched over closely; they should not be left unattended. Feeding them too much milk will eventually harm the stomach, while food stagnation will injure the Spleen. Thick bedding offers no benefit; somewhat lighter clothing is more suitable. When there is no wind, take children out into the sun often. Adjust their clothing and care as the weather warms or cools with the seasons.

Prescriptions for Eye Ailments

A dispersing formula, suitable for both deficiency and excess patterns. To strengthen its detoxifying effect, add mulberry, two liang of cimicifuga, three liang of red peony root, two liang of Sichuan lovage root, three liang of bupleurum (remove the reed tops), three liang of dried kudzu root, one liang of scrophularia root, remove the goiter, one liang of Sichuan lovage root, half a liang of baical skullcap root, half a liang of schizonepeta, one liang of licorice, half a liang of white atractylodes, half a liang of gardenia fruit, one liang of red poria, and a small amount of sickle senna seed. Decoct in water and drink.

Notopterygium Powder, for treating heat patterns. Take two liang of siler root, one liang of notopterygium root, three liang of red peony root, one liang of dahurian angelica root, two liang of Sichuan lovage root, one liang of bupleurum, half a liang of “muze,” half a liang of sinomenium root, one liang of licorice, one liang of schizonepeta, two liang of white poria, one liang of chrysanthemum, half a liang of asarum (remove the leaves), and one liang of white atractylodes.

A purgative formula. Take equal amounts of red peony root, baical skullcap root, bitter orange, and schizonepeta. First decoct the herbs, then add rhubarb and mirabilite and let them steep. Take the medicine at the fifth watch, when the rooster crows before dawn. This formula may be used for swelling and pain caused by accumulated heat.

Angelica Powder, suitable for the old and young, and for both deficiency and excess patterns. Take two liang of angelica (soak and rinse in wine), two liang of Sichuan lovage root, three liang of red peony root, one liang of prepared rehmannia root (rinse in wine), half a liang of schizonepeta, half a liang of licorice, one liang of siler root, and one liang of dahurian angelica root. Decoct in water and drink.

Tribulus Pill, for clearing various visual obstructions—that is, ocular films that obscure sight. Take equal amounts of abalone shell, Sichuan lovage root, dahurian angelica root, siler root, scouring rush, gypsum, Chinese raspberry fruit, paper mulberry fruit (remove the husks), rice, cicada slough, vitex fruit, green amaranth seed, plantain seed, asarum, chrysanthemum, inula flower, buddleia flower, and Chinese gentian. Prepare the herbs into pills and take.

Grind all the preceding ingredients in equal amounts, then mix with refined honey to make pills. For eye disorders caused by deficiency, take them with a decoction made from washing water. For eye disorders caused by excess, take them with a decoction of cogongrass rhizome and sugarcane. For conditions such as “missing pearl,” take them with a decoction of pork liver. For drooping nebula, in which a film descends and obscures the eyes, take them each time with the Decoction of Twenty-Four Ingredients. In severe cases, add white persimmon, mulberry root bark, cogongrass rhizome, and sugarcane to the decoction.

Spirit-Efficacious Returning-Light Powder: Used to treat nebulae that obscure the eyes, red eyes, and fleshy growths on the eye’s surface that pull on the eyeball.

Horsetail, dahurian angelica root, licorice, eclipta seeds, paper mulberry fruit, sickle senna seeds, notopterygium root, abalone shell, processed Sichuan aconite, dahurian angelica root, and cicada slough.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder. Take one qian each time, mixed with tea after meals; it may also be mixed with wine.

Restoring-Eyesight Pills

White puncture vine, horsetail, Chinese clematis, cicada slough, chrysanthemum, abalone shell, sickle senna seeds, Sichuan lovage rhizome, notopterygium root, eclipta seeds, buddleja flowers, and paper mulberry fruit.

Combine the ingredients in equal amounts and mix with refined honey to make pills.

For blurred or dim vision, use the Four-Substance Decoction with added raw sesame oil, mint, schizonepeta, and forsythia.

Decoct the ingredients in water and take after meals.

For injuries to the eyelids with blood stasis and swelling

Rhubarb, turmeric, coptis, phellodendron bark, Chinese angelica root, dahurian angelica root, amur corktree root, Chinese gallnuts, schizonepeta, mirabilite, and mint.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder, mix with fresh rehmannia juice, spread on paper, and apply to the injured area.

For eye injuries with blood stasis entering the eye

Peach twigs, willow twigs, fresh rehmannia, schizonepeta, mirabilite, and mint.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder, mix with fresh rehmannia juice, spread on paper, and apply to the affected area.

For eye injuries with blood stasis entering the eye

Peach twigs, willow twigs, and fresh rehmannia.

Pound the ingredients together with pork and apply the mixture to the eye socket.

For accumulated heat in the chest and red vessels extending across the eye to the pupil

Use an unrestricted amount of scrophularia root and grind it into a fine powder. Cook pork liver in rice-washing water, sprinkle the powder over the liver, chew it slowly, and swallow it with the cooking liquid.

For cold tears streaming from the eyes

For liver deficiency, use the Four-Substance Decoction with added horsetail and saposhnikovia root. For an excess condition, use horsetail, atractylodes rhizome, white puncture vine, saposhnikovia root, notopterygium root, Sichuan lovage rhizome, and licorice.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and take it mixed with rice-washing water.

For eye pain and redness of the blood vessels, and to clear heart fire

Decoct gentian root, asarum, gardenia fruit, rhubarb, licorice, and black beans in water, then take the decoction.

For red tissue extending into the white of the eye, one may use “Liver-Draining Decoction.” Remove the skins from the almonds, decoct them with Japanese knotweed and mulberry root bark, and drink while hot.

“Kidney-Clearing Powder” is used for disorders in which wind affects the kidneys and the pathogenic wind rises to invade the eyes. The ingredients listed include dahurian angelica root, a drug name preserved only in part as “hua,” saposhnikovia root, and notopterygium root; the names of the remaining ingredients are too damaged to identify with certainty. Grind the drugs into powder and take it mixed with warm wine.

For redness in both the blood wheel and the water wheel of the eye, one may use Rehmannia Kidney-Supplementing Pills, Red Alum Pills, and Fennel Pills. Combine the three kinds of pills and take twenty at a time, with salted broth or salted wine. To prepare the Rehmannia Pills, dry fresh rehmannia root by roasting, grind it into powder with scutellaria root and roasted sickle senna seeds, and form pills with refined honey.

For “xiangyan,” a type of eye disorder whose precise meaning is unclear, combine Wind-Dispelling Powder with Black Spirit Powder and take them mixed with clear tea.

For “rotten eyelid-margin wind,” an eye disorder involving redness and ulceration along the edges of the eyelids, take an appropriate amount of calamine. Heat it until red, quench it seven times in a boy’s urine, then grind it finely. Use the water-floating method to settle it, removing dirt and stone fragments. Separately, decoct coptis rhizome, Chinese angelica root, peony root, schizonepeta, saposhnikovia root, mint, and asarum into a thick liquid. Add the insect from the Chinese gallnut (as stated in the original), then grind it finely in a mortar with the calamine liquid until the liquid has dried completely. Add more liquid and grind again; repeat until the powder is fine and smooth. Store it in a porcelain bottle. To use, first wash the eyes with hot tea, then apply the medicine; it is said to work quickly.

Several drug names in the text of the eye drops prescription are damaged. The identifiable ingredients include red peony root, cattail pollen, and a drug name written in the original as “yu ruo fu rong.” Grind them into powder and mix thoroughly, then prepare the eye drops with ginger juice and other liquids. For pain that persists over a long period, mix the medicine with clear tea alone. For severe pain, add dahurian angelica root, arisaema, “nameless mineral,” and “white yuanchou.” If the condition does not improve after prolonged treatment, add raw Sichuan aconite.

“Used to clear nebulae and visual obstruction in the elderly and weak” is the title of a prescription for nebulae, or eye opacities that obstruct vision, in older, frail people. The identifiable ingredients are two qian each of cicada slough and Sichuan lovage rhizome, and half a liang of antelope horn; the remaining text is damaged and cannot be fully identified.

Cicada slough and Sichuan lovage, two qian each; antelope horn, half a liang; white Hanhua (the medicinal name appears this way in the original and may refer to a materia medica ingredient), with the thorns removed, then dry-fried, two qian; licorice, dry-fried, half a qian; Chinese angelica, two qian; prepared rehmannia, half a qian; scouring rush, with the nodes removed, one qian; self-heal, half a qian; abalone shell, two qian; gypsum, destroyed by fire, one qian; scrophularia, calcined over fire, half a qian; and qingxiangzi, one qian.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder. Mix with refined honey and form into pills about the size of a marble. Take one pill each time after meals, chewing and swallowing it with scallion tea.

Saposhnikovia Powder: Treats eyelashes falling out and swollen, painful eyelids caused by wind toxin invading the eyes.

Saposhnikovia root, chrysanthemum, coptis, cassia seed, baical skullcap, licorice, rhubarb, red peony, and akebia stem.

Cut the ingredients into pieces and decoct them in one cup of water.

Poria Powder: Treats persistent redness of the eyes in older people.

Poria and ginseng, one liang each; gardenia, licorice, purple perilla, ophiopogon, and dianthus, one liang each; forsythia, two liang.

Cut the ingredients into pieces and decoct them in water.

Treatment for blood-wind headache in women:

Aconite and gardenia.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and mix with the fresh juice of scallions. Apply it to the temples and above the eyebrows, keeping it away from the eyes. After applying the medicine, avoid exposure to wind, and apply it only to the areas where the head hurts.

Liver-Supplementing Bright-Vision Pill:

Antelope horn, raw rehmannia, prepared rehmannia, cistanche, goji berries, saposhnikovia root, and cassia seed, one liang each; paper mulberry fruit, half a liang; chrysanthemum, notopterygium, and Chinese angelica, one liang each; sheep’s liver, four liang. Boil the liver until cooked, then dry-roast it.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and mix with honey to make pills about the size of parasol tree seeds. Take thirty pills each time. In general, the liver governs the eyes: only when the liver is nourished by blood can the eyes see. When blood is deficient, the liver Qi is not nourished; when the liver Qi is undernourished, bile cannot rise and circulate. As a result, the pupils become dim and dilated, vision grows weak, and things appear unclear. This medicine replenishes liver blood, nourishes bile, and diminishes faint opacities in the eyes. Take it on an empty stomach with salt water to direct the medicine downward; at midday, take it with clear tea to clear the head and eyes upward; and before bed, take it with wine to nourish liver blood. Those who do not drink alcohol may take it with a decoction of ginseng and Chinese angelica. Taken over a long period, it works very well.

This topical formula is suitable for all kinds of eye redness, including redness and swelling caused by head wind that makes the eyes difficult to open. It is also well suited for pain after a blow to the temples.

Pig-tooth soap pod, phellodendron bark, turmeric, arisaema, aconite, and goldthread.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and mix with freshly pressed ginger juice. Apply it to the temples; one or two applications should relieve the pain. It is also suitable for red opacities in the eyes. For eyes that have been struck and become red and swollen, making them difficult to open, add cotton rose and bean flour and apply as a paste. Crushed scallion whites applied to the area are also effective.

This eye-washing formula is suitable for various eye disorders.

Goldthread, Chinese angelica, red peony, and talc.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and steep them in hot water. Once the medicine has settled, use the clear liquid to wash the eyes. For various opacities, add gypsum, frankincense, and Chinese dittany bark. For conditions such as ulcerated eyelids and tearing in the wind, add Vitex fruit and Chinese gall, and omit the ingredient called xiang from the formula.

Rehmannia Pills.

Chrysanthemum and scouring rush, half an ounce each; atractylodes, one ounce; rehmannia, Chinese wolfberry fruit, and schizonepeta, three mace each.

Grind the ingredients into powder and use refined honey to make pills. Take twenty pills after meals with tea. This formula dispels wind and brightens the eyes, and can be used for many kinds of eye disorders.

The Cuscuta Seed Pills calm the spirit and brighten the eyes, and may also be taken for weak eyes. Grind the ingredients into powder and use refined honey to make pills. Take twenty pills after meals with tea. This formula dispels wind and brightens the eyes, and can be used for many kinds of eye disorders.

Take mature green citrus peel, plantain seeds, Morinda root with the core removed, and honey-roasted Eucommia bark. Stir-fry until no white threads remain. Add Clematis root soaked in wine, Polygala root with the core removed, Achyranthes root soaked in wine, cistanche, one liang of prepared Rehmannia root, and two liang of dodder seeds. Soak the ingredients, then use wine to cook flour into a paste and form pills. Take thirty pills on an empty stomach with salted wine.

Sanhuang Decoction is used for heat toxins that come on suddenly, causing the eyes to become red, swollen, and hot. The ingredients are half a liang of Coptis root, half a liang of poria, and two liang of rhubarb, roasted in a covered vessel, along with licorice powder and mirabilite. Take it after meals with an Ophiopogon decoction.

Asarum Powder is used when the eye has been struck, causing pain at the pupil and bleeding. The ingredients are Japanese catnip flower spikes, plantain seeds, poria, asarum, three qian of lycium root bark, and a little myrrh. Grind them into powder and take on an empty stomach with warm wine.

Black Spirit Powder is used for dizziness caused by blood wind in women, irregular menstruation and severe pain after childbirth, or blood stasis rising to the pupil after a blow. It disperses blood stasis and expels wind. Pregnant women must not take it. The ingredients are white atractylodes, poria, licorice, fennel, cinnamon, Corydalis, raw Rehmannia root, Sichuan lovage, peony, cattail pollen, costus root, angelica dahurica, and Chinese angelica. Grind them into powder and take mixed with wine.

To treat fleshy growths in the eye, put sodium nitrate into the gallbladder of a boar from the twelfth lunar month. Hang it in a ventilated place to dry, grind it into a fine powder, then add borneol and musk. Apply it to the eye.

Processed Xuanming Powder can be applied to treat eyes that are hot and red. Take the gallbladder of a yellow ox and fill it with two qian of clean mirabilite and one qian of Coptis root. Hang it in a ventilated place. Each day, use a duck feather to brush off the crystals that form on the outside of the gallbladder, until they have all been collected. Store them in an earthenware jar. Apply to the eye in the usual way.

When a child has smallpox, do not use purgatives to clear the remaining toxins. Instead, add mung bean skins and gǔjīngcǎo to the medicine. Avoid all kinds of food; eating river snails regularly is beneficial.

To treat smallpox entering a child’s eyes, give the child white persimmon.

To treat a rash or smallpox entering a child’s eyes and causing a nebula, use four qian each of juemingzi, trichosanthes root, licorice, and red peony root. Grind them into a fine powder. Each time, take half a qian mixed with warm boiled water.

To treat a nebula forming in the eye.

Use half a qian each of trichosanthes root, licorice, cassia herb, and red peony root. Mix with honey water and take.

Cooling Gan Accumulation Pill is used to treat redness and ulceration of the eyes in children caused by Gan accumulation. Grind Sophora root, saposhnikovia root, Vitex fruit, gentian root, and Scrophularia root into a fine powder. Add half a qian each of licorice, cassia herb, and red peony root, then mix with honey water and take.

Cooling Gan Accumulation Pill can also be prepared as follows: Grind Sophora root, saposhnikovia root, Vitex fruit, gentian root, and Scrophularia root into a fine powder. Mix with pig bile into a paste and form pills the size of mung beans. Take with plain tea.

A prescription for foreign matter growing on the eye after a maculopapular rash: fifty white elm seeds, twenty peeled Chinese torreya kernels, three qian each of peeled aloe and bear bile. Grind these four ingredients together into a fine powder, then use fresh …