《孫真人備急千金要方》Vol. 11

Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold for Emergencies by the Perfected Sun, Volume Eleven

Formulas for Infants and Young Children: Sudden Affliction by an Unwelcome Visitor, Chapter Four (Discussion, Medicinal Formulas, Moxibustion, and Incantations)

The discussion says that children suffer from “sudden affliction by an unwelcome visitor” when the breath carried by a person or object from outside clashes with them. This condition is also called “being struck by a person.” Even a visitor who is a family member may startle and sicken a child if they live in different rooms or enter through different doors. A wet nurse or parent returning from outdoors may bring on the condition if their clothes and shoes carry what is described as the coarse, foul breath of ghosts and spirits, a fierce breath, or the odor of cattle or horses. It may also be triggered by approaching a child while working, panting, or before the nursing breath has settled. It is especially dangerous for a wet nurse to feed a child after drinking, or after the exertion of sexual activity and while short of breath; this may even cause the child’s death, so great care is essential.

After riding a horse, someone whose body carries the sweat and odor of the animal may cause a child to suffer “horse-related sudden affliction” if they approach without washing and changing clothes. A child may also be startled and become ill upon suddenly seeing a horse, hearing it neigh, or coming into contact with clothing that smells of horses. Particular care is needed with children under one year old.

A child’s clothes, fabrics, and cotton wadding must not contain hairs; the same applies to shoes. Wearing white clothes with a blue-green sash, or blue-green clothes with a white sash, may also bring on the affliction. Strangers or unfamiliar objects may frighten and sicken a child as well. To prevent this, when outsiders enter the home or unfamiliar objects are brought inside, first move the child away so they cannot see. If this cannot be done, burn cattle dung so that smoke remains by the doorway; this is said to be beneficial.

Sudden affliction by an unwelcome visitor may occur in children at any time. Yet someone asked: Why do nearly all children become ill in early autumn? Does this mean that everyone has been struck by an unwelcome visitor?

Children fall ill less often in spring and winter, and more often in autumn and summer, because in autumn and summer Yang Qi is at the body’s surface and the blood vessels are delicate. In late summer and early autumn, mornings and evenings can sometimes turn suddenly cold. Young children are frail and easily chilled. A sudden cold damages Yang Qi; when Yang Qi becomes constrained, a high fever develops. If the stomach is chilled, diarrhea may follow. Thus fever and diarrhea are common among children in late summer and early autumn, and are not necessarily cases of sudden affliction by an unwelcome visitor or “ji,” an affliction attributed in older accounts to a kind of harmful force affecting children. According to the methods for caring for children, in late summer and early autumn one should pay close attention to changes in the weather and temperature…

Infants who are suddenly exposed to cold often develop a high fever and diarrhea. Do not begin by using purgatives. First treat what is called “poison,” and only then induce purging.

The Xuanzhong Ji says: “In the world there is a kind of female bird called Guhuo, also known as the Daughter of the Celestial Emperor, the Hidden Flying Bird, the Night-Roving Maiden, or Star-Fisher. It likes to fly over villages on dark, rainy nights, calling as it goes and circling without leaving. People say that hearing its cry will summon it. The Guhuo bird has only females and no males, and lays no eggs; it comes into being from poisonous Qi within Yin Qi. It likes to drop its feathers in people’s courtyards. If a feather falls into a child’s clothing, it will give the child epilepsy and may even cause death. Afterward, it will take on the child’s appearance. Therefore, from birth until the age of ten, children’s clothes and bedding must not be hung outside to dry. Take particular care in the seventh and eighth months.”

Those suffering from “ke wu” (a sudden illness that, in ancient accounts, followed fright or an encounter with malign spirits) mostly vomit and have diarrhea, passing watery or undigested matter that is green, yellow, or white. They have abdominal pain and changes in complexion. The symptoms resemble epilepsy, but the eyes do not roll upward. A rapid, hurried pulse indicates this illness. The text says it can be purged with Longdan Decoction, adding equal amounts of ginseng and Chinese angelica to the prescribed quantity of gentian.

When a child is struck by ke wu, quickly examine both sides of the uvula, the small fleshy projection hanging at the back of the soft palate. There may be raised, blue-black knots in the veins there, about the size of sesame seeds; they may also be red, white, or green. The text says to puncture them with a needle or break them with a fingernail, then wrap cotton around the end of a hairpin and wipe away the blood.

When young children are struck by ke wu, they vomit and pass green, yellow, red, or white fluids, suffer abdominal pain, twist about while lying on their backs or sides, and pant. They look as if they have epilepsy, but their eyes do not roll upward. Instead, they are drowsy; their complexion may turn any of five colors, and their pulse is taut and rapid. If treatment is delayed too long, the illness becomes difficult to cure.

The treatment recorded in the text is as follows: take several measures of fermented soybean paste, moisten it with water, pound it until smooth, and roll it into a ball the size of an egg. Rub it five or six times over the child’s fontanel—the soft spot on the crown of an infant’s head that has not yet closed—and the palms and soles. Then rub it in circles over the child’s chest and around the navel for about the time it takes to eat a meal. Break open the ball and look inside: it should contain fine hairs. Throw the ball onto a road, and the pain will stop.

A method for treating ke wu in young children, stiffness of the neck, and critical illness:

Take ten silverfish, the small insects that damage clothing, grind them into powder, and spread it on the mother’s nipple for the child to nurse. The text says the child will recover once the powder has been swallowed. Another account says to take two silverfish and place them in the child’s mother’s hand, then have her press her hand over the child’s navel; after the child vomits and has diarrhea, the child will recover. The powder may also be rubbed on the child’s neck, and…

The areas along the spine that have become stiff.

Formula for treating children suddenly seized by fright (“guest disturbance,” an acute condition that ancient people attributed to an external fright or spiritual offense):

Take equal amounts of yellow earth from inside a cooking stove and earthworm castings. Pound them together, add water, and mix into balls about the size of an egg yolk. Apply them to the crown of the child’s head and five key points on the body. This is said to work very well. Another version says to mix the ingredients with egg white until they form a paste.

Another formula:

Have the child swallow musk about the size of a soybean. It is said that the child will recover quickly.

Formula for children who are repeatedly seized by guest disturbance:

Cover the child with clothes the mother has worn during the current month. This is said to work very well.

Formula for children suddenly seized by guest disturbance:

Cut a tuft of whorled hair from the shoulder of a donkey’s foreleg, about the size of a pellet. Boil it in milk until the hair has completely dissolved and the liquid has reduced. Put the liquid on the nipple and let the child suckle it. Once the liquid has been swallowed, the child is said to recover.

Another formula: Burn three inches of the mother’s sash together with a few strands of her hair until they turn to ash. Mix the ash with milk and administer it.

Another formula: Give the child fluid taken from inside a cow’s nostril.

Another formula: Smear saliva from a cow’s mouth on the nipple and let the child suckle it.

Single-ingredient pig’s hoof powder: Formula for treating children with alternating chills and fever, and what was called “red qi striking a person”:

Take the hanging hoof sheath from a pig’s hind foot, burn it to ash, then crush and sift it. Give the child a pinch with milk. It is said to take effect immediately.

Formula for children suddenly seized by guest disturbance and falling unconscious:

Take a lump of warm horse dung, squeeze out its juice, and give it to the child. The child is said to recover once the liquid has been swallowed. This formula is also used when a child cries, turns bluish, and has a stiff abdomen after guest disturbance.

Two-ingredient burnt-hair powder: Formula for children who become unwell and have rumbling in the abdomen after suddenly seeing a visitor arrive:

Take ten hairs from the crown of the visitor’s head and cut off a little of the child’s sash. Burn them together to ash and grind the ash into a fine powder. Mix it with milk and administer it. The child is said to recover.

Formula for children suddenly seized by guest disturbance:

Heat the knob of a bronze mirror until it glows red, then put a little of it into wine. Older children can drink it. If a young child cannot drink, hold the liquid in the mouth and then feed it to the child. The child is said to recover.

Single-ingredient horse-dung bath: Formula for treating children seized by guest disturbance:

Take three sheng of horse dung and burn it until it no longer gives off smoke. Then boil it three times in one dou of wine and strain out the solids. Bathe the child in the liquid. The child is said to recover.

Single-ingredient pig-dung bath: Formula for children who cry, turn bluish, and have a stiff abdomen after being struck by “human disturbance”:

Take two sheng of boar dung, pour hot water over it, and adjust it to a comfortable temperature before bathing the child.

Formula for children who vomit continually after being seized by horse-related guest disturbance:

Apply three moxa cones at each of the Jianshi point on the Pericardium channel of Hand Jueyin, and the Dadu, Yinbai, and Sanyinjiao points on the Spleen channel of Foot Taiyin. The medicine can also be pressed into pills the size of fermented-soybean grains, accompanied by smearing with saliva and reciting an incantation. The incantation is as follows.

“Method for Curing Guest Affliction with Incantations”

The incantation says: “Grandfather Mo, grandmother Mo, child of the Mo family: a child is suffering from guest affliction. Starting here with me, even Bian Que, for all his skill in medicine, is no match for spitting properly and reciting a good incantation.” After reciting it, throw a medicinal pill onto the road.

Another method: lay a knife across the stove. Unfasten the child’s clothes to expose the chest and abdomen. Pick up the knife, recite the incantation toward the child, spit as you speak, and point the knife at the child’s chest and abdomen.

The incantation says: “Pfft, pfft”—imitating the sound of spitting—“the sun shines brightly, rising in the east. Turn your back to the shade and face the sunlight. Lord Ge, Lord Ge, who is the young master who has come here? He leaves without looking, passes by without paying heed, yet clashes with the living. The dust on the beams is where the gods of Heaven dwell; the earth beneath the door is where ghosts and spirits pass. Great knife, knife ring, rhinoceros horn, face the Stove Lord. Spit fourteen times, and the child’s guest affliction will be cured.”

When the child is startled, spit fourteen times in the same way. Point the knife once with each spit. Recite the incantation three times to complete the procedure. Then use the fermented soybean pills as described above, doing this five or six times. Finally, take out a pill and break it open to inspect it. If there is hair inside, throw the pill onto the road. The book says that this will cure the guest affliction.

“Methods for Childhood Ji Disease”

The book explains that children develop “ji disease” because, during pregnancy, an evil spirit guides the fetus to envy other children and make them ill. “Ji” means a little ghost. Not every pregnant woman attracts such a spirit; it occurs only sometimes. Ji disease is marked by mild diarrhea and alternating chills and fever that come and go, as well as tousled hair and sideburns and a lack of energy. The book recommends taking Gentian Decoction.

If a woman has a child who is not yet walking and becomes pregnant again, continuing to breastfeed the child can also cause what is called ji disease. The child’s face turns yellow and the body grows thin, until only skin and bones remain; the hair falls out, and a high fever develops.

Method for Treating Ji Disease

Roast a bat, chew it into small pieces, and feed it to the child.

Another method: burn a bat to ash, mix the powder with water, and give it to the child to drink.

Another method: boil two sheng of water with four liang each of knotweed and wax gourd. When the medicinal liquid is ready, bathe the child in it.

White Fresh-Skin Decoction

This is used to treat guest affliction in young children and ji disease accompanied by excess conditions. Take one liang each of white fresh-skin root bark, rhubarb, and licorice, and eighteen zhu each of peony, poria, asarum, and cinnamon bark. Cut the seven ingredients into pieces and boil them in two sheng of water, reducing the liquid to nine he. Divide it into three doses.

Children’s Night Crying

Dragon-Horn Pills are used to treat night crying caused by the “Five Startles” in children. Cui’s family calls them “Five-Startle Pills.”

Longjiao, six zhu; oyster (some versions read “peony”), and Sichuan rhubarb, nine zhu each; Scutellaria, half a liang; two cicadas; and five pellets of ox gall, each about the size of a small bean.

Grind these six ingredients into a fine powder and mix with honey to make pills the size of hemp seeds. Give a swaddled infant two pills per dose; adjust the amount as appropriate for the child’s age and build.

Chuanqiong Powder: A formula for children who cry at night and only fall asleep at dawn.

Chuanqiong, Atractylodes, and Stephania, half a liang each. Grind the three ingredients into a fine powder and sift it. Mix with breast milk and feed it to the child, adjusting the amount as needed. Another method is for the child’s mother to press her own navel with one hand while massaging the child’s head and back. This is said to be effective.

For infants younger than twenty days who cannot yet take powder, mix the medicine with breast milk and make pills the size of hemp seeds. Give one pill per dose. Once the child is old enough to take powder, give it as appropriate.

Qianhu Pills: A simple remedy for children who cry at night.

Use any amount of Qianhu. Pound it into a fine powder and mix with honey to make pills the size of soybeans. Give one pill three times a day. The dose may gradually be increased to five or six pills, until the symptoms have cleared.

Another formula says that if the mother had a strong craving or preference for a particular food during pregnancy, feeding that food to the child after birth will ease the nighttime crying.

Another formula: take a handful each of Fulonggan and soil from a crossroads. Fulonggan is the earth from inside a stove, traditionally used as a medicinal substance. Grind and sift both ingredients, then mix a little with water and give it to the child.

Another method is to burn horse bone to ash, smear it on the nipple, and feed the child. The child will stop crying as soon as it begins.

A formula for children who cry incessantly at night, when even doctors are helpless:

Take a bone from wolf droppings, burn it to ash, and grind it into a fine powder. Give the child two grains of millet-sized powder with water, and the child will settle down.

A formula for children who cry after being frightened:

Take dried, roasted chicken droppings, grind them into a fine powder, and give it with breast milk. This is said to work well.

Another formula: give the child ash made from burned, tangled hair, with wine.

Another formula: take axle grease about the size of a small bean and place it on the child’s crown and navel.

Another formula: burn the rope used to bind pigs during the twelfth lunar month to ash, and give it to the child.

Another formula: burn a three-inch piece of hedgehog skin and place the ash on the nipple when feeding the child.

Qianjin Decoction: A formula for children who suddenly cry after being frightened, even to the point of fainting and appearing to stop breathing; or who become ill after being invaded by external malign influences and cannot be cured by any doctor.

Sichuan pepper and left-looking oyster, six zhu each, crushed. Boil the two ingredients in one sheng of vinegar and rice-washing water until five he of liquid remain. Give one he per dose.

Cold Damage, Part Five: The following section begins the fifth part on Cold Damage, covering discussions, formulas, and moxibustion methods.

Discussion: Infants are not yet able to travel through frost and snow, so they generally do not develop cold damage from exposure to cold. Adults who wear thin clothing and remain exposed to cold for a long time are a different case. However, epidemic Qi brought on by irregular seasons can also make children ill. In years when an epidemic is widespread, some children are born with spots. Treat such seasonal epidemics according to the methods used for adults, but give a slightly smaller dose and choose medicines that are somewhat cooler in nature.

Ophiopogon Decoction: For infants under one hundred days old with cold damage accompanied by nosebleeds, fever, and vomiting.

Ophiopogon (Mai Dong, eighteen zhu), gypsum, cold water stone, and licorice (half a liang each); cinnamon heart (the inner part of the cinnamon bark, eight zhu).

Cut the five ingredients into pieces. Boil them in two and a half sheng of water and reduce the liquid to one sheng. Give one he per dose, three times a day.

Peony Four-Ingredient Muscle-Relieving Decoction: For young children with cold damage.

Peony, Scutellaria, Cimicifuga, and kudzu root (half a liang each).

Boil the four ingredients in three sheng of water and reduce the liquid to nine he. Strain out the herbs and give the decoction in divided doses. Children aged one year or older should take it in three doses.

Ephedra Decoction: For young children with cold damage, fever, cough, and heat in the head and face.

Ephedra, fresh ginger, and Scutellaria (one liang each); licorice, cinnamon heart, gypsum, and peony (half a liang each); apricot kernels (ten).

Cut the eight ingredients into pieces. Boil them in four sheng of water and reduce the liquid to one and a half sheng. Give it in two doses. Reduce the amount as appropriate for younger children.

Formula for Treating Cold Damage in Children

Kudzu juice and thin bamboo sap (six he each).

Mix the two ingredients. Give the mixture to children aged two or three in three doses; infants one hundred days old should receive an appropriately adjusted amount. The original text says not to use the ingredients raw, and that they are better boiled before taking.

Formula for Treating Seasonal Epidemics in Children (seasonal Qi refers to epidemic diseases that spread at particular times of year)

Three liang of peach leaves. Pound them, add five sheng of water, and boil until the liquid has bubbled ten times. Use the liquid to wash the child five or six times a day. If the fever returns, burn two male mouse droppings to ash and take them mixed with water.

Schisandra Decoction: For children whose cold damage persists for a long time, worsens after seeming to recover, and leaves them thin and emaciated.

Schisandra (ten zhu), rhubarb, Coptis, Scutellaria, Ophiopogon, and Peucedanum (six zhu each); mirabilite (five zhu); gypsum (one liang); licorice.

The original text ends at “licorice” and gives neither its dosage nor any further instructions for use.

Angelica (two zhu of each of the ten ingredients).

Chop the ten ingredients, simmer them in three sheng of water, and reduce the liquid to one and a half sheng. Give two he per dose. If the child has a bowel movement after taking it, stop the treatment. Adjust the dose according to the child’s age and build.

Mangcao Bath Decoction, for treating a child’s chills and feverish discomfort after an illness or when it comes on suddenly.

Half a jin of mangcao, thirty leiwan, one liang of rhubarb, and one sheng of shechuangzi.

Add three dou of water to the five ingredients and boil until one and a half dou of liquid remain. Let it cool to a suitable temperature and bathe the child in it. Avoid the eyes and genital area.

Another formula, for a child who suddenly develops chills and fever, feels unwell, and cannot take medicine.

Three liang each of mangcao, danshen, and cassia bark; half a jin of changpu; one sheng of leiwan; and two liang of shechuangzi.

Add two dou of water to the six ingredients and bring to a boil three to five times. Let it cool to a suitable temperature and bathe the child in it, avoiding the eyes and genital area.

Leiwan Bath Decoction, for treating sudden chills and fever in a child.

Twenty leiwan, four liang of rhubarb, one liang of huangqin, three liang each of kushen and gypsum, and two liang of danshen.

Chop the six ingredients, add two dou of water, and boil until one and a half dou remain. Bathe the child in the liquid, avoiding the eyes and genital area. After the bath, dust the child with some powder and do not dress them too warmly. Bathe them again after one night.

Plum Leaf Bath Decoction, for treating fever in a child.

Use any amount of plum tree leaves. Chop them, boil them in water, and strain out the solids. Bathe the child in the liquid; it is quite effective.

Willow Branch Bath Decoction, for treating alternating chills and fever in infants aged one to five months.

Finely chop willow branches, boil them in water, and use the liquid to bathe the child. If the child is thirsty, squeeze out winter melon juice and give it to them to drink.

Qingmuxiang Bath Decoction, for treating high fever and wasting in a child.

Four liang of qingmuxiang, two mai zi, one bundle of bamboo leaves, five liang of tiger bone, and three liang of baizhi.

Chop the five ingredients, add two dou of water, and boil until one dou of liquid remains. Bathe the child in it in several sessions.

Powder of Twelve Ingredients for Cold Water Stone, for treating a child with a very high fever who cannot take medicine.

Cold water stone, mirabilite, talc, gypsum, red stone fat, qingmuxiang, rhubarb, licorice, and huangqin.

Prepare equal amounts of fangfeng, chuanxiong (also called Sichuan lovage root), and ephedra root. Grind them into a fine powder and sift. Mix three ge of the powder with one sheng of flour, then sift the mixture evenly. Apply the powder to the child’s body three times a day.

Li Root Decoction: Used to treat sudden fever in children when the illness has lasted two or three days.

Li root, cinnamon bark, and mangxiao (an ancient medicinal name for a type of nitrate), eighteen zhu each; lilyturf root and licorice, one liang each.

Cut the five ingredients into pieces. Simmer them in three sheng of water until one sheng remains. Divide into five doses.

Cimicifuga Decoction: Used to treat children whose cold damage has developed into a heat toxin illness, with symptoms including fever, a flushed face, dry mouth, a hard, distended chest and abdomen, inability to pass stool or urine, or sores in the mouth. It is also suitable when high fever causes twitching and convulsions in the limbs, followed by epilepsy: during an episode the child faints, and on waking remains feverish all over, as if burning.

Cimicifuga, baiwei, ephedra, yuzhu, bupleurum, and licorice, half a liang each; skullcap root, one liang; poxiao, rhubarb, and uncaria vine, six zhu each.

Cut the ten ingredients into pieces. First simmer the ephedra in three sheng of water and skim off the foam. Add the other ingredients and simmer until one sheng remains. Give the dose according to the child’s age: for children aged thirty to sixty days, two ge per dose; sixty to one hundred days, two and a half ge; one hundred to two hundred days, three ge.

Rhubarb Decoction: Used to treat children with a long-standing accumulation of pathogenic heat inside the body, accompanied by wasting and fever that varies in intensity, recurs, and has no fixed timing.

Rhubarb, licorice, and mangxiao, half a liang each; cinnamon bark, eight zhu; gypsum, one liang; five jujubes.

Cut the six ingredients into pieces. Simmer them in three sheng of water until one sheng remains. Give two ge per dose.

Shuqi Decoction: Used to treat tidal fever in children, in which the fever rises and falls and repeatedly returns.

Shuqi, licorice, anemarrhena, dragon bone, and oyster shell, half a liang each.

Cut the five ingredients into pieces. Simmer them in four sheng of water until one sheng remains, then strain out the dregs. For a one-year-old child, give a small, warm dose of half a ge twice a day.

Formula for treating children with an enlarged abdomen, shortness of breath, fever that varies in intensity, unsettled appetite, and inability to digest grains:

Rhubarb, skullcap root, licorice, lilyturf root, and mangxiao, half a liang each; gypsum, one liang.

The source ends here and does not record the remaining ingredients or the method for preparing and administering this formula.

Cinnamon bark, eight zhu.

Chop the seven ingredients above. Boil them in three sheng of water until one and a half sheng of decoction remains. Divide into three doses. For children under one year old, divide into five doses.

Bamboo Leaf Decoction, for children who in summer have hidden heat in the abdomen, with a fever that rises and falls; or diarrhea with pale or yellow stools and impaired Qi movement in the Triple Burner.

Bamboo leaves, chopped, and wheat, five he each; bupleurum, ophiopogon, ginseng, and licorice, half a liang each; poria, eighteen zhu; scutellaria, one liang and six zhu.

Chop the eight ingredients above. First boil the bamboo leaves and wheat in four sheng of water until three sheng remain. Strain out the leaves and wheat, then add the other ingredients and boil. Reduce to one and a half sheng of decoction and divide into three doses.

If a child suddenly develops a high fever in summer, with skin hot to the touch, diarrhea with loose yellow stools, weakened energy and vitality, and a very rapid, forceful pulse, add two liang of rhubarb to this formula and administer it. If it produces a bowel movement, the illness will improve.

Another formula, for children aged five or six who have a fever, a tense, distended abdomen, and labored breathing, or mild swelling; also for those who are extremely weak, refuse food, have a hard accumulation in the abdomen, and cold hands and feet.

Bamboo leaves, chopped, one sheng; wheat, half a sheng; licorice, scutellaria, trichosanthes root, alisma, poria, anemarrhena, atractylodes, and rhubarb, one liang each; cinnamon bark, two zhu; fresh ginger, one and a half liang; ginseng, ophiopogon, and pinellia, two liang each; Chinese angelica, eighteen zhu.

Chop the sixteen ingredients above. Boil the bamboo leaves and wheat in seven sheng of water until four sheng remain. Strain out the dregs, then add the other ingredients and boil. Reduce to one sheng and six ge of decoction and divide into four doses.

A formula for treating children with a prolonged fever, an unresolved excess accumulation, alternating chills and fever, and mild palpitations:

Rhubarb, one liang; scutellaria, trichosanthes root, and licorice, eighteen zhu each; talc, two liang; cinnamon bark, oyster shell, ginseng, dragon bone, congealed water stone, white kaolin, and niter, half a liang each.

Chop the twelve ingredients above. Boil them in four sheng of water until one and a half sheng remain. Take each…

Take the Sanhe decoction continuously for one day and one night, until all the medicine has been taken. Even if the child vomits, continue giving it. (Another version says, “Add half a liang of purple fluorite.”)

Middle-Regulating Decoction: Treats children who suddenly catch cold in the morning or evening during spring or autumn. The cold causes heat in the limbs that cannot disperse, leading to a high fever. If the cold enters the stomach, it may also cause diarrhea or sticky stools mixed with red and white matter, frequent bowel movements, and distending pain in the lower abdomen. This formula may be taken for a severe high fever accompanied by a forceful pulse or one that is rapid and frequent. After taking it, the fever will subside and the diarrhea will also improve. It may also be used for a high fever without vomiting or diarrhea.

Ingredients: kudzu root, Scutellaria root, poria, platycodon root, peony, atractylodes, Ligusticum root, rhubarb, and licorice.

Cut up the nine ingredients. Boil them in two sheng of water and reduce the liquid to five he. Give it as follows: for an infant one to seven days old, give one he in three doses; for an infant eight to fifteen days old, give one and a half he in three doses; for an infant sixteen to twenty days old, give two he in three doses; for an infant twenty to thirty days old, give three he in three doses; for an infant thirty to forty days old, give five he in three doses. Adjust the amount if five he seems unsuitable. For infants one hundred to three hundred days old, follow the method described in the preceding section and add this formula to Gentian Decoction.

Raw Rehmannia Decoction: Treats children with alternating chills and fever, incessant crying, and abdominal pain.

Ingredients: raw Rehmannia root and cinnamon bark (two liang each).

Boil the two ingredients in three sheng of water and reduce the liquid to one sheng. Give two he to an infant under one year old, and three he to a child over one year old. Another version uses seven ingredients: peony, mirabilite, Scutellaria root, Chinese angelica, and licorice, half a liang each.

Formula for treating jaundice caused by cold damage in children

Pound snake gourd root and squeeze out the juice. Give three he.

Another formula: Pound chive roots and squeeze out the juice. Let it settle, then take a small amount, about the size of a soybean, and drip it into the child’s nostril. Yellow fluid will flow out, and the child is said to recover as a result.

Another formula: Pound green wheat, squeeze out the juice, and give it to the child.

Another formula: Grind three adzuki beans, fourteen melon stems, and forty grains of glutinous rice into a powder, then blow it into the child’s nostril.

Two-Ingredient Sweat-Inducing Powder: Treats children who have a fever but do not sweat.

Ingredients: powder (the text does not specify what kind) and Leiwan, four liang.

Pound the two ingredients into a fine powder, mix well, and sift. Apply it to the child’s body.

Two-Ingredient Poria Powder: A remedy for sweating on the head in children.

Take four liang each of poria and oyster shell. Grind the two ingredients, sift them into a fine powder, then add eight liang of powder and pound everything together until evenly mixed. When the child develops a fever and begins to sweat, dust the powder over the body; the sweating will then stop on its own.

Three-Ingredient Coptis Powder: A remedy for night sweats in children—sweating after falling asleep that stops upon waking.

Take eighteen zhu each of coptis, oyster shell, and fritillaria. Pound the three ingredients together with one sheng of powder, sift the mixture, and dust the resulting powder over the child’s body.

Rhinoceros Horn Drink: This remedy may be taken for conditions in children attributed to heat in the heart.

Take eighteen zhu of rhinoceros horn, one liang of poria spirit, one and a half liang of ophiopogon, half a liang of licorice, and six zhu of white atractylodes. Cut the five ingredients into pieces and boil them in nine ge of water until four ge of liquid remain. Divide the decoction into several doses. Adding one liang of dragon tooth makes it more effective.

Changshan Decoction: A remedy for warm malaria in children, a form of malaria accompanied by fever.

Take one liang of sliced changshan, two ge of wheat, and one sheng of chopped light bamboo leaves. Boil the three ingredients in one and a half sheng of water until five ge of liquid remain. The original specifies the dose according to the child’s age in days: from birth through the seventh day, one ge per dose, taken in three doses; from the eighth through the fifteenth day, one and a half ge per dose, taken in three doses; from the sixteenth through the twentieth day, two ge per dose, taken in three doses; from the fortieth through the sixtieth day, six ge per dose, taken in three doses; from the sixtieth through the hundredth day, two and a half ge per dose; and from the hundredth through the two hundredth day, three ge per dose.

Another remedy: Take one qian and seven fen of powdered deer horn before a malaria attack begins.

Another remedy: Burn a softshell turtle shell to ash and take one qian and seven fen with wine. When the attack begins, take “three-seven” and warm the body over a fire. The meaning of the dose “three-seven” in the original is unclear, so the wording is retained.

Another remedy: Burn the yellow membrane from the inside of a chicken gizzard to a powder, mix it with breast milk, and give it to the child. Use a rooster for a boy and a hen for a girl.

Another remedy: Apply three moxa cones at each point one finger’s breadth below the breasts.