《孫真人備急千金要方》Vol. 68

Biaojie (a severe ulcerative infection that can penetrate the flesh and spread along the channels)

When Biaojie breaks out, small spots suddenly appear in the flesh. Some are as large as beans, others as small as millet grains; in severe cases they grow as large as plums or Chinese plums. Their color varies: they may be red, black, blue-green, or white. The lesion has a root and is not superficial swelling; it hurts when touched. When the wound is tugged, the pain may even reach the heart. The root of the disease penetrates deep into the flesh. Over time, the surrounding area swells and blisters, and its color turns dusky purple or purplish black. In severe cases, the sinews and bones may rot. If the toxic Qi spreads along the channels and enters the internal organs, the disease can be fatal.

People in the south call this illness “Tazhuo toxin.” If the ulcer grows in a fleshy area, the affected part may be cut away, or cauterized with heated iron until it is charred black like coal. Alternatively, one hundred moxibustion cones may be applied, or one may drink a simple remedy such as sunflower-root juice, indigo-plant juice, rhinoceros-horn juice, cimicifuga juice, bamboo sap, or Yellow Dragon Decoction. These treatments are intended to clear the heat of the disease and bring about recovery.

The illness often appears on the fingers, so it resembles Daizhi, and people commonly mistake it for that condition. If treatment is not begun promptly, the toxin may also travel along the channels into the internal organs and prove fatal. People in the south who contract this disease sometimes have the affected finger amputated. At the onset, dark blisters appear on the fingertip; only afterward does it swell, turning a dull, dark red. The pain radiates to the heart. This is Biaojie.

Daizhi has different symptoms: the finger first becomes swollen, hot, and painful, but its color is not dark. Pus forms along the edge of the nail; in severe cases, the entire nail falls off. This is what is called Daizhi. It usually clears up if the affected area is soaked and dressed with a cooling medicinal liquid. If the heat is intense, take Loulu Decoction while soaking and dressing the area; Cimicifuga Ointment may also be applied externally. Another option is to lance the area and drain the pus and blood, then wash and soak it before applying medicinal ointment.

There is also a condition called “malignant flesh disease.” Raised growths the size of red beans suddenly appear on the body and continue to grow outward, taking the shape of cattle’s or horses’ teats, or a rooster’s comb. They keep growing if left untreated, but cause neither pain nor itching. The condition forms when harmful wind enters the flesh and channels in spring or winter and transforms there. Treatment should include Loulu Decoction, with the affected area cauterized using heated iron each day until the protruding flesh is completely charred away. Then apply Cimicifuga Ointment. After many days, the condition will heal.

There is also a condition called “red-channel disease.” Raised red channels suddenly appear on the body, resembling dead earthworms. They look as though they contain water. They vary in length, and all extend along…

In spring and winter, harmful wind can enter the channels and collaterals and remain in them, causing blood and flesh to stagnate. It may be treated with Five-Fragrance Forsythia Decoction, bamboo sap, and other medicines. After acupuncture is used to release the stagnant blood, Salvia Paste can be applied; White Chicken Droppings may also be applied externally, with good results.

In people with “malignant nodules,” a condition in which clusters of hard lumps suddenly appear in the flesh, swellings arise abruptly beneath the skin, resembling plum or apricot pits. The larger ones are about the size of plum or apricot pits; the smaller ones are like beans. The skin and flesh around them become taut and painful, accompanied by high fever, agitation, and chills. The condition may look like the roots of sores, scrofulous lumps—such as tuberculous swellings of the lymph nodes in the neck—or knotted tendons. But those conditions usually develop from sores, progress slowly, and are not toxic. Malignant nodules, by contrast, erupt suddenly and are toxic. If left untreated, the pathogenic toxin may invade the abdomen, causing distress and potentially endangering life.

Ancient physicians believed this condition arose when a person encountered warm wind in winter, then was struck by a sudden chill in spring or summer: the two kinds of Qi clashed and congealed into a toxin. Five-Fragrance Decoction may be taken as treatment. Red bean powder may also be applied externally, along with bathing and washing the area in a decoction. Once the lumps have shrunk, apply Salvia Paste so that any remaining nodules disperse completely. When malignant nodules first appear, they often seem like an injury caused by Shegong, a malign force in ancient lore said to poison people. Their location is not fixed, and they may ache faintly at times and not hurt at others. Ignoring them because they are painless and delaying treatment can be fatal, so prevention and treatment should begin early. Fish and the meat of chicken, pig, ox, horse, and donkey should especially be avoided.

At first, malignant nodules may be only the size of millet or hemp seeds, hidden in the flesh and hard to the touch, like blisters. They grow rapidly. Chills are common at the onset, followed soon by shortness of breath. Grind five ge of Wu Zhuyu into powder, mix it with one sheng of water, strain out the liquid, and drink it in a single dose. Apply the remaining pulp to the swelling. The original text says that once the toxin disperses and the illness stops progressing, it will not invade the abdomen. If it has already entered the abdomen, however, it may lead to grave consequences, so great care is needed.

“Pian disease” commonly affects the limbs. It appears as raised red channels, like braided cords, and causes severe pain and high fever. When it occurs in the foot, it often begins in the calf and extends to the ankle, also resembling a cord; hence the name “Pian disease.” When associated with the kidneys, it often occurs in the armpit. Ancient physicians believed it was caused by prolonged exertion and an abundance of internal heat, compounded by exposure to damp cold, which caused Qi to knot in the tendons. Without timely treatment, the condition may persist until it ulcerates and discharges pus, and it may also cause the tendons and channels to contract. If the swelling neither subsides nor breaks open, the heat cannot disperse, and the condition often develops into a chronic draining lesion that repeatedly discharges pus and fails to heal. Reed-Floret Decoction may be used for treatment. After taking medicine to purge the bowels, use a lancet needle to puncture the area repeatedly and release the diseased blood. Needle the base of the swelling, then apply red bean powder externally until the swelling has dispersed. The condition may also be treated as one would treat erysipelas, or with the three-herb prescription used for abscesses and swellings.

Apply licorice powder to the affected area. If the lesion has already broken open, apply a medicinal plaster or powder, treating it as you would an abscess or ulcer.

Diseases such as malignant nodules, one-sided disorders, and deep-seated ulcers are common in the Lingnan region but rare in the Central Plains. People in the south eat a wide variety of foods, and consequently suffer from a correspondingly wide range of illnesses. Officials going south should take particular care to prevent them; without precautions, they often contract local diseases. Important remedies for preventing and treating these illnesses include Five-Aroma Decoction, Red Bean Powder, and Wu Zhuyu (Evodia).

In bone-attached abscesses—a type of ulcer in which pathogenic influences penetrate deep beside the bone and form an abscess—the lesion initially has no opening, but pus forms beside the bone. This is why it is called a “bone-attached abscess.” It often occurs in the sockets of major joints. In men and women who have given birth, it commonly affects the thigh; in children, it may also occur along the back.

When the illness comes on suddenly in adults, pain appears first and movement becomes impossible. Pressing the painful spot reveals that it lies directly over the bone. After some time, the skin and flesh grow taut, and the swelling becomes very large, as though the person had grown fat. If a child is merely touched at the affected spot, the child cries out loudly; this, too, is a sign of pain in a limb joint.

When the illness develops slowly in adults, a burning sensation in the muscles comes first. After some time, pain and numbness follow, and the limbs no longer obey. A child’s limbs may also become immobile, as though they had lost sensation. Examine the area around the limb joints: if one spot of muscle feels hot but does not appear to be a bone-attached abscess, the whole body may later swell without the lesion breaking open, and the affected area often turns bluish-black. This can happen to adults as well. It is difficult to recognize at the time and is often called “thief wind” or “wind swelling,” though it may actually be a bone-attached abscess.

If someone cools off in the wind while feverish, wind pathogen can penetrate deep into the joints. When wind and heat contend, a bone-attached abscess forms. At the onset, the person may be drowsy, feel heavy, and become mentally dazed; sometimes there is ringing in the ears. Sleeping outdoors in autumn or summer and being exposed to cold can also cause the illness: wind and heat lie dormant, then congeal. In acute cases, heat is strong and wind mild; in slow-onset cases, wind is strong and heat mild. Why, then, do children also get this illness, when they do not yet know to expose themselves to wind and cold? Children have abundant Qi and blood and delicate skin; when wind invades, their Qi and blood stagnate and congeal.

As soon as a bone-attached abscess appears, take Luluwei Decoction to purge, then apply Red Bean Powder. If the illness subsides, take Five-Aroma and Forsythia Decoction; the formula is listed under “Abscesses and Ulcers.”

“Thief wind” refers to a sudden attack of intense wind and cold when the body has no fever. The pain lies deep in the joints, but movement remains possible. Pressing the painful spot reveals that it lies over the bone. If the condition persists, the pain may congeal and remain, or nodules and lumps may form. By contrast, a bone-attached abscess that persists will swell and fill with pus. If a bone-attached abscess is treated as thief wind, the illness will worsen and the pus will increase; if thief wind…

When pathogenic influences penetrate deeply and attach to the bones, the condition may then be assailed by wind and cold and gradually develop into scrofula (enlarged lymph nodes in the neck), hemiplegia, spasms of the sinews and vessels, and bent or twisted limbs. The effectiveness of treatment for such conditions depends on whether they are addressed in time. Who could manage this unless they were highly skilled in medicine?

To distinguish disease attached to the bones from “thief wind” (a condition caused by an invasion of wind), note that bone-attached disease begins with pain but no swelling. Thief wind also causes pain, but no fever. With bone-attached disease, the affected area is distinctly hot; the limbs alternate between cold and hot; the urine is reddish, the bowels are obstructed, and there is no sweating. If purgation can reduce the fever and open the interstices of the skin (the skin’s texture and sweat pores), the illness will subside. Even if it is not entirely eliminated, it will become more superficial and move closer to the body’s surface.

Thief wind usually causes pain at night, with the pain seeming to lie within the bones; pressing or twisting the affected part is intolerable. The area is not distinctly hot, and the body does not alternate between cold and hot. The patient often feels chilled all over and wants to warm the painful area with hot applications. This brings some relief and may sometimes induce sweating. These are the signs of thief wind. Acupuncture, moxibustion, hot compresses and warming applications, together with medicines for wind disorders, are appropriate and can bring recovery. Specific prescriptions are listed under “Wind.”

There is also a swelling caused by wind, heat, and toxic influences combining and contending with one another. It first swells, then blisters appear on the swollen area as if it had been burned by fire. This is called “wind-heat toxin.” Treat it by the same method as the elixir formula.

Another condition, called “Flooding Candle sores,” causes blisters to appear suddenly on the body, as if scalded by boiling water. In severe cases, blisters cover the head and face; the chest and flanks, or the waist and abdomen, may also swell, and the condition can spread over the whole body, as if scalded by hot broth. Immediately take Loulu Decoction to expel the pathogenic heat downward, and apply Shengma Ointment externally. If Shengma Ointment proves ineffective during treatment, use the method given in the elixir formula.

Hot sores produce white pus from the outset. Yellow, rotting sores are shallow at first and discharge only yellow fluid; these are called “fat sores.”

“Creeping sores” are shallow. Scratching makes them spread and expand continuously, and they itch. They initially resemble scabies; once scratched open, they ooze fluid, and separate sores join together.

“Wa sores” also resemble fat sores at first. They usually occur on the hands and feet, often in pairs. Their severity waxes and wanes from month to month; they are painful and itchy, and the skin cracks. They may flare up in any season, especially when severe.

Long-standing carbuncles or other sores may, after ulcerating and breaking down, develop into deep-seated ulcers (deep suppurative lesions). These most often occur between the calf and shinbone. Water can easily enter the sore, and contamination and cold make it difficult to heal. After many years, they may develop into bone ulcers, also called “shin sores.” The wound becomes deeply ulcerated, blue-black in color, and hard around the edges, while pus and blood flow from the center. Many medicines fail to cure it. When the pus damages the healthy flesh around it, that area also swells and becomes spongy, and at times fragments of bone may be discharged. It may be treated by warming…

In summer, soak and wash the affected area every day with “Red Dragon Skin Decoction” (the formula appears in “Intestinal Abscess,” scroll 70). In winter, wash it once every four days. When a substantial amount of new flesh has grown over the affected area, apply White Lǘrú Powder. If the dead flesh has not yet been completely removed, apply it once every three days. Then switch to Domestic Pig Dung Powder and continue until the wound has healed.

Burn pig dung to ash and grind it into a fine powder. Pack the wound cavity full. When white pus flows out, wipe it away, then continue applying the medicine until the wound has healed. If green new flesh grows again, apply White Lǘrú Powder as before, followed by Domestic Pig Dung Powder, until the affected area has healed over.

When bone sores—wounds that have reached the bone—cannot be cured by any treatment, moxa the sores in sequence for three days and nights; they will then heal. If a sore still does not heal, or returns after healing, and bone protrudes through the opening, this is called a “bone sore.” Take a previously dead female black chicken, remove the flesh, and burn its bones until they are charred like charcoal. Scrape wood shavings from the vertebrae of oxen from three households (the text here may contain an error or omission), and also collect an ounce each of ash from the steaming vessels of three households. Burn these to charcoal as well. Combine and grind everything together, then pack it into the wound. Several fragments of bone will be expelled, and the illness will be cured.

A secret formula for treating biòjū (sores involving redness, swelling, and pus on the skin or fingertips)

Two ounces each of blackberry lily, licorice, immature bitter orange, cimicifuga, dried Rehmannia root, and Scutellaria root; two fen of musk; three fen of Peucedanum root; six fen of rhinoceros horn; and ten fen of rhubarb.

Cut the ten ingredients into pieces. Boil them in nine sheng of water until three sheng remain. Add the rhubarb, bring to a boil once, and strain out the dregs. Then add the musk. Divide into three doses and stop taking the medicine once the illness has cleared; the number of times it may be taken is not restricted. The original text describes this as a rarely transmitted formula with excellent results. The version recorded in the Waitai miyao omits Scutellaria root. The version quoted from the Shenshi fang in the Qianjin yifang adds Scutellaria root, ephedra, baiwei, immature bitter orange, cimicifuga, and pine needles.

A formula for treating biòjū, various sores, and redness, swelling, burning, itching, and pain at the tips of all ten fingers

One ounce each of angelica dahurica, rhubarb, Sichuan lovage, Scutellaria root, Coptis root, licorice, asarum, Ligusticum root, Chinese angelica, veratrum, and Chinese lacquer tree.

Cut the eleven ingredients into pieces. First boil a pig’s trotter in two dou of water and take one dou of the broth. Then use this broth to decoct the medicines until five sheng of liquid remain. Soak the affected area in it, and it will heal. In the Qianjin yifang, this formula is called “Pig’s Trotter Decoction.”

A formula for treating biòjū that spreads by infiltration, produces profuse discharge, and grows larger day by day

Two ounces of Coptis root; two fen each of lead powder, licorice, and Lǘrú.

Grind the four ingredients listed above into a fine powder and apply it to the sore three or four times a day.

Treating biaoju sores on the hands, feet, shoulders, and back

Biaoju, an ancient term for a type of skin ulcer, can appear in patches on the hands, feet, shoulders, or back. The sores are rice-grain shaped and whitish. When scraped open, they discharge fluid, and after healing they may recur. The following formula may be used:

Astragalus root, six fen; cimicifuga root, four fen; coltsfoot flower, two fen; and aconite, sophora root, and red adzuki beans, one fen each.

Grind the six ingredients into a fine powder and take it with wine. Take one square-inch spoonful at a time—the ancient measure holds about a spoonful of powder—and gradually increase the amount. Take it three times a day.

Another formula: mix the dung of a white tiger with horse dung, dry the mixture in the sun, then burn it to ash and apply it to the affected area.

Another formula: three liang each of green-costus root, talc, and dragon bone; one liang of lead powder; and one sheng of rice flour. Grind the five ingredients into a fine powder and apply it little by little to the affected area three times a day.

Another formula: take one sheng each of kitchen dust, soot from the kitchen chimney, and soil from the bottom of a cooking pot. Grind them together, add one dou of water, and bring it to a boil three times. Use the liquid to wash the affected area three or four times a day.

Treating sudden biaoju sores on the hands, feet, shoulders, and back

These biaoju sores appear suddenly in patches and are shaped like red beans. When peeled open, they discharge fluid. The following formula may be used:

Take a crucian carp three cun long, a quantity of tangled hair about the size of an egg, and one sheng of lard. Fry them together until they form an ointment, then apply it to the affected area.

Another formula: dry-fry turnip seeds until hot, crush them, wrap them in cloth, and repeatedly apply the bundle to the affected area. This is effective.

Another formula: dry-fry hemp seeds, grind them into powder, and rub the powder onto the affected area. This is effective.

Another formula: mix flour with wine and apply it to the affected area.

Another formula: apply pig bile to the affected area. This is effective.

Another formula: peel off the scab and wash the area with warm vinegar and the clear liquid left after rice-washing water has settled. Then mix the nest of the hu-yen swallow with the feces of an infant less than a hundred days old into a paste, and apply it to the affected area.

Another formula: burn tangled hair to ash. Take one square-inch spoonful at a time, three times a day. This also treats sores on the back.

Another formula: boil rapeseed greens, drink one sheng of the juice, and eat the cooked greens in several portions. In winter, grind rapeseed seeds and take them mixed with water, adding a little salt and soy sauce.

Another formula: boil goji root together with mallow root and leaves, then reduce the liquid to a syrup. Take as desired.

Another formula: soak sugar made in the twelfth lunar month continuously for several days and nights; it is said that this will bring a cure.

Formula for sores that have ruptured

Wash the area with salt water and dry it. Burn a soap bean pod to ash, then apply the ash to the affected area. This is effective.

Another formula: apply the dirt from inside a cow’s ear to the affected area. This is effective.

Another prescription: Mix dust from a roof beam with grease from a wheel hub—the part at the center of the wheel that connects to the axle—and apply it to the affected area.

Another prescription: Wrap raw hemp oil residue in cotton cloth and place it on the sore; the worms will then come out.

Another prescription: Pour boiling water over the opening of the sore three or four times. (Some versions have “malt syrup” instead of “hot water.”)

A prescription for treating a smaller kind of deep abscess resembling a carbuncle. The pus from this abscess looks like the juice of small beans: it drains one day, then builds up again by the next.

Pound rapeseed (oilseed rape) and put it in a damp cloth bag. Bury the bag in hot ashes to warm it, then use it in turns to press and warm the affected area. Two or three applications are enough. Once the area has settled, it will heal. In winter, dried rapeseed may be used.

Another prescription: Boil soap pods in water and wash the sore with the liquid. Dry it, then grind yellow cork tree bark into powder and apply it. Do not let the opening of the sore scab over.

A prescription for treating an abscess that suddenly appears on a finger, causing the sinews and vessels to contract so that the finger cannot bend or straighten.

Apply moxa to the center of the ankle bone for several dozen cones, up to one hundred at most. (A “cone” is a unit for measuring moxibustion, usually referring to one moxa cone burned.)

A prescription for treating wind abscess. Wind abscess refers to an itchy condition on the calf or behind the knee that oozes yellow fluid after being scratched. The moxibustion method is given below.

Take a green bamboo tube one and a half inches in diameter and three feet long, and put one sheng of soybeans inside. Burn chaff and horse manure as fuel, heating the middle of the bamboo tube, and collect the liquid that runs out of both ends in a vessel. First wash the sore with hot water mixed with rice-washing water and salt, then apply the soybean liquid. Use no more than three times; the results are very good.

Another prescription: Chew sesame seeds, apply them to the affected area, and wrap it in cotton cloth. Change the dressing once a day. The results are very good.

A prescription for treating stone abscess. A stone abscess looks like acne or a boil, but the skin is thicker.

Pound millet and apply it to the affected area. It may also be used for metal wounds—injuries caused by blades or other metal implements.

A prescription for treating a sore that does not heal for a long time, becomes ulcerated and decayed, and develops into a bone abscess.

Grind dragon bone into powder and apply it thickly around the sore, to a thickness of about two fen. Then put the ointment into the opening of the sore and change it twice a day. Once all the worms, as fine as strands of hair, have come out, it will heal. The ointment is made as follows:

One large toad that has died on its own, one bundle of tangled hair the size of an egg, and one jin of pork fat.

Boil the toad and hair in the pork fat. When both have nearly dissolved, remove from the heat and let cool. Then add one ge of salt and stir well for use as described above.

A prescription for treating a bone abscess in which a sore does not heal for a long time, returns after healing, and the bone protrudes through an opening.

Pound pig’s gall and leaves of the Chinese catalpa tree together and apply them to the affected area.

Another prescription: Pound white poplar leaves, grind them into powder, and apply them to the affected area.

Another prescription: Pound turnip seeds and apply them to the affected area. Wrap it in cloth and change the dressing once a day.

Another prescription: Dig a pit with a narrow opening and a wider interior, three feet deep; take dried chicken manure...

Pound mugwort leaves and chaste tree leaves, then mix them with chicken droppings, adding enough to make the mixture burn. Light it in a pit. Once smoke rises, place the affected area in the pit and fumigate it. Cover the opening with clothing to keep the smoke from escaping. Fumigate for half a day. It is said that worms will emerge and that the treatment works very well.

Treating bone-deep abscesses (sores located deep beside the bone)

Burn oak bark to ash. Take one square-inch spoonful of the ash each time and swallow it with water.

Another formula: Take freshly removed mouse skin, cut it to the size of a coin’s hole, and apply it to the swelling. It is said to bring the abscess to a head quickly. If the sore has already burst, apply fat from a pig’s back.

Another formula: Moxibustion is applied one inch behind the Jian Shi acupoint on the arm. Burn one moxa cone for each year of the patient’s age. It is said to bring a quick recovery.

Treating chronic abscesses (sores that have not healed for a long time)

Slit open the belly of a crucian carp, taking care not to damage its internal organs. Put white salt inside the fish and sew it closed with a needle and thread. Place it in a bronze vessel and heat it over a fire until dry. Grind it into powder and apply it to the sore. If there is no pus in the sore, mix the powder with lard before applying it. Do not be alarmed if the application causes slight pain. It is said to heal the sore in ten days.

Bitter Gourd Powder: treating spreading sores (a kind of sore whose rash spreads outward, with corresponding symptoms inside and out)

Take one liang of bitter gourd, half a liang each of wasp nests and snake slough, half a ge of soybeans, and one ge of dust from roof beams. Grind these five ingredients into a fine powder and sift it. Add water to make a paste, spread it on paper, and apply it to the affected area three times a day. (The formula recorded in the Record of Ancient and Modern Prescriptions omits the soybeans.)

Another formula: While a pancake is still hot, press it onto the affected area. This can also treat fine ringworm.

Another formula: Take an old pig’s lower jawbone and break it into pieces. Burn it until the fat seeps out, then apply it while hot.

Another formula: Burn the bark or branches of a chinaberry tree to ash and apply it to the affected area. If the area is dry, mix the ash with lard before applying. This method is also used to treat children’s ringworm of the scalp and various malignant sores.

Treating skin sores and ringworm

Bring one sheng of vinegar to a boil. Add a handful of fresh Chinese chives, seal the mixture, and apply it to the affected area until healed.

Another formula: Pound peach leaves, mix them with fermented carp, and apply the mixture. The fermented fish may also be applied on its own.

Other formulas call for heating sugar made in the twelfth lunar month and applying it, or burning an old shoelace to ash, grinding it to powder, and applying it. Pine roots may also be burned to obtain resin, which is then applied.

Treating dry skin sores and ringworm

Mix ash with vinegar and apply.

Another formula: Apply warm cow dung to the affected area.

Treating moist skin sores and ringworm

Burn a dried toad to ash, mix the ash with lard, and apply it.

Treating scabies and skin sores that resist all treatments

Take one sheng of chinaberry fruit, peach bark, and Sophora root…

Use five liang of each of the four ingredients. Pound them, then boil them in one dou of water until five sheng of liquid remain. Let it cool until just warm, then wash the affected area with it once a day.

To treat stubborn scabies, ringworm, and weeping sores that do not heal: the affected area keeps spreading, itches unbearably, and oozes yellow fluid when scratched. Even after healing, the condition returns. Take sheep’s sorrel root, wash off the dirt, chop it finely, stir-fry it, then mix it with vinegar and pound it into a paste. First wash the affected area, then apply the medicine. After a while, rinse it off with cold water. Use once a day. Alternatively, dry the root in the shade and grind it to a powder. When itching occurs, scratch the affected area until it breaks and fluid comes out, then apply the powder. Fresh scallion roots may also be rubbed on the affected area. The Qianjin Yifang does not include the word “scallion.”

To treat various sores of the scabies and ringworm type: an itchy condition on the calf or behind the knee that oozes yellow fluid when scratched is called “wind carbuncle.” Apply fourteen moxa cones between the big toe and the second toe; alternatively, apply moxa to the tip of the big toe.

To treat various sores with swelling caused by wind pathogen: burn white taro to ash, mix it with warm water into a fairly thick paste, and apply it to the sores. Replace it when it dries. Five or six applications should be enough to cure them.

Another prescription: Take thirty jin of oak root bark, chop it finely, and boil it in three hu of water. Add a handful of salt. While the liquid is very hot, soak and wash the affected area until pus and blood have drained out. Repeat daily, stopping once the sores have healed.

To treat malignant sores: Apply pounded Chinese chive to the opening of the sore, then place a large moxa cone over the medicine and burn it so the heat penetrates inward. This will cure the sore.

To treat malignant sores: Take two parts each of alum, pine resin, tangled hair, and wax, along with four liang of pork fat. Put all five ingredients in a pot and boil them. Add the tangled hair first; once it has melted, add the alum, then the pine resin, and finally the wax. When cooked, strain out the dregs. First scrape and wash the affected area until clean, then apply the medicine two or three times a day. The text says this medicine works more slowly on chronic sores that are not painful, and more quickly on fresh sores. It can also be used for scabies, ringworm, itchy sores, and hair loss on the head; it is said to make hair grow, with better results than “Flying Yellow Ointment.”

Another prescription: Burn knotweed to ash, mix it with the white sap of the paper mulberry, and apply it to the affected area.

Another prescription: Burn sheep droppings and hemp roots until they produce smoke. Mix the resulting ash with pork fat to make an ointment, then apply it to the affected area. Where there is weeping, apply the dry powder.

Another prescription: Make a cake from one sheng of flour, roughly the size of the affected area. Cover the sore with it and apply moxa until the area grows warm and fluid begins to flow. Continue until the fluid has drained completely.

A wash for malignant sores that look as though they have been burned and eaten away: Dry white horse dung in the sun, mix it with river water, and bring it to a boil ten times. Strain the liquid and use it to wash the affected area.

A prescription for malignant sores the size of a copper coin, called “horse scabies.”

Soak a naturally dead snake in water until it becomes soft and decomposes. Remove the bones, then apply the liquid that seeps out to the affected area. It takes effect as soon as it is applied.

For severe sores that have not healed for years and resemble leprosy sores

Take a piece of shed snakeskin, burn it to ash, and sift it into a fine powder. Mix it with lard and apply it to the affected area. Vinegar may also be used for mixing.

Another prescription: Take a bitter gourd, chop it, and boil it to extract the juice. Use the juice to wash the affected area three times a day. Then boil the bitter gourd and apply it to the ringworm; it works very well. First wash the affected area with rice-rinsing water, then apply the remedy. It will heal in three days.

Another prescription: Burn boar droppings to ash and apply them to the affected area.

Another prescription: Wash the affected area with salt water, then mash rehmannia leaves and apply them.

Another prescription: Burn henbane seeds, a poisonous medicinal plant, to ash and apply them to the affected area.

Another prescription: Burn crucian carp to ash, mix it with soy sauce, and apply it.

Black Ointment Prescription for Severe Sores

Realgar, orpiment, chuanxiong, cimicifuga, aconite, stephania root, bamboo ash, golden thread, amur cork bark, and mercury, two liang of each; lead powder, one fen; wax, three liang; thirty apricot kernels; twenty croton seeds; and pine resin and tangled hair, each about the size of a chicken egg.

Chop all sixteen ingredients. Rapidly boil them in three sheng of lard until the hair has dissolved, then strain out the solids. Let the mixture cool slightly, add three qian of cinnabar, and stir well. Apply it to the affected area. Before using the ointment, wash the sore and dry it, then apply the medicine. Afterward, sprinkle red ochre and golden thread powder over the area. According to the Supplement to the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold, the recipe does not include bamboo ash, mercury, or wax.

For various sores that have resisted treatment for a long time

One liang of mercury, two liang of golden thread, and three fen of soot from an ink stick.

Grind these three ingredients into a fine powder and sift it. Mix it with lard that has not come into contact with water, then apply it to the affected area. Two or three applications at most should bring a cure; it works very well. If preparing a larger quantity, grind the mercury thoroughly. This prescription does not treat wounds caused by knives, spears, or other metal implements.

For everted sores, whose raised surfaces resemble flowers, and various sores that have not healed for years

Mash burdock root and mix it with lard prepared in the twelfth lunar month. Apply it to the affected area and stop once it has healed. This prescription can also treat persistent swollen sores, severe sores, and fistulous sores—deep, long-lasting sores that may produce discharge.

Another prescription: Mash purslane and apply it to the affected area. Stop once it has healed.

Another prescription: Place a spiderweb over the affected area and replace it after a while. Stop once it has healed.

For sores on the body and head that continue without healing

Grind calamus into a powder and apply it to the affected area three times during the day and twice at night.

Treating sores that have resisted treatment for a long time

Take one liang each of yu-mei and veratrum, one fen of turmeric, one fen each of green vitriol and realgar, three fen each of Sophora root and Adenophora root, and one aconite tuber.

Pound and sift these eight ingredients. First wash the sore with indigo juice and remove the scab. Dry the area, then apply the powder. For a child, leave it on for about as long as it takes to cook a meal, then remove it. For an adult, leave it on for half a day before removing it. Repeat the application several times; no more than three or four applications should be needed for a cure.

Treating various sores that have resisted treatment for a long time, including sores on livestock

Boil three sheng of jujube paste with three dou of water. Reduce the liquid by simmering it until one and a half dou remain. Wash the affected area with the liquid repeatedly until it heals.

Treating “daizhi,” a condition involving redness, swelling, and pain around the nail

Chop two liang of licorice, add five sheng of water, and bring to a boil. Simmer until one and a half sheng remain, then soak the affected area in the liquid. If licorice is unavailable, use mirabilite instead.

Another remedy: Mix saliva with white alum. Knead flour into a small bowl, pour in the saliva, and add a date-sized piece of alum. Put the affected finger into the mixture; it should heal within a day.

Another remedy: Mix hair with yellow earth to make a paste and apply it thickly to the finger, about five fen thick. Then warm it in hot charcoal ash until the heat is bearable. Replace the paste when it dries. After several applications, the finger should heal.

Another remedy: Prick the affected finger with a needle, then plunge it into hot rice fourteen times.

Another remedy: Soak the finger in boiling hemp decoction, and it should heal.

Another remedy: Make a decoction from garden burnet alone and soak the finger in it for half a day.

Another remedy: Take withered yellow scallion leaves, boil them, and use them to soak the finger.

Another remedy: Add four he of Sichuan pepper to one sheng of water. Bring it to a boil three times, then soak the affected area.

Another remedy: First lance the area to release pus and blood. Then warm the skin of fermented fish and wrap it around the affected area. Once the pain stops, the condition should heal.

Treating pain in the fingers, as though they might fall off

Boil lard and salt together until melted. While hot, immerse the affected finger for about as long as it takes to eat a meal. The Qianjin Yifang says to add dried ginger as well.

Treating unbearable cramping pain in the fingers and toes

Mix honey with soy sauce, warm it, and apply it to the affected area.

Another remedy: Apply seven moxibustion cones to the tip of the affected finger; it should heal. A “cone” is a unit of measurement for moxibustion, referring to the amount of mugwort burned in one application.

Treating “nilu,” a condition involving peeling skin and swelling or pain at the fingertips or around the nails

The original text says this condition is caused by scratching the head while using the toilet. Sit on the toilet again and run a finger along the affected area fourteen times; it should heal.

Another remedy: Take one fen of green pearl and two fen of dried ginger. Pound the ingredients and apply them to the affected area three times a day.

Remedy for chapped hands and feet, hangnails, and torn skin beside the nails:

Rub and wash a pig’s trotter with wine, then use it to wash the affected area. Take care to avoid exposure to wind and cold.

Remedy for a face, hands, or feet that have cracked from frost after going out in the cold in winter, or that have just begun to feel hot and painful:

Boil the roots of wheat stalks until the liquid is concentrated, then wash the affected area with it while it is hot.

Remedy for fingers so badly frostbitten that they seem about to decay and fall off:

Take three sheng of horse manure, add water, and bring it to a boil. Soak the affected area in the resulting liquid for half a day.

Remedy for chapped hands and feet with painful, bleeding cracks:

Put pig fat in hot wine and use it to wash the affected area.

Remedy for chapped, painful hands and feet:

Wash the affected area with water in which eggplant roots have been boiled.

Another remedy: Take Sichuan lovage (a medicinal herb that promotes blood circulation and the movement of Qi), three parts; Sichuan pepper, two parts; and dahurian angelica, saposhnikovia root, and salt, one liang each. Chop the five ingredients, add four sheng of water, and boil until concentrated. Apply to the affected area. The effect is said to be better if pig fat is simmered with it.

Remedy for “corpse feet” (a condition in which the feet remain chapped in every season):

Take one sheng of chicken droppings, add two sheng of water, and boil for a few minutes. Let it cool, then soak the feet in it for half a day; this is said to cure the condition. Horse manure may also be used. Avoid stepping in wine, vomiting after drinking wine, and contact with menstrual blood.

Another remedy: Melt glue, spread it on an old piece of cloth, and apply it to the affected area. Remove it once the glue has dried.

Remedy for flesh cut while trimming the nails that has not healed for a long time:

Grind sal ammoniac and alum into powder, then wrap them over the affected area. Healing of the wound is the sign of recovery.

Another remedy: Pound the tender shoots of beggar-ticks and collect the juice. Mix it with the root of burdock and cured pork fat, then apply it to the affected area.