《孫真人備急千金要方》Vol. 69

Scroll 69 of the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold by the True Man Sun (this scroll and Scroll 70 form one volume), Section on Benevolence, Part Nine

Collated by Lin Yi and others, Gentleman of the Court for Service, Acting Junior Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and Collation Editor of the Secret Pavilion, Song dynasty

First: The Nine Types of Draining Sores (with one treatise on scrofula, eighty-three prescriptions, and sixteen moxibustion methods)

The treatise says: Diseases of the nine types of draining sores commonly involve alternating chills and fever, with scrofulous swellings—lumps caused by swollen lymph nodes—appearing on the neck or beneath the arms. What pathogenic influence causes this illness? It is the cold and heat toxins of what are called “rat fistulas,” lodged in the channels and unable to disperse.

The root of a rat fistula lies in the zang-fu organs, while its outward manifestation appears on the neck or beneath the arms. If the pathogenic influence remains only on the surface of the channels, has not penetrated the flesh, and has not developed outwardly into pus and blood, the condition is relatively easy to treat. How should it be treated? Begin at the outward manifestation and trace back to the root, gradually weakening the illness until the chills and fever also disappear. Carefully examine the location of the lesion, insert the needle slowly, and treat it repeatedly to drive out the pathogenic influence. If the swelling is as small as a grain of wheat, one needling can produce an effect; after three treatments, the prognosis can be judged.

How can the severity of the illness be determined? Turn back the eyelid and inspect the eye. If red blood vessels run downward from above toward the pupil, then one vessel indicates an expected death within a year; one and a half, within a year and a half; two, within two years; two and a half, within two and a half years; and three, within three years. If the red vessels do not extend downward to the pupil, the condition can be treated.

When scrofulous swellings first appear on the sides of the neck or beneath the arms, they may be about to develop into draining sores. During treatment, avoid spicy foods, alcohol, wheat-based foods, and all foods considered heating. Draining sores sometimes resemble stone-like carbuncles: hard, raised lumps that form scrofulous swellings. Nodules may be felt on both sides of the neck or beneath the arms, usually without pain or heat. The text proposes applying Lianshi Powder externally and taking Five-Aroma Forsythia Decoction internally; once the sore has ruptured, treat it as a carbuncle or sore. When nodules of any type of draining sore have not yet ruptured, a fire needle may be inserted into the center of the nodule; the text considers this treatment effective in all such cases.

The “nine types of draining sores” are: wolf fistula, rat fistula, mole-cricket fistula, gu fistula, ant fistula, grub fistula, floating-obstruction fistula, scrofulous fistula, and turning-channel fistula.

Azurite and Phytolacca Powder: Used to treat wolf fistula. At its onset, wolf fistula causes swelling of the neck without a distinct head to the sore. Its root begins at the supraclavicular hollow and extends to the base of the ear, producing a large swelling. The text says this condition arises when worry and anger cause Qi to surge upward and fail to descend. Its root lies in the liver, though one account places it in the lungs; Azurite is the chief medicinal ingredient in the prescription.

A formula for use as an adjunctive treatment:

Kongqing, hedgehog brain, hedgehog liver (use dried; two fen each), chuanxiong (half a fen), duhuo, huangqin, turtle shell, the bedding straw used by a woman during childbirth, shanglu, banmao, dried ginger, didan, danggui, fennel, alum (one fen each), and Sichuan pepper (thirty grains).

Grind these sixteen ingredients into a fine powder and sift. Take with wine, one square-inch spoonful each time, three times daily, for fifteen days.

The Civet Bone and Anemarrhena Powder treats mouse fistula, a fistulous swelling on the neck. At the onset, the neck swells without a distinct head or tail, resembling a mouse. The patient experiences chills and fever, and wastes away. The condition is said to result from eating food contaminated with rat toxin, with the toxic influence remaining in the body. Its root lies in the stomach; civet bone is the chief ingredient, with anemarrhena as an assistant.

Civet bone, anemarrhena, cinnamon bark, pangolin scales, mountain tortoise shell, licorice, realgar, and dried ginger, in equal parts.

Grind these eight ingredients into a fine powder and sift. Take one square-inch spoonful three times daily. Separately, mix the powder with honey and pack it into the sore. It usually cures the condition. First use moxibustion to create an opening at the affected area, then apply the medicine. If an opening has already formed, moxibustion is unnecessary.

Rehmannia Paste treats mouse fistula sores: sores that have closed and then reopened, or that fail to heal over a long period and continually discharge pus and blood.

Take unwashed pig fat and cut it into small pieces. Put fresh rehmannia in the fat, using enough fat to cover it. Boil them together until the mixture has come to a boil six or seven times. First wash the sore with mulberry ash water and remove the pus, then apply the rehmannia paste. Change the dressing once a day.

Another formula for treating mouse fistula:

Burn to ash a rat that has been swallowed by a snake or viper. Take one square-inch spoonful twice daily, up to three times at most. It is said to work very well, though this ingredient is difficult to obtain. The powder can also be packed into the sore.

Another formula: one dead rat of moderate size and a clump of tangled hair about the size of an egg.

On La Day, the day of sacrifices in the twelfth lunar month, fry these two ingredients with pig fat until they are completely cooked down, making them into a paste. Divide it into two portions: apply one portion to the sore a little at a time, repeatedly; take the other with wine, also in small amounts over repeated doses. After the condition heals, the “young rat” (the supposed root or foreign matter in the sore) will emerge from the opening.

The Perilla Seed and Platycodon Pill treats mole cricket fistula, a fistulous swelling in the neck. At the onset, the neck swells into a lump. This condition is said to result from eating poisoned melons or fruits, with the toxic influence remaining in the body. Its root lies in the large intestine; perilla seed is the chief ingredient, with platycodon as an assistant.

Rumex seed, dragon bone (half an ounce each), aconite (one ounce), Sichuan pepper (100 grains), cinnamon heart, platycodon root, dried ginger, alum stone, Japanese angelica, and Ligusticum chuanxiong (a quarter ounce each).

Grind these ten ingredients into a fine powder. Pound them together with twenty dates, mix with vinegar decoction, and form pills the size of soybeans. Take five pills with warm decoction, gradually increasing to ten.

Realgar and Scutellaria Powder: Treats bee fistula. At its onset, nodules appear on the neck, three or four joined together; later they ulcerate. The ancients believed this was caused by exposure to wind toxin while drinking running water, with the toxic influence failing to disperse. The disease root lies in the Spleen. Realgar is the chief ingredient, with Scutellaria as an adjunct.

Realgar and Scutellaria (one ounce each), one wasp nest, fennel, Sichuan lovage, and dried ginger (half an ounce each), Sichuan pepper (200 grains), and soft-shelled turtle shell (half an ounce).

Grind these eight ingredients into a fine powder and sift. Apply it to the sore once daily for ten consecutive days.

Arsenic Stone and Saposhnikovia Powder: Treats ant fistula. It begins on the neck and, at the onset, resembles a cold damage disorder. The ancients believed it was caused by ant toxin in food, with the toxic influence failing to disperse. The disease root lies in the Kidney. Arsenic stone is the chief ingredient, with Saposhnikovia as an adjunct.

Arsenic stone, Saposhnikovia root, Anemarrhena, orpiment, peach bark, dried Rehmannia root, Japanese angelica, indigo, cantharides, angelica dahurica, pine resin (also written as “cypress resin”), peony, seaweed, and Chinese angelica (a quarter ounce each); atractylodes and hedgehog skin (one ounce each); Sichuan pepper (100 grains).

Grind these seventeen ingredients into a fine powder and sift. Take one qian three times a day for seven consecutive days.

Alum Stone and Atractylodes Powder: Treats grub fistula. It begins on the neck. The sore has no distinct head or tail, is shaped like a date pit, and moves in a mass beneath the skin, causing chills and fever and a feeling of fullness and oppression in the chest. The ancients believed it arose from illness brought on by joy, anger, or weeping. The disease root lies in the Heart. Alum stone is the chief ingredient, with atractylodes as an adjunct.

Alum stone, atractylodes, azurite, and Chinese angelica (two fen each); Asarum (one ounce); hedgehog skin, cantharides, goji berry, and blister beetle (one fen each); dried crow brain (about the size of three or seven beans).

Grind these ten ingredients into a fine powder and sift. Take one square-inch spoonful with vinegar decoction, three times a day. The text appears to be missing words after the final character for “illness”; the surviving text does not allow them to be restored.

When lying on your back, keep the affected area uppermost. When lying face down, raise your pillow so the medicinal liquid flows onto the affected area.

Ground Beetle and Licorice Powder: Treats “Floating Swelling Fistula.” The illness first appears on the neck, as a lump about two finger-widths across. The patient may feel hot and cold and want to lie down. According to the old text, the cause is worry and distress, and the illness takes root in the gallbladder. Ground beetle is the principal medicine, with licorice as an assistant.

Medicinals: ground beetle, realgar, dried ginger, Japanese teasel, abalone shell, Anemarrhena root, and gentian, three parts each; asarum, two parts; rhubarb, half a part; and licorice, one part.

Grind the ten medicinals into a fine powder and sift it. Apply it to the opening of the sore four or five times a day. The prescription recorded in Collected Proven Recipes from Ancient and Modern Times contains no realgar, but includes sulfur instead.

Orpiment and Peony Pill: Treats “Scrofula Fistula.” The illness first appears on the neck, as a rooted lump that is painful at first and may cause the patient to feel hot and cold. According to the old text, the cause is tying up damp hair before it has dried after washing, allowing sweat to run down the neck. The illness takes root in the kidneys. Orpiment is the principal medicine, with peony as an assistant.

Medicinals: orpiment, peony, poria, Japanese teasel, dried rehmannia, azurite, arsenic stone, dried ginger, balloon flower, Sichuan pepper, Dichroa febrifuga, tiger kidney, civet meat, brain, blister beetle, and alum stone, one part each; aconite, one liang.

Grind the seventeen medicinals into powder and use honey to form pills the size of soybeans. Take ten pills with wine, twice a day.

Blister Beetle and Angelica Pill: Treats “Turning Vessel Fistula.” The illness first appears on the neck, where the vessels seem to turn within the lump. The patient is easily startled, trembles, and experiences alternating chills and fever. According to the old text, the cause is sleeping without a pillow after being startled. The illness takes root in the small intestine (the Collected Proven Recipes says it takes root in the heart). Blister beetle is the principal medicine, with angelica as an assistant.

Medicinals: blister beetle, angelica, malachite, and rhubarb, two parts each; cimicifuga, stalactite, licorice, saposhnikovia, ground beetle, Japanese teasel, musk, and arsenic stone, one part each; ginseng, Chinese angelica, and cassia bark, two liang each; atractylodes and dwarf lilyturf, one liang each.

Grind the seventeen medicinals into powder and use honey to form pills the size of soybeans. Take ten pills with wine, three times a day. Avoid vegetables and abstain from sexual activity for one hundred days. The prescription recorded in Waitai contains no rhubarb, cassia bark, dwarf lilyturf, atractylodes, or stalactite.

Prescriptions for Treating the Nine Fistulas

Azurite, pokeweed, anemarrhena…

Cat bone, balloon flower root, saposhnikovia root, perilla seed, alum, baical skullcap root, angelica dahurica root, peony root, licorice root, orpiment, white atractylodes rhizome, arsenic stone, ground beetle, blister beetle, and realgar, in equal amounts.

Grind the eighteen ingredients into a fine powder and form it with honey into pills the size of soybeans. Swallow three pills with vinegar. Improvement should be apparent after thirty days, recovery after forty days, and a return to normal after sixty days. Refrain from sexual intercourse for one hundred days.

Another prescription: half a hedgehog skin; four scales of pangolin; four lantern flies; one lizard; one centipede; and three fen each of Sichuan pepper, aconite, Chinese angelica root, wasp nest, bloodwort root, cinnamon bark, akebia stem, dry lacquer, tree peony root, coix seed, puncture vine seed, ledebouriella root (another edition reads “diao reed”), gentian root (another edition reads “dragon bone”), and Chinese yam. Use four fen of blister beetles; two fen each of cnidium seed, sophora root, rhubarb, realgar, snake slough, langdu root, and asarum; and six fen of crane bone.

Grind the twenty-eight ingredients into a coarse powder. Take five fen by spoonful with wine, twice daily, until the treatment takes effect.

Another prescription: seventy blister beetles, and one fen each of hedgehog skin, pearl, and realgar.

Grind the four ingredients into a coarse powder. Take half a qian by spoonful with wine, three times daily.

Another prescription: Grind unprocessed pine resin into powder and pack it into the sore. Apply three or four times daily. It should heal in seven days; this is said to be remarkably effective.

Another prescription: twenty blister beetles, and one liang each of realgar, cinnamon bark, and rhinoceros horn.

Grind the four ingredients into a coarse powder. Take one qian by spoonful with wine. Take another dose seven days later; the pathogenic influence will be expelled in the urine.

Another prescription: equal amounts of purslane, dried in the shade, and soot from a twelfth-month candle.

Grind the two ingredients into powder and mix with lard from a pig slaughtered in the twelfth month. First wash the sore with warm rice-rinsing water and dry it, then apply the medicine three times daily.

Another prescription: equal amounts of dried cow dung and dried human feces.

Crush the two ingredients. First cover the sore with cotton cloth, then place the powder on the cloth so the insects can smell it…

Remove the stool as soon as it becomes fragrant. If itching occurs, lift off the cotton wool and remove it, then take fresh stool and cotton wool and apply them as before. Stop once all the worms have come out.

Another prescription: Take four bitter gourds, each about the size of a cup, and bore a finger-width hole through each one. Boil them in water for more than ten rolling boils. Take a bamboo tube one foot long, insert one end into the hole in a gourd, and point the other end at the opening of the sore. Replace the liquid when it cools, and continue until the symptoms stop.

A prescription for treating various fistulas

Take forty blister beetles, forty-nine fermented soybeans, twenty yuanqing beetles, fresh yellow soybeans, ten ground beetles, a centipede one and a half inches long, rhinoceros horn, and bezoar, each about the size of a jujube pit. These eight ingredients are to be ground into a fine powder and mixed with honey to make pills the size of Chinese parasol tree seeds. Take two pills with water. After a while, cook a generous amount of sour-mash porridge, let it cool, and drink it. The diseased matter will be expelled in the urine. Inspect the urine vessel: you may see worm-shaped material, or something resembling glue. This indicates that the diseased matter has been expelled.

Take the medicine every other day, drinking porridge as usual. Those with weak constitutions should take it once every three or four days. When no more worm-shaped material is expelled and the sore is gradually improving, strictly avoid greasy foods. All cooking vessels must be washed with plant ash before use.

The Cui Family’s Prescriptions say: This prescription treats the “nine fistulas,” a condition involving multiple fistulas or sores that fail to heal over a long period. When first taking the medicine, eat only a little in the evening, then take two pills the following morning. By the seventh day, if you feel extremely weak and distressed, you may cook and eat a turnip-green soup. Apart from this, do not eat greasy foods, vinegar, spicy foods, or fruit. Those with greater strength should take the medicine every other day; those who are weak should take it every two or three days. After recovery, continue recuperating for twenty days. If you cannot follow this regimen, do not take the medicine.

Another prescription: Heat salt crystals, and use flour to form a ring around the affected area. Place the salt crystals inside the ring, about two inches thick, with three layers of mulberry leaves underneath. Adjust the salt so its temperature is tolerable: if it is too cool, it will have no effect; if too hot, it will burn the flesh. Apply once a day, stopping when the swelling at the root of the scrofulous lumps has subsided. If they have already ulcerated into sores, pound glutinous millet into powder and sprinkle it over the sores.

Another prescription: Take thirty jin of white bark from the shaded side of an oak tree, chop it up, and boil it in one shi of water until only one dou remains. Strain out the residue, then continue boiling until it thickens to the consistency of syrup. Take fourteen male and fourteen female rat droppings from a latrine, burn them until all their liquid has dried up, grind them into powder, and add the powder to the paste. Then add one sheng of warm wine and stir well. Those with weak constitutions should take five he. Worm-shaped material is said to be expelled.

Another prescription: Take bottle gourd flowers that have formed after Frost’s Descent, dry them in the sun, grind them into powder, and apply it to the affected area.

Another prescription: Crush the roots of field melon and apply them to the affected area. Replace the dressing when it dries. This may be done in any season.

Another prescription: Take a dead snake, remove its skin and flesh, and grind the remaining bones into powder. Mix the powder evenly and apply it to the wound. This will cause considerable pain; massage the area with almond paste, made from almonds, to relieve it.

Another prescription: Burn a dead snake together with pork fat preserved in the twelfth lunar month until reduced to ash, then grind it into powder and pack it into the fistula opening.

Another prescription: Burn a dead dung beetle to ash, mix the ash with vinegar, and apply it. Alternatively, burn a dead snake to ash, mix it with vinegar, and apply it.

Another prescription: Wrap a lump of salt, about the size of a pellet, in old cloth and heat it until red-hot. Grind it into powder and swallow it with wine.

Another prescription: Drink one sheng of white horse manure juice.

Another prescription: Grind almonds with water and take the mixture.

Another prescription: Simmer one sheng of pork fat with five he of wine until boiling, then take the entire dose at once.

Another prescription: Mix salt and flour together, burn them to ash, and apply the ash to the affected area.

Another prescription: Take the droppings of a male fox from the first lunar month, dry them in the shade, and grind them into powder. Mix with water and take.

Prescriptions for Treating Fistulas That Form Open Sores

Grind wasp nest into powder, mix it with pork fat preserved in the twelfth lunar month, and apply it to the fistula opening.

Prescription for Treating Fistulas Below the Heart and Chest

Pine resin and realgar from Wudu, three liang of each.

Mix the two ingredients into a mass. Scrape off some of the medicine with a small knife, and take one square-inch spoonful with water or wine. Take it for seven days; if the condition has still not healed, prepare another dose.

Prescription for Treating Fistulas

Iron filings fallen during forging; a dog’s jawbone with teeth, roasted; tiger dung; and deer hide with its hair, burned to ash—equal parts of each.

Grind the four ingredients into a fine powder and sift it. Mix with lard and pack it into the wound. Replace the medicine after a short while, five or six times a day.

Prescription for Treating Various Cold Fistulas

Burn up roundworms vomited by a person and collect the ash. First wash the wound with licorice decoction to remove dirt, then apply the worm ash. The source claims that this never fails to heal; the patient should also be careful about diet.

Prescription for Treating Rat Fistulas and Painful Lumps That Have Not Yet Formed Pus

Apply cypress leaves to the swelling, then place heated salt on the leaves and use it to warm the area, so that the heat penetrates downward. The lump will then disperse.

Prescription for Treating Wind Fistulas and Rat Fistulas

Adzuki beans, white peony, astragalus, and oyster shell, in equal parts.

Grind the four ingredients into a fine powder and sift it. Take one square-inch spoonful with wine, three times a day.

Prescription for Treating Mole Cricket Fistulas

First boil oak leaves in rice-washing water and use the liquid to wash the wound. Dry it, then pack the wound with ash made from burned oak leaves.

Method for Treating Bee Fistulas

Only this heading appears below; no specific instructions are given.

At the outset, the sore is shaped like a peach and itches. Scratching makes the swelling spread and grow, until it is as large as an egg, or as broad as a hand laid flat. Apply heated salt as a compress. If it has not healed after three nights and four days, by the hundredth day a fistula will form—a tract within the sore that fails to heal, connects internally, and may discharge pus. The sore can grow to four or five cun long and three cun wide. Bees develop inside it, burrowing hundreds of holes. Melt as much stone sulfur (a sulfur mineral) as needed, then drip the molten liquid into the openings while it is still flowing. After a while, dozens of bees will appear. Once they have all come out, the sore will heal.

Remedies for bee fistulas

Burn human feces and shed snake skin to ash. Mix with twelfth-month pig fat and apply to the affected area.

Another remedy: Burn a crow’s head to ash and apply it to the affected area.

Another remedy: Burn a beehive to ash, mix it with twelfth-month pig fat, and apply the mixture inside the openings.

Remedies for ant fistulas—fistulas resembling ant nests, with openings so small they can admit a needle; sometimes they have three or four openings.

Burn hedgehog skin, liver, and heart to ash. Grind them into powder and take one qian and seven fen (the original specifies this dosage) with wine.

Another remedy: Take a rat from the belly of a dead snake. Fry it in twelfth-month pig fat until golden brown, strain out the solids, and apply the fat to the affected area.

Another remedy: Take salted fish made from large ji fish. Heat a clod of plowed earth until red hot, then immerse it in vinegar. While the clod is still hot, place it on earthen wall plaster and turn it back and forth to heat the plaster too. Put the salted fish on the hot earth and turn it over to heat it further; then apply it to the sore.

Another remedy: Take fourteen pangolin scales, burn them to ash, mix with pig fat, and apply to the sore.

Another remedy: Take one pinellia tuber, grind it into powder, mix with duck fat, and apply to the sore.

Remedies for scrofulous fistulas

Scrofulous fistulas swell broadly across, and the head of the sore is shaped like an almond. They are also classified as a kind of scrofula. Burn rooster droppings to ash, mix with twelfth-month pig fat, and seal the mixture over the affected area.

Remedies for dung beetle fistulas

Burn cow dung to ash, mix with twelfth-month pig fat, and apply it to the affected area.

Another remedy: Grind a dung beetle ball—a ball of feces gathered and rolled by a dung beetle—into powder and apply it to the affected area.

Another remedy: Grind dried cow dung into powder and apply it. When itching begins, scrape it off and apply a thick layer again. Continue until the sore has healed.

Another remedy: Apply hot cow dung to the affected area, replacing it repeatedly. The text says this will make the dung beetles come out.

Remedies for earthworm fistulas

Take equal amounts of chicken droppings and earthworm castings and grind them into powder. Mix with the jawbone marrow of a pig used for the communal festival sacrifice, then apply.

Remedies for scorpion fistulas

Scorpion fistulas have five or six openings that connect to one another. Crush cogongrass roots, extract the juice, and drip it into the openings.

Remedies for toad fistulas

Take a snake’s head gathered on the fifth day of the fifth month, wild boar fat, and water moss (a moss-like substance that grows in water). Seal the mixture over the affected area. The text says it works well.

Remedies for snake fistulas

Burn shed snake skin to ash, mix it with twelfth-month pig fat, and seal it over the affected area.

A Remedy for Frog Fistula

Take a frog from a snake’s belly, burn it to ash, and apply the ash to the affected area.

A Remedy for Diandang Fistula

Pound the roots of Chinese cucumber until crushed, then apply them to the affected area until it heals. Take care with your diet.

A Remedy for Sparrow Fistula

Burn sow’s dung to ash and mix it with lard that has been stored since the twelfth lunar month. Apply the mixture to the affected area. Worms should emerge, shaped like sparrows.

A Remedy for Purulent Fistula

Grind peach blossoms into powder, mix the powder with lard, and apply it as a dressing over the affected area. This is effective.

A Remedy for Stone Fistula

A stone fistula has an opening at each end. The affected area is hard and firm, and causes alternating chills and fever. First pierce the area with a broad pike needle. Then grind two parts burdock leaves into powder, mix with the white of one egg, and apply the mixture as a dressing.

Another remedy: Pound sophora seeds, mix them with well water drawn at dawn, and apply the mixture as a dressing.

Moxibustion for Fistulous Sores

Take two ge of garden cress seeds and one sheng of fermented soybeans. Pound the two ingredients together until very fine, then shape the mixture into cakes the size of a large coin and about two fen thick. Place one cake over the opening of the sore. Make a moxa cone about the size of the little finger, and apply three moxa applications through the cake. Replace the cake after every three applications, for a total of nine. Repeat the moxibustion three days later.

The Waitai records a method of using moxibustion for scrofula, a condition involving tuberculous lymph nodes. The Gujin Luyan says that sores on the head must not be treated with moxibustion: the medicinal vapor from garden cress seeds may enter the brain and cause death.

Another remedy: Pound fresh roots of pokeweed, shape them into cakes the size of a coin and three fen thick, and place them over the fistula. Apply moxibustion. Replace each cake when it dries. After using three or four sheng of moxa, the condition should be cured. The Waitai records this as a method for treating scrofula with moxibustion.

Another remedy: Before dawn on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, gather hemp flowers. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, gather mugwort. Take equal amounts, pound them together, and shape the mixture into moxa cones. Apply one hundred moxa applications to the sore. The Waitai records this as a method for treating scrofula with moxibustion.

For the nine fistulas, apply two hundred moxa applications to the Jianjing point. For a fistulous sore, apply seventy to the hollow below the xiphoid process. For any kind of fistulous sore, apply moxibustion around the affected area until it heals. For malignant fistulous sores with cold, internal polyps, apply three moxa applications above each inner ankle. Repeat the treatment two years later, with six applications.

For alternating chills and fever, tightness in the chest, neck pain, inability to move the limbs, swelling in the armpits, shortness of breath, rumbling in the chest, or ringing in the throat, use the Tianchi point.

For alternating chills and fever, and swelling of the neck and jaw, use the Houxi point.

For alternating chills and fever, soreness, inability to move the limbs, swelling in the armpits, scrofulous fistulas of the neck or armpits, throat impediment, soreness in the thighs, knees, and shins, or numbness, use the Yangfu point.

For alternating chills and fever, and swelling of the neck and armpits, use the Shenmai point.

For fullness in the chest, swelling in the armpits, scrofulous fistulas, or frequent biting of the tongue and cheeks, use the Tianyou point…

Swelling, alternating chills and fever, and pain in the chest and sides, lower back, knees, and outer thighs may be treated by needling Linqi, an acupoint on the Foot Shaoyang Gallbladder Channel.

Alternating chills and fever with swelling of the neck may be treated by needling Qiuxu, an acupoint on the Foot Shaoyang Gallbladder Channel.

Swelling in the armpits, “saber sores” (an ancient disease name for enlarged lymph nodes in the neck and armpits), swelling of the shoulders, and injuries to the lips may be treated by needling Taichong, an acupoint on the Foot Jueyin Liver Channel.

Alternating chills and fever, swelling of the neck, and scrofula (a condition resembling tuberculosis of the cervical lymph nodes) may be treated by needling Daying, an acupoint on the Foot Yangming Stomach Channel.

Five-White Ointment

A formula for treating “rat fistulas” (an ancient disease name, often referring to fistulas formed when tuberculous lymph nodes rupture) and scrofula.

One sheng each of white horse dung, white ox dung, white pig dung, white sheep dung, and white chicken dung; two jin of Loulu.

Burn each of these six ingredients on a stone until reduced to ash, grind them finely, and sift through silk. Take one sheng and three ge of lard and simmer it with one and a half liang of tangled hair until it boils and the hair has completely dissolved. Add the sifted powder and simmer over low heat until it boils five or six times. The ointment is then ready.

First remove any scab from the sore, wash it with salt water, and dry it with a clean cloth. Then apply the ointment. Even if there is no scab, the area must still be washed with salt water. Change the dressing twice daily. After applying the ointment, wrap the area in cloth and protect it from wind and cold. The book describes its effect as “miraculous.”

Zengqing Powder

A formula for treating alternating chills and fever, scrofula, and “rat fistulas.”

Half a liang each of Zengqing, perilla seed, arsenolite (another copy reads “alum stone”), and aconite; two liang each of Trichosanthes root, wasp nest, Chinese angelica, Saposhnikovia root, Chuanxiong, Astragalus root, Scutellaria root, civet bone, and licorice root; one liang each of asarum and dried ginger; five blister beetles and five Yuanqing.

Grind all seventeen ingredients into a fine powder. Take with wine, one square-inch spoonful at a time, twice daily.

Formula for Treating Alternating Chills and Fever and Scrofula

One liang each of tuber of Melothria, forsythia, gentian, coptis, Trichosanthes root, Sophora root, peony, and Changshan.

Grind all eight ingredients into a fine powder. Take with wine, five fen at a time, three times daily. The formulas in the Qianjin Yifang and the Waitai Miyao also include one civet bone. Another formula in the Qianjin Yifang adds Chinese angelica and omits Trichosanthes root and Changshan.

Rose Root Pills

A formula for heat within the body, scrofula, recurrent small sores, and sores in the mouth.

Three liang of rose root; one liang each of Astragalus root, Scutellaria root, buckthorn root bark, Trichosanthes root, peony, Sophora root, ranunculus, Saposhnikovia root (one version reads “fangji”), white amur cork tree root, and gentian; four liang of gardenia seed. The original text ends here.

Grind the twelve ingredients above into a fine powder and mix with honey to form pills the size of parasol tree seeds. Take fifteen pills each time, twice a day. (The Qianjin Yifang records that one liang of phellodendron bark should also be added.)

Prescriptions for treating scrofula

Take white stiff silkworms, grind them into a fine powder, and sift. Swallow five fen with water three times a day for seven days. The condition may be cured after ten days.

Another prescription: Take one raccoon dog’s head, roast it, then crush and sift it. Swallow one fangcun bi measure with water twice a day for seven days.

Another prescription: Take the felt lining from an old shoe and burn it to ash. Mix five to seven qian of the ash with one sheng of wine. At dawn, face the sun and drink it, then walk vigorously for a while until you vomit something shaped like a “rat.” Continue taking it for three days. (The account in the Waitai Miyao differs.)

Another prescription: Take a raccoon dog’s head and hoof bones, roast them until yellow, then crush and sift them to make a powder. Swallow one qian with water twice a day for seven days.

Another prescription: Take both eyes from a cat, dry them in the shade, and burn them to ash. Swallow one fangcun bi measure with well water twice a day.

Another prescription: Dry a cat’s tongue in the sun, grind it into a fine powder, and apply it to the sore.

Another prescription: Apply ash made by burning wolf dung to the affected area.

Another prescription: Burn the heads of a fox and a raccoon dog to ash, and apply it to the affected area.

Another prescription: On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, gather various wild plants and boil them to make a liquid for washing the affected area.

Another prescription: Take equal parts cat brain and mangcao (a poisonous plant), grind them into a fine powder, and place it inside the openings of the scrofula sores.

Moxibustion for treating scrofula

If scrofula appears on the neck or elsewhere on the body, with lumps that have hardened and seem likely to develop into a fistula, abscess, or boil, take a single-clove garlic bulb and cut off both ends, keeping the middle section. Make a moxa cone to match the size of the garlic, place it over the scrofula, and apply moxibustion. Do not burn the skin until it breaks; simply heat the affected area until warmth is felt. After seven cones, replace the garlic. Apply moxibustion daily until the lumps subside.

Scrofula may also be treated by applying one moxa cone daily for seven days at the affected spots between the hips on both sides; this is said to be very effective. Another method is to apply thirty cones each at the Wuli and Renying points, and seven cones behind the ear along the hairline, at the location of the straight pulse.

Moxibustion may also be applied to the lines behind the armpits on both sides of the patient’s back. The number of cones is determined by the patient’s age.