《孫真人備急千金要方》Vol. 72

Sun Zhenren (the Perfected Sun) noted that when people travel, they may not know the local water and soil, and so they eat or drink poisonous things by mistake. Without knowing how to counteract the poison, they often die as a result, which is truly regrettable. The ancient sages had already left methods for treating such cases, so that people could be saved. However, people indulged in comfort and neglected to study them, so when such a situation arose, they did not know what to do. Here, the remedies handed down since Shennong and the Yellow Emperor are listed for those who wish to attend to them.

Accidentally eating various poisonous things

It is said that drinking "Yellow Dragon Decoction" (here referring to a liquid used in a prescription) or juice made from rhinoceros horn can treat this, and drinking horse urine is also effective.

Poisoning from food and drink, with vexation in the heart

Take three liang of kushen (Sophora flavescens), chop it into pieces, and decoct it in two and a half sheng of wine. Reduce it to one sheng, then drink it all at once to induce vomiting. It is said that one will recover after vomiting.

Poisoning from eating various things

Dig a pit one chi deep beside the privy and fill it with water. Burn seven cesuan (bamboo or wooden slips used for cleaning in ancient privies) until they smoke, then throw them into the pit. Then drink four or five sheng of the water from the pit, and it is said one will be cured. If the situation is urgent and there is no time to prepare these things, simply dig the pit, fill it with water, and drink the water.

There is also another method: drink several sheng of fresh leek juice, or hold a cowrie shell (a seashell) in the mouth. After a while, one will vomit up the food, and it is said that one will recover.

Poisoning from eating the flesh of the six domestic animals

Burn the dried dung of the corresponding livestock to ash, grind it into powder, and take it with water. The effect is good. If the flesh eaten came from an animal that died of illness, take one fang cun spoonful (an ancient unit for powdered medicine, roughly one small spoonful) of huangbo (Amur cork tree bark) powder with water. It is said that the effect is quick.

There is also another method: burn one sheng of adzuki beans, grind them into powder, and take three fang cun spoonfuls each time. It is said that the effect is very good. One may also take one fang cun spoonful of the yellow earth from the bottom of the stove with water.

Poisoning from eating raw meat

Dig down three chi into the ground and take three sheng of the soil from below. Boil it in five sheng of water five or six times. Drink one sheng of the clear liquid from the top, and it is said that the effect will appear.

Poisoning from eating beef

Burn wolf teeth to ash and take one fang cun spoonful with water. Another version of the original text reads "pig teeth."

There is also another method: take lard with warm soup, or drink water boiled with licorice.

Poisoning from eating beef or horse meat

Drink human breast milk. It is said that this is effective.

Prescriptions for Treating Poisoning from Eating Horse Meat, with Persistent Diarrhea That Endangers Life

Fermented soybeans (200 grains) and apricot kernels (20). Chop these two ingredients finely, steam them over five sheng of cooked rice, then remove and mash everything. Take it in two doses, until it is all consumed.

Another prescription: drink reed-root juice, then bathe in reed-root juice, and the poison will be neutralized.

Prescription for Treating Poisoning from Eating Raw Horse Liver, Which May Be Fatal

Take fourteen mouse droppings, selecting those pointed at both ends. Grind them in water and take the mixture. If there is no improvement, repeat the treatment.

Prescriptions for Treating Poisoning from Eating Wild Vegetables, Horse Liver, or Various Dried Meats

Take about the size of a jujube pit of toutou (scalp grime, the dirt on the surface of the head) and swallow it. The text claims this method can save people who are near death.

Another prescription: burn dog feces to ash, stir it into water, filter the liquid, and take it, and recovery will follow at once.

Another prescription: burn pig bones to ash, grind them into powder, and take one fangcun bi (a small spoon-shaped measure) with water.

Prescription for Treating Poisoning from Eating Various Wild Animal Livers

Take one jin of lard in a single dose; this works well. It also treats poisoning from stale meat.

Prescription for Treating Indigestion and Abdominal Fullness after Eating Dog Meat

If, after eating dog meat, the stomach feels hard, the abdomen is distended, the mouth is dry and thirsty, the heart is agitated, there is fever and delirium, or diarrhea will not stop, use one sheng of apricot kernels, crushed with their skins. Stir them into three sheng of boiling water, filter the liquid, and take it in three doses. Whole pieces of dog meat will be passed out with the stool, and the illness will then subside. This prescription is very effective.

Prescription for Treating Pig Meat Poisoning

Burn pig feces to ash, grind it into powder, and take one fangcun bi. Dog feces may also be used.

Prescription for Treating Poisoning from Leaking Dried Meat

Zhang Wenzhong said that dried meat that has been soaked by water dripping from a thatched roof and then eaten is called "leaking dried meat."

Pound and take the juice of garlic chives; this works well. Soybean juice is also acceptable.

Prescription for Treating Poisoning from Stuffy Meat or Damp Dried Meat

Zhang Wenzhong said that meat sealed in a closed container overnight is called "damp dried meat."

Burn dog feces to ash, grind it into powder, and take one fangcun bi with water. Whether the meat is raw or cooked, it must not be stored deeply in a sealed container, because the odor cannot escape. This may cause death. Meat juice kept in a sealed container, where its smell cannot escape, may also cause death.

Prescription for Treating Poisoning from Dried Meat Stored in Millet

Take one liang of yeast starter and two pinches of salt, boil them in one sheng of water, and take the decoction. This works well.

Prescription for Treating Poisoning from Shewang Dried Meat, and Poisoning from Eating Cakes or Soup

Take shellfish shells (the shells of bivalves), grind them into powder, and take about a bean's worth with water. If there is no improvement, take another dose.

Some people made cakes or soup with pheasant meat (wild chicken) and were poisoned after eating it. For this, the following prescription may be used: grind rhinoceros horn into powder and take one fangcun bi. After taking it, the illness subsides, and the effect is very good.

Prescription for Treating Chest Tightness, Flushed Face, and Loss of Appetite after Eating Goose or Duck Meat

Drink qiumi-gan (the liquid obtained by rinsing or soaking broomcorn millet or sorghum). This works well.

Prescription for Treating Poisoning from Eating Fish

(The original text ends here and records no specific prescription.)

Treatment for Fish Poisoning, with Facial Swelling and Agitation, or Critical Poisoning from Eating Perch

Cut up the reed root, pound it, and take the juice, drinking a good amount; it is effective. It also treats crab poisoning. Alternatively, drink the juice of young reed shoots, which will bring about recovery.

Treatment for Blockage in the Chest and Diaphragm after Eating Raw Fish or Raw Meat, When Food Cannot Be Digested or Vomited Up and Forms a Mass

Three liang of magnolia bark and two liang of rhubarb.

Chop these two ingredients, boil them in two sheng of wine, reduce the liquid to one sheng, and take it all at once. The stagnation will dissolve immediately. For a robust person, boil rhubarb with three sheng of wine, reduce it to two sheng, and take it once more.

Treatment for Indigestion after Eating Raw Fish

Three liang of rhubarb, sliced, and two liang of mirabilite.

Boil these two ingredients in two sheng of wine, reduce the liquid to one sheng, and take it all at once. (The Zhongjing Prescriptions (Zhongjing fang) add one liang of tangerine peel. The Prescriptions for Emergencies (Zhouhou fang) state that this formula may also be used when food is undigested and near forming a mass after eating pork and then encountering cold, though it does not include tangerine peel.)

Another prescription: pound fresh vervain, take one sheng of the juice, and the food will be digested. Ginger is also effective. (The Prescriptions for Emergencies state that it is also suitable for use with various emetics.)

Another prescription: burn the skin of the Spanish mackerel to ash and take it with water. Either intact fish skin or the skin of a worn-out knife sheath may be used. The Spanish mackerel is also called the shark fish. (The Gujin Luyan states that this method treats poisoning from eating the pufferfish.)

Another prescription: burn fish skin to ash and take one fangcun bi (a square-inch spoon, a small dose measure of the ancient pharmacopoeia) with water.

Another prescription: burn fish scales to ash and take one fangcun bi with water. This prescription is also used for poisoning from eating various abalones.

Treatment for Crab Poisoning

Drink two sheng of winter melon juice, or eat winter melon directly.

Treatment for Poisoning from Eating Various Vegetables

Equal amounts of licorice, shell teeth, and white lead powder (hufen).

Grind these three ingredients into a fine powder, sift it, and take one fangcun bi with water. For children, it may be taken with urine or breast milk, and a total of two sheng may be given.

Treatment for Poisoning from Eating Mushrooms Growing in the Mountains

Drink one sheng of human excrement juice; it is effective.

Second on Neutralizing the Toxicity of Various Drugs (Discussion and Antidote Prescriptions)

The treatise states that licorice can neutralize the toxicity of all kinds of drugs. It works just as pouring hot water on snow does: the toxin dissolves quickly, and the effect is remarkable.

Some people who had been poisoned by aconite or croton seeds were cured simply by eating licorice. For poisoning by veratrum, drinking poisonous scallion soup worked as soon as the medicinal broth was swallowed. For poisoning by wild kudzu, drinking muddy well water stopped the toxin from acting. These methods work very quickly, as easily as turning over a hand, and everyone ought to know them. Yet people are unwilling to learn them, which is truly regrettable.

Pharmacopoeia texts say that soybean juice can resolve the poisons of many drugs. I have tested it repeatedly and found that its effect falls far short of licorice. When soybean juice and licorice are combined into "Gan Dou Tang" (Licorice and Soybean Decoction), the result is especially striking. One person who vomited without stop after taking Yuhu Pills (Jade Pot Pills) could not be helped by any of the usual medicines, but was cured immediately after drinking indigo juice. Cases like this should be known. These are established treatments and need not be tested again. The entries for antidote prescriptions are very numerous, and if one or two examples are not given, learners cannot quickly grasp them. Other prescriptions are much the same.

The following lists some poisons and the remedies the text records for them:

• Mineral drug poisoning: white duck droppings.
• Ginseng juice or realgar poisoning: fangji (Stephania root).
• Iron filings poisoning: magnetite.
• Yushi (arsenical stone) poisoning: soybean juice or white goose fat.
• Fangkui poisoning: juice of fangkui root.
• Platycodon poisoning: plain rice gruel.
• Gansui (Euphorbia kansui) poisoning: soybean juice.
• Dajji (Euphorbia pekinensis) poisoning: calamus juice.
• Zhizhu (azalea) poisoning: gardenia juice.
• Egg poisoning: pure vinegar.
• Mussel poisoning: clear water.
• Wild taro poisoning: muddy water or human manure juice.
• Apricot kernel poisoning: indigo seed juice.
• Hundred-drug poisoning: licorice, qimi (Sinocalycanthus root), soybean juice or adzuki bean juice, and also juice of indigo leaves, roots, or seeds.
• Gold and silver poisoning: mercury. After several liang have been swallowed, follow with egg white juice, white manure, roasted pork fat mixed with water, or chicken manure juice, boiled scallion white juice, duck blood, and duck manure juice.
• Daphne poisoning: fangji, fangfeng, licorice, or cinnamon juice.
• Wild kudzu poisoning: egg white, kudzu root juice, licorice juice, warm blood from a duck's head, pig fat, chicken manure, or human feces.
• Veratrum poisoning: realgar, warm water, or boiled scallion juice.
• Aconite, tianxiong, and fuzi poisoning: soybean juice, yuanzhi, fangfeng, jujube flesh, or maltose.
• Shewang poisoning: indigo juice, soybean or adzuki bean juice, bamboo sap, hemp seed juice, lotus root juice, water chestnut juice, or the blood of the six domestic animals.

"Fangji," "veratrum," "wild kudzu," and "aconite" are all drug names appearing in this passage, while "poisonous scallion soup" and similar names refer to ancient prescriptions. The original records empirical medical knowledge from the past. Some of the drugs it discusses are themselves toxic, and the remedies listed here must not be applied to real poisoning cases on the basis of this text.

Antidotes for Various Poisons

Shell-tooth powder (ground shell) and earthworm castings can be used to counteract poison.

For poisoning by banxia (bànxià, Pinellia tuber), use fresh ginger juice, or juice from dried ginger that has been boiled.

For poisoning by langdang (làngdàng, henbane), use jimi (jìmí, Adenophora root), licorice, rhinoceros horn, crab juice, and shengma (shēngmá, cimicifuga).

For poisoning by langdu (làngdú, Stellera root), use apricot kernel, indigo juice, bailian (báilián, ampelopsis), salt water, and mu-zhan-si.

For poisoning by badou (bādòu, croton seed), use juice from boiled coptis, juice from soybeans, juice from acorus (chāngpú), juice from fresh huo leaves (the Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies says this should be juice from small bean leaves), and juice from boiled hanshui stone.

For poisoning by Sichuan pepper, use mallow seed juice, garlic, cinnamon juice, fermented soybean juice, human urine, cold water, and dijiang (dìjiāng, "earth broth," made by stirring soil into water and drinking the clear liquid after it settles). Alternatively, burn chicken feathers and inhale the smoke, or mix the ash into water and drink it.

For poisoning by banmao or yuanqing (two kinds of blister beetle), use lard, soybean juice, rong salt, indigo juice, or salt broth, or boil lard and croton seed.

For taking too much medicine, with symptoms such as chest tightness and agitation, use powdered white lead mixed with water, kudzu starch mixed with water, earth broth, rangHe (ginger lily) juice, rice-washing water, fermented soybean juice, dried ginger, coptis, or maltose syrup. Indigo juice or swallowing egg yolk may also be taken.

Antidote for Fungal Poisons of All Kinds

Dig a pit and pour in water. Stir the soil so that the water turns cloudy, wait for the earth to settle, and then drink the clear liquid on top. This water is called dijiang (earth broth).

Antidote for Medicinal Poisoning of All Kinds

Whether the poison comes from a plant or a mineral, take this formula as soon as symptoms of poisoning appear: 3 sheng of fermented soybeans, and 8 liang each of fresh mai men dong (shēng màiméndōng, ophiopogon root) and scallion white. Chop the three ingredients, boil them in 7 sheng of water until 2.5 sheng remain, and take the liquid in three doses.

Jilongcao San (Chicken Intestine Grass Powder) for Poisons of All Kinds

Use 3 fen of chicken intestine grass; 4 fen each of jimi and shengma; 2 fen each of peony root, Chinese angelica, and licorice; 1 fen of tu (earth powder); and 1 ge of indigo seed. Grind these eight ingredients into a coarse powder, then sift it into a fine powder. Each dose is one fangcun-bi (a small ancient spoon used to measure powdered medicine) taken with water. It is better to drink plenty of water.

If one is stung by venomous insects such as bees or snakes, pierce the wound with a needle to let the blood flow out, then take a small amount of the medicine, apply it to the wound, and keep it moist. If one is hit by a shooting-wangdu arrow (a poisoned arrow), shave a piece of bamboo to the thickness of a hairpin and about 1.5 chi long, wrap it with cotton, and moisten it. Insert the medicine into the wound, pushing it to the bottom of the wound according to its depth. Stop once fresh blood has flowed out.

(The original text ends with an unfinished sentence beginning "If one has taken poisonous medicine, drink a fangcun-bi with water…" and its meaning is incomplete, so it cannot be translated further.)

Detoxification, Pain Relief, and Healing

Prescription Powder for Detoxification

Jini (one part) and lan (indigo, used together with its flowers, two parts).

Harvest the lan on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Dry it in the shade, then pound it and sift it. Mix the powder with water and take one fangcun bi (a square-inch spoon, an ancient measuring unit) each time, three times a day.

Another prescription: for a person who has been poisoned, take fourteen qin yan feathers, burn them to ash, and swallow the ash.

Prescription for Any Poison

Mix sow manure with water and drink it. Alternatively, stir rice flour into three sheng and three he of water (sheng and he are ancient units of volume) and drink the mixture.

Prescription for Zhen Poison and Other Toxins, Suitable When the Toxicity Does Not Subside and the Patient Is Agitated and Distressed

Licorice and honey, four fen each, and one sheng of liangmi (foxtail millet) flour.

Boil the licorice in five sheng of water until two sheng remain. Strain out the dregs and let the liquid cool slightly. Stir the millet flour into the still-hot decoction, add the white honey, and continue cooking until it thickens into a consistency like thin gruel. When it is at a suitable temperature, drink one sheng.

Prescription for Poisoning by Langdang (Henbane) That Causes Chest Tightness and Mental Confusion, Resembling a Sudden Stroke or Raging Fever, and Worsens After Taking Medicine

Drink licorice juice and green-blue lan juice, and the illness will be cured.

Prescription for Yege Poisoning With Collapse, Unconsciousness, and Clenched Jaws

Take a green bamboo stalk, remove two of its nodes, and press the open tube against both sides of the ribs and the navel. Pour cold water through it. When the water becomes warm, replace it with fresh water. After a while the mouth will open. As soon as it opens, give the medicine at once, and the person can be saved. The key is to change the water many times.

Prescription for Gouwen Poisoning With Exhaustion Close to Death, a Bluish Complexion, Clenched Jaws, Cold Limbs, and Numbness (See Zhouhou Fang)

The Zhouhou Fang (Prescriptions Kept at Hand) states that gouwen looks much like zhuyu and mustard, but no other grass grows beside the place where it grows, and its stem is hairy. Eating it is fatal.

Take eight liang of jini, chop it finely, and boil it in six sheng of water until three sheng remain. Let it cool to near body temperature and drink it, five he each time, three times during the day and twice at night. While boiling the jini, the more concentrated the decoction, the better.

Another prescription: boil cinnamon and drink the extract.

Another prescription: eat scallions, or drink scallion juice. Either is effective, and scallion juice can treat all kinds of poison.

Prescription for Iron Lodged in the Abdomen

Scrape baizhe charcoal into a fine powder and take three qian (a unit of weight) with jinghua water, the water drawn from a well at dawn. Take it no more than twice.