《孫真人備急千金要方》Vol. 78

On Burns and Their Remedies

The text says that all burns must be treated with care and must not be rinsed with cold water. The author believes that when a burn is exposed to cold, heat may penetrate deeper into the body and damage the sinews and bones, making the injury difficult to heal. Immediately after being burned, one should move close to a fire and continue warming the affected area. Though it will hurt a great deal, one should endure it; after about the time it takes to eat a meal, the pain will disappear. This method is called “miraculously effective.”

If someone has been burned and becomes unconscious, unresponsive, and unable to recognize people, have them drink cool urine or honey mixed with cold water. If their mouth is tightly closed, pry it open and give them the drink, then treat them with one of the formulas below.

Formula for Treating Burns

Take forty gardenia fruits, and five liang each of white peony root and baical skullcap root. Chop the three ingredients, add five sheng of water and one sheng of oil, and boil them together until the water has evaporated. Strain out the herbs and let the liquid cool. Rinse the affected area with it, allowing the liquid to flow over the burn. This removes what the author calls “fire-heat toxins” and soothes the skin. Use this method for two days, then, as appropriate, apply a medicinal plaster or treat the burn with a decoction or powder.

Another formula: Roast sesame seeds and grind them into powder, mix with gardenia seed, and apply to the burn. It is better to apply a thick layer. If the wound has already formed, burn white stove ash and grind it finely, then sprinkle it over the injury to dry it. The original text says the wound will heal quickly.

Formula for Treating Burns

Take the head of one dead rat and simmer it in pig fat prepared in the twelfth lunar month until the head has completely dissolved. Apply the ointment to the burn, reapplying it whenever it dries. The original text says this formula heals the wound without leaving a scar. It can also be used for burns in children and is highly effective.

Formula for Treating Ulcerated Burns

Chop the white bark of a cypress tree, soak it in pig fat prepared in the twelfth lunar month, and boil it for four or five rolling boils. When the fat changes color, strain out the herbs and apply it to the burn. The Zhouhou Fang records willow bark in place of the cypress bark used here.

Another formula: Take equal portions of cypress bark, snake-tongue herb, raw rehmannia root, gardenia seed, baical skullcap root, and bitter bamboo leaves. Chop them, add half a sheng of sheep marrow, and boil the mixture three times, removing it from the heat after each boil. Strain out the herbs and apply the liquid to the affected area until it heals.

Ointment for Treating Ulcerated Burns

Take two liang each of bamboo leaves and licorice, and four liang of cypress bark. Chop them and simmer them with one and a half jin of pig fat, bringing the mixture to a boil three times and removing it from the heat after each boil. Strain out the herbs, let the ointment cool, and apply it to the burn. The Jiyan Fang records that four liang of raw rehmannia root may also be added.

Another formula: Chew the white bark of an elm tree until soft, then apply it to the burn.

Formula for treating burns caused by hot liquids or fire

Immediately after a burn, apply a woman’s vaginal secretions to the affected area. This is said to bring about a cure.

Formula for treating scalds from hot liquids, with ulceration of the skin and flesh

Two liang each of apricot kernels and aconite, one liang of licorice, five liang of mutton fat, and one lump of pine resin about the size of an egg.

Chop the five ingredients and simmer them in five liang of pork fat that has not come into contact with water. Then apply the mixture to the affected area.

Formula for treating moxibustion burns and burns from hot liquids or fire, easing pain severe enough to cause crying day and night, and removing scars

Two fen each of mutton fat and pine resin, and one fen each of pork fat and wax.

Chop the pine resin and put it in a pot. Add the chopped mutton fat, pork fat, and wax, then heat briefly over a flame made from pine knots, until the fats and wax melt and the residue is soaked through. Collect the melted liquid in a cup and apply it to the affected area.

(“Pine knots” refers to resin-rich sections of pine wood.)

Formula for treating moxibustion sores

One liang each of licorice and Chinese angelica, and six fen each of sesame and mutton fat. (The formula recorded in Wai Tai Mi Yao uses lead powder in place of sesame.)

Chop the four ingredients and simmer them in five he of pork fat. Strain out the residue, then apply the liquid to the affected area.

Another formula: Melt three liang of wax and five liang of pine resin together, spread the mixture on paper, and place it over the affected area. Apply three times a day.

Another formula: Take the grease from an axle and apply it to the affected area.

Another formula: If a moxibustion sore does not heal, apply six or seven moxibustion cones to it each day; this is said to cure it. A “cone” is a unit for measuring moxibustion, usually one lit cone of mugwort applied once.

Another formula: Take one liang of lime, pound it into a fine powder, and sift it through silk. Mix it evenly with pork fat and heat it several times over a low flame. First wash the wound with warm water, then wrap the lime powder in cloth and apply it hot to the affected area three times. Next, spread on the medicine and warm it. Then pound scallion bulbs and apply them to the wound.

Formula for urgent pain and swelling in moxibustion sores

Pound the yellow earth from beneath a stove, mix it with water, and heat it until boiling. Soak the affected area in it.

Formula for swollen, painful moxibustion sores after exposure to wind and cold

Simply warm the affected area over a fire, heating the sore. The text says this will bring comfort until the pain stops. Warm it six or seven times a day; this is said to bring about a cure.

Scallion bulb ointment: formula for treating moxibustion sores, promoting tissue growth, and relieving pain

Two liang each of scallion bulbs and Chinese angelica, one liang of dahurian angelica root, and one jin of sheep marrow.

Chop the four ingredients and simmer them together. The medicine is ready when the dahurian angelica root turns yellow. Strain out the residue and apply the ointment to the affected area three times a day.

Another formula: for moxibustion sores that suppurate and ulcerate and do not heal for a long time

The source text ends here and does not give the specific formula.

Wild garlic (one handful), lead powder (one liang), quicklime (one liang), and lard from a pig slaughtered in the twelfth lunar month (one sheng).

First fry the wild garlic until it turns yellow, then remove it. Wrap the quicklime in cotton cloth, place it in the lard, and bring it to a boil several times before taking it out. Next add the lead powder to the fat and stir well. Spread the mixture on a piece of old cloth and apply it to the affected area three times a day.

Another formula:

White honey (one liang) and cuttlefish bone (two pieces; another version specifies one liang).

Mix the two ingredients and apply the mixture.

A method for stopping persistent bleeding from an acupuncture wound:

Burn human feces to ash and apply it to the wound.

Another formula:

Grind a dead dung beetle into powder, mix it with lard, and apply it to the wound.

Discussion: To treat metal-inflicted wounds, whether large or small, in winter or summer, and whether the injury has just occurred and is bleeding, apply a thick layer of quicklime at once and wrap the wound. This both relieves pain and helps it heal quickly. If quicklime is unavailable, plant ash can be used instead. If the wound is deep, it should not be sealed too quickly; put a small amount of talc inside so that it does not close prematurely.

Anyone with a bleeding metal-inflicted wound will inevitably feel thirsty, but should endure it. Dry foods and fatty foods may be eaten to quench thirst, but salty foods must never be eaten. Drinking a lot of congee or rice water may cause the blood to gush again and could even be fatal. The injured person should also avoid anger, loud talking and laughter, thoughts of sexual relations, walking or exertion, eating too much sour or salty food, drinking alcohol, and consuming hot soups or broths. These restrictions should continue even after the wound has healed; ordinary activities may resume only after one hundred days to six months.

Powder for treating metal-inflicted wounds:

At dawn on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, have four people go separately to the east, south, west, and north. Within five li of the starting point, each person should gather local plant stems and leaves, taking half a handful of each kind and leaving none out. At noon that day, finely chop and pound the gathered plants, then add quicklime and pound everything thoroughly together. Use one dou of quicklime for every shi of plants.

First bore a hole in a large mulberry tree, large enough to hold the medicine. Put the mixture inside and pack it down firmly, then cover the hole with mulberry bark. Pound the quicklime very finely and use it to seal the hole airtight, then bind it securely with mulberry bark. At noon on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, remove the medicine and dry it in the shade for one hundred days. Once prepared, pound it, dry it in the sun, pound it again, sift it through silk, and store it.

For all kinds of metal-inflicted wounds and broken bones, apply this medicine at once when bleeding begins, seal and wrap the injury firmly, and keep the affected area from moving. It will heal in fewer than ten days, without swelling or suppuration, and will not…

If an injury becomes sensitive to drafts, or you do not find the medicine until several days later, first wash the wound with warm water until it bleeds, then apply the medicine. It is very effective, so it is wise to prepare a good supply in advance for unexpected injuries. Nothing is better for treating wounds caused by blades or swords; even the yellow powder called zhihan, used by the Turks, cannot match it. (The Zhouhou Fang says to use the hearts of various plants, prepare them on the fifth day of the fifth month, and take them out on the seventh day of the seventh month.)

Another remedy: Burn dried plums to charcoal, grind them to a powder, and apply it to the wound. It will heal overnight and can also treat injuries from falls and blows.

Another remedy: Pound magnetite into a powder and apply it to the wound to relieve pain and stop bleeding.

Another remedy: Apply the white sap of the mulberry tree to the wound, then wrap it with mulberry root bark, the inner bark of the tree. The wound can also be sealed with lime; this works very well.

Another remedy: Take three jin of hemp leaves and boil them thoroughly in three sheng of water, until two and a half sheng remain. Drink the whole amount at once.

Another remedy: Drink several sheng of hemp seed juice. (The Xiaopin Fang says this remedy is for injuries caused by poisoned arrows.)

Another remedy: Take earthworm castings, mix them with water, and drink one square-inch spoonful three times a day. (In ancient times, this referred to a small spoonful of medicine.)

Another remedy: Grind almonds and lime into a fine powder, mix with pork fat, and apply it to the wound. (This can also be used for injuries to dogs and horses. It treats blade wounds, relieves pain, and works very well.)

Remedies for Blade Wounds That Will Not Stop Bleeding

Boil mulberry roots until the liquid has come to a boil ten times. Drink one sheng of the decoction, and the bleeding will stop.

Another remedy: Crush plantain and apply its juice to the wound; the bleeding will stop. The whole plant, including the roots, is also effective.

Another remedy: Apply willow fluff to the wound.

Another remedy: Press a spiderweb onto the wound; the bleeding will stop.

Another remedy: Apply human semen to the wound.

Another remedy: Drink five sheng of human urine; this will bring a cure.

Inner Replenishing Powder: For Blade Wounds With Heavy Blood Loss and Physical Weakness

Take four liang each of cistanche, licorice, and peony; three liang of Sichuan pepper; two liang of dried ginger; and one liang each of angelica, Chuanxiong, cinnamon heartwood, scutellaria, Evodia, ginseng, magnolia bark, Bletilla (the Gujin Yanzhi gives mulberry root bark instead), and astragalus.

Grind these fourteen ingredients into a fine powder. Take one square-inch spoonful with wine three times a day.

Another remedy:

Take three liang of angelica; three fen of dried ginger; five fen each of peony and magnolia flower; and two fen of licorice.

Grind these five ingredients into a fine powder. Take one square-inch spoonful with wine three times a day and once at night.

Remedy for Blade Wounds With Internal Bleeding, When the Blood Does Not Flow Out

Grind peony bark into a fine powder. Take a pinch, grasped between three fingers, with water. Urination will soon follow, and the blood will be expelled with the urine.

A formula for internal bleeding from metal wounds (injuries caused by knives, swords, and similar weapons)

Take blood flowing from the wound, put it in a cup, mix it with water, and drink it. The injury will then heal.

Another formula

Two liang of cattail pollen and one liang of hemp flowers gathered on the seventh day of the seventh month.

Grind these two ingredients into powder. Take one qianbi (an ancient measure taken with a medicine spoon) each time, with wine. Take it three times during the day and twice at night.

Two-Ingredient Decoction: A formula for blood stasis in the abdomen after a metal wound

Three sheng of hemp seeds and fourteen white scallion stalks.

Have several people pound the ingredients separately. Put them in nine sheng of water and boil until one sheng remains. Drink it all at once. If the bleeding still has not stopped and there is pus and blood in the abdomen, prepare and take another dose. After taking it, the pus and blood should be vomited up.

Internal-Filling Powder: A formula for metal wounds

Two liang each of astragalus root, Chinese angelica, Sichuan lovage root, angelica dahurica root, dried ginger, scutellaria root, peony root, and teasel root; half a liang of aconite; one liang of asarum; and three liang of deer antler.

Sift these eleven ingredients into a fine powder. Before meals, first take five fen (an ancient unit of medicinal weight) with wine, three times a day. Then gradually increase the dose to one square-inch spoonful (the amount held by a full square medicine spoon).

A formula for vexation and abdominal distension after a metal wound

Soak one sheng of small red beans in bitter wine (vinegar), then dry-fry them and soak them again. Continue soaking them in this way for three days, until they turn black. Take one square-inch spoonful each time, three times a day.

A formula for pain from a metal wound

Dry-fry white poplar bark and grind it into powder. Take one square-inch spoonful each time, three times a day. The powder may also be applied to the wound, which will then heal.

A formula for unbearable pain from a metal wound or puncture wound when all other treatments have failed

Take a handful of scallions and boil them in three sheng of water for a few boils. Use the liquid to soak and wash the wound. It will relieve the pain very effectively.

A formula for pain and vexation from a metal wound accompanied by constipation

Grind rhubarb and scutellaria root into powder and mix with honey to form pills the size of Chinese parasol tree seeds. Take ten pills before meals, three times a day.

A spell for stopping bleeding and relieving pain in a metal wound with persistent bleeding, using saliva

Recite: “So-and-so has met with misfortune today and been wounded by so-and-so. I report it above to the Heavenly Emperor and below to the Earth King. Let the clear blood not flow out; let the turbid blood not surge up. Even the fine medicines sought within a hundred li are no better than warm saliva.” Recite it twice each day, seven times each recitation. When pain comes, spit onto the wound, and the pain will stop.

Another method

I follow the method taught by my former master: a male master stands on the left, a female master on the right. Report upward to the Lord of the East and downward to the Queen Mother of the West, the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, Huanggu, and Zhinü…

To prepare medicinal water using the following method, recite this incantation at dawn: “No scars will remain, no sores will form, no pain or aching. If the lungs are injured, let the lungs recover; if the liver is injured, let the liver recover; if the flesh is injured, let the flesh recover. Let the body suffer no further harm, and let even the elderly recover. If someone (the original text says ‘so-and-so,’ meaning a particular person) encounters an inauspicious day, or is wounded by a knife, axe, spear, or arrow, mauled by a bear or tiger, or scalded by hot liquid or burned by fire, blow three times and breathe out three times over the injured area, and they will recover as before. Swiftly, in accordance with the statutes and commands!”

There is no need to pass this method on to others. Simply focus your thoughts, and recite the words sincerely. It can be used not only to treat injuries caused by various poisons, but also abscesses and carbuncles. Change the name of the affected body part in the incantation to match the injury, then recite it aloud; it works very well. This method can be used for all kinds of sores and infections.

Teasel Powder: A formula for treating tendon and bone injuries caused by metal weapons such as knives and swords.

Five liang of teasel root; and unspecified quantities of asarum, snake-tongue herb, garden burnet root, dried rehmannia root, Chinese angelica, Chuanxiong (Sichuan lovage), peony, and cistanche. The original text specifies four liang of dried rehmannia root; three liang each of Chinese angelica, Chuanxiong, peony, and cistanche; two liang each of ginseng, licorice, and aconite; and one and a half liang each of dried ginger, Sichuan pepper, and cinnamon bark.

Grind all fifteen ingredients into a fine powder and sift it. Take with wine, one square-inch spoonful at a time. Take three times daily for seven days.

A formula for treating intestines protruding through a wound caused by a metal weapon:

Three liang each of magnetite, talc, and iron filings or powder. Grind the three ingredients into a fine powder and sprinkle it over the exposed intestines. Then mix magnetite powder with water and take one square-inch spoonful at a time, five times daily. The original text says that after two days the intestines will return inside.

Another formula: dry human feces, grind them into a fine powder, and sprinkle it over the intestines; they will return inside.

A formula for treating intestines that protrude after an injury but have not been severed (the Zhouhou Fang says this is for intestines that are exposed and about to dry out, or have grass fragments or dirt on them):

Cook barley porridge. Use the liquid from the porridge to wash the intestines, then push them back into the abdomen. Afterward, regularly drink the liquid from rice porridge made with ground rice. After twenty days, gradually switch to a thicker rice paste. Full recovery will take one hundred days.

Rehmannia Ointment: A formula for metal weapon wounds, burns, and moxibustion injuries that have resisted treatment for a long time.

One sheng of fresh rehmannia root, sliced, pounded, and squeezed to extract three he of juice; two liang each of frankincense, pine resin, apricot kernels, and beeswax; five he of rendered mutton kidney fat; two sheng of sesame oil; and one liang of rock salt, ground into a fine powder.

Place the beeswax in a pot and melt it over low heat. Add the mutton fat, and once it has melted, add the oil. Then add the pine resin and let it melt, followed by the apricot kernels and frankincense…

Gradually pour in the medicinal juices. Finally, add the rehmannia juice and rock salt, and simmer over low heat until all the moisture in the rehmannia juice has evaporated. Strain through cotton cloth and let the mixture stand until it sets. Apply it to wounds and sores in their early stages, including fresh injuries: three times during the day and twice at night. While using the medicine, avoid raw or cold foods, as well as pork, chicken, and fish. This salve treats sores by first loosening and removing dead flesh without forming a scab, then healing the wound from within until it closes. It does not form a scab, is unaffected by wind, and does not fester. This is an important method for treating wounds and sores.

Formula for bleeding that will not stop after a fright

Puhuang (cattail pollen), one jin; danggui, two liang.

Grind the two ingredients into a fine powder. Take one square-inch spoonful with wine, twice daily.

Another formula: Warm scallion leaves over a fire, squeeze out the juice, and apply it to the wound to stop the bleeding. If the illness arose after a woman was startled, take a garment worn next to her body, warm it over a fire, and press it against the wound.

Another formula: Soak three sheng of fermented soybeans in hot water for the time it takes to eat a meal, then strain out the beans. Add three he of Puhuang and take the whole dose at once. Alternatively, prepare and drink purple decoction; its formula is given in the “Childbirth” section of the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold.

Formula for metal injuries when an arrowhead is embedded in the flesh and cannot be removed

Baixian and Banxia, in equal amounts.

Grind the two ingredients into a fine powder. Take one square-inch spoonful with wine, three times daily. For a shallow wound, the arrowhead will come out after ten days; for a deep wound, it will come out after twenty days. Even an arrowhead that has been embedded for a long time can be expelled.

Formula for a sudden arrow wound when the arrowhead cannot be removed, or when blood has pooled in the flesh

Burn a woman’s menstrual cloth to ash, grind it finely, and take it with wine.

Formula for an arrowhead or blade embedded in a concealed place, such as the throat or chest and diaphragm, where it cannot be removed

Mudanpi, one fen; white salt, two fen. The Essential Prescriptions from the Elbow says to use Baixian instead of white salt.

Grind the two ingredients into a fine powder. Take one square-inch spoonful with wine, three times daily; the arrowhead will then come out.

Another formula: Apply trichosanthes juice to the arrow wound, and the arrowhead will come out.

Another formula: Take one square-inch spoonful of Qumai with wine, three times daily, and the wound will heal.

Formula for injuries from poisoned arrows

Pound out one sheng of indigo juice and drink it, then apply it to the wound. If indigo is unavailable, soak a piece of blue cloth, wring out the juice, drink it, and pour it into the wound. If the arrowhead cannot be removed, pound the liver of a dead rat and apply it to the wound.

Another formula: Boil rehmannia juice down until thick, make it into pills, and take them. After taking them for one hundred days, the arrowhead will come out.

Another formula: Drink plenty of kudzu-root juice; it can also be used for all kinds of metal injuries.

Another formula: Grind realgar into a powder and apply it to the wound. Fluid will seep from the wound, after which it will heal.

Another formula: Pound kudzu root and drink its juice. Scrape off the white inner layer of the root, stir-fry it until yellow, and apply it to the wound to relieve pain.

Place salt in the navel, then apply heat with moxa. You can also grind shellfish shells, used as medicine, into a fine powder and take one qianbi (an ancient measure for medicinal spoons) each time. Another option is to boil reed rhizome, strain the liquid, and drink three sheng.

A formula for treating poisoning from a poisoned arrow

Take five he of indigo plant, eight liang of cimicifuga rhizome, and equal parts of cowherb seed and licorice. Grind the four ingredients into a fine powder and take two fangcunbi (an ancient square-inch measure) with cold water, three times during the day and twice at night. The powder may also be mixed with water and applied to the wound. Replace the dressing when the medicine dries.

A formula for treating a broken needle lodged in the flesh

Scrape ivory into a fine powder, mix it with water, and apply it over the broken needle; the needle will come out. Mouse brain may also be applied to the spot. Another method is to place a lodestone, which attracts iron, over the needle; the needle will come out.