《仙傳外科祕方》Vol. 6

This text records ancient secret formulas and specific procedures for treating furuncles (acute suppurative infections).

For early-stage identification: If the sore shows no color change, feels painless upon pressure, remains immobile when touched, and is accompanied by alternating chills and fever, it is diagnosed as a furuncle. The text enumerates over ten types including Qi furuncles, water-fire furuncles, snake-eye furuncles, etc.

Primary treatment methods:

1. Application of "Huang-Circle Medicine": During the twelfth lunar month, obtain boar's gallbladder and mix it with realgar, high-quality ink (Jingmo), and ginger juice. Grind into powder to make an ointment applied around the sore to prevent toxin spread.

2. Acupuncture therapy: Insert needles above the sore until reaching the painful area—bleeding is acceptable. Then apply "Immortal Toad Toxin-Extraction" medicine into the wound, covered externally with "Aqua-Sinking Ointment" or "Divine Response Ointment."

3. For toxin diffusion: Observe the path of blood vessels and use heated needles to sever them, halting further spread. Perform concentrated needling at toxin accumulation points for bloodletting and detoxification.

Special precautions:

• Crosswise toxin diffusion (left-right alternating) indicates difficult treatment
• No bleeding upon needle withdrawal or dark purple blood signals critical condition
• Only gold, silver, or copper needles permitted—iron needles strictly prohibited

Oral medications:

• Emergency administration of "Furuncle-Chasing Life-Saving Decoction" or "Soaring Dragon Life-Saving Elixir" in early stages
• Post-crisis use of "Toxin-Resolving Swelling-Relieving Internal-Support Powder"
• Therapeutic sweating required after medication for efficacy

Appendix: "Toad Venom Extraction Method":

Capture live toads (Bufo gargarizans) and squeeze the white secretion (toad venom/cinobufagin) from their brow ridges onto oiled paper or mulberry leaves. Scrape off with bamboo slivers and dry in shade for storage.

The mentioned "Toxin-Expelling Elixir" demonstrates remarkable efficacy in pus drainage, toxin extraction, and furuncle treatment.

(Note: "Yellow-spreading" denotes toxin diffusion where "yellow" refers to pus-toxins; "fire needles" are heated needle instruments; "toad venom" designates processed precious medicinal material derived from toad secretions.)

This formula is an external remedy for treating toxic sores. The main ingredients include toad venom (secreted by toads, use one qian, either dried or dissolved in aged wine), croton seeds (seven pieces, shell removed but retaining the oil), white clove (one qian; if unavailable, increase the amount of croton seeds), centipede (soaked in wine and sun-dried until yellow), sal ammoniac (one qian), realgar (two qian), calomel (one qian), and cinnabar (two qian for coating the pills, which can be substituted with yellow lead if necessary).

The preparation method involves grinding all ingredients into a fine powder and mixing them with wheat flour and water to form pills. If the mixture is difficult to shape, wine and flour paste can be used instead, forming grain-sized pills with pointed ends. To apply, first puncture the sore with a needle, insert the pill, and then cover it with Water-Settling Paste (its preparation will be explained later), followed by an ointment and flesh-regenerating medicine. This formula promotes the expulsion of pus, blood, and toxins.

For deep, blackened fistulas with necrotic tissue that refuses to slough off and new flesh that fails to grow, this medicine can also be used to detoxify, remove dead tissue, and stimulate regeneration. Use one pill for small sores and adjust the dosage for larger ones. For milder cases, puncturing with a needle is unnecessary—simply scrape the sore’s surface with a fingernail before applying the medicine and covering it with Water-Settling Paste. Continue until the sore becomes red and swollen and the necrotic tissue falls away. The results are remarkably effective.

Water-Settling Paste preparation: Mix bletilla tuber powder with water in a bowl, allow it to settle, and then apply the clear liquid with paper. If this paste is used, flesh-regenerating medicine is unnecessary.

Additional auxiliary formulas include:

1. Yellow Application Medicine: Made from cicada molting and silkworm larvae.

2. Alternative Formula: Uses luffa leaves, scallions with roots intact, and Chinese chives.

3. Another Formula: Involves burning cocklebur roots and shoots to ash, combined with white salted plum ash and indigo for enhanced effect.

Grind these auxiliary ingredients into fine powder and mix with vinegar before applying around the sore (leaving the sore itself exposed) to draw out toxins. If the mixture dries, moisten it with more vinegar. If the effect is insufficient, supplement with the aforementioned topical medicines or detoxifying and toxin-expelling powders.

For sunken sores with persistent pus, specifically targeting malignant boils, carbuncles, and abscesses, grind iron rust into powder and apply it with vinegar to the sore. The toxin will soon protrude, and the pus will dry up.

Lastly, there is an internal "Life-Retrieving Toxin-Chasing Decoction", a secret formula for rapid swelling reduction. Ingredients include notopterygium root, pubescent angelica root, green tangerine peel (used generously), ledebouriella root (used generously), coptis root, red peony root, asarum herb, licorice nodes, and cicada molting.

This prescription is a secret surgical formula for treating foot ulcers (known as "foot connection sores"). The formula uses equal parts of silkworm fungus (jiang can) and forsythia fruit, combined with human placenta (zi he che), horehound, and honeysuckle flowers. If pus is present, add fleeceflower root and angelica dahurica (used when drainage is needed), along with costus root. For severe cases, add rhubarb, gardenia, and morning glory seeds. For foot-specific conditions, add chaenomeles fruit.

The preparation method is as follows: Crush the herbs, with each dose measuring five qian (about 15 grams). For the first dose, use slightly less horehound and honeysuckle flowers (one liang each, about 30 grams), along with one liang of fresh ginger. Pound these together and take with warm wine. For non-drinkers, decoct in water for better effect. Subsequently, decoct in equal parts wine and water (one and a half cups total) with ten slices of ginger, taking it hot until sweating occurs. After improvement, add two qian of rhubarb to the decoction to induce one or two bowel movements, thereby eliminating residual toxins.

Though seemingly ordinary, this formula demonstrates remarkable efficacy and has proven effective through repeated use. For accompanying symptoms, modify the prescription accordingly:

For restlessness and vomiting: Add one qian of licorice nodes, taking soybean flour with sour fermented water. For nausea: Add frankincense and soybean flour, taken with licorice decoction. For severe vomiting: Use human placenta with aged ginger, swallowed with a mouthful of rice vinegar.

For restlessness with fever (called "latent summerheat"): Use cinnabar with Five-Ingredient Poria Powder. For persistent vomiting: Add clove buds and lotus seeds. If still unresolved, use Unsubstituted Gold Righteous Qi Powder with ginseng and aucklandia root. For severe vomiting with cold extremities: Use coptis and elsholtzia powder to deliver Summerheat-Dispersing Pills.

For cold limbs: Add chaenomeles fruit and morning glory seeds. For restlessness: Add ophiopogon root, red peony root, gardenia, and rush pith. For tidal fever: Add bupleurum root, scutellaria, lophatherum, and cogongrass rhizome. For blurred vision: Add small amounts of cinnabar, realgar, and musk.

For abdominal distension: Add coix seeds and gypsum. For diarrhea: Add white atractylodes, poria, nutmeg, and poppy husk. For unrelenting abdominal pain: Add aucklandia root and frankincense. For cough with wheezing: Add anemarrhena rhizome, fritillaria bulb, and a small amount of honey.

For headache: Add ligusticum root, angelica dahurica, and scallion whites. If pain persists: Crush radish seeds with ligusticum root and scallion whites to apply on temples for relief.

This passage records several traditional Chinese medical prescriptions for various symptoms, along with a secret formula called "Flying Dragon Life-Saving Elixir."

For different conditions: Excessive phlegm can be treated by gargling with juice pounded from fresh mugwort leaves mixed with rice vinegar; sore throat remedies may include radix sophorae tonkinensis, mountain figwort root, gardenia, lophatherum, mugwort, and rush pith; constipation calls for red peony root (processed with ginger), bitter orange, and areca peel; difficult urination requires red peony root, red poria, clematis, and plantain; bloody urine needs fresh rehmannia and plantain; nosebleeds respond to wild safflower, rehmannia, lotus node, and ginger peel; painless, non-swelling sores benefit from three cones of moxibustion; bone-steaming fever (consumptive fever resembling tuberculosis) improves with cogongrass root; pulseless conditions require the Twenty-Four Ingredient Qi-Flowing Decoction.

The highlighted "Flying Dragon Life-Saving Elixir" is a remarkably effective treatment for various malignant sores, including furuncles, back carbuncles, brain abscesses, and breast abscesses. This miraculous formula can make headless swellings protrude, induce pain in numb sores, and instantly cure formed lesions. Its ingredients include toad venom (dissolved in aged wine), dragon's blood resin, frankincense, myrrh, realgar, calomel, chalcanthite, musk, verdigris, gypsum, cinnabar (as coating), optional borneol, sea snails (21 pieces with shells), and centipedes (soaked in wine, roasted yellow, with heads and legs removed).

Preparation involves grinding all ingredients into fine powder, pounding the snails into paste, then forming pea-sized pills. If the mixture lacks cohesion, wine and flour paste may assist binding. Dosage is two pills taken with 3-4 cups of ash-free heated wine, wrapped in a three-inch section of scallion white that the patient must first chew and spit into their palm (left for men, right for women). After administration, the patient should remain warmly covered in a wind-free environment.

This passage describes medicinal formulas and application methods for treating furuncles (acute suppurative infections) and severe skin abscesses.

There are two main prescriptions: an internal remedy called Life-Stealing Golden Elixir (Duo Ming Jindan) and an external ointment.

The Golden Elixir formula contains myrrh, toad venom, calomel, realgar, verdigris, cinnabar, chalcanthite, gypsum, musk, pseudoginseng, and other herbs, ground into mung bean-sized pills. Administration method: Take two pills with warm wine while chewing scallion stalks to wrap the pills before swallowing. After ingestion, cover with blankets to induce sweating. For upper body lesions, take after meals; for lower body lesions, take before meals. Dietary restrictions include avoiding cold water, cucumbers, eggplants, greasy foods, pork, miscellaneous fish, and damp noodles—all potential triggers for toxic sores. Patients must also avoid contact with people having body odor or menstruating women.

Therapeutic effects manifest as fever and sweating post-administration. Mild cases resolve with two pills; severe cases require another two pills after 3-5 days. Prognosis becomes poor if "furuncle toxin invades inward" (Ding Chuang Zou Huang) or if cold sweats persist uncontrollably.

The external ointment combines frankincense, anemarrhena rhizome, pinellia tuber, trichosanthes root, pangolin scales, bletilla tuber, honeylocust fruit, and honeysuckle—boiled in wine for oral use. The dregs are mashed with hibiscus leaves and honey for topical application. Keep the compress moist, typically showing results overnight.

An additional Realgar Pill formula (curcuma root, realgar, knoxia root, mirabilite, and croton seed) promotes bowel movement to eliminate toxins.

The conclusion emphasizes these formulas' miraculous efficacy in "reviving the dying," with strict instructions for cautious use and proper preservation.

This records several preparation and administration methods of ancient Daoist medical surgical formulas:

First Pill Preparation: Grind all medicinal ingredients into fine powder, mix with flour paste to form mung bean-sized pills. Take 7-9 pills each dose, accompanied by half a croton seed (purgative) taken with cooled boiled water. For dissolving phlegm, use instead a cooled decoction of mulberry root bark and apricot kernels as the liquid carrier - this produces immediate effects.

Second Purgative Formula: Take 3-4 qian (approx. 9-12g) of euphorbia powder (strong hydragogue), mix with mild tea water for rapid bowel movement.

Third Stagnation-Dissolving Formula: Combine 20 croton seeds with equal amounts of costus root, clove and peach kernel, ground into powder and formed into mung bean-sized pills. Taken with warm water, effective upon reaction.

Fourth Formula: 1 liang (30g) croton seeds and 1 liang fermented soybeans, powdered and formed into pills. Take 7 or 9 pills per dose with plain water. Avoid hot-natured foods after administration; may use warm rice congee or rice water for recuperation.

Yellow-Extracting Formula: Make phoenix seed-sized pills from toad venom and refined flour. Place one pill under the tongue during treatment to immediately draw out jaundice.

Bai'er Powder (aka Heart-Protecting Powder): Specifically treats restlessness, confusion or even mania caused by malignant boils. Formula: equal parts licorice nodes, mung bean flour and cinnabar. For severe cases, take with water.

Soul-Returning Elixir Formula: A little musk, 2 qian (6g) realgar, 1 zi (0.4g) toad venom, 7 shelled croton seeds (lightly charred over lamp flame). Grind ingredients, blend with toad venom, apply on tongue to dissolve in three stages - makes boils rupture spontaneously. Crucial note: Iron utensils strictly prohibited in preparation.

(Note: Historical measurement units: 1 qian≈3g, 1 liang≈30g, 1 zi=smallest ancient unit. These toxic formulas are obsolete in modern practice, preserved here for historical medical reference only.)