Library

Olive: It absorbs the Yang Qi from the earth, with a taste that is initially sour and astringent followed by sweetness. Its nature is warm, non-toxic, and it enters the Lung and Stomach channels as a fruit. It can generate body fluids; chewing it after drinking alcohol prevents thirst, thus it is primarily used to resolve alcohol intoxication and detoxify alcohol. It also resolves the toxicity of pufferfish (Tai). If humans mistakenly consume the liver and roe of this fish, they will inevitably fall into a coma and die; only decocting and taking olive juice can resolve the toxicity. This is likely because when olive wood is used to make oars for rowing, if it touches such fish, the fish float to the surface; the mutual restraint among things is so profound. Therefore, when choked by fish bones while eating various fishes, one can chew olive juice and swallow it. If olives are unavailable, one can find the pits, grind them into powder, and take them mixed with running water, which is also effective. For treating sores caused by scratching hands, grinding olives into thick juice and applying it externally can eliminate scars. To treat intestinal wind bleeding, burn olives until they retain their medicinal properties (charred but retaining essence), grind into powder, take two qian per dose, and wash down with aged rice water. For frostbite on the feet, burn olive pits, grind into powder, mix with oil, and apply; all these applications utilize its meaning of warming circulation and astringency.

Olives benefit the throat, relieve irritability and thirst, open the appetite, and digest food and alcohol excellently; stopping diarrhea and resolving fish toxicity is particularly miraculous. For fish bones stuck in the throat, swallowing the juice removes them; if boiled and drunk, it especially resolves various toxins. However, its nature is largely hot and warm, which can cause upward congestion.

Ginkgo nuts (Bai Guo) bloom at the second watch of the night and bear fruit at the third watch. Eating them raw irritates the throat; roasted, they taste sweet and bitter. Consumed in small amounts, they accompany tea and resolve alcohol intoxication; consumed in large amounts, they stir wind and generate phlegm. Eating up to one thousand pieces causes immediate death. These are fruits of Yin toxicity and must be guarded against. Ancient formulas only utilized them for treating white turbidity (leukorrhea or cloudy urine) with efficacy; children consuming them for the first time are prone to convulsions.

Water chestnut (Bi Qi), also known as Wu Yu, is born inheriting the Qi of Earth and Metal. Its taste is bitter and sweet, its nature is slightly cold, and it is non-toxic. The sweet and cold nature clears heat and generates fluids, thus it primarily treats polydipsia (wasting-thirst syndrome); the bitter nature drains downward, thus it directs bi-heat downward, expels residual heat from Dan Shi minerals, eliminates retained food, treats jaundice, abdominal distension, bloody stool, five types of diaphragmatic qi disorders, and clears excess heat in the chest.

Water chestnuts tonify Qi, digest food, and clear heat. They are necessary for abdominal distension due to fluid deficiency, suitable for trying in cases of bloody stool, and good at neutralizing copper toxicity, hence used for those who accidentally swallow copper objects. However, being cold and cooling with a draining nature, pregnant women should avoid eating them.