Library

[Background Information]
Book: *Yixue Zhongzhong Canxi Lu* (Record of Chinese Medicine with Reference to Western Medicine)
Author: Zhang Xichun
Dynasty: Qing
Chapter: Appendix: Hu Laifu Ying Can Detoxify Arsenic / 49. Gouqizi, Digupi Explanation
Category: Medical Theory

[English Translation]

In the eastern boundary of the county, there was a family surnamed Chu. Due to a marital dispute, his wife, in anger, swallowed arsenic (Pishi). Her husband had not yet returned from being out. At night, the arsenic poison took effect; she felt extreme heat and thirst in the heart. There was some water in her pot in which dried carrot leaves (Hu Laifu Ying) had been soaked, still slightly warm. She drank it to the fullest extent, and the heat and thirst in the heart stopped immediately. When her husband returned, she was unaware of what had happened. Ten days later, her husband's sister also swallowed arsenic at her mother-in-law's house. Messengers were urgently sent to notify them, and the husband hurriedly prepared to visit her. His wife said, "Take a basket of dried carrot leaves. Soak them thoroughly in boiling water, and drink plenty of that water; she will surely recover, without any risk." The husband asked how she knew this, and only then did his wife reveal the previous incident. The husband indeed used this prescription and saved his sister. However, what they used was dried carrot leaves sun-dried at the end of autumn, which had undergone frost multiple times on the roof. Perhaps its ability to detoxify arsenic also borrowed the power of severe frost? As for whether fresh carrot leaves can also detoxify arsenic, this remains unknown.

Gouqizi (Lycii Fructus): Sweet in taste, rich in fluid, slightly cool in nature. It is the best medicine for nourishing the Liver and Kidneys. Therefore, its nature is good at improving vision, clearing deficiency heat, strengthening sinews and bones, relieving lower back pain, and benefiting health when taken for a long time. These are all merits of nourishing the Liver and Kidneys. However, because there is an ancient proverb saying "Do not eat Gouqizi if living more than a thousand li away," people suspect it may enhance sexual function (Yang Dao), and its nature might be biased towards warmth. But I assert that its nature is definitely not hot, and it indeed has the efficacy of reducing fever. This is derived from careful personal experience, not from empty speculation.

Since I was over fifty years old, my visceral organs have had an excess of Yang energy. Every night before sleeping, regardless of winter or summer, I place a pot of cold water by the bedhead. Each time I wake up, feeling heat in the heart, I drink a few mouthfuls of cold water. By dawn, almost no water remains in the pot. Only when chewing and swallowing one liang of Gouqizi before sleep can I reduce the intake of cold water by half. Moreover, upon waking in the morning, I feel exceptionally calm in the heart and abundant in spirit. Based on this alone to discuss Gouqizi, can we not conclude that although Gouqizi is a fine nourishing medicine whose nature may not necessarily be cool, it indeed possesses the efficacy of reducing fever?

Someone asked: "Since Gouqizi is good at nourishing Yin and thus clears deficiency heat, now that you feel heat upon waking from sleep, is this heat truly deficiency heat or excess heat?" I replied: "I have always been stout and robust, with no deficiency in Yin. It is clear that this is not deficiency heat. However, I do not feel heat during the day; even if I stay awake all night, I do not feel heat. I only feel heat in the heart when first waking from sleep. This indicates that the heat arises during sleep, which is clearly different from general excess heat. This heat is generated by the natural interaction between the Heart and Kidneys during sleep, which is a phenomenon of vigorous congenital primordial Yang. Only Gouqizi can tonify primordial Yin, harmonizing with congenital primordial Yang, hence this efficacy. To say that it only clears deficiency heat is to view Gouqizi superficially."

[Attached Prescription] Jin Sui Decoction (Golden Marrow Decoction)
Select ripe red Gouqizi daily, soak them in clear wine (Wu Hui Jiu), seal tightly with wax paper to prevent leakage of air. After two months, take them out, crush them in a mortar, filter to extract the juice, mix with the original soaking wine, and put into a silver pot. Simmer slowly over low fire, stirring constantly with chopsticks to prevent sticking and unevenness. When it becomes like thick syrup, store it in a clean bottle tightly sealed. Take two large spoons with warm wine every morning, and another dose before bed. After one hundred days, the body feels light and Qi becomes strong.

Digupi (Cortex Lycii): This is the bark of the Goji berry root. Its roots grow downward directly to the yellow springs (deep earth), imbued with the strongest Yin energy of the earth. Therefore, its nature is cool and excels at reducing fever. Because its force is superior in descending and has astringent properties, it treats bone-steaming with sweating, stops hematemesis and epistaxis, further clears Kidney heat downwards, promotes urination and defecation, and treats bleeding from the bowels or urine due to heat. Furthermore, its astringent and descending force can clear and purify the floating heat in the Upper Jiao. For those suffering from cough due to lung injury by heat, taking it can lead to recovery. Thus, most materia medica texts state that it can treat cough. However, it is contraindicated for cough caused by wind pathogen in the Lung, because its nature is astringent.