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(Attachment: Method for refining Glauber's Salt into Xuanming Powder)
Glauber's Salt (Puxiao): Salty in taste, slightly bitter, cold in nature. It crystallizes by inheriting the qi of cold water from heaven and earth; water can overcome fire, and cold can overcome heat, making it a key herb for patients with blazing heart fire and excess heat syndromes. It treats phlegm generated by heart heat, mental confusion, tidal fever in the five centers (palms, soles, and chest), irritability, and insomnia. Furthermore, salty substances can soften hardness, and its nature is good at resolving accumulation, thus it can unblock dry fecal impaction and resolve all kinds of stasis. Since salty flavors enter the blood level, it is also effective in resolving blood stasis and treating cases where a fetus has died in utero and not been expelled. Externally, dissolving it in water for eye drops or decocting it for fumigation and washing can brighten the eyes, reduce nebulae, and cure redness and swelling of ocular diseases. *Shennong Bencao Jing* states that taking refined Glauber's Salt can nourish life. The term "refined" refers to processing it according to standard methods to produce Xuanming Powder, which possesses superior properties. However, nowadays, very few Xuanming Powders are refined according to these standards. Most Xuanming Powders sold in pharmacies are derived from weathered Glauber's Salt, having properties indistinguishable from raw Glauber's Salt.

[Attached Medical Case] A young woman suffered from severe manic psychosis, and multiple attempts to administer medication orally failed. Subsequently, a prescription was devised using only Glauber's Salt as a substitute for sodium chloride, added to vegetables for her consumption. Unaware of the content, she consumed it for over a month and made a complete recovery.

Student Wan XX from Fakumen treated a young girl suffering from mania. Attempts to force-feed medication resulted in the girl biting through the medicine bowl, yet still failing to ingest it. Having previously read *Yixue Zhongzhong Canxi Lu*, Wan XX knew this method and thus used Glauber's Salt boiled with fresh radishes to make a soup, instructing the patient to eat it. She recovered completely within a few days.

Liu XX from Fengtian, aged over forty, suffered from Jie Zheng (a syndrome characterized by obstruction and pain in the chest and epigastrium). Food and drink would travel down to the lower stomach and then be vomited back up, regardless of the medication taken. The area was constantly tender, and there had been no passage of upper or lower functions for ten days. He was instructed to use six taels of Glauber's Salt, boiled together with slices of fresh radish. Once the radishes were thoroughly cooked and soft, they were removed, and fresh slices were added for further boiling. This process was repeated six or seven times, consuming approximately seven to eight jin of radishes. The salty flavor of the Glauber's Salt was extracted by the radishes until exhausted, leaving four cups of concentrated liquid. Each time, one cup was drunk warm, once every two hours. After three doses, the obstruction opened, and bowel movements resumed. His daughter, who was currently suffering from dysentery, drank the remaining liquid, and her dysentery also resolved.

A woman surnamed Yu from Fengtian, nearing fifty years of age, suffered from phlegm generated by heart heat, phlegm-fire stasis, irritability, insomnia, and tidal fever in the five centers. Her pulse was surging and solid. Consequently, Glauber's Salt was combined with roasted wheat flour and refined honey to form pills. Each pill weighed three qian, containing approximately one qian of Glauber's Salt per pill. One pill was taken morning and evening. She recovered completely in half a month. Generally, excessive thinking leads to heart heat and qi stagnation; body fluids often follow the stagnant qi and accumulate below the heart, where they are scorched by heart fire to become hot phlegm. Glauber's Salt is both salty and cold; originally, it is an herb corresponding to the organ opposite the heart (the Kidney). Its salty nature belongs to Water, possessing the power to overcome Fire, and its cold nature overcomes Heat. Moreover, its nature is good at resolution and opening obstructions, making it most suitable for treating heart heat with phlegm. The reason for forming pills with wheat flour is that wheat is the grain associated with the Heart. When the Heart is diseased and requires purgation by Glauber's Salt, wheat flour provides tonification. The combination of tonification and purgation balances the medicinal properties, making them mild enough for prolonged use.

Xiao Shi (Niter), also known as Yan Xiao, commonly called Huo Xiao. Salty-sweet in taste, its nature is similar to Glauber's Salt. Its cooling power is inferior to that of Glauber's Salt, but its resolving power surpasses it. When used together with Vitriol (Zao Fan), it is effective in treating internal injury jaundice, dissolving gallstones, bladder stones (i.e., Stone Lin/Gouty Arthritis equivalent in TCM context regarding stones), and hookworm disease (Hookworms and gallstones can both lead to jaundice; see the chapter "Discussion on Jaundice involving Internal Injury, External Contraction, and Combined Syndromes with Detailed Treatment Methods," which contains the reviewed formula Niter and Vitriol Powder from *Jin Gui Yao Lue* for reference).