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The *Yingtong Baojian* states: Whenever compounding medicines, one must strictly distinguish the origin of the herbs, deeply understand their preferences and aversions, and clearly differentiate between genuine and fake materials. Then, perform fine and clean processing; procedures such as pao (processing), zhi (roasting with honey or other media), and bao (stir-frying until popping) must be completed one by one. Only then, according to the prescription's dosages, carefully weigh and determine them before mixing and blending. Furthermore, during the mixing process, use vessels that have not touched saliva to hold the medicine, and do not allow tasting or smelling. (The *Taiping Shenghui Fang* states: Do not let many people smell it with their noses or taste it with their mouths, for fear of damaging the vital energy of the medicine, rendering it ineffective when used.) Also, do not completely rely on ancient prescriptions, as there may be errors in the dosage units (fen liang). Customs and practices differ between the present and antiquity; how can one still use the dosages from ancient prescriptions? Current physicians compounding pediatric medicines find that less is better; thus, new standards are established to reflect contemporary usage. Where ancient texts specify "one dao gui" (a unit of measure using a knife-edge scoop), use "one qian bi" today. (One qian bi refers to filling a coin with powdered medicine equivalent to one qian.) Some say: One qian weight is equal to one qian on the scale. Understanding these two explanations removes all doubt. Generally, two and a half qian constitute one fen, and four fen constitute one liang. Compounding according to this standard ensures no errors. (This section was established because infants' internal organs differ from adults'.)

The *Wanquan Fang* discusses methods for prescribing medicine for children: The classics state: Those under six years old are called children. However, treating children differs from adults because they suffer from specific conditions such as mouth-tightening syndrome (cuokou), acute convulsions (ji jing), chronic convulsions (man jing), fright attacks (wu), malnutrition syndromes (gan), and epilepsy (xian); therefore, separate formulas and discussions are required. Other diseases are not significantly different from those in adults. Various formulas scattered throughout the volumes can also be consulted and applied after detailed examination. (For example, vomiting and diarrhea, wind-cold, and cold damage diseases are contracted similarly to adults, so the same treatments are adopted.) However, children possess pure yang qi; when ill, heat patterns predominate over cold patterns. Therefore, medications should be slightly cooler than those prescribed for adults. In cases where warm medicines are used, the dosage should be reduced at the physician's discretion; (for instance, water-like diarrhea, white dysentery, and stomach coldness also require warm medicines.) Whether using pills or powders, the decision rests with the physician's judgment. Infants within one month can be treated similarly to those at 100 days; one-year-olds similarly to two-year-olds; three-year-olds similarly to four-year-olds; five-year-olds similarly to six-year-olds. "Similarly" means the volume per dose is the same. Although this is the general rule, the dosage must be increased or decreased based on the severity of the illness. Sun Simiao stated regarding Longdan Tang (Gentian Decoction) and Tiaozhong Tang (Regulate the Middle Decoction): For infants aged one to seven days, take one he (a unit of volume) divided into three doses. For eight to fifteen days, take one and a half he divided into three doses. For sixteen to twenty days, take two he divided into three doses. For twenty to thirty days, take three he divided into three doses. For thirty to forty days, take five he divided into three doses. If five he is insufficient, adjust accordingly. These two formulas apply to infants from one day to forty days old; the methods are fully detailed here. Physicians prescribing later should follow this as the standard. Even for children up to five or six years old, dosages should be adjusted sequentially without need for repetition.