Library

For cold syndromes (cold-pattern diseases), use light ginger soup as a guiding vehicle (Yin). For heat syndromes, use Coptidis Rhizoma (Huanglian) or Gypsum Fibrosum (Shigao), Phellodendri Cortex (Huangbai), etc. For phlegm syndromes, use Fritillariae Bulbus (Beimu). For discomfort in the meridians and collaterals, use Uncariae Ramulus cum Uncis (Gougou). For summerheat syndromes, use Artemisiae Annuae Herba (Qinghao), Agastachis Herba (Huoxiang), and Aucklandiae Radix (Muxiang), etc. For toxin syndromes, use Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (Jinyinhua). For Liver Qi stagnation, use Foeniculi Fructus (Xiaohui) or Rosa Rugosa (Meiguihua), Cymbopogon distans leaves (Jianlan ye), and Orchidaceae leaves (Sulan hua). For evil pathogens, use Dalbergiae Odoriferae Lignum (Zhenjiangxiang). For dysentery, use Qinghao, Huoxiang, Muxiang, Jinyinhua, and Gougou; this refers to red dysentery and five-color dysentery. For restless mind and lack of communication between Heart and Kidney, use Polygalae Radix (Yuanzhi), Ziziphi Spinosae Semen (Zaoren), Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Danshen), and Lycii Fructus (Gouqi), etc.; their guiding vehicles cannot be exhaustively listed. Generally speaking, for heat-pain syndromes, hot-natured drugs are used as guiding vehicles. If one does not recognize the syndrome patterns but merely heavily uses Gougou, such as 5 qian or 7 qian, this herb is considered a "fairy product," yet physicians fail to thoroughly understand its subtleties. Next best is Jinyinhua, which must be used half raw and half processed. The divine herbs for deficiency syndromes are Gougou, Gouqi, and Danshen. Gougou serves as the sovereign drug and must be used in heavy doses. The other two are used in equal parts, varying from 3 to 5 qian. Danshen is processed with vinegar nine times, Gouqi with salt nine times, and Gougou mixed with wine and sun-dried nine times; these are topics rarely discussed by contemporary physicians.

Ren Zhong Huang: Occasionally used in pills and powders for gastrointestinal heat-toxin. Now added to decoctions, it amounts to pouring fecal juice into people, thereby damaging the Stomach Qi.
Ren Zhong Bai: After being purified by flying (washing in water until fine powder), it is used in powders. If taken as a decoction, it amounts to pouring urine into people.
Lurong and Mirong: Both are used in pills. For external conditions and smallpox, they are occasionally used in decoctions. Ancient formulas used them to treat chronic dysentery due to blood-cold; modern practitioners use them to treat epidemic dysentery due to heat-toxin, leading to intestinal rot and death.
Heche and Umbilical Cord: Occasionally used in kidney-tonifying pills. Now added to decoctions, they are foul-smelling and unpalatable. Furthermore, several cords are required; pharmacies substitute them with sheep intestines and turtle intestines.
Bengshui: Highly cold and damages the Stomach. Predecessors used one or two spoons to treat Yangming heat-toxin. Modern practitioners use half to one bowl for children, resulting in eight or nine deaths out of ten.
Earthworms: Using one or two earthworms washed in wine for smallpox is already unorthodox. Now using thirty or forty, which are highly toxic and cold, most users die.
Centipedes, Scorpions, and Hornets: All are extremely toxic substances; most users die. Those who survive do so only by luck.
Shijueming: Used in ophthalmology. It is polished, boiled in salt water, and used in powder form. Now it is also added to all decoctions using this method; what is the rationale?
Bailuoke: This is a drying agent for topical application, yet it is also added to decoctions; where lies its efficacy?
Jizihuang: This is a guiding drug for Shaoyin insomnia. Now it is unused even when there is no disease.
Yanwo, Haishen, Dancai, Lu Jin, Choujin, Yudu, and Luwei: These are all food items, not medicinal agents. They must be washed and soaked extremely clean, then cooked with ginger, pepper, scallion, and wine before they are palatable. Now, when decocted together with Shudi, Maidong, Fuzi, and Guizhi, they become foul-smelling and induce vomiting.
Banxia stir-fried with vinegar, Zheshi with vinegar, and Banxia stir-fried with sesame oil: All can damage the Lung, causing hoarseness and death.
Ju Bai, inner fibers of orange, edges of lotus leaves, Pitaya seeds, cherry pits, and Vigna angularis shells: These are discarded in medical texts, yet now they are specifically selected to show novelty. Moreover, those suitable for stir-frying are used raw, and those suitable for slicing are used whole; such examples are too numerous to list. (These views are found in *Shenji Chuyan*)
Sangchong: Taking mulberry borers to induce smallpox eruption; the originator is unknown. I have extensively consulted books on smallpox and never seen any mention of their use. Upon examining their nature, they are merely insects with yin-cold damp-toxin properties. Because they are toxic, they can induce smallpox. Because they are cold and damp, they most easily damage the Spleen. To induce smallpox eruption, relying on toxic drugs rather than regulating Qi and Blood, how is this different from pulling shoots to help them grow? Furthermore, their damp-toxin invades the Spleen; how can weak children endure it? Thus, I often see that those who take excessive Sangchong suffer from cracked lips and skin when the toxin erupts, and incessant diarrhea when the Spleen fails. People only see death from smallpox but do not know it is caused by insect toxin. The past has already overturned; let the future serve as a warning. Alas, for those who remain ignorant, still asleep in the long night, what can be done? I wish to call upon them, but this criticism also condemns the instigator, whose abominable actions are hateful. (*Jingyue Quanshu*)
Niushi: Feeding on blood, similar to Tabanus (Mengchong); bitter, cold, and toxic, especially unsuitable for smallpox patients. Yet the world habitually uses them; the harm caused is incalculable. (*Bencao Congxin*)