Library

Chicken Blood (262) tastes salty and is neutral in nature. It primarily treats flaccidity syndromes (Wei syndrome), bi-syndrome, sudden evil qi causing abdominal pain, and resolves dan-toxin, gu-toxin, insect toxin, and salt-brine toxin. It also treats infantile convulsions and constipation, promotes lactation, and all these indications are best served by consuming it while hot. If bitten by a horse, soaking the wound in hot blood is appropriate. Chicken comb blood treats vitiligo and wind-heat in the meridians. Applied to the fontanelle and cheeks, it treats facial paralysis (deviation of mouth and eye). Suddenly administering it treats near-death from hanging and sudden infantile fright or alien qi invasion. Taken with wine, it is optimal for erupting smallpox/chickenpox. Applied to various sores, tinea, and toxins from centipedes, spiders, or horse bites. If insects enter the ear, dripping hot blood into it is appropriate.

Duck Blood (263) tastes salty and is slightly cool in nature; it excels at resolving various toxins. For those poisoned by gold, silver, cinnabar, arsenic, or salt-brine, consuming this is appropriate to detoxify. If killed by wild gelsemium (Ye Ge) poison, drinking it hot resolves the toxin upon entry. For drowning victims, administering it can revive them. For ulcers caused by earthworm bites, applying duck blood leads to healing.

Tiger Bone (264) tastes slightly pungent and is neutral in odor/nature. It primarily treats various evil qi, expels ghost essences, relieves various heart and abdominal pains, stops palpitations and fright, strengthens sinews and bones, treats toxic wind in limbs causing spasms and wandering pain, prevents cold damage and warm malaria, and treats malignant sores, rat-wasting, and toxins from dog bites. Using the skull as a pillow wards off nightmares and sleep paralysis; placing it above the door wards off evil spirits. Kou Zongshi said: Wind arises from the tiger because wind belongs to Wood, and the tiger belongs to Metal; since Wood is controlled by Metal, it must follow, thus tiger bone can treat wind diseases causing spasms, wandering pain, and conditions like wind-toxin, mania, syncope, and epilepsy. Li Shizhen stated that any part of the tiger bone can be used.

For treating evil expulsion, calming convulsions, headache due to wind, warm malaria, and carbuncles, use the skull; for treating wind in hands and feet, use the shin bone; for treating wind in the waist and back, use the spine bone, each corresponding to its category. Wu Qiu said: The strength, sinews, qi, and energy of a tiger all originate from its front legs, so the shin bone is superior.

Ivory (265) tastes sweet and is cool in nature. It clears fire from the Heart and Kidney, treats palpitations, wind-manic behavior, bone-steaming phlegm-heat, ghost essence and evil qi, abscesses, and various sores. These should be ground into raw powder and decocted for consumption. If foreign objects are stuck in the throat, grinding ivory into water and drinking it is appropriate. For bamboo or wood splinters embedded in muscles, scraping ivory powder mixed with water and applying it helps extract the splinter.

Deer Antler Glue (266) tastes sweet and salty and is warm in nature. It greatly tonifies deficiency and emaciation, benefits blood and qi, fills essence and marrow, strengthens sinews and bones, promotes muscle growth, beautifies complexion, and extends life. It treats hematemesis, lower bleeding, spermatorrhea, hematuria, and women's metrorrhagia, leukorrhea (red and white discharge), infertility due to blood deficiency, stops pain, calms the fetus, and treats fractures and soft tissue injuries, sores, and swelling/toxins. It excellently assists yang within yin and is a crucial herb for tonifying yin.

Gu Rong (267) [Young Deer Antler] tastes sweet and salty and is warm in nature. Cut open, coated with butter, roasted until yellow and crisp, then used in medicine. It benefits primordial qi, fills true yin, supports frailty and weakness, excellently supplements essence and blood, especially strengthens sinews and bones, hardens teeth, and benefits spirit and mind. It treats deafness, dim vision, dizziness, lumbar/kidney deficiency with cold, weak knees and legs, nocturnal emissions with dream intercourse, seminal leakage, frequent urination, dysentery due to deficiency with hematuria, and women's heavy menstrual bleeding and leukorrhea. Daoists say: Only the pearl on top of the spotted dragon's head (referring to deer antler) can replenish the blood below the Jade Hall and Guan Xia, which refers to this substance. If tender and large like a purple eggplant, its efficacy is double that of deer antler glue.

Rhinoceros Horn (268) tastes bitter, pungent, and slightly sweet, and is cold in nature. Its odor and taste are light, ascending and yang. Its nature is spiritually penetrating, excelling in dispersing and moving, more so than other horns. Medicinal use favors the black color, with potency concentrated at the tip. It specifically enters the Yangming channel, clears stomach fire, and acts on other zang organs. It cools the heart, stabilizes spirit, calms fright, drains liver fire, brightens eyes, resolves severe heat, disperses wind-toxin and yang-toxin, and epidemic heat irritability. Ground juice treats hematemesis, epistaxis, lower bleeding, cold damage with blood stasis, mania, jaundice, macules, delirium, dense chickenpox/smallpox, internal heat causing black depression or failure to scab, and disperses sore toxins, abscesses, pus, blood, swelling, and pain. It kills demon fox essences, ghost infections, hundred toxins, gu-toxin, Gelsemium, poisonous bird feathers, snake venom, and wards off stream miasma and mountain bad qi. Its nature is ascending and dispersing, so for cold damage with heat-toxin blocking the exterior, causing irritability, heat, confusion, and inability to sweat, grinding the tip and adding it to medicine induces sweating rapidly. Zhang Zhongjing stated: If rhinoceros horn is unavailable, substitute with Cimicifugae Rhizoma (Shengma), precisely because both enter the Yangming channel and share ascending/dispersing functions. Modern people do not understand this, often doubting, knowing only that rhinoceros horn clears heart heat but not that it ascends and disperses, acting more swiftly and powerfully than Shengma. In cases of middle qi deficiency, fine pulse without spirit, or chickenpox/smallpox with blood deficiency and insufficient true yin, where sweating, cold, or dispersing are feared, it is contraindicated. If absolutely necessary, it should be used with tonifying formulas.

Antelope Horn (269) tastes salty and is cold in nature. Sheep are fire animals, but this horn belongs to Wood, excelling in entering the Shaoyang and Jueyin channels. Thus, it clears the liver, settles wind, moves blood and qi, expels ghost infections and evil toxins, calms soul and spirit, settles fright and mania, dispels nightmares, treats cold damage with pathogenic heat, all evil toxins, sudden evil wind-toxin, sudden death with coma, women's eclampsia and rigidity, infantile palpitations, irritability, and unclear phlegm-fire. All are best taken as powder, mixed with honey water, or roasted crisp, ground, and taken with wine. For treating swelling/toxins and malignant sores, grinding into water for topical application is also effective.

Calculus Bovis (Niuhuang) (270) tastes bitter and pungent, is cool in nature, neutral in odor, and slightly toxic. Contraindicated with Veratrum nigrum (Changshan). Enters Heart, Lung, and Liver channels. Clears heart heat, reduces fever, transforms phlegm, cools fright, opens orifices, and resolves stagnation. Treats infantile convulsions and alien qi invasion, heat-phlegm with locked jaw, adult mania with phlegm obstruction, stroke with spasms, expels evil charms and sudden evil, epidemic diseases, calms soul and spirit, clarifies restless spirit, unblocks ears and eyes, treats purple chickenpox/smallpox, excessive phlegm, and restlessness/mania. It can also induce abortion; pregnant women should use sparingly.

Donkey-Hide Gelatin (Ejiao) (271) tastes sweet and slightly pungent, is neutral in odor, and slightly warm. Odor and taste are rich, containing yin within yang. Prepared by stir-frying with clam powder into beads, entering Lung, Liver, and Kidney channels. Its warmth supports labor injury and benefits middle qi. Its descending nature transforms phlegm, clears lungs, treats lung abscess and wasting-pneumonia, coughing up pus and blood, stops cough, calms asthma. Its blood-nourishing nature stops hematemesis, epistaxis, hematochezia, hematuria, intestinal wind dysentery, and women's metrorrhagia, turbid discharge, bloody strangury, and irregular menstruation. Its sweet and slow nature calms the fetus, secures leakage, nourishes blood and tonifies kidney, solidifies interstices, stops deficient sweating, and supports/treats carbuncles and sores. Use loose, crisp, and clear-smelling material; hard and foul-smelling material is inferior.

Bear Bile (272) tastes bitter and is cold in nature. Reduces fever, clears heart, treats epidemic jaundice, calms liver, brightens eyes, removes nebula, kills roundworms and pinworms, toothache, wind-pain, infantile heat-guan and heat-phlegm, convulsions, heat-dysentery due to guan. Best administered dissolved in bamboo sap, two bean-sized doses, which is very effective. Also treats nasal sores, heat-sores, hemorrhoids/fistulas with swelling/pain, applied with water solution, adding a little borneol enhances efficacy. To verify authenticity, take a grain-sized amount, place on water surface; if it sinks in a straight line without spreading, it is genuine. Furthermore, while all bile can repel dust on water, bear bile does so fastest, which is another identification method.

Musk (She Xiang) (273) tastes bitter and pungent, is warm in nature. Opens orifices, unblocks meridians, penetrates muscles and bones, resolves alcohol toxicity, expels wind-phlegm, dissipates accumulations and masses, scatters evil turbid qi, relieves acute abdominal pain and distension, kills ghost objects, evil qi, nightmares, visceral parasites, snake/insect toxin, gu-toxin, miasma toxin, sandfly toxin, and women's dystocia; excels at inducing abortion. Dissolve one pill in hot water to treat infantile convulsions and alien qi invasion, calm heart and spirit. Treats nasal congestion loss of smell, eye diseases to remove nebula, eliminates all malignant sores, hemorrhoid/fistula swelling/pain, pus, necrotic flesh, facial macules/rash. Suitable for all diseases caused by qi stagnation. For wounds from rat or insect bites, sealing with musk alone heals. To verify authenticity, place a tiny amount on burning charcoal; if oil rolls out forming black charred carbon, it is animal origin (genuine). If it burns into white ash, it is plant origin (fake/adulterated).