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To purge liver heat and brighten the eyes.
Salty and cool in nature. Eliminates wind-heat of the Lung and Liver. Taken internally, it treats Qingmang (blindness with clear pupils) and internal cataracts; applied externally to the eye, it disperses external obstructions such as red membranes. It also treats bone-steaming consumptive fever, unblocks the five types of strangury (dysuria).
(It can clear the Lung and Liver.) Heals ulcers and carbuncles. Excessive intake causes cold in the Middle Jiao. Its shape resembles a small clam but is flat, consisting of a single valve without a matching pair. Those with seven or nine pores are considered superior. Boil in salt water for one shi (two hours), or bake in dough until cooked, grind into an extremely fine powder, and process by levigation (water flying). Adverse interaction with Inulae Flos (Xuanfu). The meat has the same efficacy as the shell.

Tonifies Yin.
Sweet, salty, and cold in nature. (Tonifies Yin.) Primarily treats heat-type dysentery. Cooked and eaten. Removes pathogenic heat and restlessness from the chest. Suitable to be eaten after meals, particularly appropriate for individuals taking mineral drugs (Dan Shi). Treats postpartum deficiency heat in women.

Also known as Valva Arcae (Tile-like Shell). Purges, resolves masses, and dissipates phlegm.
Sweet, salty, and neutral in nature. Resolves old phlegm and breaks up blood stasis癖 (masses due to blood stasis). (Calcined and quenched with vinegar, formed into pills with vinegar, treats all types of Qi and Cold Qi stagnation, and abdominal masses.) Its shell resembles the ridge of a tiled roof, hence the name Valva Arcae. Calcined and quenched with vinegar, then ground. The meat, when roasted and eaten, benefits the body; excessive consumption leads to Qi stagnation.

Tonifies Yin.
Sweet, salty, and warm in nature. Tonifies the Five Zang organs. Enhances sexual function. Regulates the waist and Hong Kong foot (podagra/gouty swelling of the foot). Treats deficiency exhaustion and debility, depletion of essence and blood, as well as hematemesis (vomiting blood), chronic dysentery, borborygmus, and lumbar pain. Treats leukorrhea in women and emaciation after childbirth. Also resolves Ying Qi (goiter/thyroid enlargement).

Purges heat.
Sweet and very cold in nature. Promotes diuresis, clears heat, relieves thirst, and awakens from intoxication. Promotes urination and defecation. (Can guide heat downward. *Leibian* records: Xiong Yancheng suffered from obstruction of both upper and lower orifices, with abdominal distension like a drum. An unusual man said, "This is easy." He entered the water and retrieved a large snail, saying, "The matter will be settled." Mixed with salt and crushed together with the shell, it was tied with cloth below the navel at 1.3 cun. Immediately, there was a sudden profuse discharge. Upon returning to find the unusual man, he was gone.) Treats Hong Kong foot (gout/podagra). (*Bai Shi* by Qiu Yuan records: Dong Shouyue suffered from gouty attacks. Someone advised him to crush several snails and tie them between his thighs; he felt the cold qi move downward to his feet, bringing relief.) Treats jaundice. Jin Kou toxic dysentery (anorexic dysentery). (Use snail mixed with a little Musk, pounded into cakes, baked, to naturally stimulate appetite.) Treats heat-induced redness and pain of the eyes. (Add salt crystals, extract the juice, and apply to the eyes.) Apply to hemorrhoids and osmidrosis (body odor). Apply to ulcerated scrofula (scrofulous abscesses). (Burn the shell with flesh until carbonized but retaining properties, mix with sesame oil, and apply.)