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To open orifices, dispel evil qi.
Sweet and warm in nature, penetrating and moving. It opens the orifices and resolves depression, dispels all kinds of abnormal qi, and kills spirits and demons. Produced in various foreign regions. It is made by decocting and concentrating the juices of various aromatic substances. When lifted with a tendon, if it forms an unbroken thread, it is genuine.

Tonify, harmonize blood, astringe sores.
Sweet and salty in taste. Red in color, enters the Blood level. Tonifies insufficiency of the Pericardium and Liver Blood, specifically eliminates blood stasis pain, disperses stasis and generates new blood, serving as the supreme medicine for harmonizing blood. Treats internal injury causing blood aggregation, metal wounds and fractures/dislocations, non-healing sore openings; it stops pain and promotes tissue regeneration. Its action is rapid/intense, so it should not be used in large doses. (Note: Xuejie [Dragon's Blood] enters the Blood level alone; Ruxiang [Olibanum] and Moyao [Myrrha] enter both Qi and Blood levels; all are tree resins). Produced in Southern Foreign Regions. Red in color, genuine if it dyes the fingernails thoroughly (fake is sea mother's blood, extremely salty taste, fishy odor). Grind separately for use (if pounded together with other herbs, it turns to dust).

Drain excess, resolve accumulation, kill parasites.
Pungent and neutral in nature (some say warm). Enters the Spleen and Stomach meridians. Resolves meat accumulation, kills small parasites, removes foul odors (Proverb says: Huangqin [Scutellaria Root] has no fakes, Awei [Ferula Gum-Resin] has no genuine goods. Liu Chun said: Although Awei has no genuine goods, it has genuine efficacy; using odor to counteract odor is precious). Relieves toxicity from mushrooms/vegetables and self-dead cattle/horse meat. Treats cold pain in the heart and abdomen, malaria and dysentery (malaria and dysentery often arise from stagnation), corpse-transmission consumption, childhood malnutrition diseases, and zhu worms. Produced in Western Foreign Regions. Made from boiled tree resin, extremely foul-smelling. Test: place a small amount in a copper vessel overnight; if the area touched turns white like silver, it is genuine (many fake it with the white part of garlic). Grind finely in a mortar, fumigate over hot wine vessels before adding to prescriptions.

Drain heat, kill parasites.
Bitter and cold in nature. Its function specializes in clearing heat and killing parasites, cooling the Liver and brightening the eyes, calming the Heart and relieving restlessness. Treats pediatric convulsions and epilepsy, five types of childhood malnutrition diseases; applied externally treats damp tinea of teeth (mixed with Gancao [Licorice Root] powder), blown into the nose to treat brain malnutrition disease, relieves nasal itching. Contraindicated for children with diarrhea due to Spleen-Stomach deficiency-cold. Produced in Persia. It is a tree resin; bitter in taste and green in color is genuine.

Drain heat, kill parasites.
Bitterness kills parasites, saltiness softens hardness entering the Stomach, great cold clears heat. Treats hot pain in the throat (grind and sweep to extract phlegm/saliva), wind malnutrition of teeth, scrofula and lymph node tuberculosis (Su Song said: rarely used in ancient formulas, now frequently used by dental specialists as an essential drug). Produced in Liangsu region. This is Hutongzhi [Tamarix Gum], formed by seeping into soil and condensing under saline-alkali qi, resembling small stone flakes; the wood tear resembles paste or oil.