味辛，性微温，无毒。入脾，肺二经。
解暑辟浊，化湿快膈。温中开胃，行气止呕。
禀清和芳郁之气，为脾肺达气要药。若阴虚火旺，胃热作呕，法当戒用。
味甘，性平。入脾、胃二经。
利湿解热。袭受暑湿，脘闷蒸热。得汗不解，午后加炽，肢体酸沉，溲少便涩。
此物具通达宣利之能，故可分利湿热，清达表邪，缠绵之患，用之有益。
味甘、性平，无毒。入肝经。
散郁火，解肌热。生津液，止消渴。头痛干呕，泄泻下痢。生用能堕胎，蒸熟化酒毒。
迹其治验，皆在阳明一经。止痢者，升举之功；散郁者，火郁则发之义也。东垣曰∶葛
根鼓
午胃气上行，治虚泻之圣药。风药多燥，葛根独止渴者，以其升胃家下陷。上输肺金以生水
耳。《圣惠方》治小儿热渴久不止，用葛根煎服。此法尤适用于夏季。
附∶葛蔓，治喉痹，消痈肿。
味苦，性微寒，无毒。入肝、胆二经。恶皂荚，畏藜芦。忌见火。
少阳经药，性主升腾。理肝胆，善和解。祛时疾内外热不解，治邪气半表复半里。寒热
往来
，伤寒疟疾。胸胁满痛，热入血室。
柴胡，少阳经半表半里之药，病在太阳者，服之太早，则引贼入门。病在阴经者，
复用
柴胡，则重伤其表。世俗不知柴胡之用，每遇伤寒，传经未明，以柴胡为不汗、不吐、
不下
可以藏拙、辄混用之，致命不可胜数矣。劳证唯在肝经者，用之。若气虚者，不过些小
助参
耆，非用柴胡退热也。若遇劳证，便用柴胡，不死安待。惟此一味，贻祸极多，故特详
言之。
《幼科铁镜》卷一，首列九恨，其第八恨云∶恨必用柴胡退烧，……脾虚肾虚，气血两
虚，
诸烧热亦用柴胡。对予说出理来，予便不恨。
Pungent in flavor, slightly warm in nature, non-toxic. Enters the Spleen and Lung meridians.
Resolves summerheat, dispels turbidity, transforms dampness, and relieves chest fullness. Warms the middle jiao, stimulates appetite, promotes qi movement, and stops vomiting.
Endowed with a clear, harmonious, fragrant, and stagnant-ascending qi, it is an essential herb for transmitting qi to the Spleen and Lungs. If yin deficiency with hyperactive fire or stomach heat causing vomiting occurs, its use should be strictly avoided.
Sweet in flavor, neutral in nature. Enters the Spleen and Stomach meridians.
Promotes diuresis to resolve dampness and clears heat. For cases of contracted summerheat-dampness presenting with epigastric oppression, steaming heat, where sweating fails to relieve symptoms, heat intensifies in the afternoon, limbs feel heavy and sore, urine is scanty, and bowel movements are difficult.
This substance possesses the ability to unblock and promote free flow; thus, it can separate and drain damp-heat, clear and release exterior pathogens, and is beneficial for lingering ailments.
Sweet in flavor, neutral in nature, non-toxic. Enters the Liver meridian.
Scatters constrained fire, resolves muscle-layer heat, generates body fluids, and stops thirst. Indicated for headache, dry retching, diarrhea, and dysentery. Raw use can induce abortion; steamed and fermented into wine, it resolves alcohol toxicity.
Tracing its therapeutic efficacy, all actions pertain to the Yangming meridian. Its ability to stop dysentery lies in its lifting function; its ability to scatter constraint follows the principle that "constrained fire should be dispersed." Dong Yuan stated: Ge Gen (Kudzu Root) stirs up Stomach qi to ascend, making it a sacred medicine for treating deficiency-type diarrhea. Wind-dispersing herbs are mostly drying, but Ge Gen alone stops thirst because it lifts the sinking Stomach qi, transporting it upward to the Lung Metal to generate water. The *Shenghui Fang* treats prolonged heat-thirst in children by decocting and administering Ge Gen. This method is particularly suitable for summer.
Appendix: Ge Man (Kudzu Vine) treats throat obstruction (hou bi) and reduces carbuncles and swellings.
Bitter in flavor, slightly cold in nature, non-toxic. Enters the Liver and Gallbladder meridians. Adversely affected by Gleditsiae Fructus (Zao Jia), fears Veratrum nigrum (Li Lu). Avoid exposure to fire.
A herb for the Shaoyang meridian, its nature primarily ascends. Regulates the Liver and Gallbladder, excels at harmonizing. Resolves persistent internal and external heat from seasonal epidemics, treating pathogenic factors that are half-exterior and half-interior. Indicated for alternating chills and fever, cold damage malaria, chest and hypochondriac fullness and pain, and heat entering the blood chamber.
Chai Hu is a herb for the half-exterior and half-interior aspect of the Shaoyang meridian. If the disease is in the Taiyang stage, taking it too early will invite the pathogen inside ("lead the thief into the house"). If the disease is in the Yin meridians, reusing Chai Hu will severely damage the exterior. The common people do not understand the proper use of Chai Hu; whenever encountering cold damage, before the transmission of the disease is clearly determined, they use Chai Hu indiscriminately, considering it a safe option since it induces neither sweating, vomiting, nor purgation, thereby hiding their incompetence. This has resulted in countless fatal errors. It should only be used for consumptive diseases located specifically in the Liver meridian. For qi deficiency, it merely assists Ginseng and Astragalus slightly; it is not used to reduce fever. If consumptive diseases are treated with Chai Hu, death is inevitable. This single herb causes immense harm, so its details are explained thoroughly here.
In Volume 1 of *Youke Tieming*, the "Nine Hates" are listed first. The eighth hate states: "I hate the mandatory use of Chai Hu to reduce fever... for spleen deficiency, kidney deficiency, dual deficiency of qi and blood, and various types of feverish conditions, Chai Hu is also used." Once the reasoning is explained to me, I no longer hate it.