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In the "Materia Medica" (Bencao Gangmu), under the section on livestock and cattle, the "Stomach Reversal Method" (Dao Cang Fa) is attached, but there is no record of the preparation method for Xiataian Gao (Cattle Sky Paste). In recent times, its use has been quite frequent, so I append its preparation method here. *Bencao Jingshu* (Elucidation of Materia Medica) also lists it as a specialized remedy. Its method involves using thirty to forty catties of fat and tender yellow beef, washing it extremely clean, boiling it in water until it becomes a meat paste, filtering out the dregs, and then further simmering it into a paste for use. Miao Zhongchun stated: The Stomach belongs to Earth and is the sea of water and grain, accepting all things. When the Stomach is diseased, water and grain cannot be transported and transformed in time, stagnating to become phlegm-fluids (Tan Yin). If these obstruct the meridians, they manifest as conditions such as accumulated phlegm, old phlegm, and knotted phlegm; if internal heat due to Yin deficiency generates phlegm, it leads to hemiplegia and deviation of the mouth and eyes; if phlegm lingers in the intestines and stomach, it forms retained fluids and masses; if phlegm surges upward with Qi, it causes rapid panting and coma/stupor; if phlegm flows into the muscles, it forms tubercles. Wang Yinjun discussed that all human diseases stem from phlegm; however, the generation of phlegm is fundamentally caused by the deficiency of the Spleen and Stomach failing to transport and transform. Only by using Xiataian Gao to treat various phlegm conditions can one understand why: Cattle are earth animals, their color is like yellow earth, and the taste of their meat corresponds to the Stomach. Simmered into liquid, though having form, it lacks turbid quality. Using substances governed by the Spleen and Stomach to treat diseases generated by them allows it to penetrate from the intestines and stomach into the skin and hair pores, searching out and eliminating all lingering and knotted phlegm. Individuals with Yin deficiency and internal heat often have much phlegm; this arises because fluid depletion and blazing fire boil body fluids, condensing them into phlegm that is sticky and difficult to disperse. Such cases also require combining this paste with Zhu Li (Bamboo Sap), Bei Mu (Fritillaria Bulb), Ju Hong (Tangerine Peel), Su Zi (Perilla Seed), Gua Lou Gen (Trichosanthes Root), and Gou Gu Ye (Ilex Cornuta Leaf) to resolve it; or forming pills/qu with Ju Pi (Tangerine Peel), Bai Fu Ling (Poria), Su Zi, Bai Dou Kou Ren (Cardamom Seed), Ban Xia (Pinellia Tuber), and Cang Zhu (Atractylodes Rhizome) to treat Spleen-Stomach accumulated phlegm; or forming pills/qu with Ju Pi, Bei Mu, Su Zi, Gua Lou Gen and its seeds, and Peng Sha (Borax) to treat accumulated heat-phlegm knots.

Xiataian Gao is sweet, warm, non-toxic. It treats wind-stroke hemiplegia, deviation of the mouth and eyes, phlegm-saliva obstructing the five zang and six fu organs, lingering phlegm, retained fluids, masses, and phlegm nodules in the skin of hands and feet. [Note: The text here conflates descriptions or refers to a specific nodule type]. These nodules are round like pellets, varying in size, produced in the sheep's abdomen within the stomach, existing only in goats, not in Hu sheep. This is because sheep eat hundred herbs, and their essence gathers in the stomach; over time, this object forms. Commonly called Baicao Dan (Hundred Herb Pill), it is similar to Niu Huang (Calculus Bovis) and Gou Bao (Calculus Canis). Niu Huang is fine, loose, and fragrant, hence named "Huang"; Gou Bao is mottled white, hard and solid like stone, hence named "Bao". This object, however, resembles a clump of rotten grass, is light and airy, and smells sheepy. People often pity it for not being as exquisite as Niu Huang or Gou Bao, yet it is produced in the sheep's abdomen, absorbing the essence of sun and moon, and formed by consuming exotic herbs, thus lacking hardness, weight, fragrance, and solidity, resulting only in this object. Hence, we lament it, naming it "Ai" (Lament). Chang Zhongcheng's *Huanyou Biji* (Notes from Official Travels) records finding a stone in a sheep's abdomen in military camps, named "Da". It is shaped like a duck egg, purple-yellow in color, with two white rings at each end, round like a soybean. A belt-like constriction around the waist is as wide as a leek leaf, blue-green in color, with two more white rings on the belt. Its texture is fine as jade and moist as water. *Zhuo Geng Lu* also records Mongolians seeking rain by soaking several stones in clear water and chanting mantras while handling them; these stones are named "Da", produced in animal abdomens, found in cattle and horses, not necessarily sheep. However, Yang Ai differs from Da. Da is hard, heavy, fine, and moist, whereas Yang Ai is light, sheepy, and lacks the belt and white rings. In the winter of Gengxu year, my friend Li Jinshi, outside the West Gate of Lin'an at a sheep slaughterhouse, saw a butcher dissect a sheep, from whose stomach suddenly emerged a pellet, like a duck egg yolk, uniform, round, smooth, floating on a basin of water. He bought it and showed it to me. I said: This is Yang Ai, smelling sheepy and soft, not of the Da category. He replied: The butcher calls it Baicao Dan, saying he has worked for thirty years and obtained only three pieces; it is rare. This substance is generated only in goats because they eat hundred herbs; occasionally biting exotic herbs or rock milk, their gum/liquid enters the stomach and condenses over time. The stomach is where essence and Qi circulate, and the Sun moves Qi, so the condensed objects are mostly round like pills. Da forms in the abdomen, undisturbed by Qi movement, hence flat-round like a stone. Jinshi gifted this to me. Upon closer inspection, its texture was loose yet firm, smelling of sheep musk, with a glossy, oily appearance externally. Its substance was neither stone nor butter, resembling fused rotting grass. I then believed the statement in *Shuolue* that Yang Ai resembles wet thatch paper was correct. Thus, I append this record here, awaiting the judgment of gentlemen who investigate things. According to *Baicao Jing*: Sheep [Ai] forms in the sheep's abdomen, is slightly black, and can treat regurgitation. Perhaps this is it?

It resolves the toxicity of hundred herbal medicines and treats dysphagia (Ye Ge) and vomiting food (Fan Wei).

My note: *Cihang Huoren Shu* records: Collecting sheep dung on the Fifth Day of the Fifth Month, named Baicao Dan, can cure malaria. This is different from the grass accumulated in the sheep's stomach, which must not be confused.