Library

(Sourced from the Song Dynasty *Jiayou Bencao*)

**Names**: Zhuomu (Chopping Wood) (*Erya*); [Woodpecker].
Li Shizhen states: This bird pecks and splits trees to extract and eat wood-boring insects, hence its name. The *Qin Jing* (Bird Classic) states: [The woodpecker's] focus is on trees, while the pelican's focus is on water.

**Collected Explanations**: Yuxi states: The *Yiwu Zhi* (Record of Strange Things) records: Woodpeckers vary in size and color; some are brown, others spotted. Brown ones are female, spotted ones are male. They bore into wood to eat insects. Folklore claims they are transformed from the officials who gather herbs for the Thunder God. In the mountains, there is a species as large as a magpie, with blue-black plumage and red feathers on its head, which locals call "Mountain Woodpecker."
Li Shizhen states: Woodpeckers range from small like sparrows to large like crows. Their faces resemble peach blossoms, their beaks and feet are bluish-green, their claws are sharp, and their bills are pointed. The bill resembles an awl, several inches long. The tongue is longer than the [bill], with needle-like structures at the tip. After pecking out insects, they use their tongues to hook them out and eat them. The *Bowu Zhi* (Records of Various Things) states: This bird can write characters with its bill, causing insects to emerge. Lu Zhigang states: People in Fujian, Guangdong, and Sichuan, as well as shamans, collect these "charms" to calm fright and treat sores and toxins. The Mountain Woodpecker has red feathers on its head and is called "Fire Crow" by wild people; it can eat burning charcoal. Wang Yuanzhi wrote in his poem: "The Huainan woodpecker is as large as a crow, its crown piled with cinnabar like a crane." This refers to this bird. It is also used in medicine, with identical efficacy.

**Meat**
**Flavor and Nature**: Sweet, sour, neutral, non-toxic.
**Indications**: Hemorrhoidal fistulas, and dental caries caused by "gan" worms. Calcined to retain its properties, ground into powder, and inserted into the cavity. Not more than three times (from *Jiayou Bencao*). Expels consumption worms, treats wind epilepsy (Li Shizhen).

**Elucidation**: Yuxi states: The *Huainanzi* records that woodpeckers cure tooth decay, based on the principle of mutual control among similar entities. The *Jingchu Suishiji* (Chronicles of Festivals in Jingchu) records: Common people catch woodpeckers on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, primarily to treat toothache.
Li Shizhen states: Expelling consumption worms, treating epilepsy, and treating [hemorrhoidal fistulas] all derive meaning from the principle of controlling parasites.

**Attached Prescriptions**: One old prescription, two new prescriptions.
For persistent pus discharge from sores and failure of wound healing: Use one woodpecker (or Fire Crow may be used), seal firmly with salt mud, calcine to retain properties, grind into powder, and take with wine, 2 qianbi per dose. (Prescription from Doctor Yao)
Expel consumption worms: Use one woodpecker, 4 liang of Cinnabar (Zhusha), 4 liang of lean pork. Starve the bird for one full day, mix the two ingredients evenly, and feed to the bird until consumed. Seal firmly with salt mud, calcine for one night. Retrieve at dawn (fifth watch), do not break open, bury whole in mud 2 chi deep in the earth. Retrieve the next day, break open, grind into powder in silver or earthenware vessels. Take once with unfermented wine mixed with a small amount of Moschus (Shexiang). Must carefully monitor and arrange, waiting for the worm to emerge, then quickly clamp it into hot oil to fry. Afterwards, administer one dose of Jiahe San from the *Ju Fang*. (Hu Yun'ao, *Luzhai Fang*)
Chronic epilepsy: Take one woodpecker caught in the twelfth lunar month, 3 sheng of unfermented wine. First, line the bottom of a clay pot with a layer of Schizonepetae Spica (Jingjie Sui) one cun thick, place the bird on top, cover with another layer of Jingjie Sui one cun thick, pour in the wine, seal firmly with salt mud, and simmer over charcoal fire until the wine is dry. Allow to cool, retrieve, and grind into powder. Add 2 liang of Gypsum Fibrosum (Shigao), 1 liang of Ferrum Preparatum (Tiefen), 1 liang of Prepared Aconitum Lateralis Radix (Pao Fuzi), 1 fen each of Cinnabar (Zhusha) and Moschus (Shexiang), and 1 qian of Borneolum Syntheticum (Longnao). Grind uniformly. Take 1 qian per dose. First drink 2-3 mouthfuls of warm water, then take the medicine mixed with one cup of warm wine and lie down. Take another dose during an attack, then every other day. Cure within ten doses. (*Baoyou Daquan*)

**Tongue**
**Indications**: Toothache due to dental caries. Wrap the tip in cotton, bite onto the affected area (from *Meishi*).

**Attached Prescriptions**: One new prescription.
Woodpecker Powder: Treats dental caries. One piece of woodpecker tongue, one seed of Croton Fructus (Badou), ground uniformly. Each time, use one bristle of hog bristle (Zhuzhu), apply a small amount to the gum root, and cure immediately. (*Shenghui Fang*)

**Blood**
**Indications**: Drink hot on a Geng day facing west; it makes the complexion ruddy like cinnabar and radiant (Li Shizhen. From *Goulou Shenshu*).

**Brain**
**Indications**: Lu Zhigang's *Junling Jiuyao* states: Catch woodpeckers on the third day of the third lunar month, feed them meat mixed with Cinnabar (Zhusha) and Isatis Root (Daqing). After one year, harvest the brain, mix with half a qian of Realgar (Xionghuang), and make ten pills. Take one pill daily with water facing east. Long-term use allows transformation of form; when angry, one appears like a spirit or ghost; when happy, one appears as an ordinary person.