Library

[Compendium of Materia Medica]
[Collected Explanations]
Li Shizhen said: Whenever humans or livestock suffer from wind diseases (diseases caused by wind pathogens) or sores, there must be parasites in the intestines and abdomen. The *Shenghui Fang* uses this substance to treat corneal opacity (membrane covering the eye), stating that donkey-derived preparations are effective...

[Therapeutic Actions]
For corneal opacity. Take 37 pieces, dry them in the sun, grind them together with half a qian of Lithodori Fructus (Shidan), store in a porcelain box, and prevent exposure to wind. Instill into the eyes three to five times daily; the opacity will naturally dissipate (*Shenghui Fang*).

[Supplement to Materia Medica]
[Names]
Li Shizhen said: Those who manufacture gu poison place various insects in a vessel, allowing them to devour one another, retaining the survivor as gu. Hence, the character 'gu' consists of 'insect' and 'vessel'. Vessel refers to a container.
Chen Cangqi said: Ancients were simple-minded and created gu for wealth. They placed hundreds of insects in an urn; after a year, upon opening it, one insect would have consumed all others. This survivor is called gu. It can become invisible like spirits or ghosts, bringing misfortune to people, but it remains merely an insect-ghost. Bites causing death may emerge from the body's orifices. One should trust these signs, locate the source, and dry it. For those suffering from gu disease, burning it to ash and ingesting it works through mutual subjugation of similar species. Furthermore, using specific gu worms to treat gu implies that knowing the name of the gu allows for its treatment. For example, snake-gu is treated with centipede-gu worm, centipede-gu with toad-gu worm, and toad-gu with snake-gu worm. These mutually restraining agents are curative.
Li Shizhen said: Upon investigation, gu poisons vary in type, all disrupting Yuan Qi (Original Qi), often transmitted via diet, causing harm to humans. Thus, gu is associated with auspiciousness, leading petty people to create it. In the South, there are also lizard-gu, dung-beetle-gu, leech-gu, golden silkworm-gu, grass-gu, and life-picking gu, among others. Various prescriptions offer major treatments for these, which cannot be fully recorded here.
[Therapeutic Actions]
Gu poison. Burn to ash, ingest a small amount, and recovery is immediate (Chen Cangqi).

[Compendium of Materia Medica]
[Names]
Silk-eating worm.
[Collected Explanations]
Li Shizhen said: According to Chen Cangqi: Old silk ash treats silk-eating worm gu poison. The annotation states: The worm curls like a finger ring, eating old red silk brocade greedily, like silkworms eating mulberry leaves.
It grants desires, placing other wealth to make people suddenly rich. However, expelling it is extremely difficult; fire, water, weapons, and blades cannot harm it. One must double the gold, silver, and silk items it attracted, place the silkworm within them, and throw them by the roadside. If a person accidentally picks them up, the silkworm follows, known as "marrying the golden silkworm." Otherwise, it enters the human abdomen, destroying and gnawing at the intestines and stomach, emerging intact, as if extracted from under the bed or wall cracks where a corpse might be found. The golden silkworm is highly toxic; if spirits exist, who can control it? Additionally, *Mufu Yanxian Lu* records: Zou Lang, a scholar from Chizhou, was poor. One day, he opened his door and found a small cage containing silverware, which he took home. He felt something on his thigh, wriggling like a silkworm, shining golden. He brushed it away, but it returned to the same spot. Stepping on it, chopping it, or throwing it into fire and water had no effect. Zou Lang asked a friend, who said, "This is the golden silkworm." After hearing the explanation, Zou Lang told his wife, "I cannot serve it. If I return it, we remain poor; how shall we live?" So he swallowed it. His family thought he would surely die. Yet, silently enduring no pain, eventually... seeing this gu, it fears the decoction of Pomegranate Root Bark more than its natural enemy.