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Antelope Horn (Lingyangjiao)
Taste: salty, bitter. Nature: cold. Non-toxic. Shape resembles a sheep, color is dark green and relatively large. The horn has many joints, is strong, sharp, and long. (Very hard, strong and long one to two chi, with dense, tightly wound joints.) It grows in the mountains and forests of Sichuan and Shu regions. At night, it hangs its horns on trees while resting. Hunting dogs often catch them. People from captured territories often trade them for money, and local governments also regularly tribute them. For medicinal use, the tip of the horn is sawn off. To identify genuine ones, look for deep scratch marks at the curved joints; when held to the ear, a faint resonant sound indicates superior quality. (Those with sparse joints and no scratch marks, or those that make no sound, are often imitated by goat or wild ass horns polished to mimic scratches for profit, so careful examination is necessary.) It can be ground into powder and taken with a little honey, or sliced and decocted in water. It specifically enters the Liver meridian due to its Wood nature. Often combined with Zixue (Purple Snow, a formula name from Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Cold Damage), which is bitter and cold. It resolves cold-heat alternating symptoms of Cold Damage affecting the skin and muscles; disperses warm wind and toxic pathogens lurking in bones and flesh. It calms the Heart Qi, eliminates nightmares, sleep paralysis, fright dreams, and manic behavior; clears pathogenic factors, wards off gu poison, evil spirits, and misfortune. It reduces sudden high fever, convulsions, and epilepsy in children; expels stagnant blood causing irritability and oppression in postpartum women. It removes bad blood flowing downward, treats dysphagia. It brightens the eyes, benefits Qi, lightens the body, strengthens Yin, tendons, and bones. Meat stir-fried with Schisandra Chinensis Fruit (Wuweizi) and taken with wine can expel Wind-stroke syndromes characterized by stiffness and tension of sinews and bones. Southerners eat it to avoid snake bites.

Male Dog Penis (Mougou Yinxing)
Taste: salty. Nature: neutral. Non-toxic. Large ones are called "gou huan," small ones "quan." When boiled and eaten, the color is yellow; for medicinal use, white hair is selected. In June during the Sanfu period, the penis is scraped and collected. Dried over low heat to prevent odor and rot. Specifically aids sexual function, also known as "dog essence." It firm and erects the male penis, preventing flaccidity for two to three hours; stops leukorrhea and bleeding in women, curing twelve diseases. Bile applied to scabs and malignant ulcers; used to treat eye pain. Hot blood treats mania and epilepsy; applied all over the body for ghost strikes. Brain treats cephalalgia caused by Wind and nasal polyps; teeth treat external invasions and wind-stroke filling the muscles. Heart treats sorrowful anger and removes pathogenic factors; Kidney manages postpartum labor fever resembling malaria. Liver drives away dysentery with scraping pain; mixed with thin porridge with sauce and salt. Milk drops into eyes for chronic blindness; select young puppies before their eyes open. (Once the puppy's eyes open, the disease heals.) Top skull bone stops bleeding from various sores; hanging hooves promote lactation. Meat tastes salty and sour, nature slightly warm. Calms the Five Viscera, benefits Qi and strength, strengthens Yang Dao, repairs severe injuries. Eating with garlic harms people; roasting makes one thirsty. If ingested by pregnant women, offspring may have cleft lips. Ingested in September, damages Spirit and Qi. Especially contraindicated for Yin deficiency with Fire hyperactivity. Bones boiled in porridge tonify deficiency and help women conceive. Mandibular bones remove convulsions and spasms; bones from feces stop alternating chills and fever. Feces dried and burned to ash, applied to carbuncles to stop itching; mixed with pig lard powder, applied to carbuncles to draw out roots.
(Mo) Commentary: Danxi said: Deficiency in the human body is all Yin deficiency. Yin deficiency leads to Yang hyperactivity. Using this as a tonic would not only fail but likely exacerbate Fire and worsen the condition? Popular opinion claims it greatly treats deficiency, seemingly referring to Yang deficiency treatment, unaware that it actually pertains to Yin deficiency. If Yang were truly deficient, death would not be far off. Even skilled physicians would find it difficult to handle, how could this substance tonify it? Modern people often believe in it and consume it frequently, all clinging to conventional beliefs.