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Yuan Can (Second-generation Silkworm). Refers to silkworms raised for a second time. Also known as late-season silkworm, summer silkworm, or heat silkworm. The official part is taken from the second generation hatched, which occurs during the Fire season (summer). When using silkworm moths (Can E), one must select Yuan Can moths; silkworm frass (Can Sha) should also be sourced from Yuan Can. Only stiff silkworm (Jiang Can) is not restricted by generation timing. Silkworms that have gone through three to seven or eight generations are not suitable for medicinal use.

Male Silkworm Moth
Taste: Salty. Temperature: Warm and hot. Actions: Tonifies essence and Qi, strengthens the genital organs, warms the Water Viscera (Kidney), stops seminal emission and hematuria. Treats spermatorrhea and red/white turbid discharge.
[Formula] Silkworms from the first generation of Yuan Can/Late-season Can produce offspring that hatch again into "Er Can" (Second Can). (This explanation is precise.) The moths derived from Er Can are most lustful; they mate immediately upon emerging from the cocoon.
Meridian Tropism: Kidney. Property: Assists Yang. (Note by Zhong Chun) Treats impotence.
[Formula] Two sheng of male silkworm moths not yet connected to eggs, remove head, wings, and feet, stir-fry and grind into powder. Form pills with honey the size of wu-tzu (Cocculus orbiculatus seeds). Take one pill per dose. Effective. Drinking Calamus wine reduces its efficacy.
[Formula] For spermatorrhea and white turbid discharge: Dry-roast late-season silkworm moths, remove wings and feet, grind into powder. Form pills with rice the size of mung beans. Take forty pills per dose, washed down with light salt water. These pills should be frequently dried over fire; otherwise, they easily become soft and damp.
[Formula] For painful stranguria with blood: Grind late-season silkworm moths into powder. Take two qian per dose.
[Formula] Can E San (Silkworm Moth Powder): Stops bleeding and generates flesh. Treats knife or axe wounds where blood spurts like an arrow. Stir-fry late-season silkworm moths, grind into powder, and apply externally to stop bleeding immediately.

[Discussion] Silkworms belong to Fire but possess Metal characteristics; Fire is indeed the master of Metal. However, since silkworms feed on mulberry leaves, they combine with the essence of Earth and Water. As stated in the [Neijing], "Yin within Yang"... [Text fragment] ...still cites... to transform... Male silkworm... Strengthens Yin... Yang. Also possible... Miao's case notes that impotence in youth due to loss of willpower should not use this. Those with Yin deficiency and internal heat should avoid it.
[Processing] Remove wings and feet, stir-fry before use.

Sha (Silkworm Frass/Droppings)
Taste: Pungent and sweet. Temperature: Warm. Ben Cao Jing Bie Lu records it treats intestinal borborygmus, heat in the middle jiao, and thirst with wasting and urination. Stir-fry until yellow, place in a bag, and soak in wine. Dispels wind and relieves joint immobility. Treats skin numbness and stubborn bi-syndrome, chronic cold in the abdomen, cold blood and blood stasis, and cold pain in the legs and waist. (Note by Zang Qi) Compendium of Materia Medica states it dispels wind and overcomes dampness, treating women's metrorrhagia and amenorrhea.
[Fomentation Method]: Use one liang of stir-fried silkworm frass, half a liang of Long Gu (Fulong Gan/Hearth Soil), and one liang of Ejiao (Donkey-hide Gelatin). Grind into powder. Take two to three qian with warm wine on an empty stomach. Treats abdominal masses (Zheng Jia).
[Formula]: Boil turtle meat in lye juice made from wood ash, form into pills, and take orally.

[Discussion] Ben Cao Jing Bie Lu states silkworm frass primarily treats heat in the middle jiao, while Zang Qi treats various cold diseases. Cold and heat require different treatments; who takes precedence? It is said that the previous discussion regarding... Blood stasis... also... delayed... due to... transforming dampness... slowing down... [Text fragment].

Silkworm Cocoon
Use cocoons from which moths have already emerged.
Taste and Temperature: Sweet and warm. Actions: Stops thirst and regurgitation, treats capitis tinea (head ringworm), lower bleeding, bloody stranguria, and metrorrhagia. Treats unruptured carbuncles and sores; burn to ash and take with wine. The abscess breaks open the next day. Used as a substitute needle for carbuncles and ulcers; one cocoon induces one head of pus, two cocoons induce two heads. Miraculous. Decoct in water to treat thirst; ancient formulas highly praise this. Danxi says... same... divided into... [Text fragment].

Silkworm Slough (Molt)
Taste and Temperature: Sweet and neutral. Actions: Treats blood disorders, women's blood wind syndrome. Treats corneal opacity (yi zhang) and capitis tinea.
[Differentiation and Treatment]: Physicians often use the shells found on paper when silkworms first hatch. In fact, the skin molted by old silkworms during their sleep/wake cycles should be used. Lightly roast before medicinal use.
(Can Lian / Silkworm Paper) Treats intestinal wind with bloody stool, metrorrhagia with leukorrhea, painful and difficult urination, as well as receding gums, dental abscesses, oral tinea, and throat bi-syndrome.
[Formula]: Stir-fry silkworm slough and silkworm paper until charred, combined with Huai Zi (Sophora fruit)... effective. For gangrenous stomatitis (Zou Ma Ya Gen)... swallow saliva.

[Discussion] Why do silkworm slough and paper treat blood syndromes? Blood originates from Fire; only when Metal and Water combine can life transformation occur. Early silkworms obtain the clear transformation energy of Metal and Water... numerous... [Text fragment].

[General Discussion] There are three uses of silkworms. Early silkworms obtain the clear transformation energy of Metal and Water, capable of overcoming the Yin-damaging effects of hyperactive Yang. Thus, the cocoon, slough, and paper... The cocoon... restricts early... [Text fragment].

(Appendix) Sao Si Tang (Reeling Silk Soup) (Already seen in Volume 1, Water Section). Highly effective for treating thirst and wasting syndrome.

Silk Floss
Burn new silk floss to ash. Primarily treats hematemesis, epistaxis, lower bleeding, metrorrhagia with leukorrhea, capitis tinea, umbilical tinea, and ear diseases. (Note by Binhu) Treats intestinal wind with bloody stool.
[Formula]: Burn old silk floss to ash, stir-fry shell bran to equal parts, add a small amount of She Xiang (Musk), grind into powder. Take one qian per dose, washed down with rice drink.
[Formula] For unstoppable metrorrhagia: Burn good quality silk floss and human hair together until carbonized (preserve nature). Mix with equal parts Bai Cao Shuang (Soot from hundred herbs). Take three qian per dose, washed down with warm wine. Or add Zong Hui (Palm fiber ash).
[Another Formula]: Use white silk floss, lotus heart, Dang Gui (Angelica sinensis), Mao Hua (Imperata rhizome flower), and Hong Hua (Carthamus flower) each in equal amounts. Wrap tightly in white paper, seal with yellow mud, burn until carbonized, grind into powder, add a small amount of Musk. Take one qian per dose, wash down with good wine before meals.
Decoct in water and take to treat thirst, and bladder injury in postpartum women. Wash ulcerated chickenpox lesions. Burn to ash to treat dysentery with blood, lower bleeding, hematemesis, and metrorrhagia.
[Gu Pao San (Bladder-Strengthening Powder)] Treats postpartum bladder injury with continuous dribbling of urine. Take three chi of yellow silk, boil in lye juice from charcoal ash until extremely soft, rinse with clean water. Add five qian of Huang La (Yellow Beeswax), one liang of Honey, two qian of Mao Gen (Imperata root), and two qian of Ma Bo (Amanita mushroom powder). Decoct in one sheng of water until reduced to one Jian. Take all at once on an empty stomach. Do not make noise while taking the medicine; if noise is made... [Text fragment].

[Differentiation and Treatment] This is woven from the yellow silk spun by silkworms, not dyed yellow.