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Chen Shigong stated: Ancient virtuous physicians possessed the virtue of cherishing life, using their mouths to suck out pus. Later generations gradually found this practice unclean, often resorting to forcibly squeezing with hands, leaving patients in a wretched state; or they would passively wait for spontaneous rupture, causing pus and toxins to fail to discharge outward, inevitably leading to internal attack by pathogens, resulting in restlessness and a sensation of heaviness as if carrying a heavy stone. Without employing the medicinal jar suction method to extract accumulated pus from within, toxic vapors would ultimately fail to dissipate externally.

The procedure is as follows: Prepare a segment of fresh tender bamboo with a diameter of one inch and two or three fen (approx. 3-4 cm), seven cun (approx. 23 cm) in length, retaining one node. Use a knife to scrape off the outer green skin, preserving half of the inner white layer, approximately one fen thick. Drill a small hole near the node and tightly plug it with a fir wood strip. Place Qianghuo (Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix), Duhuo (Angelicae Pubescentis Radix), Zisu (Perillae Folium), Qi Ai (Artemisiae Argyi Folium), Xian Changpu (Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma), Baizhi (Angelicae Dahuricae Radix), and Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma), each five qian (approx. 15 g), along with two liang (approx. 60 g) of scallions with roots, into the bamboo tube. Plug the tube mouth with scallion segments. Place the tube horizontally in a pot, weigh it down to prevent floating, add ten large bowls of clear water, and boil until the liquid inside is thoroughly cooked and concentrated. Set aside for use.

For application: Using a lancet, puncture three holes in a triangular ("pin") pattern on the apex of the sore, within one cun, penetrating superficially to a depth of about one cun. Place the medicinal tube together with its broth in a large porcelain bowl near the patient's bed. Pour out the liquid from the tube, and immediately press the hot tube mouth firmly against the sore. Hold it tight with your hand so that it adheres naturally. After a short while, when the tube has cooled slightly, remove the wooden plug from the hole, and the tube will detach spontaneously. Empty the contents of the tube into a vessel and observe the nature of the discharge: If there is pus mixed with blood, exhibiting a bright red-yellow color, amounting to one or two cups, this indicates a "living sore" (viable tissue), which will surely heal with treatment. If the discharged material consists purely of necrotic blood, with a foul odor, purple-black color, and watery consistency without any viscous pus, it indicates internal failure of Qi and Blood and non-viable muscle tissue, signifying a "dead sore" (non-viable tissue). In such cases, forced treatment will be ineffective.

This method was passed down in my family and has proven effective repeatedly. For Yang sores (superficial, acute infections) that easily suppurate and rupture, this method should not be used, as it may damage Qi and Blood. This method is suitable for Yin sores (deep, chronic infections), specifically applied around fifteen days after onset when the lesion is hard, unruptured, and non-suppurating. This method indeed possesses the power to reverse critical conditions and is indispensable for physicians. (From *Waike Zhengzong*)