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[Hu (Da Suan)]
Also known as garlic. Pungent in flavor, warm in nature, toxic. Primarily treats the dissipation of carbuncles and swellings, sores, expulsion of wind-pathogens, and elimination of toxic vapors. Single-clove garlic is also excellent. It enters the Five Zang organs. Long-term consumption damages the body and impairs vision. Harvested on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

Tao Hongjing stated: Nowadays, people refer to garlic as "Hu" and to small garlic as "Suan," due to their similar aromatic properties. Its nature is extremely pungent and foul-smelling, making it unsuitable for regular consumption. Common people prepare it as a condiment to eat with raw meat, which severely damages one's constitution and life force, more so than any other food. This substance should only be eaten raw and is not suitable for cooking; consuming it with green carp causes yellowing of the hair. Taking the cloves from the stalks and planting them initially yields single-clove garlic, which reverts to its original multi-clove form the following year. The *Tang Bencao* commentary notes: Cooking this into a soup is extremely delicious, with a mild pungent odor. It directs Qi downward, aids digestion, dispels wind, and breaks up cold accumulation, making it an outstanding ingredient in cuisine. However, the commentary claims it is unsuitable for cooking, likely because the author had not tried it. According to Chen Cangqi's *Bencao*: Garlic removes damp-evil and miasma, dispels wind-dampness, breaks up cold stagnation, resolves phlegm-stagnation masses, suppresses evil qi, promotes circulation and warmth, and tonifies deficiency. Nothing surpasses it. Initial consumption may harm the eyes, but excessive consumption clarifies vision; long-term consumption purifies the blood and whitens hair. It treats sores and tinea; eating raw eliminates toxins from snakes, insects, stream poisons, and gu-poison. In the past, someone suffering from phlegm-stagnation masses dreamed of being taught to eat three cloves of garlic daily. Initially following the dream, they experienced a healing crisis (mingxuan), vomiting and feeling heat in the lower body. Later, they were instructed to take several slices of garlic with the skin, cut off both ends, and swallow them whole, a method called "internal moxibustion," which proved highly effective. Also, if a fish bone is stuck, inserting garlic into the nostril expels it. Single-clove garlic kills malevolent spirits, relieves pain, and is best for medicinal use. Ministers Yu Xi et al., according to the *Shu Ben Tu Jing*, state: Garlic produced in Liangzhou is the finest and least pungent, with bulbs up to two inches in diameter; those from Jingyang have red skins and are very spicy; others are similar. Meng Shen stated: For snakebite sores, take one sheng of peeled garlic, crush it, boil with one sheng of urine for three or four boils, and soak the affected area from evening until night. If bitten and not yet swollen, chew garlic quickly and apply as a poultice, changing six or seven times. Another prescription: Boil one sheng of peeled garlic with two sheng of milk until soft. Take on an empty stomach, followed by rice to settle the medicine. Continue the next day to expel all cold-toxic wind-qis. Another prescription: One single-clove garlic mixed with realgar and apricot kernels, formed into pills. Take three pills on an empty stomach with water, sit quietly for a while; patients with ghost-qi illness will sweat and recover. Ri Huazi stated: Garlic strengthens the spleen, treats kidney qi, stops cholera with muscle cramps and abdominal pain, expels evil, wards off epidemic fevers, removes gu-poison, treats laborious malaria, cold wind, phlegm-stagnation masses, and epidemic qi. Applied externally for wind-induced cold pain, snake/insect bites, malignant sores, scabies, stream poisons, and sand lice, all applied as crushed poultices. Soaked in vinegar for a year is best.

The *Tu Jing* states: Hu is garlic. Old texts do not record its origin; now it grows everywhere and is cultivated in household gardens. Each bulb has six or seven cloves. Planting one clove initially yields single-clove garlic that year, reverting to normal the next year. However, the flowers contain seeds resembling tiny garlic cloves, which can also be planted.

*Shiliao* states: Primarily dissipates carbuncles and swellings. Li Jiang's *Bingbu Shouji Fang*: Treats toxic sores with swelling and pain, causing screaming and inability to lie down, indistinguishable to others. Take two single-clove garlics, crush finely, mix with sesame oil, and apply thickly to the sore; change when dry. Recently, Vice Minister Lu Tan, serving as Magistrate of Dongji, was cured using this prescription. Later, Prime Minister Li suffered from a brain abscess that did not heal for a long time; Lu Tan gave him this prescription, and he recovered. Li Jiang transmitted this prescription to save several people, all with miraculous effects. Ge Hong's *Zhouhou Beiji Fang* describes a method for moxibustion to reduce back swellings: Take a single-clove garlic, slice horizontally to a thickness of one fen, place on the swelling, and apply moxa cones the size of a sophora seed, burning one hundred burns on the garlic. If it does not subside, continue moxibustion; more is better, but avoid excessive heat. If pain is felt, lift the garlic to prevent burning the skin and flesh. If the tissue is dry, no need to moxa. Ge Hong once suffered from a large swelling below his abdomen, which healed after moxibustion. Every person treated with this method recovered immediately. Also, the stone inscription at Zijigong Palace in Jiangning Prefecture records this method: For all cases of back carbuncles, abscesses, malignant sores, and swollen nodes, apply moxibustion. The method is largely the same, with slight differences: upon sensing abnormality in the skin and flesh, knowing a sore will form, slice garlic like a copper coin in thickness, place on the swelling, and moxa without counting burns. If the patient feels pain initially, stop when the pain subsides; if no pain is felt initially, moxa until extreme pain occurs. Those treated before and after responded effectively. For warts and similar growths, apply moxibustion similarly. The book records no empty words; patients simply fail to observe carefully, leading to inconsistent results.

*Shiliao*: Expels wind, kills parasites. *Waitai Miyao*: Treats toothache. Roast single-clove garlic, cut while hot, and use one half to foment the painful area, rotating as needed. Also treats parasitic pain. Another prescription: For obstruction and fullness with inability to urinate or defecate, roast single-clove garlic until cooked, peel, wrap in silk, and insert into the anus; Qi flows immediately. Another prescription: Treats wind-stroke from metal wounds, with opisthotonos. Take one da sheng of garlic, remove the heart, boil in four sheng of unfermented wine until very soft, and consume the liquid and dregs together (at least one da sheng). Diarrhea will occur suddenly; crush garlic and apply to the soles of both feet. Another prescription: Treats rebellious Qi causing vexation, chest pain. Crush raw garlic for juice, drink two sheng to recover. Ge Shi Fang: Dan is a malignant sore with varying colors, often appearing on the ankles. Crush garlic and apply thickly; change when dry. Mei Biao's *Yaoshi Jing* prescription for guiding out poison: Roast single-clove garlic until cooked, peel, wrap in silk, and insert into the anus; change when cool. Another prescription: For insect stings, rub the sting site with single-clove garlic until pain stops. Another prescription: Treats she-gong poison. Slice single-clove garlic to a thickness of three fen or more, apply to the sore. For viper bites, crush single-clove garlic with sour grass, squeeze juice, and apply to the bite site. Sun Simiao: Eat garlic paste with salt and soy sauce, crushed and consumed. Garlic sprouts can be made into soup or boiled and eaten. Directs Qi downward, warms the middle, aids digestion. Huangdi states: Consuming with green carp causes internal sores, intestinal swelling, and hernia masses. Excessive raw garlic damages liver Qi, causing pallor. Do not eat raw garlic in the fourth and eighth months; it harms the spirit and damages gallbladder Qi. *Jianyao Jizhong*: Treats persistent epistaxis unresponsive to medication. Use one clove of garlic, peel, grind into mud, form a cake the size of a coin, thickness of a bean. Apply to both soles if bleeding from the left nostril; recovers immediately. After bleeding stops, wash soles with warm water. *Zimu Milu*: Treats postpartum wind-stroke with opisthotonos and aphasia. Boil thirty cloves of garlic in three sheng of water until reduced to one sheng... Another prescription: For pediatric white tinea capitis (white patches on scalp), rub garlic on the white areas in the morning.

Li Daonian of the Later Wei dynasty had a serious illness. He replied: I have had cold-phlegm for five years. Cheng diagnosed: Not cold, not heat, but caused by overeating boiled eggs. Ordered to cook one head of garlic and take medicine, then vomited an object the size of a sheng, wrapped in saliva. Upon opening, it was a chick with complete wings, feathers, and claws. Cheng said: Not finished. Took medicine again, vomited thirteen more heads. Hua Tuo, walking on the road, saw a cart carrying a person with throat obstruction, unable to eat, groaning. Hua Tuo said: Drink three sheng of strong vinegar with garlic paste from the pancake shop, and you will recover. Indeed, vomited a large snake and healed.

*Yanyi* states: Hu is garlic, extremely pungent, yet placed among rotten meat, it masks the odor. For heatstroke poisoning, chew three or two cloves thoroughly, swallow with warm water, effect is immediate. Still forbid drinking cold water. For sudden bloody diarrhea, take five or seven cloves of Hu, remove stems and skins, mix with fermented soybeans according to quantity, crush into paste, take 50-60 pills with rice gruel; all recover. For epistaxis, crush one clove, apply to both soles; wipe off immediately after bleeding stops. Also, slice purple-skin garlic horizontally to one fen thickness. For early-stage sores on the back or ribs where yong and ju are not yet distinguished: if Yang stagnates in Yin, it becomes yong (superficial, red, shiny skin); if Yin stagnates in Yang, it becomes ju (deep, rough, dull skin). Cover with garlic slices and apply moxibustion. If already painful, moxa until pain stops; if not painful, moxa until pain is first felt. All are effective. Accurately determine the center, apply garlic, and moxa. People often fail to understand this sore; seeing it small initially, they refuse moxibustion. What a pity!