Mint Elixir

Bakha-dan

한글 박하단 · Pinyin Bo He Dan

薄荷丹

The transcription writes 觧 for 解; the corpus form is printed. This leaf and the 入門宣熱丹 earlier in the same section have exactly the same composition — the same seven drugs at 1 nyang each, bound with 二兩半 of fermented soybean softened in hot vinegar — and differ only in the name, the source and the wording of the method and the indication. The Bogam carries them as two formulas and the section's 通治 list names both, so both are registered, and each note points at the other.

Composition 構成

Bakha Bo He
薄荷 박하 · Mint

40 g
Chief 君

1 nyang
Jogak Zao Jiao
皂角 조각 · Gleditsia Pod

40 g
Chief 君

皂角, 1 nyang
Yeongyo Lian Qiao
連翹 연교 · Forsythia

40 g
Deputy 臣

1 nyang
Hasuo He Shou Wu
何首烏 하수오 · Fleeceflower Root

40 g
Deputy 臣

1 nyang
Manhyeongja Man Jing Zi
蔓荊子 만형자 · Vitex

40 g
Deputy 臣

1 nyang
Samneung San Leng
三稜 삼릉 · Sparganium

40 g
Assistant 佐

1 nyang
Hyeonggae Jing Jie
荊芥 형개 · Schizonepeta

40 g
Assistant 佐

1 nyang
Damdusi Dan Dou Chi
淡豆豉 담두시 · Prepared Soybean

100 g
Envoy 使

豉, fermented soybean, 2 nyang 5 don, softened in hot vinegar and ground to a paste to bind the pills
Cho Cu
醋 초 · Vinegar

—
Envoy 使

熱醋, hot vinegar, poured over the fermented soybean to soften it

Total 380 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 1 ingredient measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Resolves the toxin of scrofula, taken regularly after the drug has driven the toxin out through the urine
Thirty pills in boiled water, bound with fermented soybean softened in hot vinegar and ground to a paste

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

瘰癧毒 — the toxin of scrofula, after it has been brought out in the urine
The convalescent phase following Ibeung-san

Biomedical correlates

Tuberculous lymphadenitis — scrofula

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

解瘰癧毒, 服藥從小便出後常服此. 薄荷ㆍ皂角ㆍ連翹ㆍ何首烏ㆍ蔓荊子ㆍ三稜ㆍ荊芥各一兩. 右爲末, 豉二兩半, 以熱醋淹豉令軟, 硏爲糊和丸梧子大, 熟水下三十丸. 《直指》

Translation

Resolves the toxin of scrofula; once the drug has been taken and the toxin has come out in the urine, take this regularly thereafter. Mint, gleditsia pod, forsythia, polygonum multiflorum, vitex fruit, sparganium and schizonepeta, 1 nyang each. Powder the above; take fermented soybean 2 nyang 5 don, pour hot vinegar over it to soften it, grind it to a paste, and bind the powder into pills the size of a paulownia seed. Take thirty in boiled water. — Jikji 直指 (Donguibogam · Jechang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The same seven drugs at the same weights as 宣熱丹, bound the same way with vinegar-softened fermented soybean, under a different name and from a different book. The Bogam does not remark on it, and the 瘰癧通治 list names both as if they were separate formulas, which is a useful reminder of how the Bogam was compiled — leaf by leaf out of its sources, with the duplication left standing. Its place in the sequence is clearly marked. 立應散 names it as the follow-on — 宣毒後繼服薄荷丹觧其風熱, once the toxin has been diffused, follow with Bakha-dan to resolve the wind-heat — and this leaf says the same from the other side: 服藥從小便出後常服此, once the drug has been taken and the toxin has come out in the urine, take this regularly thereafter. It is the convalescent formula, given after the blister-beetle poisoning has run its course, and mint, schizonepeta, vitex fruit and forsythia are a mild and sensible thing to give someone recovering from that. 瘰癧 is tuberculous lymphadenitis, and the chapter's whole urinary scheme rests on misreading cantharidin cystitis as the disease leaving the body. This formula is harmless and does nothing against the infection; what it probably did was allow the bladder to recover while the patient was no longer being poisoned. The nodes need antituberculous therapy. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.