Augmented Silkworm and Rhubarb Pill

Ganghwang-hwan with cicada slough and turmeric added, and the proportions tell the story: rhubarb at four nyang against two of stiff silkworm keeps the base ratio, while cicada slough and turmeric come in at a fraction of that. Cicada slough is the tradition’s light, surface-releasing drug for rashes and swellings of the head; turmeric moves blood in a swelling that has stagnated. 蝦蟆瘟 and 鸕鷀瘟 — the toad epidemic and the cormorant epidemic — are named for what the patient looks like: a face puffed out like a toad’s, or a neck and throat distended like a cormorant’s pouch. Those are good descriptions of epidemic parotid swelling, and the leaf’s separate dose for children is consistent with a childhood illness, though nothing here settles the identification. The dosing is careful for this chapter — pills counted out of a measured nyang, halved for a child — and the vehicle is only honey water. **Rhubarb at this weight is a purgative, and stiff silkworm and cicada slough are whole-insect materials; this is not a preparation to reproduce.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.