Silkworm and Rhubarb Pill

Ganghwang-hwan

한글 강황환 · Pinyin Jiang Huang Wan

殭黃丸

The transcription writes 殭蚕 and 白殭蚕 where the corpus elsewhere prints 蠶; the transcription’s form is kept. 淸凉 appears in the verse as the transcription has it.

Composition 構成

Daehwang Da Huang
大黃 대황 · Rhubarb

80 g
Chief 君
Baekgangjam Bai Jiang Can
白殭蠶 백강잠 · Silkworm

40 g
Chief 君
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

the juice, to bind the pills
Bongmil Feng Mi
蜂蜜 봉밀 · Honey

—
Envoy 使

stirred into the draught

Total 120 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 2 ingredients 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

Treats epidemic swelling of the head and throat blockage
Drains fire with rhubarb while stiff silkworm disperses the swelling

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Epidemic swelling of the head (大頭病)
Throat blockage (喉痺)

Biomedical correlates

Epidemic illness with swelling of the head and face
Acute obstructive sore throat

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治大頭病, 及喉痺. 歌曰, 人間治疫有仙方, 一兩殭蚕二大黃, 薑汁和丸彈子大, 井華調蜜便淸凉. 《易老》 ○乃白殭蚕一兩, 大黃二兩, 爲末, 薑汁和丸彈子大, 井水硏服一丸也. 《易老》

Translation

Treats epidemic big-head disease and throat blockage. The verse runs: in the world of men there is an immortal’s prescription for treating pestilence — one nyang of stiff silkworm to two of rhubarb; bind with ginger juice into pills the size of a bullet, and stirred with honey into first-drawn well water it is cooling at once. — Yeokro 易老 (Donguibogam · On) ○ That is, 1 nyang of white silkworm and 2 nyang of rhubarb, powdered, bound with ginger juice into pills the size of a bullet, one pill ground up in well water and taken. — Yeokro 易老 (Donguibogam · On)

Clinical commentary 臨床

A two-drug pill carried in a mnemonic verse, with the prose clause after it spelling out what the verse had compressed — one part stiff silkworm to two parts rhubarb, ginger juice as the binder, one pill ground up in first-drawn well water. The verse is the formula; the ○ clause is the Bogam making sure the reader has the proportions right. That ratio is the whole argument. Rhubarb at double weight drains the fire downward, and stiff silkworm, in the smaller share, is what the tradition sends to a swelling above the neck. The chapter builds on this pair repeatedly: Sodok-hwan adds calcined oyster shell, and Gamiganghwang-hwan adds cicada slough and turmeric. 便淸凉 — cooling at once — is a claim about how the draught feels, and a cold draught on a blocked throat does feel that way. **Throat blockage can obstruct the airway; this is not a condition to treat with a pill.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.