Formulas · Clear Heat 淸熱 · Seui Deukhyobang (世醫得效方)

Elder Statesman Drink

Gungno-eum

한글 국로음 · Pinyin Guo Lao Yin

國老飮

國老 is the materia medica's honorific for licorice, the elder statesman of the pharmacy, and the name belongs to the licorice rather than the alum. The Donguibogam also has two formulas named 國老膏, registered as gukro-go and gukro-go-hyeonong; this is a different formula and the dosage-form syllable keeps the ids apart. The transcription writes 清 for 淸; the standard form is printed.

Composition 構成

Baekban Bai Fan
白礬 백반 · Alum

—
Chief 君

等分, in equal part
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

—
Deputy 臣

等分, in equal part

Total 0 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 worm toxin
Taken down in clear water, so that the patient vomits black drool or purges and is at ease

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

蠱毒 — worm toxin
吐黑涎 — vomiting of black drool as the sign of relief

Biomedical correlates

Suspected poisoning — historical emetic treatment

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治蠱毒. 白礬ㆍ甘草等分, 爲末, 淸水調下. 或吐黑涎, 或瀉下卽安. 《得效》

Translation

Treats worm toxin. Alum and licorice in equal parts, powdered and taken down stirred into clear water. Either the patient vomits black drool, or purges, and is at once at ease. — Deukhyo 得效 (Donguibogam · Haedok)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Two drugs, one of them the chapter's universal antidote and the other its test. 嚼白礬味甘 — chewing alum and finding it sweet — is how the 三因's 驗蠱毒法 a few leaves earlier decides whether a patient has been poisoned at all, so the same alum that diagnoses the condition is here made to treat it. Alum in water is an emetic, and that is the mechanism the leaf describes: 或吐黑涎, the vomiting of black drool, read as the toxin coming up. For a poison still in the stomach, emptying it is at least directed at the right place, but induced vomiting is no longer recommended — it does not reliably recover what was swallowed, and it risks aspiration. **Alum taken internally as an emetic is unsafe. Do not use this to treat a suspected poisoning; a poisoning is a medical emergency.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.