Sparrow Blindness Powder

Jakmaeng-san

한글 작맹산 · Pinyin Que Mang San

雀盲散

Composition 構成

Jeogan Zhu Gan
猪肝 저간 · Pig Liver

—
Chief 君

雄猪肝, split open with a bamboo knife
Yamyeongsa Ye Ming Sha
夜明砂 야명사 · Bat Droppings

—
Chief 君

packed into the liver
Migam Mi Gan
米泔 미감 · Rice-Washing Water

—
Envoy 使

the liver is boiled in it until seven tenths done

Total 0 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 3 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 sparrow eye with inability to see at night

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Sparrow eye — sight failing after dark

Biomedical correlates

Night blindness
Vitamin A deficiency

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治雀目夜不見物. 雄猪肝, 竹刀批開, 納夜明砂, 扎縛, 煮米泔中, 至七分熟, 取肝細嚼, 以汁送下. 《直指》 ○治雀目, 獖猪肝煮熟, 和夜明砂作丸服. 《入門》

Translation

Treats sparrow eye with inability to see at night. Split a boar's liver open with a bamboo knife, pack bat droppings inside, bind it up, and boil it in rice-washing water until seven tenths done; take the liver, chew it finely, and send it down with the liquor. Another: for sparrow eye, boil a gelded boar's liver until done, mix it with bat droppings, make pills and take them. — Jikji 直指 (Donguibogam · An)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The same two ingredients as the pill beside it, cooked instead of compounded — a boar's liver stuffed with bat droppings and simmered in rice water, chewed, and the broth drunk after. A bamboo knife rather than iron is specified, as it is throughout this tradition for anything to be eaten as medicine. For night blindness this is not folklore: it is liver, and it works. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.