Battle Lord Elixir

Two minerals and no more: rhubarb 1 nyang against lime 6 nyang, dry-fried together until the mixture turns purple, left to lose its 火毒, then pounded, sieved and dusted straight onto the wound. The name is 大黃's nickname — the general, the lord of the battle line — but the bulk of the powder, six parts to one, is lime. Lime is what makes it work and what makes it dangerous. Calcium oxide on wet tissue slakes exothermically and raises the pH sharply; it will stop a bleeding surface by destroying it. That is a chemical cautery, and the historical reports of lime-based battlefield powders stopping haemorrhage are probably true for that reason. Dusted onto an open fracture, the same reaction burns periosteum and exposed bone, leaves a slough that has to separate before anything can heal under it, and seals contaminated tissue in. **Contains lime, which is caustic. This must not be prepared or applied to a wound.** Bleeding from a fracture is controlled today by pressure, elevation, splinting and surgical haemostasis, none of which destroys the tissue that has to heal. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.