Formulas · Regulate Qi 理氣 · Uihak Immun (醫學入門)

Uncaria Paste

Jodeung-go

한글 조등고 · Pinyin Diao Teng Gao

釣藤膏

Composition 構成

Mokhyang Mu Xiang
木香 목향 · Costus Root

8 g
Chief 君
Ganghwang Jiang Huang
薑黃 강황 · Turmeric

8 g
Chief 君
Yuhyang Ru Xiang
乳香 유향 · Frankincense

6 g
Deputy 臣
Moryak Mo Yao
沒藥 몰약 · Myrrh

6 g
Deputy 臣
Mokbyeolja Mu Bie Zi
木鼈子 목별자 · Momordica Seed (toxic)

—
Assistant 佐

木鼈子肉, the kernel, five of them (五箇) · toxic
Bongmil Feng Mi
蜂蜜 봉밀 · Honey

—
Envoy 使

honey, to work the powder into a paste

Total 28 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 the inward-hooked convulsion of fright wind, where cold Qi has congealed and blocked
Made up with honey into a paste, kept in a jar, and a little dissolved down in uncaria or mint decoction

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Inward-hooked convulsion (內釣) with abdominal pain, constant crying and an arched back
Cold Qi congealed and blocked, with a blue face and dark lips

Biomedical correlates

Historically used for the inconsolable infant with abdominal pain and arching
Recorded for historical reference only

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治驚風內釣. 木香ㆍ薑黃各二錢, 乳香ㆍ沒藥各一錢半, 木鼈子肉五箇. 右爲末, 蜜調成膏, 收罐內, 以釣藤煎湯, 或薄荷湯化下少許. 《入門》

Translation

Treats the inward-hooked convulsion of fright wind. Costus root and turmeric, 2 don each; frankincense and myrrh, 1 don 5 fun each; the kernels of five momordica seeds. Powder them all, work them up with honey into a paste and keep it in a jar; dissolve a little of it down in a decoction of uncaria, or in mint decoction. — Immun 入門 (Donguibogam · Soa)

Clinical commentary 臨床

**The patient is a child and the text gives no dose by weight anywhere.** Four of the six ingredients are harmless at these amounts and it is worth saying so: costus root, turmeric, frankincense and myrrh are aromatics and resins, and honey is a binder. **The one to watch is 木鼈子.** The kernel of *Momordica cochinchinensis* is saponin-rich and is classed as a toxic drug in the materia medica itself; it is normally reserved for external use, and here five kernels go into a paste a little of which is swallowed. 'A little' is the whole dose instruction. In an infant that is not a dose. Uncaria appears in this formula only as the liquid the paste is dissolved in, not as an ingredient — see 釣藤散 for what is and is not known about it. 內釣 as the section describes it should stop a modern reader: 腹痛多啼, 面靑唇黑, 傴僂反張, 外腎腫, 尿如米泔 — abdominal pain with constant crying, a blue face and dark lips, the body bent and then arched backward, swelling of the scrotum, and urine like rice-water. An infant who screams inconsolably, draws up the legs and has a swollen scrotum is a surgical emergency: testicular torsion or an incarcerated inguinal hernia, either of which loses the organ or the bowel within hours. Add intussusception and a urinary infection to the list and almost the whole description is accounted for by conditions that need a surgeon or an antibiotic the same day. Reading it as congealed cold Qi, and answering with an aromatic paste, costs the time that matters. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.