Formulas · Warm the Interior 溫裏 · Gangmok (綱目)

Costus Powder (Children, Pox Diarrhoea)

Mokhyang-san

한글 목향산 (소아) · Pinyin Mu Xiang San

木香散

This is a fifth distinct prescription called 木香散. The four already registered are `mokhyang-san-changman` (木香ㆍ大戟ㆍ白丑 roasted in a pig's kidney, 易老, for water distension), `mokhyang-san-hwalseol` (a thirteen-drug powder with 破故紙ㆍ良薑ㆍ吳茱萸ㆍ檳榔 taken with pig's liver, 得效), `mokhyang-san-sinseol` (肉豆蔲ㆍ破故紙ㆍ白朮ㆍ白茯苓ㆍ木香ㆍ甘草, 得效) and `mokhyang-san-guri` (甘草ㆍ木香ㆍ黃連ㆍ鸎粟殼ㆍ生薑 with musk, 本事). Only costus root is common to all five, and none of the four shares more than two drugs with this one, so the chapter tail follows the `talmyeong-san-soa` precedent. Six formulas in the corpus now carry this name. The transcription writes 𤍠 for 熱; the standard form is printed.

Composition 構成

Mokhyang Mu Xiang
木香 목향 · Costus Root

1.2 g
Chief 君
Jeonghyang Ding Xiang
丁香 정향 · Clove

1.2 g
Deputy 臣
Gyeji Gui Zhi
桂枝 계지 · Cinnamon Twig

1.2 g
Deputy 臣
Insam Ren Shen
人蔘 인삼 · Ginseng

1.2 g
Deputy 臣
Jinpi Chen Pi
陳皮 진피 · Aged Tangerine Peel

1.2 g
Assistant 佐
Banha Ban Xia
半夏 반하 · Pinellia

1.2 g
Assistant 佐

toxic raw
Jeokbongnyeong Chi Fu Ling
赤茯苓 적복령 · Poria (red)

1.2 g
Assistant 佐
Gaja He Zi
訶子 가자 · Chebula

1.2 g
Assistant 佐

rind only (訶子皮)
Daebokpi Da Fu Pi
大腹皮 대복피 · Areca Husk

1.2 g
Assistant 佐
Jeonho Qian Hu
前胡 전호 · Peucedanum

1.2 g
Assistant 佐
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

1.2 g
Envoy 使
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

three slices

Total 13.2 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 1 ingredient 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 pox with abdominal distension, thirst and diarrhoea
For a cold pattern only — not to be used where there is heat

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Cold in the centre during the pox, with distension and a loose stool
Stomach fluids depleted by a repeated diarrhoea

Biomedical correlates

Abdominal distension and diarrhoea in a child with smallpox
Dehydration with ileus

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治痘瘡腹脹渴瀉. 木香ㆍ丁香ㆍ桂枝ㆍ陳皮ㆍ半夏ㆍ赤茯苓ㆍ人參ㆍ訶子皮ㆍ大腹皮ㆍ前胡ㆍ甘草各三分. 右剉, 作一貼, 薑三片, 水煎服. ○冷證可用, 有熱則不可用. 《綱目》

Translation

It treats the pox with abdominal distension, thirst and diarrhoea. Costus root, clove, cinnamon twig, tangerine peel, pinellia, red poria, ginseng, chebula rind, areca husk, peucedanum and licorice, 3 fun each. Cut them up, make one packet, add three slices of ginger, decoct in water and take it. ○ It may be used for a cold pattern; where there is heat it must not be used. — Gangmok 綱目 (Donguibogam · Soa)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Eleven drugs at 3 fun each with three slices of ginger — under 14 g in one packet, and every drug weighted the same. Four of them work on the distension (costus root, areca husk, tangerine peel, peucedanum), two warm (clove, cinnamon twig), chebula rind astringes the stool, and ginseng, licorice, red poria and pinellia fill out the base. The source's own restriction is at the foot of the leaf: for a cold pattern only, and not where there is heat. This is the workhorse of the pox-complication sections. The prose cites it twice under 泄瀉, once under 煩渴 and once under 腹脹 — more often than any other formula in the block — and always for the same cluster of distension, thirst and diarrhoea. The distension it treats is almost certainly a quiet, gas-filled abdomen in a child who is volume-depleted, which is ileus rather than a disorder of qi. The thirst and the diarrhoea are the dehydration set out on the 異功散 leaf of this section, and this formula does not replace fluid either. **Contains pinellia, which is toxic raw and must be properly processed; raw pinellia is a mucosal irritant and in a small child can swell the airway. The patient is an infant and the leaf gives no dose scaled to age or weight.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.