Formulas · Purge Downward 瀉下 · Uihak Jeongjeon (醫學正傳)

Oyster Shell and Rhubarb Decoction

Moryeodaehwang-tang

한글 모려대황탕 · Pinyin Mu Li Da Huang Tang

牡蠣大黃湯

治同上 refers to the preceding leaf, Sobang-san, and so to 便癰. 煆, calcined, attaches to the oyster shell rather than to the rhubarb. 黃瓜蔞 is the ripened, yellow trichosanthes fruit, taken whole and counted rather than weighed, and is resolved to gwaru.

Composition 構成

Daehwang Da Huang
大黃 대황 · Rhubarb

10 g
Chief 君
Moryeo Mu Li
牡蠣 모려 · Oyster Shell

10 g
Chief 君

calcined (煆)
Gwaru Gua Lou
瓜蔞 과루 · Trichosanthes Fruit

—
Assistant 佐

one ripe fruit (黃瓜蔞一箇)
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

4 g
Envoy 使

Total 24 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 same as the above — 便癰, the abscess in the groin
Drains the toxin downward and softens the hard node

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

便癰 — groin abscess with a hard, painful node
Heat and toxin bound below with a bound bowel
The hard swelling that has not yet come to a head

Biomedical correlates

Suppurative inguinal lymphadenitis (bubo)
Inguinal abscess

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治同上. 大黃ㆍ牡蠣(煆) 各二錢半, 甘草一錢, 黃瓜蔞一箇. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎服. 《正傳》

Translation

Treats the same as the above. Rhubarb and calcined oyster shell, 2 don 5 fun each; licorice, 1 don; one ripe yellow trichosanthes fruit. Cut the above, make one packet, decoct in water and take. — Jeongjeon 正傳 (Donguibogam · Ongjeo)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Four drugs and a very plain plan: rhubarb purges the toxin downward, calcined oyster shell softens and dissolves a hard node — the same reasoning that puts it in the scrofula formulas — a whole ripe trichosanthes fruit cools and loosens the swelling and moves the stool, and licorice moderates the two strong drugs. Against Sobang-san's twelve blood-moving drugs this is the draining answer to the same lesion, and the chapter lists them side by side for the physician to choose between. A hard, tender node in the groin is what both formulas are for. Oyster shell and trichosanthes together are the classical pair for a node that will not disperse, and the modern reading of the lesion is a suppurative inguinal lymph node. **Contains rhubarb and must not be used in pregnancy. A groin abscess needs drainage and antibiotics; where it follows a genital ulcer it also needs testing for sexually transmitted infection.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.