Formulas · External Application 外用 · Seui Deukhyobang (世醫得效方)

Arisaema Plaster

Namseong-go

한글 남성고 · Pinyin Nan Xing Gao

南星膏

The transcription writes 醫鍳 for the second source label; the standard form 醫鑑 is given above. The paper the paste is spread on is apparatus and is kept in the method. The 醫鑑 formula appended under ○ is a second composition under the same head and its two drugs are entered with no weight, marked in the preparation. This plaster is cited twice more in the chapter, in the 癭瘤 section's list of remedies and again in its 初起 clause, 外付南星膏, with no separate composition given.

Composition 構成

Cheonnamseong Tian Nan Xing
天南星 천남성 · Arisaema

—
Chief 君

生天南星大者一箇, one large raw tuber, finely ground · intensely irritant raw, requires proper processing; dried tuber powdered may be used instead if no fresh one is to be had
Choo Cao Wu
草烏 초오 · Wild Aconite

—
Chief 君

草烏 in the 醫鑑 formula appended to the leaf · aconite, severely toxic and absorbed through broken skin
Cho Cu
醋 초 · Vinegar

—
Envoy 使

醋三五點, three to five drops of vinegar, to make the paste; vinegar also used to work up the dried drug
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

薑汁, ginger juice as the vehicle for the 醫鑑 formula

Total g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 4 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 goitre and tumour
One large raw arisaema tuber ground fine with three to five drops of vinegar into a paste
The tumour is pricked with a needle first, then the drug spread on paper and stuck on, and renewed often
In the appended formula, arisaema with wild aconite in ginger juice is smeared on instead

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

癭瘤 — goitre and soft-tissue tumour
A lump to be opened with a needle before the plaster goes on

Biomedical correlates

Benign soft-tissue tumour — topical counter-irritant
Thyroid or neck swelling

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治癭瘤. 生天南星大者一箇, 細硏, 滴醋三五點爲膏. 先將鍼刺瘤上, 却以藥攤紙上貼之, 頻貼取效. 如無生者, 乾者爲末, 醋調用之. 《得效》 ○又方南星ㆍ草烏爲末, 薑汁調付之亦佳. 《醫鑑》

Translation

Treats goitre and tumour. One large fresh arisaema tuber, finely ground, with three to five drops of vinegar dripped in to make a paste. First prick over the tumour with a needle, then spread the drug on paper and stick it on; stick on fresh often, and it answers. If no fresh tuber is to be had, powder the dried one and work it up with vinegar. ○ Another formula: arisaema and wild aconite powdered and mixed with ginger juice and applied, which is also good. — Deukhyo 得效 · Uigam 醫鑑 (Donguibogam · Jechang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

One tuber, a few drops of vinegar, and a needle. The method is explicit about the order: 先將鍼刺瘤上, prick over the tumour first, then stick the plaster on. That is deliberate — the drug is meant to get past the skin, and the needling is how it is got there. Fresh arisaema is used by preference and the dried tuber only if no fresh one can be had, which tells you what is wanted: the fresh tuber is far the more irritant of the two. The 醫鑑 variant appended to the leaf makes the same point more bluntly by replacing the vinegar with ginger juice and adding wild aconite. Both pastes work by raising a reaction in the tissue under the lump. The chapter uses the identical pairing, 南星ㆍ草烏 in ginger juice, in the 結核 section for a phlegm nodule, so this is a standing counter-irritant rather than anything specific to goitre. **Fresh arisaema is loaded with calcium oxalate needles and causes immediate intense burning, blistering and swelling of skin and mucosa; wild aconite is severely toxic and its alkaloids are absorbed through broken skin, with cardiac arrhythmia as the consequence. Both are here being rubbed into needle punctures. This must not be prepared.** Puncturing a neck swelling in particular is dangerous in its own right — a goitre is vascular and sits over the trachea and the carotid sheath — and a tumour that needs treating needs identifying first, by ultrasound and where indicated a needle biopsy done properly. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.