Formulas · Reduce Food Stagnation 消食 · Manbyeong Hoechun (萬病回春)

Four Treasures Elixir

Sabo-dan

한글 사보단  ·  Pinyin Si Bao Dan

四寶丹

The formula has one constant base and four alternative bulk ingredients, only one of which is used in any given preparation; all four are listed here with the condition marked in the preparation note.

Composition 構成

Total 2720 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

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

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

  • Jaundice disease with eating of raw rice
  • tea leaves
  • yellow earth or black charcoal

Biomedical correlates

  • Pica with iron-deficiency anaemia

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治黃病, 喫生米ㆍ茶葉ㆍ黃土ㆍ黑炭等物. 食生米者, 麥芽 一斤, 使君子肉 二兩, 檳榔ㆍ南星(薑製) 各一兩. 食茶葉者, 茶葉 一斤, 使君子肉 二兩, 檳榔ㆍ南星(薑製) 各一兩. 食黃土者, 壁土 一斤, 使君子肉 二兩, 檳榔ㆍ南星(薑製) 各一兩. 食黑炭者, 黑炭 一斤, 使君子肉 二兩, 檳榔ㆍ南星(薑製) 各一兩. 右爲末, 蜜丸梧子大. 早晨, 砂糖水下五十丸. 《回春》

Translation

Treats jaundice disease with eating of raw rice, tea leaves, yellow earth, black charcoal and the like. Where raw rice is eaten: barley sprout 1 geun, kernels of Quisqualis 2 nyang, areca and arisaema (ginger-processed) 1 nyang each. Where tea leaves are eaten: tea leaves 1 geun, with the same three. Where yellow earth is eaten: wall earth 1 geun, with the same three. Where black charcoal is eaten: black charcoal 1 geun, with the same three. Powder them and make honey pills the size of a firmiana seed; take fifty in the early morning with sugar water. — Manbyeong Hoechun 回春 (Donguibogam · Hwangdal)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The principle is that the craved substance itself becomes the largest ingredient: a geun of the very thing the patient has been eating, with the same three medicinals behind it. That is the like-treats-like reasoning of 1.8.14 turned on a craving rather than on a disease. The section heading names the condition plainly — 疸癖, 愛喫土ㆍ炭ㆍ生米ㆍ茶葉, jaundice aggregation with a liking for eating earth, charcoal, raw rice and tea leaves. This is pica, and pica is the classic behavioural marker of iron deficiency. The chapter has placed it immediately after four iron pills, and treats the two as one subject. That grouping is the sharpest observation in the chapter. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.

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