Sappan Wood Powder

Twelve drugs all at 8 fun, which is the Jeongjeon's way of writing a formula that is meant to act as a whole rather than through a chief drug. The architecture is blood: the tails of Korean angelica, red peony, cnidium, sappan wood and myrrh all move and break gathered blood, momordica seed and pangolin scale are the tradition's piercing drugs for a hard node that will not come to a head, rhubarb drains downward and honeysuckle cools the toxin. The section's own theory is that 便癰 is 血疝, a blood mounting disorder, on the foot jueyin division, which is rich in blood — so a blood formula. 便癰, also called 便毒 and 𩣔馬癰, is a swelling in the groin between the lower abdomen and the thigh, and the modern reading is suppurative inguinal lymphadenitis — a bubo. The section is careful to note that it may follow 疳瘡, a sore on the genitals, or may arise suddenly on its own, and it tells the patient to abstain from sex and from exertion while it is being treated. These sections sit immediately beside the chapter's venereal material without naming it, and an inguinal bubo following a genital ulcer is, in modern terms, the picture of lymphogranuloma venereum or chancroid; it can equally be staphylococcal or streptococcal adenitis from a break in the skin of the leg. **Contains pangolin scale, from a CITES-protected animal; it is illegal to trade and must be omitted. Momordica seed is toxic. A groin abscess needs examination, drainage and antibiotics, and a bubo following a genital ulcer needs testing for sexually transmitted infection, for the patient and for their partners.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.