Formulas · Transform Phlegm 化痰 · Uihak Gangmok (醫學綱目)

Minor Radish and Soapberry Pill

Sonajo-hwan

한글 소나조환 · Pinyin Xiao Luo Zao Wan

小蘿皂丸

皂用 — the transcription reads 用 where the first edition reads 角, that is 皂角, soapberry, which is plainly what is meant; the collation note stands at the foot of leaf 043b. The transcription's reading is printed. The herb is entered as soapberry.

Composition 構成

Nabokja Lai Fu Zi
萊菔子 나복자 · Radish Seed

80 g
Chief 君

steamed
Cheonnamseong Tian Nan Xing
天南星 천남성 · Arisaema

40 g
Deputy 臣

steeped in alum water and sun-dried · toxic in the raw state
Jogak Zao Jiao
皂角 조각 · Gleditsia Pod

20 g
Deputy 臣

calcined
Gwaruin Gua Lou Ren
瓜蔞仁 과루인 · Trichosanthes Seed

40 g
Assistant 佐
Haebun Hai Fen
海粉 해분 · Sea Hare Egg Mass

40 g
Assistant 佐
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

the juice, worked in with honey
Bongmil Feng Mi
蜂蜜 봉밀 · Honey

—
Envoy 使

with the ginger juice, as the binder

Total g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 2 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 long-standing panting, and is best of all for it

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Long panting with phlegm knotted in the chest
Phlegm that will not be coughed out

Biomedical correlates

Chronic obstructive airway disease with sputum retention

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治久喘最妙. 蘿葍子(蒸) 二兩, 皂用(煆) 五錢, 南星(以白礬水浸晒)ㆍ瓜蔞仁ㆍ海粉各一兩. 右爲末, 薑汁入蜜和勻, 擣作丸櫻桃大, 含化嚥下. 《綱目》

Translation

Treats long-standing panting, and is best of all for it. Steamed radish seed, 2 nyang; calcined soapberry, 5 don; arisaema steeped in alum water and sun-dried, trichosanthes seed and sea sponge, 1 nyang each. Grind to a powder, mix evenly with ginger juice and honey, pound into pills the size of a cherry, and let the patient hold one in the mouth to dissolve and swallow it down. — Uihak Gangmok 綱目 (Donguibogam · Haesu)

Clinical commentary 臨床

A lozenge rather than a dose: pounded into cherry-sized pills with ginger juice and honey and held in the mouth to dissolve. For a patient whose complaint is phlegm that will not shift, a slowly dissolved expectorant trickling down the throat is a more sensible delivery than a swallowed pill, and the chapter uses the same device in Hamgo-hwan. Radish seed and soapberry are the two strongest phlegm-cutting drugs in the materia medica, and the formula pairs them with arisaema for the thick phlegm and sea sponge for the salty-cold softening of it. **Contains arisaema, which is toxic in the raw state; the alum-water steeping given here is the processing meant to reduce that, and the drug must be properly processed. Soapberry is an irritant saponin and is emetic in quantity.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.