Formulas · Purge Downward 瀉下 · Uihak Gangmok (醫學綱目)

Lesser Rhinoceros Horn Pill

Soseogak-hwan

한글 소서각환 · Pinyin Xiao Xi Jiao Wan

小犀角丸

The transcription prints 連翹 with a space before 五錢 at the line break and carries no interlinear notes in this leaf. 皂角二條 and the 二斤 of fresh mint are the quantities used in making the binding paste rather than drugs in the powder, and are entered with the pods counted and the mint weighed at the standard 640 g to the geun.

Composition 構成

Heukchuk Hei Chou
黑丑 흑축 · Black Morning Glory Seed

40 g
Chief 君

黑丑, half raw and half fried, the first-grade powder taken (半生半炒取頭末), 1 nyang · black morning-glory seed, a drastic purgative
Seogak Xi Jiao
犀角 서각 · Rhinoceros Horn (prohibited)

40 g
Chief 君

1 nyang · rhinoceros horn, from a CITES-protected animal; trade is illegal
Cheongpi Qing Pi
靑皮 청피 · Green Tangerine Peel

40 g
Deputy 臣

1 nyang
Jinpi Chen Pi
陳皮 진피 · Aged Tangerine Peel

40 g
Deputy 臣

陳皮, 1 nyang
Yeongyo Lian Qiao
連翹 연교 · Forsythia

20 g
Deputy 臣

5 don
Bakha Bo He
薄荷 박하 · Mint

1280 g
Assistant 佐

新薄荷, fresh mint, 2 geun, juiced and boiled down with the gleditsia juice into the paste that binds the pills; also the draught, with forsythia
Jogak Zao Jiao
皂角 조각 · Gleditsia Pod

—
Assistant 佐

皂角二條, two pods, the skin, strings and seeds removed, steeped in hot water and wrung out for a bowl of the juice

Total 1460 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 scrofula of every kind, and taken regularly removes the root
Thirty pills after food in forsythia and mint decoction, the pills boiled down into a paste of gleditsia and fresh mint juice

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

諸癧 — scrofula of every kind
應效如神 — answering as if by magic, taken long-term to remove the root

Biomedical correlates

Tuberculous lymphadenitis — scrofula

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治諸癧, 應效如神, 常服去根. 黑丑(半生半炒取頭末)ㆍ犀角ㆍ靑皮ㆍ陳皮各一兩, 連翹五錢. 右爲末. 皂角二條(去皮弦子), 湯浸絞取汁一椀, 新薄荷二斤, 取汁, 同熬膏和丸梧子大. 連翹ㆍ薄荷湯呑下三十丸, 食後服. 《綱目》

Translation

Treats scrofula of every kind, answering as if by magic; taken regularly it removes the root. Black morning-glory seed (half raw and half fried, the first-grade powder taken), rhinoceros horn, green tangerine peel and aged tangerine peel, 1 nyang each; forsythia 5 don. Powder the above. Take two gleditsia pods, the skin, strings and seeds removed, steep them in hot water and wring out a bowl of the juice; juice fresh mint 2 geun, and boil the two juices down together into a paste to bind the powder into pills the size of a paulownia seed. Swallow thirty pills in forsythia and mint decoction, after food. — Gangmok 綱目 (Donguibogam · Jechang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Named 小 against some larger rhinoceros-horn formula no longer traceable, and the name tells you where the prestige lay; the drug doing the work is the other one. Black morning-glory seed, half raw and half fried and reduced to its 頭末, the fine first siftings, is a drastic purgative, and a nyang of it in a formula taken 常服, regularly, over a long period, is the whole mechanism. Rhinoceros horn supplies the cooling and the price, the two tangerine peels move Qi, forsythia answers the toxin. The binding is interesting on its own account: two gleditsia pods wrung out for their saponin-rich juice and two geun of fresh mint juiced, boiled together into a paste. 瘰癧 is tuberculous lymphadenitis. 常服去根, taken regularly it removes the root, is the claim, and what regular purgation would actually have produced in a patient already wasting with chronic tuberculous disease is dehydration, electrolyte loss and faster decline. **Contains rhinoceros horn, from a CITES Appendix I species. All international trade is illegal, the demand drives the poaching of a critically endangered animal, and the horn is keratin with no pharmacological activity. It must never be sourced, and no substitute is being recommended here. Black morning-glory seed is a drastic purgative and unsafe in sustained use or in pregnancy. This must not be prepared.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.