Formulas · Warm the Interior 溫裏 · Hwarinseo (活人書)

The Navel Ironing Method

Wije-beop

한글 위제법 · Pinyin Yun Qi Fa

熨臍法

A procedure rather than a draught; the materials are recorded here as ingredients so the method can be indexed with the formulas. 熨斗 is a flat-iron filled with coals.

Composition 構成

Chongbaek Cong Bai
蔥白 총백 · Scallion White

—
Chief 君

a bundle, leaves cut off, bound into cakes two or three chon across
Sahyang She Xiang
麝香 사향 · Musk (prohibited)

1 g
Deputy 臣

one ja, packed into the navel · CITES
Yuhwang Liu Huang
硫黃 유황 · Sulphur

1 g
Deputy 臣

one ja, packed into the navel · toxic

Total 2 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 yin toxin in extremity with the body cold and no pulse and the breath about to be cut off or the patient unaware
Warms the navel with scallion cakes under a hot iron

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Yang desertion with no pulse
Yin toxin with the body cold

Biomedical correlates

Circulatory collapse
Severe hypothermia

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治陰毒危急, 體冷無脉ㆍ氣息欲絶, 或不省人事. 大葱白把, 切去葉, 扎餠二三寸許, 連作四五餠. 先將麝香ㆍ硫黃各一字塡臍內, 放葱餠於臍上, 以熨斗火熨之. 如餠爛, 再換新餠又熨之. 以葱氣入腹爲效. 手足溫ㆍ有汗卽差, 更服<a href='/formulas/sayeok-tang'>四逆湯</a>以溫其內. 如熨後手足指尙冷ㆍ甲下肉黑者, 死. 《活人》 ○又法, 釅醋拌麩皮炒, 熨納布袋中, 蒸熱熨之, 尤速效. 《海藏》

Translation

Treats yin toxin in extremity, with the body cold and no pulse and the breath about to be cut off, or the patient unaware of people. Take a bundle of large scallion whites, cut off the leaves and bind them into cakes two or three chon across, making four or five cakes in succession. First pack one ja each of musk and sulphur into the navel, lay a scallion cake on the navel, and iron it with fire in a flat-iron. When the cake is scorched through, change it for a fresh one and iron again. The measure of effect is the scallion qi entering the abdomen. When the hands and feet grow warm and there is sweat, there is recovery; then give Sayeok-tang to warm the interior. If after the ironing the fingers and toes are still cold and the flesh under the nails is black, he dies. Another method: stir-fry wheat bran with strong vinegar, put it in a cloth bag, steam it hot and iron with it — the effect is quicker still. — Hwarin 活人 · Haejang 海藏 (Donguibogam · Han)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Applied heat to the abdomen in a patient with no pulse, which is the right instinct and the right site — core rewarming through the trunk rather than the limbs is exactly how severe hypothermia is managed, and warming the extremities first is the classic error. The staged procedure, with fresh scallion cakes as each one scorches, keeps the heat going without burning, and the endpoint is sensible: warm hands and sweat. So is the prognostic sign that follows, black flesh under the nails after rewarming, which is irreversible peripheral ischaemia. The bran-and-vinegar bag in the appended note is a better version still, and the one a modern reader could imitate. Musk and sulphur packed in the navel are the parts to leave out. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.