Formulas · Purge Downward 瀉下 · Guseon (臞仙)

Numinous Treasure Elixir

Yeongbo-dan

한글 영보단 · Pinyin Ling Bao Dan

靈寶丹

Croton seed is toxic. The dose is titrated by the number of mouthfuls of water taken beforehand — three for three movements, and so on.

Composition 構成

Padu Ba Dou
巴豆 파두 · Croton Seed

8 g
Chief 君

skin, heart and oil removed · toxic
Mokhyang Mu Xiang
木香 목향 · Costus Root

2 g
Deputy 臣
Chimhyang Chen Xiang
沈香 침향 · Agarwood

2 g
Deputy 臣
Yuhyang Ru Xiang
乳香 유향 · Frankincense

2 g
Assistant 佐
Daejo Da Zao
大棗 대조 · Jujube

—
Envoy 使

three jujubes steamed and the flesh taken to bind the pills

Total 14 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 the stool not passing
pushing down an accumulation that has lodged

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Accumulation lodged with obstructed stool

Biomedical correlates

Faecal impaction

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治大便不通, 推下積滯. 木香ㆍ沉香ㆍ乳香各半錢, 巴豆(去皮心油) 二錢. 右爲末, 大棗三枚, 蒸取肉, 和勻, 擣作丸如菉豆大, 每服一丸, 凉水送下. 如欲利三行, 先喫凉水三口, 然後用凉水送下; 如欲五行ㆍ六行, 依數喫水. 《臞仙》

Translation

Treats the stool not passing, pushing down an accumulation that has lodged. Costus root, aquilaria and frankincense, half a don each; croton seed with skin, heart and oil removed, 2 don. Powder, steam three jujubes and take the flesh, mix evenly, pound into pills the size of a mung bean, and take one pill each time sent down with cool water. If three movements are wanted, first drink three mouthfuls of cool water and then send the pill down with cool water; if five or six movements are wanted, drink that number of mouthfuls. — Guseon 臞仙 (Donguibogam · Daebyeon)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The most remarkable dosing instruction in the chapter: the number of bowel movements is set by the number of mouthfuls of cold water drunk before the pill. Whether the mechanism is as described, titrating a purgative by a controllable co-factor rather than by changing the dose is an ingenious idea, and the pill itself is a single bean-sized unit so that nothing else varies. The drug is croton seed. **This must not be prepared.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.