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Capítulo 28 de 33
神农本草经
Overall Paraphrase
This chapter, from the "Shennong Bencao Jing · Animals Lower Grade," contains four types of animal-based medicines: Pig Testicles, Elk Fat, Flying Squirrel, and Six Livestock Hairs and Hooves. In the classification of the Bencao Jing, lower-grade medicines are mostly used to attack pathogens, promote flow, and break stagnation. The ancients believed they "should not be taken long-term." Below is a line-by-line translation of their meanings.
The ancients believed pig testicles are bitter in taste and warm in nature. They are primarily used to treat fright epilepsy (seizure-like conditions involving convulsions and fainting), manic psychosis (mental disorders and abnormal behavior), ghost affliction (an ancient term for certain contagious or consumptive diseases), and gu toxin (a vague ancient term for complex poisoning or infectious conditions). They can eliminate alternating chills and fever, treat running piglet (a paroxysmal sensation of gas rushing upward from the lower abdomen to the chest and heart), five types of urinary obstruction (various forms of difficult urination), pathogenic qi, and muscle spasms and contractures.
The pig testicle is also known as pig apex. The same entry also includes the suspended hoof, namely pig hoof nails, which the ancients believed primarily treated five types of hemorrhoids, latent heat, heat in the intestines, intestinal abscess, and internal erosion.
The ancients believed elk fat is pungent in taste and warm in nature. It is primarily used to treat carbuncles and swelling, malignant sores (stubborn and difficult-to-heal ulcers), dead muscle (tissue that has lost vitality), cold wind, damp bi (numbness and pain in the limbs caused by cold-dampness), four limbs contracture and flaccidity (limbs that are either tense and contracted or limp and weak, unable to move or hold freely), wind headache (conditions like head wind), and swelling qi. It can also unblock the striae and interstices (open the textures and pores between skin and muscles). Elk fat is also known as official fat. It grows in mountain valleys.
Commentators note that elk fat is produced south of the mountains and along the Huai River coast, and is collected in the tenth month.
Ancient texts record that the flying squirrel can induce abortion and make childbirth easy. It lives in flat valleys.
Old commentaries dispute this entry: Tao Hongjing believed this is the flying squirrel, also named flying birth. Here, it is only translated according to the literal meaning of the literature. This is absolutely not a usable drug for modern labor induction or abortion.
The ancients believed six livestock hairs and hooves are salty in taste and neutral in nature. They are primarily used to treat ghost affliction, gu toxin, alternating chills and fever, fright epilepsy, convulsions and stiffness (conditions of rigidity and spasms), and manic running (conditions of agitated racing about). Among them, camel hair was considered by the ancients to be especially effective.
The six livestock refer to horse, ox, sheep, pig, dog, and chicken. Hooves mean the hoof shells. This entry primarily records the ancient empirical experience with animal fur and hoof materials.
1. Lower-grade attacks pathogens; taking inspiration from movement and penetration
These four medicines all belong to the lower grade of the Bencao Jing. The ancients believed lower-grade medicines have relatively strong properties and are mostly used to "attack pathogens," and should not be taken long-term. Animal-based medicines in TCM theory are often called "sentient products." The ancients believed they are close to human qi and blood, and excel at movement, penetration, search, and unblocking. For example, elk fat "unblocks the striae and interstices," and the six livestock hooves "treat manic running," both embodying the approach of "movement and penetrating passage."
2. Same animal, different uses depending on body part
Under the "Pig Testicle" entry, the "suspended hoof" is appended, showing that the ancients early on recognized that different parts of the same animal have different uses: pig testicles lean toward tonifying the lower burner and treating fright epilepsy; the suspended hoof leans toward treating hemorrhoids, intestinal abscesses, and other lower-body heat accumulations. This concept of "same animal, different uses" is very common in Chinese materia medica.
3. Ancient views on disease etiology
Terms like "ghost affliction," "gu toxin," and "pathogenic qi" were ancient categorizations for certain complex diseases or those difficult to explain at the time, and do not equal ghosts and gods in the modern sense. The ancients used such vocabulary to describe conditions that were acute in onset, highly variable, contagious, or accompanied by mental abnormalities, reflecting the level of understanding of their era.
1. More documentary value than clinical value
These entries primarily hold value for the history of medicine, pharmacology, and culture. They record the understanding of animal drugs around the Han dynasty and earlier, but today they are rarely or no longer used as mainstream Chinese medicines.
2. "Ghost affliction" and "gu toxin" should be viewed rationally
Modern medicine has recognized that many infectious diseases, mental illnesses, and neurological conditions each have their own causes and cannot be simply attributed to "ghosts and evil spirits" or "gu toxin." The ancient classifications are historical limitations, not scientific conclusions.
3. Animal protection and ethical concerns
The elk is a key protected wildlife species in China, and in modern times one absolutely must not hunt them for their fat. Wild animals like flying squirrels also should not be used as medicinal sources. By-products from domestic animals such as pigs, cattle, and sheep also involve issues of hygiene, ethics, and animal welfare.
4. "Inducing abortion, making childbirth easy" must especially not be imitated
The ancient use of flying squirrel to "induce abortion and make childbirth easy" reflects the lack of safe and effective obstetric methods at the time. Modern obstetrics has strict, safe protocols, and any self-use of abortion-inducing or labor-promoting drugs from ancient texts is extremely dangerous. This entry can only be studied as ancient medical culture, and absolutely cannot be taken as medical advice.
5. Six livestock hairs and hooves have basically withdrawn from clinical use
Modern Chinese materia medica rarely uses "six livestock hairs and hooves." The ancients may have used them based on "like treats like" or "hooves reach extremities" thinking or empirical use, but there is a lack of modern pharmacological and clinical evidence to support this.
Bu Gua reminds you: This content is based on classical Chinese medical texts and is for traditional culture study and research only. It does not constitute any medical diagnosis, medication, or treatment advice. If you feel unwell, please seek medical attention promptly.