Jing Fang is very familiar to Chinese medicine people, and successive generations of Chinese medicine have become famous doctors on the basis of familiar reading of Jing Fang. In recent years, there have been many studies of classical famous parties, and a large part of them is the study of jingfang. The study of classic recipes requires a lot of work, such as the study of the source of traditional Chinese medicine, the examination of the preparation method, the examination of the prescription dose, the decoction method and the number of decoctions, the amount of water, etc., of which the dosage of the examination is particularly important. So why was the dosage of medicine in the Han Dynasty larger than it is now? This is not only a matter of different weights and measures, but also related to the preparation and weighing of traditional Chinese medicine.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > tested by prescription dosage </h1>
The examination of the dosage of the formula is the research topic that countless weights and measures experts and prescription experts have worked tirelessly for, and three important research results are listed: the "History of Chinese Weights and Measures" published by Wu Chengluo in 1957, which is examined as: one or two = 13.92 grams in the Eastern Han Dynasty. After that, Ke Xuefan, a professor at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and an expert on typhoid fever, examined that 1 two = 15.625 grams is more reasonable than one or two = one dollar (3 grams). In the 1980s, it was incorporated into the pharmacology. The third is that archaeologist Qiu Guangming examined: 1 two = 13.75 grams.
At present, the classical formula study mostly follows the result of 1 two = 13.75 grams, and after rounding, it becomes 13.8 grams. So calculate that the ephedra in the ephedra soup is three or two, then it should be 41.25 grams. General phasing is marked in parentheses as 6 grams. Nowadays, the dosage of pharmacopoeia is 2 to 10 grams (the dosage of pharmacopoeia is 1 day). Some people think that the ancient decoction medicine is one fry, and then divided into three doses, the amount is not large. However, today's prescription dosage is also a daily dose, which used to be taken in two parts, and now it is mostly three. Another frying certainly cannot completely fry out the drug ingredients, and two frying may not be possible. To explain that the dosage of the Eastern Han Dynasty prescription is not large in one fry and three servings seems to be not convincing enough. So what was the dosage of prescriptions in the Eastern Han Dynasty? Why is the amount of "On Typhoid Fever" so large? We must understand it from the perspective of the use and preparation of Chinese medicine.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > the overlooked "weigh before concoct" problem</h1>
Almost all the prescriptions in the Han Dynasty were weighed first and then concocted, and it is obvious that this dosage is greatly reduced. This is an important issue that many scholars have overlooked. Literature has verified that after the Tang Dynasty, the use of drugs was first concocted and then weighed.
Ancient texts are verified
Tao Hongjing's "Notes on the Collected Works of Materia Medica" records: "The old fang is all cloudy and chewing, that is, the scale is pounded like soybeans, and the fine powder is blown away, which is not allowed, the medicine is fragile and difficult to break, more and less, the scale is not even, and now it is finely cut, and the slighter one is like a chew, but there is no end, and the granules are harmonized, and the medicinal power is the same, and there is no raw and cooked." Both the New Cultivation Materia Medica and the Preparation for Emergencies contain this passage. Here it is obvious that the first weighing and then mashing, and the interpretation of 㕮咀 is like pounding like soybeans. In fact, 㕮咀 is a shape and sound word, all of which are inseparable from the mouth. Its ancient meaning Li Dongyuan explained: "In ancient times, there was no blade, and the mouth was finely bitten, and now it is finely cut." Chen Jiamu explained: "The ancient people bit and crushed, so it was called 㕮咀, and now it is replaced by a knife, but it is used only by chopping, just like chewing tablets, not forgetting the origin." The Guang Yun explains 㕮咀 as "repair medicine also". So far, the cutting of whole herbs is still called "cutting", and some people also call this type of drinking tablets "chewing".
After 㕮咀, there is a discussion of "scales are pounded like soybeans", and the keyword "scales are bi", that is, the prescriptions in the Han Dynasty are weighed first and then concocted, which is obviously the dose is inflated.
It is now known that the measurement of China's oldest medical prescription book "Fifty-two Sick Prescriptions" is even more coarse, often measured by "fruits, pieces, stalks, handles, bundles, picks", etc., and the use of medicinal materials has not yet developed to the fine degree of first preparation and later measurement.
Consulting the literature found that there are not many articles discussing weighing first and then concocting, and in Wang Ning's "Study on the Dosage of Typhoid Fever", it is mentioned that the Jingfang is weighed first and then concocted. This issue is also mentioned in a few discussions. However, none of them attracted much attention. Therefore, weighing first and then concocting is an important issue that has been overlooked in dose examination. Of course, there are also decoction methods and servings, dosage form measurement methods, and fresh juice extraction, such as ground yellow. There is no doubt about the classics of the Jingfang, but its details still need to be standardized.
The Prescription of "On Typhoid Fever" is verified
From the previous discussions of the Tang Dynasty, it can be seen that the Han side is first weighed and then concocted. The medicine is more and less late, and the roots, stems, nodes, etc., so the amount of medicine cannot be accurate. The prescription of "On Typhoid Fever" is even more so, such as ephedra soup: ephedra three two, go to the knuckle cinnamon branch two two, peel licorice one or two, burn almond seventy, peel the tip. If these drugs are weighed first and then concocted, ephedra is weighed first and then removed, and the dosage is almost reduced by 3 to 5%. To the Tang Dynasty Sun Simiao's "Preparation for Emergencies and Thousands of Golden Formulas" he he wrote clearly: "The sutras are used in medicine, so the refining and tempering degrees are all footnoted." This is not the case, in this article there is a clause, not to bother the party under the other side also" "where the medicine cures the choice of boiling cannons, and then call it to be used, not to be called" "Where ephedra, go to the festival, first do not boil two or three boils, plunder away the foam, more beneficial to the water as the number, is the rest of the medicine, not annoying, inch cut." Here it is further clarified that the actual dosage of the prescription after concoction is more accurate. Therefore, the examination of the dosage of prescriptions in the Han Dynasty cannot be based on weight alone, but also depends on whether it is a weight reduction after being weighed first, and the amount of prescription use at that time is insufficient from the perspective of weights and measures alone.
The Treatise on Typhoid Fever was written around 200-210 AD, nearly 2,000 years ago. Therefore, there are many issues that we need to pay attention to when studying the Jing side. For example, the change of Chinese herbal medicine varieties and the change of origin will affect the role of prescriptions, and the variety examination is quite important; dose research, variety research, preparation research, decoction method research, etc., must also be combined with today's reality. If the combination of ancient and modern concoction is used to study the classic recipe, through relevant control experiments, after comparative optimization, it may be more feasible to use data to determine the process. (Source: China Traditional Chinese Medicine News, Author: Jia Tianzhu, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine)