Chapter three

Chinese medicinal herbs

Traditional Chinese medical prescriptions
 The basic therapeutic methods
 Eight basic therapeutic methods
 Han (diaphoresis)
 Tu (emesis)
 Xia (purgation)
 He (mediation)
 Wen (warming)
 Qing (heat-clearing)
 Xiao (resolution)
 Bu (invigorating, tonifying or reinforcing)
 Chinese medicinal herbs
 Chinese materia medica

 Plants, animal parts, and minerals

 Flowers, herbs, trees, insects, fish, birds, iron

and stone
 Four properties

 Cold Heat Warm Cool

 Five tastes

 Sour Bitter Sweet Acrid (pungent-spicy) Salty

 The properties is not obvious

 Ascending descending floating sinking

 Meridian that a herb enters

 Toxic nontoxic strongly toxic slightly toxic

 The combination of herbs

 Dosage
 Traditional Chinese medical prescriptions
 Recipes or formulas

 The prescriptions in TCM are not merely

collections of medicinal substances in which
the actions of one herb are simply added to those
of another in a cumulative fashion.
 An effective prescription is one in which the
substances are carefully balanced to accentuate
the strengths and reduce the side effects.

 The combination of substances in a prescription

creates a new therapeutic agent that can treat
conditions more effectively and completely than
a single substance.
 Jun monarch-ingredient
 usually translated into monarch, king, principal
or chief
 Chen minister-ingredient
 usually translated into assistant or adjutant
 Zuo assistant-ingredient
 usually translated into minister, adjutant,
associate or deputy
 Shi guide-ingredient
 usually translated into guide, messenger,
conductant or envoy
 Decoction 汤 剂
 Powder 散 剂
 Bolus ， pellet ， pill 丸 剂
 Honeyed bolus ； Water pellet ； Condensed pellet
 Paste ， ointment ， salve 膏 剂
 Tablet 片 剂
 Syrup 糖浆剂
 Injection 注射剂
 Capsule 胶 囊
 Diaphoresis 汗法
 Known as exterior-relieving method used to
open the muscular interstices and relieve
exterior syndrome with herbs which can
relieve the exterior and induce sweating.
 To treated exogenous disease at the early stage
with the symptoms of chills and fever,
headache, whitish tongue coating and floating
pulse, etc.
 Also used to treat edema above the waist,
early stage of carbuncle 痈 and ulcer as
well as inhibited eruption of measles 麻疹
with the same manifestations mentioned
above.