Properties: Pungent, cold, toxic
Meridans Entered:
Primary: Kidney
Traditional Actions/Indications:
- Dispels stagnation and kills Parasites
Abdominal masses, abdominal pain due to parasites
Scabies
- Resolves Toxicity
Sores and boils, scalds
- Promotes tissue regeneration
Ulceration
Suggested Daily Dosage: Traditionally used at 0.3-0.5g as an internal medicinal preparation or applied externally but considered unnecessarily toxic at any dose today.
Cautions: Traditionally contraindicated to pregnant women and Internal Deficiency Cold of the Zangfu but any dosage can cause lead poisoning which can accumulate internally.
Notes:
This substance was of great importance in early alchemy where raw lead ("Black Lead") was the natural ore represented by Water (☵ Kan) from which the central Yang line was considered the White or True Lead, sometimes also called the White Tiger of the West (Wong, 1997, Harmonising Yin and Yang: p 5-17).
This was presumably an observation that natural lead ore (galena, lead sulfide) is a dark grey colour which could be extracted by heating in an oven, causing the sulphur to separate and form sulphur dioxide and pure blueish-white lead.
Although this became largely metaphorical in internal alchemy, a tradition of using lead in medicinal pills continues to be of concern in the regulation of Chinese patent remedies to this day.
Does not appear in any formulae listed on this site
Research Links & References: (click to display)
Research Links:
Reference Notes:
Individual herb information has sourced mainly from TCM Wiki and American Dragon for basic data and then updated manually with my own notes. Zhou, Xie and Yan (2011): Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicines, Vol. 5, has been used for entries not available from those sources with additional material searched for and filled in where available. Western herbs not appearing in the Chinese literature have used Ross (2010): Combining Western Herbs and Chinese Medicine: A Clinical Materia Medica, White Rabbit Institute of Healing and therapeutika.ch. Choices of which source to use or combine have been my own.
These pages are intended to assist clinicians and are not intended for self-diagnosis or treatment for which a qualified professional should be consulted. Actions and indications are taken from traditional uses and do not necessarily reflect the evidence base which should be researched independently. Dosages are for guidance only and will vary dependening on the potency of the batch and the tolerance of the individual so should be evaluated by a professional based on individual needs.
