The 15 Weird Prescriptions of “Compendium of Materia Medica”

Li Shizhen’s medical work “Compendium of Materia Medica” or “Bencao Gangmu” (Buy the book at Amazon) is known as the Bible of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The work widely involves many scientific fields such as medicine, pharmacology, biology, chemistry and genetics. The book has 52 volumes and contains 1,892 kinds of drugs. There are 11,096 side prescriptions in total. The text is written in 1.9 million Chinese characters with 1,160 exquisite hand drawn diagrams. However, even such a timeless masterpiece actually records some laughing prescriptions. Now I will take you to check out these funny side prescriptions:

1. Symptom: Continuous heartache
Side prescription: Burn three used writing brush ends to ash and drink together with “Rootless Water” such as collected snow water, dew and rain.  There will be an immediate effect.

2. Symptom: Difficult delivery
Side prescription: Burn an used writing brush end to ash, then mix it with raw lotus root juice, the pregnant woman will soon give birth to the baby.

3. Symptom: Children abdominal mass
Side prescription: Boil rat meat until it is mushy and eat it like having porridge.

4. Symptom: 30 years deafness
Side prescription: Brew one litter fruit of Hempleaf  Negundo  Chastertree in three litters of wine for seven days, then drink the water.

5. Symptom: Dying of hanging oneself
Side prescription: Pierce ear with onion and when the patient flow nosebleed, the patient will be fine.

6. Symptom: Nonstop thirsty
Side prescription: Peel wax gourd and bury in wet earth, take it out after one month, and then break it and drink it with water. Or cook melon and drink after mince it.

7. Symptom: Child shrinks from meeting strangers
Side prescription: Collect 10 hairs from the stranger, and cut a piece of cloth from child`s clothes, burn them together and grind into powder，then drink with milk.

8. Symptom: Pregnant haematuria:
Side prescription: Get husband’s fingernail and burn to ash, drink together with wine

9. Symptom: Foreign object in the eye
Side prescription: Scrape some fingernails from left hand, Use juncus  effusus to dip the scraps and put on eyes for three times. The foreign object will be out.

10. Symptom: Fever sore throat
Side prescription: Put three times of children’s urine together and hold it in mouth, the symptom will disappear soon.

11. Symptom: Keep bleeding for being wounded by metal instruments
Side prescription: Drink five litters of human urine.

12. Symptom: Dead fetus in uterus
Side prescription: Collect two litters of husband’s urine, boil and drink.

13. Symptom: Make women not jealous
Side prescription: Wrap a frog with woman’s menses cloth and bury it one foot before the toilet for five inches under the ground.

14. Symptom: Bone joint injury
Side prescription: Fry dead child’s bone and melon seeds, then grind to powder, drink with wine and the pain will be relieved soon.

15. Symptom: Children abdominal distension
Side prescription: Burn parents’ fingernails to ash, put it on mother’s breast and ask child to drink it together with milk.