Pinyin: Niuhuang
Aliases
Xihuang, Choubao.
Source
Bovidae family, Bos speciesBostaurus domesticusThe dried gallstones of Gmelin.
Distribution
It is distributed throughout the country.
Harvesting and Processing
Collect throughout the year. When slaughtering cattle, if bezoar is found, filter out the bile. Remove the bezoar, peel off the outer membrane, and dry in the shade.
Medicinal material
Properties
This product is mostly ovoid, spherical, triangular, or quadrilateral in shape, varying in size with a diameter of 0.6-3 (-4.5) cm, and a few are tubular or fragmented. The surface is yellow-red to brownish-yellow, sometimes covered with a thin, black, shiny film known as "Wujin Yi" (black-gold coat), while others are rough with warty protrusions or have tortoise-shell-like cracks. It is light in weight, crisp and fragile, easily peeling off in layers, with a golden-yellow cross-section showing fine, dense concentric striations, sometimes with a white core. The odor is fragrant. The taste is initially bitter, then sweet, with a cooling sensation. It breaks easily when chewed and does not stick to the teeth.
Chemical Constituents
Natural Niuhuang (Cow-bezoar) contains bile acids, primarily cholic acid, deoxycholic acid, and a trace amount of chenodeoxycholic acid.
Pharmacology
Inhibits the central nervous system, exhibiting sedative, analgesic, antipyretic, and anticonvulsant effects; strengthens the heart, improves cardiac function, treats various arrhythmias, dilates peripheral blood vessels, constricts coronary arteries, produces a significant and sustained reduction in blood pressure, and also inhibits platelet aggregation; promotes bile secretion and protects against experimental liver injury, primarily exhibits antispasmodic effects on smooth muscle, and can contract uterine smooth muscle; has expectorant and antitussive effects, stimulates respiration; increases red blood cell count in peripheral blood; has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and tumor growth-inhibiting effects.
Properties and Channel Entry
Sweet, cool. Enters the Heart and Liver channels.
Functions and Indications
Clears the Heart, dispels Phlegm, opens the orifices, cools the Liver, extinguishes Wind, and resolves toxicity. Used for loss of consciousness in febrile diseases, Phlegm-mind confusion in Wind-stroke, convulsions and spasms in fright epilepsy, manic episodes in epilepsy, swollen and painful throat, mouth and tongue sores, and carbuncles, furuncles, and sores.
Dosage and Administration
Oral: Grind into powder, 1.5-3 g per dose; or made into pills. External: Appropriate amount, grind into powder for sprinkling or mix for application.
Precautions and Contraindications
For Spleen deficiency with loose stools and pregnant women, use with caution.
Prescriptions
1. For pox toxin entering the bones, bloody stool day and night without respite, abdominal pain and crying: Yujin (Curcumae Radix) 30 g, Niuhuang (Calculus Bovis) 3 g. Grind the above into a fine powder. For a two-year-old child, take 1.5 g with half a cup of rice water, decoct until reduced to one-third, take warm with the dregs, twice daily. (Niuhuang San from *Xiao Er Wei Sheng Zong Wei Lun Fang*) 2. For fetal toxin sores, furuncles, and all sores and ulcers: Niuhuang (Calculus Bovis) 9 g, Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix) and Jinyinhua (Lonicerae Japonicae Flos) each 30 g, Caoziheche (Polygoni Cuspidati Rhizoma) 15 g. Grind the above into powder, mix with refined honey to form pills, administer according to the child's age. (Niuhuang Jiedu Wan from *Bao Ying Cuo Yao*) 3. For typhoid fever with sore throat, restlessness, and tongue sores: Niuhuang (Calculus Bovis, ground), Poxiao (Natrii Sulfas, ground), Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix, honey-fried and crushed) each 30 g, Shengma (Cimicifugae Rhizoma), Shanzhizi (Gardeniae Fructus, peeled), and Shaoyao (Paeoniae Radix) each 15 g. Grind and mix into a fine powder. Take 3 g after meals, decoct with ginger and honey water, cool before taking. (Niuhuang San from *Sheng Ji Zong Lu*) 4. For thrush (oral candidiasis): Niuhuang (Calculus Bovis), Pengsha (Borax), Xionghuang (Realgar), and Huanglian (Coptidis Rhizoma, wine-fried) each 0.6 g. Grind into a fine powder, mix with milk, and apply to the mouth with a goose feather. Repeat several times for effect. (Niuhuang San from *Yi Fang Yi Pan Zhu*) 5. For rosacea: Niuhuang (Calculus Bovis) powder. Mix with water and apply topically. (*Pu Ji Fang*) 6. For neonatal heat or jaundice, also for abdominal pain and night crying: Niuhuang (Calculus Bovis) the size of a soybean, mix with honey into a paste. Dissolve in breast milk and drip into the child's mouth frequently. (*Gang Mu* quoting *Qian Shi Xiao Er Fang*) 7. For pediatric malaria with fever and restlessness: Niuhuang (Calculus Bovis) 0.3 g, Xingren (Armeniacae Semen Amarum) 0.3 g (soaked in hot water, peeled, tips and double kernels removed, stir-fried with bran until slightly yellow). Grind the above ingredients into a paste, mix with refined honey to form pills the size of hemp seeds. Take three pills with warm water each time, three times daily. (*Sheng Hui Fang* Niuhuang Wan)
