Rhinoceros Horn and Rehmannia Decoction

Rhinoceros Horn and Rehmannia Decoction

Bubali Cornu (Shui Niu Jiao) 1 liang (30g), Rehmanniae Radix (Sheng Di Huang) 0.5 jin (24g), Paeoniae Radix Alba (Shao Yao) 3 fen (12g), Moutan Cortex (Mu Dan Pi) 1 liang (9g)

Grind the medicinals into crude powder. Decoct one dose of the formula with nine sheng (1800 ml) water, and boil it until the volume shrinks to about three sheng (600 ml). Take one dose each day, divided into three equal portions. (Modern application: use water to decoct the medicinals.)

Clears heat, resolves toxins, cools the blood, and dissolves stasis.

Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang is indicated for the heat entering the blood level. The manifestations include:

This is a pattern of intense heat in the blood level. After heat enters the blood level, it harasses the heart spirit, which causes vexation, clouding, and mania. The heat forces the blood to move frenetically, causing bleeding such as spitting of blood, nosebleed, bloody stool, and bloody urine; in addition, the blood that has been spilt out of the vessels can stay in the body and cause an eruption of macules and blood amassment. Heat in the blood level consumes the fluid composition of the blood, which causes the blood to concentrate and form stasis, which produces a dry crimson colored tongue. Heat binds the blood either within or outside of the vessels causing blood amassment and static heat, which manifests as manic agitation and a crimson colored tongue. Heat forces the moistening blood to descend to the intestines, leading to sloppy black stool. The characteristic feature of this pattern is heat harassing the heart spirit, bleeding, blood amassment, and stasis. In this case, the bleeding will not stop until the heat in the blood level is cleared, and the blood stasis will not be dissolved until the blood is invigorated. Therefore, the therapeutic method is to clear heat, resolve toxins, cool the blood, and dissolve stasis. This has been summarized by Ye Tian-shi, a famous expert in warm disease in the Qing Dynasty, as “when heat enters the blood level, there is the risk of blood consumption and bleeding, which should be treated by cooling and invigorating the blood”.

1. Essential pattern differentiation Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang is a commonly used formula used to treat heat entering the blood level in the course of a warm disease. This clinical pattern is marked by bleeding, purpura, fever and delirious speech. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of intense heat in the blood level: serious hepatitis, hepatic coma, diffuse intravascular coagulation, urinaemia, allergic purpura, acute leukemia, and blood poisoning. 3. Cautions and contraindications Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang is prohibited to patients with symptoms of yang deficiency, loss of blood, and spleen-stomach weakness as the nature of this formula is cool, heat-clearing, and nourishing.

1. Shen Xi Dan (Spirit-Like Rhinoceros Horn Elixir, 神犀丹)

All species of Rhino are threatened. They are listed as "Near threatened", "Vulnerable", "Endangered" or "Critically endangered" in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Depend on their species and geographical range, they are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I or II. The speices listed in Appendix I are highly protected, and the wild specices for commercial trade purposes are banned; the trade of speices that listed in Appendix II are allowed but subject to licensing controls.