Mosla Powder

Mosla Powder

Moslae Herba (Xiang Ru) 1 jin (500g), Lablab Semen Album (Bai Bian Dou slightly dry-dried) 0.5 jin (250g), Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex (Hou Po coarse bark removed and fried with ginger juice) 0.5 jin (250g)

Grind the medicinals into a crude powder. Decoct one dose of the formula (3 qian/9g) with 1 zhan of water and 1 fen of Chinese wine, and boil it until the volume reduces to about 7 fen. Filter the decoction and cool it down. Take two doses of the decoction consecutively either before or after meals. (Modern use: use water and a small amount of Chinese wine to decoct the medicinals. The dose of medicinals could be reduced according to the original ratio.)

Dispels summerheat, releases exterior, removes dampness, and harmonizes the center.

This formula is indicated for yin summerheat. The symptoms are aversion to cold with fever, heaviness of the head, body pain, absence of sweating, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea, chest and abdominal oppression and fullness, a greasy white tongue coating, and a floating pulse.

This formula is commonly used in patients who have exterior cold and internal dampness after taking too much cold drinks or have been exposed in a cool environment for too long during the summer. In summer people usually prefer cold drinks and staying in a cool environment, yet the striae and interstices are often loose. As a result, people are apt to contract cold and dampness. Cold-dampness constrains the exterior, the striae and interstices, and blocks the wei yang. This causes an aversion to cold with fever, absence of sweating, and a floating pulse. Cold-dampness constrains the fleshy exterior and obstructs qi and blood, causing heaviness of the head and body pain. Having too much cold food and drinks during the summer damages the spleen and stomach and inhibits qi movement, which causes chest and abdominal oppression and fullness, and abdominal pain. Dampness encumbers the spleen and stomach and causes their ascending and descending functions to become irregular. This manifests as vomiting caused by the ascending counterflow stomach qi, and diarrhea caused by dampness pouring down to the large intestine. The greasy white tongue coating is a sign of cold-dampness. The therapeutic method is to release cold-dampness from the fleshy exterior, and drain the dampness encumbering the spleen and stomach.

1. Essential pattern differentiation Xiang Ru San is a common formula used to treat patients who have exterior cold and internal dampness after taking too much cold drinks or have been exposed to a cool environment for too long during the summer. This clinical pattern is marked by aversion to cold with fever, heaviness of the head and body pain, absence of sweating, chest oppression, a greasy white tongue coating, and a floating pulse. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of wind-cold-dampness contraction: summer colds and acute gastroenteritis. 3. Cautions and contraindications Do not use the formula for patients with exterior deficiency and sweating, fever and sweating of summerheat-strike, and vexation with thirst.

Xin Jia Xiang Ru Yin (Newly-Supplemented Mosla Beverage, 新加香薷飲)

Officinal Magnolia ( Magnolia officinalis ) is listed as "Endangered" in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.