I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Chapter 355 - 153: Targeting Dean Zhang (Part 2)

A dean of Western medicine running to praise Chinese medicine is sure to spark heated debate. At that time, whether Zhang Jiwei can continue to hold the position of dean is uncertain.

Unless Zhang Jiwei is willing to give up his current position, but would Zhang Jiwei be willing to give up his status as dean to become a student?

Not just Zhang Jiwei, even Huang Beishan couldn’t do it.

Seeing that he couldn’t persuade Zhang Jiwei, Huang Beishan immediately lost interest.

However, Zhang Jiwei, although not thinking of apprenticing for skills, was full of curiosity about the prescription Lu Xuan wrote: "Dr. Lu, I see you want to prepare the medicine yourself. Is it because this large dose of Aconite requires special attention when decocting?"

This question piqued not only Zhang Jiwei’s curiosity but also drew curious glances from both Huang Beishan and Zhang Jingcai.

Both of them are not from the Fire God School, and in their process of diagnosing and treating, the probability of using Aconite is very small. In fact, in all the patients they’ve seen over the years, there has never been a case that required Aconite.

Even if there were, it was within the safe dosage range according to the pharmacopoeia, completely incomparable to the Fire God School’s wild usage.

Moreover, even if they wanted to be daring, without being able to accurately grasp its medicinal properties, they would not dare to recklessly use Aconite.

Seeing the three of them looking at him, Lu Xuan thought for a moment and said: "There is a significant difference in indications and efficacy between raw and processed Aconite. Ming Dynasty’s Li Shizhen summarized the rule that ’raw Aconite is dispersing while cooked is powerfully tonifying,’ which has been highly praised by many physicians.

Raw Aconite is processed to reduce toxicity, enhance safety, making it suitable for internal use and easier to store.

From the Han dynasty to the present, there have been about 70 methods of processing Aconite, predominantly using fire processing methods from the Han to the Tang Dynasties, evolving to liquid auxiliary materials and medicinal juice processing in the Song Dynasty, and retaining ancient methods like steaming and boiling from the Ming Dynasty onwards.

Due to the difficulty in controlling the heat and timing of the ’fire’ method, affecting efficacy, it has almost been replaced by soaking and wet-heat methods in modern times.

The main processed forms of Aconite used in modern prescriptions include Black Shunpian, White Fu Pian, and Yellow Fu Pian.

The Fire God School is the most proficient in processing Aconite, with their practitioners deeply valuing the issue of Aconite processing."

Hearing this, Huang Beishan and the others were not surprised at all.

After all, Aconite is a herb most frequently used by the Fire God School, and whenever it is used, it is in large doses. If you don’t understand the processing methods, or value removing toxicity for maximum efficacy, then large doses of Aconite could floor not just a person but a whole elephant.

The Fire God School places great importance on Aconite processing, which is undeniable; otherwise, they wouldn’t dare use such large doses of Aconite to treat diseases.

"In fact, many current methods of processing Aconite have problems."

Lu Xuan threw out a statement that intrigued everyone.

Huang Beishan, hearing this, further asked, "How so?"

"In current processing, due to profit-driven motivations, the methods do not adhere to ancient practices," Lu Xuan explained. "Indeed, these methods are considered safer, but too much alum water is used during processing, and the soaking time doesn’t meet the ancient standards. Moreover, it isn’t rinsed with running water.

So, in many places, the problem with processed Aconite is quite serious. The most severe issue is the extremely cold nature of alum water, which is a purely yin substance. Aconite is a purely yang substance, and alum water is purely yin. With too much alum, it is hard for large doses of Aconite to achieve qualitative changes, and could potentially lead to transformations in other undesirable directions."

Upon hearing this reasoning, everyone nodded in agreement.

The original intent of using Aconite was to support yang, but as it turns out, the purely yin alum water ends up damaging the patient’s yang.

At this moment, the toxicity of Aconite is gone, but the effects that a large dose of Aconite could achieve are also limited. Ultimately, the patient may end up blaming the physician, accusing the doctor of incompetence or even causing harm.

Clearly, it’s the medicine that is ineffective—how unfortunate for the doctor?

Continuing on this topic, Huang Beishan said, "I don’t know if you’ve ever read the book ’Thinking about Chinese Medicine.’"

"I’ve read a little. The United South Chinese Medicine Association happened to procure it at the time, and I took it home to read a few times," Zhang Jingcai nodded in acknowledgment.

Lu Xuan, however, shook his head. Not only hasn’t he read it, this was the first time he’s heard of it.

However, from the book’s title, he could deduce that it’s not an ancient text, but rather a modern work by a master of Chinese medicine.

There are many such books; from the near-modern to modern times, renowned figures in Chinese medicine emerge one after another, with many big names having their own writings.

On one hand, publishing their understanding of Chinese medicine can ensure the knowledge is passed down, and on the other, the book increases the author’s reputation.

That Lu Xuan hadn’t read it wasn’t surprising to Huang Beishan. There are so many works now, with only a few readers. However, ancient medical books—if you study Chinese medicine, even if you don’t remember the content, you’ve likely flipped through several.

"I remember that ’Thinking about Chinese Medicine’ discusses Aconite processing, but it’s mainly to introduce the relationship between Chinese medicine and herbal medicine rather than Aconite processing itself."

Huang Beishan continued: "Chinese medicine and herbs cannot be separated because the discoverers of these herbs were actually doctors. There’s a very important relationship between treating with Chinese medicine and the herbs utilized. A good doctor should even supervise everything—from herb collection to processing and usage—because traditional Chinese medicine’s quality standards are so complex that you can’t entirely leave it to pharmaceutical companies like in Western medicine.