Effects and functions of rust

Rust is one of the common traditional Chinese medicines in our country. The medicinal history of rust is very long. There are records of rust in many ancient medical books. Rust has good edible and medicinal value. Let’s take a look.

[Alias] Iron Clothes (Puji Fang), Iron Wire Powder (Collection of Health Preservation Experiences).

[Source] It is the reddish-brown rust formed when iron is exposed to air and oxidized.

[Processing] "Rihuazi Bencao": "After calcining, pulverize, remove the coarse red juice, and dry before use."

【Nature and flavor】 ① "Compendium of Materia Medica": "It tastes bitter and has a cold nature."

[Meridian] "Ben Cao Jing Jie": "It enters the hand Taiyin lung and the foot Yangming stomach."

【Functions and indications】 Clears away heat, detoxifies, calms the heart and soothes the liver. Treat sores, mouth ulcers, tongue swelling, scabies, burns, insect stings, and epilepsy.

[Usage and Dosage] For external use: grind into powder and sprinkle or apply on the affected area; for internal use: grind into powder and mix with water.

[Additional prescription] ① Treat carbuncle: Use rusty nails found in the wall or soil for many years, wash them, calcine them in ash fire, quench them in vinegar, wait for them to cool, scrape off the rust on the nails with a knife, calcine them again in fire until they turn red, quench them in vinegar, scrape off the rust in the same way, calcine and quench them repeatedly, and wrap the scraped powder with gauze or fine silk. If you encounter someone with this symptom, slightly open the sore and pick out the medicine powder inside, but don't use it as an ointment. (Puji Fang)

【Explanations by various scholars】 "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Rust tastes bitter and has a cold nature. Malignant sores and scabies are caused by damp heat; spider bites and insect bites cause poisonous gas to damage the blood. The bitter taste can remove damp heat, and the cold taste can remove heat and poisonous gas, so it is the main treatment. Another secret method is to take the ones that have been exposed to the sky and buried in the ground, grind them into a very fine powder, mix them with toad venom, brain, and musk, and use a gold needle to pierce the furuncle until it reaches the root, then plug it with the medicine, and the root of the furuncle can be pulled out."

【Excerpt】 《*Dictionary》

【Source】 From "Supplement to Compendium of Materia Medica"

Above we introduced what rust is. We know that rust has very comprehensive effects and functions, so we can use rust as a means of conditioning the body in daily life.