Field notes and materia medica
Animal-derived materials
Field notes on the animal-derived materials of Chinese medicine, including what is farmed, what is regulated, and where substitution is the norm.
8 field notes
Chinese herbs
American cockroach (美洲大蠊): controlled breeding for processed medicine
How American cockroaches are raised in managed colonies and converted into standardized processed extracts.
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Chinese herbs
Medicinal leech (水蛭): aquatic farming, drying, and bleeding risk
How medicinal leeches live in water, are raised or collected, cleaned, dried, and handled as a high-risk animal medicine.
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Chinese herbs
Centipede (蜈蚣): collecting and drying a venomous animal medicine
How medicinal centipedes are found, handled, straightened, and dried—and why venom makes professional control essential.
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Chinese herbs
Toad venom (蟾酥): a potent secretion collected under strict control
How Chan Su is collected from toad secretions, dried, graded, and kept within professional medicine because of serious toxicity.
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Chinese herbs
Croton residue, cinnabar, and musk (巴豆霜 / 朱砂 / 麝香): processing high-risk materials
Why defatting, grinding, purification, and formula-making do not make toxic or restricted materials suitable for home use.
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Chinese herbs
Chinese scorpion and stiff silkworm (全蝎 / 僵蚕): two animal medicines paired in practice
How scorpions and fungus-infected silkworm larvae develop, are collected, dried, and paired under professional control.
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Chinese herbs
Cicada slough (蝉蜕): collecting an empty shell after emergence
How cicada nymphs leave the soil, shed their exoskeletons, and leave behind the light material known as Chan Tui.
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Chinese herbs
Donkey-hide gelatin (阿胶): traceable hides, long boiling, and concentration
How E Jiao is made from cleaned donkey hide through extraction and concentration, with sourcing and evidence kept in view.
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