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Plaster

膏药 〔膏藥〕gāo yào

A topical paste that is mounted on cloth. It is made by slicing or pounding the ingredients and steeping them in sesame seed oil or tung-oil (Aleuritis Seminis Oleum, 桐油 tóng yóu) for 3–5 days. The mixture is then heated to fry the materials until they char. Flowers, leaves, and pericarps that cannot withstand heat should not be included. The materials are strained off, and the oil is returned to the fire, where it is continuously heated and stirred until the smoke given off turns from white to blue-green. When the temperature reaches 250-300°C (at this temperature, when the oil is dropped in water it will stay together in a globule) the fire is turned down, and yellow upborne elixir (Hydrogyrum Oxydatum Crudum Aureum, 黄升 huáng shēng) or processed galenite (Galenitum Praeparatum, 铅粉 qiān fěn) is slowly stirred in. The pot is removed from the fire when all the yellow upborne elixir (Hydrogyrum Oxydatum Crudum Aureum, 黄升 huáng shēng) has dissolved. It is then sprinkled with water and stirred, and then steeped in cold water to eliminate the fire toxin. Before use it is melted over a small flame or in water so that it can be spread on cloth or animal skin ready for topical application. Plasters are used for sores and wind-damp pain. They are available ready made and mounted on cloth, and require only warming prior to application.

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