On the fourteenth day of the third month of the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu, Zhang Zhongyuan diagnosed the Empress Dowager's pulse as deep and wiry on the left guan and deep and slippery with strength on the right guan. The liver and stomach qi pathways were not smooth, and there was accumulated heat, causing discomfort in the eyes and epigastric upset after eating. He proposed to regulate with the ancient formula Stomach-Regulating Purgative Decoction:
8 fen of Rhubarb, 6 fen of Mirabilite, 5 fen of Liquorice Root
decocted with water until boiling several times, to be taken warm on an empty stomach.