Scorpion is the dried whole body of the Buthidae family animal, the East Asian scorpion. It can be found in the wild or raised in captivity. It is mainly produced in Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Anhui, and other places. The original animal prefers to inhabit dark and damp places under rocks and in rock crevices, is nocturnal, fears cold, and is carnivorous. It has a pungent taste, neutral nature, and is toxic. It belongs to the liver meridian. Its effects include dispelling wind and relieving convulsion, dredging collaterals and relieving pain, and attacking toxins to dissipate nodules. Clinical names include scorpion, roasted scorpion, and wine-fried scorpion.
bubble_chart Compendium of Materia Medica
Kaibao Bencao: It has a sweet and pungent taste and is toxic. It treats rubella rashes, apoplexy with half-body paralysis, facial distortion, speech impediment, and hand and foot convulsions. Those that are small and tightly formed are of good quality.
Bencao Tujing: It has been used in ancient and modern times to treat apoplexy with convulsions and infantile convulsions.
Bencao Yanyi: It is used for both adults and children, and is indispensable for treating infantile convulsions. Some use the whole scorpion, while others use only the tail, which is particularly effective.
Bencao Gangmu: Scorpion is produced in the east, has a green color, and belongs to the wood element. It is a medicine of the liver meridian. Therefore, it treats various liver-related diseases. Symptoms such as dizziness, convulsions, malaria with alternating chills and fever, and deafness are all related to liver wind. Thus, Li Dongyuan said: All hernias and leukorrhea are related to wind. Scorpion is an essential medicine for treating wind and should be added to prescriptions.
It treats infantile fright epilepsy with wind convulsions, adult malaria, deafness, hernia, various wind sores, and women's leukorrhea and uterine prolapse."Ancient and Modern Records" states that for scorpion stings, simply cover the affected area with a bowl of water, which is a miraculous and non-transmissible remedy.
Bencao Jingshu: Scorpion is born with the energy of fire and metal. Benjing It has a sweet and pungent taste and is toxic. However, upon examination, it is more pungent than sweet and has a warm nature. It enters the liver meridian. Various wind symptoms such as dizziness and convulsions are related to the liver. Wind invading this meridian requires the dispersing and warming nature of scorpion to dispel wind and expel pathogens, and it also guides other wind-dispelling medicines to the affected area. Therefore, it is essential for treating true apoplexy in adults and acute infantile convulsions in children.
Caution: Scorpion is a wind-dispelling medicine. It should be avoided in cases of apoplexy and chronic convulsions due to spleen disorder in children, as these conditions are related to deficiency.
Bencao Mengquan: It has a sweet and pungent taste and is toxic. It can be used in decoctions, powders, or pills. It treats infantile wind epilepsy with hand and foot convulsions; it drives away adult wind symptoms with facial distortion. It also treats wind phlegm deafness and resolves wind drug addiction rashes.
"Medicinal Property Explanation": It has a sweet and pungent taste, neutral nature, and is toxic. It enters the liver meridian. It mainly treats infantile wind epilepsy with hand and foot convulsions, adult wind symptoms with facial distortion, wind phlegm deafness, and wind drug addiction rashes. Those from Qingzhou that are small and tightly formed are of good quality.
Note: The main treatments of scorpion are all related to wind symptoms. The liver is associated with wind, so scorpion is particularly suited to enter this meridian. It likes to sting people, and severe stings can be fatal. Male scorpions sting in one place, and the pain can be alleviated by applying well mud, which should be changed when it warms up. Female scorpions cause pain that spreads, and the pain can be relieved by applying mud from under the roof tiles, or if it is not raining, fresh water can be used. If the sting is on the hands or feet, immerse them in cold water, changing it when it warms up. For other areas, apply a cold water-soaked cloth and change it when it warms up. Observing its preference for cold, it is undoubtedly a very hot medicine. However, most texts do not record its nature, only "Rihuazi" mentions it as neutral, so it is recorded here.Yaojian: It has a warm nature, sweet and pungent taste, and is toxic. It mainly treats infantile wind epilepsy with hand and foot convulsions and drives away adult wind symptoms with facial distortion. It also treats wind phlegm deafness and resolves wind drug addiction rashes. For early-stage smallpox with dense eruptions, use Sophora as the main ingredient, along with Saposhnikovia Root, Schizonepeta, Stiff Silkworm, Indigo, Ephedra, Gastrodia Tuber, Forsythia, and Cicada Slough. One dose will disperse the eruptions.
Jingyue Quanshu: It has a sweet and pungent taste and is toxic. Scorpion is produced in the east, has a green color, and belongs to the wood element. It is a medicine of the liver meridian. Therefore, it treats apoplexy and various wind symptoms, opens wind phlegm, treats facial distortion, half-body paralysis, speech impediment, malaria, deafness, hernia, wind sores, urticaria, infantile wind phlegm fright epilepsy, and is also an essential medicine for treating wind.
Bencao Beiyao: It disperses and dispels wind.It is pungent, sweet, and toxic. Its color is green, which is associated with wood, hence it treats various wind dizziness and tremors, all of which are related to liver wood. For fright epilepsy, convulsions, and facial distortion, mix equal parts of White Aconite, Stiff Silkworm, and scorpion into a powder, known as Pull Aright Powder. Taking two qian with wine is very effective. For malaria, wind sores, deafness, and hernias, which are diseases of the Jueyin wind wood. Li Dongyuan said: All hernias and leukorrhea are related to wind, and scorpion is an essential medicine for treating wind, and should be added and used accordingly. Wang Ji said: For tetanus, scorpion and Saposhnikovia Root should be the main ingredients. For apoplectoid stroke and slow spleen fright, which are of deficiency type, it is contraindicated. For those stung by it, applying snail can relieve the symptoms.
Benjing Fengyuan: Scorpion is produced in the east, with a green color belonging to wood. It is the most important medicine for treating various wind-induced dizziness and convulsions in the Jueyin channel, as well as infantile convulsions due to fetal fright. It is used for left half-body paralysis, facial distortion, slurred speech, hand and foot convulsions, malaria with alternating chills and fever, deafness, hernia, leukorrhea, and more. Scorpion tail ointment is used to treat fetal cold-induced convulsions, using twenty-one scorpion tails and a small amount of musk, which has been repeatedly effective. Dongyuan used it to treat irregular menstruation, chills, and leukorrhea with the Clove Bupleurum Decoction, which includes Notopterygium, Bupleurum, Chinese Angelica, Unprocessed Rehmannia Root, Clove, and scorpion, aiming to disperse wind-heat in the blood aspect.
Bencao Qiuzhen: [Comment] Dispels wind-heat in the liver-blood aspect, treats fetal wind-induced convulsions.
Scorpion specifically enters the liver. It is pungent and sweet in taste, warm in nature, and toxic. Its green color belongs to wood, so it specifically enters the liver to dispel wind. All wind-induced dizziness and convulsions belong to the liver. It is used for infantile fetal wind convulsions, adult hemiplegia, facial distortion, slurred speech, hand and foot convulsions, malaria with alternating chills and fever, deafness, and leukorrhea, all due to external wind invading internally. Therefore, scorpion tail ointment is used to treat fetal wind convulsions, with twenty-one scorpion tails and a small amount of musk, which has been repeatedly effective. The Pull Aright Powder is used to treat facial distortion, with scorpion, white aconite, and Stiff Silkworm ground into powder and taken with wine, which is very effective. The Clove Bupleurum Decoction, with Notopterygium, Bupleurum, Chinese Angelica, Unprocessed Rehmannia Root, is used to treat irregular menstruation, chills, and leukorrhea, also relying on scorpion to disperse wind-heat in the blood aspect. However, leukorrhea not caused by wind or heat should not be treated with it, and all internal deficiency resembling wind symptoms should be avoided.
Depei Bencao: Pungent, hot. Toxic. Enters the Jueyin channel. Treats all wind-wood disorders, deafness, dizziness, phlegm malaria, fright epilepsy, and more. It guides wind-dispelling drugs to the affected area to eradicate the root cause, and enters mercurous chloride and mercuric chloride to warm kidney qi and relieve pain.
Combined with white aconite and Stiff Silkworm, it treats convulsions; combined with Gastrodia Tuber and bee nest, it treats tetanus. Bee nest can be used if bee nest base is unavailable.
Contraindicated in apoplectoid stroke and slow spleen infantile convulsions.
Bencao Xinbian: Sweet, pungent, toxic. Treats infantile wind epilepsy, hand and foot convulsions, dispels major philtrum wind, facial distortion, removes wind-phlegm deafness, and resolves wind drug addiction rashes. However, it should not be overused as its pungency disperses qi. A small amount is suitable for treating distortion symptoms.
Scorpion venom can cause severe heart pain; applying snail mucus can relieve it.
Some ask why scorpion is not mentioned for treating fistula disease sores. Scorpion alone cannot resolve fistula disease. It is used in combination with centipede and pangolin scales to achieve mutual enhancement.
Bencao Fenjing: Sweet, pungent, toxic, belongs to wood. Dispels wind, treats all wind-induced dizziness and convulsions, and all Jueyin wind-wood disorders.
Yixue Zhongzhong Canxilu: Green in color, salty in taste, slightly warm in nature. It effectively enters the liver channel, searches for wind, induces sweating, treats convulsions, apoplexy with facial distortion, or general paralysis. Although toxic, it is good at removing toxins, eliminating all sores and ulcers, and complements centipede, enhancing each other's effects. The toxic fluid it contains is sulfuric acid, which contributes to its medicinal effects. Its venom can be neutralized with baking soda or alkali, as both can counteract acids.
bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology
- Scorpion has anticonvulsant effects.
- Scorpion has analgesic effects.
- Scorpion venom can enhance cardiac contractility and slow heart rate.
- Scorpion alcohol extract has significant effects in killing cysticercus.