The Medicines of Great Clarity

This chapter examines some aspects of the methods for making elixirs in the Taiqing scriptures. The purpose of this survey is not to account for all the technical details involved in compounding the Taiqing elixirs—in particular, their chemical aspects—but only to illustrate their nature and their main features, within the limits and the perspectives of the present book. After a presentation of the major techniques shared by different texts, the rest of the chapter deals with the methods found in the three main Taiqing scriptures and in the two early waidan texts received as part of the Shangqing corpus. 

In the Taiqing methods, the crucible is typically formed by two superposed vessels made of red clay (chishi zhi) and joined by their mouths. Owing to this feature, the texts often mention a double crucible [liangfu) or an upper and lower earthenware crucible shangxia tufu). According to the 

In the Mysterious and Yellow, the Yin and Yang principles in their pure state are represented by the essences of lead and mercury, which are liberated by the adept when he heats the native substances. Then lead and mercury are repeatedly steamed in a bamboo cylinder, and finally are sublimated with aqueous solutions of realgar and cinnabar. Details on the last stage of the process, called the hundred steamings (baizheng), are found in the Secret Instructions on the Nine Elixirs. The Mysterious and Yellow is first 

The outer and inner surfaces and the two mouths of the crucible are also covered with the Mud of the Six-and-One liuyi ni), which is also known as 

Divine Mud (shenni). In the methods of the Nine Elixirs, this mud is made of alum (fanshi), Turkestan salt (rongyan), lake salt (luxian), arsenolite yu-shi), oyster shells (muli), red clay (chishi zhi), and talc (huashi). The seven ingredients are pounded, heated for nine days and nights in an iron vessel, pounded again, sieved, and then soaked in a Flowery Pond (huachi). The crucible is luted first with this mud, then with the mud of Mysterious and Yellow, and finally is left to dry in the sun for ten daysd  

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The study of the chemistry and biology of strained four-membered heterocycles has become an extremely active field of research in 2014. In this chapter, the reader will find a brief discussion of new contributions focused on fields such as organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry. For the sake of clarity, contributions are separated in sections depending on the nature of the heteroatom. Although oxa- and azaheterocycle derivatives dominate the field in terms of the number of scientific pubheations, the chemistry of sulfur-, silicon-, and phosphorus-based heterocycles is also of great relevance.The aim here is not to provide an in-depth analysis of all the vast scientific Hterature concerning four-membered heterocycles during the calendar year 2014. Consequently, there are many examples that are cited but not covered in detail. 

In his conclusion, Schimmel both defends the practice of medicine and yet argues for much greater attention to risks. The difficulty of balancing potential benefit and potential harm, and the need for constant review and monitoring of that balance, both during a patient s treatment and as medicine evolves, is expressed with great clarity ... 

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