【Source】

From Volume 2 of Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang (Formulary of the People’s Welfare Pharmacy Bureau).

 【Ingredients】

Ginseng, Bupleurum, Peucedanum, Notopterygium, Angelica Pubescens, Aurantii Fructus, Chuanxiong, Platycodon, Poria, Licorice, Ginger, Mentha
(12)

 【Category】

<Regulating Qi>：Aurantii Fructus

<Tonifying Spleen and Middle Jiao>：Licorice

<Acrid-Cool Exterior Releasing>：Mentha, Bupleurum

<Tonifying Qi>：Ginseng

<Acrid-Warm Exterior Releasing>：Ginger, Notopterygium

<Tonifying Spleen and Promoting Diuresis>：Poria

<Activating Blood and Removing Stasis>：Chuanxiong

<Dispelling Wind-Dampness>：Angelica Pubescens

<Transforming Phlegm>：Platycodon, Peucedanum

【Formula Explanation】

Yi Fang: This formula acts on the Foot Taiyang, Shaoyang, and Hand Taiyin meridians. (1) Notopterygium: Enters the Taiyang to regulate wandering wind. (2) Angelica Pubescens: Enters the Shaoyin to regulate latent wind and can also remove dampness and alleviate pain. (3) Bupleurum: Disperses heat and lifts clear Qi, cooperating with Chuanxiong to harmonize blood and calm the liver, treating headaches and blurred vision. (4) Peucedanum and Aurantii Fructus: Descend Qi and resolve phlegm, cooperating with Platycodon and Poria to drain lung heat, eliminate dampness, and reduce swelling. (5) Licorice: Harmonizes the interior and releases the exterior. (6) Ginseng: Supports the upright Qi to counteract evil. (7) Dredges the meridians and collaterals, disperses exteriorly and removes stagnant pathogens, hence the name Baidu (antitoxic). Chengfang Bian Du: This formula necessarily uses ginseng first to tonify the upright and expel pathogens. Notopterygium moves to the exterior to disperse wandering evils, Angelica Pubescens moves inward to resolve latent evils, Bupleurum and Platycodon disperse heat and lift clear Qi, Aurantii Fructus and Peucedanum resolve phlegm and descend Qi, Chuanxiong is aromatic to move Qi in the blood, Poria is bland and seeps to drain dampness in Qi, Licorice harmonizes all the herbs to prevent conflict, and ginger eliminates foulness and dispels evil, preventing stagnation. Each ingredient builds upon its strengths to achieve a complete effect, all relying on the great power of ginseng to orchestrate their actions. As for using this formula to treat dysentery, this is similar to Yu Shi’s method of rowing upstream against the current, because the evil enters from the exterior and sinks inward, it is still directed outward.

 【Functions】

Induces sweating to release the exterior, disperses external stagnation, nourishes Qi to support the upright and counteract evil, disperses wind, and removes dampness.

 【Indications】

(1) For those with insufficient upright Qi who are attacked by wind-cold-dampness, manifested as aversion to cold, fever, headache, stiff neck, body aches, absence of sweating, chest and diaphragm fullness, nasal congestion, heavy voice, cough with phlegm, wind-phlegm, headache, vomiting, chills and fever, etc., with a white greasy tongue coating and a floating, soft pulse. (2) For early-stage carbuncles, sores, dysentery, and other diseases with the above symptoms. (3) Colds with fever in children, and infantile dysentery. Yi Fang: (1) Headache due to cold damage, aversion to cold with high fever, stiff neck, dim vision, nasal congestion, heavy voice, wind-phlegm cough. (2) Also, epidemic febrile diseases, miasmic malaria, or heavy voice like a frog, red eyes, mouth sores, damp-toxin flowing downward, leg swelling, mumps, sore throat, toxic dysentery, various sores and rashes.

 【Modern Indications】

Common cold, fever, cough, nasal congestion, acute hepatitis, carbuncles, early-stage dysentery.

 【Cautions】

Should not be used if there is no concurrent exterior syndrome. The nature of this formula leans towards acrid, warm, aromatic, and drying, making it suitable for external contraction of wind-cold-dampness. It is absolutely contraindicated for conditions of yin deficiency and fluid dryness, such as heat without cold, thirst with excessive drinking, red tongue with little fluid, etc.

 【Mnemonic】

Baidu San + Ginseng. Baidu San: Two live people play the erhu, only because their life is extremely poor, they eat dried pickles (Qiang Huo, Du Huo, Chai Hu, Qian Hu, Zhi Ke, Bo He, Jie Geng, Chuan Xiong, Fu Ling, Gan Cao, Jiang).

 【Modifications】

Yi Fang: (1) For dry mouth and tongue: add Scutellaria. (2) For beriberi: add Rhubarb and Atractylodes. (3) For itchy skin: add Cicada slough. (1) If the upright Qi is not deficient, remove ginseng. (2) If the exterior evil is severe, add Schizonepeta and Saposhnikovia to strengthen the exterior-releasing action. (3) If treating dysentery, add Coptis and Aucklandia to regulate Qi and clear the intestines. (4) For wind-toxin urticaria, add Cicada slough and Sophora to dispel wind, stop itching, clear heat, and remove dampness. (5) For early-stage carbuncles, remove ginseng, add Honeysuckle and Forsythia to clear heat, resolve toxins, dissipate nodules, and reduce swelling. (6) This formula with ginseng removed, and with Schizonepeta and Saposhnikovia added, becomes Jing Fang Baidu San from Shesheng Zhong Miao Fang, which is mainly used for early-stage carbuncles with redness, swelling, pain, aversion to cold with absence of sweating, no thirst, thin white tongue coating, and a floating, rapid pulse. (7) For residual toxin in the head, add Cimicifuga; in the upper body, double the dose of Platycodon; in the hands, add Cinnamon twig; in the waist, add Eucommia and Dipsacus; in the legs and feet, add Achyranthes and Chaenomeles.

 【Pharmacology】

Has anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, analgesic, and liver-protective effects.