There are two types of rice: japonica rice and glutinous rice. Japonica rice is hard, its grains are neutral in nature and not sticky, beneficial for harmonizing the spleen and stomach, and promoting urination. It is the common rice used for cooking. Glutinous rice is soft and sticky, its grains are warm in nature and sticky, which can warm the stomach and consolidate the two excretions. It is the rice used for steaming cakes and making porridge. The rice used in the White Tiger Decoction is chosen for its ability to harmonize the heavy and sinking nature of minerals, making it suitable for the spleen and stomach, and also for its ability to lead heat downward to be excreted through urination. If sticky rice is mistakenly used, its warm nature is not suitable for the heat-excess syndrome of the yangming meridian, and its sticky and stagnant force can retain the heat of external contraction in the stomach, preventing it from dissipating. Its consolidating and astringent effect on the two excretions can especially block the heat of external contraction in the stomach from being excreted downward, thus using it is not only unbeneficial but also harmful.

I once treated a person from Beizhengren Village with the surname Zheng, who had internal transmission of warm heat and yangming fu excess. I prescribed the original formula of White Tiger Decoction, but it did not cure him. Upon re-examination, I checked the dregs of the medicine and found that rice had been mistakenly used as sticky rice. I asked the patient's family, "I repeatedly instructed you yesterday to add half a tael of white rice when decocting the medicine, why did you use glutinous rice instead? (In the north, rice is called white rice, and sticky rice is called glutinous rice)." The family replied, "This was given by the pharmacy. They said glutinous rice is the real rice." I said, "What nonsense is this? Because of this mistake with the rice, the illness was almost delayed. Fortunately, I found out by checking the dregs." I then used the original formula with rice to decoct, and after taking it, he was cured. I also once read Changsha Xiao Zhuoru's "Dunyuan Medical Cases," which recorded a formula of White Tiger Decoction using sticky rice, and I suspected it was a mistake of using glutinous rice. Later, I discussed this with my student Zhu Jingheng from Changsha, and Jingheng said that in their place, the most juicy rice is called sticky rice, so it was not a mistake of using glutinous rice. However, since it was recorded in the book, this kind of name is not appropriate, fearing that it might be passed on to other places, and readers might still consider sticky rice as glutinous rice, as the stickiness of glutinous rice far exceeds that of rice. For those who want their books to be popular worldwide, how can they include local slang in them?