Acrid, cold, extremely toxic. Act on heart, liver and kidney meridians.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Calming the mind, relieving convulsions, improving vision, removing toxins. Grind it with other medicines for external application, killing parasites, and attacking toxins.

bubble_chart Indications

Treats manic and depressive psychosis, palpitations, irritability, insomnia, vertigo, blurred vision, swelling and toxins, sores and ulcers. For external use: treats scabies, syphilis, malignant sores, and hemorrhoids.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "Mainly treats scabies, fistulas, scabbed sores, white baldness, kills lice in the skin, early abortion, removes heat, and detoxifies gold, silver, copper, and tin."
2. Beiji Qianjin Yaofang: "Mercury... mainly treats vitiligo. Apply Mercury, let it heat up and dissipate, stop when healed."
3. Bencao Shiyi: "Benefits water passage, removes heat toxin."
4. Rihuazi Bencao: "Treats epidemic heat diseases, induces labor, expels dead fetus. Treats evil spirits, calms the heart."
5. Bencao Mengquan: "Grind with Chaulmoogra Tree Seed into powder to kill sore worms; combine with Skullcap Root to make pills to terminate pregnancy (formula name: Pregnancy Termination Pill)."
6. Bencao Huiyan: "Apply to chinese wax myrtle bark for malignant sores."
7. 《National Chinese Herbal Medicine Compilation》: "Skin scabies, cervical neurodermatitis, kills head lice."

1. Psoriasis Medicine (《Jilin Chinese Medicine》1990.4): Mainly treats psoriasis, dispels stasis and softens hard masses, removes toxins and kills worms. Kadsura root-bark 10g, Dried Tangerine Peel 5g, Blister Beetle 5 pieces, Mercury 15g (melt 15g of lead in an iron spoon over fire, then add Mercury and stir, cool and grind into powder). Mix the above into crude powder, soak in 500ml of 60% alcohol for 7 days. Apply the liquid to the affected area 2-3 times daily. Patients with psoriasis should strictly limit spicy, alcohol, and fishy foods.
2. Silver Powder (Zhouhou Beiji Fang): Treats dry scabies. Mercury, lead-powder. Grind and mix to apply.
3. Mercury Ointment (Shenghui Fang): Treats scabies and sores that do not heal for years. Mercury 1 liang, Alum 1 liang, Cnidium Fruit 1 liang, Realgar 1 liang, Ru powder 1 liang. Mix with half a jin of refined pig fat, grind until Mercury is fully absorbed, then apply, 2-3 times daily.
4. Silver Elm Ointment (《Jinxiao Fang》): Treats heat sores (herpes simplex), scabies, unbearable itching and pain. Mercury, large-fruited elm. Mix with butter and apply.
5. Silver Jujube Ointment (《Meishi Jiyan Fang》《Guangli Fang》): Treats hemorrhoids, anal itching. Mercury, jujube paste each 2 liang. Grind and mix, shape like a jujube, wrap in thin cotton, insert into the anus. If painful, add 3 fen of powder to make a pill.
6. Puji Face Sore Formula (Puji Fang): Treats facial pimples. Mercury, December pig fat each 1 liang. Mix and grind thoroughly until Mercury stars disappear, apply white liquid, wipe clean after use, heal in 3-4 applications.
7. Priceless Powder (Yangke Xinde Ji): Mainly treats armpit odor. Mercury, litharge each 6g, dried alum 12g, grind into fine powder until no stars are visible. Mix with cold boiled water and apply.
8. Reverse Oil (also known as Mercury Leech Oil) (Shengji Zonglu Puji Fang): Treats white beard and hair. Leech 7 pieces (as powder), Mercury 30g. Take 90g of silver, make a small box to hold the medicine, seal with earthworm mud half a finger thick, bury deep in horse manure for 49 days, then take out and transform into black oil. Use fish bladder to wrap finger, dip a little and twist onto beard, the oil naturally reverses to the root, turning black.
9. Silver Turtle Rubbing Formula (《Henan Province Secret Single Formula Collection》): Mainly treats rosacea. Cochinchina momordica seed (peeled) 6g, Cinnamon Twig 6g, Mercury 6g, silver residue 6g, large oil 6g, mash and then add Mercury to stir, wrap in cloth and rub nose.
10. Mercury Ointment Formula (《Selection of Famous Doctors' Good Formulas Through the Ages》): Treats rosacea. Mercury 3 qian, Chaulmoogra Tree Seed kernel 3 qian, Cochinchina momordica seed kernel 1 qian, Hemp Seed 3 qian, English Walnut Seed 3 qian, camphor 2 qian, mash the six ingredients into a paste until no Mercury stars are visible. Apply to the affected area, rub for 1-2 minutes, 2-3 times daily. This product must not be ingested, wash hands after application. Store tightly sealed in a dark, dry place after use.
11. Six Kernel Peeling Powder (《Hubei Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 1987.2》): Mainly treats rosacea. Bitter apricot seed 9g, Fengzi kernel 9g, Platycladi Seed 9g, Mubie kernel 6g, Hemp Seed 8g, Walnut kernel meat 3g, Chinese Angelica 3g, Camphor 2g, Mercury 4g, grind into fine powder, wrap in single-layer gauze, slowly rub around the nose twice daily, 20-30 minutes each time.
12. Syphilitic skin lesion fumigation formula (Bencao Gangmu): Treats toxic sores with Chinese wax myrtle bark. Mercury and black lead, each 3 grams (calcined), red lead 3 grams, frankincense and myrrh, each 1.5 grams. Grind into powder, roll into small sticks with paper, dip in oil, and light as a lamp. Expose the sore to the smoke three times daily.
13. Hydrargyri Oxydum Rubrum ("Various Wonderful Prescriptions"): Extracts toxins, resolves putridity, promotes tissue regeneration, and is indicated for various chronic skin ulcers, chronic eczema, bedsores, chronic cellulitis, folliculitis, foot ulceration, thrombosis, and ulceration caused by occlusive vasculitis. Mercury 17g, saltpeter and alum 17g each. Grind the above ingredients finely and mix well. Place the mixture in an iron pot, cover with an inverted porcelain bowl, and steam the powder. Seal the junction between the bowl and the pot with mulberry bark strips, and seal the perimeter with yellow mud up to near the bottom of the bowl. Place a few grains of white rice on the bottom of the bowl. Heat the pot over a fire, starting with a mild fire, then switch to a strong fire until the rice turns yellow. Continue with a mild fire until the rice turns charred. Remove from heat, let cool, remove the mud and sand, and take off the bowl. A layer of vermilion (red precipitate) or yellow (yellow precipitate) powder will adhere to the inside of the bowl. Scrape it off with a knife and store in a bottle for use. At the bottom of the pot, a burnt residue will remain, which is the base of the vermilion pill. Apply a small amount of the vermilion pill or the base medicine to the affected area, cover with gauze, and change daily or every other day.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

Highly toxic substances should not be taken internally; those with abnormal liver or kidney function, pregnant women, and children should use with caution; pregnant women should especially avoid it. External use should also not be excessive or prolonged to avoid poisoning. Do not store in aluminum containers; it should not be used with iodine-containing medicines such as kelp. Bencao Jing Jizhu: "Fears magnetite." Yaodui: "Fears arsenic." Bencao Jingshu: "Must not be used for head sores, as it may enter the meridians and relax the tendons and bones. It is only suitable for external application, not internal use."

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

Elemental mercury does not induce pharmacological effects. Its compounds have disinfectant, laxative, and diuretic effects, can directly kill bacteria, and can promote the absorption of exudates, thereby reducing local inflammation.

Mercury is primarily excreted by the kidneys, followed by the large intestine. Acute poisoning is mostly caused by accidental ingestion of mercuric chloride, leading to symptoms of digestive tract corrosion; after absorption, it causes kidney damage leading to anuria and capillary damage causing plasma loss, even shock. Early application of heavy metal detoxifying agents and symptomatic measures are mostly effective. Chronic poisoning is generally seen in industrial poisoning, causing stomatitis and toxic encephalopathy, the latter manifested as depression, withdrawal, and other psychiatric symptoms, as well as muscle tremors. "Clinical Handbook of Chinese Medicinals" Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Medicine.