This product is the dried body of the scorpion species Buthus martensii (Buthus martensii Karsch) from the scorpion family. If only the tail is used, it is called scorpion tail. It is mainly produced in Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Anhui, and other regions. Wild scorpions can be captured from late spring to early autumn. Those captured around the Pure Brightness (5th solar term) to Grain Rain period are called "spring scorpions," which are of better quality as they have not ingested soil. Those produced in larger quantities during summer are called "summer scorpions," which are of inferior quality. Farmed scorpions are generally harvested in autumn, once every other year. After capture, they are first soaked in clean water to expel soil, then boiled in boiling water or salt water until the body becomes stiff. They are then removed and dried in a ventilated area.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Acrid, neutral, toxic. Act on liver meridian.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Calm wind and stop convulsions, attack toxins and disperse nodules, dredge collaterals and relieve pain.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for convulsion. This product mainly enters the liver meridian, both calming liver wind and searching wind to dredge collaterals, possessing the effects of calming wind to stop convulsion and searching wind to stop convulsion, with a good effect of stopping convulsion. Therefore, it can be used to treat convulsions caused by various reasons, often used together with centipede, ground into fine powder for oral administration. For example, for treating acute infantile convulsion with high fever, unconsciousness, and convulsion, it is often combined with antelope horn, Uncaria, Gastrodia Tuber, and other heat-clearing and wind-calming medicinals; for treating chronic infantile convulsion, it is often combined with Tangshen, White Atractylodes Rhizome, Gastrodia Tuber, and other qi-tonifying, spleen-strengthening, and wind-calming and convulsion-stopping medicinals; for treating phlegm-confusion epilepsy convulsion, it can be combined with Curcuma Root, Alum in equal parts, ground into fine powder for oral administration; for treating tetanus convulsion and opisthotonos, it is also combined with centipede, Arisaema, Cicada Slough, and other medicinals, such as Five Tigers Wind-Chasing Powder, or combined with centipede, Uncaria, Cinnabar, and other medicinals, also effective, such as She Feng San; for treating wind apoplexy involving meridians and collaterals, with wry mouth and eyes, it can be used together with white Stiff Silkworm, giant typhonium rhizome, such as Pull Aright Powder.
2. Used for sore and ulcer swelling and toxicity, scrofula subcutaneous node. This product is pungent in taste and toxic, hence it has the effects of dispersing nodules and attacking toxicity. For example, "Danliao Fang" uses scorpion, Gardenia each 7 pieces, fried black in sesame oil and filtered, mixed with yellow wax to make an ointment for external application to treat various sores and swellings; "Yixue Zhongzhong Canxilu" uses 10 pieces of this product, roasted until charred, divided into two doses, taken with yellow wine to reduce swelling and hardness under the jaw. Recent reports use scorpion, centipede, Earthworm, ground beetle in equal parts, ground into fine powder or made into pills with water for oral administration, effective in treating thrombotic obliterative vessel inflammation, lymph subcutaneous node, bone and joint subcutaneous node, and other diseases.
3. Used for wind-dampness obstinate impediment. Scorpion is good at dredging collaterals and relieving pain, effective for wind-cold-dampness impediment that is difficult to cure, with sinew and vessel spasm, even joint deformation obstinate impediment. It can be combined with Aconite Mother Root, little multibanded krait, myrrh, and other wind-dispelling, blood-activating, sinew-relaxing, and collateral-activating medicinals.
4. Used for stubborn migraine and headache. This product has the effects of expelling wind and dredging collaterals to relieve pain, often combined with centipede, white Stiff Silkworm, giant typhonium rhizome, Sichuan Lovage Rhizome, and others, or used alone ground into powder for oral administration to take effect.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Kaibao Bencao: "For treating various rubella rashes and apoplexy hemiplegia, oral deviation, speech difficulty, and hand-foot convulsions."
2. Bencao Congxin: "Treats various wind-induced dizziness, fright epilepsy convulsions, oral and eye deviation... diseases of the Jueyin wind-wood."
3. Yuqiu Yaojie: "Penetrates tendons and bones, expels dampness and dispels wind."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct 2-5g for oral use; take 0.6-1g in powder form each time. Apply an appropriate amount externally.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

This product is toxic and should not be used in excessive amounts. Pregnant women should use it with caution.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains scorpion venom, a protein similar to snake venom neurotoxin. It also includes trimethylamine, betaine, cow-bezoar acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, cholesterol, lecithin, and ammonium salts, among others. Oral administration of scorpion in mice has shown antagonistic effects against convulsions induced by pentylenetetrazole, strychnine, and nicotine. Both gastric lavage and intravenous or intramuscular injections of scorpion extract and decoction have demonstrated significant and long-lasting hypotensive effects; they also exhibit notable sedative effects on conscious animals. The primary danger of scorpion venom (Buthotoxin) is its ability to cause respiratory paralysis.