Hirudo
From HerbLab, herbal encyclopedia of Chinese traditional medicine
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Hirudo(水蛭)
Huang Gongxiu of the Qing Dynasty pointed out: "Hirudo lives in gloomy and damp places and is proficient in sucking human blood. It is salty and bitter in taste, neutral and poisonous in nature, and is used medically to clear water passage, reduce blood stasis and induce abortion."
Hirudo is the dried body of an annelida animal, Whifmania pigra Whitman of the family Hirudinidae, commonly known as leach. The body ofHirudo is long, flat and greenish black, with linear yellow strips on the back. It has five pairs of eyes on both sides of its head and a mouth underneath the head. The biggest worm is 6-1Ocm in length and 1cm in width. It lives in pond and paddy field and is skillhil in sucking blood of the vertebrates with the sucking disk in its mouth. In the middle of its anterior disk, there are three serrated palate plates. As its mouth is trident, the lambdoid wound in the skin of its victim can be observed after being bitten.
Its body stretches and contracts smoothly, looking like a small ball when it contracts and being in undulant form when it is swimming in water. Out of water, it moves with its sucking disk. Hirudo is found mainly in Central China and South China.
ANTICANCER PHARMACOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS
1. Injection prepared with Hirudo inhibits the division of spermatogonium. 2. It has been proved with eosin method in vitro that the injection has an inhibitive effect on tumor cells. 3. Experiments in vivo showed the drug has an inhibitive action on liver cancer of mice.
EXPERIMENTAL FORMULAS
For adenocarcinoma of the uterine body:
Hirudo 15g Radix Astragali 30g Radix Angelicae Sinensis 6g Rhizoma Scirpi 9g Rhizoma Zedoariae 9g Squama Manitis 12g Semen Persicae 18g Corium Stomachichum Galli 9g All the above herbs are put together and ground into fine powder for oral administration twice a day, each time 3 grams. (Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Tumors)
For cancer of the skin:
Hirudo 30g Rhizoma et Radix Rhei 5g Indigo Naturalis 3g The above drugs are ground into fine powder to be decocted with sesame oil (60g) and yellow wax (9g) to make a plaster for external application. (Prevention and Treatment of Common Tumors in Qinghai) For cancer of the large intestine: Powdered Hirudo is taken with water or wine, 1 gram each time. (Progress in Research on tumor Prevention and Treatment Inside and Outside of China, 1978)
For tumor of the oviduct and the ovary:
Dried Hirudo is ground into fine powder for oral administration daily with millet wine in the morning and in the evening, 3 grams each time. (New Traditional Chinese Medicine, Vol. 5, 1975)
For hysteromyoma:
1 >. Hirudo 30g Radix Astragali 45g Rhizoma Scirpi 15g Rhizoma Zedoariae 15g Radix Angelicae Sinensis 18g Rhizoma Anemarrhenae 18g Semen Persicae 18g
All the above drugs are ground into fine powder and mixed with honey for rolling into pills of the size of Semen Firmianae. 6 grams are taken in the morning and in the evening. It is not administered during the period of menstruation. (Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Vol. 8, 1963)
2>. Hirudo 30 Tabanus 30 Semen Persicae 20 Rhizoma et Radix Rhei 9g The above herbs are decocted and the broth is divided into two portions for taking in the morning and in the evening. (Collection of Herbal Prescriptions in Modern Gynecology)
HISTORICAL COMMENTS
In Records of Combined Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, it was stated that: "Hirudo removes blood stasis without causing any damage to the fresh blood. "
It was reported in Supplement to Compendium of Medicinal Herbs that: "The drug cures carbuncle and poisonous swelling."
Practical Materia Medico commented that: "The drug is effective for menopause, uterine mass and abdominal mass. "
It was claimed in Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold that: "To cure metrostaxis, Hirudo is baked and crushed into powder for oral administration with wine, 3 grams each time, twice a day, until the extravasated blood disappears."
It was recorded in Collection of Prescriptions for Saving Lives that: "The drug cures postpartum faintness and blood stasis accumulated in the chest, the abdomen and the hypochondrium. 3 grams of each of Hirudo, Tabanus (with its wings and feet removed), Myrrh and Maschus is baked, powdered and taken together with Si Wu Tang. The pain will be relieved once the retained blood is removed. Si Wu Tang should be continued. "
It was expounded in Prescriptions for Rescuing the Sick that: "To cure trauma, injury, blood stasis and flatulence in the chest and the abdomen, constipation and anuresis, and critical symptoms of the dying, the following formula is recommended:
Hirudo 15g Calix 15g Radix et Rhizoma Rhei 60g Semen Pharbitidis 60g The above drugs are powdered and taken 6 grams each time with warm wine, till the extravasated blood is completely removed.
