Huang Qin Tang

 Huang Qin Tang

Scutellaria Decoction (Huang Qin Tang) is a combination of four herbs: Scutellaria baicalensis (Huang Qin), Glycyrrhiza uralensis (Gan Cao), Paeonia lactiflora (Bai Shao), and Ziziphus jujuba (Da Zao). Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage, Line 172 says, "When, in a greater yang/lesser yang combination disease, spontaneous diarrhea is manifested, Huang Qin Tang is prescribed."¹ Zhang Zhongjing goes on to state that Huang Qin Tang is prescribed for lesser yang pathogenic heat distressing yang brightness, with symptoms of diarrhea, abdominal pain, and scorching heat in the anus.1 Since the third century, Huang Qin Tang has been documented to treat common gastrointestinal distress and its concomitant symptoms of fever, headache, extreme thirst, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal spasms, and subcardiac distention. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the application was broadened to include the treatment of warm-pathogen diseases. Seventeenth-century physician Zhang Lu observed that Huang Qin Tang basically treats "spring and summer warm pathogen heat where fever develops from within (i.e., without marked exterior symptoms like chills at the onset)."² Later, Ye Tianshi, a great physician of the Warm Febrile Disease school, extended Zhang Lu's theory and practice to the treatment of lurking pathogens. In his text, Differentiating Lurking Pathogens and Externally-Contracted Diseases During Three Seasons, Ye Tianshi stated: "Cold that attacks the body in winter lurks in the kidneys, transforms into heat, and manifests in the gallbladder in the spring. Huang Qin Tang is prescribed for this condition to clear heat with bitter and cold herbs."³