Formulas · Purge Downward 瀉下 · Hwarinseo (活人書)

Regulate the Centre Decoction (Epidemic chapter)

Jojung-tang

한글 조중탕 · Pinyin Tiao Zhong Tang

調中湯

The Bogam carries more than one formula under the name 調中湯; the other, from the Skin chapter, treats a yin-pattern macular eruption and is registered as jojung-tang-pi.

Composition 構成

Daehwang Da Huang
大黃 대황 · Rhubarb

6 g
Chief 君
Hwanggeum Huang Qin
黃芩 황금 · Scutellaria

4 g
Deputy 臣
Baekjagyak Bai Shao
白芍藥 백작약 · White Peony

4 g
Deputy 臣

芍藥
Galgeun Ge Gen
葛根 갈근 · Kudzu Root

4 g
Deputy 臣
Gilgyeong Jie Geng
桔梗 길경 · Platycodon

4 g
Assistant 佐
Jeokbongnyeong Chi Fu Ling
赤茯苓 적복령 · Poria (red)

4 g
Assistant 佐
Gobon Gao Ben
藁本 고본 · Ligusticum Root

4 g
Assistant 佐
Baekchul Bai Zhu
白朮 백출 · White Atractylodes

4 g
Assistant 佐
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

4 g
Envoy 使

Total 38 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Treats dry epidemic (燥疫) breaking out in summer with a dry mouth and a stopped-up throat
Drains heat downward while holding the centre

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Dry epidemic (燥疫) breaking out in summer
Dry mouth with the throat felt to be blocked (口乾 · 咽塞)

Biomedical correlates

Summer febrile illness with pharyngitis
Dehydration with constipation in a febrile patient

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治夏發燥疫, 口乾ㆍ咽塞. 大黃一錢半, 黃芩ㆍ芍藥ㆍ葛根ㆍ桔梗ㆍ赤茯苓ㆍ藁本ㆍ白朮ㆍ甘草各一錢. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎服. 《活人》

Translation

Treats dry epidemic breaking out in summer, with a dry mouth and a stopped-up throat. Rhubarb, 1 don 5 fun; scutellaria, peony, pueraria, platycodon, red poria, ligusticum, white atractylodes and licorice, 1 don each. Cut up, make one packet, and decoct in water. — Hwarin 活人 (Donguibogam · On)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The summer member of the chapter's seasonal set, and the one with rhubarb in it. A dry epidemic with a dry mouth and a throat that feels stopped up, and rhubarb at a don and a half leads the formula — which places the trouble below rather than at the surface. Around the rhubarb sit scutellaria and peony to cool, pueraria and ligusticum to lift, platycodon for the throat, and poria, white atractylodes and licorice to hold the middle while the bowel is opened. Opening the bowel to relieve a dry throat is the chapter's own reasoning made visible: the dryness is read as heat with nowhere to go. The name misleads. 調中, regulating the centre, is what the eight supporting drugs do; the formula itself is a purgative, and a mild one is a reasonable thing to give a febrile patient who has stopped passing stool. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.