Horse Bezoar Classic Formulas … Natural Herb Library

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Clears phlegm-heat and settles fright - Ma Bao is a rare historical animal concretion medicine used when heat and phlegm obstruct the orifices with agitation, seizures, or infantile convulsive patterns.
Calms the Liver and relieves spasmodic disorders - older usage overlaps with fright wind, epilepsy, and sudden convulsion presentations in which a cooling antispasmodic animal substance was considered appropriate.
Resolves toxic swelling - external or adjunctive use is described for sores, oral lesions, or swollen toxic lumps, though this indication is far less documented than its fright-convulsion reputation.

No major canonical formula is widely indexed around Ma Bao as a routine ingredient, which fits its status as a rare specialty substance rather than a mainstream dispensary item.
Traditional usage clusters around individually powdered or finely dosed administration for fright, convulsion, or phlegm-heat obstruction rather than around high-frequency household formulas.
When mentioned clinically, it is usually discussed by function alongside other orifice-opening, phlegm-transforming, and antispasmodic medicinals.

Later materia medica descriptions portray Ma Bao as a cooling bezoar-like substance that clears phlegm-heat, calms fright, and helps treat convulsive disorders.
Traditional indications are narrow and specialized, which is one reason it never achieved the routine status of more standard pediatric or seizure-related medicinals.
Because authenticity has long been a concern, historical reputation does not automatically translate into reliable modern crude-drug use.