Saltpeter … Classic Formulas
Xiao Shi · Niter
Primary Actions
- Breaks accumulations and softens hardness ... Xiao Shi belongs to the older mineral-purgative lane used for hard masses, focal fullness, and dense pathological build-up that needs a downward attack.
- Promotes urination and drains damp-heat downward ... classical indications extend to jaundice, stone-type strangury, dark scanty urine, and lower-burner obstruction from heat and sediment.
- Clears heat and resolves toxic swelling ... prepared Xiao Shi appears in throat obstruction, abscess, and other hot congested states, including some external-use traditions.
Classic Formulas
- Da Huang Xiao Shi Tang ... the Jin Gui Yao Lue formula for heat-dominant jaundice with abdominal fullness, constipation, and dark scanty urine.
- Xiao Shi Fan Shi San ... a damp-heat and jaundice mineral pairing preserved in classical formula literature.
- Minute-dose Xiao Shi powder methods for the five stranguries ... older urinary-obstruction practice in which the powder was taken with different liquids depending on the pattern.
Classical Text References
- Classical texts describe Xiao Shi as a cold bitter-salty mineral that pushes out the old, softens hardness, and opens stool and urine pathways downward.
- The Jin Gui tradition uses it for jaundice and strangury patterns where damp-heat and accumulation are both pronounced.
- Later materia medica repeatedly warns that Xiao Shi must be distinguished from Mang Xiao and from crude industrial-like mineral substitutions.