Animal excrement is generally regarded as filthy, foul-smelling waste, suitable only as fertilizer. In reality, however, the droppings of certain animals serve as effective traditional Chinese medicines; some are even prized medicinal ingredients, playing unique roles in treating illnesses.Interestingly, ancient Chinese practitioners also emphasized elegant naming conventions for medicinal animal droppings, bestowing them with refined titles as follows:
Moon-Gazing Sand: Dried droppings of wild rabbits, neutral in nature with a pungent taste. It possesses the efficacy of clearing heat, dispelling blood stasis, and resolving masses. It is used to treat dim vision with corneal opacities, malnutrition-related wasting, and hemorrhoids.
Night-Bright Sand: Dried bat feces, an effective remedy for clearing heat, improving vision, dispersing blood stasis, and eliminating accumulations. It contains urea, uric acid, cholesterols, and trace amounts of vitamin A. Bat feces appear brownish-black, forming elongated oval pellets with small specks.After collection, rinse away dust and foul odors with water. Take the fine sand, sun-dry it, then roast it over fire. It can treat internal and external eye opacities, scrofula, and malnutrition. Night-Bright Sand is indispensable for most ophthalmic conditions.
Five-Spirit Fat: The dried feces of flying squirrels (genus Pteromys) and flying squirrels (genus Pteromys), commonly used as a blood-activating and stasis-resolving agent. Flying squirrels, also known as cold-calling birds, often leave grayish-black droppings near their burrows. Pharmacological analysis reveals Five-Spirit Fat contains abundant resin, uric acid, and vitamin A-like substances. Clinically, it is typically used either raw or stir-fried.Raw preparation promotes blood circulation and alleviates pain, treating various abdominal pains caused by blood stasis, amenorrhea, and postpartum blood stasis pain. It is also used for treating bites from venomous creatures like snakes, scorpions, and centipedes. Fried preparation stops bleeding, treating conditions such as uterine hemorrhage, excessive menstruation, and persistent bloody vaginal discharge.
Silkworm Sand: Also known as silkworm feces, this is the dried excrement of domesticated silkworms. Its nature is sweet and warm, entering the Liver, Spleen, and Stomach meridians. It dries dampness, dispels wind, harmonizes the stomach, transforms turbidity, invigorates blood circulation, and alleviates pain.It is commonly used for rheumatic arthralgia, headaches, skin itching, cold pain in the lower back and legs, abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Traditionally, silkworm sand was heated, placed in a pouch, and applied hot to affected areas to treat joint pain and hemiplegia. In folk medicine, silkworm sand is used as pillow stuffing to clear liver heat and improve vision.
Ambergris: Ambergris is the dried secretion from the intestines of the sperm whale (Cachalot). Obtained from slaughtered sperm whales, it is extracted from their intestines as a grayish-black, waxy excretion (essentially whale feces) produced by the digestive tract after consuming squid.It has a sweet taste, a fishy odor, and an astringent nature. It promotes qi circulation, activates blood flow, disperses nodules, alleviates pain, drains dampness, promotes urination, and transforms phlegm. It is used to treat coughing, wheezing, qi reversal, and abdominal pain. Among all animal excretions, this is the most precious Chinese medicinal material and is extremely rare.
Chicken Dung White: Refers to the white portion found on domestic chicken feces. Its nature is sweet, salty, and cool. It promotes diuresis, clears heat, dispels wind, and detoxifies. It treats abdominal distension, jaundice, and wind-induced paralysis. Internal use: Sun-dry, roast gently over low heat with a small amount of white wine, grind into powder for pills or powders (3–6g), or soak in wine.The Complete Book of Infant Care records a formula for treating abdominal distension and jaundice in children: grind 50g dried chicken droppings and 3g cloves into an extremely fine powder. Form into pills the size of mung beans. Take 10 pills three times daily with rice water.It enters the Liver and Kidney meridians. It can eliminate food stagnation, treat hernias, dispel cataracts, and remove pterygium. Internally, it is ground into powder for pills or powders; externally, it is finely ground and applied as a paste or mixed with milk for eye drops.Local villagers collect dried excrement, process it specially, and drink it as tea. Its sweet taste is refreshing and invigorating. Insect tea also has medicinal value. When brewed in appropriate amounts, it can invigorate the mind, clear heat and toxins, constrict and stop bleeding, lower blood pressure and reduce lipids, and strengthen the spleen and harmonize the stomach.It demonstrates proven efficacy against indigestion, epistaxis, hemorrhoidal bleeding, gingival hemorrhage, and abscesses, while also offering preventive benefits against hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and coronary heart disease.