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Chinese patent medicines: A beginner's guide
This book is a great introductory guide to Chinese Patent Medicines. It covers more than 200 patent formulas and provides detailed information on individual ingredients and actions, common usage and dosage information. For you're treating someone with common cold. The book lists 10 patent formulas for common cold with descriptions/indications for each formula such Ge Gen Wan for wind-cold type common cold with stiff neck - or Yin Qiao for wind-heat type with sore throat and fever or the standard Gan Mao Ling. This book is a great reference for beginners or for practitioners. It is also a necessity if you prescribe Plum Flower teapills. For example if you want to prescribe Jin Gu Die Sheng Wan for traumatic injury - the Plum Flower name would be The Great Mender.
304 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 16, 2026
Wise, articulate, and accessible.
Mr. Taylor starts his book with a balanced and reasonable assessment of Chinese medicine versus Western medicine. Western medicine has been extensively tested in laboratories using rats and other animals, and has been through human trials. Chinese herbal cures, on the other hand, have been described in literature for almost 3 millennia and certainly have been used by hundreds of times more human subjects than the products of our laboratories. A dedicated Darwinist such as myself is inclined to believe that successful remedies will persevere and grow more popular and those that don't work will die out.
Western medicine is characterized by families of drugs: serotonin uptake inhibitors, antibiotics, anti-acids, and the like. Mr. Taylor points out that herbal remedies more often go to the genesis of the problem within one's body chemistry rather than merely treating the symptoms. The taxonomy appears to be less rigorous because the drugs are more complex in their action. They may be grouped by ingredients or by the illnesses that they treat.
Mr. Taylor is acutely aware of the nature of the modern marketplace. Piracy is rampant in all spheres of Chinese business involving intellectual property. It is no different with patent medicines. If it is cheaper to create a knockoff that looks like the real thing, somebody will certainly do it. Mr. Taylor has good advice regarding which drugs are frequently counterfeited and the measures one should take to be sure one is getting the real thing.
The scope of Chinese medicine is impressive. Mr. Taylor describes around 200 formulations. That appears to stack up fairly well against the lists of Western ethical drugs that one finds at drugstore.com. It is interesting to note that acupuncture, another of Mr. Taylor's specialties, has moved from fringe to mainstream within the past couple of decades. We may not fully understand how it works, but it is certainly effective in many instances. The same is true of Chinese medicines.
Mr. Taylor starts his book with a balanced and reasonable assessment of Chinese medicine versus Western medicine. Western medicine has been extensively tested in laboratories using rats and other animals, and has been through human trials. Chinese herbal cures, on the other hand, have been described in literature for almost 3 millennia and certainly have been used by hundreds of times more human subjects than the products of our laboratories. A dedicated Darwinist such as myself is inclined to believe that successful remedies will persevere and grow more popular and those that don't work will die out.
Western medicine is characterized by families of drugs: serotonin uptake inhibitors, antibiotics, anti-acids, and the like. Mr. Taylor points out that herbal remedies more often go to the genesis of the problem within one's body chemistry rather than merely treating the symptoms. The taxonomy appears to be less rigorous because the drugs are more complex in their action. They may be grouped by ingredients or by the illnesses that they treat.
Mr. Taylor is acutely aware of the nature of the modern marketplace. Piracy is rampant in all spheres of Chinese business involving intellectual property. It is no different with patent medicines. If it is cheaper to create a knockoff that looks like the real thing, somebody will certainly do it. Mr. Taylor has good advice regarding which drugs are frequently counterfeited and the measures one should take to be sure one is getting the real thing.
The scope of Chinese medicine is impressive. Mr. Taylor describes around 200 formulations. That appears to stack up fairly well against the lists of Western ethical drugs that one finds at drugstore.com. It is interesting to note that acupuncture, another of Mr. Taylor's specialties, has moved from fringe to mainstream within the past couple of decades. We may not fully understand how it works, but it is certainly effective in many instances. The same is true of Chinese medicines.
May 22, 2009
I wasn't given a chance to note the quality of the used book received and such (as you would with Ebay) that arrived from Chapters (Used & Rare department). No options in that way.
But I'll tell you if you'll listen to me what did arrive. A book crusted with goop of some type on the back cover. And lots of bent pages. And food fingerprints. But it was that biley crust on the back cover that did it in. I didn't order a vomit pile book, I never order below 'Acceptable' (is there really such a thing?). So this book vomitorium was a bit of a surprise.
I had to clean it with a moist cloth, while trying not to wreck the cover.
Of course all of this had nothing to do with the book contents...not really, though I've not wanted to peruse the interiors so much since...
So I think the book itself is likely okay, but even so, what I've seen of the contents (not cover issues) doesn't warrant the price. I'm sure there are better out there.
But I'll tell you if you'll listen to me what did arrive. A book crusted with goop of some type on the back cover. And lots of bent pages. And food fingerprints. But it was that biley crust on the back cover that did it in. I didn't order a vomit pile book, I never order below 'Acceptable' (is there really such a thing?). So this book vomitorium was a bit of a surprise.
I had to clean it with a moist cloth, while trying not to wreck the cover.
Of course all of this had nothing to do with the book contents...not really, though I've not wanted to peruse the interiors so much since...
So I think the book itself is likely okay, but even so, what I've seen of the contents (not cover issues) doesn't warrant the price. I'm sure there are better out there.
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April 21, 2013Not a page turner, but really useful for knowing what to ask for in Chinese herb shops. Gan Mao Ling and Curing Pills are both pretty amazing stuff, in my experience.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews