乳香 Yuhyang (유향)

Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 3

1. 性熱一云溫, 味辛, 微毒. 主風水毒腫. 去惡氣, 止心腹痛疰氣.

   Its nature is hot - one account calls it warm - its taste pungent, and it is slightly toxic. It governs pungsu (風水, wind water) and toxic swelling. It dispels noxious qi and halts pain in the chest and abdomen and jugi (疰氣, infixation qi).

   HomiclubYuhyang is hardened resin that has flowed from a tree trunk, the substance known in the West as frankincense. It is tapped from trees of the torchwood family growing in the dry country of the Arabian peninsula and northeast Africa.

2. 療耳聾, 中風口噤, 婦人血氣. 治諸瘡令內消, 止大腸泄澼.

   It addresses deafness, clenched jaw from jungpung (中風, wind stroke), and women's hyeolgi (血氣, blood and qi). It works on all manner of sores, making them dissolve inwardly, and halts seolbyeok (泄澼, dysenteric diarrhoea) of the large intestine.

3. 生南海波斯國松樹脂也. 紫赤如櫻桃者爲上.

   It is the resin of a pine of Persia in the southern seas. The purplish-red kind resembling a cherry is the superior grade.

   HomiclubPasaguk means Persia. The text calls it pine resin, but it is in fact the resin of a Boswellia tree of the torchwood family; Persia was not where it grew but the sea route it came by.

4. 盖薰陸之類也. 今人不復分別, 通謂乳香爲薰陸香耳.

   It belongs broadly to the hullyuk (薰陸) group. People today no longer distinguish them and simply call yuhyang by the name hullyukhyang.

5. 形如乳頭, 以粉紅透明者爲上. 《本草》

   Its shape is like a nipple, and the pink, translucent kind is the superior grade. 《Boncho (本草)》

   HomiclubThe yu (乳, milk) in the name comes from this very shape. Resin oozing from the tree hardens into teardrop grains shaped like a nipple, and these are called yuhyangju (乳香珠).

6. 入藥, 微炒殺毒, 得不粘, 或搗碎紙包, 席下眠一宿, 另硏用. 《入門》

   For use in medicine, roast it lightly to kill its toxin so that it does not stick, or crush it, wrap it in paper, leave it overnight beneath a sleeping mat, and grind it separately before use. 《Immun (入門)》

7. 又云, 以竹葉包, 熨斗火熨, 乃硏細用. 《直指》

   It is also said to wrap it in bamboo leaves, press it with the heat of an iron, and then grind it fine for use. 《Jikji (直指)》