第8章 扁鹊与牛黄

牛黄，是一味名贵的中药。相传，牛黄是我国古代医学家扁鹊在无意中发现的。一天，扁鹊正在桌上整理煅制好的金礞石。此时，邻居阳宝杀了一头病牛，发现牛胆囊中有些像石头样的东西，不知是何物，于是提着胆囊来向扁鹊请教。扁鹊剖开胆囊取出两枚“石头”放在桌上、仔细地琢磨。

回家不久的阳宝又惊叫着跑来说其父亲一口气上不来，在炕上抽搐不停。扁鹊急忙去阳宝家，只见阳宝的老父亲双眼上翻，喉中噜噜有声。扁鹊看罢，立即吩咐阳宝快到桌上把金礞石拿来研成末，给阳宝父亲灌下。须臾，阳宝的父亲就止住抽搐，气息也平静了。扁鹊回家时却发现桌上的两枚牛“石头”不见了。细寻之下，原来阳宝在慌乱中错把牛黄当金礞石拿去了。扁鹊思忖：“难道这种石头真的有豁痰定惊的功效？”

遂于次日，有意用其配药，给阳宝的父亲送去服之。不日，病奇迹般的好了。扁鹊就将这种黄牛胆内的深黄色之物命名为“牛黄”。

Bian Que and Niu Huang（Bezoar）

Niu Huang（Bezoar）is a blindly expensive traditional Chinese medicine.As the legend has it,it was accidently discovered by Bian Que,an ancient Chinese medical scientist.One day,Bian Que was sorting out the gold chloriti which had been calcined on the table.At that time,his neighbor Yang Bao killed a sick cow and found something like stone in the gallbladder.He didn't know what it was.So Yang Bao took the gallbladder to ask Bian Que.Bian Que opened the gallbladder and took out two "stones" on the table,watching them carefully.

After returning home for a while,Yang Bao hurriedly ran back and toldBian Que that his father could not breathe and kept twitching on the bed.Bian Que hurried to Yang Bao's home and saw that the old man turned up his eyes,making noise in his throat.Bian Que asked Yang Bao to bring the chloriti quickly which were put on the table in his home.He grounded it into powder and poured it down the throat of the patient.After a while,Yang Bao's father stopped twitching and subsequently his breath was going calm.When Bian Que returned home,he found the two cow "stones" on the table missing.Under careful examinations,he found that Yang Bao mistook it for the gold chloriti.Bian Que thought:Does the "stone" have the effect of clearing away phlegm and calming the frigntening?

The next day,he used it as a component to make medicine and sent it to Yang Bao's father.Within a few days,the old man was miraculously fully recovered.Bian Que named the dark-yellow stone in the sick cow's gallbladder as Niu Huang.