Digestant Herbs
Ji Nei Jin (鸡内金)
Naming
Ji Nei Jin (Endothelium Corneum Gigeriae Galli)——Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Shen Nong’s Herbal)
The Processing of 鸡内金
Origin
The membrane of the gizzard of Gallus domesticus Brisson. of family Phasianidae.
Location
All parts in China.
Harvest
After being cleaned.
The true smell and taste
The smell of raw meat, slightly bitter.
Best quality
Integrity, dry, big and yellow.
Processing
Dried in the sun, unprocessed, stir-baked or processed with vinegar.
The Effect of 鸡内金
Property
Sweet, bland; spleen, stomach, small intestine and bladder meridians entered.
Actions
Promote digestion and invigorate spleen, arrest seminal emission and relieve enuresis.
Indications
A. Food stagnation, infantile malnutrition with accumulation
It is widely used for all kinds of food stagnation for its strong actions of promoting digestion, dissipating food stagnation and invigorating spleen-stomach.
For milder case of food stagnation, it can be ground into powder singly for oral use; for severer case, it is combined with Shan Zha and Mai Ya. For infantile malnutrition with accumulation due to spleen deficiency, it is combined with spleen-invigorating herbs such as Bai Zhu and Shan Yao.
B. Seminal emission and enuresis based on kidney deficiency
It can arrest seminal emission and relieve enuresis. It can be stir-baked singly and ground into powder for oral use, or combined with kidney-tonifying, semen-securing and enuresis-relieving herbs. For instance it is combined with Tu Si Zi and Sang Piao Xiao in Ji Pi Zhi San from Sheng Hui Fang.
In addition, for it enters urinary bladder meridian and has the actions of relieving stranguria and eliminating stone, it is indicated for urinary and gall stones and usually combined with the stranguria-relieving diuretic such as Jin Qian Cao.
Dosage and Administrations
Decoct 3~10 g, l.5~3 g of the powder being taken with better effect.
Sources and further reading
We cite classical materia medica and modern reference works. This article is health education, not medical advice.
- Shennong Bencao Jing (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica), Han dynasty.
- Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen, 1578.
- Chinese Pharmacopoeia, current edition — identity, quality and safety monographs.
- NCCIH and WHO reference material on traditional medicine safety.
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