Ink and brush drawing from a handwritten copy of the anonymous text Dingchuang yaojue (Essential Art of Boils), executed in 1874 (13th year of the Tongzhi reign period of the Qing dynasty). It indicates the disease location for Snake-coil boils (panshe ding). These occur between the neck and nape area. As with scrofula, the lesions form a chain, like a string of beads. The disease is said to be caused by malignities and poisons (xiedu) collecting in the shaoyang channel. The preferred therapy is needling and opening (tiaoci) in the angle of the Tiger's Mouth (hukou) - the area between the thumb and the index finger); and internal treatment with Purgative Blue/Green Pills (xie qingwan), White Purging Powder (xie baisan ), Minor Bupleurum Decoction (xiao chaihu tang), Poison-Clearing decoction of chuanlian (i.e. huanglian, Chinese goldthread, rhizome coptidis), etc.
