Witnessed by: TCM
White lead (basic lead carbonate) (Hydrocerussite), of the carbonate mineral family. A dense, heavy, opaque white powder, or the colourless platy crystals of the natural mineral; native range: a secondary mineral in the oxidised zone of lead deposits; the article is made — corroding sheet lead over vinegar in dung or tan, the Dutch process that has made ceruse since antiquity. Globally recognized as 胡粉 hu fen, 鉛粉 qian fen in Chinese, and white lead, ceruse, flake white in English. The part used is the powder. A dead, opaque, covering white, heavy in the hand and impalpable between the fingers; nearly tasteless with a faint sweetishness, and darkening to grey or black in foul air.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
WHITE LEAD
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- white lead (basic lead carbonate)
- Scientific name
- Hydrocerussite (basic lead carbonate, 2PbCO₃·Pb(OH)₂)
- Family
- carbonate mineral
Form
- Part used
- the powder
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet · pungent
Temperature
- TCM
- cold (toxic)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- kills parasites and resolves toxicity, dries damp and stops itching, disperses accumulation — applied to the surface
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy, lactation and children absolutely; never internally; never on broken skin or over large areas; never for long
- Toxicity
- a lead salt and a cumulative poison. Absorbed through raw and broken skin as well as from the gut, it causes colic, anaemia, wrist-drop and the neuropathies, renal damage and, in children, irreversible injury to the developing brain. Its history as a cosmetic and a pigment is a history of poisoning; the internal use recorded in the classical texts is not to be revived.
- Sourcing status
- legally-restricted
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