Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda
Ox gallstone (Bos taurus), of the Bovidae (Mammalia) family. Domestic cattle; the drug is the concretion formed in the gall bladder or bile ducts; native range: gathered wherever cattle are slaughtered; a rare find in any one beast, so long carried far and dearly bought. Globally recognized as niu huang (牛黃) in Chinese, gorocana in Sanskrit, gorochan in Hindi, and ox gallstone, ox bezoar in English. The part used is the dried biliary concretion (gallstone). Light golden-brown to orange-yellow ovoid stones, light in the hand and friable, breaking to fine concentric layers, bitter then oddly sweet and cooling on the tongue, staining a wetted nail yellow.
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.
OX GALLSTONE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- ox gallstone
- Scientific name
- Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758
- Family
- Bovidae (Mammalia)
Form
- Part used
- the dried biliary concretion (gallstone)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter (苦) · sweet (甘)
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · sweet (madhura)
Temperature
- TCM
- cool (涼)
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Heart · Liver
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- clears heat and resolves toxicity, extinguishes wind and stops spasms, dissolves phlegm and opens the orifices
- Ayurveda
- medhya (mind-clearing), vishaghna (antitoxic), jvaraghna (fever-quelling), and a cooling tonic to the heart
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy; cold and deficient patterns without heat
- Toxicity
- low toxicity at the small doses used; the market is heavily adulterated, and identity is the practical caution
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