🌿 Folk Prescriptions

In China’s medical history, the idea of “immunity” existed very early—the method known as “using poison to counteract poison.” The oldest Chinese medical text, *The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon*, mentions that treatment must use “toxic drugs,” as medicines without toxicity cannot cure diseases. Interestingly, the first person to put this immunological concept into practice and conduct pioneering research in immunology was Ge Hong, a Daoist alchemist devoted to elixir-making.
Ge Hong, styled Zhi Chuan, also known as Pu Zi, loved reading medical and alchemical texts from childhood. As he grew older, while deeply engrossed in alchemy, he also dedicated himself to studying medicine and became a famous physician in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. People often sought him out for urgent or severe illnesses.
One day, a farmer in his forties rushed to Ge Hong’s home, anxious: “My only son was bitten by a rabid dog—please help save his life.” Ge Hong felt great concern, knowing that human bites from rabid dogs cause extreme suffering and are highly sensitive to stimuli—even light or sound can trigger convulsions and agitation, especially fear of water. Hearing, speaking about, or seeing water causes immediate throat spasms. Death can occur within hours. Ge Hong searched through countless prescriptions but found none effective. Suddenly, he recalled the ancient principle of “using poison to counteract poison”—why not try using toxins from the rabid dog itself? He told the farmer: “There’s no other good solution now. I’ll apply the brain marrow of the rabid dog to your son’s wound—perhaps it will save him.”
The farmer returned home and followed the advice. To his surprise, the patient did not fall ill. Since then, Ge Hong used this method to treat many others bitten by rabid dogs, with promising results.
Modern medical science confirms that once bitten by a rabid animal, the rabies virus enters the body through wounds. Due to its strong affinity for nervous tissue, it triggers rabies. The brain and saliva of rabid dogs contain large amounts of the virus. French biologist Louis Pasteur later isolated the rabies virus from canine brain tissue, cultivated it, and developed a vaccine to prevent and treat rabies. Clearly, Pasteur’s method is fundamentally similar to Ge Hong’s approach, though far more scientific. However, historically, Pasteur’s invention came over 1,000 years after Ge Hong’s.