Strychni Semen (Strychnos nux-vomica L. — the dried ripe seed)
Nature and flavour. Bitter, cold; classed as strongly toxic. Liver and Spleen systems.
The seed of a tree native to South and Southeast Asia, and the plant source of strychnine. Classical texts describe it as dispersing swelling, dissipating nodulation and relieving pain, and record it for traumatic injury and bruising, for sores and swellings, for the wind-damp type of painful obstruction, and for the numbness and weakness left after stroke in the traditional account. Those recorded uses sit alongside a fact that cannot be set aside: the seed carries strychnine and brucine, strychnine is a convulsant, and the gap between an amount that does anything at all and an amount that convulses is narrow — narrow enough that the classical sources themselves already required processing before use. The traditional processing is a manufacturing step carried out to a specification, and what it does is lower the alkaloid content; it does not turn the seed into something safe. Nux vomica is also a familiar name in homeopathy, where preparations are diluted far past the point at which any strychnine can be measured. That is a different article from the crude seed, and the two should not be confused.
性味归经。苦，寒；有大毒。归肝、脾经。
一味原产南亚与东南亚的树籽，也是士的宁（番木鳖碱）的植物来源。古籍记载散结消肿、通络止痛，用于跌打损伤、瘀肿疼痛、痈肿疮毒、风湿顽痹，以及传统所论中风后的麻木偏废。这些记载用途旁边摆着一个无法回避的事实：种子含士的宁与马钱子碱，士的宁是致惊厥物质，而「起作用的分量」与「致抽搐的分量」之间的余量很窄 —— 窄到古籍本身就已经要求炮制后用。传统炮制是按规范执行的生产环节，其作用是降低生物碱含量，并不能把种子变成安全的东西。马钱子在顺势疗法中也是一个常见药名，其制剂稀释到检测不出士的宁的程度。那是与生药完全不同的另一件物品，两者不应混淆。
文献列为有大毒；本页故意不写任何内服份量，因为不存在可以自行掌握的安全量。士的宁中毒始于口苦、烦躁、易惊与肌肉抽动，进而发展为他觉清醒状态下的强直性惊厥 —— 抽搐可被光线、声响或触碰诱发；死因是呼吸衰竭或衰竭。没有家用解毒办法 —— 可疑接触属于急症，应联系中毒救治机构或急诊，而不是等待观察。传统实际所用的是炮制品，而炮制不是家庭能完成的：锅里炒或油炸不是同一个操作，生物碱仍然留在里面。孕期与哺乳期、儿童、癫痫患者、肝肾病患者一律不得使用。绝不可靠近食物、饮水或儿童能拿到的地方，也不要反复徒手接触生药。