Minium (lead tetroxide, Pb3O4), also named 黄丹 or 朱丹
Nature and flavour. Acrid, slightly cold; classed as toxic. Heart and Liver systems in the classical account, with some sources adding the Spleen.
Lead oxide made by heating lead in air — a bright red-orange powder that has had at least three careers: pigment, plaster base, and medicine. In the materia medica it is described as drawing out toxin and engendering flesh, and it is recorded externally for sores, ulcers and weeping skin complaints; internally it is recorded for settling convulsions and driving phlegm down. The internal use belongs entirely to the historical record. Its largest traditional role is probably as a plaster: lead oxide boiled with oil makes the lead soap that sets into a firm, self-adhesive plaster, the 铅硬膏 of the traditional repertoire, which is the same chemistry as the diachylon plaster of Western pharmacy. As a pigment it is red lead, used in paints and primers and, for centuries, in cosmetics. Every one of those uses has the same problem, and it is not a subtle one: lead is not safe at any level that has been measured, and the uses that put it on skin or near the mouth are the uses that expose people.
性味归经。辛，微寒；有毒。归心、肝经（通行说法，部分本草加脾经）。
铅在空气中加热所得的氧化物 —— 一种明亮的橙红色粉末，它至少有过三种履历：颜料、膏药基质、药物。本草记载拔毒生肌，外用治疮疡、溃疡与渗液性皮肤病；内服记载坠痰镇惊。内服用途完全属于历史记载。它最大的传统角色大概还是膏药：铅的氧化物与油共煮生成铅皂，凝固成有黏性的硬膏，即传统膏药中的铅硬膏，其化学与西方药学的 diachylon 硬膏相同。作为颜料它是红丹，用于油漆与防锈底漆，数百年来也用于化妆品。这些用途有一个共同问题，而且毫不隐晦：在已测定的任何水平上铅都不安全，而把它敷在皮肤上或送近口边的用法，正是使人暴露的用法。
铅；在已测定的任何暴露水平上，铅都没有被确认的安全值 —— 这是公共卫生机构当前的一致立场，此处不加任何限定地写明。铅蓄积于骨，并在数年间不断释放；它可穿过胎盘、进入母乳。对儿童损害神经发育，且停止暴露后损害并不逆转；对成人引起贫血、腹绞痛、腕下垂等周围神经病变、肾病、高血压与生殖损害。因传统制剂（包括敷于皮肤的膏药与散剂）导致的铅中毒，已在许多国家的病例报告中记录，属于反复出现而并非罕见的发现。任何情况下都不得内服。也不作自用：不宜用于破损皮肤、大面积或反复使用，且须完全远离儿童。孕期与哺乳期避免使用。存在暴露可能时，血铅检测是对应的检查，值得明确提出来做。