Abstract

A total of 93 mineral medicines are mentioned in the Chinese Bonchodogam(本草圖鑑). In Donguibogam(東醫寶鑑), 77 mineral medicines are listed, where 18 are from soil origin, 4 from gem origin, and 55 mineral medicines were originated from stone. In the Herblogy(本草學), which is the textbook used in most oriental medicine colleges in Korea, a total of 23 mineral medicines are listed. Of those, Cinnabaris, Alumen, Melanteritum, Realgar, Orpimentum, Sulfur, Lime from Donguibogam, additional eight which are Talcum, Calomelas, Minium, Calamina, Stannum, Hydrargyrum, Lithargyrum, Hydrargyrum Chloratum from Bonchodogam and Gypsum, Natrii Sulfas, Talcum, Cinnabaris, Sulfur, Arsenicum Sublimatum, Realgar, Calomelas, Minium, Calamina, Borax, Aurum, Glauberitum from Herblogy were selected as the mineral medicine applicable as external atopic dermatitis treatment. Most of the mineral medicines were generally regarded as toxic materials, and therefore, they were elaborately processed to remove toxicity before use. In accordance, it is necessary to discuss how to effectively remove toxicity from toxic mineral medicines. In addition, detoxification can be applied to those mineral medicines classified based on the index material or high content compounds, and if efficacy can be evaluated through various analytical methods, this can be applied to diverse inflammatory diseases as well as atopic dermatitis.

Keywords mineral medicine, mineral medicine for external use, dermatitis, Bonchodogam(本草圖鑑), Donguibogam(東醫寶鑑)