What kind of animal does musk actually come from?
Musk is also known as cunxiang, yuanxun, chouzi and so on. The dried substance is granular or lumpy, with a special aroma. It can be made into perfume and can also be used as medicine. It is listed as a top-grade drug in the “Shennong Bencao Jing”, and has effects such as opening the orifices and restoring consciousness, activating blood and unblocking menstruation, reducing swelling and relieving pain, but it is not suitable for pregnant women. Let us take a look below at what animal musk comes from!
What animal does musk come from?
Musk is the dried secretion from the scent gland of the male forest musk deer, alpine musk deer or Siberian musk deer of the deer family. Usually a male musk deer begins to secrete musk at two years of age, and around 10 years of age is the best secretion period, with each musk deer able to secrete about 50 grams. After the scent gland is dried, the musk taken out by cutting open the scent gland is a dark brown granular substance; high-quality musk sometimes also precipitates white crystals; in solid form it has a strong foul odor, and after being highly diluted with water or alcohol it has a unique animal aroma.
Where is musk produced?
Musk is a precious medicinal material unique to China. It is mainly produced in the Himalayas, Daxue Mountains, Shaluli Mountains, Ningjing Mountains, Que'er Mountains and other places in the Tibet Autonomous Region. In addition, it is also produced in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, Li County, Songpan and Maowen Qiang Autonomous County in Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the Hengduan Mountains, Dayao Mountains and Damiao Mountains in Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi, the Qilian Mountains, Minshan Mountains, Qinling Mountains and Helan Mountains in Gansu and Shaanxi, the Dabie Mountains, Qianshan and Huoshan in Anhui and Hubei, the Yinshan Mountains in Inner Mongolia, the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains and Changbai Mountains in Northeast China, and Funiu Mountain in Henan and other forested mountainous areas. The Kang-Tibet Plateau and the Aba grassland in Sichuan are the main producing areas of Chinese musk, which is sold nationwide and exported.
The effects and functions of musk
1. Opening the orifices and restoring consciousness: Musk can be used to treat loss of consciousness due to block syndrome. Because musk is pungent, aromatic and dispersing in action, it is effective for loss of consciousness due to block syndrome caused by various reasons, such as treating heat block and loss of consciousness.
2. Activating blood and relieving pain: Musk can be used to treat various pains due to blood stasis, such as blood stasis amenorrhea, sudden heart and abdominal pain, and traumatic injuries. It can also be used to treat sores and swellings, sore and swollen throat, and rheumatic arthralgia.
3. Unblocking menstruation and resolving stasis: Musk is pungent and aromatic, opens and disperses, can move stagnation in the blood, open obstruction of the meridians, and unblock menstruation, dissipate nodules and relieve pain once a week, with 2 weeks as one course of treatment, and the therapeutic effect is very satisfactory.
4. Promoting labor and expelling the fetus: Musk activates blood and unblocks menstruation, and has the effect of promoting labor and expelling the fetus. It is often made into a powder with cinnamon, such as Xianggui Powder in “Zhang's Medical Comprehensions”. There are also uses of musk together with pig's tooth soap and trichosanthes root, made into pills with scallion juice.