Laboratory for identification of animal and mineral Chinese medicines
The purpose of this experiment is to master the traits and identification characteristics of the herbs, such as stone diamine, pearl, dillon, earthworm, money white snake, cuttlebone, natural copper, ochre, andrographis, talc, gypsum, keel bone, etc.; to master the pearl, cinnabar powder microscopic, physicochemical characteristics, and understanding of commonly used medicinal herbs, so as to do to see the drug well-known.
Operation method
microscopic observation
Materials and Instruments
Pharmaceuticals Move 1. Points to note for the identification of herbs For more product details, please visit Aladdin Scientific website.
Glycerin Acetic acid Hydrochloric acid
Laboratory equipment for microscopic identification Ultraviolet light lamp Biological microscope Alcohol lamp Copper plate Glass plate
(1) Cassia
Miscellaneous abalone: the shell is long ovoid, slightly auriculate in internal view, with dark red surface, most irregular conchoidal ribs and fine growth lines, the spiral part is small, the body conchoidal part is large, there are more than 30 warty protrusions from the top of the spiral part to the right, and there are 6-9 openings at the end, the apertures are flat with the surface of the shell. Inner surface smooth, with pearl-like color luster. The shell is thick, hard and unbreakable.
Ruffled abalone: the shell is long oval, gray-brown surface, with most rough and irregular wrinkles, with obvious growth lines, often with mosses or lime worms adhering to the shell. The warty protuberances have 4-5 openings at the end, the mouth of which is protruding from the shell surface, and the shell is thin.
Lamb's whelk: shell suborbicular, shell apex near the middle and higher than the shell surface, spiral part and body spiral part each occupying 1/2 of the shell surface, 2 rows of neat protuberances from the edge of the spiral part, especially the upper part is more obvious, with 4-5 openings at the end, tubular in shape.
Australian abalone: the shell is flattened ovoid, surface brick-red, the spiral part is about 1/2 of the shell surface, the conch ribs and growth lines are undulating, there are more than 30 verrucas, the end has 7-9 openings, the apertures are protruding from the shell surface.
Earwigs: the shell is long and narrow, slightly twisted, auriculate, with smooth surface, mottled with various colors such as emerald green, purple and brown, the spiral part is small, the body conchoidal part is large, the tartaric projections have 5-7 openings at the end, and the apertures are flat with the shell.
White abalone: shells ovoid, surface brick-red, smooth, top of shell higher than shell surface, growth line quite obvious, spiral part about equal to the surface of shell, more than 30 tartaric projections, 9 open pores at the end of tartaric projections, aperture level with the shell.
(2) Pearl
Spherical, ovoid, oblong or rod-shaped, surface white, light pink, light yellowish green or light blue, translucent, smooth or slightly convex, with the characteristic color luster. The texture is hard, the broken surface shows layer pattern.
(3) Dilong
Dillon: Long, thin, curved, slightly curled edges. All segments, dorsal brown to purplish gray; 14th to 16th segments are the genital band, customarily called "white neck", shiny. Anterior end of body slightly pointed, caudal end obtusely rounded, bristle ring rough and hard, slightly lighter in color. Body light, slightly leathery, not easily broken. Fishy, slightly salty taste.
Hudilon: All segments, dorsal brown to yellowish brown, abdominal light yellowish brown. The 14th to 16th segments are the genital bands, which are shiny.
(4) Turtle Worm
Ground soft-shelled turtle: flattened ovoid, head narrower, tail wider, dorsal surface purplish brown, shiny. The dorsal surface has three thoracic dorsal plates, the prothoracic dorsal plate is more developed and covers the head; the ventral dorsal plate has nine segments and is arranged in a compound tile-like pattern. Ventral surface reddish brown, head small, with 1 pair of filamentous antennae, often falling off. Thorax with 3 pairs of legs, commodities mostly detached, abdomen with transverse links. Abdomen with transverse links.
Jidi soft-shelled turtle: long oval, dorsal surface black-brown, usually with light yellow-brown patches and black dots at the edge.
(5) Ginkgo biloba
Disc-shaped, head in the center, tail thin, often in the mouth. Dorsum black or black-brown, glossy, with 45 to 58 white annuli, black and white, and a prominent raised ridge. The ridge scales are large and hexagonal. Dorsal scales fine and dense, 15 rows throughout the body, subcaudal scales in a single row.
(6) Cuttlebone
Cuttlebone (also known as soft cuttlebone): short semicylindrical or semicircular, composed of numerous thin membranous layers. Surface light yellowish brown, upper elevated band inconspicuous, bottom surface flat or grooved. Body short, loose and tough, cross-section shows spongy outer layer, inner layer consists of many radially arranged chambers, each with a tiny oval egg, dark brown, glossy.
Long cuttlebone (also called hard cuttlebone): long, thin at one end, grayish-yellow surface, with a band-like elevation on the top, a dark brown shallow groove and oblique texture on each side of the band, and a flat or concave bottom surface. Hard and brittle.
Black cuttlebone: slightly parallelogram-shaped, dark brown or purplish brown surface, with a band-like elevation on the upper side, oblique texture on each side, slightly upward near the tail end. Hard and tough.
(7) Natural Copper
Mostly square or fragmented, bright yellow surface, metallic luster, some show brown. Cube adjacent to the crystal surface of the stripes perpendicular to each other, stripes brownish red or greenish black. Weight, hard and brittle, easy to smash, yellow-white section, metallic luster or brown, silver-white bright stars.
(8) Ochre
Mostly irregular flat block, dark red or gray-black, streaks of cherry red or reddish brown, some have a metallic luster. On one side there is a rounded nipple-shaped "nail head", and on the other side there is a concave fossa of the same size corresponding to the protuberance. Body weight hard, not easy to smash, when smashed the cross-section shows laminated.
(9) Xionghuang
Massive or granular aggregates, irregularly massive. Deep red or orange-red, streaks light orange-red, crystal surface with diamond-like luster. Brittle, fragile, broken with resin-like luster. Slightly peculiar odor.
(10) Talc
Flat, rhomboid or irregular block, white, yellowish white or bluish gray. Streaks white, wax-like luster. Soft and delicate texture, hand feel slippery, no hygroscopicity, in the water does not fall apart. Slight gas, odorless.
(11) Gypsum
Fibrous aggregate, long block, plate or irregular block, white, grayish white or light yellow. Streaks white, some translucent. Weight, soft texture, can be broken by hand twisting. Longitudinal section with silky luster, and visible fiber texture. The longitudinal section has silky luster, and the fiber texture can be seen.
(12) Dragon Bone
Skeletal or broken irregular block, white, gray or light brown surface, mostly smooth, some with longitudinal fissures or brown stripes and spots. Hard, unbreakable, uneven section, some hollow, strong hygroscopicity, licking the sticky tongue. Odorless and tasteless.
Five-flower keel: irregular block, grayish white or yellowish brown, with red, white, yellow, blue, brown, black or different shades of texture. The surface is smooth and slightly glossy. Hard, crisp, easy to flake off, strong moisture absorption, licking the sticky tongue. Odorless and tasteless.
2. Microscopic and Physicochemical Identification
(1) Pearl powder
(1) pearl powder, white, with glycerol acetic acid test solution mounted tablets for microscopic examination, is irregularly shaped, elongated or orbicular pieces, colorless, a few light yellowish brown or cherry red, the edge of the color is darker, semi-transparent, glossy. The surface is granular, with several to several dozens of thin layers overlapping, the lamellar structure is closely arranged, and dense layered lines or very fine microwave-like texture can be seen, with cracks on the surface in some cases.
② Take a pearl, put it under the ultraviolet light (365 nm), there is light blue-purple or bright yellow-green fluorescence, and the peripheral part is brighter.
③ Take a pearl and drop it on the glass plate from a height of 60 cm and observe the bouncing height: 15-25 cm for marine natural pearls and 5-10 cm for freshwater pearls.
④ Burn the pearl with fire and the surface will turn black, with bursting sound, and form layers of peeling silver-gray flakes.
(2) Cinnabar powder
Take cinnabar fine powder, moistened with hydrochloric acid, placed on a polished copper rubbed, the surface of the copper was silver-white luster, heating and baking, silver-white that is disappeared.