In this all-encompassing pharmacy, poisons loomed large. Tis might seem surprising given that today Chinese herbal remedies are widely imag-ined to be natural, mild, and safe, especially in comparison with the synthetic drugs of modern biomedicine, which are ofen perceived as artifcial, exceed-ingly strong, and with therapeutic efects inseparable from dangerous side efects. Another familiar dichotomy contrasts the holistic approach of Chi-nese healing that seeks to restore the harmony of the body with the reduction-ist methods of biomedicine that eradicate specifc diseases.5 Neither of these perceptions survives scrutiny: Chinese pharmacy has, over its long history, featured a rich miscellany of medicinal therapies that target diverse disorders. Tere were certainly mild treatments, such as food therapy, that aimed to balance the body and recover its resonance with the cosmos.6 Equally impor-tant but less examined is the tradition of harnessing toxic drugs that would forcefully destroy or expel pathogenic entities. In fact, Chinese doctors regu-larly relied on substances that they themselves recognized as possessing du.