? Pills-that is, "pills"-are prepared by grinding drugs into fine powder, adding appropriate binder, and making into round pills. Its size is large and small, as big as a marble, such as Jin Shu Huoluo Pill for treating rheumatic pain; Small ones like mung beans, such as Baohe pills, are used for digestion; As small as sesame seeds, such as Liushen Pill with sore throat.

Pills are usually taken orally. Some chronic diseases need to be decocted for a long time, which is inconvenient to decoct every day; Take the medicine and take it with boiling water. Or some drugs are toxic and should not be decocted; There are still some acute diseases that need to be rescued in time. According to these special conditions, it can be made into various pills, which are convenient to take and carry and have lasting effects. Commonly used pills are honey pills, water pills, ointment pills, concentrated pills and so on.

Powder-"powder" is to grind the medicine into powder and mix it with it to make powder preparation. There are two kinds of it: oral and external. In the aspect of oral administration, it has the advantages of convenient administration, quick absorption, good curative effect and saving valuable medicinal materials, especially for aromatic drugs such as musk and borneol, which are not suitable for decoction. Oral powder can be divided into fine powder and coarse powder, and the fine powder can be taken directly, such as Qilisan; Coarse powder can be boiled to get juice, such as Yinqiao powder.

External use, mostly for sores, eczema or burns. It can be mixed with sore surface, or smeared to eliminate sore or expel toxin and promote granulation, such as Huangjin Powder and Shengji Powder. The medicine can directly contact the affected part, strengthen absorption and improve the curative effect.

Ointment-"Ointment" is made by decocting drugs with water or vegetable oil to remove residues, and it can also be divided into oral and external use. There are three kinds of oral ointments: fluid extract, extract and decoction. Its advantage is that it is easy to store and take, and it is generally made of tonics, so it is mostly suitable for patients with chronic diseases who are weak or need long-term treatment.