Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, said, “Whenever a medicine is taken, although the product is specialized and the treatment is as good as the method, the decoction is reckless, the water and fire are bad, and the fire is out of order, then the medicine is also useless”. Therefore, in order to maximize the therapeutic effect of herbal tonics, we must master the correct decoction method. The reason for decocting raw gypsum first is mentioned in various textbooks of Traditional Chinese Medicine: “Ore drugs are difficult to decoct because of their hard texture, so they should be broken up and decocted first in order to “precipitate the active ingredients”. “In the 1950s, Mr. Shi Yiren suggested that “gypsum is heavy …… and can be decocted with more water for a long time before the active ingredients can be partially dissolved”. Since then advocates of gypsum first decoction are the same as this statement. The reasoning of Chinese medicine is based on the theory of yin and yang, in the four gases, in the five flavors, in the lift and sink. A few ancient medical texts believe that the meaning of decocting gypsum first is that “it is difficult to get out of the light taste”. It is difficult to decoct gypsum because it is light in taste and dense in quality. However, light taste should be doubled, dense quality should be fine research, gypsum dense quality need to fine research for the end, if not research fine into the drug, long decoction can not be out; taste light decoction will lose its taste, the use of drugs, or to take its gas, or to take its taste, or to take its heavy and town, or to take its light and Yang. Decoction of both long can make the raw gypsum pungent taste dispersion, cold gas, weakening of the drug is not useful. In ancient times, among the famous medical sages, the one who made good use of gypsum was Zhong Jing. The “Treatise on Typhoid” and “The Essentials of the Golden Horoscope” contain a total of 17 formulas containing gypsum, i.e., yue mu tang, gui zhi di yue mu yi tang, yue mu plus hemi xia tang, yue mu plus jiao tang, mah xing shi gan tang, bai hu tang, bai hu plus ginseng tang, bai hu plus gui zhi tang, bamboo leaf gypsum tang, xiao qing long plus gypsum tang, dai qing long tang, feng yi tang, thick park and ephedra tang, mu fang ji tang, wen clam tang, hemp huang sheng mang tang, bamboo skin large pill, to gypsum into the soup There are generally three types of methods for decocting the formulae. First, gypsum is combined with Zhi Mu and japonica rice, and all the medicines are boiled together, and the rice is cooked and the soup is ready, Bai Hu Tang is its representative formula; second, gypsum is combined with ephedra, and most of them are boiled first, then gypsum and all the medicines are boiled and taken in warmth, Da Qing Long Tang and Yue Mui Tang are its representative formula; third, gypsum is boiled together with other medicines, or boiled together as a powder and taken in warmth, Mu Fang Ji Tang and Feng Yin Tang are its representative formula. Some formulas did not even use long decoction, such as Bai Hu Tang, in which gypsum was decocted with round-grained rice, and the soup was made when the rice was cooked. According to today’s time, “rice cooked” is at most 3O minutes. The effectiveness of Bai Hu Tang in clearing heat is highly praised by ancient and modern famous doctors, and clinical cases have confirmed that gypsum has good effect in clearing heat without first decoction. Zhang Xichun, a famous doctor in the late Qing Dynasty, is a representative figure of gypsum in modern times, whose formula includes gypsum, either decocted with other medicines or rolled into a fine powder and taken without first decoction. The “Medical Record” emphasizes “rolling fine”. It is very reasonable to say that “if a stony medicine is not finely rolled, it cannot be decocted”. It is possible that because of the emphasis on fine decoction, it is not required to decoct first or for a long time, and sometimes only “decoct for two or three boils”. In Kan-Li Huan-Gen Tang, it is even decocted with thatch root first, then gypsum and other medicines, which is really different. In modern Chinese medicine, Pu Fu-chou used to decoct gypsum to reduce high fever, but after looking at his medical cases, he did not see any prescription of decocting gypsum first. The textbook of higher medical school “Formulary” (5th edition) contains 22 formulas containing gypsum, 20 of which are decocted with other medicines. In addition to Zhongjing’s formula, there are Wang To’s gypsum soup in Tang Dynasty, Qian Yi’s diarrhea Huang San in Song Dynasty, Liu Wansu’s Da Gentiana Tang in Jin Dynasty, Zhang Jingyue’s Yu Nui Decoction in Ming Dynasty, Chen Shigong’s Dissipation of Wind, and Wu Jutong’s Hepatitis Tang in Qing Dynasty. There is no objection to the decoction with gypsum, which should not be a coincidence. Therefore, from the experience of medical practitioners in the past generations, it is only the opinion of very few medical practitioners that raw gypsum needs to be decocted first for internal use. Therefore, it is not necessary to first decoct raw gypsum in medicine.