炮炙“火候”考略

The duration and amount of fire （ huo hou ） in drug processing

炮炙中与火力类型、火力控制有关的术语，如文火、武火、文武火，以及马通红、糠火、苇荻火、桑柴火、炭火等，都有其特定的内涵，这些术语在炮炙文献中有诸多的实例，炮炙与炼丹术关系密切，其中火力控制方法多数由丹经借鉴。丹经及炮炙著作涉及火候的表述，往往因师承授受不同，其内涵亦存在差异。

The unique connotations for the special terms such as slow fire （ wen huo ）, strong fire （ wu huo ）, moderate fire （ wen wu huo）, ma tong fire, husk fire （ kang huo）, reed fire （lu di huo）, mulberry fire （ sang cai huo） and charcoal fire （ tan huo ）. are investigated. There are many practical examples of these terms in related literature. The drug process is related to the alchemy in Taoism. The methods of fire control in drug processing are mostly from the literature on Alchemy （ dan jing ）. The expression of these special terms and their connotations are different in various literature, because of their different traditions.