ABSTRACT
The herbal drugs of the Chinese materia medica are seldom prescribed in isolation. They are almost always combined into formulae consisting of from four to twenty or more drugs in quantities specified by weight. The use of the treatment methods (zhifa) as classificatory guidelines for the selection and use of formulae provides a powerful way of linking the various conceptual resources of bianzheng lunzhi to the use of drugs in concrete interventions. In general, the combining principles of formulae are a component of Chinese medical syndrome differentiation and therapy deployment; they are a concrete utilization of the "theory, methods, formulae, and drugs" of Chinese medicine. After drugs have been subjected to certain principles of combining them in composing a formula, they can realize each other through mutual assistance, thereby elevating effectiveness, or they can realize each other through mutual opposition, thereby regulating dominance and bias, controlling toxicity, and moderating or reducing undesirable responses.
