[Examining Xue Gao (Ice-cream) in One Hundred Questions for Pediatrics]

The pills for infantile indigestion (Xiao Ru Wan) in One Hundred Questions for Pediatrics (Ying Tong Bai Wen) is one of the commonly used classic formulas in pediatrics for infantile indigestion. It was described "like ice-cream (Xue Gao) as small as a millet after it was soaked to feed infants". Xue Gao (Ice-cream) here was unclear in terms of meaning and usage. Based on the literature and archives, Xue Gao (Ice-cream) was a common cake made of steamed glutinous rice powder and rice flour in the Song Dynasty. It looked like snow in light weight. It was often processed as drugs in traditional Chinese medicine, named as White Cake or Snow Cake (Xue Gao). Additionally, the usage of 'millet soaked to feed infants' was similar with the usage of 'steamed cake made of flour'. They were processed as pills and were soaked to feed infants. In this sense, it was inferred that Xue Gao was air-dried steamed millet for some years. Xue Gao, processed as pills, had the following features. It was often taken as excipient in drugs because it was made of sticky rice. Additionally, it had the effect of tonifying middle-Jiao and Qi (invigorating spleen-stomach and replenishing Qi) for its ingredients - sticky rice and polished round-grained rice. Moreover, Xue Gao was easy to reserve after it was air-dried. More importantly, it can help soften untoward effect of other drugs and minimise gastrointestinal irritation when it was used with other medicine.