The form of a prescription is closely related to its action the same ingredients and doses, different forms of a prescription have different actions and indications. Generally speaking, decoction is of quick and drastic effect and pill or bolus of slow action and lasting effect. They can be selected clinically as needed. For instance, Lizhong Wan and Renshen Tang are made up of the same ingredients with same doses. The former is fine particles made into honeyed bolus, used to treat deficiency-cold syndrome of the spleen and stomach marked by stomachache, epigastric and abdominal pain, poor appetite and loose stool in mild and chronic state. The latter is boiled with water to be taken orally, used for deficiency-cold syndrome of the upper and middle energizers marked by oppressed and stuffy sensation in the chest, upward adverse flow of qi from the hypochondria, suitable for an acute or a serious case.

To sum up, the modification of either the ingredients, or the dosage, or the forms will exert an effect to different extent on the action of the prescriptions. In particular, modification of the main ingredients and the dosage often changes the compatibility of the monarch and minister drugs in the original prescription so that radical changes take place in terms of the actions and indications. The above three modifications of an established prescription can be applied separately or simultaneously.

Clinically it depends on the concrete conditions of the patients. What should be noted is to modify a prescription with a mastery of the compatible relationship between the monarch, minister, adjuvant and guiding drugs. Only in this way can the established principle be followed flexibly, modification is also made time and again.