编辑同志:麦门冬简称麦冬,是最常用的中药之一。习惯上多抽去它的心(即中心柱)然后使用。但在一般规模较小的药店里,这种去心的加工操作,只是浸润后,放在口中,用牙齿把它咬出来。我们认为如果药工的口腔里含有病菌,服用时若不经煎煮而只是浸渍,便可以传染,这样就有碍卫生;况且用牙齿咬时,常易带下一些表皮及皮层,积累起来也有不少损耗,以致成本加大;同时,因麦冬的中心柱坚韧,时间长了也往往损害药工的牙齿,且可能因浸泡不洁使药工增加了传染疾病的机会。因此,我们建议有关部门研究麦门冬的抽心问题,如能制出小型抽心工具用来代替这种 Editorial comrades: Maimen, short for Ophiopogon japonicus, is one of the most commonly used Chinese medicines. It is customary to pump out its heart (ie the center column) and use it. But in a small-scale pharmacy, this kind of processing to the heart is only infiltrated, put in the mouth, and bite it out with teeth. We believe that if a pharmacist’s mouth contains germs, he may be infected if he is not decocted and dipping when taking it. This will impede hygiene; in addition, when biting with teeth, it is easy to bring some epidermis and cortex together and it will accumulate. Many losses lead to increased costs; at the same time, because of the toughness of the center column of Ophiopogon, the long time also tends to damage the teeth of drug workers, and may cause the drug workers to increase the chance of infectious diseases due to impregnation. Therefore, we suggest that the relevant authorities study the problem of the heart of Maimendong, if they can make a small heart-punching tool to replace this.