Objective To summarize the basic characteristics of fecal class Chinese medicines in modern clinical practice

and to find out the application of them in ancient prescriptions. Methods Taking "feces"（ Chinese: 粪便; pinyin: fènbiàn） and "Chinese medicines"（ Chinese: 中药; pinyin: zhōngyào）as the keywords

we searched CNKI

Wangfang

CQVIP and CBM databases of relevant articles published since the time of establishment. Then the fecal class Chinese medicines were screened. What we obtained were where the official names came from

what their alternative names were at different times

which creatures they were excreted from

what property and flavor

meridian tropism

efficacy and indications they had. Furthermore

we searched the ancient prescriptions involving fecal class Chinese medicines using the database platform of Dictionary of Chinese Medicine Prescriptions

institute of Chinese Materia Medical of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences to get the common compatibility and potential rules of clinical application. Results Total eleven fecal class Chinese were common used in modern clinical practice

which were recorded in various monographs of Chinese medicine by numerous names

and were excreted from birds

mammals and worm. The nature of the medicines were hot or cold;the flavor coved sour

bitter

sweet

bitter

salty; the meridian tropism lied in meridian of liver（ gall bladder）

heart（ cardiac）

spleen（ stomach）

lung（ intestine） and kidney（ bladder）; the various effects were listed as the following: resolving superficies

clearing heat

dispelling pathogenic wind and removing dampness

resolving stagnation

expelling blood stasisfor removing obstruction in collaterals

removing phlegm

relieving cough

calming endogenous wind

inducing resuscitation

removing toxicity

destroying parasites

relieve itching

eliminating necrotic tissues and promoting granulation. In addition

we extracted relevant 1 550 relevant prescriptions containing the eleven medicines which had the internal pharmaceutical compatibility and association rules. Conclusion The application of fecal class Chinese medicines has a long history. The further study and innovating application will be much of value of research and application in the intestinal microecology and the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases.