Chapter 35 Section 2 Li Shizhen and "Compendium of Materia Medica"

It is a masterpiece of Materia Medica written by Li Shizhen, an outstanding medical scientist and naturalist in the Ming Dynasty, with his whole life and 27 years of hard work.This book systematically summarizes the experience of pharmacology in my country before the 16th century, and played a major role in the development of pharmacology in later generations.It is a precious heritage of ancient pharmacology and biology in my country. Li Shizhen (AD 1518-1593), courtesy name Dongbi, was born in Qizhou (now Qichun County), Hubei.Born in a medical family, both grandfather and father were doctors.Influenced by medical knowledge since he was a child, he loves to study biology, and set up a volunteer to cure diseases and save lives. At the age of 14, he was admitted as a scholar, but at the age of 17, 20, and 23, he took the provincial examination three times and failed to pass the examination. He decided to give up the imperial examination and concentrate on studying medicine. He studied hard for 10 years with Gu Riyan as his teacher. Heal people. At the age of 34, he was hired as a shrine by the Chu Palace to take charge of the affairs of the Liangyi Institute, and had the opportunity to browse the collection of books in the Palace.Later, he was recommended to serve as a judge in the Imperial Hospital in Beijing, and he resigned and returned to his hometown within a year.After returning to his hometown, he began to write while practicing medicine (AD 1552). "Collecting Baishi, interviewing and collecting Quartet", while "fishing and hunting books", while conducting on-the-spot investigations and visits. "The calendar is thirty years old, there are more than 800 books and examinations, and the manuscripts are changed three times." It can be seen how hard work has been paid.He wrote the book to correct the fallacies of predecessors' materia medica, supplement new medical information, and aim at curing diseases and saving lives.Wang Shizhen, a famous scholar at that time, said in the "Preface" written for this: "Extensive but not complicated, detailed and important, comprehensively check the truth, and look directly into the deep sea. It is not only medical skills. The general code, the secret record of the emperor, and the treasure of the subjects." It is said that he "has worked so hard to benefit you".This evaluation is very appropriate.In 1578 AD, when he was 61 years old, the manuscript was completed, with a total of 57 volumes, but it was not until 1590 AD that the Nanjing engraver Hu Chenglong paid for the engraving. It was not until 1596 AD that it was first published, and Li Shizhen had died three years ago. Can see it with my own eyes.In the year when the book was published (the 24th year of Wanli), Li Jianyuan, the son of Li Shizhen, obeyed his will and dedicated the book to Zhu Yijun, Emperor Ming Shenzong at that time, hoping to get the attention of the court. Unexpectedly, the emperor only approved seven "books to be read, and the Ministry of Rites knows". The word ends.Nevertheless, it is still valued by the majority of the people.After 1603 AD, it was reprinted dozens of times in China, with more than 50 versions; it was translated into Latin, French, Japanese, German, English, Russian, Korean and other languages ​​abroad, and became popular all over the world.As far as Japan alone is concerned, there have been 11 reprints, more than 40 rewritings, textbooks and research books, and two full translations, which shows the great influence.

The book is about 1.9 million words and consists of 52 volumes.Divided into 16 parts and 60 categories, a total of 1892 kinds of medicines (including 374 newly added ones), 1160 illustrations and 11096 prescriptions are included.Each drug is generally recorded with its name, place of origin, form, method of collection, properties, flavors and functions of the drug, and the process of processing it.The description of the morphological characteristics of animals and plants is very detailed.For example, it is recorded on the medicinal plant Patrinaceae Baihuabaicang: "The seedlings are born in early spring, and they begin to wither in late winter. At the beginning, the leaves are grown on the ground, like the leaves of Chinese cabbage (cabbage), long and narrow, serrated, green, with deep surface and shallow back. Summer and autumn stems It is two or three feet high and weak, with a section of several inches. The leaves grow between the nodes, scattered like umbrellas. The tops of the flowers are clustered with white flowers, like celery flowers and snake beds. The clusters are small and fruity. Its roots are white and purple, resembling Bupleurum. ..." gives a comprehensive and detailed description of plant roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit seeds from shape to color, from seedlings to adult plants, highlighting the characteristics of cymes.Regarding the distinction between the three plants of the Liliaceae: Lily, Shandan, and Lily, he said: "The leaves are short and broad, slightly like bamboo leaves, and the white flowers hang down everywhere, and the lily is also. The leaves are long and narrow, and the tips are like willow leaves. Those with red flowers that do not hang around are called Shandan. The stems and leaves are like Shandan and high, the red flowers are yellowish and hang around, with black spots on them, and those whose seeds are first knotted between the branches and leaves are also called Lilynium." From the shape of the leaves, The characteristics of flower shape, flower color and the presence or absence of bulbils are very clearly identified, the terminology is accurate, the description is vivid, and it has high scientific value. (Figure 26)

In terms of classification methods, it has inherited and made breakthroughs from previous classification methods.Adopted the comprehensive classification method of "combining the order with the outline" and "analyzing the family area".On the whole, there are 16 parts as the keynote and 60 categories as the order; for each drug, the name is corrected and the name is explained (for example, Coptis chinensis is used as the keynote, Wanglian and Zhilian are used as the order). ); with the big name as the outline and the accessories as the order (for example, tiger as the outline, and tiger bone and tiger meat as the order, etc.).The result is that there are items in the outline, and there are outlines in the outline, and the outlines are intertwined, forming a system that is "extensive but not complicated, detailed but essential".Not only has inherited the previous classification tradition, but the titles of the three books have been annotated under each medicine for easy viewing; the classification of gold, stone, vegetation, insects, poultry, and beasts is generally the same.At the same time, there are new developments: the Ministry of Water and the Ministry of Fire are listed first, followed by the Ministry of Soil, and then Jinshi, which shows that we attach importance to the inorganic ecological factors that affect the survival of living things, reflecting "existence is born of nothing"; plant parts are divided into grass, grain, vegetable The arrangement of , fruit and wood embodies the principle of "from small to large", and pays attention to ecological characteristics; the animal parts are listed in order: insects, scales, medium, poultry, and beasts, and finally the human part is listed, "from humble to expensive", which actually embodies Organisms evolve from low-level to high-level sequences.In each department, according to ecological environment (such as grass department, poultry department), practical value (such as if department), morphological characteristics (such as wood department), reproductive mode (such as insect department), and grade (such as scale department, fish department) Comprehensive reclassification.Among the various types, those with similar shapes are also arranged together to reflect the existence of the family (or genus) (such as Umbelliferae, Zingiberaceae, Compositae, Poaceae, Liliaceae, Cucurbitaceae, etc.), indicating that there is a relationship between them. Closer kinship.From the perspective of classification level, five levels of out-of-boundary, class, order, class, and species have been distinguished).This classification method is 170 years earlier than Linnai's "Natural System" (AD 1735), which divided plants into two parts and 24 classes, and was relatively advanced at that time.This kind of classification according to different classification levels adopts corresponding different standards, which not only takes into account the systematicness but also takes into account the practicality (such as collection, identification, utilization, etc.), which is very distinctive.

It is also mentioned in "Fan Li": "Although it is said that doctors and medicines, their research and interpretation of nature and theory are true to my Confucianism, but there is a lack of elegance and poetry." It clearly shows that the author has seen that the content of this book is far away. Far beyond the scope of pharmacology, it extends to the entire field of biology and natural history, and links it with the famous "Erya" in the history of biology and "Mao Poems Vegetation, Wood, Birds, Animals, Insects, and Fishes", and mentions It is very insightful to understand from the height of "nature" (nature and principle).Guo Moruo once wrote an inscription: "Li Shizhen was a great medical scientist in China in the 16th century, and he was also a world pioneer in botany research."