Chapter 54 Section Five Li Shizhen and "Compendium of Materia Medica"

Li Shizhen (AD 1518-1593), styled Dongbi, was born in Binhushan in his later years, and was born in Qi (qiqi) Prefecture (now Qichun County), Hubei Province.He was born in a medical family, and he was frail and sickly since he was a child, so he determined to study medicine since he was a child. At the age of 13, he obeyed his father's wish to take the imperial examination and was selected as a scholar. However, after failing to pass the examination many times later, he gave up the imperial examination and devoted himself to the research of medicine. World.In the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1556 A.D.), he was called to work in Beijing Tai Hospital and resigned one year later.He also served as a medical officer in the Chu Palace at that time.The experience of these two places gave him the opportunity to contact and read a large number of medical classics and collect a wealth of information.After resigning, he returned to his hometown and built a new residence on the north shore of Yuhu Lake, which he named "Red Garden".Since then, he has been practicing medicine and writing at the same time.

Li Shizhen has profound medical attainments and is an outstanding medical scientist.From basic theory to clinical medicine, he has developed on the basis of his predecessors. In terms of pulse study, Li Shizhen inherited the orthodox pulse study, learned from the strengths of various schools of past dynasties, made great use of the classics and righteousness, and wrote "Binhu Pulse Study" and "Textual Research on Pulse Jue". In terms of meridian theory, Li Shizhen redefines the path of the eight extra-meridians, reveals the basic situation and laws of the pathogenesis of these eight meridians, and writes "The Eight Meridians of Extraordinary Meridians", making it a theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine. made of.

In terms of viscera theory, Li Shizhen put forward his own views on Sanjiao and Mingmen. He believed that Sanjiao is the key to the vitality of the human body, while Mingmen is the origin of Sanjiao. One is the material entity and the other is the intangible function.Author of "Mingmen Kao", "Mingmen Sanjiao Guest Difficulty" (later lost).At the same time, he also proposed that "the brain is the home of the soul", and it was the first time in China that he realized that the human brain dominates the spirit. In clinical medicine, Li Shizhen made many inventions, and wrote prescription medical records such as "Binhu Medical Cases" and "Binhu Collection of Simple Prescriptions".

Li Shizhen is also an outstanding pharmacologist, and is famous all over the world for his immortal masterpieces. In clinical practice, Li Shizhen found that there were many errors and confusions in the previous works of Materia Medica, so she decided to recompile a comprehensive and systematic work of Materia Medica.From 1552 to 1578, it took 26 years before and after, changing the manuscript three times, and finally completed the compilation of the great work of pharmacology. The book consists of 52 volumes, containing 1,892 kinds of medicines, 110,960 prescriptions, more than 1.9 million words, and 1,160 diagrams of medicines.During the compilation process, Li Shizhen systematically summarized the pharmacological achievements of predecessors and referred to more than 800 kinds of literature.At the same time, he also conducted investigations, surveys, and researches in person. Among the drugs he received, 347 were added through his own collection.The book also corrects many errors recorded by the predecessors.It can be said that Li Shizhen devoted all her life's efforts.It is a collection of the culmination of traditional Chinese medicine and is a concluding work of traditional Chinese medicine.

In terms of taxonomy, it breaks through the classification method of traditional herbal medicine and starts a new classification system of outline.The whole book is divided into 16 parts and 60 categories, with the parts as the outline and the categories as the headings.Among them, botanical medicines are divided into five parts: grass, grain, vegetable, fruit, and tree. Under the department, it is divided into hemp, wheat, rice, millet, bean, brewing, etc.; under the vegetable department, it is divided into meat, spicy, silky, lotus (luo naked) vegetables, water vegetables, sesame (er ear), etc.; under the fruit section, it is divided into five fruits, mountain Fruit, Yiguo, Miguo, Licorice, fruit, etc., and the lower part of the wood is divided into fragrant wood, arbor, shrub, eucalyptus, bract, miscellaneous wood, etc.Animal medicine is divided into five parts: worms, scales, insects, poultry, and animals. The insects are divided into oviparous, metaplasia, and hygrophytes. The scales are divided into dragons, snakes, fish, and scaleless fishes. , the poultry department is divided into waterfowl, native poultry, and mountain fowl, and the animal department is divided into livestock, beasts, rats, monsters, and humans.Mineral medicine is divided into water, fire, earth, gold, jade, stone and other departments.The outline is clear and orderly.This systematic classification method was the most advanced classification method in the world at that time.

In the compilation, Li Shizhen also established a unified writing system. In the description of each drug, it is divided into items such as interpretation, collection, identification, correctness, correction, smell, indications, invention, and attached prescriptions.This method is the most complete method in ancient Chinese pharmacology works. In addition to the content of pharmacology, there are many contents about chemistry, geology, astronomy and other aspects in the description of the book, which have important academic value.