Pharmacologist Li Shizhen

Li Shizhen (c. 1518-1593), courtesy name Dongbi (东璧), in his later years called himself the Mountain Man of the Lying Lake (濒湖山人). He was a native of Herb State (present-day Herb County, Huanggang City, Hubei Province), and was one of the most famous medical doctors and pharmacologists of the Ming Dynasty in China. Li Shizhen was born into a family of worldly physicians. His grandfather was a "bell doctor". His father's name was Wen, Yuechi, and he was a famous doctor in the area. Because of his family's influence, Li Shizhen loved medicine from an early age. Since the social status of medical practitioners was not high at that time, his father, Li Yanwen, who was a doctor, only wanted him to study for the exams to honor his ancestors, and did not encourage him to practice medicine. At the age of 14, Li Shizhen lived up to his father's expectations and became a scholar, but after three attempts to become a scholar, he was unable to achieve his goal, and his interest in medicine continued to grow, so he decided to abandon Confucianism to specialize in the study of medicine. At the age of 30, he became a famous local doctor, the king of Chu heard of Li Shizhen for the Fengzhi, in charge of the affairs of the good doctor, in 1556, recommended to fill the queue of the Imperial Hospital, in the capital Jinling for a year. After resigning and returning home, he built a new residence on the north shore of Lake Yu, named "Red Garden", where he practiced medicine. During his practice of medicine, he found that the ancient books of materia medica, "the number of items is troublesome, and the names are many and varied. Or one thing is analyzed into two or three, or two things are mixed into one product" ("Ming Wai Shi Ben Chuan"). In particular, many toxic medicines were considered to be able to "prolong life by taking them for a long time", thus causing endless disasters. Li Shizhen wrote to the imperial court many times to request the reorganization of medical information, but unfortunately there was no response, so he made use of the large number of medical books he had read in the Institute of Good Physicians and the Imperial Hospital, as well as a solid foundation in literature and history, to personally organize the works on pharmacology of the Chinese dynasties. In the process of compiling the Compendium of Materia Medica, what gave Li Shizhen the most headache was that he often could not figure out the shape and growth of the drugs due to the mixed names of the drugs. The past book of materia medica, although repeated explanations, but because some authors do not have in-depth practical research, but in the books copied in the "paper guessing", so the more the interpretation of the more confusing, and contradictions multiply, so that people do not know what to say. So Li Shizhen, accompanied by his disciple Pang Xian and his son Jian Yuan, traveled far into the mountains and wilderness to observe and collect drug specimens. In addition to the painstakingly to all parts of the medicine and to test their own medicine, he visited famous doctors and scholars, and everywhere to visit the fishermen, farmers and other civilians in order to collect folk remedies. He first interviewed people in his hometown of Herb State. Later, he went out to interview many times. In addition to Hunan and Guangdong, but also to Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, many places. Tahe Mountain in Junzhou also visited. Jiangxi Lushan, which is rich in medicinal herbs, and Nanjing's Regent Hill, Maoshan Hill, Niushou Hill, it is estimated that there are also his footprints. The descendants of this wrote "far from the poor and secluded yields, the risk of exploring the foot of the Hua" poem, reflecting his long-distance trekking, interviews in all directions of life. After 30 years, he finally wrote "Compendium of Materia Medica", which was later revised three times in 12 years. In the twenty-first year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1593), Li Shizhen died and was buried on the shore of the Rainy Lake, 2 kilometers southeast of the town of Herb County, Hubei Province. (See Li Shizhen's tomb.) In 1596, the third year after Li Shizhen's death, the Compendium of Materia Medica was officially published in Nanjing. In addition, he also authored "Examination of the Eight Channels of Qi Jing and Veins", "The Pulse Study of Lianhu", "Lianhu Collection of Simplified Formulas", "San Jiao Guan Difficulties", "The Life Gate Examination", "The Five Viscera", "The Medical Case of Lianhu" and so on, in addition to the first two are all lost. Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica) The Compendium of Materia Medica (Compendium of Materia Medica) is the largest and richest pharmacological work in the history of ancient Chinese pharmacology. It was written by Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty in the sixth year of the Wanli reign (1578) and officially published in Nanjing in the 23rd year of the Wanli reign (1596). It took Li Shizhen about 27 years to complete the Compendium of Materia Medica, and it was rewritten three times before it was finalized in the sixth year of the Wanli reign (1578). During this process, Li Shizhen referred to more than 800 books and made many field trips to various places to collect samples, which cost him a great deal of effort. The Compendium of Materia Medica was compiled by adding, deleting, and revising the main body of information from Tang Shenwei's Zhenqi Ben Cao of the Song Dynasty. Qing Dynasty Qianlong thirty years (1765) pharmacologist Zhao Xuemin wrote "Gleanings from the Compendium of Materia Medica", intended to pick up the correct "Compendium of Materia Medica", which added 716 kinds of new medicinal herbs, supplemented the content of 161 kinds of medicines, corrected the error of 34 articles. Style "Compendium of Materia Medica" *** 52 volumes, containing 1892 kinds of drugs (of which 374 kinds of new drugs Li Shizhen), the book is accompanied by 1109 drug charts, 11,096 prescriptions (of which more than 8,000 are Li Shizhen's own collection and formulation), about 1.9 million words, divided into 16 departments, 60 categories. Each drug is divided into the items of explanation of name (determining the name), collection of explanation (describing the origin), correction of errors (correcting the errors of the past literature), modification of the treatment (method of concocting), odor, main treatment, invention (the first three items refer to analyzing the function of the drug), and accompanying prescription (collecting the prescriptions circulated in the folklore). The book contains 881 kinds of botanical medicines, 61 kinds of appendices, *** 942 kinds, plus 153 kinds of named unused plants, *** counting 1095 kinds, accounting for 58% of the total number of all medicines. Li Shizhen divided the plants into five parts: grass, grain, vegetable, fruit, and this part, and divided the grass into nine categories: mountain grass, fragrant grass, wet grass, poisonous grass, creeper, water grass, stone grass, moss grass, and miscellaneous grass. This classification method was unique in the world at that time. Evaluation The Compendium of Materia Medica improved the traditional Chinese classification method, with a more uniform format and a more scientific and precise narrative, which was of great significance to the development of the taxonomy of animals and plants. The Compendium of Materia Medica corrected many mistakes made by the predecessors, such as the fact that Nansing and Tiger Palm, which were originally the same kind of drug, were mistakenly regarded as two kinds of drugs in the past; Weiweiwei and Nianwu were regarded as the same kind of drug in the past, but Li's identification confirmed that they were two kinds of drugs; Sousong classified the smallpox and bracketed building in the Tujing Materia Medica, which were in fact the same kind of plant; and the predecessors wrongly regarded that "the essence of the horse enters into the earth and changes into the lock-yang", and that "the seeds of the grasses can be changed into fishes", which were corrected by one after another. The former mistakenly believed that "horse essence enters the ground and turns into lock yang" and "grass seeds can change into fish". Many new drugs have been added to this book. Li Shizhen further described the efficacy of certain drugs through his own experience. This book also contains a large amount of valuable medical information, in addition to a large number of prescriptions, prescription and treatment of experimental cases, there are also some useful medical history. This book is not only a work of pharmacology, but also a work of museum science with worldwide influence. The contents of this book are extremely wide-ranging, and it has made certain contributions to biology, chemistry, astronomy, geography, geology, mining, and even history. Darwin even praised it as "the encyclopedia of ancient China". However, due to historical conditions and technical standards of the limitations of the "Compendium of Materia Medica" in most of the entries is not scientific enough, the "Compendium of Materia Medica" said that the lead powder pungent cold and non-toxic, in fact, is highly toxic; such as the Ministry of the inclusion of filial piety clothes and hats, the widow's bed head ash, the dead man's pillow, the lazy bitch's footbinding cloth (more dirt is good), the household limit of the earth, the ancient mirror, the spirit of the bed under the shoes, the self-tested dead rope, straw shoes, male *** treatment of snakebites, female *** treatment of "five gonorrhea, yin and yang easy disease". The medicinal effects of these medicines are not based on scientific evidence or are too far-fetched (e.g. maggots in feces, water in a pig's trough, water in a drowning pit at the city gate). In this part, Li Shizhen mostly quoted from "Dropout Records" and "Gleanings from the Materia Medica", adopting the attitude of "all those who have been used by others should not be left out". Li Shizhen also refuted Chen Zangqi's Gleanings from the Materia Medica, saying that it was wrong to eat human flesh to cure tubercular infection. Dissemination The Bencao Gangmu was successively spread to Japan (1606), Korea, Vietnam, etc. In 1656, the Polish P. Michael Boym (1612-1659) translated the Bencao Gangmu into a Latin text entitled Flora sinensis, which was published in Vienna, Europe, and an Italian translation in Milan in 1676, and an Italian translation in 1735. Italian translation in 1676, and after 1735 it was translated into French, German, English, Russian and many other languages. It was read by European scientists such as Linnaeus.

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Would you like to ask if there is a side-splitting drama about pharmacist Li Shizhen TVB - The King of Herbal Medicine? The drama is based on the exploits of Li Shizhen, in which Li Shizhen's family, including his parents, brother and wife, as well as his disciple Pang Xian, are real people in history and not fictionalized. The efficacy of many medicinal herbs, dietary treatments and prescriptions mentioned in the drama have been corrected by university professors and industry seniors to ensure that the information is correct. Real medicines are mentioned in the drama "King of Herbal Medicine". Among them, rare medicinal herbs, such as Niu Huang...etc., if you really think of them as props for fake medicines, you would be gravely mistaken. The producer of the drama has borrowed some rare herbs from old pharmaceutical companies to give the audience an eye-opening experience of what they really look like. Medical Officers' Medicine Box When medical officers go to the clinic, they will bring along a medicine box with them. Inside the box, there are medicines to stop bleeding, medicines for bruises, and licorice powder for detoxification in case of emergency. Duties of Medical Officers The duties of the Imperial Hospital were divided into two main categories. Medical Officers above the rank of Imperial Physician would visit the inner palace, specializing in serving the Emperor and the concubines. Li Shizhen, on the other hand, served as an official, specializing in treating princes, counts and ministers outside the palace. When invited may not be to the Imperial Hospital is part of the Emperor's private imperial, princes and ministers to ask the medical officer out, must be the inner supervisor to get the Emperor "permission", the medical officer can only be out of the clinic. If you are a disfavored official, don't think the medical officer will serve you. Tipping is strictly prohibited. If a medical officer is rewarded by a prince or a minister after a visit, he must report it to the court and cannot accept the gift privately. Corruption, both ancient and modern, is never allowed. The medical family. Li Shizhen (Lin Wenlong) has been practicing medicine for three generations and has been fascinated by herbal medicine since he was a young man. However, in order to comply with his father's order to take the imperial examination, he failed three times and decided to give up Confucianism and join the medical profession. Shizhen's main focus was to serve the people, giving medicine to the poor, which was very popular. He learns from the miracle doctor Xiao Jizao (Liao Qi Zhi) and invents the "Steam Sterilization", "Cold Compress" and "Mad Dog Disease Cure", etc., making a name for himself and laying the groundwork for him to become the King of Medicines later on. During the epidemic period, there were numerous incidents of official pharmacies administering the wrong medicines and unscrupulous traders selling fake medicines, so Shi Zhen set his mind on revising the herbs of the past generations so that the world could distinguish between the real and the fake. He was suppressed by the rich and powerful. Shizhen, who had become famous for his medical practice, entered the Imperial Hospital. During this period, he was able to study the collection of books, which enriched the data for his revision of the Materia Medica. He also came into contact with the bronze man for acupuncture and moxibustion, and was able to study the eight meridians in depth, and published the doctrine that "the brain is the capital of the spirit". Shi Zhen wanted to ask the emperor to revise the Materia Medica and put medicine on the right track. However, he is suppressed by Yan Song (Luo Le Lin), a powerful official, for his strong criticism of the poison. Yan Song is not afraid to fabricate charges, want to destroy Shi Zhen manuscripts. As a result, Shizhen escapes from the Imperial Hospital and goes on the run. He is a recluse who practiced medicine and wrote a masterpiece. While on the run, Shizhen practiced medicine in seclusion, collected and studied herbs, and decided to complete the Compendium of Materia Medica with his life's work. During the period when he was under arrest, he still took the risk of practicing medicine to save people's lives. In order to cure patients with serious injuries, he even successfully developed a whole-body *** by using mandrake flowers. Unfortunately, Shizhen was finally arrested and imprisoned. Yan Song lured him to hand over the manuscript of "Compendium of Materia Medica", he can be spared the death penalty, Shi Zhen how to decide? The Mistaken Match In Shi Zhen's life, there are two important women: Wu Mu Rong (Li Shi Yun), his wife by marriage, and Dong Qing (Michelle Ye), his confidante. She and Shi Zhen have developed a mutual admiration for each other through their experiences in medicine and saving people's lives. Unexpectedly, his elder brother Guozhen (Ai Wei) is also fond of Dongqing, and Shi Zhen's brotherly love is so deep that he lets his love go and marries Mu Rong according to the marriage contract. Shi Zhen married, only to find that the person loved by the winter green is their own, has been hated wrong hard to return, one is the marriage of the wife, a confidante, Shi Zhen in the love of righteousness in the dilemma, how can he live with himself?

Reference: tvcity/drama/the_herbalist_s_manual/information/index

Ben Cao mesh is Li Shizhen Li Shizhen, the word Dongbi, the number of dying lake, Hubei Herb (today's Hubei Province, Hubei Province, Herb Chun County) people, was born in Ming Wuzong Zhengde thirteen years (A.D. 1518), died in the Shen Zong He was born in the 13th year of Zhengde of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty (1518 AD) and died in the 21st year of Emperor Shenzong's reign. His family had been practicing medicine for many generations, and his grandfather was a "bell doctor". His father's name was Wen, Yuechi, and he was a famous doctor in the area. At that time, the status of private doctors was very low. The Li family was often bullied by officials and gentry. Therefore, his father decided to let his second son, Li Shizhen, study for the examination, so that he could be successful and make a name for himself. Li Shizhen since childhood frail and sick, but the character of straight and innocent, to those empty and boring eight-legged text, how can not learn. Since the age of fourteen after nine years, three times to the Wuchang examination, all failed. So, he gave up his intention to become an official, and concentrated on studying medicine, so he begged his father, saying: "I am 23 years old this year, always failing to pass the examination, you'd better let me study medicine! He also expressed his determination: "My body is like a boat against the current, and my heart is stronger than iron. I hope that my father will fulfill my ambition, and that I will not be afraid of difficulties until I die". Li Yuechi finally came to his senses in front of the cold truth, agreed to his son's request, and taught him carefully. Within a few years, Li Shizhen became a very famous doctor. At the age of thirty-eight, Li Shizhen was summoned by the King of Chu in Wuchang to be the "Ancestor of the Royal Household", and was also in charge of the affairs of the Institute of Good Medicine. Three years later, he was recommended to go to Beijing to be the director of the Imperial Hospital. At that time, the Imperial Hospital was a medical institution for the court, which was made a mess by some quacks. After serving for only one year, Li resigned and returned to his hometown. In these ten years, Li Shizhen read a lot of ancient medical books, and through clinical practice found that the ancient books of materia medica, "the number of items is both annoying, the name of the many mixed. Or a thing analyzed into two or three, or two things mixed into a product" ("Ming Wai Shi Ben Chuan"). In particular, many toxic medicines were considered to be able to "prolong life by taking them for a long time", thus causing endless trouble. Thus, he was determined to re-compile a book of materia medica. At the age of thirty-one, he began to think about it and read a lot of reference books in order to "search and collect". When he finished reading the books in his family's collection, he took the opportunity of practicing medicine to borrow from the big families in his hometown. Later, into the Wuchang Chu Wang Fu and the Beijing Imperial Hospital, read more books, simply become a "bibliophile". He described himself as "a long time addicted to books, like eating sugar cane and syrup" (the original preface to the Compendium of Materia Medica). In his biography of Li Shizhen, Gu Jingxing also praised him for "studying for ten years without leaving his house, and practicing everything he could. Indeed, he not only read more than 800 medical books and tens of thousands of volumes, but also many historical, geographical, and literary masterpieces, including the great works of history and history from Dunhuang, and the complete works of several great ancient poets. He also extracted a large number of verses on medicine. These verses gave him a lot of real and useful knowledge of medicine, and helped him to correct many fallacies in medicine of his predecessors. For example, in ancient medical books, "rasps and eiders" often appear. What do they refer to? Is there a difference? Pharmacists through the ages have had many different opinions and debates. Li Shizhen quoted Qu Yuan "Li Sao" in the "will compete with the chicken and rasps for food," "will be flooded with if the water of the mallard," two lines, pointing out that the poet to "rasps" and "mallard" to lift the name of the same, is that they are not the same kind of bird of the clear evidence. According to the poem's depiction of their different living environments, he proved that "rushes" are domestic ducks and "eiders" are wild ducks with different medicinal properties. Qu Yuan's poems and fugitives became the basis for Li Shizhen's eloquent examination of the names of medicines. In the process of writing the Compendium of Materia Medica, the most headache for Li Shizhen is due to the mixed names of drugs, often confused about the shape of the drug growth. The past book of materia medica, although repeated explanations, but because some authors do not have in-depth practical research, but in the books copied in the "paper guessing", so the more explained the more confusing, and contradictions multiply, so that people do not know what to say. For example, the drug Yuanzhi, the famous North and South Dynasty medicine Tao Hongjing said it is a small grass, like ephedra, but the color green, white flowers, the Song Dynasty, Ma Zhi, but it is like a big green, and blamed Tao Hongjing simply do not know Yuanzhi. Another example is the dog's spine a medicine, some say it is like the castor seed, some say it is like the pulling of the□, and some say it is like the Guanzhong, the statement is very inconsistent. Similar to this situation, Li Shizhen had to shelve the pen again and again. How to solve these problems? Inspired by his father, Li Shizhen realized that "reading ten thousand volumes of books" is certainly necessary, but "walking ten thousand miles" is even more indispensable. Therefore, he not only "searched the hundred", but also "interviewed the four directions", in-depth practical investigation. Li Shizhen put on straw shoes, back up the medicine basket, in the apprentice Pang Xian, son of Jianyuan accompanied, far away from the mountains and wilderness, visited famous doctors and Confucian Confucian, searching for folk remedies, observation and collection of drug specimens. He first interviewed in his hometown of Herb State. Later, he traveled many times. In addition to Hunan and Guangdong, but also to Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, many places. Tahe Mountain in Junzhou also visited. Jiangxi Lushan, which is rich in medicinal herbs, and Nanjing's Regent Hill, Maoshan Hill, Niushou Hill, it is estimated that there are also his footprints. The descendants of this wrote "far from the poor and secluded yields, the risk of exploring the foot of the Hua" poem, reflecting his long-distance trekking, four-way interview life. Whenever Li Shizhen went to a place, he humbly requested from all kinds of characters. Among them, there were those who picked medicines, those who farmed, those who fished, those who chopped wood, and those who hunted. Enthusiastically, they helped him learn about a wide variety of medicines. For example, rue moss is a common medicine for curing diseases. But what exactly does it look like? The Divine Husbandman's Classic of the Materia Medica could not understand it, nor could the commentaries. Li Shizhen asked an old man who grows vegetables, under his guidance, and then inspected the object, only to know that rue moss, in fact, is rape. This plant, the first year of planting, the second year of flowering, the seeds can be squeezed oil, so this drug, it will be in his "Compendium of Materia Medica" in a clear note out. In the interview around, or in his own medicine garden, Li Shizhen are very careful to observe the form and growth of drugs. Herb Snake, the white-flowered snake produced in Herb State. This medicine has the function of curing wind paralysis, convulsion, ringworm and mange. Li Shizhen had long studied it. But at first, he only observed it from snake vendors. Insiders reminded him that it was caught from the mountains of Xingguozhou in the south of the Yangtze River and was not a real herp snake. So what does a real herp snake look like? He asked a snake hunter for advice. The man told him that the tip of the snake's fangs was highly poisonous. When a person is bitten, the limb must be amputated immediately, otherwise he will die of poisoning. It had special effects in treating the above mentioned diseases and was very valuable because of that. The state officials forced the masses to risk their lives to catch them so that they could pay tribute to the emperor. Herb is so big, in fact, only on Longfeng Mountain in the north of the city there is a real herp snake. Li Shizhen went after the roots of the snake to observe it with his own eyes, so he asked the snake catcher to take him up to Longfeng Mountain. There was a mythical beast cave, around the cave jagged rocks and bushes. There were many ivy vines entwined in the shrubs. Herb snakes like to eat the flowers and leaves of rattan, so they live in this area. Li Shizhen ignored the danger and searched everywhere. With the help of snake catchers, he finally saw the snake with his own eyes, and saw the whole process of snake catching and snake making. As a result of this in-depth practical investigation, later in the Compendium of Materia Medica, when he wrote about the white-flowered snake, he was able to speak concisely and accurately. Said the form of the snake is: "the dragon head tiger mouth, black white flowers, coercion has twenty-four Fang Sheng Wen, abdomen has the rosary spot, the mouth has four long teeth, the tail has a Buddha's nails, one or two minutes long, intestinal shape such as the beads"; said that the snake's capture and the process of production is: "more than in the Shinan vine to eat its flowers and leaves, the people find this. When a handful of sand and soil is sprinkled first, the snake is coiled and does not move, and then a fork is used to take it. Suspended by a rope, the knife breaks the abdomen to remove the intestinal material, and then the reverse tail washes its abdomen to protect the trauma, and then it is supported by bamboo, flexed and coiled up, and tied to the kang dry. At the same time, it also clarifies the difference between the herps and the white-flowered snakes of other places: "The one that comes out of the herps, though dry and withered, does not have a sunken vision, while the one that comes out of other places is not. This clear description of the various conditions of the snake is of course due to the meticulous field investigation. Li Shizhen understand the drug, and not satisfied with the horse to see the flowers type of investigation, but one by one to pick the sight, compared with the physical check. This cleared up a lot of plausible, ambiguous drugs. In his words, it is "one by one to pick and see, quite true", "list of products, repeatedly look at" At that time, Taihe Mountain five dragon palace production "Hammer Plum", was said to eat the Taoist priests "can be immortal immortal fruit. At that time, "Hammer Plums" produced by the Five Dragons Palace in Taihe Mountain were said by the Taoist priests to be "the fruit of immortality". The government strictly forbade others to pick them. Li Shizhen didn't believe the Taoist priests' nonsense, and wanted to try it himself to see what kind of offensive effect it had. So, despite the opposition of the Taoist priests, he took the risk of picking one. After research, found that its effect is the same as ordinary peach, apricot, can produce fluids to quench thirst only, is a kind of elm tree's fruit, and there is no special offensive effect. Pangolin, or pangolin as it is known today, is a commonly used Chinese medicine. Tao Hongjing said it can be amphibious, climbing up to the rock during the day, open the scaly armor, pretending to be dead, luring ants into the armor, and then close the scaly armor, dive into the water, and then open the armor to let the ants float out, and then swallowed. In order to understand whether Tao Hongjing's statement is right, Li Shizhen personally went up the mountain to observe. And with the help of woodcutters and hunters, he caught a pangolin. From its stomach dissected out a liter or so of ants, confirming the pangolin animal this point, Tao Hongjing is right. However, from the observation, he found that the pangolin eating ants, is to scratch open the anthill, licking food, rather than luring ants into the armor, under the water to swallow, Li Shizhen affirmed Tao Hongjing right side, corrected its error. In this way, Li Shizhen after a long period of arduous field investigation, clarified many difficult problems of drugs, in Wanli Wuyin year (A.D. 1578) completed the preparation of "Compendium of Materia Medica". The book has about 1.9 million words, fifty-two volumes, 1,892 kinds of drugs, new drugs, three hundred and seventy-four kinds of more than 10,000 kinds of prescription, with more than 1,000 charts, has become China's pharmacology of the unprecedented monumental. It corrected many mistakes of the predecessors, made outstanding achievements in many aspects such as taxonomy of plants and animals, and contributed to other related disciplines (biology, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, astronomy, etc.). Darwin praised it as "the encyclopedia of ancient China".

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