Who wrote the Compendium of Materia Medica and what are its contributions to the development of Chinese pharmacology

Li Shizhen (1518-1593), the word Dongbi, in his later years, the self-proclaimed end of the lake mountain people, Hubei Herb State (now Huanggang City, Hubei Province, Herb County Herb Town), Han, born in the thirteenth year of the Ming Wuzong Zhengde (1518 AD), died in the twenty-second year of the Wanli of the Emperor of the Shenzong (1593 AD). Ancient China's great medical doctor, pharmacologist, Li Shizhen had reference to successive generations of medicine and its academic books more than eight hundred, combined with their own experience and investigation and research, took twenty-seven years to compile the "Materia Medica Compendium" book, is our country's ancient pharmacology of the summary of the magnum opus at home and abroad have a very high evaluation, there have been several kinds of text of the translation or section of the translation of the book, and the other book has a "near the lake pulse science".

The Compendium of Materia Medica is a Chinese medical treatise on pharmacology, and its content is quite a lot of museum value. Ming Dynasty famous medicine Li Shizhen (1518-1593 years) compiled in 1578 AD, after the book after several setbacks, after the first publication in the twenty-first year of the Wanli calendar (1593). The whole book **** 52 volumes, containing 1892 kinds of drugs, including 1094 kinds of plant drugs, 443 kinds of animal drugs, 161 kinds of mineral drugs, and 194 kinds of other kinds of drugs. Li Shizhen newly added 374 kinds of drugs. The book is richly illustrated with 1109 drug charts. In order to increase the clinical reference value of the book, the author appended 11,096 clinical prescriptions to the discussion of several medicines, of which more than 8,000 came from the author's summary of clinical experience or the collection of many years, which has a good reference value.

"Compendium of Materia Medica" *** divided into water, fire, earth, gold and stone, grass, cereals, vegetables, fruits, wood, clothing, insects, scales, meso, birds, animals, people, such as 16 for the outline of the 62 categories for the purpose of its subclasses of the principle of the "from micro to macro, from cheap to expensive". Search group collection, it is said that the reference book up to more than 800 kinds of people, can be said to be "through the hundreds of" a generation of masterpieces. The book and under each drug, labeled as an outline, with an explanation of the name of the eye, so named its book for the "Compendium of Materia Medica". The content of the discussion of each drug is detailed in the set of explanations, identification of doubts, correct errors, repair (concocted and processed), odor (medicinal properties of pharmacology), the main treatment (efficacy), invention (Li Shizhen's insights and conclusions of the study), prescription and so on. The classification and narrative method of "Compendium of Materia Medica" is a creative development on the basis of the predecessors, and it is analyzed in detail so that the readers can understand it at a glance, and its classification method has actually possessed the scientific nature of modern biological evolutionary thinking.

The categorization of "Compendium of Materia Medica" is first inorganic and then organic, first plant and then animal. In the plant drugs, the first grass, grain, vegetables and consequences, wood; in the animal drugs, the first worm, scale, medium, and then birds and animals, and finally the human medicine.

The Compendium of Materia Medica also made a remarkable contribution to the development of pharmacology.

Not only did it define 1,518 kinds of medicines, but it also added 374 kinds of new medicines to the treasure house of Chinese medicine by its own personal practice, investigation and research, and searching and testing, which is a very huge number for a scholar. Here are just a few examples.

In terms of drug identification, "Compendium of Materia Medica" corrected many of the errors and non-scientific content of "Materia Medica" before the Ming Dynasty. In the past, the works of the Materia Medica are often mistaken for two, such as the southern star and the tiger palm, originally a drug, in the past, but mistaken for two kinds of drugs; another example of this should be divided into the description of the but mixed up for one, "Materia Medica Compendium" before the Weiweiwei, the female atrophy and as a line, Li's after identification is recognized as two kinds of; another example of Song Kou Zongshi, "Diffusion of the Materia Medica" in the wrong "orchid orchid, the cypress for the lily", Su Song, "the lily", "the lily", "the lily", "the lily", "the lily" and the lily". Lily", Su Song "Tu Jing Materia Medica" will be smallpox, Brachystegia is divided into two graphics, but in fact, this is a plant's roots and fruits; the former wrongly believed that "grass can be changed into fish", "horse essence into the ground into the lock of the sun," and so on. Legends, but also through the "Compendium of Materia Medica" and to be corrected, and pointed out that the fish is fish made, and lock Yang is a plant.

The account of mercury, Li Shizhen's serious and realistic scientific attitude and fearlessness. Shennong Ben Cao Jing" was honored as a classic by the feudal society, its account of mercury "long service immortal", Jin Ge Hong "hold Parker" as "medicine for longevity", "Daming Materia Medica" said it "non-toxic", Tang Zhenquan said its "non-toxic", Tang Zhenquan said its "non-toxic", Tang Zhenquan said its "non-toxic". Tang Zhenquan said its "return to the mother". Therefore, under the six dynasties, attempts to greedy for life not the dead because of the service into the waste of the body and even die young I do not know how many. The Compendium of Materia Medica criticized this non-scientific blackmail, pointing out that "mercury ...... into the bones and drill tendons, the absolute sun erosion brain, Yin poisonous things, nothing like it." He seriously emphasized: "Fang Shu solid insufficient, this herb can not be delusional." History and scientific experiments have confirmed that the mercury discussed in the Materia Medica, at that time, reached the latest level of scientific development, and had a positive effect on the complete eradication of the absurd practice of serving mercury to seek immortality. The Materia Medica also has unique insights into the adaptation of living organisms to their environment.

Taking the description of animal medicines as an example, "Compendium" has a generalized definition of each animal medicine, and it can mostly capture the biological attributes of all kinds of animals. Such as pointing out that "birds are produced in the forest, so the feathers like leaves; beasts are produced in the mountains, so the hair like grass", and also said: "hair with the four seasons, color with the five sides", which are correctly grasped the beasts and birds of the environment in order to adapt to the protection of the characteristics of the variations. In terms of animal-related variation, the book correctly pointed out that: "the black bone chicken but check the tongue black" that is, we can know its bone black identification method. The Materia Medica Compendium, in its discussion of drugs, also emphasizes the characteristics of living creatures that have been changed in their habits by the intervention of artificial methods. For example, the description of animals becoming wild and being domesticated, and the fact that domesticated plants can be superior to wild ones, indicate that the genetic wine containers of living creatures at that time were not only a good source of medicine, but also a good source of food. The following is an example of the development of the genetic inheritance of organisms at that time. In terms of pharmaceutical chemistry and experimental research, the Materia Medica also has outstanding achievements compared with the previous ones. The pharmaceutical chemistry contained in the Materia Medica includes many methods of chemical reactions such as distillation, evaporation, sublimation, recrystallization, weathering, precipitation, drying, burning, and pouring. The production of lead acetate (lead cream); the use of the decomposition and oxidation of abaca and alumina to produce lead dan; the decocting of quintessence with strong tea to produce precipitation; and the hydrolysis of white crystals of gallic acid by the fermentation of Trichoderma reesei, have all attained a high level of scientific excellence, and are even the earliest records of their kind. In terms of scientific experiments, the author not only personally verified the treatment of eye cataracts by basil seeds and self-administration of Mandrake flowers to observe their therapeutic effects and anesthetic effects, but also conducted animal experiments on the pharmacological effects of several drugs and so on. He observed the pharmacological effects of soybeans and chickweed, etc. He dissected a variety of lower animals, such as pangolins and snakes, in order to confirm the similarities and differences in their anatomical structures, and conducted a number of comparative studies. These methods could also be called an innovation in the scientific world at that time. Of course, the unknown or poorly known was even more common at that time, and the unknowable was not uncommon under the prevailing conditions. Therefore, the author of a number of medicines, the description objectively pointed out that "is not tried or not", or that "there is no inquiry, attached to this, in order to be knowledgeable", which can be proved that the scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts.

"Compendium of Materia Medica" after its impact on the broad and far-reaching is a record. Ming Wanli eighteen years (1590) by the Jinling (now Nanjing) Hu Chenglong first engraved, the world called "Jinling this", there are still very few parts, in addition to Japan, the United States, Germany have a collection, China has only two. 1603 by the summer conscience and other publications in Jiangxi engraved "Materia Medica", the world called "Jiangxi this", as only the "Jiangxi this", as only the "Materia Medica", the world called "Materia Medica". Jiangxi this", is second only to the Jinling this good book, is still in the world more. Since then, the re-engraving of the "Materia Medica" gradually increased, such as Hubei this (1606), Shiquge this, Lida Hall, etc., were engraved before the end of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing dynasty engraving to Zhang Chaolin this (1657), Taihe Tang this (1655) for the earliest, followed by a lot of engraving and publication. According to the statistics of the existing domestic engraved and printed books, there were about 70 editions as of 1949. Following the "Compendium of Materia Medica", China's pharmacological development on this basis, although not as extensive, but in the play, deepen the understanding of the absorption of foreign medicines on the progress, such as Zhao Xuemin wrote the "Compendium of Materia Medica Gleanings" (1765), etc., almost all of them are under its direct or indirect influence to complete.

The Compendium of Materia Medica not only had such a deep and wide influence in China, but also reached Japan as early as 1606 AD. According to statistics, Japan in 1637-1714 years has appeared in the "Materia Medica" 8 kinds of engraving, and then also published a Japanese section of the translation and full translation of a variety of books. Japanese scholars study the "Materia Medica" and there are more than 30 kinds of writers. The Materia Medica also has a large influence in Korea and Vietnam. About from the 18th century, the "Materia Medica" that is spread to Europe, the British Museum, Cambridge University Library, Oxford University Library, the French National Library, etc. have a variety of collections of the "Materia Medica" of the Ming or Qing engraving. The Royal Library of Germany has the Jinling book in its collection. In addition, there are also collections in Russia (former Soviet Union), Italy, Denmark and so on. The Library of Congress also has the Jinling and Jiangxi collections. According to the British Dr. Joseph Lee test, in 1732, the French doctor van der Monde had "Materia Medica" part of the contents of the translation of the French, after a few weeks in more than a hundred years after the publication of Paris, caused by the famous chemists and scholars of the history of chemistry attention. According to research, the Materia Medica was partially translated into French, English, German and Russian as early as the 18th century and later years, and Europe was interested in the study of the Materia Medica and the Chinese materia medica in the 19th century, from which the doctoral degree was obtained. The great British biologist Darwin, in the process of laying down the theory of evolution and arguing for the principle of artificial selection, referred to the Encyclopedia of Ancient China, the contents of which were the contents of the Materia Medica.

For example, Darwin drew on and quoted from the Materia Medica when he talked about the mutation of chickens and the history of the domestication of goldfish in his Mutations. "Undoubtedly, the greatest scientific achievement of the Ming Dynasty was Li Shizhen's work, Ben Cao Gang Mu, which was the pinnacle of herbalism," wrote Dr. Joseph Lee in his evaluation of Ben Cao Gang Mu. "Li Shizhen, as a scientist, reached the highest level attainable by anyone isolated from the scientific activities of Galileo and Visari." "Li Shizhen, the 'uncrowned king' of Chinese naturalists, wrote the Materia Medica, and to this day this great work remains an inexhaustible source of knowledge for the study of the history of chemistry and the history of all the other sciences in the history of Chinese culture.