Li Shizhen, whose courtesy name was Dongbi and whose nickname was Binhu, was from Qi, Hubei (now Qichun County, Hubei Province). He was born in the 13th year of Zhengde of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1518) and died in the 21st year of Wanli of Shenzong. (A.D. 1593). His father, Li Yan, was a famous local doctor. Li Shizhen inherited her family knowledge, especially herbal medicine, and was full of practical spirit and willing to learn from the working people. When Li Shizhen was thirty-eight years old, she was summoned by the King of Chu in Wuchang to serve as the "Fengcizheng" of the palace and also in charge of the affairs of the Good Doctor's Office. Three years later, he was recommended to Beijing to serve as a judge at the Taiyuan Hospital. Taiyuan Hospital was a medical institution dedicated to serving the palace. At that time, it was made into a mess by some quack doctors. Li Shizhen only served here for one year before resigning and returning to his hometown. Li Shizhen referred to more than 800 medical and academic books from past dynasties, combined with his own experience and investigation and research, and spent 27 years compiling the book "Compendium of Materia Medica", which is a comprehensive masterpiece of pharmacology before the Ming Dynasty in my country. It is highly praised at home and abroad, and has been translated or abridged in several languages. He also wrote books such as "Binhu Pulsology" and "Eight Meridians of Qijing".

The Li family has been practicing medicine for generations, and his grandfather is the "Ling Doctor". Father Li Yanwen, nicknamed Yuechi, is a famous local doctor. 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 and take the exam so that he could succeed and stand out. Li Shizhen was frail and sickly since she was a child, but she had an upright and innocent personality and disdained the boring eight-part essay. In the nine years since he was admitted as a scholar at the age of fourteen, he went to Wuchang three times to take the exam and his average ranking was lower than Sun Shan. Therefore, he gave up his plan to become an official in the imperial examination and concentrated on studying medicine. He asked his father for advice and expressed his determination: "My body is like a boat against the current, and my heart is stronger than iron and stone. I hope that my father will fulfill his ambitions and he will not be afraid of difficulties until death." Li Yuechi said in Coldness Faced with the fact, he finally woke up, agreed to his son's request, and taught him carefully. Within a few years, Li Shizhen became a very famous doctor.

Compendium of Materia Medica has fifty-two volumes, divided into sixteen parts and sixty categories. It was written in 1578. *** has collected 1,892 kinds of medicines recorded by various herbalists in the past dynasties, including 1,094 kinds of botanical medicines. There are 798 kinds of minerals, animals and other medicines, 374 of which were newly added by Li. Each medicine first has a correct name and a title, followed by explanations, correctives and errors, and a detailed description of the symptoms; thirdly, the smell, indications, and accompanying prescriptions explain the physical use. The content is extremely rich and is a valuable heritage of Chinese pharmacology, making a significant contribution to the development of pharmacology in later generations.

The story of "Compendium of Materia Medica" During the more than ten years of practicing medicine, Li Shizhen read a large number of ancient medical books. Through clinical practice, he discovered that the ancient Materia Medica books "are troublesome in number and have many names. Or one thing can be analyzed" They are two or three, or two things are mixed into one grade" ("The History of the Ming Dynasty"). In particular, many of the toxic drugs are thought to prolong life if taken for a long time, causing endless disasters. Therefore, he decided to re-compile a Materia Medica book. He began to ponder this matter when he was thirty-one years old. In order to "search for everything", Li Shizhen read a large number of reference books. After finishing reading the books in his family collection, he took advantage of the opportunity of practicing medicine to borrow them from the wealthy families in his hometown. Later, after entering Prince Chu's Mansion in Wuchang and Beijing Taiyuan Hospital, I read more books and became a "book addict". He said in his own words that "I have been addicted to classics for a long time, just like eating cane sweets" (original preface of "Compendium of Materia Medica"). In "The Biography of Li Shizhen", Gu Jingxing also praised him for "having studied for ten years without leaving the house, and was extremely knowledgeable about everything." He not only read more than 800 kinds of medical books with more than 10,000 volumes, but also read many famous works of history, geography and literature, as well as Dunhuang classics and historical masterpieces, and even carefully studied the complete works of several great poets of the previous generation.

He also excerpted a large number of poems about medicine. And these poems did give him a lot of real and useful medical knowledge and helped him correct many fallacies in medicine made by his predecessors. For example, in ancient medical books, "owls and ducks" often appear. What do they refer to? Is there a difference? Pharmacologists throughout the ages have had divergent opinions and debated endlessly. Li Shizhen quoted two sentences from Qu Yuan's "Li Sao": "The general will compete with the chickens and ducks for food" and "The general will be like a duck in the water", and pointed out that the poet used the word "bird" and "bird" in parallel, which means that they are not the same. Evidence of breeding birds. Based on the descriptions of their different living environments in the poem, he proved that the "pheasant" is a domestic duck and the "falcon" is a wild duck, with different medicinal properties. Qu Yuan's poems actually became Li Shizhen's eloquent basis for verifying the name and reality of medicines. In the process of compiling the "Compendium of Materia Medica", the biggest headache for Li Shizhen was the confusion of drug names, which made the shape and growth conditions of the drugs very unclear.

Although the past Materia Medica has been repeatedly explained, some authors did not conduct in-depth actual investigation and research, but copied and "guessed on paper" from books, so the more they explained, the more confused they became, and the contradictions became more frequent. It makes people confused. Take the medicine Polygala for example. Tao Hongjing, a famous medical scientist in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, said that it is a small grass, like ephedra, but green in color and with white flowers. However, Ma Zhi of the Song Dynasty thought that it resembled Daqing and blamed Tao Hongjing for not knowing Polygala at all. Another example is the medicine Gouji. Some say it resembles 萆袢, some say it resembles 萆豢, and some say it resembles Guanzhong. The opinions are extremely inconsistent. There were many situations like this, and Li Shizhen had to put down her writing again and again. How to solve these problems?

Inspired by his father, Li Shizhen realized that "reading thousands of books" is certainly necessary, but "traveling thousands of miles" is even more indispensable. Therefore, he not only "searched for Baishi" but also "interviewed all parties" to conduct in-depth actual investigations. Li Shizhen put on straw sandals, carried a medicine basket, and accompanied by her apprentice Pang Xian and son Jianyuan, traveled far into the mountains and wilderness, visited famous doctors and scholars, searched for folk prescriptions, and observed and collected drug specimens.

He first conducted interviews in his hometown of Qizhou. Later, he went out for interviews many times. In addition to Huguang, I have also visited many places in Jiangxi, Jiangsu, and Anhui. I have also been to Mount Taihe in Junzhou. Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi Province, which is rich in medicinal materials, and Sheshan Mountain, Maoshan Mountain and Niushou Mountain in Nanjing, may also have his footprints. Later generations wrote poems about this, "Products from far-off and remote places, adventures to explore the beauty of the foothills", reflecting his life of traveling long distances and interviewing people from all over. Everywhere Li Shizhen went, she humbly asked all kinds of people. Among them are those who collect herbs, those who farm, those who fish, those who cut firewood, and those who hunt. Enthusiastically help him learn about various medications. For example, brassica is a commonly used medicine for treating diseases. But what does it look like? "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" can't explain it clearly, and various commentaries can't figure it out either. Li Shizhen asked an old man who grew vegetables. After his guidance and inspection of the real thing, he realized that brassica is actually rapeseed. This plant is sown in the first year and blooms in the second year. The seeds can be squeezed for oil. Therefore, this medicine was clearly annotated in his "Compendium of Materia Medica".

Whether in interviews or in her own medicine garden, Li Shizhen pays great attention to observing the shape and growth of medicines.

Qi Snake is the white-flowered snake native to Qizhou. This medicine has the functions of treating wind paralysis, convulsions, tinea and leprosy. Li Shizhen has long studied it. But at first, just observe from the snake traders. An insider reminded him that it was caught from the mountains of Xingguozhou in the south of the Yangtze River and was not a real akid snake. So what does a real snake look like? He asked a snake catcher for advice. The man told him that the tips of the snake's teeth were highly venomous. If a person is bitten, his limbs must be amputated immediately, otherwise he will die from poisoning. It has special effects in treating the above-mentioned diseases, so it is very valuable. The state officials forced the people to risk their lives to catch him in order to pay tribute to the emperor. Qizhou is so big, but the real Qi snake can only be found on Longfeng Mountain in the north of the city. Li Shizhen wanted to find out the truth and wanted to observe the snake with his own eyes, so he asked the snake catcher to take him to Longfeng Mountain. There is a Suanni Cave there, surrounded by rugged rocks and thick bushes. Heather vines twining around shrubs are everywhere. Akid snakes like to eat the flowers and leaves of heather vines, so they live in this area. Li Shizhen ignored the danger and searched everywhere. With the help of the snake catcher, I finally saw the snake with my own eyes and saw the whole process of catching and preparing the snake. Because of this in-depth practical investigation, when he later wrote about the white-flowered snake in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", he was able to speak concisely and accurately. It is said that the shape of the Ki snake is: "a dragon's head and a tiger's mouth, black matter and white flowers, twenty-four square shengwen on its flanks, a rosary spot on its abdomen, four long teeth on its mouth, a Buddha's nail on its tail, one or two points long, and its intestine is shaped like a string of beads"; It is said that the process of catching and making akid snakes is: "People often find them by eating their flowers and leaves on heather vines. Sprinkle a handful of sand first, so that the snake does not move, and then take it with a fork. Hang it with a rope. The knife breaks the abdomen to remove the intestines, then the tail is turned to wash the abdomen, and the wound is covered with a bamboo support, bent and coiled, and tied to the kang stem." At the same time, the difference between the ki snake and the white flower snake from other places was also clarified. Place: "Those who leave the land of Qi are dry but have clear eyesight, but those who are elsewhere are not." Such a clear description of the various situations of the Qi Snake is certainly due to the meticulous field investigation. Li Shizhen understands medicines and is not satisfied with a superficial investigation. Instead, she looks at them one by one and compares them with the actual objects. This clarified many specious and ambiguous drugs. In his words, "Looking at them one by one, they are quite true", "listing all the items and looking at them repeatedly".

At that time, the "Langmei" produced in Wulong Palace in Mount Taihe was said by Taoist priests to have eaten "the fairy fruit that can lead to immortality".

They picked it back every year and paid tribute to the emperor. The government strictly prohibits other people from picking it. Li Shizhen didn't believe the Taoist priests' lies and wanted to try it himself to see what effect it had. So, despite the objections of the Taoist priests, he took the risk and picked one. After research, it was found that its effect is the same as that of ordinary peaches and apricots. It can produce fluid and quench thirst. It is a deformed elm tree fruit and has no special effects. Dace, also known as pangolin today, was a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine in the past. Tao Hongjing said that it can live on both land and water. During the day, it can climb up rocks, open its scales, pretend to be dead, lure ants into its armor, then close its scales, dive into the water, and then open its armor to let the ants emerge, and then devour them. . In order to know whether Tao Hongjing's statement was correct, Li Shizhen went up to the mountain to observe it personally. With the help of woodcutter and hunter, a pangolin was caught. About a liter of ants was cut out from its stomach, confirming that Tao Hongjing was right that pangolins eat ants. However, from observation, he found that when pangolins eat ants, they scratch open the ant nests and lick the food instead of luring the ants into the armor and swallowing them in the water. Li Shizhen affirmed Tao Hongjing's right side and corrected his mistakes.

In this way, after long-term field investigation, Li Shizhen clarified many difficult problems with drugs, and completed the compilation of "Compendium of Materia Medica" in the Wuyin year of Wanli (1578 AD). The book contains about 2 million words, 52 volumes, 1,892 kinds of drugs, 374 new drugs, more than 10,000 prescriptions, and more than 1,000 pictures. It has become an unprecedented masterpiece of pharmacology in my country. Among them, he corrected many mistakes of his predecessors, made outstanding achievements in many aspects such as animal and plant taxonomy, and also made contributions to other related disciplines (biology, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, astronomy, etc.). Darwin praised it as "the encyclopedia of ancient China".

2. Li Shizhen’s career in the Taiyuan Hospital

During the period from 1551 to 1556, the feudal emperor recruited medical officers and ordered people from all over the country to select people with superb medical skills to work in the Taiyuan Hospital. So Li Shizhen, who was in the Chu Palace in Wuchang, was also recommended to Beijing.

There are many debates in the historical circles about Li Shizhen’s experience of working in Taiyuan Hospital. Some people think that Li Shizhen once served as the judge of Taiyuan Hospital (the sixth grade), but others think that he only served as an imperial physician (the eighth grade). ). Regardless of his position, it is an undeniable fact that Li Shizhen was recommended to the court. His work experience in Taiyuan Hospital may have had a major impact on his life and laid a good foundation for his creation of "Compendium of Materia Medica".

During this period, Li Shizhen was very active in drug research. He often visited the pharmacy and imperial medicine warehouse of Taiyuan Hospital, carefully compared and identified medicine villages across the country, and collected a large amount of information. He also had the opportunity to browse through the rich classics collected by the palace and the royal family. At the same time, he may also have obtained a large amount of folk herbal medicine-related information from the court at that time, and saw many medicinal specimens that were difficult to see in ordinary times, which greatly inspired him. It broadened horizons and enriched the field of knowledge. When talking about this point, we must contact another famous herbal book written by Gong Xiu of the Ming Dynasty - "The Essence of Materia Medica".

In 2002, the Chinese Culture Research Association photocopied the full text of "The Essence of Materia Medica", which was a national book compiled by Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty in August of the 16th year of Hongzhi (1503). Pharmacopoeia. Under the organization of Liu Wentai, the eunuch of the department, a editing team was formed with 9 positions including governor, promotion, president, vice president, editor, and medicine inspector, including 49 people including transcribers and painters. . After one and a half years of revision, the compilation of the Pharmacopoeia was completed. The compiler followed the old order of "Zheng Lei Materia Medica" written by Tang Shenwei of the Song Dynasty and divided the medicinal materials into 10 parts, such as jade, grass, wood, and fruit. Each part was compiled for the upper, middle, and lower grades. The whole book included medicines in 1815. The main text is written in red and ink. There are 1,358 exquisite color sketches before the main text, making it the first large-scale color picture book in China. At the same time, the compiler also abandoned the relatively mature engraving and printing technology at that time, and used 14 craftsmen to color-code the text, and 8 palace painters to draw. After the book was completed, Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty wrote the preface himself, and bound it into 36 volumes in the format of the "Yongle Dadian", which was preserved in nanmu boxes. It was an orthodox copy for the court of the Ming Dynasty.

However, only two months after the completion of this book, Ming Xiaozong died unexpectedly, and the cause of his death became a huge mystery. Among the 49 people who compiled the original book, 12 were suspected of murdering Emperor Xiaozong and were investigated. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty pharmacopoeia "Ben Cao Pin Hui Jing Yao" has been sealed in the palace treasury.

It was later hidden in the National Library of Rome in 1877 through unknown means.

Li Shizhen entered the Taiyuan Hospital about 50 years ago. It is impossible for him to know nothing about the past. At this time, Ming Wuzong, who succeeded Xiaozong, had passed away, and Ming Shizong had been emperor for more than 30 years. He may not have paid any more attention to the mysterious case of his death. Therefore, the "Essentials of Materia Medica" sealed in the palace may not be made public. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that Li Shizhen was lucky enough to see this book while working in Tai Hospital. It was precisely for this reason that he wanted to compile a new herbal monograph that could go beyond this book. However, it was impossible to satisfy his ideas and realize his wishes in the working environment of Taiyuan Hospital, because Li Shizhen was indifferent to fame and honor, so I didn't work in Tai Hospital for too long, so I resigned and returned home due to illness.

3. The significant contribution of "Compendium of Materia Medica"

During the period before and after Li Shizhen took office in Taiyuan Hospital, after a long period of preparation, Li Shizhen began writing "Compendium of Materia Medica". During the compilation process, he wore straw sandals and carried a medicine basket, took his students and his son Jianyuan, and traveled over mountains and ridges to visit doctors and collect medicines. He traveled to Henan, Hebei, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and other vast areas, as well as He traveled thousands of miles to visit famous mountains and rivers such as Niushou Mountain, Sheshan Mountain, Maoshan Mountain, and Taihe Mountain, listened to the opinions of tens of millions of people, and read more than 800 kinds of books. It took 27 years, and finally when he was 61 years old ( 1578) was written.

Compendium of Materia Medica consists of 16 parts, 52 volumes, and about 1.9 million words. The book contains 1,518 kinds of medicines collected by various herbalists, and 374 more kinds of medicines are included on the basis of previous works, totaling 1,892 kinds, including 1,195 kinds of plants; 11,096 ancient pharmacologists and folk prescriptions are included in the book; 1,100 pictures of drug forms are attached at the front of the book. remainder. This great work absorbs the essence of previous herbal works, corrects previous mistakes and supplements the shortcomings as much as possible, and has many important discoveries and breakthroughs. It is the most systematic, complete and scientific medical work in my country until the 16th century.

Facing the vast treasure house of herbal medicine, how to control and manipulate it has become the most critical issue. It can be said that this is one of Li Shizhen's greatest contributions. He not only solved problems such as the method and retrieval of drugs, but more importantly, he embodied his new insights into plant taxonomy and his valuable thoughts on biological evolution and development. Li Shizhen broke the three-grade classification system of upper, middle and lower grades that had been followed for more than a thousand years since the "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", and divided medicines into water, fire, earth, gold and stone, grass, grain, Raisin, fruit, wood and utensils. There are 16 parts including clothes, insects, scales, media, birds, beasts and humans, including 60 categories. Each medicine label is renamed as "gang", and the items are listed under the "gang". The outline is clear. The book also systematically records the knowledge of various medicines. It includes corrections, explanations of names, interpretations, corrections, corrections, smells, indications, inventions, appendices, appendices, etc. It is described in great detail from the history, form, function, and prescriptions of the medicine. Especially the "invention" is mainly Li Shizhen's new discoveries and new experiences in drug observation, research and practical application, which further enriches the knowledge of herbal medicine.

According to the research of Mr. Ma Yuanjun, the artificial classification method created by Li Shizhen in botany is to classify plants that are similar in practicality and morphology into various types and hierarchically. Scientific methods of classification. Li Shizhen first classified more than a thousand kinds of plants into five categories (that is, grass, order, vegetable, fruit, and grain as the main link) based on their economic uses, body shape, habits, and content, and then divided them into 30 categories Categories (for example, 9 categories of grasses, 6 categories of woody parts, 7 categories of vegetables and fruits, and 5 categories of cereals are the order), and then divided into several categories. He not only suggested the genetic relationships between plants, but also unified the naming methods of many plants.

In short, Li Shizhen used the method of selecting the purpose by outline to re-analyze and organize the various medicinal materials of Materia Medica in the past dynasties following the "Compendium of Materia Medica", making the nearly 2 million-word masterpiece of Materia Medica rigorous in style, clear in layers, and focused on key points. It is highlighted and the content is detailed. It is actually "broad but not complicated, and the details are important".

Although "Compendium of Materia Medica" is a pharmacological monograph, it also records many contents that are closely related to clinical practice. The third and fourth volumes of the original book are "Indicative Medicines for All Diseases", which record the main medicines for 113 kinds of diseases. The third volume of the third volume includes special medicines for treating typhoid fever, cough, asthma and other miscellaneous diseases due to external infections and internal injuries. The fourth volume mainly covers diseases of the facial features, surgery, gynecology, and pediatrics.

The original book clearly states that the medicines that can treat plague include: Cimicifuga, mugwort leaves, wax snow, cinnabar, actinolite, gunpowder, Daqing, ephedra, clematis, humulus, cannabis, soybean, gourd, bamboo shoots, and pears. There are more than 20 species including pine, polyporus, bamboo, stone swallow, rhinoceros, peach beetle, etc.

In addition, "Compendium of Materia Medica" contains 11,096 appendix prescriptions of various types, involving various clinical disciplines, including internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, ENT, etc., of which more than 2,900 are old prescriptions, and the rest All are new. The treatment scope is mainly common diseases and frequently-occurring diseases, and the dosage forms used are pills, powders, ointments, and pills. Many of the prescriptions are scientific, simple, inexpensive, and extremely practical. For example, prescriptions for treating coughs can be found in the prescriptions of many medicines. Examples are as follows:

Pulmonary asthma: 2 liang of Aristolochia (shell and membrane removed), half a liang of crispy rice (put into a bowl) Mix well, stir-fry over low heat until dry), add one or two licorice (broil), and make it into powder. Take 1 qian for each dose, 1 cup of water, decoct for 6 minutes, sip or sip while warm.

Asthma and phlegm cough: Duck Palm Powder: use five gingko biloba, two and a half qian of ephedra, and two qian of licorice (zhuang). Stir in water for one and a half minutes, boil for eight minutes, and take it while lying down. Jinling Yipu also used Ginkgo Dingchuan Decoction to treat asthma, and every time he took it it was ineffective, and he started his career with it. Prescription: use twenty-one gingko (fried yellow), three qian of ephedra, two qian of perilla, two qian each of coltsfoot, French pinellia, mulberry bark (honey-grilled), almonds (peeled tips), skullcap ( Lightly fried) one and a half qian each, licorice one qian. Three minutes of water, two minutes of boiling, divided into two doses at any time. No need for ginger.

Cough due to lung heat and phlegm, chest and diaphragm congestion: use one or two each of Trichosanthes trichosanthes and Pinellia ternata (soak seven times, roast and grind). The ginger juice batter balls are as big as Wuzi. Take 50 pills each time and drink ginger soup after eating.

Therefore, "Compendium of Materia Medica" also has high reference value in clinical treatment.

4. The most famous Jinling edition of "Compendium of Materia Medica" and other versions are circulated

"Compendium of Materia Medica" was drafted in 1578, and was finally finalized after three revisions. In order to publish the book as soon as possible, Li Shizhen went to Taicang and Nanjing twice in 1580 and 1590, regardless of his age and frailty, and asked Wang Shizhen, a contemporary writer and former minister of the Ministry of Justice, to write a preface. Later, Hu Chenglong, a publishing bookseller in Jinling, agreed to engrave the book. From 1590 (the 18th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty) to 1593 (the 21st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty), it took four years to complete the carving. When the original book was about to be published, Li Shizhen passed away and was unable to witness the publication of his hard work. Three years later, in 1596, the entire "Compendium of Materia Medica" was published in Nanjing, known as the Jinling Edition in history. At present, this version has become a world treasure and there are not many left in the world. According to research by Professor Makoto Mayanagi, a famous Japanese medical history scholar, the collection status of this book around the world is as follows