Li Shizhen, character Dongbi, No. Lianhu, a native of Hubei Herb (present-day Herb County, Hubei Province), was born in the thirteenth year of Zhengde of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty (1518 A.D.), and died in the twenty-first year of the reign of Emperor Wanli of the Shenzong Dynasty (1593 A.D.). His father, Li Yanwen Shi, was a famous doctor in the area. Li Shizhen inherited his family's knowledge, paying particular attention to materia medica, and was rich in the spirit of practice, willing to learn from the working masses. When Li Shizhen was thirty-eight years old, he was summoned by the King of Chu in Wuchang to be the "Ancestral Temple Director" of the King's residence, who 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. The Imperial Hospital was a medical institution specially designed for the court, which was made a mess by some quacks at that time. Li Shizhen only served here for one year, then resigned and returned to his hometown. Li Shizhen had referred to more than 800 kinds of books about medicine and its academic books in the past dynasties, combined with his own experience and research, and compiled the book "Compendium of Materia Medica" in 27 years, which is the summarized masterpiece of China's pharmacology before Ming Dynasty. It has been highly evaluated both at home and abroad, and has been translated or abridged in several languages. He has also written books such as "The Pulse of the Endangered Lake" and "Examination of the Eight Channels of the Curious Meridian".
The Li family has been practicing medicine for generations, and his grandfather was a "bell doctor". His father, Li Yanwen, was a famous local doctor. At that time, the status of private doctors was very low. The Li family was often bullied by government officials. 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 was weak and sickly since he was a child, but his character was straight and innocent, and he did not care to learn the empty and boring eight-legged literature. Since the age of fourteen in the nine years after the Cultivation, its three times to Wuchang exams are unsuccessful. Therefore, he gave up his intention to become an official, and concentrated on studying medicine, so he begged his father and showed his determination: "The body is like a boat against the current, and the heart is stronger than iron. I hope that my father will fulfill my ambition, and 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 really became a very famous doctor.
The Compendium of Materia Medica **** fifty-two volumes, divided into sixteen parts and sixty categories. After twenty-seven years (1578) written. * * * * contains all the generations of the herb contained in one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two kinds of drugs, of which 1,094 kinds of plant medicine. There are 798 kinds of minerals, animals and other medicines, and 374 kinds of new medicines were added by Li. Each kind of medicine is firstly named as the outline, with the explanation of the name for the purpose; Secondly, it is set to explain, identify the doubts, correct the errors, detailed description of the production; Again, it is the smell, the main treatment, with the prescription, the description of the body use. The content is extremely rich, is the valuable heritage of China's pharmacology, the development of later generations of pharmacology to make significant contributions.
The story of "Compendium of Materia Medica" in more than ten years of medical practice, Li Shizhen read a large number of ancient medical books, and through clinical practice found that the ancient books of materia medica "the number of items both annoying, the name of the more miscellaneous. Or a thing analyzed into two or three, or two things mixed into a product" ("Ming Wai Shi Ben Chuan"). In particular, many of the toxic medicines were considered to be able to "prolong life by taking them for a long period of time", which would lead to endless trouble. Therefore, he was determined to re-compile a book of materia medica. From the age of thirty-one years old, he began to conceive this matter, in order to "poor search and collect", Li Shizhen read a large number of reference books. The family collection of books read out, the opportunity to use the practice of medicine, to the townships of the big families to borrow. Later, into the Wuchang Chu Wang Fu and the Beijing Imperial Hospital, read more books, simply become a "bibliophile". He described himself as "long delayed addiction to books, like eating sugar cane syrup" (the original preface to the Compendium of Materia Medica). In his biography of Li Shizhen, Gu Jingxing praised him for "studying for ten years without leaving his house, and practicing all that he could. He not only read more than 800 medical books and 10,000 volumes, but also many historical, geographical, and literary works, as well as the great works of history and history at Dunhuang, and even the collected works of several great poets of the previous generation.
He also extracted a large number of poems about medicine from them. And these verses did give him a lot of real and useful knowledge of medicine, and helped him to correct many of the fallacies of his predecessors in medicine. For example, in ancient medical books, "rushing and eider" often appear. What do they refer to? Is there a difference? Pharmacists through the ages have different opinions, debate. Li Shizhen quoted Qu Yuan "Li Sao" in the "will compete with chickens and rushes for food," "will be flooded as if the water of the mallard," two lines, pointing out that the poet put "rushes" and He pointed out that the poet's use of the terms "rushing" and "eider" is a clear proof that they are not the same kind of birds. He also according to the poem on their different living environment, proving that "rushes" is a domestic duck, "eider" is a wild duck, different medicinal properties. Qu Yuan's poems and fugitives, but became Li Shizhen test drug names and facts of the eloquent basis. In the process of writing the "Compendium of Materia Medica", the most so that Li Shizhen headache is due to the mixture of drug names, so that the shape of the drug and the growth of the situation is very unclear. 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 North and South Dynasties, the famous medicine Tao Hongjing said it is small grass, like ephedra, but the color green, white flowers, the Song Dynasty, Ma Zhi think 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 oil, some say it is like pulling the sparrow, some say it is like Guanzhong, the statement is very inconsistent. Similar to this situation, Li Shizhen had to stop writing again and again. These difficulties how to solve it?
In his father's revelation, Li Shizhen realized that, "read thousands of books" is certainly necessary, but "travel thousands of miles" is more indispensable. So, he both "search for a hundred", and "interviews with the four sides", in-depth practical investigation. Li Shizhen put on the straw shoes, back up the medicine basket, in the apprentice Pang Xian, son of Jianyuan accompanied, far away from the mountains and wilderness, visited the famous doctors and Confucian Confucianism, searching for folk remedies, observation and collection of drug specimens.
He first interviewed in his hometown of Herb State. Later, he traveled many times for interviews. In addition to Hunan and Guangdong, but also to Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, many places. The Tahe Mountain in Junzhou has also been there. Jiangxi Lushan, which is rich in medicinal herbs, and Nanjing's Mount Regency, Mount Maoshan, Mount Niushou, it is estimated that there are also his footprints. The descendants of this wrote "far from poor and remote border of the production, the risk of exploring the foot of the Hua" of the poem, reflecting his long-distance trekking, the four sides of the life of the interview. Li Shizhen every place, to all kinds of characters request. Among them, there are medicine collectors, farmers, fishermen, woodcutters and hunters. 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 did not understand it, nor did 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 the oilseed rape. This plant, the first year under the seed, the second year of flowering, the seeds can be extracted from the oil, so this drug, it is in his "Compendium of Materia Medica" in a clear note out.
Whether in the interview around, or in his own medicine garden, Li Shizhen is very careful to observe the form and growth of the drug.
Herb snake, the white-flowered snake from Herb State. This medicine has the function of curing wind paralysis, convulsion, ringworm and mange. Li Shizhen has long studied it. But at first, only observed 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, he has to amputate his limbs 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 pursued his quest to observe the herps 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 are a lot of heathered vines all over the shrubs. Herb snakes like to eat the flowers and leaves of this vine, 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. Because of this in-depth practical investigation, later in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" when he wrote about the white-flowered snake, it is easy to say concisely and accurately. Said the form of the snake is: "the dragon head tiger mouth, black texture white flowers, coercion has twenty-four Fang Sheng Wen, abdomen has a 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 ShiNanVine on the leaves and flowers of the food, the people to find it. First sprinkle a handful of sand and soil, then coiled and immobile, with a fork to take it. Suspended by a rope, the knife breaks the abdomen to remove the intestinal material, then the reverse tail washing its abdomen, cover the protection of the trauma, it is a bamboo support fixed, bending coiled up, tied kang dry." At the same time, it also clarifies the difference between the herp snake and the white-flowered snake in the field: "The one who comes out of the herp land, though dried up, but the vision is not sunken, and the one who is in other places is not carried out." Such a clear account of the various conditions of the herb snake, of course, is due to the meticulous field investigation. Li Shizhen understand the drug, and not satisfied with the survey, but one by one to pick and see, compared with the physical check. This clarifies a lot of plausible, ambiguous drugs. In his words, it is "one by one, quite true", "list of products, repeatedly look at".
At that time, the five dragons of Taihe Mountain Palace produced "hammer plum", was said to eat the Taoist priests "can be immortal fruit". They picked it every year and paid tribute to the emperor. The government strictly prohibited others from picking them. Li Shizhen did not believe the Taoist priests, to personally pick to try to see what it really has the effect of attack. 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, was a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine in the past. Tao Hongjing said that it can be amphibious, climbing up the rock during the day, open the scale armor, pretending to be dead, luring ants into the armor, then close the scale armor, diving 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 about a liter of ants, confirming that the pangolin animal ant-eating 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 the Tao Hongjing right side, corrected its error.
In this way, Li Shizhen, after a long period of field investigation, clarified many difficult problems of drugs, and completed the preparation of the Compendium of Materia Medica in the year of Wanli Wuyin (1578 AD). The book has about 2 million words, 52 volumes, 1892 kinds of medicines, 374 kinds of new medicines, more than 10,000 kinds of prescriptions, more than 1,000 pictures, which has become an unprecedented masterpiece of pharmacology in China. It corrected many mistakes of the predecessors, had outstanding achievements in many aspects such as taxonomy of plants and animals, and also contributed to other related disciplines (biology, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, astronomy, etc.). Darwin praised it as "the ancient Chinese encyclopedia".
Two, Li Shizhen's career in the Imperial Hospital
In the period of 1551-1556, the feudal emperor called for a medical officer, and ordered that people with excellent medical skills should be selected to work in the Imperial Hospital, and Li Shizhen, who was in the palace of the King of Chu in Wuchang, was also recommended to Beijing.
About Li Shizhen's experience in the Imperial Hospital, there are many debates in the historiography, some people believe that Li Shizhen had served as a judge of the Imperial Hospital (sixth grade), but some people believe that he only served as an imperial physician (eighth grade). Regardless of his position, it is undeniable that Li Shizhen was recommended to the court. It is possible that his work experience at the Imperial Hospital had a major impact on his life, setting the stage for his creation of the Compendium of Materia Medica.
During this period, Li Shizhen was very actively engaged in drug research, often in and out of the pharmacy of the Imperial Hospital and the Royal Pharmacy, carefully comparing and identifying medicinal herbs from all over the country, and collected a large amount of information, and at the same time, he also had the opportunity to look through the rich collection of books in the royal family and the royal collection, while at the same time he may have also obtained a large amount of information about the folk herbs related to the time from the court, and saw a lot of specimens of medicines that are usually difficult to see. Many usually difficult to see the drug specimens, so that he greatly broadened his horizons, enriched the field of knowledge. Talking about this, it is necessary to link to the Ming Dynasty Palace repair of another famous herb book - "the essence of the herb Pinhui".
In 2002, the Chinese Cultural Research Council photocopied the full text of the publication of the "Herbal Compendium", the book is the Ming Emperor in Hongzhi 16 years (1503) in August under the imperial edict of the Imperial Hospital to compile a national pharmacopeia. Under the organization of Liu Wentai, the eunuch of the Division, a compilation team consisting of nine positions, including governor, transfer, president, vice president, usurpation of the repair and inspection of medicines, including transcribing and painting personnel **** 49 people. After a year and a half of revisions, the compilation of the pharmacopoeia was completed. Compilers in accordance with the order of the Song Tang Shenwei's "class of evidence of the herb" old cases, the medicine is divided into jade, grass, wood, fruit and other 10 parts, each part of the upper, middle and lower three products written, the whole book **** collection of 1815 kinds of drugs, the main body of the text with the two colors of ink and write. Before the text is painted with beautiful color sketch as many as 1,358, is China's first large-scale coloring books. At the same time, the compiler also gave up the then more mature engraving and printing technology, but by 14 craftsmen color writing text, 8 court painter is responsible for drawing. After the completion of the book, by the Ming Xiaozong personally wrote a preface, and modeled after the "Yongle Dazhen" format framed into 36 books, into the nanmu box for preservation, is the orthodox copy of the Ming court.
But only two months after the completion of the book, Ming Xiaozong accidentally "death", the cause of his death became a big mystery. And the original book compiler of 49 people in 12 people suspected of murdering Emperor Xiaozong, was investigated, so the Ming Dynasty pharmacopeia "Herbal Compendium Essentials" has been sealed in the palace treasury. After unknown through what way in 1877 into the National Library of Rome.
Li Shizhen was in about 50 years from the incident into the Imperial Hospital, he could not be the former dynasty old things know nothing. And at this time after Xiaozong succeeded Ming Wuzong has died, Ming Shizong has also served as emperor for more than 30 years, the deceased may not care about the case, so sealed in the palace of the "Herbal Compendium Essentials" may be in the case of non-public can be glimpsed, can not be ruled out that Li Shizhen in the Imperial Hospital during the work of the book is very fortunate to see. It is also for this reason, prompted him to want to compile a new monograph beyond this book of materia medica, and the working environment in the hospital is not possible to meet his ideas, to realize the desire, because Li Shizhen light on the fame and glory, so in the hospital did not serve for too long, resigned on the sick and returned home.
Three, "Compendium of Materia Medica" significant contribution
In a period of time before and after Li Shizhen served in the Tai Hospital, after a long time of preparation, Li Shizhen began the "Compendium of Materia Medica" writing. In the process of writing, he wore straw shoes, carrying a basket of medicines, with students and his son Jianyuan, over the mountains, visit the doctor to collect medicines, footprints throughout the vast areas of Henan, Hebei, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and other large mountains and rivers such as Niu Shou Mountain, Regent Mountain, Maoshan Mountain, Taihe Mountain, etc., traveled tens of thousands of miles of road, listened to the views of millions of people, refer to a variety of books more than 800 kinds of books, which lasted 27 years, and finally at the age of 61 years old, he （
The book was written at the age of 61 in 1578.
The Compendium of Materia Medica is composed of 16 parts, 52 volumes, and about 1.9 million words. The whole book includes 1518 kinds of drugs collected by the herbal medicine, 374 kinds of drugs collected on the basis of the predecessor, a total of 1892 kinds of drugs, of which 1195 kinds of plants; *** recorded by ancient pharmacists and folk prescription 11096; the book is accompanied by more than 1,100 drug morphology charts. This great work absorbed the essence of the works on materia medica of the past generations, corrected the previous mistakes as much as possible, supplemented the deficiencies, and made many important discoveries and breakthroughs. It is one of the most systematic, complete and scientific works on medicine in China up to the 16th century.
Faced with the vast treasure trove of herbs, how to harness and manipulate it became the most critical issue. It can be said that this is one of Li Shizhen's greatest contributions. He not only solved the problems of the way and retrieval of medicines, but more importantly embodied his new insights into the taxonomic aspects of plants, as well as the valuable idea of biological evolutionary development. Li Shizhen broke the classification of upper, middle and lower products, which had been inherited for more than a thousand years since Shennong Ben Cao Jing, and categorized medicines into water, fire, earth, gold and stone, grass, grain, ley, fruit, wood, ware and clothing, insects, scales, meshes, fowl, beasts, and people*** in 16 parts, including 60 categories. Each drug labeling is called the outline, the outline of the following subheadings, the outline is clear. The book is also a systematic account of the knowledge of various drugs. Including corrections, interpretation of the name, set of explanations, correct errors, repair, odor, main treatment, invention, appendix, prescription, etc., from the history of the drug, morphology to function, prescription, etc., the narrative is very detailed. Especially the "invention", mainly Li Shizhen's observation, research and practical application of drugs, new discoveries, new experience, which enriches the knowledge of herbology.
According to Mr. Ma Yuanjun's research, the artificial classification method created by Li Shizhen in botany is a kind of family method according to the similarity of the plants in utility and morphology, which is classified into various categories and categorized according to the hierarchy step by step. Li Shizhen will be more than a thousand kinds of plants, according to its economic use and physical form, habit and contents of the different, first of all, large similar substances upward into five departments (i.e., grass, order, vegetables, fruits, cereals for the outline), the Department of the Department is divided into 30 categories (such as grass, 9 classes, wood, 6 classes, vegetables, fruits, 7 classes of cereals, cereals, 5 classes for the purpose of the Department of the eye), and then divided into a number of species downward. He not only hinted at the kinship between plants, but also unified the nomenclature of many plants.
In short, Li Shizhen used to outline the purpose of the method, the "Materia Medica Classic" following the generations of Materia Medica a variety of drug information, re-analysis and organization, so that nearly 2 million words of Materia Medica monumental rigorous, hierarchical, focused, detailed, it is "Bo and not complicated, detailed face to have to".
While "Compendium of Materia Medica" is a pharmacological monograph, but it also recorded a very close relationship with the clinical content of many. The third and fourth volumes of the original book for the "main cure for all diseases", recorded 113 kinds of diseases of the main cure for drugs, including the third volume of the external and internal injuries in the miscellaneous diseases, including special treatment of typhoid fever, cough, wheezing type of drugs, the fourth volume of the main for the five senses, surgical, gynecological, and pediatrics diseases. In the original book, it is clearly stated that the medicines that can treat plague are: Ascophyllum, Ailanthus, Laxue, Dansha, Yangqishi, Gunpowder, Daqing, Ephedra, Weilingxian, Humulus humilis, Cannabis sativus, Edamame, Hulhu, Bamboo shoots, Pear, Pine, Inulin, Bamboo, Shiyan, Rhinoceros, Peach Borer, and so on, there are more than 20 kinds of medicines.
In addition, the Materia Medica Compendium contains 11,096 prescriptions of various kinds, involving various clinical disciplines, including internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, and ophthalmology, etc., of which more than 2,900 are old prescriptions, and the rest are new prescriptions. The scope of treatment to common diseases, common diseases, the dosage form is also pills, dispersions, creams and dans, and many formulas have both scientific science, but also simple and inexpensive characteristics, very practical. Such as the treatment of cough disease prescription, that is, in a variety of drugs in the prescription, for example:
Pulmonary gas asthma: aristolochia two two (shells and membranes), crisp half a two (into the bowl mix, slow fire fried dry), licorice (roasted) one or two, for the end. Each serving of one money, water, fried six minutes, warm sip or hold in.
Asthma and phlegm cough: duck palm: with five ginkgo, ephedra two and a half, licorice (hot) two money. Water a bell and a half, fried eight minutes, lying down to take. And Jinling a store for asthma, white fruit asthma soup, served without effect, the person who started this. The formula: with twenty-one fruits (fried yellow), ephedra three money, two money Su Zi, paragraph winter flowers, the law of half-summer, mulberry white skin (honey-roasted) each two money, almonds (remove the tip of the skin), Scutellaria baicalensis (fried) each one and a half money, licorice one money. Water three bells, decoct two bells, at any time divided into two doses. The first thing you need to do is to take a few minutes and then take a few minutes and then take a few minutes.
Lung heat and phlegm cough, chest and diaphragm congestion: with Juniperus vulgaris, half Xia (soup soak seven times, roasted) each one or two. Ginger juice batter pills sycamore size. Each serving fifty pills, after eating ginger soup down.
Therefore, the Materia Medica also has a real high reference value in clinical treatment.
Four, "Materia Medica" the most famous Jinling version and other versions of the circulation
"Materia Medica" off the draft in 1578, and after three repeated revisions was finally finalized. In order to publish the book as soon as possible, Li Shizhen, despite his advanced age and frailty, traveled to Taicang and Nanjing twice, in 1580 and 1590, to ask Wang Shizhen, a contemporary writer and former Minister of Justice, to write a preface, which was then engraved and printed by the Jinling publisher Hu Chenglong. From 1590 (Ming Wanli 18 years), to 1593 (Ming Wanli 21 years), before and after four years to complete all carved. When the original book was about to be published, Li Shizhen bid farewell to the world and did not witness the release of his own work. Three years later, in 1596, all the books of the Compendium of Materia Medica were published in Nanjing, known as the Jinling edition. The edition has now become a world treasure and not many copies exist. According to the research of Prof. Makayanagi, a famous scholar of medical history and literature in Japan, the collection of this book around the world is as follows (listed in the catalog in parentheses):
1) Japan, the National Library of Public Documents, Cabinet of Ministers, (Bie 42 Hako No. 8)
A full book. A copy of the book dedicated by Naoki Iguchi. This Jinling text in the Cabinet Library was photocopied and published by Orient Publishing House, Osaka, in 1992.
2)Japan, National Diet Library (205-5)
A full book. A book from the old collection of Nakashu Tazawa, later dedicated to the National Diet Library.
3)Japan, Toyo Bunko (11-3-A-c-23)
This is a full book, but part of it is a note supplement, which is from the old collection of Hisaya Iwasaki.
4)Japan, Tohoku University Library, Kano Bunko (Kano 8?21595?36)
A full book. Old collection of Chinese scholar Kano Henkichi.
5)United States, National Library of Congress (G141.76/L61.4)[16]
Full book. Old Japanese collection.
6)China, Library of the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine (0953/Zi 21-1578)
Full book, said to be the old collection of Siken Shanfang.
7)China, Shanghai Library (Good Book 480471-90)
The whole book, which was photocopied and published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press in 1993. According to its bookmarks, this book was once in the collection of the Shanghai Science and Technology Library before liberation. The earlier bookmark is blurred, only known as "China □□□□ (Academy of Sciences?) Library" of the collection of the bookmark. Library" of the bookmarks.
8)Japan, Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens, Omori Memorial Bunko (38)
Que vols. 19-21 and vols. 47-49 in 6 volumes. This is the old collection of Shirai Koutarou, a botanist.
9)Japan, Takeda Science Promotion Foundation, Apricot Rain Book (593)
Only 10 volumes, volumes 19 to 28***, exist. Old collection of Edo herbalist Ranzan Ono and the late Shogunate examiner of medicine, Ranxuan Izawa.
10) Japan, Miyagi Prefectural Library Date Bunko Ben (30196 I?BR> now only survives in volumes 36 to 38 **** 3 volumes. It has been handed down to the present day through the transfer of the collections of the Yasuinin Temple of Quartering, the Keian of Okuda, the Hirosaki clan doctor Shibuie Tessai, and the Date family at the end of the Shogunate, and so on.
In addition to the famous Jinling edition, there are Jiangxi edition, Hubei edition, Hangzhou edition, Benritang edition, etc., which have been engraved more than 60 times in China, and there are also some compendium editions.
The Compendium of Materia Medica not only made significant contributions to the development of pharmacology in China, but also had a profound impact on the development of world medicine, botany, zoology, mineralogy and chemistry. After the publication of the book, it was soon spread to Japan, and later to Europe and the United States, has been translated into Japan, France, Germany, England, Latin, Russia, Korea and other more than ten kinds of text published abroad, spread throughout the five continents. As early as 1951, at the World Peace Council held in Vienna, Li Shizhen was listed as an Ancient World Celebrity; his marble statue stands on the promenade of Moscow University. Li Shizhen has not only made great contributions to Chinese medicine, but also played a great role in promoting the development of natural science in the world, and is regarded as the "Oriental Medicine Dictionary", and Darwin, a famous British biologist, has also benefited from the "Compendium of Materia Medica", calling it the "Ancient Encyclopedia of China". The famous British biologist Darwin also benefited from the Compendium of Materia Medica and called it "the ancient Chinese encyclopedia". Joseph Lee, a renowned British expert on the history of Chinese science and technology, wrote in A History of Science and Technology in China, "There were two major works on natural pharmacology in China in the 16th century, The Essence of the Materia Medica Pinhui at the beginning of the century (1505), and The Materia Medica Compendium at the end of the century (1595), both of which were very great."
Li Shizhen practiced medicine, cherishing the experience of his predecessors and focusing on personal practice, and his medical skills continued to improve. Soon his fame spread throughout the Herb. At that time, the third grandson of the feudal lord in Herb State, Fu Shun Wang Zhu Hou K'un, specially invited him to the Royal Palace for his son to diagnose the disease. This son loves to eat lampblossom, raw rice, mud, Li Shizhen according to the above symptoms, diagnosed as insect disease, so with insecticidal drugs to cure this strange disease.
Soon, the king of Chu, who was a feudal lord in Wuchang, invited Li Shizhen to be his doctor. One day, the king's son suddenly fainted unconscious, Li Shizhen according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, boldly applied Jue vomit, attack the next class of drugs, from the edge of death to save the life of the son. As a result, Li Shizhen was summoned and employed as the king of Chu's residence "Ancestral Temple" (in charge of the sacrificial rites of the official office), and also in charge of the king's residence "good doctor", during which he had cured many diseases, and the king of Chu wanted to pay a large amount of money in appreciation, but they were all rejected by Li Shizhen. This shows that Li Shizhen is not important to the rich and powerful, do not care about fame and fortune, and only seek to relieve the pain of the patient a doctor of high moral character.
V. Honoring Li Shizhen
Li Shizhen died in 1593 at the age of 75. After his death, Li Shizhen's body was buried in the eastern part of the city of Herb Zhou. Until today, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners around Herb Zhou make a pilgrimage to the cemetery every year during the Ching Ming Festival, and many of them often take the grass from the grave home in order to eliminate disasters and diseases. After the founding of new China, in order to commemorate this world-famous scientist, in 1954, his grave as a national key protection unit, herb county people's government of the cemetery was repaired, the monument in front of the verdant stone is engraved with a famous figure painter Jiang Zhaohe painted Li Shizhen like, another stone monument in front of the tomb, engraved with the inscription of the former president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr. Guo Moruo. 1978, the Hubei Provincial Bureau of Culture to rebuild the tomb of Li Shizhen and the initial size of the mausoleum. 1980, the tomb of Li Shizhen was rebuilt. In 1980, in the mausoleum was formally established in the national cultural relics protection institutions - Li Shizhen Memorial Hall, and in 1982 was again designated as a national key cultural relics protection units. At present, the Memorial Hall preserves a large amount of information and writings related to Li Shizhen and is a nationally renowned institution.
Li Shizhen wrote a lot in his life, in addition to his masterpiece "Compendium of Materia Medica", he also authored "Examination of the Eight Veins of the Qi Jing", "The Pulse of the Endangered Lakes", "The Theory of the Five Organ Diagrams" and other ten kinds of writings. This great scientist will always be remembered by the people of the world.