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本草纲目 Compendium of Materia Medica - Healer who wrote the book on TCM
December 16, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
The monumental "Bencao Gangmu," or "Compendium of Materia Medica," is the most comprehensive book ever written about traditional Chinese medicine. Published in 1596, this bible contains 1, 892 distinct herbs, 11,096 medical prescriptions and 1,160 illustrations.
Its author, Li Shizhen (1518-93), was one of the greatest physicians and pharmacologists in Chinese history.
Li was born in Qizhou in today's Hubei Province in central China. His grandfather was an itinerant doctor who died before Li was born. Li's father was also a herbal doctor. However, due to the low social status of herbal doctors at that time, he wanted his son to become an official in the imperial court.
So, when Li was only 14, he took the imperial civil examination at the county level and passed. But he failed the provincial-level exam three times.
Eventually, Li gave up on officialdom and decided to follow in his father's footsteps to become a herbal doctor.
In addition to practicing medicine, Li read all the classics and contemporary literature about TCM. However, in those medical books, Li found many glaring mistakes, conflicting information, wrong classifications and ambiguities. He worried these errors would cause great problems or even cost lives when they were used in treatment. So, he made up his mind to write a new bencao or "materia medica."
His father warned him that it was a daunting task and it could take decades to re-examine every herb and medicine in the country. However, young Li was up to the challenge. In 1552, when Li was already 34, he started work on his epic medical book "Bencao Gangmu."
First, he traveled to almost every corner of the country to talk to farmers, herbal doctors and patients. During the day, he collected information about herbal medicine and gathered samples of herbs and medicines. At night, he studied the samples, conducted experiments and documented their components and medical effects.
There are myriad stories about how Li risked his own life by testing the effect of some herbs on himself. One story goes that Li tasted a poisonous herb in the wilderness one day when he was by himself. A few minutes later, he was so badly poisoned that he lay flat on the ground and could hardly move. He thought this experiment would be his last.
Then, some leaves fell from a nearby tea tree and several landed on Li's face near his mouth. He used his tongue to roll the leaves into his mouth and began to chew.
Miraculously, Li regained movement of his arms and legs and a while later, he was fully recovered.
Then, he tried both the poisonous herb and the tea leaf again to determine their medical effects.
It was not until 27 years later that Li completed his colossal work. In addition to field research, Li consulted more than 900 medical books, nearly everything available in print.
Li's book was written in about 1.9 million Chinese characters, divided into 16 volumes and 60 orders. Li had not only improved the classification of traditional medicine, but also upgraded the credibility and scientific value of biological classification of plants and animals.
Li's method of biological classification was introduced about 200 years before Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-78) proposed the modern system of biological nomenclature.
In addition to herbs and traditional Chinese medicine, Li's book also covers topics such as biology, chemistry, geography, mineralogy, geology, history and astronomy.
At first, no one dared publish his book because Li criticized the alchemy for immortality promoted by some Taoist monks who had won the trust of emperors and imperial officials. It was not until three years after Li's death that a private print shop owner in eastern China printed "Bencao Gangmu."
In 1606, the book was introduced into Japan and about 40 years later, it was translated into Latin by Michael Boym, a Polish missionary. Later it was translated into Korean, French, German, English and Russian and eventually many more languages.
Its author, Li Shizhen (1518-93), was one of the greatest physicians and pharmacologists in Chinese history.
Li was born in Qizhou in today's Hubei Province in central China. His grandfather was an itinerant doctor who died before Li was born. Li's father was also a herbal doctor. However, due to the low social status of herbal doctors at that time, he wanted his son to become an official in the imperial court.
So, when Li was only 14, he took the imperial civil examination at the county level and passed. But he failed the provincial-level exam three times.
Eventually, Li gave up on officialdom and decided to follow in his father's footsteps to become a herbal doctor.
In addition to practicing medicine, Li read all the classics and contemporary literature about TCM. However, in those medical books, Li found many glaring mistakes, conflicting information, wrong classifications and ambiguities. He worried these errors would cause great problems or even cost lives when they were used in treatment. So, he made up his mind to write a new bencao or "materia medica."
His father warned him that it was a daunting task and it could take decades to re-examine every herb and medicine in the country. However, young Li was up to the challenge. In 1552, when Li was already 34, he started work on his epic medical book "Bencao Gangmu."
First, he traveled to almost every corner of the country to talk to farmers, herbal doctors and patients. During the day, he collected information about herbal medicine and gathered samples of herbs and medicines. At night, he studied the samples, conducted experiments and documented their components and medical effects.
There are myriad stories about how Li risked his own life by testing the effect of some herbs on himself. One story goes that Li tasted a poisonous herb in the wilderness one day when he was by himself. A few minutes later, he was so badly poisoned that he lay flat on the ground and could hardly move. He thought this experiment would be his last.
Then, some leaves fell from a nearby tea tree and several landed on Li's face near his mouth. He used his tongue to roll the leaves into his mouth and began to chew.
Miraculously, Li regained movement of his arms and legs and a while later, he was fully recovered.
Then, he tried both the poisonous herb and the tea leaf again to determine their medical effects.
It was not until 27 years later that Li completed his colossal work. In addition to field research, Li consulted more than 900 medical books, nearly everything available in print.
Li's book was written in about 1.9 million Chinese characters, divided into 16 volumes and 60 orders. Li had not only improved the classification of traditional medicine, but also upgraded the credibility and scientific value of biological classification of plants and animals.
Li's method of biological classification was introduced about 200 years before Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-78) proposed the modern system of biological nomenclature.
In addition to herbs and traditional Chinese medicine, Li's book also covers topics such as biology, chemistry, geography, mineralogy, geology, history and astronomy.
At first, no one dared publish his book because Li criticized the alchemy for immortality promoted by some Taoist monks who had won the trust of emperors and imperial officials. It was not until three years after Li's death that a private print shop owner in eastern China printed "Bencao Gangmu."
In 1606, the book was introduced into Japan and about 40 years later, it was translated into Latin by Michael Boym, a Polish missionary. Later it was translated into Korean, French, German, English and Russian and eventually many more languages.
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