Li Shizhen's arduous journey in writing "Compendium of Materia Medica":
Since the forty-fourth year of Jiajing (1565), Li Shizhen has been practicing medicine and writing books at the same time. Li Shizhen knew that Angelica sinensis has the effect of stopping bleeding, but the Angelica sinensis he saw was all dried and he didn't know its original appearance. Li Shizhen felt that her knowledge was too little, so she traveled all over China. ?
Going out to travel across the country, Li Shizhen was already 47 years old at this time, and he had traveled almost half of China. Pangolins have medicinal effects, but he only read about how pangolins eat ants in books, so he went to observe it himself. Therefore, "Compendium of Materia Medica" includes zoology, botany, mineralogy, etc. It is not only a medical book, but an encyclopedia. ?
At the age of 65, he finished writing "Compendium of Materia Medica", but it could not be published. First, during the Wanli period, Emperor Wanli killed many Confucian scholars and did not allow Confucian scholars to publish books. Second, peasant uprisings broke out in various places, and the publication of the book was shelved.
Li Shizhen died at the age of 76. It was not until three years after his death that his family printed and published "Compendium of Materia Medica". "Compendium of Materia Medica" has been passed down among the people, and Li Shizhen will be immortalized forever. He made great contributions to medicine, zoology, botany, and mineralogy.
Li Shizhen's main achievements
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 "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" and divided medicines into water and water. , fire, earth, metal and stone, grass, grain, rice, fruit, wood, utensils and clothing, insects, scales, media, birds, beasts, humans *** 16 parts, 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 describes the knowledge of various drugs. It includes corrections, explanations of names, interpretations, corrections, corrections, smells, indications, inventions, appendices, appendices, etc., from the history, form, function, prescriptions, etc. of the medicine, the description is very detailed, enriching the knowledge of herbal medicine.