In 1518 AD, a little boy was born in Li Yue's home, a Chinese medicine practitioner in Waniba, Suzhou. He was Li Shizhen.
Li Shizhen's father is a famous local Chinese doctor. As soon as the neighbors feel uncomfortable, they come to see him, and every time the medicine gets rid of the disease. He planted many kinds of herbs in his backyard. In addition to treating people, he works with these herbs, watering, weeding and fertilizing.
Since he was sensible, Li Shizhen has been interested in helping his father to loosen the soil and weed Chinese herbal medicines. Every time he comes to this small medicine garden, he always asks this and that: "Father, what kind of flower is this?" Father will patiently answer: "this is called single-leaf red peony, and its roots and bark can be used as medicine." So Xiaozhen would then ask, "What disease can this medicine cure?" Father told him: "This medicine can cure cold and stop pain;" Hot stomach and insufficient heart can also be cured. " Xiaozhen will also get to the bottom of it: "What do you mean, lack of heart?" "You are still young, so learn in a few years!" This little guy always asks endlessly, and says, "I'm going to ask, but I have to ask!" " My father always said cheerfully, "Ok, I'll tell you ..."
He clung to his father, so he had to tell him the names, medicinal properties and uses of some flowers and grasses with medicinal value. Don't underestimate this little guy, he is still listening carefully! In this way, talk about a few things today, talk about a few things tomorrow, and the days pass day by day, and the flowers and grasses in the backyard garden are basically finished.
As time goes by, Xiaozhen grows up day by day. He is eight years old. He has recognized all the herbs in the backyard small medicine garden, and he remembers every herb very well. He is very dissatisfied with this. Father had to take him up the mountain to collect medicine. The knowledge on the mountain is great! There are wild medicinal materials everywhere, as well as insects flying in the sky and wild animals running everywhere, which can open Xiao Zhen's eyes. When he saw his father picking herbs, every time he picked them, he would put them in his mouth to chew and taste them. He asked curiously, "Father, why do you pick herbs and put them in your mouth to taste them?" Father said, "Chew it in your mouth and taste it, and you will know what it tastes like. Our ancestors used to collect herbs like this. Only by tasting with your mouth can you know the efficacy, taste and curative effect of the medicine. This is how our ancestors personally tasted it before writing the medical book "Materia Medica"! When you grow up, you can read this Materia Medica well! "
on the mountain, they always walk, watch and talk, whatever they meet. Once, when they saw a snake, when they were scared, Jane shouted, "Oh, dear! Great, snake! " His father hugged him and told him, "This is called Agkistrodon, which is extremely poisonous. Once a person is bitten by it, if the rescue is slow, he will die! But snake gall, venom and its skin are all good medicines for treating diseases! " Xiaozhen got to the bottom of it: "What if a person is bitten by this snake?" I saw my father looking down and looking for it. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He picked several grasses and said to Xiaozhen, "Look, this is Lobelia chinensis, this is Bidens bipinnata, and this is Araceae. These herbs can cure snake wounds!"
every time, after my father explained it, childhood Jane kept it firmly in mind. He has a very good memory. Every once in a while, when his father asks him about his knowledge of herbal medicine, he can answer it word for word. In this way, day after day, month after month, year after year ... For a long time, under the guidance of his father, Li Shizhen has been able to distinguish various herbs and animals and tell their medicinal values.
once, Li Shizhen and several friends went up the mountain to play. A child was accidentally bitten by an Agkistrodon. The children were scared and didn't know what to do, but Li Shizhen was very calm. He said, "Don't worry, I know that Lobelia chinensis, Bidens bipinnata and Arisaema orientalis can cure snake wounds. These grasses are easy to find. " So he searched east and west, and after a while, he took some herbs, rubbed them, squeezed them, smeared them on the bitten place, and then carried the child home. The next day, the bitten child was much better, and his father took him to Li Shizhen's house to thank him. So everyone in the village knows that Li Shizhen, the youngest son of Li Yuechi's family, also knows how to cure diseases. Before long, all the villages around knew that there was a "child prodigy" Li Shizhen who could cure diseases in Waxiaoba Village, Qizhou.
At that time, the status of folk doctors was very low, and the Li family was often bullied by officials and gentry. When his father learned of Li Shizhen's wish, he gave a deep sigh and said to him helplessly, "Children, although no one can do without a doctor, in the eyes of the world, medical skills are just a skill, a path and a cheap industry, and they cannot make a name for themselves. Do you think I haven't suffered enough? Why go this way again? You'd better study hard and gain fame! " In this way, my father decided to let Li Shizhen study and take the exam, so as to become famous and get ahead. Li Shizhen didn't want to break his father's wishes and make him sad. Therefore, following the arrangement of my family, I entered a private school at the age of 12, ready to gain fame.
After a long period of hard study, Li Shizhen finally passed the examination as a scholar at the age of fourteen, but since then, he has gone to Wuchang three times to take the examination for a juren, all of which fell into Sun Shan. He felt very frustrated and had no intention of fame, so he didn't want to work hard for the exam. Determined to study medicine, he repeatedly begged his father to say, "Let me be a doctor." He also wrote a poem, Ming Zhi, which said, "Being like a boat against the current, your heart is stronger than stone, and you are not afraid of difficulties until you die." Father had no choice but to agree to his request. His father said to him, "Since you are interested in studying medicine, I won't stop you, but you should be mentally prepared to overcome difficulties, be persistent, patient and strictly observe medical ethics, so as to become a good doctor." Li Shizhen kept these words firmly in mind.
in medical practice, Li Shizhen made extensive reading and research on medical books of past dynasties, such as Shennong's Herbal Classic, Notes on Herbal Classic, Tang's Herbal Medicine and Kaibao's Herbal Medicine. He found that the old "materia medica" was not perfect, and even had many mistakes, so he decided to sort out and supplement the old medicine books and write some more detailed pharmaceutical works. However, he is very clear in his heart that it is not easy to revise Materia Medica and strive to make a breakthrough and development on the basis of predecessors. To this end, Li Shizhen has read more than 3 ancient medicine books, and also studied a large number of ancient books ***591. As long as it is related to "materia medica", it is studied. The extracted notes alone filled several cabinets.
From 1552, Li Shizhen began to write Compendium of Materia Medica, which was completed in 1578, and it took 27 years. During this period of time, Li Shizhen can say, "Go to Wan Li Road and study in thousands of books". He worked hard and went through all kinds of hardships, and finally became a masterpiece. It is conceivable that he enjoyed it.
In order to inherit and learn the scientific achievements of predecessors, Li Shizhen studied for ten years without leaving home before writing. He not only read various "materia medica", but also studied a large number of 591 ancient books cited by ancient medical books. How difficult it is to read those abstruse classics thoroughly!
In order to collect and discover new drugs, arduous field scientific investigation is indispensable. Since 1565, Li Shizhen has gone to nature for many times, and has been to Huguang, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui and other provinces, as well as Wudang Mountain, Maoshan Mountain, Niushou Mountain, Longfeng Mountain and other drug-rich mountainous areas. He has cut through thorns, climbed cliffs and reached the brink, collected many specimens, and corrected many mistakes in the book through on-the-spot textual research.
After twenty-seven years of hard scientific research, people with black hair turned into people with white hair, and Li Shizhen's youth was engraved in Compendium of Materia Medica.
Compendium of Materia Medica has 52 volumes and more than 1.9 million words. The book divides medicines into 16 parts and 62 categories, and contains 1893 kinds of medicines. In addition, 1196 prescriptions were loaded, and 111 illustrations of animals and plants were attached. The scale, content and scope of this book are beyond the reach of any ancient "Materia Medica" book.
After the publication of Compendium of Materia Medica, it was immediately welcomed by people, swept the country and everyone rushed to circulate it. With the cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, Compendium of Materia Medica has attracted the attention of all countries in the world. Westerners call it a masterpiece of oriental medicine. Li Shizhen's contribution to China and world civilization, together with Compendium of Materia Medica, will go down in history forever.
Li Shizhen died in the early autumn of p>1593. The crab land buried in the south bank of Yuhu Lake in Qizhou is adjacent to the tomb of his father Li Yuechi.