Which book is Compendium of Materia Medica?

Compendium of Materia Medica refers to a pharmaceutical work by Li Shizhen, with a total of 52 volumes. The book1.90,000 words, including 1.892 kinds of drugs, collecting1.096 prescriptions, drawing 1 160 beautiful illustrations, divided into 16. He is a master of traditional Chinese medicine in ancient China.

Compendium of Materia Medica classifies animal medicines according to the order of insects, scales, vectors, birds, animals and people, which embodies the author's view of biological evolution from humble to expensive and from low to high.

Compendium of Materia Medica embodies the highest achievement of ancient Chinese medicine, is an inexhaustible treasure house of Chinese medical knowledge, and enjoys the reputation of "the deep sea of medicine" and "the dictionary of all things".

It covers a wide range of subjects such as biology, chemistry, astronomy, geography, geology, mining and history, so it can be said to be a natural history book with worldwide influence.

Since its publication, it has been dominating China ancient pharmacy with its unprecedented majestic posture, and has become the largest and richest masterpiece in the history of ancient pharmacy in China. It was once praised as "the encyclopedia of China" by British biologist Darwin, and became a compulsory book pursued by doctors and scholars throughout the ages.

Compendium of Materia Medica corrects many mistakes of predecessors, such as Nanxing and Zhang Hu, which were originally a kind of medicine, but were mistaken for two kinds of medicines in the past; In the past, it was considered that Mianma Guanzhong and female impotence were one kind of medicine, but Li identified them as two kinds after identification. Su Song divided smallpox and enclosed buildings into two places in "Illustration of Materia Medica", which are actually the same plant; Previous people mistakenly thought that "a horse can become a locked grandson" and "a grass can become a fish", and corrected them one by one.

Extended data

Book influence:

Compendium of Materia Medica has improved the traditional classification method in China, with unified format and more scientific and accurate description. For example, the broad sense of "insect drugs" is extended to 106, of which 73 kinds are insect drugs, which are divided into three categories: oviparous, metaplastic and moist. This is of great significance to the development of animal and plant taxonomy.

Compendium of Materia Medica has not only made great contributions to the development of pharmacology in China, but also had a far-reaching impact on the development of medicine, botany, zoology, mineralogy and chemistry in the world.

After the book was published, it soon spread to Japan, and then to European and American countries. It has been translated into more than ten languages such as Japan, France, Germany, Britain, Latin, Russia and North Korea, and published abroad, covering five continents. As early as 195 1, Li Shizhen was listed as an ancient world celebrity at the World Peace Council held in Vienna. His marble statue stands on the promenade of Moscow University.

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