Bencao Gangmu
| Compendium of Materia Medica | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Illustration from 1800 edition | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | Bổn thảo cương mục | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | Bổn thảo cương mục | ||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Principles and Species of Roots and Herbs | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
TheBencao gangmu,known in English as theCompendium of Materia MedicaorGreat Pharmacopoeia,[1]is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, andChinese herbologycompiled and edited byLi Shizhenand published in the late 16th century, during theMing dynasty.Its first draft was completed in 1578 and printed inNanjingin 1596. TheCompendiumlists themateria medicaoftraditional Chinese medicineknown at the time, including plants, animals, and minerals that were believed to have medicinal properties.
Li compiled his entries not only from hundreds of earlier works in thebencaomedical tradition, but from literary and historical texts. He reasoned that a poem might have better value than a medical work and that atale of the strangecould illustrate a drug's effects.[2]The Ming dynasty emperors did not pay too much attention to his work, and it was ignored.[3]
Li's work contained errors and mistakes due to his limited scientific knowledge at the time. For example, Li claimed that all otters were male[4]and thatquicksilver(mercury) was not toxic.[5][6]
Name[edit]
The title, translated as "Materia Medica,Arranged according to Drug Descriptions and Technical Aspects ",[7]uses twoChinesecompound words.Bencao(Pen-ts'ao;"roots and herbs; based on herbs, pharmacopeia,materia medica") combinesben(Bổn'origin, basis') andcao(Thảo'grass, plant, herb').Gangmu(Kang-mu;'detailed outline; table of contents') combinesgang(kang;Cương'main rope, hawser; main threads, essential principles') andmu(Mục'eye, look; category, division').
The charactersCươngandMụcwere later used as 'class' and 'order', respectively, inbiological classification.
History[edit]
Li Shizhentravelled widely for field study, combed through more than 800 works of literature, and compiled material from the copious historicalbencaoliterature. He modelled his work on aSong dynastycompilation, especially its use of non-medical texts. He worked for more than three decades, with the help of his son, Li Jianyuan, who drew the illustrations. He finished a draft of the text in 1578, the printer began to carve the blocks in 1593, but it was not published until 1596, three years after Li died. Li Jianyuan presented a copy to theMing dynastyemperor, who saw it but did not pay much attention. Further editions were then published in 1603, 1606, 1640, and then in many editions, with increasing numbers of illustrations, down to the 21st century.[3]
Contents[edit]
The text consists of 1,892 entries, each entry with its own name called agang.Themuin the title refers to the synonyms of each name.[8]
TheCompendiumhas 53 volumes in total:
- The opening table of contents lists entries, including 1,160 hand drawn diagrams and illustrations.
- Volume 1 to 4 – anindex(Tự lệ) and a comprehensive list of herbs to treat the most common sicknesses (Bách bệnh chủ trị dược).
- Volume 5 to 53 – the main text, contains 1,892 distinct herbs, of which 374 were added byLi Shizhen.There are 11,096 sideprescriptionsto treat common illness (8,160 of which are compiled in the text).
The text is written in almost 2 millionChinese characters,classified into 16 divisions and 60 orders. For every herb there are entries on their names, a detailed description of their appearance and odor, nature, medical function, side effects, recipes, etc.
Errors[edit]
The text contains information that was proven to be wrong due to Li's limited scientific and technical knowledge. For example, it is claimed thatquicksilver(mercury) andleadwere nottoxic.[5]Li also claimed thatottersare always male[4]and that the Moupinlanguris ten-foot (three-metre) tall, has backwards feet and can be caught when it draws its upper lip over its eyes.[4][6]
Evaluation[edit]
The British historianJoseph Needhamwrites about the Compendium in hisScience and Civilisation in China.[9][10]
The text provided classification of how traditional medicine was compiled and formatted, as well as biology classification of both plants and animals.
The text corrected some mistakes in the knowledge of herbs and diseases at the time. Several new herbs and more details from experiments were also included. It also has notes and records on general medical data and medical history.
The text includes information on pharmaceutics,biology,chemistry,geography,mineralogy,geology,history,and evenminingandastronomy.
See also[edit]
- Chinese herbology
- List of traditional Chinese medicines
- Medical cannibalism
- Mellified man
- Pharmacognosy
- Traditional Chinese medicine
- Traditional Chinese medicines derived from the human body
- Yaoxing lun
References[edit]
- ^History of Medicine: ChinaArchived2021-10-04 at theWayback Machine/Encyclopædia Britannica// "There were famous herbals from ancient times, but all these, to the number of about 1,000, were embodied by Li Shijen in the compilation of Bencao gangmu (the “Great Pharmacopoeia” ) in the 16th century CE. "
- ^Nappi (2009),p. 139.
- ^abNappi (2009b),pp. 462, 465.
- ^abcRoach, Mary (2009).Bonk: the curious coupling of science and sex.New York: W.W. Norton & Co. pp. 164, 165f.ISBN9780393334791.
- ^ab"Compendium of Materia Medica 《 bổn thảo cương mục 》_Learn Chinese Hujiang".cn.hujiang.com.Retrieved2023-06-10.
- ^abWu, Mingren (2022-04-13), "The Ben Cao Gang Mu" (www [dot] ancient-origins [dot] net/artifacts-ancient-writings/ben-cao-gang-mu-001589), Ancient Origins Reconstructing the Story of Humanity's Past
- ^Unschuld (1986),p. 145.
- ^Zohara Yaniv;Uriel Bachrach (2005).Handbook Of Medicinal Plants.Psychology Press. p. 37.ISBN978-1-56022-995-7.
- ^Needham, Joseph, Ho Ping-Yu and Lu Gwei-djen (1976),Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 5 Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 3: Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Historical Survey, from Cinnabar Elixirs to Synthetic Insulin,Cambridge University Press, p. 216.
- ^Needham, Joseph, and Wang Ling (1954),Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 1 Introductory Orientations,Cambridge University Press, p. 47.
Bibliography[edit]
- Li Shizhen (2003). Luo, Xiwen (ed.).Compendium of Materia Medica: Bencao Gangmu.Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.ISBN7119032607.(Review,Edward B. Jelks)
- Métailié, Georges (2001), "The Bencao gangmu of Li Shizhen", in Hsu, Elisabeth (ed.),Innovation in Chinese medicine,Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 221–261,ISBN0521800684.
- Nappi, Carla (2009b), "Compendium of Materia Medica", in Cheng, Linsun; Brown, Kerry (eds.),Berkshire Encyclopedia of China,vol. One, Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire, pp. 465–466,ISBN978-0977015948
- ——— (2009).The Monkey and the Inkpot: Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern China.Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674035294.
- Unschuld, Paul U. (1986).Medicine in China: A history of Pharmaceutics.Berkeley: University of California Press.ISBN9780520050259.
- Zhang, Zhibin; Unschuld, Paul U. (2014).Dictionary of the Ben Cao Gang Mu.Vol. I Chinese Historical Illness Terminology. University of California Press.ISBN9780520283954.
External links[edit]
- Chinese source text at zh.wikisource.org
- Pen ts'ao kang mu(The Great Herbal),page from 1672 edition, National Library of Medicine
