Compendium of Materia Medica

The Ben-cao gangmu (Chinese本草纲目/本草纲目, Pinyin Běncǎo gangmu, W.-G. Pen3 - ts'ao3 Kang1 - MU4, The Book of Healing Herbs' ) from the 16th century is the most famous historical book of Chinese medicine.

It was written by Li Shizhen (李时珍/李时珍) ( 1518-1593 ) based on the Shennong bencao jing of the legendary emperor Shen Nong and other pharmacopoeias.

Content

A complete translation of the work contains the four-volume Description China by Jean -Baptiste You stockpile, Li Shizhen took only 347 of former 365 species of medicinal plants in his Bencao gangmu, which appeared about 400 years ago. Emil Bretschneider, a Russian doctor of the 19th century describes the plants and their effects of Shennong's description were still commonly known in his time and use of place.

The Ben-cao gangmu represents 347 natural drugs that are classified in the categories of " vegetable ", " animal " and " mineral " nature. Of this total, 239 to the first group, 65 to the second and the remaining 43 on the last group. The drugs were treated in 47 chapters. The book is one of the first critical works on the matter of herbal medicine and natural history.

The herbs are classified and distinguished according to specific criteria:

• Taste
• Thermal property
• Leitbahn-/Meridian- and Funktionskreis-/Organbezug
• Special effect
• Indication

The scholar Li Shizhen began in 1552 by watching all his known and tangible pharmacopoeias and select the relevant content. It took 26 years for this work and the work presented in 1578, after he had to rewrite it three times. On the basis of the mentioned drugs Li Shizhen presented over 4000 pharmaceutical prescriptions, of which about 300 by Li Shizhen self-written and newly added recipes. It was thus the first known recipe book (Pharmacopoeia ) at all represents the first edition appeared in 1590 after the author's death by his son, and consisted of 52 volumes, which were illustrated with woodcuts.

The then Emperor Wanli was at government expense to print several editions of the successful book.

Swell

• Schneebeli -Graf R ( 1992): useful and medicinal plants of China - Botanical reports and photos from China, Thomae, Frankfurt am Main.
• Li Shi- Zhen (16th century): Pen ts'ao kang mu ( Chinese Herbal and Materia Medica )
• Smith & Stuart: Chinese Materia Medica. Vegetable Kingdom, 1911. Remake of Georgetown Press, SF, 1973, a reprint of a partial extract from the " Ben cao gang mu".
• Albert Y. Leung: Chinese medicinal herbs. Diederichs, Munich. 5th Edition, 1998. ISBN 342400796X

• Literary work
• Literature (16th century)
• Literature ( Chinese)
• Non-Fiction ( Botany)
• Nonfiction (medicine)
• Traditional Chinese Medicine