雙語科技百科(醫學) 第67期:《本草綱目》
Bencao Gangmu
Bencao Gangmu , also known as The Compen,dium of Materia Medica (a book on Chinese herbal medicine) , is a materia medica work.written by the great medical and pharmaceutical expert in the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen. It is regarded as the most complete and comprehensive medical book ever written in the history of traditional Chinese medicine in China. It al-most lists all the plants, animals, minerals, and other objects that were believed to have medianal properties. Li Shizhen completed the first draft of the book in 1578, after conducting readings of 800 0ther medical reference books and carrying out 30 years of field study. For this and many other achievements Li Shizhen has of ten been compared to Shennong, a great man in the Chinese mythology who taught people about agriculture and herbal mediane. Bencao Gangmu has 52 volumes in total. At the very beginning is the table of contents and l,160 hand-drawn illustrations. Volumes l t0 4 are an index and a comprehensive list of herbs that would treat the most common illnesses. Volumes 5 t0 52 form the main content of the text, recording l,892 distinct medicines, of which 374 were added by Li himself. There are some 11,096 prescriptions to treat the common illnesses, of which 8,160 were compiled or collected by Li. The text is written in almost 2 million Chinese characters, classified int0 16 divisions and 60 0rders. For every medicine there are explanations of the names, detailed descriptions of the odor, medical function,effects, side recipes etc. Bencao Gangmu improved the classification of traditional Chinese medicine, complying with a uniform format, and the language was comparatively scientific and precise; besides, it played a very significant role in promoting the credibility and scientific values of the biological classification of both plants and animals. The work corrected many false understandings of the nature of the medicines and illnesses. Li also included many new herbs and added his own discovery in certain drugs. Bencao Gangmu is more than a pharmaceutical work, for it contains information covering the topics in biology, chemistry, geography, mineralogy, geology, history, astronomy etc. It has been translated into more than 20 languages and spread all over the world. Even now it is still in print and used as a great medical work.
《本草綱目》是一部藥物學著作，作者爲明代偉大的醫藥學家李時珍。該書是我國中藥史上最完整最全面的一部醫學書籍，幾乎列出了所有人們認爲有醫療功效的植物、動物、礦物及其他物質。經過參閱800餘部醫學著作以及30年的實地考察學習，李時珍最終於1578年完成該書第一稿。神農氏是我國神話中的一位偉人，他教會了人民農耕及使用草藥，李時珍因這部醫學著作和其他衆多成就常被後人比作神農。《本草綱目》共五十二卷，開篇爲目錄及1160幅手工插圖，第一卷到第四卷是序例和用於治療最常見疾病的藥草清單，第五捲到第五十二卷是該書的主要部分，記載了1892種不同種類的藥物，其中374種是李自己新增加的。該書收錄了約11096首治療普通疾病的方劑，其中8160首由李時珍自己擬定或收集。全書近200萬字，分爲16部、60類。每種藥物分列釋名、氣味、主治、療效和附方等。《本草綱目》改進了中藥的分類方法，格式比較統一，敘述也比較科學和縝密，此外，對提高動植物生物學分類的可靠性和科學價值也具有很大意義。該書糾正了前人對藥物和疾病性質的很多錯誤理解。他還增加了很多新藥，在某些藥物中加入自己的發現。《本草綱目》不僅是一部藥物學著作，逐涉及生物學、化學、地理、礦物學、地質學、歷史和天文學等方面內容。該書先後被翻譯成20多種語言，在世界範圍內廣爲流傳，直至現在仍在作爲一部重要的醫學著作刊印使用。
