Name

The title, translated as "Materia Medica, Arranged according to Drug Descriptions and Technical Aspects", uses two Chinese compounds. Bencao ("roots and herbs; based on herbs, pharmacopeia, materia medica") combines ben (lang=zh本 'origin, basis') and cao (lang=zh草 'grass, plant, herb'). Gangmu (Kang-mu; 'detailed outline; table of contents') combines gang (kang; lang=zh纲 'main rope, hawser; main threads, essential principles') and mu (lang=zh目 'eye, look; category, division').

The characters lang=zh纲 and lang=zh目 were later used as 'class' and 'order', respectively, in biological classification.

History

The text was written by Li Shizhen, who borrowed from the existing writings of Chinese medical scholars at the time. He wrote the first draft of the text in 1578, after conducting readings of 800 other medical reference books and carrying out 30 years of field study. But the final version was only published after he died. At the time, the Ming dynasty emperor did not pay much attention to it.

Content

The text consists of 1,892 entries, each entry with its own name called a gang. The mu in the title refers to the synonyms of each name.

The Compendium of Materia Medica has 53 volumes in total:

• At the very beginning is the table of contents, containing a list of entries included and 1,160 hand drawn diagrams to serve as illustrations.

• Volume 1 to 4 – an index (序例) and a comprehensive list of herbs that would treat the most common sickness (百病主治药).

• Volume 5 to 53 – the main content of the text, containing 1,892 distinct herbs, of which 374 were added by Li Shizhen himself. There are 11,096 side prescriptions to treat common illness (8,160 of which is compiled in the text).

The text is written in almost 2 million Chinese 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.

Evaluation

The Ming emperor did not pay much attention to the work at the time it was published. It was only published after Li Shizhen died.

The British historian Joseph Needham writes about the Compendium in his Science and Civilisation in China.

With the publication of Compendium of Materia Medica provided classification of how traditional medicine was compiled and formatted, as well as biology classification of both plants and animals.

The compendium 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.

Compendium of Materia Medica includes information on pharmaceutics, biology, chemistry, geography, mineralogy, geology, history, and even mining and astronomy.

Gallery

题解

李时珍花费27年时间完成《本草纲目》，历经三次改写，至万历六年（1578年）定本。为了编纂《本草纲目》，李时珍参考800多种书籍，多次去各地实地考察，采集样本，耗费大量心血。

《本草纲目》以宋朝唐慎微的《证类本草》为资料赵学敏撰《本草纲目拾遗》，用意在拾遗补正《本草纲目》，其中新增716种药材，补充161种药物内容，纠举错误34条。

体例

《本草纲目》共52卷，载药1892种（其中李时珍新增药物374种。）书中附有药物图1109幅，方剂11096首（其中8000馀首是李时珍自己收集和拟定的），约190万字，分为16部（水、火、土、金石、草、谷、菜、果、木、服器、虫、鳞、介、禽、兽、人）60类。每种药物分列释名（确定名称）、集解（叙产地）、正误（更正过去文献的错误）、修治（炮制方法）、气味、主治、发明（前三项指分析药物的功能）、附方（收集民间流传的药方）等项。全书收录植物药有881种，附录61种，共942种，再加上具名未用植物153种，共计1095种，占全部药物总数的58%。李时珍把植物分为草部、谷部、菜部、果部、木部五部，又把草部分为山草、芳草、湿草、毒草、蔓草、水草、石草、苔草、杂草等九类。

影响

《本草纲目》改进了中国传统的分类方法，格式比较统一，敍述也比较有条理和精密，例如：把广义的「虫」药扩充到106种，其中昆虫药为73种，分为「卵生」、「化生」和「湿生」三类。对动植物分类学的发展有很大意义。

《本草纲目》纠正了前人许多错误之处，如南星与虎掌，本是同一种药物，过去却误认为是两种药物；以前葳蕤、女萎认为是同药，李氏经过鉴别则确认为不同药物；苏颂在《图经本草》将天花、括楼分为两处，其实是同一种植物；前人误认「马精入地变为锁阳」、「草子可以变鱼」，李时珍亦一一予以纠正之。并且在本书中还加入了许多新药物。李时珍还通过自己经验补充某些药物的疗效。本书还载叙大量宝贵的医学资料，除大量附方、验方及治验病案外，还有医学史料。另外李时珍驳斥陈藏器的《本草拾遗》，认为吃人肉疗羸瘵有误。

《本草纲目》也存在一些缺点和不足，如对于药物的形态、产地等部分的记载还很简单，绘图也较粗糙。甚至记录「寡妇床头尘土」、「孝子衫」等都能治病，是不正确的。又说鱼网「可治鱼骨哽喉，用其覆颈，或者煮汁饮之，或者烧灰水服，鱼骨自下。」又说不孕的夫妻于上元节「盗取富家灯盏，置于床下，可令人有子。」。书中记载萤火虫是从腐草化生，这是沿续《礼记.月令》以降二千多年来的谬论。书中又取唐人段成式在《酉阳杂俎》说法：「日缢死绳主颠狂。」主张上吊死后的绳子拿来烧成灰，水服能治狂癫。对此，李时珍还表示：「观此则古书所载冷僻之物，无不可用者，在遇圆机之士耳。」这些说法在科学上都是站不住脚的。

该书不仅是一部药物学著作，还是一部影响世界的博物学著作，书中内容极为广泛，在生物、化学、天文、地理、地质、采矿乃至于历史方面都有一定贡献。

传播

《本草纲目》版本众多，有「一祖三系」之称。一祖即最早的金陵本，日后又有江西本、钱本、张本三个系统。《本草纲目》先后流传到日本（1606年）、朝鲜、越南等地，1656年，波兰人卜弥格（P. Michael Boym，1612年－1659年）将《本草纲目》译成拉丁文本，书名《中国植物志》（Flora sinensis），在欧洲维也纳出版。1676年米兰出版了意大利文译本，1735年以后又被翻译成法文、德文、英文、俄文等多种文字。