Compendium of Materia Medica is the crystallization of more than 30 years' painstaking efforts of Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in Ming Dynasty. The book * * *1.9000 words, recorded drugs 1.892 kinds, divided into 60 categories. Among them, Li Shizhen added 374 new drugs.

There are more than 1 100 drawings and more than 1 1000 prescriptions. It is a summary of China's pharmacology for thousands of years. This Pharmacopoeia, no matter from its strict scientific classification, or from the number of drugs it contains and the fluent and vivid writing, far exceeds any ancient herbal works.

Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica is a valuable legacy of ancient Chinese medicine and botany, which has greatly promoted the development of medicine in China and even in the world. It pioneered the system of classifying drugs step by step according to their natural properties. This classification idea is one of the important sources of modern biological taxonomy, which is one and a half centuries earlier than the Natural System written by Linnaeus, the founder of modern plant taxonomy. Darwin once called this medical anthology "China's encyclopedia".

The outstanding features of Compendium of Materia Medica are as follows: first, it adopts advanced drug classification, which is one of the important sources of modern biological taxonomy; The second is illustrated with pictures and texts. Compendium of Materia Medica has more than 1000 pictures of various drugs, which vividly shows the complex forms of various drugs, which is not only convenient for people to learn and identify, but also prevents mixing and misuse.

Scientific value: The book contains 1892 kinds of drugs and1096 kinds of supplementary prescriptions, of which 8 160 kinds were collected by Li Shizhen himself, adding 374 kinds of new medicinal materials with good clinical effects, adopting advanced drug classification, and establishing a classification system step by step according to the natural properties of drugs.

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Compendium of Materia Medica plays an important role not only in China, but also overseas.

Japan: 1736, Compendium of Materia Medica was reprinted nine times. Based on this, many scholars have written more than 30 kinds of herbal works, which have played a great enlightening role in modern Japanese pharmacology, botany, chemistry and other disciplines.

North Korea: After Compendium of Materia Medica was translated into Korean, North Korean doctor Kang Mingji quoted the prescription of Compendium of Materia Medica and wrote a new edition of Jizhong.

France:/kloc-In the 8th century, Compendium of Materia Medica was introduced to Europe, and the first edition of Jinling was kept in the Royal Library of Paris and the Prussian National Library of Berlin.

Britain: 1920, British mules taught in North Korea. After returning to China, he translated volumes 8-37 and 39-52 of Compendium of Materia Medica into English, and published them in Beijing before the liberation of China in 1949.

Soviet Union: After Compendium of Materia Medica was translated into Russian, Brisschneider quoted this masterpiece and wrote Botany in China. 1953, after the completion of Moscow University, the Soviet Union inlaid a marble portrait of Li Shizhen on the wall of the auditorium and listed him as a world scientific celebrity.

India: 1985 65438+ 10, an international pharmacological conference was held in India. The Indian National Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy held a medical exhibition with a large portrait of Li Shizhen at the entrance, as well as many Chinese medicines and various versions of Compendium of Materia Medica.