Compendium of Materia Medica is not a simple medical book
The other half of the fifty-two volumes
You may only know one but not the other
What is recorded in the other half of the volume
Today let us find out from the shallower to the deeper
01
You Have you ever heard that paste can treat burns?
I didn’t believe it at first, until an old woman next door told me that in the early years when she was frying fried dough sticks at the market, she accidentally burned her legs with boiling oil. It was the hottest time in June, and a pot of boiling oil burned her leg. She howled in pain, and the scene suddenly became a mess. But instead of asking people to call a doctor in a hurry, she asked people to go to the stationery store to buy three or four boxes of paste. Then she asked people to wash their hands and apply the fresh paste they just bought on the burned area.
After applying it to all the injured parts, she was able to stand up after a while. People around her felt it was very magical. Later, she kept applying the medicine according to this recipe. When the paste on her legs dried, she applied another layer until it healed. After the burn healed, there were no scars.
The folk remedies in many places sound absurd, but in fact, many of them are truths summarized by the ancients based on the laws of nature, and some are derived from the "Compendium of Materia Medica" written almost 500 years ago.
02
What is so magical about the Compendium of Materia Medica?
A man who makes a living by practicing medicine, although he is old and frail, has gone through many hardships and changed his manuscript three times, just to pass on practical and correct medical knowledge to future generations. finally completed a brilliant book of more than 1.9 million words. A great book, but is this book entirely correct?
Li Shizhen said: Grass and trees are created by nature. Herbs are hard and soft, absorb the nourishment from the soil, and grow together with the essence of mountains, rivers, sun and moon. They are the main raw materials for preparing traditional Chinese medicine. However, there is such a surprising prescription in the grass section of "Compendium of Materia Medica" called "Cao Shangcao on the Tomb of a Woman After Childbirth".
Zangqi said: Vinegar ulcer in children. Don't look back when you take it, just make a bath in it, it will only cause three degrees of scabies.
The meaning of this passage is that the grass growing on the graves of women who died during childbirth is a medicinal herb. It has an immediate effect on treating vinegar sore in children. Take it off and put it into the children's bath water. Do this three times and you will be cured.
Even if it is just a gravestone, why is it the grave of a woman who died during childbirth?
Could it be that different people have different opinions on the grass that grows from different graves?
Has anyone really used this trick to treat sores?
In the "Compendium of Materia Medica", there are also two strange medicines for treating sores, namely water from ancient tombs and cesspool bottom mud. Among them, the accumulated water in ancient tombs is used to wash away sores, which is " washes all sores and cures them". As for the cesspit bottom mud, " should be dried in the shade and mixed with new water to apply ", which is very effective for various malignant sores on the back.
Are these prescriptions, which may seem unbelievable to future generations, really the way ancient people with backward medical science used them to treat diseases on a daily basis?
As we all know, Li Shizhen was very rigorous when writing "Compendium of Materia Medica". Since he was determined to compile an unprecedented encyclopedia, it was inevitable to do a lot of field research and errata textual research. However, it was impossible for him to cover nearly 1,900 kinds of medicines one by one. taste. In the spirit of pursuing perfection and seeking more, it is understandable that included some strange recipes. This was the limitation of that era.
03
Compendium of Materia Medica - Water Department
In the chapter "Water Department", Li Shizhen said: Water is the source of all things, its body is pure yin, and its use is pure yang.
Whether it is rain, dew, frost and snow in the sky or the sea, rivers and springs underground, different water has different tastes.
Among them, rainwater in different seasons has different effects. The rainwater at the beginning of spring has the effect of raising the qi of hair growth, which is suitable for decoction and dispersion and tonifying and replenishing qi medicine. It is said that it can also help to have children.
"Compendium of Materia Medica" records that if couples who have been infertile for many years each drink a cup of "spring water" before "making love", then the wife will definitely give birth to a son after she becomes pregnant. We must know that in the ancient society where men were superior to women, men were the hope for the prosperity of the family. However, from a scientific point of view, the so-called folk remedies cannot influence the birth of a boy or a girl.
04
Is the folk remedy gained from experience or just dross?
"Compendium of Materia Medica" records a very disgusting prescription, but the famous collector Ma Weidu is full of praise for it. It is " Pig Zero ".
While Ma Weidu was going to the mountains and countryside, a young man who was traveling with him developed malignant sores on his head, whether due to acclimatization or some other reason. At first, injections and medicines were ineffective. Until the young man was about to give up on himself, a fellow villager taught him a way to treat malignant sores.
Because all educated youths come from the city, whether they have a headache or a bump, they always go to the hospital for examination and medication. However, the conditions in the countryside are very difficult. It is very rare to have a native doctor in eight villages ten miles away. The most urgent thing is to try the local methods.
According to Ma Weidu's recollection, the fellow villagers first took a spoonful of sow manure and dried it over fire, then mixed it with water to make a paste, and finally applied it directly to the malignant sores. At first, young people were very resistant to this. It was not until it was too painful that they decided to give it a try.
I won’t know until I try it. I was shocked when I tried it. I didn’t expect that this prescription is actually effective. After only three days, the young man's sores began to grow new flesh. At that time, this incident left a very deep impression on Ma Weidu.
It was not until later that he discovered in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" that sow dung, also known as "pig dung", is not worthless waste. Pig dung is cold in nature and can detoxify hundreds of poisons. "Pig dung is also used in ancient prescriptions." "This is something that the ancient Chinese figured out step by step. This is how the phrase "Ten years of treating malignant sores, Zhu Ling fever is pure, call it!"
Why did Zhu Ling, which was available in almost every household in ancient times, have a miraculous effect in treating malignant sores?
Ma Weidu’s explanation is this. The pigs raised in the villagers’ homes eat everything. The pig pens are not only dirty and messy, but also often visited by poisonous insects such as snakes, spiders, and scorpions. It is inevitable that they will not be eaten by the pigs.
But pigs do not get sick at all under normal circumstances. This means that there may be a lot of detoxifying substances in the pig's stomach. This is how they evolved with the survival of the fittest in their living environment. This may be why pig manure has a detoxifying effect. And in order to prevent the viruses and bacteria in the feces from directly contacting the wound, causing secondary infection , fellow villagers will burn it when using it.
Although the taste of this medicine is indeed hard to describe, not all Chinese medicine is the "dross" of feudal culture. The experience and wisdom of the ancients also have many merits.
However, it is an indisputable fact that many of the records are like strange powers and gods, which are shocking and even subvert the three views.
05
Are the medicinal materials that subvert the three views really effective?
The use of livestock organs as medicine is a major item in the "Compendium of Materia Medica". In addition to sow excrement, there are also records that rat excrement can cure constipation. The strangeness of the book is jaw-dropping.
Male rat feces powder, also known as Wulingzhi, is a gynecological holy medicine with a bitter taste and warm nature. Internal use can treat amenorrhea, postpartum stasis, abdominal pain, and the onset of mastitis in women. External use is miraculous in treating bites from poisonous insects such as snakes and scorpions.
Not only that, chicken excrement is also a good medicinal product in the "Compendium of Materia Medica". The older generation in rural areas say that chicken excrement can be used as medicine after being boiled in a pot, mainly treating thirst and typhoid fever. However, the chicken droppings that can be used as medicine are not ordinary chicken droppings from farms, but the droppings of domestic roosters. It is best to have a layer of white mucous membrane on the outside. In this way, the chicken droppings become chicken Yabai . Not only can it facilitate urination, but it can also treat swelling and pain in the throat.
According to the records in "Compendium of Materia Medica", if a woman has a stillbirth, take 21 rooster manure capsules, mix them with millet and boil them into porridge and take them to defecate the stillbirth in the abdomen. , it’s just that no one is willing to try this recipe today.
With the development of the times, our acceptance of some ancient books has indeed increased significantly. We no longer blindly believe that the experiences and gains of the ancients are all foolishness, but traditional things are more risky. Especially in traditional Chinese medicine, the slightest difference can lead to thousands of miles of difference, so don’t try it casually no matter what the situation.
06
One third is a medical book
One third is a witchcraft book
One third is a nourishing manual for health care
Although "Compendium of Materia Medica" is extremely "powerful" in the selection of drugs, feces, urine, earwax, and sock soles , straw sandals, etc. are all good medicines, but even we now cannot accept them.
Li Shizhen was very careful when writing "人部". In order to avoid falling into the paradox of "eating people and saving people", Li Shizhen started with the example of haira (hair cut from human heads) in "Shen Nong's Materia Medica " , indicating that people are different from other things .
There are many mysteries in traditional Chinese medicine, and most of them have no scientific basis. Apart from experience and analogy, there is no explanation. However, later generations of alchemists and doctors used human flesh, gallbladder, and blood for medicinal purposes, which not only violated the benevolence of doctors, but was also extremely cruel and evil.
It is worth mentioning that Li Shizhen believes that manufacturing drugs by destroying human life is the most despised evil art. Therefore, in the history of traditional Chinese medicine of the Chinese nation that lasts for thousands of years, Li Shizhen can be honored as the "Sage of Medicine".
"The Ministry of Humanity" is indeed very scary to think about, but not all the recorded medicines have been personally tasted by him. Earwax, dandruff, and nails can all be used as medicine. It is not nonsense, but today In this era, it’s better not to try it.
The dandruff used in traditional Chinese medicine is called Bai Te Shuang. When taken orally and mixed with rice soup or wine, it has a good pain relieving effect when you have a splitting headache.
Tartar can also be used as an analgesic to relieve the pain of sharp objects. Burning nails to ash and mixing with milk can treat bloating in children.
Human feces is called Renzhonghuang, which has the effects of clearing away heat and cooling blood, purging fire and detoxifying. When using, mix it with licorice powder and place it in a bamboo bucket. When the appearance and cross section are dark yellow and slightly rough, gently peel off the surface.
I have to say that many of the prescriptions in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" are daunting, but all customs and cultures have their own characteristics. In the fight against disease, the ancient Chinese never gave in, and their attempts step by step should not be ridiculed by future generations.
"Compendium of Materia Medica" is the master of traditional Chinese medicine Materia Medica . Those ridiculous records have created the breadth and depth of traditional Chinese medicine.
British science historian Needham commented on this masterpiece as "Li Shizhen has reached the highest level that no scientist can reach in isolation from the scientific activities of Galileo and Vesalius ", and as the inheritance of Chinese civilization, we How can you take a quote out of context and criticize it indiscriminately?
Flowers, trees, water, fire, gold, stones, birds and animals are all good medicines in the hands of ancient doctors that can cure diseases and save lives. Every plant, tree, flower and fruit has its use. Li Shizhen, who was born in a family that practices medicine, has been in the Chinese nation for thousands of years. In the history of medicine, we should never be discredited by future generations!
