Herbology
History of Herbology
Tradition and Chinese Herbs
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- Divine farmer / peasant / agriculturist / husbandman
- 2nd of 3 legendary heroes in Chinese culture
- Credited with tasting the "one-hundred" herbs
- Determined the herbs' properties
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- 1st Chinese materia medica
- Began during the Stone Age
- Completed in the later part of the 5th century BCE
- Original work was lost
- Rewritten around 200 CE
Wushier Bing Fang
- Prescriptions for 52 Ailments
- Unearthed from the Mawangdui tomb of 168 BCE in 1973
- Over 250 medicinal substances are named in discussions of prescriptions and their uses
- A mixture of both pragmatic and "magical" ideas from the 3rd century BCE
- Not part of mainstream herbal history / theory
Other notable texts?
- Xin Xiu Ben Cao Jing (695 AD)
- Newly Revised Materia Medica / Tang Materia Medica
- 844 entries
- China's first illustrated materia medica
- Ben Cao Gang Mu (1596 CE)
- Grand Materia Medica by Li Shizhen
- 1,892 substances
- 1,173 from plants
- 444 from animals
- 275 minerals
- Zhong yao da Ci Dian (1977)
- Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Substances
- 5,767 entries
Shang Han Za Bing Lun (200 CE)
- Discussion of Cold-induced Disorders and Miscellaneous Diseases by Zhang Zhongjing
- Thought to be the ancestor text of all formularies
- Every formula was named, along with ingredients, dosages, and methods of preparation
- Divided into 2 parts about 50 years after Zhang's death
- Shang Han Lun - Discussion of Cold-induced disorders
- 397 sections, 112 herbal prescriptions, utilizes 6 divisions theory
- Jin Gui Yao Lue - Essentials from the Golden Cabinet
- 25 chapters, 262 herbal prescriptions, utilizes zang fu theory
