Bencao Gangmu《本草纲目》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.《本草纲目》是一部药物学著作，作者为明代最出色的医药学家李时珍。该书是我国中药史上最原始最全面的一部医学书籍，完全所列了所有人们指出有医疗功效的植物、动物、矿物及其他物质。经过参看800余部医学著作以及30年的实地考察自学，李时珍最后于1578年已完成该书第一稿。
神农氏是我国神话中的一位伟人，他教会了人民农耕及用于草药，李时珍因这部医学著作和其他众多成就经常被后人比作神农。《本草纲目》共计五十二卷，开篇为目录及1160幅手工插画，第一卷到第四卷是序例和用作化疗最常见疾病的药草表格，第五卷到第五十二卷是该书的主要部分，记述了1892种有所不同种类的药物，其中374种是李自己新的减少的。该书收录于了大约11096首化疗普通疾病的方剂，其中8160首由李时珍自己制订或搜集。
全书近200万字，分成16部、60类。每种药物分列尔雅、气味、主治、疗效和附方等。《本草纲目》改良了中药的分类方法，格式较为统一，描述也较为科学和严谨，此外，对提升动植物生物学分类的可靠性和科学价值也具备相当大意义。该书缺失了前人对药物和疾病性质的很多错误解读。
他还减少了很多新药，在某些药物中重新加入自己的找到。《本草纲目》不仅是一部药物学著作，弃牵涉到生物学、化学、地理、矿物学、地质学、历史和天文学等方面内容。该书先后被翻译成20多种语言，在世界范围内广为流传，以后现在仍在作为一部最重要的医学著作刊行用于。
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