1. The origin of Li Shizhen’s name
On the day Li Shizhen was born, his father Li Yanwen was fishing on Yuhu Lake. He usually has good luck, but this time he couldn't get anything even after several searches. Li Yanwen was very frustrated. The last net felt heavy when I pulled it up, and I was secretly happy. I thought it was a big fish, but it turned out to be a big rock. Li Yan heard this and sighed: Stone, stone, I have no enmity or enmity with you, why are you teasing me today? Adding to my sorrow.
Suddenly Stone also spoke: Stone, Stone, don’t worry about coming to congratulate me. Sir, my wife is almost over the moon. What do you want me to do? It turns out that this stone is the God of Rain Lake.
Li Yanwen hurried home and just when Li Shizhen was born, he named him "Shi Zhen". Li Yanwen had another dream that night. He dreamed that the immortal Tieguai Li came to congratulate him and said: "Every time you treasure it, you can diagnose all kinds of diseases. Be my disciple and pass on my reputation."
2. Skillfully discern the properties of medicines Authenticity
When Li Shizhen was 20 years old, a serious flood occurred in Qizhou. Just after the flood, the plague began to spread.
On this day, Li Shizhen was seeing a doctor when suddenly something happened. The gang led a charlatan into the clinic in a noisy manner. The young man at the head angrily told Li Shizhen that his father had not recovered after taking the medicine prescribed by the charlatan. He said that the prescription was correct. Let Li Shizhen take a look.
After saying that, he handed over the medicine pot for decoction. Li Shizhen picked up the medicine residue, smelled it carefully, chewed it in his mouth, and told him. This was an error in the ancient medical book. The records in "Rihua Materia Medica" confused Lelanzi and Tiger Palm. Everyone lamented for a while and had to let the charlatan go.
Soon, another doctor appeared. A mentally ill patient was prescribed a medicine called Fangkui, and the patient died soon after taking the medicine. There was also a weak person who took a tonic called Huangjing prescribed by the doctor, but he also died inexplicably. Life.
It turns out that several ancient medicine books describe Fangkou, Polygonatum and Gelsemium as the same medicine, and there is no doubt that both Gelsemium and Wolfsbane are very toxic. , ancient medical books contain a wealth of knowledge and valuable experience, but there are indeed some omissions. If they are not corrected early, the medical community will use them as a basis to spread misinformation, which will delay the treatment of diseases and harm people's lives in the worst case. /p>
3. Verify the medicinal properties of animals
Qi She, the white-flowered snake produced in Qizhou, has the functions of treating wind paralysis, convulsions, tinea and leprosy, etc. Li Shizhen has long studied , but at first he only observed it from snake traders. An insider reminded him that it was caught from the mountains of Xingguo Prefecture (now Yangxin County) in Jiangnan and was not a real akid snake. In order to find the real akid snake, he asked a snake catcher for advice. He was told that the tip of the snake's fangs was highly venomous, and if a person was bitten, his limbs must be amputated immediately, otherwise he would die of poisoning.
It has special effects on various diseases, so it is very valuable. The state officials forced the people to risk their lives to catch it in order to pay tribute to the emperor. Qizhou was so big that the real Ki snake could only be found on Longfeng Mountain in the north of the city. Li Shizhen wanted to see the snake with his own eyes, so he asked to catch the snake. The man took him up to Longfeng Mountain.
There is a Suānní cave in Longfeng Mountain. The cave is surrounded by rugged rocks and bushes, and the heather vines wrapped around the bushes like to eat rocks. Nan Teng's flower leaf, with the help of the snake catcher, finally saw the snake with his own eyes, and saw the whole process of catching and making snakes. When "Compendium of Materia Medica" wrote about the white flower snake, it was concise and accurate. ?< /p>
The pangolin is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. Tao Hongjing said that it can live on both land and water. It can climb up rocks during the day, open its scales, pretend to be dead, and lure ants into its scales, and then close them again. In order to find out whether Tao Hongjing's statement was correct, Li Shizhen went up to the mountain to observe it and caught it with the help of woodcutter and hunters. A pangolin arrived. About a liter of ants was cut out from its stomach, confirming that Tao Hongjing was right about pangolins. However, from observation, he found that when pangolins eat ants, they scratch open the ant nests and lick the food instead of luring the ants into the armor and swallowing them in the water. Li Shizhen affirmed Tao Hongjing's right side and corrected his mistakes.
4. Treating diseases with her mother-in-law
Li Shizhen inspected and treated diseases for fellow villagers along the way, and was highly respected and relied upon by people. There is an old woman who has suffered from habitual constipation for 30 years. Although she has been treated with various methods, it has not worked. Li Shizhen used folk remedies she learned from the folk to prepare medicine with an appropriate amount of morning glory, and her illness was quickly cured.
There was also a woman who had nasal bleeding that wouldn’t stop all day and night, and no matter how she treated it, it didn’t work. Li Shizhen used garlic slices to apply on the patient's feet, and the bleeding stopped after a short time. He also got this recipe from the people.
5. Taste all kinds of herbs
In the 31st year of Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty (1552), 34-year-old Li Shizhen set out to rebuild Materia Medica as planned. As I was fully prepared, the beginning went relatively smoothly, but as I continued, a problem arose: the so-called Materia Medica is the name of ancient pharmacology. It includes many plants, animals and minerals such as flowers, plants, fruits and trees, birds, animals, fish and insects, lead, tin, sulfur and mercury.
Since most of them are plants, it can be said that they are plant-based, so people call the medicines "Materia Medica". Li Shizhen was aware of its weight, but she still didn't expect that there were so many kinds of drugs, and it was difficult to know all of their properties, habits and growth conditions.
For example, the white-flowered snake, like bamboo and mugwort, is one of the three specialties of Qizhou. It can treat wind paralysis, convulsions, leprosy and other diseases. It is a herbal medicine. Li Shizhen once went up the mountain with a snake catcher and caught a white-flowered snake. After a closer look, it was exactly the same as what was described in the book.