Li Shih Chen - Chinese Herbalist, naturalist.

 (For your reference)


Today July 3rd is the 495th birthday of Li Shizhen, famous Chinese herbalist and naturalist who wrote many books on cures and herbs.

Photo of Li in front of the Shenzen Hospital.

Li Shizhen (Li Shih-chen; simplified Chinese: 李时珍; traditional Chinese: 李時珍; pinyin: Lǐ Shízhēn; Wade–Giles: Li³ Shih²-chen¹, July 3, 1518 – 1593), courtesy name Dongbi (Tung-pi; Chinese: 東璧), was one of the greatest Chinese doctors, polymaths, scientists, herbalists and acupuncturists in history. His major contribution to clinical medicine was his 27-year work, which is found in his epic book Compendium of Materia Medica (Pen-tsao Kang-mu or Bencao Gangmu; simplified Chinese: 《本草纲目》; traditional Chinese: 《本草綱目》). He is also considered to be the greatest scientific naturalist of China, and was very interested in the proper classification of herb components.
The Bencao Gangmu is a medical text with 1,892 entries, each entry with its own name called a gang. The mu in the title refers to the synonyms of each name.^[1] The book has details about more than 1,800 drugs (Chinese Medicine), including 1,100 illustrations and 11,000 prescriptions. It also described the type, form, flavor, nature and application in disease treatments of 1,094 herbs. His Compendium of Materia Medica has been translated into many different languages, and remains as the premier reference work for herbal medicine. His treatise included various related subjects such as botany, zoology, mineralogy, and metallurgy. The book was reprinted frequently and five of the original editions still exist.^{[2] (Wikipedia)}