Li Shizhen, whose courtesy name is Dongbi and whose nickname is Binhu, was born in Qi, Hubei (now Qichun County, Hubei Province). He was born in the 13th year of Zhengde, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty (1518 AD), and died in Wanli, Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty. Twenty-one years (AD 1593). His family has been practicing medicine for generations, and his grandfather was the "Bell Doctor". My father's name is Yuechi, and he is a famous local doctor. At that time, the status of private doctors was very low. The Li family was often bullied by officials and gentry. Therefore, his father decided to let his second son, Li Shizhen, study and take the exam so that he could succeed and stand out. Li Shizhen was frail and sickly since she was a child, but she had an upright and innocent personality. She could not learn those empty and boring eight-legged essays. In the nine years since he was admitted as a scholar at the age of fourteen, he went to Wuchang three times to take the exams, but failed every time. So he gave up his plan to become an official in the imperial examination and concentrated on studying medicine. He begged his father: "I am twenty-three years old this year and I always fail to pass the exam. You should let me study medicine!" and expressed his determination. : "The body is like a boat against the current, and the heart is stronger than iron and stone. I hope my father will fulfill my son's aspirations, and I will not be afraid of difficulties until death." Li Yuechi finally woke up in the face of the cold facts, agreed to his son's request, and taught him carefully. Within a few years, Li Shizhen became a very famous doctor. When he was about thirty-eight years old, he was summoned by the King of Chu in Wuchang and served as the "Fengshizheng" of the palace, and also in charge of the affairs of the good doctor's office. Three years later, he was recommended to Beijing to serve as a judge at the Taiyuan Hospital. The Imperial Hospital was a medical institution dedicated to serving the palace. At that time, it was in a state of chaos caused by some quack doctors. After serving for only one year, Li resigned and returned to his hometown. In the past ten years, Li Shizhen has read a large number of ancient medical books, and through clinical practice has discovered that ancient herbal books have "a tedious number of titles and many miscellaneous names. One thing may be divided into two or three, or two things may be mixed into one grade" (" "The Biography of Foreign History of the Ming Dynasty"). In particular, many toxic drugs are considered to be able to "prolong life" if taken for a long time, thus causing endless disasters. So, he decided to re-compile a Materia Medica book. When he was thirty-one years old, he began to think about it. In order to "search for everything", he read a lot of reference books. After finishing reading the books in his family collection, he took advantage of the opportunity of practicing medicine to borrow them from the wealthy families in his hometown. Later, after entering Prince Chu's Mansion in Wuchang and Beijing Taiyuan Hospital, I read more books and became a "book addict". He said in his own words that "I have been addicted to classics for a long time, just like eating cane sweets" (original preface of "Compendium of Materia Medica"). In "The Biography of Li Shizhen", Gu Jingxing also praised him for "ten years of study, without leaving the house, and he is knowledgeable about everything". Indeed, he not only read more than 800 kinds of medical books and tens of thousands of volumes, but also read many famous works of history, geography and literature. He read the masterpieces of Dunhuang classics and history; he also carefully read the complete works of several great ancient poets. Study it thoroughly. He also excerpted a large number of poems about medicine. These poems gave him a lot of real and useful medical knowledge and helped him correct many fallacies in medicine made by his predecessors. For example, in ancient medical books, "owls and ducks" often appear. What do they refer to? Is there a difference? Pharmacologists throughout the ages have had divergent opinions and debated endlessly. Li Shizhen quoted two sentences from Qu Yuan's "Li Sao": "The general will compete with the chickens and ducks for food" and "The general will be like a duck in the water", and pointed out that the poet used the word "bird" and "bird" in parallel, which means that they are not the same. Evidence of breeding birds. Based on the descriptions of their different living environments in the poem, he proved that the "pheasant" is a domestic duck and the "falcon" is a wild duck, with different medicinal properties. Qu Yuan's poems actually became Li Shizhen's eloquent basis for verifying the name and reality of medicines. In the process of compiling the "Compendium of Materia Medica", the biggest headache for Li Shizhen was that because of the mixed drug names, the shape and growth of the drugs were often unclear. Although the past Materia Medica has been repeatedly explained, some authors did not conduct in-depth actual investigation and research, but copied and "guessed on paper" from books, so the more they explained, the more confused they became, and the contradictions became more frequent. It makes people confused. Take the medicine Polygala for example. Tao Hongjing, a famous medical scientist in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, said that it is a small grass, like ephedra, but green in color and with white flowers. However, Ma Zhi of the Song Dynasty thought it resembled Daqing and blamed Tao Hongjing for not knowing Polygala at all. Another example is the medicine Gouji. Some say it resembles wormwood, some say it resembles geobuckthorn, and some say it resembles guanzhong. The opinions are very inconsistent. There were many situations like this, and Li Shizhen had to put down her writing again and again. How to solve these problems? Inspired by his father, Li Shizhen realized that "reading thousands of books" was certainly necessary, but "traveling thousands of miles" was even more indispensable. Therefore, he not only "searched for Baishi" but also "interviewed all parties" to conduct in-depth actual investigations. Li Shizhen put on straw sandals, carried a medicine basket, and accompanied by her apprentice Pang Xian and son Jianyuan, traveled far into the mountains and wilderness, visited famous doctors and scholars, searched for folk prescriptions, and observed and collected drug specimens. He first conducted interviews in his hometown of Qizhou. Later, he went out for interviews many times. In addition to Huguang, I have also visited many places in Jiangxi, Jiangsu, and Anhui. I have also been to Mount Taihe in Junzhou. Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi Province, which is rich in medicinal materials, and Sheshan Mountain, Maoshan Mountain and Niushou Mountain in Nanjing, may also have his footprints. Later generations wrote poems about this, "Products from far-off and remote places, adventures to explore the beauty of the foothills", reflecting his life of traveling long distances and interviewing people from all over. Everywhere Li Shizhen went, she humbly asked all kinds of people. Among them are those who collect herbs, those who farm, those who fish, those who cut firewood, and those who hunt. Enthusiastically help him learn about various medications. For example, brassica is a commonly used medicine for treating diseases. But what does it look like? "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" can't explain it clearly, and various commentaries can't figure it out either. Li Shizhen asked an old man who grew vegetables. After his guidance and inspection of the real thing, he realized that brassica is actually rapeseed. This plant is sown in the first year and blooms in the second year. The seeds can be squeezed for oil. Therefore, this medicine was clearly annotated in his "Compendium of Materia Medica".

During interviews or in her own medicine garden, Li Shizhen paid great attention to observing the shape and growth of medicines. Qi Snake is the white-flowered snake native to Qizhou. This medicine has the functions of treating wind paralysis, convulsions, tinea and leprosy. Li Shizhen has long studied it. But at first, just observe from the snake traders. An insider reminded him that it was caught from the mountains of Xingguozhou in the south of the Yangtze River and was not a real akid snake. So what does a real snake look like? He asked a snake catcher for advice. The man told him that the tips of the snake's teeth were highly venomous. If a person is bitten, his limbs must be amputated immediately, otherwise he will die from poisoning. It has special effects in treating the above-mentioned diseases, so it is very valuable. The state officials forced the people to risk their lives to catch him in order to pay tribute to the emperor. Qizhou is so big, but the real Qi snake can only be found on Longfeng Mountain in the north of the city. Li Shizhen wanted to find out the truth and wanted to observe the snake with his own eyes, so he asked the snake catcher to take him to Longfeng Mountain. There is a Suanni Cave there, surrounded by rugged rocks and thick bushes. Heather vines twining around shrubs are everywhere. Agkistrodon likes to eat the flowers and leaves of heather vines, so they live in this area. Li Shizhen ignored the danger and searched everywhere. With the help of the snake catcher, I finally saw the snake with my own eyes and saw the whole process of catching and preparing the snake. Due to such in-depth practical investigation, when he later wrote about the white-flowered snake in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", he was able to speak concisely and accurately. It is said that the shape of the Ki snake is: "a dragon's head and a tiger's mouth, black matter and white flowers, twenty-four square shengwens on the flanks, beads spots on the abdomen, four long teeth in the mouth, a Buddha's nail on the tail, one or two points long, and the intestine is shaped like a string of beads"; It is said that the process of catching and making akid snakes is: "People often find them by eating their flowers and leaves on heather vines. Sprinkle a handful of sand first, so that the snake does not move, and then pick it up with a fork. Hang it with a rope. The knife breaks the abdomen and removes the intestines, and then the tail is turned to wash the abdomen, and the wound is covered with a bamboo support, bent and coiled, and tied to the kang stem." At the same time, the differences between the ki snake and the white flower snake from other places were also clarified. : "Those who leave the land of Qi may be dry but their eyesight is not sunken, but those who live elsewhere cannot." Such a clear description of the various situations of the Qi Snake is certainly due to the meticulous field investigation. Li Shizhen understands medicines and is not satisfied with a superficial investigation. Instead, she looks at them one by one and compares them with the actual objects. This clarified many specious and ambiguous drugs. In his words, he "looked at them one by one and found out the truth", "listed all the products and looked at them repeatedly." At that time, the "Langmei" produced by Wulong Palace in Taihe Mountain was said by Taoist priests to have been eaten. "The fairy fruit that can lead to immortality". They picked it back every year and paid tribute to the emperor. The government strictly prohibits other people from picking it. Li Shizhen didn't believe the Taoist priests' lies and wanted to try it himself to see what effect it had. So, despite the objections of the Taoist priests, he took the risk and picked one. After research, it was found that its effect is the same as that of ordinary peaches and apricots. It can produce fluid and quench thirst. It is a deformed elm tree fruit and has no special effects. Dace and carp, also known as pangolin today, are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. Tao Hongjing said that it can live on both land and water. During the day, it can climb up rocks, open its scales, pretend to be dead, lure ants into its armor, then close its scales, dive into the water, and then open its armor to let the ants emerge, and then devour them. . In order to know whether Tao Hongjing's statement was correct, Li Shizhen went up to the mountain to observe it personally. With the help of woodcutter and hunter, a pangolin was caught. 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. In this way, after long-term and arduous field investigation, Li Shizhen clarified many difficult problems about drugs, and completed the compilation of "Compendium of Materia Medica" in the Wuyin year of Wanli (1578 AD). The book has about 1.9 million words and 52 volumes. It contains 1,892 kinds of medicines, 374 new medicines, more than 10,000 prescriptions, and more than 1,000 pictures. It has become a Chinese medicine. An unprecedented masterpiece of learning. Among them, he corrected many mistakes of his predecessors, made outstanding achievements in many aspects such as animal and plant taxonomy, and also made contributions to other related disciplines (biology, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, astronomy, etc.). Darwin praised it as "the encyclopedia of ancient China".

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