Materia Medica Collectanea

Author: Ni Zhumo [Ming Dynasty]
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-06-01
Features: This book is a pharmaceutical monograph compiled by Ni Zhumo, a Ming Dynasty medical pharmacologist, who gathered the opinions of scholars before him and his contemporaries. The book consists of 20 volumes, including 581 medicinal entries, categorized into Grass, Wood, (), Metal, Stone, Grain, Fruit, Vegetable, Insect, Bird, Beast, Fish, Shellfish, and Human sections. Each volume is preceded by illustrations, totaling 530. Each entry describes the taste, properties, yin-yang meridian affinity, and origin and morphology of the medicinal plant, as well as collects discussions from various scholars. At the end of each entry, prescriptions are listed, all with cited sources, ensuring the content is well-supported. The final volume (Volume 20) contains general discussions on topics such as aroma, yin-yang, ascending and descending, floating and sinking, covering 23 items. This book incorporates literature from over 40 medical texts published before the Ming Dynasty and includes the opinions of 148 scholars from the same era as the author. It cites a large number of Ming Dynasty medical prescriptions, some of which were never published (or have since been lost), making the book highly valuable for preserving these materials. By compiling discussions from various scholars, the book greatly enriches the content of clinical medication and pharmacological theory. It is a Ming Dynasty herbal work with substantial new content, serving as a reference for modern Chinese medicine researchers, educators, clinical practitioners, and enthusiasts.