Manga Shennong's Herbal: Volume Three

Author: Zhu Shifeng (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-10-01
Features: The Shen Nong's Herbal Classic, written during the Han Dynasty, is a comprehensive collection of pharmaceutical knowledge from the Warring States and Qin-Han periods. It is China's earliest specialized pharmacological text, also known as Shen Nong's Herbal or simply Herbal Classic or Basic Canon. The true author cannot be traced, and it is attributed to Shen Nong, one of the ancestors of the Chinese nation, who was revered for tasting hundreds of herbs and saving humanity. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, not only did official institutions dedicated to studying medicine emerge, but research (popular folk studies) was also highly prevalent, laying a solid foundation for the Shen Nong's Herbal Classic. The book includes a total of 365 medicinal substances, comprising 252 plants, 67 animals, and 46 minerals. Based on their properties and functions, the Shen Nong's Herbal Classic classifies medicines into three categories—superior, intermediate, and inferior—marking China's earliest pharmacological classification system. In its preface (), the book outlines the fundamental theories of pharmacology at the time. For example, it discusses the theory of "principal, deputy, assistant, and envoy" in medical prescriptions, the principles of drug preparation, and the "Four Qi and Five Tastes" theory, which states that drugs possess five flavors (sour, salty, sweet, bitter, pungent) and four natures (cold, hot, warm, cool). The book covers most of the commonly used traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) used by modern people, such as ginseng, licorice, and rhubarb, and proposes remedies for over 170 diseases spanning internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, dentistry, and other fields. The method of using ma huang (ephedra) to treat asthma recorded in the Basic Canon is the earliest documented in the world. These drugs have proven highly effective and are still widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and by the general public today. The Shen Nong's Herbal Classic laid the foundation for ancient pharmacology and had a profound influence on the development of later pharmaceutical studies. Subsequent physicians built upon this work, leading to the creation of numerous herbal texts.