李時珍的生平

Li Shizhen (traditional Chinese: 李時珍; simplified Chinese: 李时珍; pinyin: Lǐ Shízhēn; Wade-Giles: Li Shih-Chen, 1518–1593), courtesy name Dongbi (东璧), was one of the greatest physicians and pharmacologists in Chinese history. His major contribution to medicine was his forty-year work, which is found in his epic book the Bencao Gangmu. He is also considered to be the greatest naturalist of China, and was very interested in the proper classification of herb components.

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 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 edition still exist. [1]

Biography



圖片參考：http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Qichun-LiShizhenBust.jpg


A bust of Li Shizhen in an herbal garden of Qizhou.
In addition to the Bencao Gangmu, Li wrote eleven other books, [2] including Binhu Maixue ("A Study of the Pulse") and Qijing Bamai Kao ("An Examination of the Eight Extra Meridians").[3] He lived during the Ming Dynasty and was influenced by the Neo-Confucian beliefs of the time. He was born in what is today Qichun, Hubei in 1518 AD and died 75 years later, in 1593.[2]

Li's grandfather had been a doctor who traveled the countryside and was considered relatively low on the social scale of the time. His father was a traditional physician and scholar who had written several influential books. He tried to move up in society and encouraged his son to seek a government position. Li took the national Civil Service Exam three times, but after failing each one, he turned to medicine. At 23, his father took him on as an apprentice. When he was 27, and a practicing physician, he cured the son of a Chu prince and was invited to be an official there. A few years after, he got a government position as assistant president at the Imperial Medical Institute in Beijing. However, even though he had climbed up the social ladder, as his father had originally wanted, he left a year later to return to being a doctor.[2]

In his government position, Li was able to read many rare medical books; he also saw the disorder, mistakes, and conflicting information that were serious problems in most medical publications of the time and soon began the Bencao Gangmu to compile correct information with a logical system of organization. A small part was based on another book which had been written several hundred years earlier, Jingshi Zhenglei Beiji Bencao ("Classified Materia Media for Emergencies") – which, unlike many other books, had formulas and recipes for most of the entries. In the writing of the Bencao Gangmu, he travelled extensively, gaining first-hand experience with many herbs and local remedies and consulted over 800 books – nearly every medical book in print at the time.[2]

Altogether, the writing of the Bencao Gangmu took 27 years, which included three revisions. Ironically, writing the book allegedly took a considerable toll on his health. [2] It was rumored that he stayed indoors for ten consecutive years during the writing of the Bencao Gangmu.[4] After he had completed it, a friend “reported that Li was emaciated.”[2]

Li died before the book was officially published, and the current emperor paid it little regard.[2] However, it remained one of the most important materia medica of traditional China.

Li Shizhen
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This is a Chinese name; the family name is 李 (Li).

Li ShizhenLi Shizhen (traditional Chinese: 李時珍; Simplified Chinese: 李时珍; pinyin: Lǐ Shízhēn; Wade-Giles: Li Shih-Chen, 1518–1593), courtesy name Dongbi (东璧), was one of the greatest physicians and pharmacologists in Chinese history. His major contribution to medicine was his forty-year work, which is found in his epic book the Bencao Gangmu. He is also considered to be the greatest naturalist of China, and was very interested in the proper classification of herb components.

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 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 edition still exist. [1]

李時珍（約1518年-1593年），字東璧，晚年自號瀕湖山人。蘄州（今湖北省黃岡市蘄春縣蘄州鎮）人，是中國明朝最著名的醫學家及藥學家之一。

生平
李時珍出身於一個世醫家庭。祖父是「鈴醫」。父親名聞，號月池，是當地名醫。由於家庭的熏陶，李時珍從小就喜愛醫藥。由於當時從醫者的社會地位不高，所以身為醫生的父親李言聞只希望他讀書應考以光宗耀祖，並不鼓勵他習醫。李時珍在14歲的時候不負父望順利的成為秀才，但是之後3次參加鄉試欲成舉人，都難以遂願，兼之他對醫學的濃厚興趣一直有增無減，於是決定棄儒從醫專心研究醫藥。

在30歲時成為當地名醫，楚王聽說後聘李時珍為奉祠，掌管良醫所事務，1556年，經舉薦補太醫院之闕，在京師金陵供職了一年。辭職回家後，在雨湖北岸構築新居，題名「紅花園」，在此行醫。

在他行醫救人期間，他發現古代的本草書籍，「品數既煩，名稱多雜。或一物析為二三，或二物混為一品」（《明外史本傳》）。特別是許多毒性藥品，竟被認為可以「久服延年」，因而遺禍無窮。李時珍多次上書朝廷要求重整醫書的資料，可惜並無回應，於是他便利用在良醫所和太醫院閱讀的大量醫籍和堅實的文史基礎，親自對中國歷代有關藥物學的著作進行了整理。

在編寫《本草綱目》的過程中，最使李時珍頭痛的就是由於藥名混雜，往往弄不清藥物的形狀生長的情況。過去的本草書，雖然作了反覆的解釋，但是由於有些作者沒有深入實際進行調查研究，而是在書本上抄來抄去在「紙上猜度」，所以越解釋越糊塗，而且矛盾倍出，使人莫衷一是。於是李時珍在徒弟龐憲、兒子建元的伴隨下，遠涉深山曠野，觀察和收集藥物標本。除了不辭勞苦到各地採藥及以自身試藥之餘，他遍訪名醫宿儒，又到處訪問漁夫、農夫等平民以搜集民間驗方。他首先在家鄉蘄州一帶採訪。後來，他多次出外採訪。除湖廣外，還到過江西、江蘇、安徽好多地方。均州的太和山也到過。盛產藥材的江西廬山和南京的攝山、茅山、牛首山，估計也有他的足跡。後人為此寫了「遠窮僻壤之產，險探麓之華」的詩句，反映他遠途跋涉，四方採訪的生活。經過30年後，終於著成了《本草綱目》，後來又花了12年修訂三次。

明萬曆二十一年(1593年)，李時珍逝世，葬於湖北省蘄春縣蘄州鎮東南2公里的雨湖之濱。（參看李時珍墓）1596年，也就是李時珍逝世後的第三年，《本草綱目》在南京正式刊行。此外他還著有《奇經八脈考》、《瀕湖脈學》、《瀕湖集簡方》、《三焦客難》、《命門考》、《五臟圖論》、《瀕湖醫案》等，除前兩種外皆失傳。

李時珍出身於一個世醫家庭。祖父是「鈴醫」。父親名聞，號月池，是當地名醫。由於家庭的熏陶，李時珍從小就喜愛醫藥。由於當時從醫者的社會地位不高，所以身為醫生的父親李言聞只希望他讀書應考以光宗耀祖，並不鼓勵他習醫。李時珍在14歲的時候不負父望順利的成為秀才，但是之後3次參加鄉試欲成舉人，都難以遂願，兼之他對醫學的濃厚興趣一直有增無減，於是決定棄儒從醫專心研究醫藥。

在30歲時成為當地名醫，楚王聽說後聘李時珍為奉祠，掌管良醫所事務，1556年，經舉薦補太醫院之闕，在京師金陵供職了一年。辭職回家後，在雨湖北岸構築新居，題名「紅花園」，在此行醫。

在他行醫救人期間，他發現古代的本草書籍，「品數既煩，名稱多雜。或一物析為二三，或二物混為一品」（《明外史本傳》）。特別是許多毒性藥品，竟被認為可以「久服延年」，因而遺禍無窮。李時珍多次上書朝廷要求重整醫書的資料，可惜並無回應，於是他便利用在良醫所和太醫院閱讀的大量醫籍和堅實的文史基礎，親自對中國歷代有關藥物學的著作進行了整理。

在編寫《本草綱目》的過程中，最使李時珍頭痛的就是由於藥名混雜，往往弄不清藥物的形狀生長的情況。過去的本草書，雖然作了反覆的解釋，但是由於有些作者沒有深入實際進行調查研究，而是在書本上抄來抄去在「紙上猜度」，所以越解釋越糊塗，而且矛盾倍出，使人莫衷一是。於是李時珍在徒弟龐憲、兒子建元的伴隨下，遠涉深山曠野，觀察和收集藥物標本。除了不辭勞苦到各地採藥及以自身試藥之餘，他遍訪名醫宿儒，又到處訪問漁夫、農夫等平民以搜集民間驗方。他首先在家鄉蘄州一帶採訪。後來，他多次出外採訪。除湖廣外，還到過江西、江蘇、安徽好多地方。均州的太和山也到過。盛產藥材的江西廬山和南京的攝山、茅山、牛首山，估計也有他的足跡。後人為此寫了「遠窮僻壤之產，險探麓之華」的詩句，反映他遠途跋涉，四方採訪的生活。經過30年後，終於著成了《本草綱目》，後來又花了12年修訂三次。

明萬曆二十一年(1593年)，李時珍逝世，葬於湖北省蘄春縣蘄州鎮東南2公里的雨湖之濱。（參看李時珍墓）1596年，也就是李時珍逝世後的第三年，《本草綱目》在南京正式刊行。此外他還著有《奇經八脈考》、《瀕湖脈學》、《瀕湖集簡方》、《三焦客難》、《命門考》、《五臟圖論》、《瀕湖醫案》等，除前兩種外皆失傳。

In addition to the Bencao Gangmu, Li wrote eleven other books, [2] including Binhu Maixue ("A Study of the Pulse") and Qijing Bamai Kao ("An Examination of the Eight Extra Meridians").[3] He lived during the Ming Dynasty and was influenced by the Neo-Confucian beliefs of the time. He was born in what is today Qichun, Hubei in 1518 AD and died 75 years later, in 1593.[2]