A Study On The Herbal Efficacy Of Fruits And Seeds From The Perspective Of Metaphorical Cognition

Originating from the personal experience of smell,the ancients constructed the theory of four odors and five flavors based on the theory of Yin-Yang and five elements,and as a tool,the physicians began to interpret the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine.However,the theory of medicinal properties of four odors and five flavors is only part of the pharmacology of pharma.Carefully combing the herbs and prescriptions,it can be found that in the process of continuous practice and summary,physicians have gradually developed a unique idea of medicinal properties and prescription formulation-describing the analogous pictogram(Zhang element)or treating it by the analogous form(Wang Ang)or by the analogous form(Xu Dachun).For example,Wang Ang,a doctor in Qing Dynasty,wrote "Essentials of Materia Medica and General Meaning of Drug Nature","The substances of medicine have their own form,nature,temperament and quality.Its entry into the various classics,because of similar shape,such as Forsythia into the heart,litchi nucleus like testis into the kidney and so on...For those with the same quality,such as the head of the medicine,the dry body,the branches into the limbs,the skin..."It is based on the similarity between plant parts and human body parts to correspond the shape of herbs to the shape of viscera.Under the influence of the similar holism idea,the ancients carried out the analysis of the efficacy of different parts of botanical drugs.Later generations concluded that "skin to skin,joint to bone,core to pill,son can be bright,vines to stretch tendons and veins,branches to limbs",which can be described as a high generalization of the use of drugs at the parts.In an age that cannot surpass physical observation,based on limited experience or knowledge,how to find more medicines to cure diseases or save lives from unknown things is of great significance for survival."Shennong tastes hundreds of herbs" enlightens us that when the ancients wanted to use natural medicine to treat human diseases,in addition to "attempt errors" or "imitate animals",they could also use metaphorical cognitive theory to establish a connection between the human disease location and the different parts of the herb by analogy analysis,and by virtue of the "similarity" between the two,thereby deriving the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine or medicinal parts.Analogy requires more similarities,and only in this way can more metaphors be inspired.Preliminary studies have found that the roots of herbs correspond mostly to the viscera of the human body;the root bark or bark of herbs correspond mostly to the body surface and viscera of the human body;the stem of herbs corresponds mostly to the gastrointestinal tract in the viscera of the human body;the branches and trunks of herbs correspond mostly to the limbs of the human body;the seedlings and flowers of herbs correspond mostly to the body surface of the human body;and the fruits and seeds of herbs correspond mostly to such an analogy opens a gap in uncovering the logic or psychological level of cognition hidden behind it.But in order to seek deeper links between human body and plants,more in-depth studies are needed.Therefore,fruits and seeds are selected from plant traditional Chinese medicine,the effective language involved is interpreted,the relevant knowledge background is sorted out,and the consensus that may exist between language,logic,psychology,cognition,natural relics and other disciplines and traditional Chinese medicine can be distinguished,or the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine can provide opportunities for the modern research of seeds and fruits.Based on the Compendium of Materia Medica as the main literature material,and on the premise of respecting the original records,combined with the five Tibetan disease system of TCM internal medicine,and based on the high-frequency efficacy terms,186 fruits and seeds of traditional Chinese medicine were classified under six categories of diseases,and further divided into 16 main efficacy.Instruments such as logic and cognitive science were introduced for efficacy analysis.Finally,it was found that liver,heart,spleen,lung,kidney,eye,keloid,hernia and so on have similarities in structure and diagnosis and treatment,that is,they are all products of the human body’s coalescence state.This paper focuses on the five visceral system medicines such as clear-eyed or liver-treating medicines(Scutellaria,Cassia seed,Jujube),heart-nourishing medicines(wheat,cypress),spleen-stomach medicines(lotus seed,Scutellaria baicalensis),lung-treating medicines(Schisandra chinensis),kidney-tonifying medicines(snakebed,pstick,Chinese chestnut,leek),Yin-nourishing medicines(Ligustrum lucidum,Ficus fructus),water-difying medicines(Velvet,Plantago),astringent medicines(cherry).Fruit,dogwood,dispersive medicine(orange core,cotton seed),and single fruit multi-seed medicine(raspberry,mulberry,Lycium barbarum)and other 10 categories,involving the efficacy of 23 fruits and seeds.The cognitive process of the efficacy of these seeds and fruits was sorted out,and the logical and psychological background of the efficacy was explored.Based on the basic metaphor of man as a plant,this paper finds that man’s liver,heart,spleen,lungs,kidneys and eyes are similar to the fruits and seeds of plants,which are mostly beneficial.Body of scrofula,hernia come five Tibetan pathological state,and ACTS on the human body come most of fruits and seeds with evil attack is given priority to,medicinal completed,fluent and movement.As a crude logical model,"shape for treatment" is relatively inadequate in explaining the efficacy of drugs.The efficacy of drugs based on this model also needs to be further verified in clinical practice.