Research On The Literature Of Processing Chinese Materia Medica In The Pre-Song Period

The unique techniques of processing Chinese materia medica came from the life of people. The ways to process the foods, like washing, cutting and heating etc. were the primary methods for processing materia medica. With the development of the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the growing knowledge of the functions of materia medica and repeated practice in the clinic, people noticed that Chinese materia medica should be process to reduce its toxicity and enhance the effect. Therefore, various processing methods appeared and were improved, including getting rid of non-medicinal parts, adding supplementary material, and using better processing tools etc., and finally, the nowadays processing technology was formed.The research utilized my supervisor, Prof. Liu Chang-hua's achievement, "Processing Platform for Knowledge in the Literature of Traditional Chinese Medicine" to establish the database of the literature of processing Chinese materia medica. According to the aims and demands of literature research, based on the characteristic of processing materia medica and the academic idea of my supervisor, "expressing methods of TCM ancient literature through computer based on the knowledge element", metadata of research were defined: title, name of materia medica, contents, methods, supplementary materials, tools, and theory. And then, the "indexing module" was set up to index the given literature and form the database. Hence, the situation and history of processing Chinese materia medica in the literature were reflected by analyzing the information from the database.According to different form of the literature, representative literature in the Pre-Song period was selected for the research, which was classified as four catalogues:prescription books, herb books, discourse and monograph. The related supplementary materials, tools and theories in the literature were also studied here.The following three points were discussed:Firstly, the forms of literature had their own characteristics, such as prescription books, herb books, discourse and monograph.There were the methods of processing materia medica in the Wu shi er bing fang (Prescriptions for Fifty-two Diseases). It was likely that the instructions of prescription in the prescription books were the early records about processing methods. Because the processing requirements would be put forward when the prescription composed, including washing, cutting or boiling and frying. In early prescription books, the methods of processing Chinese materia medica and the methods of processing preparation were mixed up, hence, the name of he yao (mixed materia medica) and he he (mixture) appeared. To the Han dynasty, the footnote of processing materia medica was recorded in the Shang han za bing lun (Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Miscellaneous Diseases), which showed that medical works were divided into different parts, and the professional of processing materia medica was formed. Generally speaking, the related contents in the footnote were simple except for some complicated methods for metal and stone, comparing with the contents in the herb books, discourse and monograph. As a whole, the contents of processing Chinese materia medica in early prescription books were simple and the system was not formed yet.The appearance of herbs books reflected the further knowledge of the theory of Chinese materia medica. Its development was pushed by the ways of supplement and revision. The literature of herb generally recorded the herbs'nature and flavor, function, shape, variety, place of origin, true-and-false, and processing etc. The aim of revising herb books in the past dynasties was to using herbs rightly for avoiding the confusion of the herbs, same name but different herb, same herb with different names, false usage because of business aims, and physicians'mistakes. Therefore, the true-and-false of herbs was also an important part in the early herb books, besides its function and indication. Though the processing of materia medica was not the main contents in these books, it still was described in the books.With the development of times, the techniques of processing materia medica have been improved further. The discourse of processing was appeared in the herb books and prescription books. The discourse, "methods for mixture" in Tao Hong-jing's Ben cao jing ji zhu (Variorum of Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica) of the Jin dynasty was the earlier one, and it was the first systematic summery on processing techniques. However, the methods of processing materia medica were put together with the methods of preparation. Later, Sun Si-miao supplemented the above chapter and revised as "chapter of mixture", putting the methods of processing together with preparation and administration of prescription. The real discourse of processing materia medica could be seen in the literature from the Song dynasty, for example, Pang An-shi's Shang han zong bing lun (Summa of Cold'Pathogenic Diseases), Xu-Shu-wei's Pujib en shi fang (Prescriptions for Universal Relief), Zhang Rui's Ji feng pu ji fang (Jifeng Prescriptions for Universal Relief), Zhi nan zong lun (Summa for Guide) and Fu ren da quan liang fang (Complete Effective Prescriptions for Women's Diseases). These discourses preserved the related materials, promoted the development of processing materia medica, and provided the reference. In a sense, they had the same meaning with the monograph of processing.The earliest monograph Lei gong pao zhi lun (Master Lei's Treatise on Processing of Materia Medica) was a monument of processing Chinese materia medica. However, its academic value was damaged a little by the disputation of the author.Before Lei gong pao zhi lun was cited by Zheng lei ben cao (Classified Materia Medica), it was cited a little in the Shu ben cao (Materia Medica of Sichuan). And it could not be seen in other medical books, famous physicians before the Tang dynasty didn't mention it at all. The complicated procedures, plentiful supplementary materials and elaborated tools in this book had a closed relationship with the alchemy of Taoism. I considered that this book was more likely a Taoism monograph of processing materia medica.Secondly, the history of processing Chinese materia medica was described, including methods and supplementary materials.The early methods for processing materia medica were rather simple. And then, with the development of technology, the new methods were appeared constantly. The usage of supplementary materials showed the growing knowledge about the interaction of Chinese materia medica and reflected the development of techniques of processing materia medica.The recognition of the theory of processing Chinese materia medica in the Pre-Song period was a little superficial, limited in the description of side effect of non-medicinal parts and different effect from different processing methods, for instance, Lily Magnolia with fuzz causing cough, using crude Herba Selaginellae causing blood-breaking but processing one stopping bleeding, which didn't explain the reasons and function of processing materia medica. To the end of the Song dynasty, some physicians noticed the problems caused by excessive processing, for example, Radix Cyathulae was described in Fu ren da quan liang fang that it could not be dipped into the liquor for a long time, otherwise the flavor would be lost. This reflected the advance of theory of processing.Finally, based on the research of the literature of processing Chinese materia medica in the Pre-Song period, a new opinion on the complete date of Lei gong pao zhi lun was put forward, after comparing the difference of methods, supplementary materials and tools.It could be seen that there were so many advanced methods of processing materia medica in the Lei gong pao zhi lun. The techniques with the same level were recorded in Jing shi zheng lei bei ji ben cao (Classified material medica from historical classics for emergency) of the Song dynasty. Hence, it was likely that the complete date of Lei gong pao zhi lun was from the Southern and Northern dynasties to the Song dynasty.