Volume VII in the Ben cao gang mu series offers a complete translation of chapters 34 through 37, devoted to woods.
The Ben cao gang mu is a sixteenth-century Chinese encyclopedia of medical matter and natural history by Li Shizhen (1518–1593). The culmination of a sixteen-hundred-year history of Chinese medical and pharmaceutical literature, it is considered the most important and comprehensive book ever written in the history of Chinese medicine and remains an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners. This nine-volume series reveals an almost two-millennia-long panorama of wide-ranging observations and sophisticated interpretations, ingenious manipulations, and practical applications of natural substances for the benefit of human health. Paul U. Unschuld's annotated translation of the Ben cao gang mu, presented here with the original Chinese text, opens a rare window into viewing the people and culture of China's past.
Contents 1. Prolegomena 1.1 History of Chinese materia medica literature 1.2 Structure and contents of the Ben cao gang mu 1.3 Biographical sketch of Li Shizhen (1518 – 1593) 2. Notes on the Translation 3. Wang Shizhen’s preface of 1590 4. Translation of the Ben Cao Gang Mu , ch. 34 through 37 Woods I, Fragrant Woods Group, Chapter 34 Woods II, Tree-size Woods Group, Chapter 35 Woods III, Shrubs Group, Chapter 36 Woods IV, Epiphyte Woods, Chapter 37 Woods V, Densely Growing Woods Group Woods VI, Various Woods Group 5. Weights and measures 5.1 Measures of capacity 5.2 Measures of weight 5.3 Measures of length 5.4 Measures of the size of pills 6. Lists of substances 6.1 Identification of pharmaceutical substances of plant origin mentioned in BCGM ch. 34 - 37 in passing. Herbs with an entry of their own are marked with their entry number 6.2 Substances discussed in chapters 34 - 37 in a separate entry. Listed in alphabetical order of their proper pin yin names with their popular English names where available and references to their entry. 6.3 Currently accepted scientific identification of substances discussed in BCGM ch. 34 - 37 in a separate entry. Listed in alphabetical order, with reference to their entry.
Paul U. Unschuld is Professor and Director at the Institute for Chinese Life Sciences, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
