How did Compendium of Materia Medica come down, was it written by later generations or was it original? I never really believed it. It sounds great.

Compendium of Materia Medica and Pharmaceutical Works, 52 volumes, written by Li Shizhen in Ming Dynasty, published in 1590. The book1.90,000 words, including 1.892 kinds of drugs, collecting1.096 prescriptions, drawing 1 160 beautiful illustrations, divided into 16. He is a master of traditional Chinese medicine in ancient China. On the basis of inheriting and summarizing the achievements of predecessors' materia medica, Li Shizhen combined with a great deal of pharmaceutical knowledge accumulated by the author through long-term study and interview, and through practice and study, it took decades to compile a masterpiece. This book not only corrects some mistakes in the past materia medica, but also synthesizes a lot of scientific data, puts forward a more scientific classification method of drugs, incorporates advanced biological evolution ideas, and embodies rich clinical practice.

Compendium of Materia Medica was published in 1578, and was finalized after three revisions. In order to publish and engrave this book as soon as possible, Li Shizhen went to Taicang and Nanjing twice in 1580 and 1590, and asked Wang Shizhen, a contemporary writer and former minister of punishments, to preface it, and Hu Chenglong, a publisher in Jinling, promised to engrave it. It took four years from 1590 (18th year of Ming Wanli) to 1593 (21st year of Ming Wanli). When the original work was about to be published, Li Shizhen died and failed to witness the publication of Compendium of Materia Medica. Three years later, on 1596, Compendium of Materia Medica was completely published in Nanjing, known as Jinling Edition. At present, this edition has become a treasure of the world, and there are not many in the world.