A Brief History of Medicine

中国中草药简史Paragraph1ThehistoryofChinesemedicinebeganintheEastern(Later)HanDynasty(25-220CE),althoughofcoursetheChinesepeopleusedmedicinalsubstancesformillenniabeforethistime.中国药物的历史起源于东汉时期（公元25-220年),尽管中国人使用药用物质在这之前已经有千年的历史了。Theearliestextanttextswerefoundinarcheologicalsitesoverthepast30years,andincludethefamousMawangduimedicalmanuscripts.MostoftheclassicsofChinesemedicine,includingtheHuangDiNeiJing(Huangdi’sCanonofMedicine),ShenNongBenCaoJing(Shennong’sHerbal),ShangHanLun(TreatiseonCold-InducedDiseases),andJinKuiYaoLue(SynopsisoftheGoldenChamber)wereprobablycompiledorwrittenbythethirdcentury.现存最早的文献是在过去30年前的考古遗址中被发现的，其中包括最著名的马王堆药物学手稿。大部分的经典中药专著包括黄帝内经、神农本草经、伤寒论和金匮要略可能是在第三世纪编译和书写的。Atthattime,manyamongtheeducatedclassesofChinabelievedintheirabilitytoobserveandunderstandthenaturalworld,andthathealthanddiseaseweresubjecttotheprinciplesofanaturalorder,eventhough,byourownstandards,theywerequitesuperstitious.Itfollowsthatthepracticeofmedicineshouldbebasedontheseprinciples.在那时，中国很多受过教育的阶级相信他们有观测和理解大自然的能力，健康和疾病受自然规律的准则支配，尽管，按我们的标准看，他们太迷信了。行医应该以这些原则为基础。Paragraph2Huangdi’sCanonofMedicineisthetheoreticalstatementofthiscosmologyinmedicine.Theuniverseiscomposedofvariousforces：thecomplementaryoppositesofyinandyangandthefivephases.Thehumanmicrocosmrepresentstheseforcesinminiature.黄帝内经是药物中宇宙学的理论说明。宇宙是由各种各样的力量组成的：阴阳五行的相辅相成。人类的缩影代表着这些力量的缩影。Therearerulesandrelationshipsinnaturethathaveuniversalvalidity.Thepracticeofmedicineistheapplicationoftheserulestothetreatmentofdiseaseandthepromotionofhealth.自然界的规则和关系是有普遍规律性的。行医就是这些规律在治疗疾病和提高健康中的应用。However,fromtheperspectiveofmateriamedicaandherbalmedicine,whiletheCanonofMedicineprovidesmuchofthephilosophicalbackgroundformedicineaswellassomeimportantinformationabouttheuseoftastesandproperties,itdoesnotincludemuchinformationabouttheuseofherbs.Infact,only12herbalprescriptionsarementionedthere,containingatotalof28substances.然而，从本草的方面来看，尽管黄帝内经提供了很多关于药物的哲学背景和一些关于性味的重要信息，但没有包括太多草药使用的信息。事实上，里面只有12个处方，包含28种药。Paragraph3ThehistoricaltraditionofChineseherbalknowledgealsostartsintheEasternHanwiththepublicationoftheShenNongBenCaoJing(Shennong’sHerbal),alsoknownastheClassicsoftheMateriaMedica.ZhangZhongjingwroteShangHanLun(TreatiseonCold-InducedDiseases)andJinKuiYaoLue(SynopsisoftheGoldenChamber)justafterthefalloftheHan.随着神农本草经的出版历史上传统中药知识起源于东汉，神农本草经也称为theClassicsoftheMateriaMedica。在东汉末年ZhangZhongjing写了ShangHanLun和JinKuiYaoLueHisworkisthesourceofallprescriptionmanuals.Shennong’sHerbalortheClassicoftheMateriaMedicaisthefirstbooktofocusondescriptionofindividualherbs.ItisthereforethesourceandarchetypeofChina’straditionofmateriamedica.他的成果来源于所有的处方手册。神农本草经是第一本专注于描述药物个性著作，因此它是中草药的来源和原型。Paragraph4Thephrasebencao,whichwehavetranslatedasmateriamedica,didnotappearuntiltheEasternHan,whereitreferredtoboththemateriamedicaandtheknowledgerequiredtoobtainthem.Themateriamedicaspecialistsarementionedaspartofalargergroupof“mastersofmethods”(fangshi),whichincludedadeptsinvariousoccultarts.直到东汉时期本草一词才被翻译成materiamedica，他涉及到了本草和获得他们的知识。LegendattributestheauthorshipofShennong’sHerbaltothemythicalShenNong.Inadditiontointroducingagricultureandanimalhusbandry,heissaidtohavetasted“thehundredherbs”andtherebybecamethelegendarypatronofherbalmedicine.传说将神农本草经的作者归属于神秘的神农。除了引进农牧业外，据说他还尝过“百种药草”，成为中草药的传奇代言人。Besidesmateriamedicaexperts,thisgroupincludedastrologers,geomancers,magicians,andtechnologists.Itisalsolikelythatthesemateriamedicaspecialistswereinvolvedinthesearchforlongevitythroughalchemy,aneffortwhichhadanimportantinfluenceonChineseherbalmedicine.除了草药专家，这个团队还包括占星家、风水学家、魔术师和技术人员。这些草药专家好像也通过炼丹术来寻找长寿，这一努力对于中国中医药有重要的影响。However,thistextwascompilednoearlierthanthefirstcenturyCEbyunknownauthors,andwaslaterreconstructedinthesixthcenturyfromseveraleditionsdescribingdifferentnumbersofherbsbythefamousDaoist,TaoHongjing.然而，这部著作是由不早于第一世纪不知名的作者编写的，后来在第六世纪由著名的道教学家陶弘景描述不同数量草药的几个版本（著作）中所重建。Paragraph6Shennong’sHerbalcontains364entries,matchingthenumberofdaysinayear.Therearebotanical(252entries),mineral(45entries),andzoological(67entries)substances.Thetermmedicinalproperty(yaoxing)firstappearsintheprefaceofthisbook,butreferenceismadeonlytotheappropriatemethodsofpreparationfromeachsubstance.神农的草药包含364个条目，与一年内的天数相匹配。有植物（252条目），矿物（45条目），和动物（67条目）。药用财产一词最早出现在本书前言中，但参考仅限于从每一种物质的准备中所得的合适方法。TaoHongjingfurtherdividedthesubstancesintothreebasiccategories:upper,middle,andlower.Theuppergradenourisheslife,themiddlegradenourishesconstitutionaltypes,andthelowergradeexpelsdisease.Eachentryisevaluatedfortaste(wei)andtemperaturecharacteristics(qi).Toxicitywascarefullynoted.Finally,themedicinalactionsofeachherbaredescribed,usuallyintermsofsymptoms.陶弘景进一步将物质分为三个基本类型：上品、中品、下品。上品养生，中品滋养体质类型，下品驱逐疾病。每个条目都以气味的特征来评价。毒性物质被谨慎的记载。最后，每个草药的药理作用都被描述，通常是在症状方面。Paragraph7Thetasteandtemperaturecharacteristicsseemtohavebeenderivedempirically.Tastedescribestheperceptionoftheherbinthemouth,whiletemperaturecharacteristicsdescribethesensationoftheherbinthestomachorontheskin.Thesecharacteristicswereperhapsfurtherclarifiedbyobservationoftheherb’seffectsonthebody.气和味特性似乎已由经验派生