Běncǎo Huì Yán 本草彙言
Compiled Discourses on Materia Medica by 倪朱謨 (Ní Zhūmó, zì Chúnyǔ 純宇, fl. late 16th – early 17th c., 明)
About the work
The Běncǎo huì yán is a substantial late-Míng pharmacology in 20 juǎn, compiled by Ní Zhūmó between 1624 and 1629 (Tiānqǐ-Chóngzhēn). The work organises substances by the Gāngmù 16-bù taxonomic structure but with three distinctive features: (a) each substance entry gathers the opinions of named earlier authorities (Lǐ Shízhēn, Miù Xīyōng, Wāng Hǎngǔ, Zhū Zhènhēng, Lǐ Gǎo, Zhāng Yuánsù), making it a comparative-anthology pharmacology; (b) it adds substantial casebook material from Ní’s own clinical practice in Hángzhōu; (c) it includes Ní’s own polemical commentary correcting what he sees as errors in the Gāngmù and Běncǎo jīng shū traditions.
The work was widely circulated in the late Míng / early Qīng and is a major source for understanding the pharmacological debates of the period.
Prefaces
The 漢學文典 transmitted text preserves Ní’s own preface (date Tiānqǐ 4 = 1624) and editorial fán lì 凡例. Ní’s preface describes the project as one of huì 彙 (gathering, compilation) — bringing together the diverse pharmacological doctrines of his era into a single coordinated reference. He explicitly identifies his teachers (Miù Xīyōng) and his polemical targets (commercial physicians who treat Gāngmù citations as definitive without proper kǎozhèng).
Abstract
Ní Zhūmó (倪朱謨), zì Chúnyǔ 純宇, native of Hángzhōu 杭州, fl. late Wànlì through Chóngzhēn (c. 1580 – c. 1640). He was a layman scholar-physician without official appointment, embedded in the Hángzhōu late-Míng medical-literary network that also included Lú Zhīyí 盧之頤 (KR3ec026) and Wáng Kěntáng 王肯堂. His other works are the Língshū jīng zhù 靈樞經注 and a clinical casebook Xī jí yī àn 析疑醫案 (preserved fragmentarily).
The Huì yán is the principal Hángzhōu late-Míng pharmacology and is a major source for Lǐ Shízhēn-tradition citations through the early Qīng. CBDB does not have a confident Ní Zhūmó record. The composition window 1624–1629 is based on the preface date and the printing date (1629).
Translations and research
- No Western-language translation.
- Surveyed in Bian (2020), Know Your Remedies, ch. 3.
Links
- Wikidata: not yet assigned.
- 本草彙言 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB