chinese herbology chinese herbology chinese herbology (simplified chinese: 中药学; traditional chinese: 中藥學; pinyin: zhōngyào xué) is the theory of traditional chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional chinese medicine (tcm). a nature editorial described tcm as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that the most obvious reason why it has not delivered many cures is that the majority of its treatments have no logical mechanism of action. dried herbs and plant portions for chinese herbology at a xi'an market part of a series on thehistory of science and technology in china list of discoveries list of inventions the four great inventions by subject agriculture sericulture alchemy architecture classic gardens bridges astronomy calendar cartography ceramics coinage mathematics units of measurement traditional medicine herbology metallurgy military navy printing silk industry transport navigation by era neolithic and early bronze age han tang song 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hypothesis anti-vaccinationism in chiropractic vaccines and autism mmr vaccine and autism water fluoridation controversy covid-19 misinformation classifications alternative medical systems mind–body intervention biologically-based therapy manipulative methods energy therapy traditional medicine african muti southern africa ayurveda dosha mvah balneotherapy brazilian bush medicine cambodian chinese blood stasis chinese herbology dit da gua sha gill plate trade meridian moxibustion pressure point qi san jiao tui na zang-fu chumash curandero faith healing hilot iranian jamu kambo japanese korean mien shiang mongolian prophetic medicine shamanism shiatsu siddha sri lankan thai massage tibetan unani vietnamese diagnoses adrenal fatigue aerotoxic syndrome candida hypersensitivity chronic lyme disease electromagnetic hypersensitivity heavy legs leaky gut syndrome multiple chemical sensitivity wilson's temperature syndrome the term herbology is misleading in the sense that, while plant elements are by far the most commonly used substances, animal, human, and mineral products are also used, among which some are poisonous. in the huangdi neijing they are referred to as 毒藥 (pinyin: dúyào) which means toxin, poison, or medicine. paul u. unschuld points out that this is similar etymology to the greek pharmakon and so he uses the term "pharmaceutic". thus, the term "medicinal" (instead of herb) is usually preferred as a translation for 药 (pinyin: yào). research into the effectiveness of traditional chinese herbal therapy is of poor quality and often tainted by bias, with little or no rigorous evidence of efficacy. there are concerns over a number of potentially toxic chinese herbs. history chinese pharmacopoeia chinese herbs have been used for centuries. among the earliest literature are lists of prescriptions for specific ailments, exemplified by the manuscript "recipes for 52 ailments", found in the mawangdui which were sealed in 168 bc. the first traditionally recognized herbalist is shénnóng (神农, lit. "divine farmer"), a mythical god-like figure, who is said to have lived around 2800 bc. he allegedly tasted hundreds of herbs and imparted his knowledge of medicinal and poisonous plants to farmers. his shénnóng běn cǎo jīng (神农本草经, shennong's materia medica) is considered as the oldest book on chinese herbal medicine. it classifies 365 species of roots, grass, woods, furs, animals and stones into three categories of herbal medicine: the "superior" category, which includes herbs effective for multiple diseases and are mostly responsible for maintaining and restoring the body balance. they have almost no unfavorable side-effects. a category comprising tonics and boosters, whose consumption must not be prolonged. a category of substances which must usually be taken in small doses, and for the treatment of specific diseases only. the original text of shennong's materia medica has been lost; however, there are extant translations. the true date of origin is believed to fall into the late western han dynasty (i.e., the first century bc). the treatise on cold damage disorders and miscellaneous illnesses was collated by zhang zhongjing, also sometime at the end of the han dynasty, between 196 and 220 ce. focusing on drug prescriptions, it was the first medical work to combine yinyang and the five phases with drug therapy. this formulary was also the earliest chinese medical text to group symptoms into clinically useful "patterns" (zheng 證) that could serve as targets for therapy. having gone through numerous changes over time, it now circulates as two distinct books: the treatise on cold damage disorders and the essential prescriptions of the golden casket, which were edited separately in the eleventh century, under the song dynasty. succeeding generations augmented these works, as in the yaoxing lun (药性论; 藥性論; 'treatise on the nature of medicinal herbs'), a 7th-century tang dynasty chinese treatise on herbal medicine. there was a shift in emphasis in treatment over several centuries. a section of the neijing suwen including chapter 74 was added by wang bing in his 765 edition. in which it says: 主病之謂君，佐君之謂臣，應臣之謂使，非上下三品之謂也。 "ruler of disease it called sovereign, aid to sovereign it called minister, comply with minister it called envoy (assistant), not upper lower three classes (qualities) it called." the last part is interpreted as stating that these three rulers are not the three classes of shénnóng mentioned previously. this chapter in particular outlines a more forceful approach. later on zhang zihe (1156–1228) is credited with founding the 'attacking school' which criticized the overuse of tonics. arguably the most important of these later works is the compendium of materia medica (bencao gangmu:本草綱目) compiled during the ming dynasty by li shizhen, which is still used today for consultation and reference. the use of chinese herbs was popular during the medieval age in western asian and islamic countries. they were traded through the silk road from the east to the west. cinnamon, ginger, rhubarb, nutmeg and cubeb are mentioned as chinese herbs by medieval islamic medical scholars such as rhazes (854– 925 ce), haly abbas (930–994 ce) and avicenna (980–1037 ce). there were also multiple similarities between the clinical uses of these herbs in chinese and islamic medicine. raw materials there are roughly 13,000 medicinals used in china and over 100,000 medicinal recipes recorded in the ancient literature. plant elements and extracts are by far the most common elements used. in the classic handbook of traditional drugs from 1941, 517 drugs were listed – out of these, only 45 were animal parts, and 30 were minerals. for many plants used as medicinals, detailed instructions have been handed down not only regarding the locations and areas where they grow best, but also regarding the best timing of planting and harvesting them. some animal parts used as medicinals can be considered rather strange such as cows' gallstones. furthermore, the classic materia medica bencao gangmu describes the use of 35 traditional chinese medicines derived from the human body, including bones, fingernail, hairs, dandruff, earwax, impurities on the teeth, feces, urine, sweat, and organs, but most are no longer in use. preparation decoction typically, one batch of medicinals is prepared as a decoction of about 9 to 18 substances. some of these are considered as main herbs, some as ancillary herbs; within the ancillary herbs, up to three categories can be distinguished. some ingredients are added to cancel out toxicity or side-effects of the main ingredients; on top of that, some medicinals require the use of other substances as catalysts. chinese patent medicine chinese patent medicine (中成药; 中成藥; zhōngchéng yào) is a kind of traditional chinese medicine. they are standardized herbal formulas. from ancient times, pills were formed by combining several herbs and other ingredients, which were dried and ground into a powder. they were then mixed with a binder and formed into pills by hand. the binder was traditionally honey. modern teapills, however, are extracted in stainless steel extractors to create either a water decoction or water-alcohol decoction, depending on the herbs used. they are extracted at a low temperature (below 100 degrees celsius) to preserve essential ingredients. the extracted liquid is then further condensed, and some raw herb powder from one of the herbal ingredients is mixed in to form an herbal dough. this dough is then machine cut into tiny pieces, a small amount of excipients are added for a smooth and consistent exterior, and they are spun into pills. these medicines are not patented in the traditional sense of the word. no one has exclusive rights to the formula. instead, "patent" refers to the standardization of the formula. in china, all chinese patent medicines of the same name will have the same proportions of ingredients, and manufactured in accordance with the prc pharmacopoeia, which is mandated by law. however, in western countries there may be variations in the proportions of ingredients in patent medicines of the same name, and even different ingredients altogether. several producers of chinese herbal medicines are pursuing fda clinical trials to market their products as drugs in u.s. and european markets. chinese herbal extracts chinese herbal extracts are herbal decoctions that have been condensed into a granular or powdered form. herbal extracts, similar to patent medicines, are easier and more convenient for patients to take. the industry extraction standard is 5:1, meaning for every five pounds of raw materials, one pound of herbal extract is derived. categorization there are several different methods to classify traditional chinese medicinals: the four natures (四气; 四氣; sìqì) the five flavors (五味; wǔwèi) the meridians (经络; 經絡; jīngluò) the specific function. four natures the four natures are: hot (热; 熱), warm (温; 溫), cool (凉), cold (寒) or neutral (平). hot and warm herbs are used to treat cold diseases, while cool and cold herbs are used to treat hot diseases. five flavors the five phases, which correspond to the five flavors the five flavors, sometimes also translated as five tastes, are: acrid/pungent (辛), sweet (甘), bitter (苦), sour (酸), and salty (咸; 鹹). substances may also have more than one flavor, or none (i.e., a bland (淡) flavor). each of the five flavors corresponds to one of the zàng organs, which in turn corresponds to one of the five phases: a flavor implies certain properties and presumed therapeutic "actions" of a substance: saltiness "drains downward and softens hard masses"; sweetness is "supplementing, harmonizing, and moistening"; pungent substances are thought to induce sweat and act on qi and blood; sourness tends to be astringent (涩; 澀) in nature; bitterness "drains heat, purges the bowels, and eliminates dampness". specific function these categories mainly include: exterior-releasing or exterior-resolving heat-clearing downward-draining or precipitating wind-damp-dispelling dampness-transforming promoting the movement of water and percolating dampness or dampness-percolating interior-warming qi-regulating or qi-rectifying dispersing food accumulation or food-dispersing worm-expelling stopping bleeding or blood-stanching quickening the blood and dispelling stasis or blood-quickening or blood-moving. transforming phlegm, stopping coughing and calming wheezing or phlegm-transforming and cough- and panting-suppressing spirit-quieting or shen-calming. calming the liver and expelling wind or liver-calming and wind-extinguishing orifice-opening supplementing or tonifying: this includes qi-supplementing, blood-nourishing, yin-enriching, and yang-fortifying. astriction-promoting or securing and astringing vomiting-inducing substances for external application nomenclature many herbs earn their names from their unique physical appearance. examples of such names include niu xi (radix cyathulae seu achyranthis), "cow's knees," which has big joints that might look like cow knees; bai mu er (fructificatio tremellae fuciformis), white wood ear,' which is white and resembles an ear;