Traditional Chinese medicines derived from the human body estimated without reference to their Chinese context." (Cooper & Sivin 1973: 203). They selected 8 widely used human drugs from the 37 listed in "Bencao gangmu" chapter 52: human hair, nails, teeth, milk, blood, semen, saliva, and bone. For each substance, Cooper and Sivin first analyzed the "Bencao gangmu" information about drug preparation and use, and then commented on the known chemical composition of the human drug and other ingredients in the prescriptions. Cooper & Sivin (1973: 259-60, Table 8.1) applied the criteria of clinical pharmacology to analyze the possible medicinal value of the "Bencao gangmu" pharmacopeia's human drug prescriptions
Composition of the human body are averages of different numbers reported by different references. The adult human body averages ~53% water. This varies substantially by age, sex, and adiposity. In a large sample of adults of all ages and both sexes, the figure for water fraction by weight was found to be 48 ±6% for females and 58 ±8% water for males. Water is ~11% hydrogen by mass but ~67% hydrogen by atomic percent, and these numbers along with the complementary % numbers for oxygen in water, are the largest contributors to overall mass and atomic composition figures. Because of water content, the human body