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 mass of the human body is made up of six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Only about 0.85% is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All 11 are necessary for life. The remaining elements are trace elements, of which more than a dozen are thought on the basis of good evidence to be necessary for life. All of the mass of the trace elements put together (less than 10 grams for a human body) do not add up to the body mass of magnesium, the least common of the 11 non-trace elements.