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BOTANICON SINICUM. 27 
cure diseases, and the city of Wen hien (Huai king fu, Honan) 
claims to be the spot where this happened. In the Wen hien chi 
(topography of this city) it is stated that the wif & 3, rivulet 
of Shen nung, is situated inside the eastern gate. Here according 
to tradition Shen nung collected medicinal herbs, tested them and 
touched the soil with his staff, whereupon the water sprung forth. 
The earliest writings on medicinal plants and dietetics are ascribed 
tohim. 2697 B. C. is given as the year of his death. 
Shen nung’s successor, the Emperor fy # Huang ti, who 
reigned in the 27th century B. C., is said to have established his 
residence in 7 ff Cho lu (Pao an chou, west of the present 
Peking). He is considered the author of the first Chinese works 
on the art of healing. See Alph. list of works 204. 
THE MATERIA MEDICA OF EMPEROR SHEN NUNG. 
The well known Chinese Materia medica, Pen ts‘ao khang mu, 
of which I shall offer a detailed review in the proper place, in 
giving an opening sketch of the prineipal treatises of this class, 
begins with the jif §2 Ax Hi #E, Shen nung Pen ts‘ao hing, or 
Classical work on Medicines® of the Emperor Shen nung. We 
find there the following account of this ancient document, which 
we know only from the quotations of it in other succeeding 
ancient works of the same kind, to which it has served as a 
model. 
Chang Yi si (who lived in the first half of the 11th century) 
says: According to ancient tradition this treatise was in 3 books 
and Emperor Shen nung was the author of it. But no ancient 
author states that he has seen it himself. In the section on 
literature in the ‘'s‘ien Han shu (History of the Former Han 
dynasty, 202 B.C.—25 A. D., where many medical works extant 
in the first century B. C. are enumerated) no mention is made-of 
this book. But in the biography of Emperor P‘ing ti, 4th year 
of his reign (A. D. 4), we find a statement that the Emperor 
ordered all men in the Empire, familiar with medical poeon 
6 Li Shi chen, the author of the Pen ts‘ao kang mu, explains that the term Pen ts'ao_ ; = 
properly means “ Herbal,” but, as the majority of medicines are derived azo vege- 
Sib Sipe RE Snes ene sea 
