THE COLLATION AND ANNOTATION OF THE RARE BOOK LU CHANYAN BENCA：A MEDICAL LITERATURE RESEARCH PROJECT

ZHENG JINSHENG

INTRODUCTION

In recent decades， many works of classic Chinese medical literature have been unearthed from ancient sites or collected from people throughout the country. Among the books discovered，I have systematical studied the LuChanyan Bencao 履巉严本草 and some other works． Here，I will use my study of the Lu Chanyan Bencao to demonstrate the work of collating and annotating ancient Chinese medical texts．

The Lu Chanyan Bencao is a book on medicinal herbs with colored illustrations, written in A．D． 1220． The rediscovery of this book has provided us with fresh material for the study of the history of ancient Chinese Pharmaceutics·

THE DISCOVERY OF THE LU CHANYAN BENCAO

The first recorded owner of the Lu chanyan Bencao was Zhang Huamin 张化民, an old man who lived in Shunyi 顺义 count. Hebei Province. His family had Practiced medicine for generations． This book was a precious family heirloom，handed down from generation to generation． Rumor had it that someone once vainly offered three manors for this book， in order to pay tribute to the emperor Qlanlong 乾隆． Later， however， Zhang Huamin found himself in financial straits， and ended up selling this book to Wang Wenjin 王文进，a bookseller． The text， identified as a rare book， was later collected by the National Library of Beijing，which identified it as a Ming dynasty reproduction． The late Prof．Zhao Yuhuang 趟煜黄 had a transcript of it， which was copied by an artist friend． This copy is now kept in the China Institute for the History of Medicine and Medical Literature， Academy of Traditional Chinese

Medicine， Beijing．

GENERAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE LU CHANYAN BENCAO

At the end of the preface to this book are found certain references about the author， including the date of his work and the name of his native place． It reads：“Jia ding geng chen long ye mo an”嘉定庚辰琅琊默庵， which indicates that the book was written in A．D． 1220 by a man named Mo’an 默庵． The author drew 206 pictures of medicinal herbs growing in the fields around his house， with descriptions of their medical efficacy． Because the name of the author’s mountain studio was Lu Chanyan 履巉严， the book was so titled． Literally， the character lu 履 means to tread or walk on， while chanyan 巉严 means a cliff or precipice． So the title of the book literally means“herbs［collected while］ tramping over the Precipice，”indicating that the herbs recorded in it were native to that mountainous region． This book appears to be the earliest colored pictorial work on medicinal herbs， as well as the earliest book on regional medicinal herbs, in China. It may well be the earliest one of its kind in the entire world.

Most of the colored pictures in this book are very vivid and precise. One striking characteristic is that all the illustrations are in good proportion. Another interesting feature of the painting is that the artist adopted the method of taking one part of the plant to represent the whole, i.e., using a flower or leaf or part of the herb to illustrate the whole plant. The artistry of this book is better than that of the Bencao Tujing 本草图经 , written by Su Song 苏颂 in A.D.1056, for the pictures in this latter work were usually drawn out of proportion, and some tall plants were squeezed into tiny pictures without showing their fine features and details.

By contrast, some of the drawings in the Lu Chanyan Bencao are so exquisite that the species of certain herbs can be easily identified solely through the pictures, even though the book contains no written explanations of them. This can be seen from the following examples:

Shanjiang hua 山薑花 (Figure 2). In this picture, not only the general characteristics of the plants Iridaceae are shown, but its inflorescence and flowers in full bloom are also clearly represented. We find in this picture that the plant's scape is longer than the lamina, and that several flowers are formed in a spare raceme. The petals are light blue or purple in color, and there is a yellow-crested emergence in the middle of the outside perianth. All these pictorial characteristics help us determine that the shanjiang hua must be Iris japonica.

Lingxiao hua 凌霄花 (Figure 3). The picture of lingxiao hua accurately depicts the shape of the lamina as an odd-pinnate compound leaf formed by seven leaflets with serrate margins. The pentamerous tip of the saffron yellow corolla, the inflorescence of flowers in various stages of bloom, and other characteristics clearly identify this plant as the traditional Chinese drug lingxiao hua, Campsis grandiflora.

In both the above-mentioned pictures, the whole plant is not shown; only the most striking part is illustrated. This method is more convenient when showing the characteristics of certain plants, particularly their fine distinctions.

The writer of this book was a man of keen observation. It is obvious from the vivid pictures that they were painted form life. Because of this, the book has greater scientific value. Take longya cao 龙牙草 (Figure 4)as an example. here, the artist drew only a part of its branches and some compound leaves, all of which are odd-pinnate compound and interruptedly pinnate. It is remarkable how accurately the author presented the plant, with its larger pinnae at the tip and middle of each leaf, interlaced with several smaller pinnae in pairs. These characteristics help us to quickly identify this plant as Agrimonia pilosa, which is still widely used as a hemostatic agent. In fact, the picture of this drug in the Lu Chanyan Bencao is the first accurate one recorded in the history of Chinese pharmaceutics.

The pteridophytes were drawn carefully, too. The sporostegnia shown on the back of the leaves of dajinxing fengwei 大金星凤尾 help identify the plant as jinagnan xingjue 江南星蕨 ,Microsorium fortunei, according to descriptions of this plant found in other books. Other plants with special color were also very vividly and beautifully painted in this book. For instance, in the picture of yuxing cao 鱼腥草 (Houttuynia cordata), we find the back of its leaves painted in bright purple, while the bright red fruit and tender branches of nan tianzhu 南天烛(Nandina domestica) are also represented accurately.

It is the realistic quality of the painting in this book, however, that is most amazing. The picture of qinpi 蓁皮 for example, accurately shows the shape of a branch of the baila shu 白蜡烛 (Fraxinus chinensis), with some odd-pinnate compound leaves (Figure 5). The tips of the leaflets are retuse, similar to the sprouting branch collected nowadays. Undoubtedly, the writer must have taken the sprouting branch of the plant as his specimen for painting.

Sixty of the herbs in this book had never been recorded in any previous bencao literature.Some, such as mantuo luo 蔓陀萝 (Datura metel), zuiyu cao 醉鱼草 (Buddleia lindleyana), and huer cao 虎耳草 (Saxifrage stoloifera), which were believed to have been first recorded in the Bencao Gangmu 本草纲目 , were in fact already included in the Lu Chanyan Bencao. Among these , huer cao was so vividly and accurately painted that the drawing rivals modern photographs(Figure 6).

Much of the rich medical experience of the Southern Song dynasty is also recorded in this Book. For example, the effect of tangqiu 棠毬 (nawthorn) in promoting digestion, and the combination of chaulmoogra oil with the achene of Siberian cocklebur(Xanthium sibiricum)in treating leprosy, are mentioned. In short, owing to its outstanding draughtsmanship, elegant pictorial representations, and comprehensive descriptions of previously unmentioned drug effects, as well as its strong regional flavor and characteristics, the Lu chanyan Bencao is a shining pearl in the history of Chinese pharmacopeial literature.

THE NECESSITY OF CORRECT INTERPRETATION AND CLARIFICATION

In contemporary China, it has become necessary to interpret some of the more abstruse traditional medical classics (such as the Nei Jing, Nan Jing, etc.) into modern Chinese. Regarding the literature dealing with medicinal herbs, it is most important to clarify the variety of herbs recorded in them, so that the correct names of drugs, proper dosages, etc., can be ensured, and their safe usage can be guaranteed.

For this reason, I have laid particular stress on verifying the varieties of herbs and the collation of the text of the Lu Chanyan bencao. With a view to overcoming obstacles in this work, I have attempted to resolve some of the more important problems, including identifying the genuineness of the work, its authorship, its regional characteristics, and its dissemination.

BIBLIOTIC RESEARCH

As mentioned above, the extant text of the Lu Chanyan Bencao is a Ming dynasty reproduction, and was not described in any ancient bibliotheca. Therefore, it was essential to first determine whether it was indeed a genuine work of the Southern song dynasty. There is quite a bit of evidence to support this. First, the preface is certainly the handwriting of a certain both the Daguan Bencao 大观本草 of the Northern Song dynasty and the Shaoxing Bencao绍兴本草of the Southern Song dynasty were mentioned in the preface of the Lu Chanyan Bencao, but there is not a single mention of the Zhenghe Bencao政和本草 of the Northern Song dynasty, a text that was very popular and widespread in the Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, but not in the Southern song. This is apparently because the original edition of the Zhenghe Bencao was pillaged by Jin dynasty Soldiers and taken to northern China shortly after it was first engraved, at the end of the Northern Song dynasty. Owing to this, few people of the Southern Song were aware of this book, the Shaxing Bencao, written by Wang Jixian 王继先, an official physician of the Southern Song, in 1159, was also little known in succeeding dynasties. Even Li Shi zhen 李时珍 (1518-1593), the famous pharmacologist of the Ming dynasty, had never seen it , All this evidence indicates that the Lu Chanyan Bencao was really written by a man of the Southern Song, probably a well-educated man of high social position,as he had been able to read the Shaoxing Bencao.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As stated above，the preface of the Lu Chanyan Bencao was signed by a man named Langye Mo’an 琅琊默庵，which is not a fu11 name．According to the textual research of wang wenjin 王文进 and others, the author of the Lu Chanyan Bencao was Wang Jie 王介，who styled himself Shengyu 圣舆,1 with Mo'an 默庵 2 as his alternative name.Langye 琅琊 was his ancestral home．According to the Tuhui Baojian 图绘宝鉴 of the Yuan dynasty, Wang Jie held the position of taiwei 太尉（Grand Marshall）during the time of Qingyuan 庆元。（A．D．1195�1200），and he was also an artist． He was not only skilled at figure and landscape painting， but also excelled at drawing the plum， orchid， and other plants．2 It is interesting to note form the description in Tuhui Baojian that Wang Jie’ s painting style was similar to that of Ma Yuan 马远 and Xia Gul 夏娃． Ma Yuan was a noted artist who flourished in the Southern Song dynasty． He preferred to paint certain aspects．Of mountains and bodies of water， so he was given the sobriquet“Ma Yunjiao”马一角， yi jiao一角 meaning“an angle．”Significantly，Wang jie transplanted Ma Yuan’ s painting style to bencao paintings．Consequently， in the Lu Chanyan Bencao， the part is used to represent the whole， and plants are drawn to scale with certain important features emphasized． Doubtlessly， Wang jie’s work was a great advancement in the history of bencao paintings in China． AS far as we can tell,Wang jie was neither a medical doctor nor a pharmacologlst， so it is understandable that there are some mistakes in his book

THE REGIONAL CHARACTER OF THE TEXT

Wang Jie drew herbs growing on the mountains surrounding his house． But where did he live？ According to my research， his residence must have been west of Ciyun Mountain 慈云岭，Hangzhou杭州 City， Zhejiang 浙江 First， according to the preface， the painter was a man of the Southern Song， which place him in the southern part of China．Second， the book mentions drug names reflecting certain regional features of Hangzhou， such as jingang gen 金刚根， which， according to Su Song苏颂， was a popular name for Similax china among the Inhabitants of jiangzhe 江浙， which was the name at that time for the administrative province of which Hangzhou was the capital． Other herbs in the Lu Chanyan Bencao， such as qiannian run 千年润 （Rohdex japonica）(Figure 7）， also had certain regional features． Qiannian run is only found In the Lu Chanyan Bencao and some other county annals dealing with Hangzhou， such as Qiandao Lin ’an Zhi乾道临安3 and Xianchun Lin’an Zhi 咸淳临安志．4 Here， Lin’an 临安 was Hangzhou． According to certain bencao texts，the inhabitants of Hangzhou had known about qiannian run for a long time． In the Bencao Gangmu Shiyi 本草纲目拾遗， 公文written by Zhao Xuemin趟学敏 in the Qing dynasty， qiannian Run is discussed, and the methods of using it among the people of Hangzhou were also， described．5 Hence， we know that this plant was familiar to Hangzhou inhabitants．

Another example is dibianxu 地萹蓄． This name can only be found in the Lu Chanyan Bencao and the two previously mentioned chronicles of the same dynasty， the Qiandao Lin’an Zhi and the Xianchun Lin’an Zhi． The illustration of di bianxu shows that its petiole has a clear node， which accords with Polygonum aviculare(Figure 8）．

There are other herbs in the Lu Chanyan Bencao whose names obviously reflect the Hangzhou accent． For example， there Is a plant called chuanxin fozhi cao 穿心佛指草 （Job’s tears ，Coix lachryma-jobi）， whose right name should be fozhu cao 佛珠草 （lit, "Buddha's beads herb”）， for its fruit resembles the beads of Buddha (Figure 9）． However， In the Hangzhou dialect , the character zhu 珠 was pronounced like the character zhi指． All the above－cited examples helped identify the regional character of the Lu Chanyan Bencao． In fact， some of the local herb names recorded in this book are still used among Hangzhou residents nowadays．

Since Wang Jie W3S an official in the imperial court, it would be logical that he lived in Hangzhou， the capital of the Southern Song dynasty． In the preface of his book， he writes：“I am an old man living in the west of Ciyun 慈云．” Here， Ciyun must be Ciyun Mountain．Furthermore， at the foot of this mountain were many temples where hermits and gentry would reside． Since this mountain lies in the western suburbs of Hangzhou，It is reasonable to believe that thC LU Chanyan Bencao is a book dealing with the medicinal herbs of the Hangzhou area． Precisely determining the reglonal character of the Lu Chanyan Bencao is essential to accurately annotationg the medicinal herbs recorded in it.

DETERMINING THE SPECIES OF THE HERBS

It is extremely important to determine the species of the herbs recorded in a regional bencao work so that their role can be fully revealed． The pictures of herbs， with their flowers and fruits, in the Lu Chanyan Bencao are easy to identify． However， there are no morphological descriptions in the text， which makes precise annotation difficult． After studying this work from many different aspects， I was able to annotate over 160 herbs recorded in it． Following are some illustrative examples．

In the book there is a picture called renshen miao 人参苗， Which would indicate that it was Panax ginseng. This is， however， impossible， as Panax ginseng was not grown widely in southern China at that time, and would have been very unlikely to be found in Hangzhou. What，then， could it be? In order to solve this problem, I compared the picture of "renshenmiao” with all the other pictures in the book， one by one， and finally discovered that all the leaves of the plants belonging to the carrot family, such as chuanxing miao 川芎苗 and shuiqin 水芹， were all drawn like that of the so－called "renshen miao．” This indicated that this latter plant also belonged to the carrot family， according to the shape its leaves．

Furthermore， in the Hangzhou area， there is only one plant in the carrot family named “renshen”： this is turenshen 土人参 （Changgium smyrnioides），6 which was also known as fen shashen 粉沙参 or ming dangshen 明党参． Therefore， the herbal plant called“renshen mlao”in the Lu Chanyan Bencao really should be tu renshen(Figure 10).

Although Wang Jie was an outstanding artist, he was not well-versed in medicine. Consequently， there are some contradictions between the pictures and text in this book． The illustration he identities as du tianma 杜天麻（ Figured 11 ）， for example， is actually not the plant tianma 天麻（Gastrodia elata）． However，the tuber of Gastrodia elata and a description of its curative effects were erroneously included under the plant du tianma. How could this have happened? According to traditional Chinese pharmacopeial nomenclature， characters such as du 杜， cao 草，or tu 土 are added to certain herb names to indicate that these herbs are either not standard, counterfeit, or local varieties. Thus, du tianma is not real tianma. There is an account of a cao tianma 草天麻 in local annals such as the Xianchun Lin'an Zhi, in which yimu cao 益母草（motherwort, Leonurus Heterophyllus is also called cao tianma, and is described as an herb growing in the valley of the Longjing 龙井 Mountains. This shows that yimu cao was regarded as pseudo tianma 假天麻 by the inhabitants of Hangzhou. Moreover, the effect of du tianma is very different from that of true tianma。Certain species of herbal pants must be indentified by their regional distribution. For example, the herb xixin 细辛 mentioned in the Lu Chanyan Bencao can be nothing other than duheng 杜衡 （Asanum forbesii）． Shen Kuo 沈括,a well－known scientist of the Northern Song dynasty, said: "The xixin that has been used in eastern or southern China is nothing other than duheng."7 To this day, the inhabitants of Zhejiang province still call it mati xixin 马蹄细辛 . To cite another example, Wang Jie mistook lamu teng 辣母藤 for yimu cao. According to the name and picture of lamu teng given in the lu Chanyan Bencao, it should be a trailing plant with a palmate leaf, closely resembling lu cao 葎草 (scanden hop, Humulus scandens). Zhu Yizhong 朱冀中 of the Song dynasty, in his book Jiu Jing 酒经, said: "Shema 蛇麻 is also called lamu teng."8 Shema is hop (Humulus lupulus) and can be used in brewing beer. It grows mainly in the northeast and north of China, and it does not have a palmate leaf. For this reason, the lamu teng that grows throughout the Hangzhou area must in reality be lu cao(Figure 12).

It should be stressed that the author of this book was an artist, not a professional physician or herbalist. For this reason, there are inevitable mistakes in it. Pictures that do not accord with the text and incorrectly named plants must be identified and corrected. Take, for example, qumai 瞿麦 , which should really be Dianthus superbus. The picture given in the book , however, is similar to quemai 雀麦 , Bromus japonicus. Apparently, the author confused these two plants. The two Chinese characters qu 瞿 and que 雀 are similar in form, and are easily confused when executed swiftly in a flowing calligraphic style.

Another significant benefit of doing textual research on the varieties of herbs recorded in the Lu Chanyan Bencao is that it helps identify certain herbs recorded in other bencao literature. For instance, in the Bencao Gangmu, a xiantian lian 仙天莲 is listed among certain herbs that had names, but whose usages were unknown. However, based upon descriptions of xiantian lian recorded in the lu Chanyan Bencao, we can see that this plant should be bajiao lian 八角莲 (Dysosma pleiantha), whose ecological characteristics, such as its umbels growing at the cross of two leaves at the top of the stem with six drooping purplish red flowers, are clearly and clearly adn accurately described(Figure 13).

Most of the ecological descriptions in ancient Chinese herbals are so sketchy that it is not easy to identify varieties of plants by solely relying on their explanations. The exquisite and relatively reliable pictures in the Lu Chanyan Bencao are thus also useful for identifying varieties of herbs recorded in other ancient literature.

Annotating herbs is a difficult and complicated task, requiring a wide range of knowledge and painstaking work, there are still about forty plants in the Lu Chanyan Bencao which have not been positively identified. However, since the regional character of this book has been determined, there is now the possibility of undertaking on-the-spot investigation and research on help identify these species and solve other related problems.

TEXTUAL COLLATION ADN ANNOTATION OF THE LU CHANYAN BENCAO

Because books were copied by hand in China, mistakes were bound to be made in the course of copying and recopying. A careful collation of such works is necessary so that their mistakes can be rectified. Since there is only one extant copy of the Lu Chanyan Bencao, it is first of all necessary to know the sources or origin of the text and quotations included in it. After surveying related materials, it became apparent that most of the references quoted in this book were form the Daguan Bencao 大观本草, and conversely, that some of the prescriptions recorded in the Weisheng Yijianfan 卫生易简方, written by Hu Ying 胡滢 of the Ming dynasty, were quoted form the Lu Chanyan Bencao.9 Using these books as references, I have collated the Lu Chanyan Bencao and have found some miswritten characters. For example, under the section for longya cao, there is a phrase:" Bu xu fen liang 不许分两" Bu xu means "not allow," while fen and liang are two Chinese units of weight. The expression "bu xu fen Liang" makes no sense in Chinese. In the Daguan Bencao, however, under the same item.

There is the phrase "bu ji fen liang" 不计分两，which means not to count the weight (of the Drug). Iis obvious that the character 许is a miswriting, and should be 计, Another example Is "gan wen jiao qi" 干温脚气，found under the item ye huixiang 野茴香. According to traditional Chinese medical pathology, the disease pattem called jiao qi 脚气 can be divided into gan 干 (dry) and shi 湿 （damp）; however, there is no such term as "wen jiao qi" 温脚气. Here, the character wen 温 (warm) must be a miswriting, which ought really to be shi 湿.

Certain omissions have slso been found in the Lu Chanyan Bencao. Under Datura alba,

for example, there is the sentence "治寒湿脚面上破生疮"，which is difficult to understand and may easily be misunderstood as referring to ulcers on the instep. After consulting the Weisheng Yijianfang, however, Ifound the correct sentence ought to be "治寒湿脚气，煎汤洗;面上生疮，" which is of quite different meaning than the incomplete expression found in the Lu Chanyan Bencao.

There are also rarely used words, unfamiliar allusions, and unusual disease names in the Lu Chanyan Bencao. These also require collation and annotation. Since they are not of universal significance, it is not necessary to go into them in detail here. I investigated the names of diseases mainly from the standpoint of traditional Chinese medicine, since there are differences in implication between disease names of Chinese and Western medicine. Many traditional Chinese medical terms are easily understood by Chinese speakers, but are very difficult to translate into western languages. Since the Lu Chanyan Bencao is a pharmaceutical text dealing with few theories, it is unnecessary to translate the entire text into the vernacular.

REFERENCES

1 (1)· 清·胡敬：西清箚记，卷 4，p7，北平来薰阁， 1934。

2 (2)· 元·夏文彦：图绘宝鉴,卷 4， P22元至正二十六年（1366）刻本：“王介，号默庵，庆元间内宫太尉。善作人物山水，似马远、夏珪，亦能梅兰。”另清·卞永譽（式古堂书画考）卷2，宋·周密（志雅堂杂钞）卷1，均记有王介绘图名称。

3 (3)· 宋·周宗：乾道临安志，卷 2，P20，光绪甲午（1894）重梓。

4 (4)·宋 ·潜说友：咸淳临安志，卷58， p15，同治六年（！867）补刊本。

5 (5)· 清·赵学敏：本草纲目拾遗，卷5，p170，人民卫生出版社。

6 Ibid, p. 68．

7 (7)· 宋·沈括：梦溪笔谈，卷26，P12，文物出版社影印元刊本，1975。

8 (8)·宋·朱翼中：酒经，顿递祠祭酒条下，知不足齐本。

9 (9)·郑金生：浙江中医杂志(8)：p 340，1980。

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I should like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Ma Kanwen for his assistance in the preparation and writing of this paper.