FONG WAN - Library

CHAPTER I
THE HERBS THEIR USES AND
PREPARATION
THE SCIENCE OF CHINESE HERBAL REMEDIES
The Chinese Science of Therapeutics is as old as Chinese civilization
itself. In the primitive period of the nation's history, there reigned an
emperor known as Shin Nong, which means "Divine Farmer." Because
of his wonderful knowledge of Botany, he was regarded as a god. While
searching for cereals and other plants that might serve as food for his
people, he learned of the curative properties of certain plants, and set
himself the task of naming and describing them.
He believed that all things on earth were included in five natural
elements: water, fire, vegetation, mineral and earth. The color pre-
dominating in the vegetation element is green. Because the liquid con-
tained in the gall bladder and the juices secreted by the liver are green-
ish, he concluded that the gall bladder and liver belonged to the vegeta-
tion element. The natural color of the fire element is red. As the heart
controls the circulation of the blood of the body, and as the blood is red,
he said that the heart belonged to the fire element. The natural taste
of the water element is salty. As the urine, which passes through the
kidneys into the bladder is salty, these two organs were classified under
the water element. The natural color of the earth element is yellow. As
Shin Nong believed that the stomach gets its power from the spleen,
and as the gastric juice of the stomach is yellow, he classified the
spleen and the stomach as belonging to the earth element. As the color
of the natural element in mineral is white, and as the lungs are white,
he concluded that they belonged to the mineral element.
Shin Nong next classified the medicinal plants according to their re-
lations to the five natural elements. Those that were black and had a
salty taste were classified under the water element. He believed they
had an influence upon the kidneys and bladder. The color in the vegetation
element being green and the taste sour, herbs of greenish color and
sour taste were believed to be allied to the vegetation element, to have
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