Chapter 246 Empirical Medicine
Su Ze looked at Li Shizhen. This famous doctor who studied literature at a young age and later gave up writing to practice medicine also had the idea of valuing the past over the present.
But this is not unexpected. This kind of thinking is normal at all times and in all countries. Did you not see that in Jin Yong's novels, the older you get, the more powerful your martial arts will be.
Su Ze said calmly: "The ancients are human beings too, and there are many errors in ancient books. Could it be that Divine Doctor Li thinks that everything in the ancient books is correct?" Li Shizhen thought about it and
felt that what Su Ze said was reasonable.
In order to compile a pharmacopoeia, he could not read many ancient books. Naturally, he knew that many ancient famous doctors also had errors in their writings. Naturally, he wanted to compile a new pharmacopoeia to correct these.
Li Shizhen nodded unconsciously.
Su Ze added: "Moreover, the primitive theories of the ancients often have shortcomings. If today's people can combine the achievements of the ancients, of course the knowledge of today's people is better than that of the ancients." Li Shizhen looked at Su Ze. In fact, this theory is more popular among doctors
. It is not new, but it is rarely mentioned. The reason is that in the cultural atmosphere of Confucianism, "advocating the ancients" itself is a politically correct thing.
Even if it is Wang Anshi's reform, he must first revise the "Three Classics of Justice" and endorse himself with the sages' books before carrying out reforms.
Su Ze naturally understood that Li Shizhen was not a conservative person, otherwise he would not have given up his iron job as a medical officer to compile the "Compendium of Materia Medica".
Su Ze said: "In fact, no matter whether it is ancient or modern, there is no distinction between good and bad. The most important thing for a doctor is to be realistic." "Be realistic?" Li Shizhen has
realized
that Su Ze is indeed good and has some interest in his theory.
Traditional Chinese medicine in the Ming Dynasty has developed multiple schools such as "cold and heat", "typhoid fever" and "five elements". There are ancient schools of Nei Jing that respect the "Huangdi Neijing", and there are also new schools that respect more modern doctors such as Zhang Zhongjing.
Li Shizhen is a well-educated person and has dabbled in various schools of medicine, but he has never heard of the "truth-seeking" school.
Su Ze said: "I am a 'truth-seeking' person. I have no other theories but one, seeking truth from facts."
Li Shizhen acted like she was all ears, and Su Ze continued:
"Just talk about whether a medicine can cure a disease or not. The five elements of cold and heat are not based on ancient books or modern texts. As long as it can cure the disease, then the medicine is right for the disease." "
If this medicine is useless, no matter how valuable the medicine is, no matter how much it is praised in ancient books, This medicine is ineffective for this disease, so it can no longer be used as medicine."
Li Shizhen was not surprised. Thinking about it carefully, what Su Ze said makes sense. If a medicine is indeed ineffective in relieving symptoms, there is really no need to include it in the prescription.
But Li Shizhen quickly said: "No, if that's the case, doctors are not just like craftsmen. Treating people is like craftsman making a picture. The diseases that already exist in this world can be cured. How to use medicine for new diseases? What if it is a difficult and complicated disease? How to use medicine?"
Su Ze smiled slightly and said: "Of course, seeking truth from facts is easy to say, but in fact it is the most difficult to implement." "If you want to be
truthful, you must get to the bottom of things and know why medicine can cure diseases. You must know where the disease comes from and what the pathology is, so that you can prescribe the right medicine, instead of using the so-called cold and heat, the five elements, and yin and yang to prepare medicine." Li Shizhen was stunned. Su Ze's words could be said to have
overturned all the theories of ancient Chinese medicine. This " "Pragmatic" is really a big tone!
Su Ze continued: "Let's just say that this voodoo disease is caused by the cercariae lodged in the snails. If you want to cure the disease, you need to recuperate the body and use medicinal decoction to repel the parasites. If you want to prevent it, you must remove the worms and kill the worms to stay away from the turbidity. Drink dirty water and drink clean boiled water."
"All of these are tangible objects. As long as the poisonous insects do not enter the body, there will be no disease or disaster."
Li Shizhen nodded repeatedly, and then asked: "But what about Divine Doctor Su? How did you discover this poisonous insect?"
Li Shizhen asked her biggest question.
He looked at Su Ze. If Su Ze only meant what he learned from books or what his teachers taught him, then his so-called truth-seeking knowledge is just like other knowledge, just new and different.
This question did not trouble Su Ze. He said:
"After I arrived in Taizhou, I first discovered that most of the people infected by this bug in the villages were basically the strong laborers in the family, that is, those who had to work in the fields." Li Shizhen nodded
, This was the same as what he had seen along the way. In a village, those who worked in the paddy fields first were often infected first.
Su Ze continued: "But I have counted the cases in Taizhou City. It is often the women in a household who are infected first. Women in the city are twice as likely to be infected as men." Li Shizhen suddenly became interested and asked:
" Why is this?"
Su Ze picked up a snail shell and said, "Later I visited and found that women in the city often gather near the stone bridge by the river to wash their clothes." "What does this have to do with anything
? ?”
“Snails are easily attracted to the cracks between these stone slabs and in the mud puddles near the stone slabs. These places are often where the snails breed the most. These women were infected by the worms in the snails while washing their clothes. ."
"Later I discovered that these patients infected by voodoo worms would have spots on their skin, and these spots were often concentrated on the legs, so I used a microscope to find the voodoo worms from the snails and determined the origin of the voodoo worms. Ways of communication."
At this time, Li Shizhen was completely impressed. He raised his hands and said, "The study of seeking truth is indeed broad and profound!"
Su Ze shook his head and said, "This is not considered a study of truth."
Li Shizhen looked at Su Ze doubtfully.
Su Ze added: "I found snails and some small animals, and put them in the water with the snails. Sure enough, many animals also showed the same symptoms. Only then did I determine the relationship between the snails, the poisonous insects and the disease. The connection between them."
Li Shizhen was completely attracted by this knowledge!
Compared with the nihilistic five elements, yin and yang, cold and heat, Su Ze's statement is obviously more practical, and has changed the entire medicine from medical theory into something more researchable.
This simply opens the door to a new world!
Su Ze continued: "This kind of poison can actually be divided into many kinds." "
For example, I found a kind of poison in Taizhou, which was caused by eating raw water chestnuts. I found this kind of bug on water chestnuts and water chestnuts." Su
Ze Ze once again found a bottle from the bookshelf and put a piece of glass slide under the microscope. Li Shizhen saw a worm squirming like a piece of ginger.
Su Ze added: "Furthermore, I discovered near Yangzhou that fishermen there like to eat raw fish. The fishermen often suffer from swollen abdomens just like the Gu disease, but they often lose their appetite and die after several years. I also found this kind of bug on live fish."
Su Ze changed to another slide again, and sure enough, Li Shizhen saw a long strip of bug moving.
Su Ze said: "Although these three diseases are all transmitted by tiny bugs, the bugs are different, the methods of getting rid of them are different, and the symptoms are also different, so they should be divided into three diseases." " I named them 'schistosomiasis', 'fasciolopsis' and 'liver fluke'."
Li Shizhen asked in surprise: "The first two are still images. Why is the last one called liver fluke?"
Su Ze said: "Because the bugs in fish will enter the liver after entering the body. Yangzhou Prefecture once sentenced , the wife of an infected man was reported, thinking that she had poisoned her husband to kill her husband. The wife opened the man's body and found that the liver was enlarged like a stone. It was obvious that the poison had infected the liver.
" Li Shizhen no longer had any doubts. He bowed to Su Ze and said, "Xianggong Su is a great talent! This realistic school is the lintel of reconstructed medicine and can be called the holy way!" Li Shizhen was completely attracted by
this "realistic" medical theory. Attraction, starting from the actual symptoms and starting with actual results, isn't that the spirit that doctors should uphold?
The key is that Su Ze provided research methods, created research tools, and clearly explained the pathogenesis of these diseases.
Li Shizhen never thought that those mysterious medical theories could be studied step by step, observed step by step, and studied method step by step!
He immediately became obsessed with the study of "seeking truth"!
Li Shizhen tidied her clothes and said to Su Ze: "Li Shizhen, I am willing to become a disciple of Divine Doctor Su and learn the science of truth-seeking." Li Shizhen bowed
heavily to Su Ze, and Su Ze quickly helped him up and said,
"I am a man of truth-seeking. Not teaching."
Li Shizhen was a little disappointed, but thinking about such knowledge, it is naturally impossible to teach it easily.
Su Ze's next sentence was:
"Seek truth, seek truth, seek concrete evidence. The way you seek is right there. There is nothing that needs to be taught between master and disciple!"
Li Shizhen raised his head in surprise.
Su Ze said: "As long as you embark on the path of seeking truth from facts, everyone is on the same path. There is a priority in hearing the path, and those who master it will be their teachers!" "Confucius said: When
three people walk together, there must be my teacher. As long as we seek truth from facts, others can be my teachers. That’s why I don’t teach disciples, but if Dr. Li has any questions, Su will tell you everything!”
Li Shizhen looked at this man who was more than ten years younger than herself, and suddenly felt that he was very tall and majestic.
This is the "great doctor"!
Li Shizhen was moved and said: "The medical books written by the ancient medical sages probably reflect the idea of Dr. Su. He wanted to spread his knowledge to the world, and this was his ambition to save the world!" Su Ze was somewhat disapproving. Later generations of sages said:
" Studying medicine cannot save the Chinese people." To make the Ming Dynasty completely get out of this quagmire, what is needed is not the medical saint Su Ze, but the rebel leader Su Ze.
Li Shizhen said: "Li resigned from office and has two ambitions. The first is to compile a compendium of medicinal herbs and publish the corruption of the world's pharmacopoeia." "The second
is to write a pulse judgment to provide the pulse conditions of tomorrow." "
But now I feel that, These are not as good as truth-seeking learning! Since Divine Doctor Su does not accept disciples, I, Li, am willing to be a comrade and a pioneer for you!"
Su Ze quickly held Li Shizhen's hand, and this time he made a profit!
Li Shizhen was able to spend decades compiling the "Compendium of Materia Medica". This persistence alone is enough to be famous throughout the ages! Not to mention he is an outstanding doctor in his own right.
Su Ze has understood that his time and energy are somewhat limited, and if he wants to accomplish more things, he must have more colleagues.
With Li Shizhen as a colleague, we will definitely be able to carry forward the theory of "seeking truth" and truly establish a more scientific and modern medical system.
Li Shizhen is worthy of being the top doctor of this era. He invited Su Ze to talk about medicine, and soon he made rapid progress on the road of seeking truth.
Li Shizhen said based on ancient books: "Chen Deng of the Three Kingdoms died of a bulging abdomen. Hua Tuo diagnosed him at that time and said that he had worms in his stomach and wanted to develop internal gangrene, which was caused by fishy things. Did he just like to eat raw fish? You got liver fluke disease?"
Su Ze nodded and said, "That's right. Hua Tuo prescribed medicine to Chen Deng and spit out two liters of worms. The liver flukes will not grow so big. I still think it is more likely to be ascariasis."
" It makes sense, but Chen Deng has been dead for a thousand years. This is just a guess. However, since the Song Dynasty, there have been fewer and fewer fish-eating survivors, and this disease has also become much less common." The two continued talking until the evening, and Su Ze
showed I have several collections of my own.
Unfortunately, the magnification of his microscope was not high enough to see germs, and he could not discuss the topic of germ infections with Li Shizhen.
However, research on parasitic diseases also inspired Li Shizhen. He also speculated whether the dysentery that occurs after every flood is, like parasitic disease, spread through something invisible.
Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, never underestimate any person who can leave a name in the history books. These people's talents and abilities are all chosen at a moment's notice, and their willpower is far beyond ordinary people.
With the addition of Li Shizhen, the capabilities of Su Ze's medical team have been greatly enhanced.
Li Shizhen can not only treat common diseases, but also some difficult and complicated diseases.
After curing several large households in Taizhou City, Su Ze's camp had more supplies. No one wanted Xu Shixing to go to the city to beg for alms, so all kinds of things were continuously sent to Dazhai.
In this era, the importance of a good doctor is undoubted, let alone a world-famous doctor like Li Shizhen who has been an imperial physician.
Su Ze's medical skills continued to improve. By September, Su Ze's medical skills had risen to Level 9, 3043/5000, and were not far away from reaching Level 10.
Schistosomiasis in Taizhou City was quickly brought under control as the weather got colder and the snail extermination campaign was carried out.
Dysentery, cholera and other infectious diseases that broke out following floods were gradually brought under control through the propaganda of hygienic brochures printed by Su Ze.
By the Double Ninth Festival, the ninth day of September, Taizhou City had actually regained a lot of its vitality.
Human beings are the most tenacious creatures on earth. Sufferings will always pass. As life gets back on track, Taizhou City opens its gates on the Double Ninth Festival, and the new Taizhou prefect of the imperial court finally arrives.
The prefect Zhao immediately paid a visit to Su Ze who was treating a disease outside the city. This prefect turned out to be the same year as his future father-in-law. The prefect Zhao did not dare to treat Su Ze as his nephew. You must know that Su Ze lived in northern Jiangsu The reputation is about to be built by the people to worship it.
When Magistrate Zhao arrived in Taizhou, he did not enter the city. He took Su Ze with him and drove into the city. The people in Taizhou City were jubilant and welcomed him.
Magistrate Zhao took advantage of Su Ze's reputation and suddenly took control of the entire government office. With Su Ze here, no one in the subordinate staff dared to look down on the new magistrate.
Since Magistrate Zhao had taken advantage of him, Su Ze was not polite. He proposed to Magistrate Zhao that he would give lectures in Taizhou.
(End of chapter)