[Food Materia Medica: books with the same name in the Ming Dynasty].

Abstract

In the Ming Dynasty some medical books were named Food Materia Medica, but with different authors, unidentified authorship or inconsistent volumes. This paper examined and compared the versions and content in these books with archival methods, bibliographic examination and textual criticism. It was found that the original authors of Food Materia Medica in the Ming Dynasty were Lu He and Wang Ying. A total of four versions of this book remain now. The other books with the same name were those with deletions or additional pictures.