Author Description

The methods and experience of four medical doctors are the themes of this of Bian Que (401-314 BCE) who developed the Four Methods of Diagnosis - to observe, ask, smell and feel; Hua To (145-208 BCE), pioneer of surgery, anaesthetics and "animal exercises"; Wang Weiyi (b. 987), a great medical teacher; and Li Shizhen (1518-1593), author of the 52-volume Compendium of Materia Medica published in 1596. An astonishing amount of historical and scientific information is presented in lively and softly-colored line drawings for readers of all ages.