Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica

original: "本草綱目拾遺" (Bencao Gangmu Shiyi)

This title identifies a seminal work of the Qing Dynasty (published circa 1765) by the scholar Zhao Xuemin. It was written to expand upon Li Shizhen’s world-renowned 16th-century medical encyclopedia, the Compendium of Materia Medica. Zhao Xuemin’s "Supplement" is highly regarded for documenting hundreds of new medicinal substances—including items introduced through maritime trade like chocolate and tobacco—as well as folk remedies that had been previously overlooked by the academic medical establishment.

Materia Medica (the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing, particularly in Traditional Chinese Medicine).