It was published in 1406, compiled under the
leadership of Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Pu Ji Fang
gathered great mass of data. In addition to the contents of prescription books
before the Ming Dynasty, it has also collected data in other aspects, such as
biographies, magazines and so on, so its contents are very rich and detailed. As
the number of printed copies was very small and the book was so useful, many
people made copies by writing from one to another. The rarer, the more valuable.
Pu Ji Fang was very precious at that time. After some times, the original
block-printed edition of Pu Ji Fang was already lost.
The original of Pu Ji Fang was in 168
volumes, and later it was changed into 426 volumes, containing 217 categories
and 788 therapies. There are 239 pictures in the whole book. The contents
include the general remark, the human body, miscellaneous diseases of enteric
fever, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, acupuncture and moxibustion and so on.
The book described the treatment of many diseases, such as decoction, massage,
acupuncture and moxibustion, and so on. Pu Ji Fang is a very practical
medical formulary. Under each disease, some prescriptions are listed,so, what the scholar or doctor
has to do is just to find the prescriptions according to the disease, and then
choose one from the many prescriptions. The book also serves as a very precious
medical literature.
In 1959, the People's Medical Publishing
House of China proofread and reprinted the book Pu Ji Fang on the basis
of many fragmentary copies of
earlier times. Pu Ji Fang published by the People's Medical Publishing
House is in 10 volumes. Volume 1 is on physiology, Volume 2 on the human body,
Volume 3 to Volume 6 on miscellaneous diseases, Volume 7 on skin and external
diseases, Volume 8 on women, Volume 9 on children, and Volume 10 on acupuncture
and moxibustion. Thus, the book becomes concise and
clear.