Although parts of the famous text Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica) concerning pharmacological therapeutics have been available in abridged English versions, those sections dealing with history, culture, and science have never been translated. This 6-volume set is a complete rendering of the entire Ben Cao that makes accessible to Western readers the full knowledge contained in this Ming Dynasty work, first published in 1593. It contains a wealth of information on medicine, minerology, botany, zoology, and natural science, compiled since remote Chinese antiquity, and will be useful to any dedicated student of Chinese medicine, culture, science and history. The translator and other experts have given many years of dedicated work to this project, trying to be true to the original text while providing notes to explain some of the contents in light of modern scientific research.  Although this edition contains neither Chinese (except in the index and appendices in the final volume) nor glossary, and the PinYin is untoned throughout, it provides much previously unavailable information to the English-speaking reader. PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS SOLD AS A SIX-VOLUME SET ONLY, NOT AS INDIVIDUAL VOLUMES.