摘要
1963年英国科学史家李约瑟和鲁桂珍宣称:"在10—16世纪之间,中国古代医学化学家以中医传统理论为指导,从大量的人尿中成功地制备了相当纯净的性激素制剂(秋石方),并利用它们治疗性功能衰弱者……"此后,他们又发表了一系列有关秋石方的论著,至少以七种文字发行到很多国家,在同行中引起了轰动。美国芝加哥大学生殖内分泌学家威廉斯·阿什曼(W. Ashman)和雷迪(A. H. Reddi)评述说:
Since 1963 Dr. J. Needham and Dr. G. D. Lu have been announcing that Chinese iatrochemists between the 10th and the 16th centuries succeeded in preparing steroid hormones in relatively purifield form from urine. Many experts favoured the announcement, but Mr. Liu Guangdin did not.
We simulated an examination of three main methods of preparation on 'autumn mineral'. Our physico-chemical inspection of the resulting products indicates that autumn mineral is not a preparation of steroid hormones but a drug of inorganic salts. The key reason for the mistake made by Dr. Needham and Dr. Lu was due to their extending the special activity of digitonine precipitating steroid hormones to the common property of saponine.
出处
《自然科学史研究》
1988年第2期170-183,共14页
Studies in The History of Natural Sciences
