Chinese herbology/ja: Difference between revisions

'''Chinese herbology''' ({{zh|s=中药学|t=中藥學|p=zhōngyào xué}}) is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in [[traditional Chinese medicine]] (TCM). A ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' editorial described TCM as "fraught with [[pseudoscience]]", and said that the most obvious reason why it has not delivered many cures is that the majority of its treatments have no logical [[mechanism of action]].

The term [[herbology]] is misleading in the sense that, while plant elements are by far the most commonly used substances, animal, human, and mineral products are also utilized, among which some are poisonous. In the ''[[Huangdi Neijing]]'' they are referred to as {{lang|zh|毒藥}} ({{zh|p=dúyào}}) which means toxin, poison, or medicine. [[Paul U. Unschuld]] points out that this is similar etymology to the Greek ''[[Pharmakon (philosophy)|pharmakon]]'' and so he uses the term "pharmaceutic". Thus, the term "medicinal" (instead of [[herb]]) is usually preferred as a translation for {{lang|zh|药}} ({{zh|p=yào}}).