Chapter 440: Explaining the Origin
“It’s not wrong for you to think that way.” Su Yayan confirmed his answer. “A large portion of you are students from the Pharmaceutical faculty. You should know that most of the current medicines are made up of chemicals and biopharmaceuticals. As this student said, many of them are plants, but not all of them are plants.”
“Let’s take bezoar, for example. It is a stone that is formed in the gallbladder, bile duct, or liver of a cow, but they have the function of relaxing the mind, dissolving phlegm, improving the gallbladder, and suppressing anxiety. They also have a certain effect on seizures in young children, epilepsy, swollen throat, oral ulcers, and diarrhea.
Su Yayan’s words caused another uproar.
“The stone from a cow’s stomach is also Chinese medicine?”
“Shouldn’t stones be formed from the impurities inside the stomach? How can we eat them? Won’t we be poisoned?”
Su Yayan seemed to have expected this. She took a deep breath and said, “This is the reason why we want to learn this subject. If I didn’t tell you that the cow’s bezoar is an important part, would you have thought that the stones formed in the cow’s stomach can be used to treat illnesses?”
Everyone fell silent.
“In ancient times, the divine farmers tasted all the herbs and left behind the ‘Divine Farmers Medicinal Sutra’. Later on, Li s.h.i.+zhen painstakingly compiled the ‘Herbal Compendium’ and pa.s.sed it on to the world. It was to let the world know the value of these Chinese herbs, so that they could be used to treat illnesses and save people. Unfortunately, these precious books and many precious Chinese medicine ingredients were lost during the two major migrations of humankind.”
“I have a question.” The moment Su Yayan finished speaking, someone else asked, “Teacher, no, Miss Su, since most of these things were lost, how did you know about them?”
Su Yayan had expected someone to ask this question. Even if it was not the students present, it would be someone else.
“Because my family happened to preserve one of the small parts. Just like cooking recipes, some of them were preserved during the migration, but a large part of them was still lost. For this reason, the research inst.i.tute developed nutrient shakes to make it easier for the public and to fill their stomachs.
The planet that they were living on now was different from Ancient Earth. Just like the animals here, including the seafood, were slightly bigger than the Ancient Earth. Some of the vegetables were smaller than the ones on the Ancient Earth. This was also why natural ingredients, especially vegetables, were especially expensive.
When humans first stepped into this land, they could not be sure if the plants on this planet, or even if the plants they brought with them would mutate and become poisonous.
Coupled with the loss of the recipes, the research inst.i.tute produced nutrient shakes that contained extracted nutrients from plants and animals.
However, this thing was like an energy bar. It could extract all the nutrients from the food, fill the stomach, and it could also satisfy the nutrients needed for human survival. However, it sacrificed the most important texture and taste of the food.
Even though they knew it was cheap and convenient to drink, many people still wanted to eat the delicious food.
“You mean your family has books related to this? Then what about the Chinese medicine seeds? Were they also left behind by your ancestors?”
Many people perked up their ears when they heard this question. Obviously, it was not just the person who asked the question that was curious. Many people were curious, but they were too embarra.s.sed to ask earlier..