Strange Meridian is another kind of meridian besides the twelve meridians. The reason why it is called "The Wonder Sutra" is that it is different from the twelve meridians, and there is no spouse relationship in appearance. Eight strange meridians include Du meridian, Ren meridian, Chong pulse, Dai pulse, Yin meridian, Yang meridian, Yin qiao pulse and Yang qiao pulse. There are no acupoints in the other six meridians except Ren and Du meridians.
The functions of the eight strange meridians are mainly reflected in two aspects: First, they communicate with the twelve meridians and connect the meridians with similar positions and functions, so as to control the qi and blood of the related meridians and coordinate Yin and Yang. Second, the odd meridians and eight veins can regulate the accumulation and infiltration of the twelve meridians's qi and blood. When the twelve meridians and zang-fu organs are full of qi and blood, the odd meridians and eight veins can be accumulated, and when human functional activities need it, they can be supplied by infiltration irrigation.
In view of the unscientific classification and confusing names of Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica, Li Shizhen wrote a medical masterpiece Compendium of Materia Medica after twenty or thirty years of research and practice. The book is divided into 16 parts, 62 categories, 1892 kinds of drugs, 1 1096 prescriptions and1/60 pictures of drug morphology.
Li Shizhen broke the manual classification method of drugs and re-classified drugs scientifically. In addition to plant medicines, there are 445 kinds of animal medicines and 276 kinds of mineral medicines in the book.
Compendium of Materia Medica systematically summarizes the experience and achievements of traditional Chinese medicine before16th century, greatly enriches the varieties of drugs in China and plays a significant role in promoting the development of traditional Chinese medicine and even the world.
In addition to Compendium of Materia Medica, Li Shizhen also wrote Pulse Diagnosis of Hu Zhehu and Examination of Eight Veins in Strange Classics, which are all required books for TCM to learn pulse diagnosis now.