高才达

Gao Caida is an author about whom little public information is available; all that is currently known is that three medical works are attributed to him: Yao Yong Xie Ying (Gleanings on the Use of Medicines), Ming Fang Hui Jiang (Collected Lectures on Famous Formulas), and Bai Fang Bian Jie (Explanations of One Hundred Formulas). Judging from their titles and subject matter, his writing centers on the clinical application of Chinese medicines and on the analysis of formulas. The works either gather insights into the use of drugs, collect and explain famous formulas, or examine and differentiate commonly used prescriptions one by one, showing an overall orientation toward organizing the experience of earlier physicians and serving practical clinical use. Books of this kind are generally aimed at Chinese medicine practitioners and students, take medicines and formulas as their framework, and emphasize pattern differentiation and the flexible modification of prescriptions in practice, with a plain and practical style and little empty theorizing. Because reliable records of his birth and death dates, native place, or medical training have not been found, his specific place in medical history is difficult to assess; the existing works are the main basis for understanding his scholarly profile, through which readers can grasp his focus on the use of medicines and formulas.