Join the UB Humanities Institute for a brown bag lunch session with Yan Liu (History). Coffee and cookies will be served.

A salient feature of classical Chinese pharmacy is its abundant use of toxic substances (aconite, arsenic, etc.). How could poisons become medicines? Professor Liu’s talk addresses this question by exploring the rich repertory of techniques devised to transform poisons. Focusing on several Chinese pharmaceutical texts from the 3rd to 10th century, Liu examines the techniques of dosage control, drug combination, and processing that modified the potency of toxins but still preserved their efficacy. In the end, he argues that drugs in Chinese pharmacy were highly malleable substances whose functions varied greatly with technological intervention.