Editing Tang dynasty (section)

=== Medicine ===
The Chinese of the Tang era were interested in the benefits of officially classifying the [[Traditional Chinese medicine|medicines]] used in [[pharmacology]]. In 657, [[Emperor Gaozong of Tang]] ({{reign|649|683}}) commissioned an official {{lang|la|[[materia medica]]}}, complete with text and illustrated drawings for 833 different medicinal substances.{{sfn|Benn|2002|p=235}} In addition to compiling pharmacopeias, the Tang fostered learning in medicine by upholding imperial medical colleges, state examinations for doctors, and publishing forensic manuals for physicians.{{sfn|Adshead|2004|p=83}} Authors of medicine in the Tang include Zhen Chuan ({{died-in|643}}) and [[Sun Simiao]] (581–682); the former was the first to identify in writing that patients with diabetes had an excess of sugar in their urine, and the latter was the first to recognise that diabetic patients should avoid consuming alcohol and starchy foods. As written by Zhen Chuan and others in the Tang, the [[thyroid]] glands of sheep and pigs were successfully used to treat [[goitre]]s; thyroid extracts were not used to treat patients with goitre in the West until 1890.{{sfn|Temple|1986|pp=132–135}} The use of the [[dental amalgam]], manufactured from tin and silver, was first introduced in the medical text ''[[Xinxiu bencao]]'' written by Su Gong in 659.<ref>{{citation |last=Czarnetzki |first=A. |author2=Ehrhardt S. |title=Re-dating the Chinese amalgam-filling of teeth in Europe |journal=International Journal of Anthropology |year=1990 |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=325–332}}</ref>