Mankind has been plagued by plague since its birth.
For example, Western Christianity has the saying of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Among them, the white horse knight represents the plague.
For the ancients, the prevention and control of the plague was by no means a simple matter.
At that time, the plague was almost everywhere.
There have been 260 well-documented major plagues in Chinese history alone.
When there is a famine, it causes plague, and when there is a war, it also causes a plague...
In addition, the ancients could not understand the nature of the plague without the blessing of modern medicine.
It is impossible to effectively interrupt the spread of the plague.
However, the ancients did not "lie flat and rotten".
They have been trying to test ways to prevent the epidemic and learn lessons.
After a long period of experimentation, a seemingly ineffective method stood out and became an important method of epidemic prevention in ancient China and the West.
This method is known as the "incense burning method".
That is, by burning spices, the air is purified, so as to achieve the purpose of epidemic prevention.
So, how did this approach come about?
Is it useful at all?
Incense burning: spices in ancient Greece and Rome to prevent epidemics
Ancient Greece and Rome were commercial powers on the Mediterranean coast.
At that time, its rulers encouraged the development of overseas trade in order to obtain the specialties of the surrounding area.
Among them, spices are undoubtedly one of the most sought-after goods in the Mediterranean trade.
The rich and rulers of ancient Greece and Rome liked this kind of thing that stimulated their appetite and made them happy.
With the increase in the use of spices, many strange uses have also been developed.
For example, the ancient Greeks believed that a spice that was then called 'Mai Herb' could be used to treat inflammation.
The spice made from grape leaves can be used to purify the spirit.
They even believed that saunas with spices could cure diseases.
Of course, these uses above are not without scientific principles.
At the very least, the use of spices is helpful for the psychological effect of patients.
From around the first century BC, the use of incense burning to prevent epidemics in the West gradually increased.
As recorded in the history books, when the great plague broke out in Athens, Hippocrates, the "father of Western medicine", had people burn spices in the streets.
He wants to use it to control the epidemic.
The Roman biographer Plutarch also described the anti-epidemic methods of his time: "The harm caused by the plague can be reduced by fragrant fire." ”
In this way, the law of burning incense and epidemic prevention gradually spread in the West.
However, this does not seem to be evidence that ancient Greece and Rome have known the anti-epidemic effect of spices for a long time.
Because according to the stone tablets found by archaeology, many people do not actually know the bactericidal effect of spices when burning incense.
They just want to burn spices and delight the gods.
In this way, the gods will lift their punishment.
In a sense, this is also a "crooked beating".
Therefore, in comparison, China's "incense burning law" is more justified.
Detonating the trend: Emperor Wudi of Han burned incense in Chang'an to avoid the epidemic
In fact, Chinese also noticed the protective role of spices in plague long ago.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Book of Western Mountains recorded a spice called smoked grass, and clearly stated that this plant was able to repel plague.
However, the burning of spices to prevent epidemics has been a very niche thing before the Han Dynasty.
There is basically no historical evidence to support it, let alone the types of spices used at that time.
The reason why it is clearly stated is before the Han Dynasty is because there is a legend that is both true and false in the Han Dynasty.
This completely ignited the trend of burning incense to prevent epidemics.
This story was first recorded in the Book of Ten Continents.
The story says that an envoy from the Yuezhi Kingdom offered four taels of spices to Emperor Wudi of Han.
Emperor Wudi of Han felt that this spice looked very strange, and did not look like it could be produced in China, so he carefully put it in the warehouse and preserved it.
Later, a major plague broke out in Chang'an, killing hundreds of people.
"The emperor tried to take the incense of the moon branch and burn it in the city, and those who died before March lived."
Of course, we can tell at a glance that the story is fabricated.
But behind this story, there is a lot of information.
On the one hand, according to the records of history, Emperor Wudi of Han did receive the Yuezhi messenger at the time node recorded in the "Records of the Ten Continents".
In other words, the Yuezhi messenger could really have offered rare birds and beasts and elixirs to Emperor Wudi of Han.
It is likely that it also includes spices.
It may even be spices from the Middle East, Europe.
The following inference is also related to the characteristics of the Yuezhi country.
The Moon Branch is actually the Otsuki clan we are familiar with.
It's just that the "Ten Continents" is written as a moon branch.
The Otsuki clan was a powerful nomadic people.
It is a pity that he was defeated by the Xiongnu because of underestimating the enemy.
The head of the king of the Laoyue clan was also used by the Xiongnu to make wine vessels.
After that, the remnants of the Yue clan fled to the west, defeated the Great Xia Kingdom in the Persian region, and settled down.
The Book of Han once recorded, "The people of the Great Moon clan, who ruled the Lan clan, went to Chang'an for 1,600 li." It is not a capital protection, 100,000 households, 400,000 mouths, and 100,000 victorious soldiers"
Obviously, at this time, the Otsuki clan was no longer the nomadic who was chased and beaten.
They had become agrarian and soon learned to do business extensively.
Therefore, it is not unusual for them to get spices from the Middle East and Europe.
It's just that historians have been arguing about which kind of incense the "soul returning incense" that the envoys of the Yue clan paid tribute to Emperor Wudi of Han.
Some say it is Suhexiang, and some say it is benzoin.
But in itself, it is not the incense that is important, but the content of the story.
Coupled with its wide spread, the concept that burning incense can prevent epidemics has completely "become popular".
Since then, burning spices has been widely used to avoid contracting the plague, and has gradually become perfect in practice.
A hundred flowers blooming: abundant epidemic prevention spices on the eve of modern times
In the final analysis, epidemic prevention spices are also a "commodity", and there must be "demand".
In this regard, the West is undoubtedly "far ahead".
Although there were many outbreaks of plague in ancient China.
However, on the whole, the epidemic area is controllable, the mortality rate is not high, and there is not much panic.
This is closely related to the type of economy in ancient China.
China is an agrarian country with a relocated land and a strict population mobility policy.
At that time, the group of highly mobile merchants was mostly severely restricted.
As a result, exchanges between regions are generally relatively low.
No plague will spread widely, but it will be limited to one or two provinces.
But unlike the West, Western civilization has widely encouraged maritime trade since its birth and has not restricted the movement of people.
After all, Europe was not rich in goods at that time, and it needed to exchange with the Middle East and Africa in exchange for food.
This policy has continued to the present.
This is certainly not to say that this policy is bad.
After all, this is how the West rose, but its "side effects" were too great.
One of the side effects was that it greatly increased the spread and speed of the plague.
Take the Black Death, for example.
The plague first spread to the Black Sea region during the Mongol Western Expedition.
But because there is too much business between Mediterranean countries.
Thus, even though the Mongol armies stopped in West Asia and Eastern Europe, the disease they brought with them quickly spread from the Black Sea to European countries through the Mediterranean.
How fast is it?
In 1347, the Golden Horde brought the Black Death, which spread throughout Asia Minor that year.
The following year spread throughout southern Europe.
In the third year, cross the Alps.
By the sixth year, all of Europe was covered by the Black Death.
You know, the death rate of the Black Death is extremely high.
It is no exaggeration to say that over a centuries of Europe's entire population died of the Black Death.
However, it is precisely because of this that the development of the incense burning method has been greatly promoted.
At this time, Europeans no longer regarded the burning of incense as a method of pleasing the gods.
They recognize the medical value in it.
But such a widespread spread of the epidemic led to the spices that were previously considered effective.
People were "forced" to develop many new cheap spices.
There's a lot of weirdness.
Violet and lavender have been developed as spices and can be understood.
It is somewhat strange that addictions and sage can be used as spices.
However, although these materials are strange, they can still play a certain role in epidemic prevention.
At the time, it was widely believed that these things were "the most powerful medicine against the poisoned air during the plague period."
Of course, China is not lagging behind.
Since Emperor Wudi of Han, inspired by the "return of soul incense", China has embarked on a path of its own.
As early as the Tang Dynasty, the famous medicinal scientist Sun Simiao included many spice recipes for burning incense and preventing epidemics in his book "Thousand Golden Fangs".
This has brought great convenience to our current research on spice epidemic prevention.
Let's take a look at how the people of the Tang Dynasty burned incense to prevent the epidemic.
A spice called Tiger Head Ghost Killing Pill is recorded in the "Thousand Golden Fang".
Five taels of tiger heads, one or two halves each of cinnabar, male yellow and female yellow, and one or two each of pods and soap pods. At the end of the seven flavors, with beeswax and as a pill, such as a marble, a bag of arms, a male left and a female right, and the four corners of the hanging house, in the middle of the night, the atrium burns a pill.
It is not difficult to see that the formula inside has a strong Chinese "taste".
The book also records many other recipes, such as "Tai Yi Jin Sanfang", "Ghost Killing Burning Prescription" and so on.
In summary, it is not difficult to see that in the early modern period, China and the West have basically explored the spices that can be used to prevent the epidemic.
Regardless of whether you are rich or poor, you can always find your own epidemic prevention formula, which is really a hundred flowers.
summary
After entering the modern era, the popularity of burning incense for epidemic prevention gradually decreased.
People gradually understood that burning incense was not the ghosts of the East, and it was not the gods of the West that were pleasant.
At the same time, people have also found that the most suitable "spices" for epidemic prevention are not male yellow and lavender, but alcohol and disinfectant water.
It's just that we can use these things to tell the backwardness of ancient times.
But it doesn't mean that the ancients didn't have wisdom.
We have "grown up" and are able to "run" and move forward.
But we don't have to laugh at the ancients for shaking one step at a time, and they can't walk well.
After all, without them helping human civilization through the "infant growth period", how can there be "robust" us?
bibliography
Book of Han
"A Thousand Golden Fang"
《Tang Materia Medica》
History of Rome