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Introduction:
Plague is an inevitable physiological disaster in the process of social development, and it is a social phenomenon that most ancients regarded as a catastrophe. In ancient China, plagues did not occur a lot, and each plague was accompanied by a large number of deaths.
Whether it is the upper ruling class or the people at the bottom, the plague is a change of color. In ancient times, when medical conditions were not yet developed, people's response to the plague was also very limited.
The ancients often said that a great plague would be followed by a great plague, and when a major natural disaster broke out, the ancients would regard it as a warning and precursor to the plague.
In ancient societies with harsh environments, people could only rely on the only means to prevent and control epidemics. Why do plagues often accompany major natural disasters?
What measures did the ancients take in the face of the plague? In today's article, let's take a look at how the ancients defeated the plague.
- After a catastrophe, there will be a great epidemic
There is an old saying in the state, after a catastrophe, there will be a great epidemic. Therefore, whenever natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and droughts occur, people are always worried about the physiological diseases that follow. And the long development process of ancient times also tells us that the ancient words of our ancestors are not unreasonable.
Disasters bring plagues, and the two may seem unrelated, but they are actually inextricably linked.
In ancient Chinese society, the frequency of natural disasters was actually not low. Although the environment had not been overexploited, resources had not been excessively depleted, and the ecological environment had not been seriously damaged, human social activities would inevitably lead to an impact on the natural environment. As long as there are people, disaster is inevitable.
When a disaster occurred, the ancients with a relatively backward social environment were able to take very limited countermeasures.
Take floods as an example, ancient societies did not have so many water conservancy projects and facilities, and scientific measures to save and treat water were very lacking. After the flood broke out, what the central court could do, except for disaster relief, was actually very limited.
Floods will inevitably bring a large number of aquatic organisms, as well as various bacteria and microorganisms. These microorganisms are carried to the surface by floods and multiply in large numbers through sunlight and oxygen.
Microorganisms themselves do not exist in the terrestrial ecological environment, so for people in society, this is the invasion of the terrestrial ecological environment by other ecological environments.
As a result, various microorganisms and bacteria may invade the human body through various channels of life. The capacity that the human immune system can carry is limited, so when a large-scale external attack comes, the occurrence of disease is an inevitable result.
In ancient society, people's medical cognition level was relatively low, so there was no clear concept for disease prevention and control.
When such diseases are quite contagious, plague arises.
The drought at the end of the Ming Dynasty is a very typical example, when the outbreak of plague in Ming society almost broke the last breath of the emperor's rule.
At that time, society ushered in a major drought that had lasted for nearly four years. The drought of the previous two years did not draw attention to the fact that the food stored at the social level was able to maintain the basic living conditions for everyone.
However, as the drought increases and food losses increase, crop production and cultivation become the biggest problem in people's minds.
Without water, there will be no agricultural development, and without agricultural development there will be no food output, then the ruling order of the entire country will inevitably be affected. This is not the most serious, the most serious is the outbreak of problems at the social level.
Due to the lack of food, people had to start looking around for something to feed themselves. Common animals such as pigs, cattle and sheep have become very scarce social resources, and there is no way for meat to appear on the tables of the people at the bottom.
In order to maintain food and clothing, everyone can only focus on the cheapest meat, or meat that does not need to cost at all, that is, rats.
Rats are one of the four pests, and they also have countless bacteria and viruses. Usually, whoever has a rat in the house, everyone has to shout and beat. But in special times, people have to use it as food.
You can imagine what kind of reaction the various viruses in mice will have after entering the human body. Humans are bound to be affected, and many people have symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea.
At first, people did not realize the seriousness of this symptom. Some people even simply think that it may be the patient's stomach.
But even after Lang Zhong's treatment, everyone's physical condition did not improve, and some people even died before staying up for two days. Therefore, everyone could only bury him hastily.
In ancient times, there was no such thing as cremation, so burial became an important way to spread the virus. The virus has not been completely eliminated, but has formed a relatively complete transmission chain through close contact between people.
Finally, more and more people were infected with the virus, and the plague broke out.
It is a highly contagious plague, and in general, as long as there is close contact between two people, the virus can form a transmission between two people. But the treatment for this plague has always been limited.
The only thing that the upper ruling class can do is to pray to heaven for such meaningless things. And praying for divine protection can only seek a certain degree of psychological comfort, and cannot actually solve the problem of widespread disease transmission in society.
In the end, the plague can only be carried by people. Countless people have died from the disease, and people have adopted a simple and brutal lockdown. A city that has been locked down can also lose its vitality because of it.
Only when the people in the city are completely eliminated will the disease lose its source of infection. In the end, it took several years for the plague to completely disappear from society.
It can be seen that the treatment conditions and prevention measures of the ancients were very limited. When the medical conditions are relatively backward, the medical awareness of the public is generally insufficient. In the face of the plague, there is only one way people can overcome it, and that is to carry it abruptly.
By the end of the lockdown, everyone probably ushered in the first stage of victory.
Except for this disaster at the end of the Ming Dynasty, most of the plagues that appeared were solved in such a primitive and simple way. Those who were sacrificed can only lament the injustice of fate.
However, there is still a case in Chinese history where manpower was used to fight plague epidemics, and this case was the Kangxi Emperor.
- Isolated and healed, eventually healed
The story of the Kangxi Emperor is believed to be familiar to many friends. He contracted smallpox as a teenager and nearly died.
Because of the mistakes, the Kangxi Emperor, as the upper class, was also infected with this highly contagious disease. It stands to reason that the palace should be home to the most capable doctors in the world. However, the imperial doctors at that time were helpless in the face of this situation.
Everyone could only choose to hang the life of the Kangxi Emperor with the most expensive medicinal herbs, but after many discussions, the doctor could not give a specific and clear treatment plan.
This result fell in the eyes of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and only the four words of resignation to fate remained. However, Lama Suma did not believe in her fate. She personally came to the Kangxi Emperor's side and took care of him without clothes.
At that time, many of the servants in the palace tried their best to stay as far away from the Kangxi Emperor as possible. Although a nobleman lives here, everyone still puts their own life first, so they will protect themselves as much as possible without disobeying the orders of their superiors.
It is said that at that time, a set of treatment methods was developed in the imperial palace specifically for the Kangxi Emperor's illness. As for this method, it was tested on the human body.
The imperial hospital specially recruited a group of palace maids and asked them to approach the Kangxi Emperor in batches. Because the distance is brought closer, the symptoms of smallpox will appear in the palace maidens. These palace maids became the doctor's guinea pigs, and all medicines had to be tested on them first.
Some people with relatively poor physical fitness died shortly after contracting smallpox for the first time. Some people with better physical fitness have improved their health and alleviated their symptoms of smallpox after receiving intervention and treatment from the hospital.
Their mission did not end there, but they needed to approach the Kangxi Emperor again to check if they were still infected with smallpox.
The results of this time made many doctors excited, because they found that some palace maids who had been infected with smallpox earlier would be greatly less likely to be re-infected even if they went to contact smallpox patients again after they were cured.
In other words, the Kangxi Emperor, who was ill, as long as he could survive this calamity, would never be plagued by the infectious disease of smallpox for the rest of his life.
This discovery made the hospital more confident, and everyone also seized the time to develop the corresponding antidote. Although due to the limited scientific and technological conditions at that time, the society did not produce drugs specifically to cure smallpox, but the Kangxi Emperor survived, but left many scars on his body.
The experiments done from these palace maids actually reflect a basic principle of modern medical technology in the treatment of viral infectious diseases, that is, vaccination. The first batch of infected palace women has actually formed antibodies in their bodies, so they will not be affected again.
This statement also reflects some preliminary explorations of modern medical technology in ancient society. It can also be seen from this point that the ancients' treatment of plague is constantly improving with the development of the times.
- Do a good job of protection and be responsible for yourself
The plague is indeed terrible, but today, with the breakthrough of medical technology, it is far less terrible than ancient societies.
In the ancient society with backward conditions and harsh environment, people were still able to fight the plague through personal will and wisdom, and even defeat the plague, then in the modern society, we can also defeat such diseases.
Judging from the long historical development process, people have gradually mastered several points in the prevention and control of the plague. First of all, it is necessary to intervene from the source, people who have been infected with the virus can no longer walk freely in society like ordinary people, but must insist on being responsible for personal health and the health of others, and do a good job of self-protection.
In addition, the cutting of the transmission chain is also a very powerful measure. As long as a large-scale and relatively complete transmission chain does not form within the social level, then the plague must be controllable.
We should also be confident in the future, after all, we now have a vaccine, and medical practitioners have never stopped researching diseases.
As long as the times are developing and medical treatment is improving, human beings will always be able to overcome all natural and man-made disasters from nature and society.
Marxist philosophy tells us that movement is absolute, as is social development and progress.
Therefore, it is the most reasonable way to learn from the response measures of ancient societies and then select appropriate interventions from the actual development of modern society.
After a catastrophe, a pandemic may occur, but it cannot exist in our living environment forever. Ancient society was like this, but what is the fear of modern society?
Epilogue:
Catastrophes will be followed by great plagues, which is the wisdom and experience summed up by the ancients based on the actual situation of life for several years.
Whether it was the drought at the end of the Ming Dynasty or the various natural disasters that occurred in other dynasties, they all had more or less impact on human society.
People's response measures from the initial passive to the later gradually changed to the active, can also reflect the progress and development of the times. The plague is terrible, but it is by no means invincible. We need to be confident in this.
Resources:
1. "The Plague Theory"
2. "Mouse Lice and History"