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introduction
With the advent of winter, many people have been attacked by the flu, but fortunately, as long as people feel that their bodies are in a cold sweat constantly, and when they are a little foggy, they can find a thermometer and measure it to know whether it is a fever.
But if you go back in time, the ancients didn't have a thermometer at hand, so how did they determine that they had a fever?
The first temperature measurement tool that appeared in ancient times
When it comes to thermometers, perhaps the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is that the mercury in it cannot be touched.
At the same time, you will also think of the past and present life of the thermometer, which was successfully developed by the famous scientist Galileo Galilei in 1593.
But what many people don't know is that in fact, in the pre-Qin period, China already had something that could measure temperature - ice bottles, but unfortunately, its scope of application is not actually on the human body, but outdoors.
This point has actually been recorded in "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period", and its main content is "to see the ice of the bottle of water, and to know the cold of the world, and the hiding of fish and turtles".
The approximate meaning is that the ancients would fill the bottle with water and keep it outside.
As long as the surface starts to freeze, it means that the temperature outside is now in the cold winter stage, which is not suitable for traveling, but if you observe that the ice inside the bottle is constantly melting, it means that the temperature has begun to rise.
This way of judging is actually the same as how people now look at whether it will freeze after splashing water outside.
As long as it's frozen, you can probably estimate what the weather is like outside.
In fact, this is a kind of low temperature measurement, the principle is to perceive the change of temperature outside through the change of water in the bottle, so as to avoid the phenomenon of discomfort caused by going out on a cold and windy day.
But the only drawback of this approach is very obvious, that is, there is no way to determine the specific temperature.
And it can only be adapted to winter, not all seasons, and cannot be used to measure body temperature.
But this does not deny the wisdom of the ancients in that period, although the method is primitive enough, but it is a good way to measure.
In addition to this one, the ancients actually had other methods of measuring temperature, and they were aimed at measuring the body temperature of the ancients.
The method of measuring body temperature of ancient people
In fact, in ancient times, most people were in a relatively indifferent attitude towards changes in body temperature.
Because in the eyes of many ancients, doing anything will cause the body temperature to rise.
Therefore, some small temperature fluctuations, they will not pay attention to them, let alone ask Chinese medicine practitioners to see, and the body temperature will slowly return to normal temperature after a while.
It is not until you encounter a serious illness and your body temperature is always hot that you may realize that you are indeed infected with a cold.
Based on the current medical technology, they do not have specific values to use as a reference to determine whether their body temperature is within the normal range.
But it is precisely because of this fluctuating body temperature that the ancients discovered that the body temperature of the human body also has a range value, that is, the current people are unified at 37 degrees Celsius, as long as it is exceeded, it means that it is in the fever stage.
But in the past, there were no professional terms for fever and no fever, and general Chinese medicine used the two terms "ruler heat" and "ruler not hot" to describe it.
In addition to the changes in body temperature and headache described by the ancients themselves, there is also a professional measurement method, that is, the "cutting" method in "looking, smelling, asking, and cutting" used in traditional Chinese medicine when seeing a doctor.
The method of judgment is that Chinese medicine can feel the approximate body temperature by putting hands on the acupuncture point of people's wrist "ruler", and then they will also touch whether the temperature of the patient's forehead is the same as their own forehead to distinguish whether there is a high fever.
Such a method actually came from the hand of the famous doctor Bian Que during the Warring States Period.
This is actually recorded in detail in the later "Bian Que Neijing".
It can also be seen that in the past, people used to measure body temperature, although there was no smart thermometer like now, but it was also able to sense whether it was in a state of fever by checking the pulse.
But the only downside is that you can't feel what your body temperature is.
But at that time, there was such a way of judging, which is enough to see the wisdom of the ancients.
But in addition to this method, even the armpit temperature measurement method commonly used now has long appeared in ancient times, although it is not used for human body temperature measurement, but it did help the production of many foods at that time.
This point is mainly recorded in the "Qi Min Yaoshu", and it can be seen from the content of it alone, mainly some ancient things related to agriculture, but does this have anything to do with temperature?
An ancient method of measuring temperature used in food preparation
In fact, like the semi-processing of food now, there has long been the addition of high-tech, and the control of temperature, time and quality is even more intelligent.
However, in ancient times, there was no such advanced technology, especially for temperature, which was not easy to control, and the slightest change would also affect the final presentation of food.
In "Qi Min Yaoshu", in which the "method of making soy sauce", there is a method of how the ancients judged whether the temperature of food in the fermentation process was the most important.
"Waiting in the pile with hand stabs, it looks like armpit warmth"
It basically means that in the process of making tempeh, if you want to know when to turn it over, you need to put your hand in the pile of beans, and as long as the temperature inside reaches the temperature of your armpit, then it proves that you should turn it over.
And it is necessary to come in and check it often, once the temperature is too high, it is easy to lead to partial decay.
This method was also used in ancient times to reduce the problem of food waste by controlling temperature changes, and is still used today.
However, in ancient times, in addition to being used as a reference for food temperature, there was also a special "thermometer" for controlling the heat.
The method used in ancient times to estimate the highest temperature
This measurement method first appeared in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, because at that time, many porcelain and bronze ware needed to be formed under high temperature forging, but if the temperature was not well controlled, it would directly affect the final product.
Especially at the hottest temperatures, once the firing time is too long, it can easily backfire.
Therefore, in order to accurately grasp the time of high-temperature roasting, the ancients thought of using "fire zhaozi" and observing the fire as a reference.
In the process of firing, by clamping this "Huozhaozi" to observe the changes in the internal fire, it can also be proved that the temperature in the kiln is at the highest temperature when it is a little blue on the flame.
When you see that the color of the "Huozhaozi" is already very dark, it proves that it is already in the highest temperature state, and you can take it out directly after waiting for a while, and the "Huozhaozi" at this time is a "thermometer" in disguise.
epilogue
Although there was no thermometer in ancient times, they were able to figure out how to measure temperature in many different environments, although they could only get an approximate temperature, but it was definitely enough in the environment at that time, and at the same time, they also let everyone understand how the ancients measured body temperature.
And now people use thermometers, not only the kind of glass thermometer, but also a very intelligent thermostat, just hold it very close to the forehead to click, it can be said to be very convenient, but also have to sigh the progress of science and technology.