Heavy metal poisoning has always been a problem of great concern. When heavy metals exceed the limit that the human body can bear, they will cause acute poisoning, subacute poisoning or chronic poisoning to the human body.
Some people asked, the ancients were often exposed to gold and silver (currency, containers), could they be poisoned by heavy metals? Of course not. Because from a conceptual point of view, common heavy metal poisoning in life includes, lead poisoning, mercury poisoning, arsenic poisoning, etc. Heavy metals here do not include gold and silver.
Li Tang
水墨绢本
Size: 30.5x23.5cm
Inscription: Li Si ancient alchemy diagram
Collection seal: Gao Zhan Shi (Qing Dynasty Gao Shiqi Tibetan seal)
Then why did the ancients have the method of "swallowing gold to commit suicide"? In "Dream of Red Mansions", Second Sister You committed suicide by this method.
According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica", it is recorded: "Poisonous gold is raw gold, and it is handed over to Guangshan Shi, red and poisonous, killing, refining more than ten times, and the poison is already." "Therefore, raw gold that has not been quenched is poisonous, and we generally process raw gold into gold, and in this process, the toxicity of gold slowly disappears.
In fact, there were quite a lot of opportunities for the ancients to come into contact with heavy metals. Emperor Yongzheng once wrote a poem "Burning Dan": "Lead sand and medicine, pines and cypresses surround the cloud altar." The furnace transports yin and yang fire, and the power is both internal and external. "Lead sand" is made from the heavy metals lead and mercury.
Ming Dynasty Li Fang "Ge Hong Alchemy Picture"
One
First nominate a Jiajing Emperor. Taking pills for decades is more positive than eating. Li Shizhen once politely persuaded Jiajing to give up taking this harmful and useless thing, and the stubborn Jiajing could not listen to it, and in his later years, all kinds of heavy metal poisoning symptoms appeared. "The eyebrows fell off, and even gradually, erysipelas were combined" finally died at the age of 60, 540 years old from the age of 600.
Two
On the evening of November 14, 1908 in the Gregorian calendar, the 38-year-old Guangxu Emperor, who was under house arrest in Yingtai by the Empress Dowager Cixi, passed away quietly. At that time, it was rumored in the society that Emperor Guangxu was poisoned to death.
Qu Guiting, a famous doctor at the end of the Qing Dynasty, disclosed in the book "Diagnosis and Treatment of the Secret Records of Emperor Guangxu" that three days before his death, Emperor Guangxu held his stomach in pain, his cheeks were black, and his tongue was yellow. This was a far cry from his usual illness. According to the record of "Qing Barnyard Banknotes", the Empress Dowager Cixi was terminally ill and secretly ordered her henchmen and eunuchs to strangle Guangxu. She was unwilling to let Emperor Guangxu rise again after her death.
It is recorded in the "Chongling Transmission of Letters" that when Emperor Guangxu heard the news that the Empress Dowager Cixi was seriously ill, his face showed joy. When the Empress Dowager Cixi learned about it, she said hatefully: "I will not die in front of you." "If Guangxu was really poisoned, then the Empress Dowager Cixi is undoubtedly the number one suspect. The contradictions between the two have long been an open secret.
In 2003, two strands of Emperor Guangxu's hair were sent to the Reactor Research and Design Institute of the China Institute of Atomic Energy, where they were carefully dissected under the eyes of science. After precise testing, the results were shocking: Emperor Guangxu's hair actually contained a high concentration of the element arsenic, which is known as arsenic. This is undoubtedly like an important clue to a historical mystery, leading us to explore the real reason for the death of Emperor Guangxu
Three
The Roman Empire, an ancient empire with a great reputation, and its capital, Rome, was known as the "Eternal City". The ancient Romans created an impressive Roman culture that was admired by future generations. However, after the heyday of the 1st-2nd centuries AD, the empire was divided into eastern and western parts. Sadly, the Western Roman Empire came to an end in 476 AD.
In ancient Rome, the production and application of lead reached its peak. The aristocrats took pride in the use of lead products, which undoubtedly exposed their superb metallurgical skills and their unique preference for lead.
However, this preference laid the groundwork for the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Lead is widely used in architecture, military, decoration and other fields, and has penetrated into all aspects of the life of the ancient Roman aristocracy. They used large amounts of lead to make all kinds of toys, figurines, rings, coins, cosmetics, medicines, and paints. Even cutlery, kitchenware and utensils are made of lead in abundance.
Ancient Roman lead-glazed amphorae were unearthed in Turkey around the first century AD
In addition to this, the shadow of lead loomed over the water supply system, which the ancient Romans were so proud of. At that time, the streets and alleys of the city of Rome were covered with water distribution pipes to meet the needs of the people. Among these water pipes, there are lead water pipes and ceramic water pipes, etc. Lead water pipes have good sealing, so although they are expensive, almost all officials and nobles chose to use them. As a result, lead appeared almost every day in the necessities of life and survival of the Romans, coming into contact with the Romans in all directions. How could the Romans escape the clutches of lead?
Later, when the bones of 22 ancient humans were analyzed, it was found that the bones of 2 Roman Carthaginians and 2 other wealthy non-Roman people who lived in the same city contained lead. Lead was not detected in the bones of the remaining 18 people who were not part of the Roman Empire and Roman dominions. This shows that the products used by the Roman aristocracy were more "premium" and accumulated more toxins in their bodies. Affluent living conditions brought higher levels of lead, and over time, the upper echelons of Rome's rulers became weaker. Then the demise of the empire was inevitable.
Who can say that the fall of the Roman Empire had nothing to do with lead poisoning?
Four
At some point at the turn of the century, the rice fields of Toyama Prefecture, Japan, where the lush green rice was suddenly languishing, seemed to fall into a deep sleep. This sudden change bewildered the local farmers, who tried to find the cause, but to no avail. Surprisingly, the eating quality of these seemingly "sick" rice has not been affected, and it is as sweet and delicious as ever.
At that time, the world was in turmoil, and the smoke of World War I and World War II was obscuring the subtle changes in the small village. In the shadow of war, no one noticed the subtle changes taking place in this peaceful place. As a result, in the years since, Toyama Prefecture remains as peaceful as ever, as if isolated from the rest of the world.
Toyama Prefecture, Japan
It wasn't until 1931 that a female worker suddenly committed suicide at the Bright Mitsui Metal Mining Company in Toyama Prefecture. At first, the incident did not make waves. However, in an instant, a female worker sneezed and found that she had multiple fractures all over her body, and others began to have pain in various parts of the body, some of whom were limited to the joints of the waist, hands and feet, while others had neuralgia in various parts of the body, making it difficult to move, unable to walk, and even breathing.
If not enough attention was paid at this time, then after a few years, the patient's condition deteriorated, and instead of alleviating the pain, the bones were softened and atrophied, the limbs were bent, the spine was deformed, and the bones were brittle. Even when eating, I was in pain, wailing and wailing, "It hurts to death!" "It hurts to death!"
These horrific symptoms have finally carved a deep imprint on people's hearts, and people have begun to describe the condition as "painful disease".
In people's cognition, "pain disease" has become a recognized disease, but what is its source? A local doctor had a flash of inspiration during the treatment process, and couldn't help but wonder: Is it caused by a large amount of lead in the wastewater of the Shengang mine upstream of the local river?
The Shinto River, the clear river that runs through central Japan, is the lifeblood of the people of Toyama Prefecture, who rely on the river's water to irrigate the land on both sides. Mitsui Metal Mining Co., Ltd., on the other hand, established the Kamioka Mining Plant in the upper reaches of the river, established a zinc smelting plant, and ruthlessly discharged a large amount of sewage into the Jintsu River.
Although speculation about "lead poisoning" is rejected by authorities, the truth is often hidden in the most inconspicuous corners. Perhaps, they are closer to the truth than they imagined.
In order to find the root cause of bone pain, medical researchers have spent many years of hard work. It wasn't until 1961 that they finally unravel the mystery: patients with bone pain in Toyama Prefecture were closely related to wastewater from Mitsui Metal Mining Company's Kamiokan zinc smelter.
The company brazenly discharges untreated cadmium-containing wastewater into the Shentong River, which is the culprit of bone pain. This incident makes us deeply aware of the importance of environmental protection, and also reminds enterprises that they must assume their due social responsibilities while pursuing economic benefits.
Residents on both sides of the river have found levels of cadmium in farmland, rice, fish and shrimp exceeding standards after irrigating their farmland with this polluted water. During the days of long-term consumption of cadmium-containing rice, fish and shrimp, and drinking cadmium-containing water, the local population developed a large number of symptoms of bone pain, which brought a heavy lesson to Japan.
For us, "painful disease" is not a natural disaster, but the result of human ignorance of environmental protection. Are the experts at the mining companies really unaware of the environmental hazards caused by untreated wastewater? They just "don't think" that humans are in this environment.