The Song Dynasty man "Shen Kuo" was a controversial figure, and he recorded some strange things in his own writings, that is, his colleagues and friends, at the age of fifty-three, gradually shrank and died like ordinary children, but is this reliable?
History is more controversial about Shen Kuo, who was both a participant in the framing of Su Dongpo's "Wutai Poetry Case", but on the other hand, he was a famous scientist of the Song Dynasty at that time, and a well-known supporter of atheism in history. Shen Kuo was able to compete with Su Dongpo and others in the last hundred generations, not relying on poetry and song, relying on one of his painstaking works "Mengxi Pen Talk", this strange book can be described as all-encompassing, including an encyclopedia of physics, geography, astronomy, mathematics, and strange medicine in the Song Dynasty at that time, shen Kuo combined the knowledge and insights obtained from his years of thinking, studying, and fieldwork, and he corrected some ancient wrong knowledge points. It has made great contributions to the scientific and technological development of China and the world.
But how many strange things in "Dream Creek Pen Talk" are incredible? Contrary to rigorous scientific theory, as an atheist, why would he record this seemingly inconceivable event, whether it was true or had another meaning? This article deeply analyzes a rather strange record of Shen Kuo in the "Mengxi Pen Talk".
One
Shen Kuo did not hesitate to record a strange incident that happened in the Song Dynasty in the book, but this thing is indeed a bit bizarre, and even as a scientist, he did not understand why it happened, so he did not write his own answer. Just put this time back to the "strange disease" in one article,
The original text is recorded as follows: There are strange diseases in the world. Uncle Lü Jinzhi zhiying prefecture with knowledge. Suddenly sick, but shrinking, dying like a child.
Just over twenty words, but revealed a surprising strange story, of course, the reader may not understand this passage of text, then I roughly translated into the current vernacular: at that time there was a strange disease, surnamed Lü called Jinshu, his official position was "ZhiZhi Zhen", (Note: Zhi Zhi Zhen is a clerical official position that began in the Tang Dynasty and continued to the Song Dynasty, about the work is to draft documents) To the Song Dynasty Yingzhou at that time, the difference between Yingzhou and modern times in the Northern Song Dynasty belonged to the "Northwest Jing road" at that time, under the jurisdiction of Henan Province. It was one of the important towns of the Song Dynasty at that time. It can be seen that this Uncle Lü Jin is also a real person, and he is also a small official. Later, this Uncle Lu Jin did not know what the reason was, he had a strange disease, and his body was constantly shrinking, which was a bit similar to reverse growth now. As time passed day by day, he could not be cured of this disease, but instead became like a child when he finally died. Writing this, Shen Kuo did not spend any more ink to describe whether he had studied the authenticity of this matter, but according to Shen Kuo's correction of some of the physics and astronomical knowledge at that time, his own record of this matter is extremely credible.
Two
Then many netizens will be curious, in the end, is there a person in history?
Don't think that Shen Kuo is blind, there is really this person in the history of the Song Dynasty, and many great literary heroes also wrote poems for him, such as Mei Yaochen wrote a poem.
The history of the white beard has not yet been completed, it is better to be able to give Yi Dengying.
Three winter feet are full with dwarfs, thousands of miles from watching the lame turtle line.
Knowing that there is a clear name in the public discussion, there is no spare strength to Gohong.
Eighty fishing in the valley of the river, the ancestors pushed to the afterlife.
Dear readers, do not think that Mei Yaochen is a nameless person, this benevolent brother is a realistic poet of the Song Dynasty, who worked hard for decades, and finally was discovered by Song Renzong, who was given the equivalent of a jinshi, and was also a lecturer in the Guozijian, the supreme scholar of the Song Dynasty at that time, it can be said that his literary talent was also very famous at that time.
Uncle Lu Jin
In addition to Master Mei, there was also a celebrity who wrote poems for him, which was written by Su Song of the Song Dynasty, called "Tong Lü Jin's Uncle Zhujun Sent HuaiXi To Use The Master"
The square robe is a Buddha, and the scholarship is Confucian.
Traces of mountains and forests, the heart from the classics diving.
Fun in the white clouds, peaceful outside the floating world.
Reverie viewing the study room, incense burning is coming down.
This Su Song reader should not be mistaken for Su Dongpo alias, he was a scientist and medical scientist and astronomer during the Song Renzong period, and he also sent two missions to the Liao Kingdom, and his scientific works in his life were many, because of his great contribution to ancient science and technology, he was named by later generations as "one of the greatest naturalists and scientists in ancient China and the Middle Ages" This honor can be compared with the three literary scholars of the Su family, and he and Uncle Lü Jin are also acquaintances and friends.
In the records of three famous people of the Song Dynasty, it is seen that Uncle Lü Jin is not a fictitious figure, a real person, and his strange disease is also a real occurrence, so who is Uncle Lü Jin, what is his life experience, and why did he suffer from such a strange disease?
Su Song invented the instrument
Three
Uncle Lü Jin's original name was Lü Xiaqing, Uncle Jin was only his word, and the ancient friends could only call the word, not directly by name, so everyone called him Uncle Lü Jin, his ancestral home was a native of Jinjiang, Quanzhou, a jinshi in the Northern Song Dynasty, and he was among his brothers in the list. Because of his outstanding literary talent, he spent most of his life studying history and literature, and the most important job was to compile the New Book of Tang, which was also most of his work and achievements in his life, and later went to Yingzhou to serve, where he died of illness and died at the age of fifty.
His life, like many scientific researchers, can be said to have made unsung contributions to the revision of Tang history. In his spare time, he will write some literary poems. It can be said that he was relatively lucky, living in the richest and strongest era of the Song Dynasty, living a relatively stable life, there was not much vigorous thing, but like many historical researchers, he worked down-to-earth every day, without any utilitarianism, and devoted his life to the creation of the New Book of Tang, which is indeed worthy of respect.
Later, when he reached an old age, he himself applied to go to Yingzhou to be a zhizhou on the grounds of "overwork and illness". But he only took office shortly after he got this strange disease, his body gradually shrunk day by day, and when he died, he was no different from an ordinary child. Now his former residence is still on the west side of the famous tourist attraction Quanzhou Downtown West Street. Where did the locals build a stone arch of "ZiweiFang" to commemorate him, and everyone may be interested in where to look for it, but since his deeds are true, is there still his people in history?
Four
Uncle Lü Jin's incident is true, so is there a record of the same in ancient times, and what about people with the same disease as him?
I checked the historical records and found that there was really more than one. During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, there was a man named Pan San in the Two Lakes Generation. The body is very fat and strong, but when it comes to the end of life. The body shrank to the size of a baby.
There was also a man named Emperor Fuji. At the time of his life, like ordinary people, his father was an official in Taiyuan, and his father was very protective of the emperor and the emperor. But in the year of the Emperor and the fourteenth year. Suddenly the emperor and the change was very big, suddenly turned into a giant. Very tall, the amount of food was three times larger than before, and when he reached the age of fifteen, he suddenly died of nothing.
In the Yuan Dynasty, there was an even stranger person, his name was Wei Shu, and one day he began to shrink gradually, and later became like a baby. His wife had to be fed like a baby that day, and then gradually grew up, and even became a commander of the Yuan Dynasty as before. Of course, these records are more bizarre in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and they cannot be included here, because the things of the Classics of Mountains and Seas are a bit too mysterious and unscientific.
Five
For the matter of Uncle Lü Jin, because it is too long away from us, we can't find the reason for a while, but in the Ming Zhengde years of Pan Xingsan, or we found some answers, it turned out that the eldest sister did not know why Pan Xingsan was like this, curious people asked him about the people around him, and wondered if it was caused by him often liking to take sulfur-containing "elixirs". This allowed us to find a new way to solve the problem.
In history, the Han Dynasty began to appear Taoist alchemy school, which is also the earliest group of chemical researchers, they used a variety of things, constantly collocation, and finally refined many different things, in the present view, many of which are chemical products, and the sulfur in it is extracted in this way, to the Tang Dynasty, there are Tianzi to the folk, are intoxicated in the golden stone, even the writings of the medicine saint Sun Simiao also record these methods.
"Prepare for emergencies, detoxification and miscellaneous treatment" "People do not eat stones, they do not do well, they have bad sores, scabies, mild disease and malaria, they often suffer from disease every year, they are restless in their sleep and food, they are often evil, they are not healthy in their own affairs, and it is difficult to have children." Therefore, the stone is in the body, and everything is resting, and it must not be without stones. ......... Warm hands and feet, bone marrow full, can dissipate cold, light measures, hardy to cold and heat, not suffering from various diseases, the Tang Dynasty is also the most prosperous period of alchemy, and later to the Song Dynasty, although alchemy began to decline, but under the influence of the Tang Dynasty, there are still many literati inkers to pursue the illusory alchemy, so that Uncle Lü Jin's sulfur or one of the biggest suspects that cause this disease,
In the view of modern medicine, if people ingest sulfur, there will be failure of internal organs, so it is very likely that Uncle Lu Jin is related to this. But what does modern medicine think?
Six
From a scientific point of view, will it be related to the pituitary gland.
From a modern point of view, the height of people and pituitary gland secretion has a relationship, in foreign countries there has been a world's only strange person, this person was originally a dwarf, and then did not know why suddenly grew, became a 2 meters 4 tall giant, and at the end of the day is still growing, and finally stopped at 2 meters 48 high, the professor who helped him see at the time analyzed that he is a pituitary tumor, cut off can be normal, but he can not become a normal person, and this person's experience can be said to be the same as the emperor and the above.
But now science can not explain a problem, that is, human bones are constantly growing can, but soften think how children can do it? Is it related to bone? If everyone's understanding of sulfur, we found that there is a lot of sulfur intake, it will indeed corrode people's bone, then we make a bold guess, that is, Uncle Lu Jin may be because of the long-term intake of sulfur led to bone relaxation, to the elderly poor health, bad spirit, apply to cultivate, but who knows where, may be environmental changes and dietary problems, resulting in physical changes and functional degradation, and finally retreated into children.
Of course, the above is just a bold guess, how the truth will be, has been buried in the sand of history, but in any case Shen Kuo's record is true and reliable, although many medical and scientists at that time did not find a reasonable explanation, but or is the beautiful side of the world, because of the magic of the universe and fascinating, and although we analyze 2 can not produce results, but how there are similar facts we will find a conclusion, and the magic of history lies in his fun and can understand more knowledge, While reading these interesting histories, we can also see the larger world and learn more knowledge, which is indeed a good hobby.
What do you think about this?