Who has information about ancient alchemy?

A special magic method in ancient China. Also known as alchemy, alchemy, alchemy, atractylodes macrocephala. Its content is very complicated, and its central goal is to make a magic pill that can make people "live forever" and turn ordinary metals such as copper and iron into gold and silver with a little gold. Because there was a saying of "becoming immortal" in ancient China, alchemy was first born in China. Alchemists believe that a person's body can achieve eternal life with the help of some magical medicine. "Dan" originally refers to cinnabar (that is, mercury sulfide), and later refers to all kinds of drugs considered as "longevity medicine" or "golden medicine"

The emergence of alchemy has its social background. When the feudal society developed to a certain stage, the productivity was greatly improved, and the ruling class demanded more and more material enjoyment. Emperors and nobles naturally have two extravagant hopes: first, they hope to master more wealth for their own enjoyment; Second, I hope to live forever and let their rule be done once and for all.

China's alchemy originated in the 3rd century BC. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the alchemist's immortal thought had developed into Taoism, and the atmosphere of alchemy was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Wei Boyang's Zhouyi can tong qi is the earliest theoretical work of alchemy in the world. It is mentioned in the book that there were 600 kinds of fires recorded by the alchemist at that time, which shows that a lot of experience and knowledge have been accumulated in alchemy with fire at that time. The Inner Chapter of Bao Puzi, written by Ge Hong, an alchemist in Jin Dynasty, made a detailed record and summary of alchemy since Han and Jin Dynasties. His alchemy is divided into three interrelated parts: ① refining a panacea, which is considered to be "the ultimate of the immortal way" (2) Collecting and processing longevity drugs. These drugs, including minerals, animal and plant drugs, are considered to have the functions of prolonging life, nourishing the body and eliminating diseases. (3) touch gold and touch silver. Using common metals such as copper and iron to change into gold and silver, in fact, all kinds of alloys with similar appearance to gold and silver are made by chemical methods.

In addition to the development of alchemy in China, in the 8th century, an alchemy named al-kimiya (probably evolved from the ancient sound of "golden liquid" in China) appeared in Arabia, pursuing a panacea called Al-Ixer, hoping to make people live longer. Other contents include alchemy and pharmacy. About 12 century, Arabic alchemy spread to Europe under the influence of Islam.

The guiding ideology of the alchemist was idealistic, so their original purpose was not achieved at all. However, after all, the practice of alchemy exposed alchemists to various natural phenomena, thus improving their understanding of nature. For example, they worked day and night in the laboratory and accumulated rich practical experience, thus putting forward a valuable idea: "Things can be transformed into each other through artificial methods", and gunpowder appeared in the late Tang Dynasty was the product of alchemy practice. Finally, alchemy became the basis of the emergence and development of modern European chemistry, so the terms representing alchemy, such as Alchemia and alchemia, evolved into Chemie (German), chimie (French) and Chemie (English).

charm

introduce

The application of the principles of management, qi and number in alchemy is more obscure than in astronomy, but China alchemists, with their knowledge of Yin and Yang, five elements and number, tried to smelt copper, lead and other metals into gold in order to achieve the goal of immortality. The Secret of the Five Phases of Avatar Qi is an important theoretical work of alchemy, and its opening is as follows:

Yang yi er San si Wu

Water, fire, wood and gold soil

Yin 67890

The distribution of yin and yang, five elements and number in this table is consistent with the "river map" (refer to the first part of this book), which shows that the principles of reason, qi and number are closely related to alchemy. The failure of alchemy can be attributed to the negligence of the process of alchemy, but it can also be attributed to fate, which is the other side of the number. Therefore, a person must be destined to be an elixir, or he will fail.

The origin of alchemy

The invention of alchemy in China originated from the idea of immortality in ancient myths and legends. For example, Hou Yi got the elixir from the Queen Mother of the West, and Chang 'e ate it secretly, then flew to the Moon Palace and became a fairy on the moon. We don't have exact records of what pills ancient drug addicts took in order to live longer, but according to the Fairy Biography compiled by Jin people, what they ate included unrefined minerals and plants such as cinnabar, mica, jade, ochre, stone, pine nuts and cinnamon.

The method of "Yi Yan" sprouted in the Warring States Period, and Qin Shihuang and Emperor Wudi were also good at talking about immortals and immortals. Various alchemists, such as Li and Luan Da, served in the imperial court, and Liu An was also a famous alchemist in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. His book Huai Nan Zi once mentioned drugs such as mercury, cinnabar and realgar. By the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang still liked immortal thoughts and alchemy. In addition, Taoism is also related to alchemy, and Zhang Ling, the founder of Taoism, is said to be proficient in this technology.

Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were two different traditions of alchemy: one was to seek immortality medicine; The second is to try to make gold. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the two traditions merged into one, alchemists tasted the elixir of life, and the factors that contributed to the combination of the two traditions were related to the development of medicine, so many famous alchemists such as Ge Hong and Tao Hongjing were also great doctors. Ge Hong's contribution to alchemy and early chemistry is preserved in the Inner Chapter of Bao Puzi, which records many Dan medicines (such as Taiqing Dan and Jinye) and their preparation methods.

The above is a long-standing belief that mortals can become immortals, and this deformation can be explained by the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements.

The Golden Age of Alchemy in China

The story of the elixir of life after Ge Hong's era continued to attract many emperors. In this way, Tuoba GUI, the fifth emperor of Wei Dao, set up a fairy workshop for refining medicine in Beijing. The fifth emperor Tuoba Tao called Wei Wenxiu, asked the alchemist about the elixir of life, and ordered people to visit the immortals on the mountain. Xu Jian adopted the alchemy camp as the alchemy of Emperor Xiaowen, thus realizing the "method of prolonging life". The picture on the right shows the stove included in (Fontaine Notes).

China alchemy entered the golden age from the end of Jin Dynasty to the end of Tang Dynasty. Famous alchemists, pharmacologists and pharmacologists have made great contributions. He once worked as an alchemist for Liang Wudi Xiao Yan, and circulated the book "Thirty-six Water Methods of Taoist Collection", which is quite helpful to the study of water-mediated inorganic reactions in chemistry. At the same time, alchemist Chuze compiled Su Yuanming's "Taiqing Shibi Ji", which recorded the ingredients and refining methods of various Dan medicines such as Jiuding Dan method. Su also explained the anonymity used by chemists at that time in Fontaine.

Many emperors, such as Aidi, Tang Xianzong and Tang Muzong, died of poisoning caused by taking Dan medicine. So many experts have warned that you should not trust the prescription of Dan medicine. Jin Yingdan, for example, contains mercury, arsenic and toxins, but people in China still insist on alchemy, because not all pills are poisonous. Some people take the elixir poison as a warning and pursue longevity in other ways. Moreover, China's concept of "fighting poison with poison" is established in modern medicine.