Medicine was not developed in ancient times. When plague occurred among the people, the destructive power was often greater than war and famine. Xu Shen pointedly pointed out in "Shuowen Jiezi": Epidemic means that all people are sick. ?
Plagues have occurred in all dynasties. The Song Dynasty inherited the Five Dynasties and started the Yuan Dynasty. During the 319 years of the country, various types of plagues occurred 49 times, with an average of once every 6.51 years. The average annual occurrence probability is 15.03%, so how did the two Song Dynasties deal with the plague?
Effective plague prevention measures
To deal with the plague, we need to prepare for both prevention and control.
During the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, a multi-pronged approach was adopted based on "prevention". The imperial court established the Ministry of Yu, which was responsible for the affairs of mountains, gardens, and fields. Its functions were similar to the current Ministry of Natural Resources. In addition, trees of various colors were planted on both sides of the road in Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty, and gardens such as Genyue and Yujin Garden were established in the city, beautifying the environment of the capital. All places also attach great importance to urban greening, and there are landscapes such as "green trees forming a curtain connecting the medicine market" and "Wumen Road, with milk crows singing green branches in April".
Plague can easily occur in crowded places, especially prisons with poor sanitary conditions. In April of the third year of Jingde in the Northern Song Dynasty (1006), Emperor Zhenzong considered that the summer season was a period of high incidence of epidemics, so he decided to punish those who committed capital crimes in the Chongzheng Hall. As soon as the day was over, he ordered the military commander to introduce the names of punishments decided by Si Fuzou. After reviewing them, he ordered them to be carried out. Since every year when the weather is hot, officials are dispatched to come and arrange them in person, so they make custom orders. ?
Not only that, the imperial court also established a "Leoze Garden" to bury ownerless corpses in order to purify the environment and fundamentally eliminate the occurrence of infectious bacteria. Beautifying the environment and paying attention to hygiene were important measures to prevent plague in the Song Dynasty.
A medical system with a complete structure
Improving the medical level is also an important means of prevention. The imperial court established the Hanlin Medical Academy, which was in charge of enshrining medicine and treating various illnesses according to imperial edicts. It also established specialized institutions such as Imperial Hospital, Huimin Bureau, Prescription Bureau, and Pharmacy Bureau, which were in charge of medical education and the circulation of medicinal materials. When a plague occurs, these institutions have a clear division of labor and are responsible for dispensing medicines and treating the plague. Each of them performs his or her duties and performs their duties conscientiously.
Doctors occupy an important position in the medical system. The imperial court stipulated: When the number of guests is less than 10,000 households, there will be one person for supplementary medicine; for households above 10,000, there will be two people; for every 10,000 households, add one more person, up to five people. For doctors, there will be ten in Jie Town, Jingfu, three in Neixiao Fangmai, and seven in Yuzhou. There are two people in Xiaofangmai; one person for every 10,000 households in the county, up to five people. ?The perfect medical system promoted the development of health services in the Song Dynasty.
Praiseworthy anti-epidemic drugs
Anti-epidemic drugs are an indispensable part of prevention. Pang Anshi, the medical king of the Northern Song Dynasty, believed in "Treatise on Common Diseases of Febrile Diseases": "It can treat epidemic qi and prevent people from being infected, and it can ward off febrile diseases and typhoid fever." ?
He included Tusu wine, Piwen powder, Qianfu powder, Shagui pills and other anti-epidemic drugs in his book, which were widely used among the people. Medical scientist Zhu Gong has done a lot of research on "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" and authored "Nanyang Living Book". The Laojun Shenming Powder and Wuchengzi Yinghuo Pills in the book are also effective anti-epidemic drugs.
Dou Cai, a physician in the Southern Song Dynasty, included "Zhonghe Decoction" in "Bian Que Xin Shu" to treat typhoid fever, plague, dizziness and pain in the head, fever, and runny nose. The prescription is: Atractylodes rhizome (one pound, rice soaked in swill), Sichuan Wu (cannon), Magnolia officinalis (ginger), tangerine peel, licorice (four liang each), Cao Guo (two liang). *** is the end. Take 4 qian for each meal, 7 slices of ginger, decoct in water and dregs before taking. ?
Because of its remarkable effect in preventing and avoiding epidemics, it is known as the "magic prescription" among the people.
An anti-plague charm to stabilize people's hearts
To prevent and control the plague in the two Song Dynasties, they not only sought medical treatment, but also sought help from ghosts and gods. A large number of talismans, taboos and spells were collected in the official medical books of the Song Dynasty, such as "Taiping Shenghui Prescriptions", "Divine Doctors' Universal Rescue Prescriptions", "Shengji Zonglu", "Taiping Huimin Hejiju Prescriptions", etc. In the education of Taiyuan Hospital, a Book Binding Department was opened to collect, organize and popularize forbidden spells.
In the third year of Xianping (AD 1000), Zhenzong was deeply concerned about the severe epidemics in Zhejiang and Zhejiang, and ordered the three halls to inspect the spiritual relics, so he sent envoys to visit the temples in his mountains and rivers to serve the people. Pray for blessings. ?
Obviously, the two Song dynasties used sorcerers to pray to gods to ban plague, which was obviously superstitious and did not help in eradicating the plague. However, the method of worshiping gods and banning plague in the two Song dynasties was objectively effective. In order to stabilize people's hearts, this is undoubtedly the product of compromising with limited medical conditions.
Uniformly allocated medical resources
After the plague occurred, control became the key to preventing the spread of the plague. In the first month of the first year of Zhihe (AD 1054), a plague broke out in Bianliang. In the Song Dynasty, he crushed Tongtian Rhinoceros and mixed it with medicine to treat people's epidemics. It is said that Tongtian Rhinoceros is a rare treasure that can cure all kinds of diseases. Li Shunqing, the chamberlain, intended to leave it to Renzong for his own use, but Renzong refused sternly: "How can I value foreign objects but despise the common people!" ?I heard that the soldiers and civilians in Beijing were in short supply of medicine recently, so I ordered the Kaifeng Prefecture to conduct a physical visit. If there were many patients, the Imperial Medical Bureau could select doctors and send them to the military camp alleys to diagnose and treat the patients in different areas. The government sent officials to collect the medicine and pay for food every day. They sent the sealing pile money in front of the emperor to pay for the money. This will be done as soon as the sick people are few and far between. ?
Based on the state machinery, it is natural to control the plague with ease.
The earliest isolation system in history. Control is not only to protect uninfected people, but also to treat patients. A "firewall" needs to be established between the two.
In the fifth year of Yuanyou (AD 1090), Hangzhou experienced drought first and then epidemic. Su Shi, who was the general magistrate of Hangzhou at the time, founded "Anlefang" and used isolation methods to cure countless patients in three years. "Xuzizhi Tongjian Changbian" praised: "He made porridge and medicinal bait, sent officials with doctors, divided prescriptions to treat diseases, and many people survived." ?
In August of the first year of Chongning (1102 AD), the imperial court changed the name of Anlefang to Anjifang, and placed Anjifang to support the poor and sick people in all counties. County juxtaposition. ?
The isolation ward in Anjifang is a ward. For those who are suffering from illness, two monks are recruited to treat them as medicine and diet. In fact, Anjifang, as part of the government-run charity system, has already established nursing homes, Anjifang, and Luzeyuan, and the cost is particularly high. ?
Thoughtful refugee resettlement and control also include controlling population flow. As the saying goes: After a major disaster, there will be a major epidemic. ?
Due to limitations of productivity and transportation conditions, most relief projects in ancient times were located in urban centers. As a result, a large number of refugees poured into the city, increasing the risk of associated plagues. The two Song dynasties were clearly aware of this. Zeng Gong said frankly:?
As for the time of giving, there are speed, uniformity, authenticity, the trouble of gathering, and the trouble of discernment. , if the handling is wrong, it will lead to disadvantages. If they live in groups, their Qi will evaporate for a long time and become thin, which will lead to diseases and scabies. ?
In view of this, according to the disaster situation, the two Song Dynasties used the elderly as the basic unit to provide disaster relief to prevent them from flocking to the city. ?Each official is assigned to be in charge of ten senior citizens or five or seven senior citizens. According to the total number of officials employed by the Qi branch, in addition to the official officials from each county, officials should be selected who have good conduct, are honest and responsible, and will not do any wrongdoing when things happen. ?
This not only improves the efficiency of disaster relief, but also helps control the epidemic.
The plagues in the Song Dynasty mainly included smallpox, measles, mumps, typhoid, dysentery, Shiqi disease, leprosy, miasma, large head plague and livestock diseases. Frequent epidemics forced the court, scholar-officials, medical scientists, etc. to actively explore the treatment and causes of the epidemic, and established a plague prevention and control system with the government as the mainstay and social forces as the supplement, and achieved good results.
The experience of preventing and controlling plagues in the two Song Dynasties left precious wealth to later generations, and it still has high reference significance today.