This legend makes sense, because in ancient China, many people longed to live forever by taking Dan medicine, so is there really such an "elixir of life"? Now Nanjing Museum has a collection of this pill. Since it was unearthed, few people have known its existence, and even fewer people have seen it.
1965, archaeological excavations at that time found some strange things in the Eastern Jin Tomb in Xiangshan. They are only the size of rice grains, and they are all red. They seem to have a diameter of 0.4 ~0.6 cm, and the weight of each particle is different, with an average weight of about 0.372 g.
At that time, * * * found more than 200 pieces of this stuff, some of which have turned into powder. "When it was first discovered, it was placed in a round lacquer box with a diameter of about 10 cm and placed on the head of the tomb owner. This shows how important these things are to the tomb owner. " Wang Zhigao, a researcher at Nanjing Museum, said: "The owner of this ancient tomb belongs to Wang Xizhi's family. Wang Bin's eldest daughter, Hu Dan, died at the age of 58. Because she has never been married, she was buried on the right side of her parents' grave. "
For these small round particles, which are only the size of rice grains, archaeologists have no way to find out what they are, because such things were first discovered in China at that time. They can't touch, can't touch, and certainly can't bite.
In order to solve the identity problem of these balls, relevant experts took three of them for testing, and finally determined that they were very popular "elixir of life" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
"Look from the epitaph, the * * * tiger died in the Eastern Jin Dynasty for two years, which happened to be the era when the oil refining and scholar-officials advocated the prevalence of' four meals'. The so-called' taking food' means taking four stones', that is, taking the so-called immortal elixir. "What is the ingredient of' elixir of life'? How are they made? Don't say that modern people are confused, even in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, people who can't eat the elixir are also confused. In addition, alchemy is a very private matter, which is handed down from master to apprentice and kept secret, casting a mysterious color on the "elixir of life".
Once again, the elixir of life was found in the tomb of 1998 Gaosong family. 1June, 998 17, a brick tomb of the Six Dynasties was discovered in the road building T in Xianlin New School K of Nanjing Normal University. The Cultural Relics Bureau quickly organized an archaeological team to conduct a rescue inspection and excavation of the tomb from late June to early August. This archaeological excavation was a sensation in that year, and it was also included in the top ten latest archaeological discoveries in China. Wang Zhigao recalled that three brick tombs were excavated at that time, all of which were relatively large, with a total length of more than 7 meters. The tomb is a convex one-room tomb, and more than 200 cultural relics such as gold, jade glass, amber, crystal, copper, iron and ceramics have been unearthed. Among the many unearthed cultural relics, one treasure is familiar to experts, and that is the red "elixir of life", which is exactly the same as the original. The elixir is placed at the master's hand, near the master's right arm, and there is an exquisite gold-plated silver tripod with a cover, which seems to be specially used to hold elixir. However, these "elixirs of youth" quickly turned into powder because of oxidation.
This shows that celebrities in the Eastern Jin Dynasty are popular to take this small pill, which is probably the elixir that Qin Shihuang sent people to look for.
Tests in the 1960s showed that the main component of these pills was mercury sulfide, a highly toxic compound. The content of mercury is 60. The sulfur content is 3.0% and the sulfur content is about 26.9%. 1% is still unknown. At that time, the technology was not developed, so the ingredients in the "elixir of life" could not be completely decoded. If we test it today, we should be able to explain all the ingredients in the elixir 100%.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, men and women in the mansion were obsessed with it, and it was indispensable every day. Not only Wang Xizhi's family, Gao Song's family, but even the emperor ate it. In the dynasty when taking "elixir of life" was all the rage, the profession of alchemist came into being. These alchemists are as popular as stars now.
"Cinnabar burns into mercury and becomes cinnabar after accumulation." Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty introduced the whole process of alchemy in his book Bao Puzi. Because the chemical composition of cinnabar is mercury sulfide, it will decompose mercury after heating, that is, mercury; After cooling, sulfur vapor and mercury combine again to produce mercury sulfide.
Can these bitter meatballs really give those celebrities in Wei and Jin dynasties what they want? In fact, Dan medicine is made of five minerals: stalactite, internal sulfur, halloysitum rubrum, Yingshi and Ziyingshi. Dansha has a long medicinal history in China. Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica lists it as the first top grade, believing that it can cure all diseases, soothe the soul, nourish the spirit, and make people know the gods for a long time without aging. But in fact, the "elixir of life" made by people in the Eastern Jin Dynasty is quite toxic, so it is easy for people to die because of the toxicity of the elixir, and poisoning incidents of Taoist priests who are keen on alchemy also occur frequently, so Taoist priests will say that they died of drug poisoning as autopsy or Bai Yue's ascension to immortality. Of course, this is just a lie to deceive others.
The poor can't take Dan medicine. If they take it, they will be poisoned if they are not careful. When you first eat it, it won't be anything. Later, the drug has obvious curative effect, which is called "distribution". If there is no "distribution", it will do more harm than good So, after dinner, you can't rest, you have to walk, because you have to walk to "distribute", so walking is called "separation" Lu Xun said in the article "Wei and Jin demeanor and the relationship between articles and medicinal liquor" that it is very troublesome to eat "elixir of life".
After eating, people will be cold first and then hot, just like malaria. People will turn red after eating, and their internal organs will feel burning. They must drink a lot of wine to get rid of toxins in their bodies. Wang Xudong said that the name of this "elixir of life" is actually "Wushi Powder", also called "Cold Food Powder". The history books say that "cold clothes, cold drinks, cold food, cold lying and extreme cold are better". After taking Wushi powder, you must drink good wine, mellow wine, and it must be hot wine, so as to dispel the heat in your body.