On the evening of December 22, Zhu Ling, a victim of the "thallium poisoning case" at Tsinghua University, passed away, tugging at everyone's heartstrings. In addition to the twists and turns of the case itself and the inability to chase the culprit, "thallium poisoning" has also become a focus of attention. "Thallium" is a heavy metal element that is not very common in daily life, and it is also because of less contact, when Zhu Ling was hospitalized with poisoning symptoms at the beginning, the hospital did not diagnose it, which delayed it, which is still in the modern era when people have made breakthroughs in chemistry, biology, medicine and other disciplines, so what if it is replaced by the ancients?Thallium, mercury, cadmium, lead. Were there any other heavy metals in ancient times?
How did Emperor Guangxu die?
The ancients had no less access to heavy metals than modern people, in "Dream of Red Mansions", the second sister You committed suicide by swallowing gold, and the folk also circulated the highly poisonous legend of "Heding Red", and there were many emperors who asked for immortals in all dynasties, and they were addicted to "elixir of life", and Emperor Yongzheng once wrote a poem "Burning Dan": "Lead sand and medicine, pine and cypress around the cloud altar." The furnace transports yin and yang fire, and the power is both internal and external. "Lead sand" is made of heavy metals lead and mercury, and long-term use can indeed have the effect of "ascending to immortality as soon as possible". Even if everyone suspects that Emperor Yongzheng died of heavy metal poisoning, there is no relevant record in the official history, and some speculation can only be made, but it is different for his descendant, Emperor Guangxu.
At 18:33 a.m. on October 21, the 34th year of Guangxu (on the evening of November 14, 1908 in the Gregorian calendar), the 38-year-old Guangxu Emperor, who was detained in Yingtai by the Empress Dowager Cixi, died. However, what is doubly strange is that on the afternoon of the second day after Guangxu's death, that is, at 13:15 o'clock on February 12, his mother and political opponent, the Empress Dowager Cixi, also died of illness. Is it a coincidence that the politically opposed mother and son died in less than 20 hours, or is there something else going on?
Portrait of Emperor Guangxu. It is now stored in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War Memorial Hall on Liugong Island, Weihai City, Shandong Province.
At that time, there were two theories widely circulated in society. The first is that Guangxu was poisoned. There are also several accounts that support this claim.
Qu Guiting, a famous doctor in the late Qing Dynasty, disclosed in his book "The Secret of Diagnosing and Metallurgizing Emperor Guangxu" that Emperor Guangxu had rolled in bed 3 days before his death. He yelled at me, and his stomach hurt terribly. And his cheeks were dark, and his tongue was yellow and black. This was not a symptom of the disease he had received. This medical record should be regarded as a relatively authoritative evidence, after all, the doctor knows the physical condition of Emperor Guangxu best. Please check out these books?Is there really a similar record on it?
There is such a record in the "Qing Barnyard Banknotes": The Empress Dowager Cixi felt that her illness could not be cured, so she secretly ordered her cronies and eunuchs to strangle Guangxu. The Empress Dowager did not want to see Emperor Guangxu return to power after her death. It is recorded in the "Chongling Transmission Letter" that Emperor Guangxu heard the news that the Queen Mother was seriously ill and his face was overjoyed. When Cixi learned about this, she gritted her teeth and said, "I can't die in front of you." "If Guangxu was really poisoned, then there is no doubt that Cixi must be the number one suspect, and the disagreement between the two is already well known. Even the report of the Japanese Minister to Beijing Yasuya Uchida wrote, "Wu (Wu Tingfang of the right attendant of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) said that the death of the Empress Dowager was a disaster for the emperor." Today, the court ministers and supervisors surrounding the Queen Mother all know that the death of the Queen Mother is the end of it. When the queen mother died, she would consider her own safety and murder the emperor. At this time, Wan Wang rescued the emperor with our garrison. And this incident happened on May 14, the 30th year of Guangxu (June 27, 1904), which shows that the contradiction between Guangxu and Cixi was by no means just overnight. From the time of Guangxu's pro-government, Cixi was unwilling to give up the power in his hands, and laid the seeds for the future discord, to the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War, Cixi changed from the main battle faction to the main and peace faction, Cixi and Guangxu officially embarked on different roads, and finally when the law was changed, Emperor Guangxu "conspired to win the support of Yuan Shikai, the direct subordinate envoy who was training at a small station in Tianjin, and built a new army to surround the Summer Palace." Forced the Empress Dowager to surrender power with soldiers. ”
Axis of the scenery of the Summer Palace. **Palace museum.
In addition to Cixi, there are also people who identify Cixi's personal eunuch Li Lianying and others. There is "Yingtai Weeping Blood": "The evil Li Lianying, seeing that the life span of the Queen Mother is not long, and her backer is about to have problems, so she secretly became anxious. He thought that instead of waiting for Guangxu to take power to settle accounts with himself, it was better to let himself strike first. After a few degrees of waiting and thinking, his poisonous plan was decided. "The backer is about to fall, how can Li Lianying not be afraid?It seems that this situation also has a certain degree of reasonableness, but Li Lianying and Cixi are "inseparable", how can he be sure whether the poisoning is from his own intention or to share the worries of the Lord?
Although the suspect has not been identified, those who support the first theory agree that Emperor Guangxu died because of politics, and the suspects are afraid that after Cixi's death, Guangxu will return to power as emperor.
Another theory is that Guangxu died of illness. After collecting and studying Guangxu's pulse cases and prescriptions, some scholars believe that Guangxu was physically weak all his life, full of diseases, and could not be cured for a long time, coupled with the continuous emotional and political blows, physical and mental damage, loss of recuperation, and death caused by chronic failure of lung function combined with acute infection, this possibility is also there.
Emperor Guangxu died with hatred during his lifetime, but unfortunately he did not live in peace after his death, in 1938, a group of unknown armed men stole and excavated the Chongling underground palace of Emperor Guangxu, and the burial items in the underground palace were almost looted, but it was precisely because of this tomb robbery that there was an opportunity to uncover the mystery of the cause of Emperor Guangxu's death.
Chongling is the mausoleum of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dezong, located in Jinlongyu of the Western Tomb of the Qing Dynasty. **Palace museum.
In 2003, two strands of Guangxu's hair were sent to the Reactor Research and Design Institute of the China Institute of Atomic Energy for testing, and the results showed that the two strands of Guangxu's hair contained high concentrations of the element arsenic, known as arsenic. Such a high concentration of arsenic comes fromIs it because elderly corpses have high levels of arsenic?Or from the traditional Chinese medicine and "supplements" that Guangxu eats on weekdaysThe environment from the Chongling Underground Palace?Or is it the judgment that is most in line with the political situation at the time - Guangxu was poisoned by arsenic and died of heavy metal poisoning!
The researchers first ruled out the first question, that the arsenic content in Guangxu's hair was 261 times that of Longyu and 132 times that of a dried corpse in a forage hall of the same era.
So is it from traditional Chinese medicine?It is recorded in the existing literature that Emperor Guangxu was weak and sickly, and took traditional Chinese medicine all year round, among which realgar, orpiment, cinnabar, etc., if taken excessively, it will also lead to arsenic, mercury and other heavy metal poisoning, and heavy metals continue to accumulate in the body, and it is not impossible to turn from chronic poisoning to lesion death, so researchers will compare the hair of modern patients with chronic arsenic poisoning with Guangxu, and find that the high value of arsenic in Guangxu's hair is 66 times that of chronic poisoning patients, and the distribution of arsenic is completely different. The content of the hair roots of people with chronic poisoning will be higher than that in the middle and ends of the hair, but Guangxu's situation is the opposite, which means that Guangxu did not die of chronic arsenic poisoning caused by long-term use of traditional Chinese medicine.
Orange-red realgar is symbiotic with yellow orpiment. ** People's Information.
The environment of the Chongling underground palace has also been checked, the soil inside and outside the tomb, the river water, the gray soil and spices in the Guangxu coffin, the surrounding brocade, etc., can be tested, but the arsenic contained in the sample with the highest concentration inside and outside the coffin is only 1 83 in the hair of Emperor Guangxu, and it is also concluded that the Chongling underground palace is not the "culprit".
The researchers now shifted their attention to the "self" of Emperor Guangxu, and after thoroughly examining the burial clothes and bones of various parts from top to bottom, they made new discoveries. The arsenic content of Emperor Guangxu's gastrointestinal clothes was much higher than that of other parts of his clothes, and the arsenic content of his underwear was much higher than that of his outer clothes. That is to say, the arsenic in Guangxu's body stayed in the gastrointestinal part for a long time, and the funeral clothes were caused by the arsenic overflow in Guangxu's body and the layers of impregnation, which is completely in line with the characteristics of being poisoned by arsenic! !
Finally, when the truth was revealed, Emperor Guangxu was poisoned by arsenic and died!
Arsenic (toxic sand). It is now in the Northwestern University Museum.
Half of the century-old mystery case has finally been solved, and it is confirmed that Emperor Guangxu was **, so, what about **?Is it Cixi, Li Lianying, or someone else?The remaining half of this is still buried in the long river of history, and I don't know if it will be excavated one day.
The "total annihilation" of the Roman Empire was due to lead poisoning?
Emperor Yongzheng's alchemy poems mentioned the heavy metal "lead", in fact, Yongzheng is also like the ancients to learn, Taoist patriarch Zhang Sanfeng mentioned in the "Zen Song": "Some people know the real lead and mercury, is the immortal." "Our ancestors have never recognized the harm of "lead", but fortunately, the common people generally do not have access to the pill, and those who can come into contact with it are some dignitaries and nobles, who belong to a minority group, but on the other side of the ocean, the situation has changed.
The Roman Empire was a famous empire, and its capital, the city of Rome, was known as the "Eternal City". The ancient Romans created a splendid Roman culture that was admired by future generations. The 1st to 2nd centuries AD were the heyday of the Roman Empire, and later, the empire** was divided into two parts, the east and the west, of which the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD.
The ancient Romans created a splendid Roman culture. Above, the Colosseum. **/pixabay
Regarding the reasons for the fall of the Western Roman Empire, historians believe that it included political, economic, military and other factors. But later, after people learned about the harm of "lead" to the human body, they conducted toxicology, medicine, archaeology and other research, and were surprised to find that the fall of the Western Roman Empire was actually due to collective lead poisoning
The earliest practical use of lead can be traced back to the second millennium BC, when the Phoenicians discovered a large amount of lead ore, and thanks to its plasticity and cheapness, lead quickly spread in the construction industry and handicrafts, which was not serious, until lead began to enter people's daily life.
In ancient Rome, the production and application of lead reached its peak, and the aristocracy of the time took pride in its use. The ancient Romans' metallurgical skills and preference for the use of lead contributed to the decline of the Western Roman Empire. In addition to the widespread use of lead in architecture, military affairs, and decoration, it also radiated to all aspects of the life of the ancient Roman aristocracy, using a large amount of lead to make all kinds of toys, statues, rings, coins, cosmetics, medicines, and paints, and all kinds of tableware, kitchenware, or utensils also used a lot of lead materials.
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, there were 11 main water supply canals leading to the city of Rome, and the water distribution pipes in the city were all over the streets and alleys to meet the needs of the people for drinking, washing, and bathing. Among these water pipes, there are lead water pipes, ceramic water pipes, etc. Lead water pipes show good sealing, so even if they cost a lot of money, almost all the ** nobles still use lead water pipes.
In this way, lead appeared almost every day in the necessities of life and survival of the Romans, and the contact with the Romans was "all-round without dead ends", how could the Romans escape the clutches of "lead".
Later analysis of the bones of 22 ancient humans found that the bones of 2 Roman Carthaginians and 2 other non-Roman wealthy people who lived in the same city contained lead, while the bones of the remaining 18 people who did not belong to the Roman Empire and Roman rule could not detect lead.
And the products used by the Roman aristocracy were more "advanced" and accumulated more toxins in the body. A better life brought with it more lead, and in the long run, the upper echelons of Rome became weaker and weaker, and the fall of the empire was inevitable. Who can say that the fall of the Roman Empire had nothing to do with lead poisoning?
Japan's "painful disease" - who is the culprit?
At the beginning of the last century, farmers in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, one day found that the rice in this area was growing well, but suddenly became as if it was malnourished, and the local residents felt very strange, but they could not find the reason for the "disease" of the rice, and not only that, "sick" The rice can still be eaten, as if it is no different from before, and at this time it is the moment when the international situation is extremely tense, World War I and World War II broke out one after another, and no one noticed such a small thing happening in such a small place, so for a long time after that, the local wind and waves were calm and peaceful.
Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Basemap maps.
It wasn't until 1931 that a female worker at the Mitsui Metal Mining Company in Toyama Prefecture suddenly committed suicide. At first, it didn't cause much trouble, but soon, a female worker sneezed and found that she had multiple fractures all over her bodyThere are also people who have pain in all parts of the body, some of them only have pain in the joints of the waist, hands and feet, while others have neuralgia in all parts of the body, difficulty in moving, inability to walk, and even breathing will cause pain.
If it is not taken seriously at this time, then after a few years of illness, the patient's pain is not reduced, but the bones are softened and atrophied, the limbs are bent, the spine is deformed, and the bones are brittle. Even when I was eating, I felt a lot of pain, and I often screamed, "It hurts to death!"."It hurts to death!Eventually, these terrible symptoms left a deep impression on people's minds, and they began to describe the disease as "painful disease."
People admit that "painful disease" is a disease, but what is the cause of this disease?
A local doctor suddenly thought that it could be because the wastewater discharged from the Kamioka mine upstream of the local river contained a large amount of lead
Originally, there was a Shimizu River called the Shinto River in the Toyama Plain, which runs through central Japan, and the people of Toyama Prefecture irrigated the land on both sides of the river with the water of this river. Mitsui Metal Mining Co., Ltd. established the Kamioka Mining Plant upstream of the river and built a zinc smelting plant to discharge a large amount of sewage into the Kamitsu River.
Lead poisoning" was dismissed, but no one knew that they were only one step away from the truth at this time.
However, it took years to verify this step, and it was not until 1961 that medical researchers found out that the bone pain patients in Toyama Prefecture were related to wastewater from Mitsui Metal Mining Company's Kamioka zinc smelter. The company discharges untreated and purified cadmium-containing wastewater from the zinc smelting process into the Shentong River – the culprit is not "lead" but "cadmium".
Residents on both sides of the river used this polluted water to irrigate their farmland, and as a result, cadmium levels in farmland, rice, fish and shrimp were all very high. The local population has suffered a lot of bone pain symptoms due to the multiple effects of eating cadmium-containing rice, fish and shrimp and drinking cadmium-containing water for many years, and Japan has learned a very painful lesson.
For us, "painful diseases" are man-made disasters rather than natural disasters, and are the result of human beings not knowing how to protect the environmentThey just don't think that humans are in the same environment.
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