Chapter 11 Section 3 Achievements of Ancient Chinese Medicinal Medicinal Chemistry

In 1980, Mr. Zhang Jueren, a "Daoist doctor" in Chengdu, Sichuan, wrote the book "Chinese Alchemy and Pills" when he was nine years old. The essence of income from wading, visiting friends and seeking teachers.The book compiles about 30 of the most effective and most versatile secret prescriptions in Chinese elixir.Among them, "Qiankun Yiqi Pill", "Golden Turtle Down to the Sea Pill", "Hunyuan Pill" and "Poison Dragon Pill" are called the Four King Kongs of Taoism (Taoism), and have always been handed down to only one person per generation The secret recipe is almost extinct; other prescriptions such as Jiuzhuan Lingsha, Taiyi Xiaohuandan, Zhongjiuwan, Hongshengdan, Qixingdan, Mahayanadan, etc. are also proven to have curative effects through clinical practice. The content of the book is very precious.However, summing up these nearly 30 kinds of elixirs, from the perspective of refining methods, there are only three types: "rising", "decreasing" and "burning"; from the perspective of ingredients of elixirs, the most important ones are basically mercury sulfide, There are three types of mercury oxide and mercury chloride.Therefore, the achievements of the preparation of these three holy medicines in ancient my country can be used as a model of the achievements of Chinese elixir chemistry.

This is the first magic elixir prepared by Chinese alchemists using mercury as a raw material.It is a bright red compound very similar in appearance to mercury sulfide.Alchemists only need to slowly heat mercury in the air, the temperature should not be too high (it should be controlled at about 500°C, if it exceeds this temperature, the generated HgO will decompose again), and this substance can be obtained.They probably got it by accident at the beginning, but they couldn't tell the difference between it and natural cinnabar (HgS), so they mistakenly thought that mercury sulfide could generate mercury when heated, and mercury could be returned to cinnabar when heated, and they made all the cinnabar. The obtained HgO was mistaken for HgS.Therefore, there is a saying that "mercury...melts and turns into dan"; Ge Hong's "Baopuzi Nei Pian" also has a misunderstanding that "cinnabar is burnt into mercury, and accumulated and transformed into cinnabar".Probably Tao Hongjing of the Southern Dynasties was the first to distinguish these two substances. He called the oxidized mercury obtained by simply heating mercury as "mercury powder".However, it is difficult to control the temperature and collect the substance by heating it in the air.In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the alchemists also accidentally heated mercury and red lead in a closed earthen cauldron, and they got it very smoothly.This kind of "cinnabar" was still regarded as the elixir of longevity until the Tang Dynasty.In the Ming Dynasty, medical scientists inherited this elixir, and improved the formula of ascending refining, using mercury, flame nitrate (KNO) and green vitriol (FeSO·7HO) to refine the three herbs, so that this substance can be obtained more smoothly. , high yield and pure product.Because it is synthesized from three kinds of raw materials, it is called "Three Immortal Pills".This formula was first found in "Surgery Orthodox" written by Chen Shigong published in the fourth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1576).Since then, the formula of this elixir has been slightly improved.In the early Qing Dynasty, in order to increase its curative effect, Jiang Shiji added some realgar to the raw materials, and renamed this elixir "Hongshengdan".However, the composition of "Hongshengdan" already contains some arsenic (AsO).The later Qiankun Yiqi Pill, Hunyuan Pill, Qixing Pill, Qizhen Pill, Jiulong Pill, Wufu Gunnong Pill, etc. are all further developments of this kind of elixir, and the main ingredients are also HgO. Scrofula has the functions of detoxification, detoxification, muscle growth, and mouth tightening. It can be seen that it plays an important role in traditional Chinese medicine for ulcer medicine.

This compound was obtained artificially in my country around the time of the Sui Dynasty by combining mercury and sulfur.Although mercury and sulfur will undergo a chemical reaction once they come into contact at room temperature, what is produced is black mercury sulfide, which was called "green sand head" in ancient my country. The color is ugly, and alchemists will not be interested in it for a while.Heat this black substance in a closed earthen kettle to sublimate it, and then condense into bright red mercury sulfide.The earliest record of the successful refining of this red substance appeared in the "Taiqing Shibi Ji" written by the Maoshan Taoist Su Yuanming mentioned above. He named this elixir "Taixiao Huandan".After the Tang Dynasty, alchemists further called it "spiritual sand". According to the records of "Maoting Kehua" written by Huang Xiufu in the Tang Dynasty, this is because it is said that monkeys can learn to speak after eating this kind of elixir.This adds to its supernatural color and makes alchemists fascinated by it even more.Since then, refining spiritual sand has become the skill that Chinese alchemists have put the most effort into studying. There is a so-called "nine turns and seven turns", that is, mercury sulfide is refined into mercury (called "turn"), and then the mercury is mixed with Sulfur refining returns to mercury sulfide (so it is called "return"), so many times.They believe that by doing this, "the longer the accumulation, the more wonderful the change", and the more magical and mysterious the obtained cinnabar will be.

Natural cinnabar has been an important member of Chinese herbal medicine since ancient times.It is said that it can "raise the spirit, soothe the soul, benefit qi and improve eyesight, kill essence and evil ghosts, and make the gods immortal after long-term use." It can be seen that it was considered not only as a longevity medicine but also as a body-building medicine in the Han Dynasty.In the Ming Dynasty, pharmacists changed the name of artificial mercury sulfide to "silver vermilion"."Tiangong Kaiwu" written by Song Yingxing has detailed and illustrated records of the method of refining silver and vermilion (Figure 3-9).According to him, according to the published techniques, you can get 14 taels of top-grade silver vermilion for every catty of mercury, plus three or five taels of second-grade silver vermilion, and the benefits are quite high.The medical effects of silver vermilion are mainly to treat epilepsy and disorder, exorcise malaria, detoxify the fetus, and moisten the heart and lungs.Zhang Jueren once said: According to the master's biography, there are as many as 30 flexible uses of silver vermilion, all of which are indeed effective.

There are two types of mercuric chloride, one is mercuric chloride (HgCl), commonly known as mercuric chloride; the other is mercurous chloride (HgCl), commonly known as calomel.All white crystalline powder.Chinese alchemists have prepared these two medicines for a long time, and they call mercuric acid as powder cream or mercury cream, frost snow; they call calomel as light powder or mercury powder.But because they can be obtained by co-refining cinnabar (or mercury), alum and salt, etc., and their appearance is similar, alchemists often confused them at the beginning, so we must judge which one is based on the formula in the records of ancient books. , cannot be based on the name alone.In fact, it is not difficult to distinguish between these two substances. Mercuric chloride is easily soluble in water, while calomel is insoluble in water.

Chinese alchemists first refined light powder, and its basic formula was cinnabar (or mercury)—alum (alum and green alum are both acceptable)—salt.The formula of Shenglian light powder was first found in the alchemy book "Taiqing Jinye Shendan Jing" published in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but the types of raw materials used are too complicated.In the "Cui Shifang" published in the Western Jin Dynasty, the recipe is much simplified.In the Song Dynasty, the above-mentioned most concise basic formula appeared in the book "The Secret of Lingsha Great Pill", and it has been finalized since then.

The basic formula of Shenglian powder cream is to add a blind flame to the above formula of Shenglian light powder.Because of the addition of this oxidizing agent, the product becomes hypermercuric chloride.my country probably successfully refined powder cream in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The formula appeared in the book "The Secret Art of Immortal Health", but the formula was mercury-sulfur-salt-nitter.Later, after gradual improvement, the simplest and most reasonable formula was obtained in the Yuan Dynasty, and it was published in a collection of alchemy works, called "Geng Dao Ji".Since then, the process of making powder cream has also been finalized.Chinese alchemists did not regard these two substances as immortal medicines, but only as auxiliary medicines for alchemy.However, their medical functions and physiological effects have been studied very early, and they have become important medicines since the Song Dynasty.The light powder has the effects of laxative, curing scrofula and killing scabies.After the Ming Dynasty, powder cream was regarded as one of the holy medicines of ulcers, which can cure all sores, ulcers, gangrene into fistula, and dripping pus.In the early Qing Dynasty, ulcer doctors added a little arsenic to the powder cream to increase its curative effect. This kind of elixir is the famous "Bai Jiang Dan", which was first published in Wu Qian's "Yi Zong Jin Jian".Later, "Golden Turtle Going to Sea Pill", "Bacheng Pill", "Eight Tigers Navigating Youzhou", "Nine Dragons Return to the Sea", "Water and Fire Golden Pill", "A Little Snow", "Poison Dragon Pill" and eye medicine "Zijinshuang" The holy medicines praised by "Dan Tao physicians" all use HgCl as the basic component.

In addition to mercury preparations, the practice of lead preparations in Chinese elixir chemistry has also achieved remarkable results.The reason why lead attracts the attention of alchemists is that its color changes a lot in the chemical reaction, and it can produce yellow yellow lead (PbO), orange lead lead (PbO) and white lead powder [2PbCO·Pb(OH)]. and lead cream (lead acetate).Among these compounds, lead powder was successfully produced long before the rise of alchemy, and the production method was probably discovered by accident, because as early as the Shang Dynasty, my country had already brewed a large amount of wine, and the brewed wine was often stored in lead tanks. At that time, the concentration of the wine was not high, and it was easy to be further fermented and oxidized to turn into vinegar, so the lead would slowly dissolve into the vinegar to form lead acetate.This solution absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and leads to the precipitation of lead carbonate.During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, lead powder was widely used in cosmetics and white pigments.

Put metallic lead in an iron pot and heat it slowly. After melting, continue roasting, and the lead will be oxidized by the air, first forming yellow dan, and further forming lead dan.Because PbO is golden in color and lead red looks like cinnabar, both of them are favored by alchemists and regarded as a great medicine.Especially for the refining of lead red, there have been many inventions.Alchemists in the Tang Dynasty invented the nitric acid method, which significantly improved the production efficiency of lead red.The method is to melt the black lead first, add sulfur and flame nitrate, and stir continuously until it completely turns into red lead red.In the Ming Dynasty, medical scientists further improved this process into the nitric acid alum method, that is, heating lead, alum and flame salt together.Obviously this is a promotion of the formula for making the "Three Immortal Pills".It is relatively simple to make yellow dan, which can be obtained by roasting metal lead or lead powder with high fire.This substance is a by-product of silver smelting by the "ash blowing method". The family does not make it specially.Lead Dan and Huang Dan have been both medicines since ancient times and have been recorded.

The technique of making lead powder by Chinese alchemists has always inherited the above-mentioned ancient method, but there are also improvements.They found that the reaction was much faster if the metallic lead was first made into lead amalgam, then hung in a vinegar jar and "fumigated with vinegar gas".Then spread the scraped floating powder (that is, the mixture of lead acetate and lead carbonate) on the paper, put it on the kang and bake it over charcoal fire for more than a month, and then it becomes a good lead powder.This innovative technique was first created in the Tang Dynasty, and was inherited and perfected by medical scientists in the Ming Dynasty, and became a conventional method.As for the process of making lead frost, it is basically the same as that of lead powder, except that when "fumigation with vinegar gas", it should be sealed to isolate it from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.In the early days, because people did not understand the difference between lead powder and lead frost and the scientific principle of formation, they always collected lead powder.In the Tang Dynasty, alchemists knew the difference between them: lead frost is easily soluble in water, tastes sweet (poisonous!), and feels cool to the touch, so they began to work hard to study its manufacturing method.In the Tang Dynasty, there was a monograph on alchemy called "Xuan Shuang Palm Record", which specifically talked about the production method, performance and role of lead frost in alchemy. "Xuan Shuang" refers to lead acetate.In the Song Dynasty, this kind of medicine entered the ranks of medicine, saying that it can eliminate phlegm, stop palpitations, relieve alcohol poisoning, and treat chest diaphragm depression.

Arsenic preparations are also commonly used in Chinese alchemy.The arsenic-containing minerals used by ancient alchemists include realgar, orpiment, arsenic stone (impure arsenic oxide) and arsenic stone (sulfarsenite, FeAsS).At the beginning, they were mainly interested in male and orpiment. Because they are red and golden in color, they are very bright, and according to the "Materia Medica", they can "kill sperm, evil spirits, evil spirits, and insects", so they think that taking realgar Maybe it can lighten the body and turn into a fairy, so the realgar is mixed with rice and kneaded into pills to eat, so it is called "real person rice", and the so-called "real person" is the alchemist who becomes a fairy.Sun Simiao once refined this "real rice" in a alchemy tripod, and obtained the "Huanranhuihe" sublimated realgar needle-shaped crystals, which he named "Chixue Liuzhu Dan".According to him, if you meet a violent death or dying person, pour this pill with wine, "you will heal when you are young" and "you will recover after a while", and for "little malaria", "you will heal when you enter it, The miraculous experience of this medicine is indescribable."Whether the curative effect is so great, of course we have to listen to it.If the realgar, arsenic stone, and arsenic stone are heated and refined in a huge earthen kettle (with sufficient air), then the alchemists will get arsenic.In the alchemy book "Jiuzhuan Liuzhu Shenxian Jiudan Jing" published in the Sui Dynasty, there is a "bait and realgar method", which is to obtain arsenic with "the color fluttering, or like frost and snow, connected with white stalactites".It is said that steaming this medicine with pig intestine fat can kill the "three worms" in the body (the alchemists believe that there are three kinds of evil spirits in the human body, which are called the three worms), and you will not feel cold when you are naked in winter.But there are probably quite a few alchemists who were poisoned by this.Arsenic officially entered the ranks of medicine during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and was named "pi [pi beer] frost", which means that its nature is poisonous, like a beast "pixiu" (probably a leopard), but taking a small amount can cure malaria, Heartache, toothache.There is another commendable achievement in the arsenic chemistry of Chinese alchemy, that is, Chinese alchemists first discovered the element arsenic.Because there are many opportunities for them to mix arsenic with Chinese herbal medicines and heat them, and after the herbal medicines are charred, AsO will be reduced to elemental arsenic.In the alchemy series "Geng Dao Ji" compiled in the Yuan Dynasty, there are many records in this regard, and it is clearly mentioned that "color like silver", "like black characters", and "very hard" can be obtained in this process. It can "turn copper into silver" (the combination of elemental arsenic and red copper can produce a silver-white copper-arsenic alloy, which Chinese alchemists call "Danyang silver"). These are the typical characteristics of elemental arsenic.