The application of medicinal liquor in the prevention and treatment of diseases has always been in an important position in the medical history of China. It has become one of the traditional dosage forms with a long history and enjoys a high reputation in medical care at home and abroad.
Medicinal liquor is a clear liquid made by selecting appropriate traditional Chinese medicine, making necessary processing, and extracting its effective components with appropriate degree of white wine or yellow wine as solvent. Traditionally, appropriate Chinese medicines are added to brew. Medicinal liquor is a kind of wine added with traditional Chinese medicine.
The origin of medicinal liquor is inseparable from wine. China is the earliest country of artificial brewing. As early as the Longshan cultural site in the late Neolithic period, many pottery wine vessels were found. About brewing, the earliest written record can be found in the Warring States Policy? Wei Ce-er: "In the past, the emperor and his daughter ordered Yidi to make wine to be beautiful. She enters, drinks, and is willing to drink. " In addition, Shiben also said: "Shao Kang makes wine." Shao Kang, Du Kang, the fifth monarch of Xia Dynasty. These records show that in the Xia Dynasty more than 4,000 years ago, the wine-making industry had developed to a certain level, so later generations had "Yi Di Brewing" and "How to solve the worries? Only Du Kang "(Cao Cao's" Short Songs ") said. Du Kang has become synonymous with wine here. During Shang and Yin Dynasties, the wine-making industry was more common. At that time, I had mastered the technology of brewing wine with tillers, such as Shangshu? There is a passage in The Story of Life written by Shang Zhouwang Wu Ding that "If you are a wine cellar, you are a tiller". Tombs from Wuding period of Shang Dynasty (12 years ago) were unearthed in Xiaotun village, Anyang, Henan. Among nearly 200 bronze ritual vessels, various wine vessels account for about 70%. There are a large number of drinking utensils and containers in the unearthed cultural relics, which shows that drinking was quite popular at that time. It can be seen from Oracle Bone Inscriptions's records that the Shang Dynasty attached great importance to wine and regarded it as an important sacrifice. It is worth noting that there is a record of "drinking" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Luo Zhenyu's textual research on Yin Ruins Appointment, which is different from that in Ban Gu's White Tiger Yi Tong? Textual research once explained that "medicinal liquor appeared in Shang Dynasty", which was made of the fragrance of herbs and turmeric.
By the Zhou Dynasty, drinking became more and more common, and officials in charge of brewing had been set up, called "wine administration", and the brewing technology was improving day by day. (Zhou Li) recorded six key points of wine-making: rice must be neat (raw materials must be carefully selected), tillering must be timely (fermentation should be limited), Nian Chi must be clean (washed and steamed), water springs must be fragrant (water quality should be sweet), pottery must be good (wine cellar and porcelain jar for fermentation should be excellent), and the heat must be neat (the temperature of steaming and baking should be suitable when making wine). Among them, the food doctor is the doctor in charge of diet and nutrition. Six drinks, namely water, pulp, wine, cold, sauce and naan. It can be seen that the Zhou Dynasty has brought wine into medical care for management. Xu Shen in the Han Dynasty put forward more clearly that wine is the reason for treating diseases, and Zhou Li has "medicinal liquor". It shows that the use of medicinal liquor in Zhou Dynasty is also quite common.
The oldest formula for brewing medicinal liquor in China is found in the silk books "Health Preserving Prescription" and "Miscellaneous Therapeutic Prescription" unearthed at Mawangdui on 1973. Six kinds of prescriptions of medicinal liquor can be identified from the existing texts of prescriptions of health preservation. (1) Medicinal liquor brewed with Ophiopogon japonicus (Acanthopanax senticosus) and glutinous rice (original title: "Acanthopanax senticosus as syrup" to cure "old age". (2) Medicinal liquor made of millet and rice. ③ Medicinal liquor made of refined wine and wheat X (unknown medicine). ④ Medicinal liquor brewed with gypsum, Ligusticum, Achyranthes bidentata, etc. ⑤ Medicinal liquor brewed with drugs such as lacquer and black beak (aconite). ⑥ Medicinal liquor brewed with raw lacquer, Polygonum cuspidatum, millet, rice and black beak. There is only one side of brewing medicinal liquor in Miscellaneous Therapy Prescription, that is, putting Zhi (unknown), Ficus pumila root and other medicines into bottles (steamer used in ancient cooking) to make wine. Most of the information is incomplete, but the second aspect of "benefiting from old wine" is relatively complete. The prescription includes the whole production process, taking method, functional indications and so on. It is a complete record of the earliest brewing process of medicinal liquor and an important historical material in the history of pharmacy in China.
In the pre-Qin period, the development of Chinese medicine has reached a considerable level. Huangdi Neijing, a medical masterpiece in this period, has a special discussion on the role of wine in medicine. In "Su Wen? In "On Fermented Grains in Soup", firstly, it is expounded that fermented grains must be made based on rice, cooked with rice, complete with rice and firm with rice, that is, whole rice is used as raw material, strong rice straw is used as fuel for brewing, and fermented grains are used as turbid wine and sweet wine. "Since ancient times, sages made soup mash, thinking that it was prepared for ears ... In the Middle Ages, morality declined slightly, and evil spirits came, completely taking it", indicating that the ancients attached great importance to treating diseases with alcohol. Historical records? Bian Que Cang Gong's biography "It's in the stomach, where mash can reach" records Bian Que's view that mash can be used to treat gastrointestinal diseases.
In the Han dynasty, with the development of Chinese medicine prescriptions, medicinal liquor gradually became a part of it, indicating that the pertinence of clinical application was greatly strengthened, so its curative effect was further improved, such as Historical Records? The Biography of Bian Que Cang Gong contains 25 medical records of Chunyu Kun, a famous doctor in the Western Han Dynasty, which is the earliest medical record seen in China at present. Among them, two medical records treated with medicine and wine were listed. First, King Jibei suffered from "wind-chest fullness" and recovered after taking Shisan medicinal liquor prepared by Chunyu Kun. The other is that Zhuochuan gave birth to a child in Wang Mei, and Chunyuyi cured the disease with fairy wine and gave birth to a child. Eastern Han Dynasty? In Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Febrile Diseases, it is stated that "women have sixty-two kinds of wind, and blood stings in their bellies, mainly red and blue flowers." Red and blue flowers have the function of promoting blood circulation. Decocting with wine can strengthen the drug effect and make the blood flow unobstructed, so that abdominal pain will stop on its own. In addition, Gualou Garlic Liquor Decoction is also a dosage form of medicinal liquor, which can induce drugs to go up with the help of the lightness of alcohol, so as to achieve the purpose of activating yang, resolving phlegm and expelling phlegm, thus treating chest obstruction. As for the prescriptions recorded in his book, it is more common to take decoction or wine.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, medicinal liquor was widely used. The most abundant record is Sun Simiao's Qian Jin Fang, which contains more than 80 kinds of medicinal liquor prescriptions, involving tonifying deficiency and strengthening the body, internal and external medicine, gynecology and so on. "A $ one thousand party? There is a "wine cellar" in the technical secondary school of "Wind Poison beriberi", and there is a 16 liquor party, "Thousands of women spread their wings"? Zhujiu contains 20 prescriptions, which is the earliest monographic summary of medicinal liquor in existing medical works in China.
In addition, Fang has a certain understanding of the toxic and side effects of wine and liquor, and thinks that "wine is extremely hot, and there is nothing to add." If you drink for a long time, you will be puzzled, so the triple energizer is fierce and the five internal organs are dry, and there is nothing to quench your thirst. Therefore, in view of various symptoms caused by binge drinking at that time, many corresponding hangover remedies were developed, such as prescriptions for treating headache after drinking, prescriptions for treating intoxication after drinking, and prescriptions for treating drunkenness.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, due to the development of science and technology, the brewing industry also developed. During Zheng He's period, Zhu Yizhong wrote Jiujing, also known as Beishan Jiujing, which is a monograph on koji-making and wine-making after Qi Yaomin's Book in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The first volume of the book is about wine, the middle volume is about koji, and the second volume is about brewing methods. It can be seen that the treatment and operation technology of koji-making raw materials had made new progress at that time. The section on "Boiling Wine" is about the method of heating, sterilizing and storing wine liquid, which is hundreds of years earlier than that in Europe and was initiated by China.
At this time, due to the invention of block printing and the government's attention to medical care, the clinic and theory of Chinese medicine were developed at that time. Therefore, the efficacy of medicinal liquor has gradually increased from clinical to theoretical. Such as "peaceful Sheng Huifang? The preface to medicinal liquor holds that "people who drink alcohol are the essence of grain tillers, warm and nourishing, but strong in nature and extremely flexible in work, which can promote the stomach and guide the drug potential." "Provincial machine total record? Cure? Tang Yi thinks that "the harm of evil is shallow and deep, and the attack of medicine on evil is heavy and heavy. From the onset, it is necessary to treat it with soup. This disease has been going on for a long time, but it was attacked by glutinous rice. There are also tangible signs of panic. The meridians are blocked, the disease is caused by the blockage, and the wine is made of mash medicine, which shows that the evil is deep, the meridians are blocked and stagnated, and the non-mash medicine emits evil spirits, so the blood vessels should be dredged, and the more safe it is ... The wine is extremely hot and the medicine is standing, so the patient is suffering from blood deficiency and qi stagnation, cold and cold, dryness and stagnation, and spasticity. Taking medicine and drinking more in ancient times can not only promote blood gas, but also replenish yang. " The medical scope of medicinal liquor is also relatively concentrated, and it is developing in the direction of health care and fitness, such as "22 total infusions for wind" and "14 total infusions for wind, waist and foot pain". In addition, among the special formulas of medicinal liquor, there are many formulas for strengthening the body, prolonging life, beautifying and protecting health. At that time, the custom of making koji with medicinal materials had begun to prevail, and only the Nine Classics of Beishan recorded thirteen kinds of medicinal koji. Such as cinnamon, mixed with drugs such as radix aucklandiae, cinnamon, radix Saposhnikoviae and almond. The medicated leaven is mixed with Radix Saposhnikoviae, Rhizoma Typhonii, Areca catechu, Fructus Piperis, Flos Osmanthi Fragrantis, Flos Caryophylli, Ginseng Radix, Rhizoma Arisaematis, Poria, Radix Angelicae Dahuricae, Rhizoma Chuanxiong and Semen Myristicae. It is considered that Dongyang wine is the best medicinal liquor, "it is good to be able to make various medicines". Its wine has been famous since ancient times, with a fragrant smell and golden color. If you drink it, there will be no headache, dry mouth and diarrhea. Its water is more important than other water, not made in neighboring cities, but also beautiful in soil and water. Li Shizhen explained: Dongyang wine is Jinhua wine, and so is Gulanling. Li Taibai said in his poem: "lanling wine tulip." That is, people who drink regularly have good medicine.
With the continuous development and improvement of brewing technology, some medicinal liquor not only has the advantages of strengthening the body and treating diseases, but also has a mellow taste, becoming popular famous wines and royal wines. Beijing, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, was the most prosperous capital in the world at that time. Businessmen from all over China and countries in Europe and Asia came in an endless stream, and Chinese and foreign famous wines gathered, which became the characteristics of the court in Yuan Dynasty. Qiang chinese wolfberry wine and Dihuang rice wine; Deer horn wine and mutton wine in the north and south of the desert; Pine festival wine, pine root wine and tiger bone wine of all ethnic groups in Northeast China; Acanthopanax senticosus wine and Poria cocos wine in the south; Black-bone chicken wine and Ciba navel wine in southwest China were all popular wines at that time. In the court of Ming Dynasty, there was a royal wine room, which specialized in brewing all kinds of famous wines, as well as "five flavors of royal medicinal liquor soup, pearl red and Changchun wine". For example, the famous "Mandianxiang" in Jin Dian at that time was made of Atractylodes macrocephala, Dalbergia, Amomum villosum, Pogostemon, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Radix Aucklandiae, clove and other medicinal materials. White flour and glutinous rice flour are mixed. At that time, folk workshops also produced and sold many medicinal liquor, such as barley wine and mutton wine. Other wines brewed and drunk by people, such as Jiaojiao wine in the first month, calamus wine in the Dragon Boat Festival, osmanthus wine in the Mid-Autumn Festival and chrysanthemum wine in Chongyang, have become traditional seasonal wines that people often brew, many of which are medicinal liquor.