Some time ago, the "Suggestions on the Comprehensive Elimination of Mosquitoes" proposed by a deputy in One Congress attracted a lot of attention. However, National Health Commission also gave a reply: "The overall research on innovative mosquito control technology is still weak."
National Health Commission's reply. Source/Screenshot of the official website of the National Health Commission
What we can’t do today, how should the ancients face mosquitoes? In fact, in the long history of human civilization, the battle history with mosquitoes and flies is even longer than that between humans. So who is the winner?
First of all, let’s talk about mosquitoes. This “kind brother” is the most annoying bug in ancient and modern times. Compared with other insects, this kind of insect that is omnipresent, buzzing and making people disturb, and after sucking blood, it leaves a red and swollen "commemorative medal" is really disgusting. More importantly, mosquitoes can also be infected with West Nile virus, malaria , epidemic B encephalitis , dengue fever , dengue hemorrhagic fever, and yellow fever . Many plague transmissions in history have been importantly related to mosquitoes.
Ming Dynasty Li Shizhen 's "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "Mosquitoes are everywhere, they come out from winter and summer, hibernate at night, hibernate and fly at night, slim and sharp beak, suck people's skin and blood, which is a great harm." Today, hundreds of millions of people are still infected with diseases transmitted by mosquitoes every year, and about millions of them die.
But from the perspective of mosquitoes, I'm afraid humans are the existence they hate the most. Because mosquitoes originally appeared before humans, they can be traced back to , Triassic , and dinosaurs still exist in the world. Until dinosaurs became extinct , the mosquitoes still lived well. So for mosquitoes, humans are just short-term "passers".
Observe this "old acquaintance" up close. Source/Jiangsu Provincial Blood Defense Institute
The world's mosquitoes include 38 genera, about 3500 species, of which about 200 species like to entangle humans. The struggle between humans and mosquitoes almost runs through the entire history of human civilization.
text | Guo Xin
This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account "National Humanities and History" (ID: gjrwls). The original text was first published on September 26, 2022. The original title is "Is it possible to comprehensively eliminate mosquitoes? 》, does not represent the views of Outlook Think Tank.
1 Passive defense, drill into the mosquito net
As early as the pre-Qin period, records of people being harassed by mosquitoes appeared in China. For example, in "Zhuangzi: Tianyun Chapter", there is a record that "mosquitoes and flies will not sleep when they have their skin", which means that mosquito bites make people feel uncomfortable and unable to sleep all night. And the poet of the Jin Dynasty Tao Yuanming was also tortured by mosquitoes when he was fantasizing about the Peach Blossom Land :
The orchid hall was blooming in the summer night, and the sound of flying mosquitoes waiting for the dark sounds like thunder.
The noise was heard at first, as if the South Mountain was coming.
The dew flowers drip into the sky, and the sharp mouth cannot be used to welcome people.
My body is as bright as a ray of light, and I am alone and I can hurt me.
Similarly, the Jin Dynasty scholar Fu Xuan also wrote a manifesto to fight against mosquitoes "Mosquito Fu":
is numerous and countless, and it moves the sound of the group and forms thunder.
is tragic and poisonous in life, and eats skin to cure hunger.
hinders the agricultural and workers in the south, and abandons female workers in the loom machine.
, and the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi also mentioned in "Mosquitoes":
This thing is quite subtle, and the middle-aged man is very light at first. If the skin is slandered, it will cause sores and dermatitis after a long time.
Song Dynasty literary giant Ouyang Xiu is also a victim of mosquitoes. He wrote many poems throughout his life, including a very emotional poem "Hate Mosquitoes". This poem is very long and only excerpted, but we can still feel Ouyang Xiu’s painful emotions from it :
disturbs all kinds of things and is abominable.
What a tiny mosquito, how dirty it is bamboo slips .
…
Flies, flies, flies, lice, bees, scorpions, snakes, and vipers.
Only in this place can you be a drop in the shadows. Although
is helpless, it is difficult to prevent the virus.
I heard that Gaoyou rooms, the tiger died and humiliated.
Sadly revealing her muscles, and she will never be restored forever.
…
Qing Dynasty Li Yu In "Send Leisure, Care, and Have Fun", there is also a special plot to describe his hatred for mosquitoes:
"There are so many mosquitoes, more than today, I listen to them, and I want to avoid them a little, but I can't."
It can be said that from ancient times to the present, people's disgust for mosquitoes is consistent. In order to deal with these buzzing thieves, people have tried all kinds of ways. In the early years, people had insufficient understanding of mosquitoes, and basically they looked like they were "I can't afford to mess with me and I can't hide", and the main way to deal with them was to hang mosquito nets. "The Book of Songs·Xiaoxing" says: "So sternly in the night, holding the quilt and the quilt." It means that before dawn, you have to roll up your clothes and mosquito nets to prepare for the battle. The "tie" here is the mosquito nets. Later, people used the word "天" to refer to mosquito nets. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Huan of Qi was so annoyed by mosquitoes that he used "Cuiya Zhiwei" to prevent mosquitoes.
The curtain in "Han Xizai Night Banquet Picture" has a certain anti-mosquito effect. Source/Palace Museum
In Yuefu poem " Peacock Flying Southeast ", there is "Red Luo covered the bucket tent, and sachets hanging from four corners", which means that the mosquito nets in this house are very gorgeous, and there are sachets hanging from four corners. Of course, this is a luxury that only rich families can enjoy, and there are not so many things to pay attention to for the poor. For example, Xie Cheng wrote in "Book of the Later Han Dynasty": "There are many mosquitoes in the summer, and there is no burden on poverty. The debt is used as a burden." That is to say, there are many mosquitoes in summer and they are very poor, so they have to borrow money to buy mosquito nets. It can be seen that mosquito nets were a necessity for people’s lives at that time, and they had to buy them even if they borrowed money. But this negative and passive method can only be used when sleeping at home and cannot cope with more occasions at all. Soon, people invented a new method - the "poison gas" war.
2 Turning to defense to offense, smoke mosquitoes
The so-called "toxic gas" war is that people find that mosquitoes are very sensitive to certain odors in their lives. If they are used well, they can actively attack and kill mosquitoes. The earliest record of "Jian" in "The Book of Zhou" is: "Jian's palm removes worms and attacks the worms. Use ruffian to smoke it, and do whatever is a common man." It means that Jian's use ignition ruffian smoky to deworm insects to prevent mosquitoes from catching the temple. This method is not only used to deworm, but can even drive away rats and snakes.
After the Han Dynasty, incense burners used for incense were widely seen in society. People use this method to fight the nuisance of mosquitoes and achieve certain results. Of course, in ancient times, only rich families would have this kind of thing. What method should ordinary people use to smoke insects?
Song Dynasty Lu You 's "Fumigation of Mosquitoes and Effects of Mr. Wanling's Body" states: "There are many mosquitoes in the country, and it is strange to whisk at night. I can't help but lift the fan. I can't help but burn the mugwort to take a piece." That is, burning mugwort to repel mosquitoes. Later, an ancient "mosquito coil" was born - a fuse rope. The so-called "fuse rope" is to collect the mugwort and wormwood that have been knitted with grass seeds and then put them home, braid them and dried them like braids. They can be taken out and burned next summer to drive away mosquitoes.
In the Jiayuguan Great Wall Museum in Gansu, there is a bundle of fuses from the Han Dynasty . In addition to mugwort, the ancients also discovered many things that could deal with mosquitoes. For example, in the Song Dynasty, "The Story of Gewu" records: "During the Dragon Boat Festival, duckweed is stored, dried in the shade, and added realgar to make paper incense. It can remove mosquitoes when burned." It is to use duckweed and realgar as raw materials to make aromatherapy, which can deworm after ignition. Of course, there are also some "heavy flavors". For example, in " Museum of Arts " compiled by Zhang Hua, , Western Jin , said that camel boo can "burn cigarettes and kill mosquito lice." Interestingly, this record was also included in the "Compendium of Materia Medica". Considering Li Shizhen's serious work attitude, he is likely to have personally conducted experiments to prove that camel dung is indeed effective. is just an easy move. The smell and smoke emitted when ignited may not make people escape first than mosquitoes.
Records on the killing of mosquitoes in "Compendium of Materia Medica". Source/National Library
Of course, in addition to the above two methods to deal with mosquitoes, you can also hang sachets with you. After all, people cannot come out with mosquito coils or mosquito nets when going out. As early as , , someone invented mosquito repellent sachets. There is a record in "Li Sao" that "the husband wants to wear a curtain", in which "curtain" means sachet. Most of the ancient sachets contained mosquito repellent medicinal materials such as aquamarine, cloves, , Qilixiang, , and mint. They not only repel mosquitoes, but also refresh the mind and make people feel refreshed. In modern times, Pan Rongbi also wrote in his " Emperor Jingsui Jisheng ": "Use soft silk to sew old healthy people, kelp, garlic, five poisons, old and old. Draw them into big red gourds, and children wear them, so it is suitable for summer to avoid evil."
Tang Dynasty grape pattern flower bird silver sachet. Source/Shaanxi History Museum
Of course, in addition to these more mainstream methods of mosquito killing, there are also non-mainstream people who are laughable and crying. For example, in " Shennong Bencao Jing ", it is recorded: "Toads have a spicy and cold taste... "Huainan" is called removing mosquitoes." After learning that frogs have the effect of killing mosquitoes, some people in ancient times once placed a water tank for raising frogs indoors, and when the mosquitoes come over, they will be eaten by the frogs. This method looks good, but it may also make people feel nervous when frogs ring together at night.
also has an early "mosquito-killing lamp", which is mentioned in the Ming Dynasty novel "Jin Ping Mei". This is a small lamp hanging in a mosquito net, with a small opening on the side of the lamp. When the lamp rope is ignited, airflow will occur due to uneven heat and heat, and the mosquitoes in the mosquito net will be sucked into the lamp and burned to death. This kind of lamp is questionable and has not been widely popular.
Another way is to apply anti-mosquito liquid on your body. "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji" writes that realgar wine soaked in mugwort can repel mosquitoes. But this method is too costly and has not been widely popular. In fact, the most widely used thing people use is that during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, Hu Wenhu , after absorbing the Nanyang folk herbal formula, it made the "Tiger Balance Panjin Oil", which is the cooling oil we are familiar with.
Until now, people have not yet completely emerged from the wisdom of the ancients in dealing with mosquitoes. The main tools for mosquito prevention are still mosquito nets, mosquito coils, and mosquito anti-film. However, we also used the latest biochemical weapon "Wolbaccaria". Since 2015, Guangzhou has been continuously deploying artificial sterilized mosquitoes infected with Wolbacillus for several consecutive years. This bacteria is harmless to the human body, but it has a sterilization function to mosquitoes. During the mosquito breeding seasons in 2016 and 2017, 160,000 artificial mosquitoes were placed every week and per hectare. After two years of release, the number of wild mosquitoes has decreased by more than 90%. In addition, the mosquito bite rate in the two regions decreased by 96.6% and 88.7% respectively. It can be said that China is already at the forefront of the world in how to control the number of mosquitoes.
3 Flies are harder to deal with than mosquitoes
Compared with mosquitoes, flies are not at all harmful. Ouyang Xiu wrote in " Horror Flies": "Your form is so slim, and your desire is easy to fill, and the cup is still slim, and the anvil is still fishy, and it is difficult to overcome it when you are over. Why do you want to be suffering but not enough? You are going to be able to build all day long? You search for fragrance, everywhere, and gather in an instant. Who reports it? Although it is small, its harm is very important..."
Ming Dynasty scholar Xie Zhaoqing said in his notes "Wuzazu": "There are many capitals in the capital." Flies. Flies are the most stubborn, without poisonous fangs and sharp mouths, and they are even more disturbed, even if there is nowhere to be avoided and there is nothing to be used to resist. And they turn the fragrance into odor and rotten, and Huanjingsu becomes filthy, and they drive it back to death and resurrection... The smallest and hateful things are fly and rat ears. Flies are foolish, and rats are clever. If they harm objects, rats are too flies; if they disturb people, they are too flies. Therefore, it is difficult to prevent rats from being protected from tigers, and it is difficult to drive away snakes. "
The ancients discovered very early that the food that flies fell is prone to rot and deterioration. Eastern Han Zhang Zhongjing wrote in " Jinkui Yaolue ": "All bees, flies, insects, and ants gather food, which leads to fistula." Therefore, people invented the "scarf curtain" very early, that is, a net cover covering food to isolate flies. But unlike dealing with mosquitoes, flies have an unusual ability - they fly too fast.
People can also deal with mosquitoes in a smoked way, but it is much more difficult for flies. Even if the flies are driven away, they will fly back later, and it is difficult to kill the flies in an incense.
There are many records of laughter and crying in dealing with flies in history. For example, in the "Miscellaneous Records of Gu Rang" written by Li Xian in the Ming Dynasty, it is recorded that Chen Zhi, the chief censor, was furious by a fly and asked his subordinates to collectively dispatch the flies to catch them. The "Ear Food Record" written by the Qing Dynasty scholar Lejun also records a tragic comedy of killing flies. When a person was slapped a fly, he saw a fly on his father's head. "I was furious and beat him up. My father's brain was broken and the fly flew away." As a result, this person was punished for murdering his father.
From these two things, it can be seen that the ancients did not have any good ways to deal with flies. Humans' effective weapons against flies began with the emergence of a fly swatter in 1900. In 1900, an entrepreneur from Decatur, Illinois, USA, Robert Montgomery invented the world's first fly swatter, and the following year it advertised in the American "Women's Family Magazine", saying that it killed flies invisibly without leaving any trace. From then on, a generation of human insect-killing artifacts have appeared on the stage of history. In front of the fly swatter, whether it is a mosquito or a flies, all of them were slapped, and humans eventually had effective weapons that could be used by individual soldiers. In 1939, a Swiss scientist named Paul Miller discovered that a chemical called "DDT" (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is a powerful insecticide. DDT can prevent and control Colorado potato beetle , and can also eliminate flies and mosquitoes. This ultimate weapon of killing pests has also entered people's lives and has become a right-hand man in killing pests. However, because DDT is highly lethal to organisms and can accumulate in the environment, we are currently facing a dilemma of stopping the use of stool-borne diseases, and using it will damage the ecology and human health.
Source/CCTV's "Adoption Science" screenshot
To this day, no matter how powerful weapons people have invented, from slippers to fly swatters, from mosquito coils to DDT, mosquitoes and flies are still active in front of humans, just as they have lived on the earth for billions of years. In the face of nature, life always survives in the world with its unique tenacity. As science fiction writer Liu Cixin wrote in the novel " Three-Body ":
"Look, this is bugs. The gap between their technology and us is far greater than the gap between us and the Three-Body Civilization. Human beings do their best to eliminate them, use all kinds of poisons, spray them with airplanes, introduce and cultivate their natural enemies, search and destroy their eggs, and use genetic modification to make them Sterilization; burn them with fire, flood them with water, every family has a spirit of destruction to deal with them, and under each desk there are weapons like fly swatters to kill them... This long war accompanied the entire human civilization, and the outcome is still uncertain. The insects have not been extinct. They are still proud of the world, and their number is no less than before humans appear."
Reference:
(Ming Dynasty) by Li Shizhen; Ma Songyuan's translation note. Compendium of Materia Medica [M]. Beijing: Line-bound Bookstore, 2019.01.
(Warring States Period) by Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi [M]. Nanchang: Jiangxi Art Publishing House, 2018.05.
Selected Annotations by Miao Tianshou. Book of Songs [M]. Beijing: Commercial Press
by Zhang Hua. Museum of Book of Books [M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1985.
by Liu Cixin; edited by Yao Haijun. Three-Body [M]. Chongqing: Chongqing Press, 2008.01.
"Reply to the Suggestions on the Comprehensive Elimination of Mosquitoes on the Investigation of the Investigation of the Mosquitoes in the Official Website of the National Health Commission", "Guangzhou Releases the Sterilized Mosquitoes", Reference News Network, 2016-07-25
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