| Long gu | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 lónggǔ written in seal script | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 龍骨 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 龙骨 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | dragon bones | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 竜骨 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kana | りゅうこつ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Latin name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latin | os draconis | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Long gu are remains of ancient life (such as fossils) prescribed for a variety of ailments in Chinese medicine and herbalism. They were historically believed, and are traditionally considered, to be the remains of dragons. [1] [2]
Long gu are generally mammal fossils, petrified wood, or even oracle bones. [3] Animals which can be identified as long gu include rhinoceros, bears, hipparion, stegodon, hyena, mastodon, orangutan, porcupine, and giant panda. [4] [5] [6]
Depictions of Chinese dragons (龍, lóng) first appear in the archaeological record circa 3000 BC, before any literary descriptions appear. [7] Dragon worship may have its origin in constellations associated with the lengthening days and rainfall in spring, later being given more abstract meanings. However, "the dragon flourished in art without a set of specific associations." [8]
Dragon bones have been prescribed in Chinese medicine since at least the Shennong Bencaojing , composed circa 100 AD. [9] There is historical discussion regarding the origin of long gu recorded in the Bencao Gangmu , which compiles a wide variety of Chinese medical sources. The Mingyi bielu claims that dragon bones are found in Jin and around Mt. Tai, and that dead dragons can be located in riverbanks and caves throughout the year; while Tao Hongjing states they can be found in Liang, Yi, and Ba. Lei Xiao reports that bones from Tanzhou, Cangzhou, and Taiyuan are of the highest quality. There was debate as to whether long gu were from dead or living dragons, and whether they were bones or secretions. [10] [11] Li Shizhen listed several subcategories of dragon material, including tooth, horn, brain, fetus, and saliva. [12]
Fr. d'Incarville, a French Jesuit, noted that "petrified bones" were among the pharmacopeia sold by druggists in Beijing in 1751. However, he did not refer to these as dragon's bones. [13] Robert Swinhoe described the use of dragon's teeth in 1870:
Shanghai is a great center for [fossil trade]; and the raw article can be procured here in quantity. In other large towns you can only get the prepared drug in a calcined state. These fossils are called Lungche, or 'Dragon's teeth;' and the idea about them is that in olden time the world consisted of monsters who were incessantly fighting and killing one another [...] The monsters were large and powerful brutes; and in their teeth and bones existed their strength; hence the remains of these ground to powder and taken internally must give strength to the weak invalid. [14]
In 1885, 20 tons of fossil bones came through Chinese ports. [5] Searching Chinese pharmacies for new fossil specimens was "an established stratagem of fossil-hunters in the Far East." [6] Western investigation of dragon bones led to the discovery of Peking Man and Gigantopithecus blacki. [15] [16] Wang Yirong identified the ancient Chinese oracle script on long gu in 1899. [17]
An 18th century medical treaty prescribes long gu for heart, kidney, intestine, liver ailments, and to calm the spirit. It is also used for constipation, nightmares, epilepsy, excessive perspiration, night sweats and chronic diarrhea. It is considered to have neutral, sweet, or astringent properties. It is taken raw, fried, or simmered in rice wine. [4] [18] The Bencao Gangmu describes white dragon bones (白龍骨, bái lónggǔ) as
control[ing] frequent passage of essence, and discharge of essence with urination [...] They dispel evil qi , pacify the spirit of the heart, and end sexual intercourse with demons during nightly dreams. [...] They end intestinal wind and discharge with blood. Nose flood and blood spitting. They end outflow and free-flux illness with thirst illness. They strengthen the spleen, and contract intestines and stomach [...] They boost the kidneys and press down fright. They end yin-type malaria. They absorb moist qi and [cure] anal prolapse. They let muscles grow and help wounds to close. [19]
Dragon bones are still used today in some parts of China, and it remains an economically important resource. [20] Rural people still collect long gu for traditional use and this practice has important effects on Chinese paleontology. [21]
Traditional Chinese medicine is considered pseudoscience and there is no evidence of the efficacy of dragon bones; however, they are a significant source of calcium. [18]
A centuries-old controversy in the West concerned whether the medically-important cinnabar was a natural mineral or a mixture of elephant and dragon blood. [22]
In the Araripe Basin of South America, Testudine fossils, mainly that of marine turtles, are sympathetically used to treat hyperactivity and similar conditions. Fossil shells are scraped and taken orally as a sedative. [23] In Cyprus, the fossilized remains of pygmy hippos ( Hippopotamus minor ) are identified as relics of Saint Phanourios, and were taken medicinally as a panacea from the 16th century until the 1970s. [4] A junior synonym of H. minor is Phanourios minutus, named for the saint. [24]
Davidson Black, was a Canadian paleoanthropologist, best known for his naming of Sinanthropus pekinensis. He was Chairman of the Geological Survey of China and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was known as 步達生 in China.
Peking Man is a subspecies of H. erectus which inhabited the Zhoukoudian cave site in modern northern China during the Chibanian. The first fossil, a tooth, was discovered in 1921, and the Zhoukoudian cave has since then become the most productive H. erectus site in the world. Peking Man was instrumental in the foundation of Chinese anthropology, and fostered an important dialogue between Western and Eastern science for decades to come. The fossils became the centre of anthropological discussion, and were classified as a direct human ancestor, propping up the Out of Asia hypothesis that humans evolved in Asia.
Merfolk, Mercreatures, Mermen or Merpeople are legendary water-dwelling, human-like beings. They are attested in folklore and mythology throughout the ages in various parts of the world. Merfolk, Merpeople, or simply Mer refers to humanoid creatures that live in deep waters like Mermaids, Sirens, Cecaelia etc.
The yeren is a cryptid apeman reported to inhabit remote, mountainous regions of China, most famously in the Shennongjia Forestry District in the Hubei Province. Sightings of "hairy men" have remained constant since the Warring States Period circa 340 BCE through the Tang dynasty, before solidifying into the modern legend of the yeren. Generally, they are described as savage, strong, and fast-moving, living in mountain caves and descending only to raid villages in search of food or women.
Java Man is an early human fossil discovered in 1891 and 1892 on the island of Java (Indonesia). Estimated to be between 700,000 and 1,490,000 years old, it was, at the time of its discovery, the oldest hominid fossil ever found, and it remains the type specimen for Homo erectus.
The Bencao gangmu, known in English as the Compendium of Materia Medica or Great Pharmacopoeia, is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the late 16th century, during the Ming dynasty. Its first draft was completed in 1578 and printed in Nanjing in 1596. The Compendium lists the materia medica of traditional Chinese medicine known at the time, including plants, animals, and minerals that were believed to have medicinal properties.
Gigantopithecus is an extinct genus of ape that lived in southern China from 2 million to approximately 300,000-200,000 years ago during the Early to Middle Pleistocene, represented by one species, Gigantopithecus blacki. Potential identifications have also been made in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The first remains of Gigantopithecus, two third molar teeth, were identified in a drugstore by anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald in 1935, who subsequently described the ape. In 1956, the first mandible and more than 1,000 teeth were found in Liucheng, and numerous more remains have since been found in at least 16 sites. Only teeth and four mandibles are known currently, and other skeletal elements were likely consumed by porcupines before they could fossilise. Gigantopithecus was once argued to be a hominin, a member of the human line, but it is now thought to be closely allied with orangutans, classified in the subfamily Ponginae.
Jiaolong or jiao is a dragon in Chinese mythology, often defined as a "scaled dragon"; it is hornless according to certain scholars and said to be aquatic or river-dwelling. It may have referred to a species of crocodile.
Li Shizhen, courtesy name Dongbi, was a Chinese acupuncturist, herbalist, naturalist, pharmacologist, physician, and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is the author of a 27-year work, the Compendium of Materia Medica. He developed several methods for classifying herb components and medications for treating diseases.
A mellified man, also known as a human mummy confection, was a legendary medicinal substance created by steeping a human cadaver in honey. The concoction is detailed in Chinese medical sources, including the Bencao Gangmu of the 16th century. Relying on a second-hand account, the text reports a story that some elderly men in Arabia, nearing the end of their lives, would submit themselves to a process of mummification in honey to create a healing confection.
Wushan Man is a set of fossilised remains of an extinct, undetermined non-hominin ape found in central China in 1985. The remains are dated to around 2 million years ago and were originally considered to represent a subspecies of Homo erectus.
Bashe was a python-like Chinese mythological giant snake that ate elephants.
Dilong is a Chinese dragon name that is also used to mean "earthworm" in traditional Chinese medicine and Geosaurus in zoological nomenclature.
A shōjō is the Japanese reading of Chinese xing-xing (猩猩) or its older form sheng sheng, which is a mythical primate, though it has been tentatively identified with an orangutan species.
A shuihu or shui hu, is a legendary creature said to have inhabited river systems in what is now Hubei Province in China.
The existence of rhinoceroses in ancient China is attested both by archaeological evidence and by references in ancient Chinese literature. Depictions of rhinoceroses in ancient Chinese art are typically very accurate and lifelike, suggesting that they were modelled first-hand by the artist on living rhinoceroses rather than being based on legend or traveller's tales. The main species of rhinoceros that lived in China in ancient times has been identified as the Sumatran Rhinoceros, more especially the Northern Sumatran rhinoceros, although the Indian Rhinoceros and Javan Rhinoceros were also present.
Fengli is a legendary or mythified flying mammal of China, whose descriptions from various sources were collated in the Taiping Yulan encyclopedia and the Bencao gangmu compendium of materia medica.
Li Shizhen's (1597) Bencao gangmu, the classic materia medica of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), included 35 human drugs, including organs, bodily fluids, and excreta. Crude drugs derived from the human body were commonplace in the early history of medicine. Some of these TCM human drug usages are familiar from alternative medicine, such as medicinal breast milk and urine therapy. Others are uncommon, such as the "mellified man", which was a foreign nostrum allegedly prepared from the mummy of a holy man who only ate honey during his last days and whose corpse had been immersed in honey for 100 years.
Tang Shenwei, courtesy name Shenyuan, was a Chinese physician of the Song Dynasty. He compiled an influential pharmacopoeia, Zhenglei bencao (證類本草).
The Xinxiu bencao, also known as the Tang bencao, is a Chinese pharmacopoeia written in the Tang dynasty by a team of officials and physicians headed by editor-in-chief Su Jing. It borrowed heavily from—and expanded upon—the earlier Bencao jing jizhu by Tao Hongjing. The text was first published in 659; although it is now considered lost in China, at least one copy exists in Japan, where the text had been transmitted to in 721.
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