Our country's weighing system has a long history.Its origins and standards are recorded differently.According to historical records,Yellow EmperorIt has set up five measures, namely, degree, measure, weight, li and mu;Shun summoned the four rulers to coordinate the time, rhythm and measurement of the four seasons of each tribe;Xia YuWater control usecompasses , set square , spirit level and plumb lineIt is a measuring tool, and its own length and weight are taken as the standards of length and weight.These legends, to a certain extent, reflect the germination of ancient weights and measures.What really has keepsakes to prove is the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which recorded the words "Jin Shixuan", "Si Sanxuan" and "Jin Shiyun".Gold is copper, and "寽" and "Yun" are the names of measurement units.It shows that before or at the same time as the appearance of metal coins, there were already measures of weight.
Chinese name
Measuring System
Overview
Our country has a long weighing system
Naming
The name of "weight and measure" originates from Shu Shun
The emergence of measurement is inseparable from the development of human exchange behavior, and with the progress of productivity, measurement is also changing.《The Book of Rites》The Rites of the Zhou Dynasty recorded that as early as the Zhou Dynasty, a strict management system of weights and measures was implemented, and the position of supervisor was set.In 221 BC,First Emperor of QinUnifying China, the imperial edict of unifying weights and measures was issued, and complete sets of measuring standards were produced under the supervision of the government and distributed to all parts of the country.The unified measurement and balance system of the Qin Dynasty was used by the feudal society for more than 2000 years, forming a unique system of measurement science in China.
The weights and measures of all dynasties have gone through a process of continuous evolution, that is, gradually from rough to fine, from simple to complex, especially in terms of instruments, from small to large.This feature can be traced back to the Tang DynastyLi ChunfengWritten by《Sui Shu·It is strongly explained in the Law and Calendar Annals.The Sui Shu · Lvli Zhi lists 15 kinds of ruler from Zhou Dynasty to Sui Dynasty. After comparing with the ruler before Jin Dynasty, it is found that although the length of the 15 kinds of ruler is different, they all tend to grow from short to long. From the Zhou Dynasty to the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the length of the ruler has increased by five inches and eight cents.NearbyWang GuoweiIn "On the Existing Scale of Past Dynasties", it was also pointed out that "the system of scale has almost become a rule from short to long." In fact, this conclusion is applicable to all units of measurement, that is, the evolution of scale is from short to long, the evolution of capacity is from small to large, and the evolution of balance (weight) is from light to heavy.It is reflected in the prescription of traditional Chinese medicine that the dosage of ancient prescriptions is very different from the name of the weights and measures used, especially the modern ones, due to the constant changes of the weights and measures in the past dynasties.Therefore, it is necessary for us to know some basic knowledge of ancient weights and measures, and understand their changes to avoid confusion between ancient and modern measurement concepts.
Ancient Naming
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Naming of ancient weights and measures
The name of "weights and measures" originates from "weights and measures of the same law" in Book Shun Code《The History of the Han Dynasty·Lv Li Zhi clarifies its meaning, and the name has been used in successive dynasties.If we separate the term "measurement", there are three kinds of measurement: measure, quantity and weight.The names of these separate single quantities are determined by Liu Xin's Tiaozuo of the Han Dynasty, which said "Shen Du", "Jia Liang" and "Heng Quan".Among them, "Jialiang" is also from "Zhou Li · Kaogong Ji · Table Clan", "once Jialiang is completed, we can view the four countries"."Examination" means "determination", and the so-called examination refers to using "degree" to determine the length of objects.The original meaning of "jia" is "good". The so-called "jia liang" means that when measuring the number of objects with a measuring instrument, it must be as standard as the level."Power" means "weight". The function of "balance" is to use "power" to balance the weight of objects. Balance of power means that power and objects form a balance.The following describes the naming of the units of measure, quantity and weight respectively.
(1) Degree
The name of the length unit came into being very early. In ancient times, it was based on a certain part of the human body or a certain action, such as inch, close, foot, zhang, xun, chang, ren, etc.In these names, the ruler is the basic unit of length.The length of one foot is close to that of one hand, which is easy to identify. Therefore, there are ancient sayings that "cloth hand knows ruler", "ruler knows ruler", etc.In addition, "Ren" is a practical unit for measuring depth, and it constitutes a separate system.The proportional relationship between Ren and Chi has never been clearly defined. It is said that one Ren is four feet, five feet and six inches, seven feet and eight feet, and it is generally considered to be eight feet.The names of length units before the Zhou Dynasty, after the collation of the Book of Han · Chronicles of Law and Calendar, have retained the three positions of inch, ruler and zhang, and added a "cent" position below the inch position, and an "yin" position above the zhang position, which are all decimal degrees. This is the so-called five degrees.A small unit of length is generally used by mathematicians.The so-called "the length of the degree is exactly the same" only means that the measurement should have a tiny precision.There is a saying in the volume of Sun Tzu Suan Jing that "silk spun by silkworms is suddenly, ten suddenly is a second, ten seconds is a millionth, ten millionths is a centimeter, and ten centimetres is a minute".These decimal places of minute, centimeter, millisecond and second suddenly become the names of decimals and small units of length specially used in arithmetic.In the Song Dynasty, the second was changed to silk.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the length of small units was set to the millionth.
(2) Quantity
The measuring instrument was the main instrument for measuring the quantity of agricultural products in feudal society, so the measurement of capacity was the earliest, and its unit name was also the most complex.There are records about capacity units in classic works such as Zuo Zhuan, Zhou Li, Yi Li, Er Ya, and their special names include Sheng, Dou, Hu, Dou, Qu, Fu, Zhong, Yi, Ju, etc.Like the length, the capacity unit before the Zhou Dynasty was also measured by the human body. What one hand could hold was called Yi, and what two hands could hold was called Ju. Ju was the original basic capacity unit.Xiaoerya Guangliang said that "Ju four is called beans", and Zuo Zhuan Zhaogong Three Years said that "four liters are beans". These two statements are similar, that is, Ju is also called beans.The original meaning of Sheng is "Deng" and "Jin". The two hands hold the basic capacity, and then enter from this number. According to the four steps, there are beans, areas, cauldrons, and according to the ten steps, there are Dou and Hu.Therefore, the liter (i.e. joule) is the basic unit of capacity.Later, the Book of the Han Dynasty - Chronicles of the Law and Calendar systematically sorted out the capacity units and named them Yue, He, Sheng, Dou and Hu as five quantities. One combination is equal to two Yue, and the combination above is ten jin (after the Song Dynasty, one Hu was five dou).Liter is the basic unit of capacity, while bucket and dendrobium are practical units.As for the saying in Shuoyuan Distinction of Things that "ten Yue are one", there are different views for reference.Incidentally, stone was originally a unit of weight, 120 jin, but since the Qin and Han Dynasties, stone has also been used as a unit of capacity, equal to that of dendrobium.As for the small unit of capacity, the volume of Sun Tzu's Suanjing says: "Six millet is a gui, ten gui is a copy, ten copies are a pinch, ten scoops are spoons, and ten scoops are a combination." In this way, six millet is a gui (in a word, ten millet is a gui), and the rest of gui, copy, pinch, spoon and eight units, namely, combination, rise, dou, and hu, are all ten units.This calculation method has been used since the Han Dynasty.
(3) Balance
For a long time, baht, liang, jin, jun and shi were all used as units of weight.However, in ancient times, there were different views on the unit of weight.For example, in the volume of Sun Tzu's Suanjing, "The name originates from millet, ten millet is one end (the ancient word for" tired "), ten end is one baht, and twenty-four baht is one or two."Shuo Yuan · Differentiating Things: "Ten millet weighs one gui, ten gui weighs one baht." Shuo Wen · Jin Bu: "Being penny wise, six baht." Gao Yinzhu in Huai Nan Zi · Quan Yan: "Six liang means being penny wise." Yu Pian · Jin Bu;"Yi is twenty liang." Jiyun · Qualitative Rhyme: "Twenty four liang is Yi." and so on."Millet", "millet", "general", "gui" and so on all borrowed the names of millet and gui bi, but they have not been used in fact."Bian", "Yi", "Fen", "Jin" and so on are the names of borrowed money, and they have long been used.So there are different opinions.Since the five units of baht, liang, jin, jun and shi were named as the five powers in the Book of Han · Law and Calendar Annals, the names were relatively consistent and remained unchanged until the Tang Dynasty.The rounding method is worth mentioning: twenty-four baht is two, sixteen liang is jin, thirty jin is jun, and four jun is stone.With regard to the use of small units such as coins, cents, li, cents, silk, and Ku that are less than two, Liang Tao Hongjing of the Southern Dynasty once said in his "Record of Famous Doctors": "The name of a prescription is different from that of today, and there was no name of a prescription in ancient times. Today, ten millet is one baht, six baht is one cent, and four baht is one or two." Tang Su Jing notes: "Six baht is one cent, that is, two and a half dollars." It can be seen that since the Tang Dynasty, the original "money" has been used as currencyAs a unit of weight, and "ten yuan is one or two", but the carry at that time has not been determined as one tenth of the money.Besides, Fen, Li, Hao, Si, Hu, etc. were originally decimal names. Later, they were borrowed from the length as the name of the weight unit. Since the Song Dynasty, they have been designated as ten refundable small units of money.The weighing reform in the Song Dynasty abandoned the names of baht, general, millet, etc. The weight unit names from large to small were stone, jun, jin, liang, money, fen, li, hao, si, hu, and the rounding method was as mentioned above.The measurement of the Song system has been used until the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, with few changes.However, it is necessary to point out that the medical prescriptions of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, when they said "fen", were "fen" per cent, while in the Jin and Tang dynasties, a fen was two and a half dollars, which was different.
TCM measurement
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Special measurement of traditional Chinese medicine
Some special or vague names of "quantity" are also used in ancient medical works. Here are some examples:
(1) Square Dagger
The ancient medicine container is still the spoon today.The Preface to Zhenghe Zhenglei Materia Medica (First Preface): "A square inch dagger is an inch square, and the one that can't be taken down is the degree." A square inch dagger is about 2.74 ml of modern dagger, about 2 g of gold stone powder, and about 1 g of grass and wood powder powder.
(2) Money Dagger
An ancient instrument for measuring and taking medicine powder.The five baht coins of the Han Dynasty were used to collect the medicine powder until it was not scattered;Half money dagger is used to take medicine powder with five baht coins;The five daggers of money refer to the "five" characters on the edge of the five baht coin covered with the powder of medicine.One coin dagger is about five cents and six cents, or two grams;Half money dagger is about two cents and eight cents today, which is equal to one gram;The five coin dagger is about a quarter of the one coin dagger. Today, it is about a quarter of the one coin dagger, or 0.6g.
(3) Knife quill
An ancient instrument for measuring and taking medicine powder.The "Zheng He Zheng Lei Ben Cao" quoted Tao Hongjing's "Other Records of Famous Doctors": "Where there is a cloud shaped dagger in a powder medicine, it is one of the ten square inch daggers, which can be as big as a phoenix tree." Ming Dynasty · Dong Yi's "Bi Li Miscellaneous Existence · Dagger Gui": "The shape is exactly like today's razor, and the upper circle is exactly like the shape of the Gui Bi, and the middle hole is the place where it runs through. Gai's eater raises his knife to take medicine, which only fills the Gui above it, so it is called the Dagger Gui, which is short of ears."
(4) One word
In ancient times, the "Kaiyuan Tongbao" coin of the Tang Dynasty was used to copy the medicine powder, and the medicine powder was filled with one word of the four words on the money surface, which is called one word, about 0.4 grams today.
(5) Chicken Huang Da
This is the method of taking analogy for some drugs as the dosage.For example, the plaster in Daqinglong soup in Treatise on Febrile Diseases is "as yellow as a chicken".One chicken is roughly equal to 40 Chinese parasol seeds, about 9 grams.
(6) Pieces
A unit for counting fruits.Different varieties also have their own standards. For example, if there are 12 dates, the larger one can be selected as the standard.
(7) Grasp
An approximate unit of measure for some herbal medicines.
(8) Fasciculus
An approximate unit of measurement for certain vine drugs.Hold it as far as possible with your fist, and cut off the excess part at both ends, which is called a bunch.
(9) Slice
It is also an approximate unit of measurement.For a piece of ginger, it is about one yuan (3 grams).
(10) Cup
It is the approximate measurement unit of liquid medicine (or water, wine).The usual capacity is about 150~300ml today.
In addition, in ancient prescription books, or in folk medicine, there are some vague metrological names, such as Yijuan, Yizuo, Yizhizuo, etc., which are just a few words, about a few grams.
