吴鲁强和中国古代炼丹术

WU LUQIANG AND ALCHEMY OF ANCIENT CHINA

由于特殊的历史背景,炼丹术主要发源于中国,但过去西方对此所知甚少。直至本世纪二十年代,中、日两国学者开始对中国炼丹术在冶金方面的成就进行了一些科学研究,才渐引起西方学者的注意。但最早把中国炼丹术的本来面貌介绍给西方的,是我国学者、化学家吴鲁强教授(1904—1936),因为他把中国古代两种重要炼丹典籍译成英文,发表在美英两国的学术刊物上。本文对吴鲁强其人和他的工作作一简单介绍。

Due to a special historical setting, alchemy was mainly originated in China, but in the past this was little known in the West. It was not until the 1920s when scholars in China and Japan began to consider its metallurgical achievements that Chinese alchemy came to at tract the attention of Western scholars. However, it was Prof. Wu Luqang (1904—1936) of Qinghua University in Beijing who first showed its true features to the West by his English translation of two major alchemical classics of ancient China and had them published in American and British scientific journals. This paper gives a brief account of his life and his work.