明清芳香药防治疫病的现代启示

Modern enlightenment on aromatic drugs in the prevention and treatment of epidemic diseases in Ming and Qing dynasties

芳香药在中国疫病防治史上具有重要作用,古人使用芳香药或内服或外用以驱秽辟疫,"芳香辟秽"既有其文化观念的传承,也有其实际应用效果的必然推广。明清时期疫病爆发频度为历史之冠,促进了温病学的兴起,而该时期芳香药被大量应用于疫病防治中,对中医学产生重要的影响。文章以明清医学文献中芳香药物疫病防治的具体应用为例,结合现代实验验证研究,指出充分挖掘古代芳香药防治疫病经验对现代防治相关疾病具有重要现实意义。

Aromatic drugs played an important role in the history of the prevention and treatment of epidemic diseases. In ancient times, people internally or externally used the aromatic drugs to get rid of dei lement and prevent the plague. Not only did the concept of ‘aromatic dispelling mephitis＇ carry on a cultural concept, but also it got great extension effect because of its practical application. The aromatic drugs, however, were widely used in the prevention and treatment of epidemic diseases in Ming and Qing dynasties, when the plague most frequently broke out in the history, which promoted a rise of science of epidemic febrile disease of traditional Chinese medicine that had a major impact on the academic development of traditional Chinese medicine. Combining with the modern experimental research, we illustrated some specific examples for aromatic drugs in the prevention and treatment of epidemic diseases based on medical documents in Ming and Qing dynasties. It was concluded that it had an important realistic meaning to modern medicine if we fully exploited experience of aromatic drugs in epidemic diseases.