晚明疫病的流行和瘟疫理论的新发展

The Epidemic in the Late Ming Dynasty and New Development in the Theory of Plagues

晚明时期,各地瘟疫频发,且经常与灾荒相伴而生。迨至明末,又与战乱相叠加,不仅给百姓造成了极大的生命和财产损失,而且加剧着明朝统治的衰亡。面对瘟疫,虽然政府和地方社会都采取了很多应对措施,但因战乱和财政危机,实际效果往往难尽人意。晚明疫灾的盛行,客观上促进了瘟疫理论的发展。吴有性的《瘟疫论》便是在这一背景下产生的,该书是我国第一部瘟疫学专著,它破除了将瘟疫混同于伤寒的传统理论,详细分析了瘟疫的病理病因、传播途径及其治疗方法,极大推进了对于瘟疫的科学认识,对瘟疫的防治作出了巨大贡献。

In the late Ming dynasty,plagues occurred frequently in various places and were often accompanied by disasters and famine.The plagues were further aggravated by chaos of wars toward the end of Ming,which not only brought about heavy loss of life and property to the common people,but also accelerated the decline of the rule of Ming.Although many measures had been taken by the government and local community to deal with the plague,the results were less satisfactory due to war and financial crisis.The prevalence of plagues in the late Ming dynasty has promoted the development of the plague theory.It was against this background that Wu Youxing presented his Treatise on Acute Epidemic Warmth(Wenyi Lun),the first monograph on plagues in China.By disproving the traditional theory that confuses the acute epidemic warmth with the typhoid fever,it elaborates on the pathology and aetiology,the transmission route and the treatment of the acute epidemic warmth,prominently promoting the scientific understanding of the plague and contributing to its prevention and control.