What is the reason why ancient people have always believed in alchemy and longevity?

Science and technology in ancient times were underdeveloped, so ancient people were relatively superstitious. After Qin Shihuang established the Qin Dynasty, in order to pursue immortality, he hired many alchemists to refine elixirs while searching for the elixir of immortality. There is also the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty who hid in the palace and made elixirs himself in order to live forever, and did not even go to court.

According to the analysis of modern science and technology, most of the ingredients in the elixirs refined by the ancients are heavy metals, many of which can cause great harm to the human body. Therefore, after taking the elixirs, not only will there be no Making people live longer will actually greatly shorten their original life span. So why did the ancients believe that there is a pill for immortality?

In fact, the ancients were not blindly superstitious. The main material for refining elixirs is called cinnabar. This kind of thing is quite magical. It has two forms. If you put the cinnabar on the fire and heat it, The cinnabar becomes mercury. If the mercury is cooled, the mercury will become cinnabar again. This means that when it is burned, it becomes mercury, and when it accumulates, it turns into cinnabar.

According to modern people's perspective, this is just a substance that changes form at different temperatures, but in fact the essence is still the same. But in the eyes of ancient people, such a transformation was very magical. The ancients believed that cinnabar was different from grass and trees. No matter how long it was burned with fire, cinnabar would not be burned.

It cannot be destroyed. In another sense, cinnabar is longevity. Since cinnabar has such miraculous effects, if cinnabar is mixed with other things and refined into elixirs that people can take, the cinnabar will enter the human body and merge with the human body, so that people can be like cinnabar. Do you live as long?

It is precisely because of this characteristic of cinnabar that it has aroused people's crazy pursuit, and countless alchemists have sprung up like bamboo shoots. The royal nobles in ancient times held very great power in their hands, so they all wanted to pursue longevity. Therefore, alchemists and alchemists became the most popular professions in ancient times.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, elixirs became a must-have medicine for the upper class. Only wealthy people could take elixirs. They can often be seen in ancient tombs during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Various kinds of elixirs were unearthed from the tomb, and the containers in which the elixirs were placed were also very exquisite, which had a great influence at the time.

So it is not without reason for the ancients to pursue elixirs, but this reason is wrong. If the ancients had sufficient knowledge of chemistry, perhaps such a joke would not have happened. You must know that many celebrities in history died because of excessive use of elixirs. This can be regarded as a major poison of elixirs.