In the brazier, the charcoal fire was bright red, and the green flame leaped high. Everyone only felt a wave of heat wash over them, and in a short while, the whole room was already warm.
Burning charcoal for warmth was a common thing. However, just when everyone was used to it, a silent disaster suddenly descended and took people's lives without a sound or warning.
Sun Simiao slowly got up and said in a clear voice, "Since the heavy snow, Mo Hospital has received three cases of charcoal poisoning. One family was spared, but the other two families were killed."
Everyone's heart suddenly sank.
"This is only around Chang 'an this year. What about other places in the Tang dynasty? Over the years? How many people were killed by charcoal poisoning? "Sun Simiao said in a heavy voice.
Everyone suddenly shuddered and felt that the task this time was very heavy.
Hua Yuan continued, "Why is charcoal poisoning so serious? According to the cases collected by the Medical School, first, burning charcoal for warmth is a common thing and people are not wary of it. Second, charcoal poisoning is colorless and odorless, so it's impossible to guard against it. Once people are poisoned, they will vomit, feel weak in their limbs, and even faint until death. Third, once charcoal poisoning appears, no one in the house will be spared. If it's discovered in time, it won't be a big problem. But if it's discovered too late, there will be no cure. "
"There's no cure!"
Everyone's heart sank as they thought about the charcoal poisoning cases in Chang 'an in recent years. They suddenly felt very heavy.
Kong Yingda couldn't believe it and said, "Even the Medical School can't do anything?"
Hua Yuan shook his head and said, "It can't be said that there's no way at all. Mo Hospital can use emergency treatment to relieve the patients who are found in time. But usually, the poisoning is too serious. At least, there's no cure for it at present. Because the Medical School doesn't know where the charcoal poisoning comes from. What is it? And how to detoxify it? "
Everyone nodded slowly. The root of the disease could only be cured if the root of the disease was found. Now, the Medical School didn't even know how the charcoal poisoning came about. How could they treat it? They had to find the right remedy!
Su Lingnong shook his head and said, "Charcoal is made from wood. Wood has no toxicity at all, and charcoal is absolutely not poisonous. "
Everyone nodded slowly. It was common knowledge that wood and charcoal were not poisonous.
Li Shimin also agreed, "Since the wood and charcoal are not poisonous, then could it be that the charcoal emitted poisonous smoke during the burning process?
Su Lingnong immediately denied, "That's impossible. How many people in the world used charcoal for their fires? If it was poisonous, we would have discovered it long ago. "
Charcoal and wood were the farmers' business, and Su Lingnong had absolute authority in this area. Thus, wood had been ruled out. Yan Nianzhi picked up a pen and paper and excitedly recorded it down.
Shen Hongcai, who was sitting next to Yan Niezhi, frowned and said, "I just did some calculations. All the cases of charcoal poisoning occurred indoors. It's cold in winter, so most of the families have closed their doors and windows to prevent the cold wind from blowing in. Is it because the indoor space is small, and the toxicity caused by burning charcoal is very mild in a small space? Under sealed circumstances, it accumulated over a night and eventually poisoned.
As soon as Shen Hongcai finished speaking, everyone's eyes lit up. This was indeed a possibility.
"That's also impossible!" The Longevity Taoist shook his head and said.
Everyone immediately looked at the Longevity Taoist. Looking at his black hair, they could not help but ponder. They all knew what had happened in the Xuandu Temple, but they did not expect that the Taoist School would send him this time.
The Longevity Taoist did not care about these looks, and said seriously, "When I used to make pills, I mostly used charcoal as fuel. Every time I made pills, it usually lasted for ten days and ten days, and the alchemy room was also tightly closed. It was not much bigger than an ordinary room! It was not a problem to make pills for ten days, let alone one night.
Everyone fell into a dead silence. Only Yan Nianzhi continued to jot it down.
For a moment, everyone was in a bottleneck. The charcoal itself was not poisonous, and it was not poisonous after burning. Then where did the charcoal poison come from?
Meton suddenly stood up and said, "Speaking of charcoal poison, I have some personal experience. Maybe it's useful."
"At that time, the Mo Family Village was very poor, and even the Mo Mansion did not have enough food. I remember that one year, the winter was very cold, and it was difficult to sleep even with two layers of quilts." Meton recalled.
Everyone looked at Modun's young face. Modun was probably the only one who came from a poor family. The others were all rich and powerful. Even Gongshu Hong's family had a lot of people. They had enough food and clothing to eat and wear.
"I had no choice but to make a fire in the room to warm myself. On the first day, I lit the charcoal fire before going to bed. As a result, I was awakened by the cold in the middle of the night. When I got up, I saw that the charcoal fire in the furnace had already burned out. I had to add charcoal again, and then I could sleep until dawn. "
Everyone chuckled when they heard this.
"The next day, I learned from experience and asked an uncle. Only then did I learn that if I sprinkled a layer of ash on top of the furnace, the furnace fire could continue burning for a long time. Even at dawn, the furnace fire would still not be extinguished. In order to save charcoal, I gladly did it. So on the second day, I was poisoned by charcoal and was directly carried out. "Meton said wittily.
Everyone suddenly burst into laughter.
"Fortunately, I was found early and sent to Old Hua's Drugstore in time for treatment. Otherwise, you would not see me again." Merton said.
Hua Yuan nodded and said, "Old Man remembers this. At that time, all the people in the village were frightened."
"Now that I think about it, I used double charcoal fire on the first day, but I was not poisoned. On the second day, I only used one charcoal, but I was carried out. I think the problem lies in this. "
Everyone's heart suddenly trembled, and a light bulb went off in their heads. "You're saying that normal burning charcoal is not poisonous, but charcoal fire with plant ash is poisonous?"
Meton nodded.
Sun Simiao suddenly said, "Indeed, in many cases, the families poisoned by charcoal do have similar behaviors."
"The ash is poisonous?" Su Lingnong was confused.
Meton shook his head and said, "It's not the ash that's poisonous. It's the ash that slows down the burning of charcoal, which produces charcoal poison. "
"Normal burning is not poisonous, but slow burning is poisonous?" Everyone thought about it and found this possibility.
"That's impossible! How can there be both poisonous and non-poisonous objects in this world? " Han Zheng shook his head. He was deeply influenced by legalism and always insisted that the world was clear. He did not expect that there would be such a complicated object.
However, there were even more people who believed Moton's words. They were all extremely intelligent people. Naturally, they could see that if there were no surprises, the charcoal poison was indeed the cause.
Meton said, "This is easy to verify. The charcoal brazier in front of us has been burning for half an hour, but we don't have any symptoms of poisoning at all."
"Now, all we need to do is cover the brazier with plant ashes, and we'll know once we try," Moton said.
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