During the period of Emperor Xiaozong’s Hongzhi, some people wanted to seek an official and part-time job, so they wrote to the local government that Shanxi Zibi Mountain has stone gallbladder, which can prolong life. The emperor who dreamed of immortality sent the eunuch to Shanxi to supervise the quarry, but he never found the so-called stone gall. The excavation work for many years has made the local people miserable, complaining and arguing, and they have complained to the local authorities. After observing the incident, he ordered the people to collect some pebbles of stone shape and shape, and submitted them to the eunuch. When the eunuch met, he was very angry and said: “This is simply a perfunctory slogan. The stone gallbladder has been recorded in the book in detail. How can it be found?” According to the inspection, he said: “Phoenix and Kirin are also recorded in ancient books. But who has actually seen it now?”
This is a small story in the Complete Works of Think Tanks edited by Feng Menglong of the Ming Dynasty. What exactly is the “stone gallbladder” mentioned here, does it really have the effect of prolonging life?
Real stone gall
The ancient stone called the stone gallbladder, in fact, refers to timidity.
The timid, English name is “chalcanthite”, which is derived from the Greek words “copper” and “flower”, which means it contains copper and is as beautiful as a flower. In fact, this is the case. Cholesterol is a copper sulphate hydrate with a chemical formula of CuSO4·5H2O, sometimes containing small amounts of magnesium and zinc. In Chinese, “矾” refers to the water-containing crystals of certain metal sulfates, which are some minerals that are easily soluble in water, such as alum (potassium aluminum sulfate dodecahydrate), green earthworm (ferrous sulfate heptahydrate), (Zinc sulfate heptahydrate) and the like belong to this category.
Naturally produced cholesteric crystals are rare, but mineral aggregates appear in the veins in blocks or stalactites, with a vivid blue color, a Mohs hardness of 2.5, and a fragile texture. Therefore, some mineral lovers will use some exquisite timid as an ornamental stone collection. However, timidity has a significant weakness. It is not easy to store in a dry or too wet environment. When the outside temperature reaches 70 °C, it gradually loses the crystal water in the crystal. If the outside is wet, it is easy. Deliquescence, which can cause damage to the crystal structure after absorbing moisture in the air for a long time. Therefore, special timidity as an ornamental stone collection requires strict environmental conditions, and is generally protected by a sealed transparent container. In the market, if we see some cholesteric ornamental stone crystals are very intact and the colors are very bright, most of them are crystals grown in a manually controlled environment. In the solution containing copper sulfate, appropriate conditions can be given. Exquisite artificial cholesteric crystals are precipitated in just a few days.
The most typical feature of identifying timids in the wild is its bright blue color, but it is not enough to judge by color alone. In general, cholestasis is produced in the oxidized zone of copper deposits and is often symbiotic with other copper-bearing minerals, such as chalcopyrite, porphyrite, malachite, chalcopyrite, etc. China’s Gansu, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hubei and Shaanxi have output.