Decoding nature often leads to very interesting discoveries. That at every turn, showing off a colorful cui feather is the peacock family male. And he is so dressed up, is actually in order to the peahen of plain appearance confession. In nature, males play the role of "beauty" for the sake of the continuation of the race, contrary to the current aesthetic recognition of human beings. The musk deer tribes that surround the mountains and forests also follow this ancient code, but their beautiful weapon to attract females is the wonderful aroma of musk hidden in their bursa.

There is one of the words "musk deer" in the oracle bone inscriptions, so it is not difficult to speculate that the ancient people had already found these ancient beasts with strange fragrance in the primitive hunting.

The musk deer herd is fond of vegetation, and these aromatic nutrients gather in the body of the male musk deer, and finally secrete the fragrance, which is stored in the glandular sac under the navel. After a winter's maturation, the male musk deer begins his long courtship journey in the early spring, when everything comes back to life. But to the surprise of the musk deer herd, the magical aroma that once helped the whole group to reproduce was almost destroyed by the preference of the primates -- human beings.

Orchid musk deer, the synonym of fragrance

In Chu Ci, there is a popular saying of "vanilla beauty". This generation has become a model of moral integrity, which has been passed down for nearly a thousand years and will be with the profound cultural flow of China. The representative of vanilla is orchid. The aroma of orchid is light and elegant, just like ink painting, which is full of the most implicit Chinese aesthetics. But Chinese spices do not stop at vanilla, but to a wider field of radiation. Incense wood such as Shen sandalwood is put into the furnace, incense flowers such as golden cinnamon jasmine is sewn into the sachets, and the legacy of the fragrant beast -- musk also wrote a thick ink in the Chinese incense chapter.

In the Jin Dynasty, the ancients used the term "orchid musk deer" to refer to the fragrant fragrance. It is proved by Ge Hong, a famous pharmacy expert in the Jin Dynasty, who wrote in Bao Pu Zi that "the nose is surfeit of orchid musk deer and the mouth is sweet and sweet." Later, "orchid musk deer", as a synonym for fragrance, frequently appeared in the poet's nose, such as "Colorful portrait scattered orchid musk deer, the wind from the born Fang" "palace soup spring, ripples long to orchid musk deer" and so on.

Venus, because of her extraordinary beauty, is the nickname of beauty; David, because of his superior physique, is the name of strength; orchid musk deer, which stands out from many fragrant things, is the synonym for the fragrance of the air, which shows the difference between orchid and musk deer.

Of course, the love of orchid musk deer may have a "nestling complex" for the local fragrance, but it is more based on the perfect body smell of the fragrance. The presence of blue musk deer and orchid musk deer also suggest the way of harmony in incense. And with the "orchid incense" gentle and elegant different, musk more performance of the Chinese gens ardent and unrestrained. The original musk has the strong gas of transcendence, and even has the bad feeling of fumigation. Even the diluted musk also has a strong and persistent smell, so much so that Fan Ye, a famous perfumes master in the Southern Dynasty, had to mention that "musk deer should not be too many, but too much will be harmful".

The intensity of musk, in male musk deer, is a natural choice. Unlike keen hearing and vision, female musk deer have a relatively dull sense of smell. If the fragrance is not strong enough, the message will be easily carried away by the wind in the mountains and forests. The intensity of the musk is a blessing to the perfumer. Because only adult male musk deer can secrete high quality musk, and a musk seed, even bursa with hair only a few dozen grams. Scarcity made musk once more expensive than gold. Historical records show that in the 10th century, a small bag of musk cost 2.25 taels of gold, equivalent to 15 taels of silver. Such a high price, so that incense makers can only look at the ocean. If a little is not enough, even in modern times, incense makers cannot escape the dilemma of "making bricks without straw".

The beauty of musk is more and more charming in the depiction of "beauty hibiscus and narrow orchid musk deer".

Musk, the artifact of birth?

In the heat of court drama, Musk, stripped of its treasures, began to take on a shapeless image. In the preset plot, for the sake of glory, the son becomes the most powerful bargaining chip of the harem woman. The quadrants for power and love always revolved around the conspiracy to kill off the sons. In the playwright's pen, many of the magic objects of childbirth, especially the use of musk is the most. The musk, according to the mask of perfumes, either hidden in powder or in the furnace of smoke, spreads its fragrance, and at the same time hides the fruit of the womb, so that it is impossible to prevent, so that when it comes to musk deer, people are dismuse.

Is this popular property, renowned in the spice world, really so poisonous? Musk and pregnant women, really fire and water incompatible? That one furnace incense, had led many spring boudoir dream, really want to banish it to the dark cold palace?

Musk can be used in medicine. The earliest record of musk for medicinal use is from Shennong Materia Medica Classic, and it is listed as top grade. Doctors think that musk fragrance channeling, can "through the adverse, open the channels and collaterals to suppress", is to open the orifices to wake up the mind, to promote blood meridians medicine. Musk is often used for oxytocin under the fetus, in this regard, can activate the blood of the musk does have a certain influence on pregnant women.

But musk's effect on pregnant women is not at all as big a deal as court dramas make it out to be. It is obvious that there are many rare musks in the homes of Tibetans who pick incense, but the continuation of their offspring seems not to be affected by this. As for medicinal musk, the dosage is always within the acceptable range of human body. Of course, in order to be cautious, pregnant women should be careful of musk entrance.

But to say no to musk would be too much precaution. In fact, musk deodorant on pregnant women's effects can be described with minimal. First of all, musk will not become the leading role of incense because it is "full of qi and less fragrant" and "only used is not beautiful". Although musk is common in the ancient incense recipe, the amount of musk can be controlled in the scope of 3%, and sometimes the proportion is only 15%. This is like a drop of ink sprinkled into a river, never the ancient well wave.

Moreover, musk molecules are small, very active, only a little more and other incense, can fragrance the room. Mr. Liu liangyou from Taiwan put forward the plan of musk cooking in the "Incense Society Book" : the musk is fully melted in hot water 10 times the weight of filtration, and then 10 times the weight of hot water to extract the remaining residue once, and then add 10 times the weight of water into the mixed solution, refrigerated for use. The concentration of musk after dilution is greatly reduced, but the sense of aroma is more prominent, which is a relatively safe way to use musk.

In fact, the relatively high price of musk, as well as the narrow environment of modern rooms, further reduced the proportion of musk in the volume production of incense products.

Isn't it too heartless to send it to the cold palace with such a famous fragrance?