Nakashima Mika’s song “I Once Thought About Ending It All” has healed countless people with depression tendencies, and various variety shows and TV dramas have been calling for attention to depression patients, urging people not to let them become isolated islands.
However, for various reasons, more and more people are suffering from depression, and many of them ultimately fail to reconcile with themselves and choose suicide. Regardless of how they leave this world, they are already completely disappointed. Perhaps suicide is because they want to escape from this place.
In fact, the concept of suicide has existed since ancient times. Although ancient people believed that the body was received from their parents and should not be harmed, sometimes they had to choose suicide for the sake of dignity in death. In historical dramas, the most common suicide methods were biting the tongue, hitting a pillar, and hanging.
But there is also a very strange method: swallowing gold.
So the question arises: gold itself is not toxic, so why would swallowing gold be fatal? Why would people choose this method of suicide? Is swallowing gold really painless?
Cases of Gold Ingestion for Suicide:
According to the “History of the Ming Dynasty,” Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty favored the elderly Lady Wan greatly, but she did not bear any children. Consumed by jealousy, she would go to great lengths to kill any concubines who bore sons, in order to gain the emperor’s exclusive favor.
So much so that when the thirty-something-year-old Emperor Jiajing sighed while looking at himself in the mirror: “My body is no longer as good as before, yet I still do not have a son.”
Indeed, for the ancients who generally had shorter lifespans, not having a son at the prime of life was a great concern, especially as a sovereign, the lack of an heir could lead to power struggles and a national crisis.
Unexpectedly, before he could continue his lament, his attendant Zhang Min, who had always been by his side, immediately knelt down upon hearing this and tearfully said, “Your Majesty, you actually have a six-year-old son living outside the palace.”
It turned out that this prince was born to a palace maid whom Emperor Jiajing had briefly favored. In order to ensure the safety of this prince, they kept the news of the pregnancy hidden and secretly cared for the mother and son outside the palace.
Only when that prince reached the age of six, witnessing the emperor aged prematurely while burdened with state affairs, did he reveal the whole story.
A sudden revelation of a son, after learning the truth of the matter, Emperor Jiajing joyfully went to see his son. Zhang Min knew that even though he had done a righteous act, Lady Wan would never let him off, and even if the emperor intended to protect him, he would live in constant fear every day.
In order to die with dignity, leaving a good reputation behind, he chose to swallow gold and departed from this world a month later.
Similarly, a military officer under Li Hongzhang chose to swallow gold and end his life after the total defeat of the Beiyang Fleet, unable to face his superiors who entrusted him with significant responsibilities. Even in the literary work “Red Chamber Gate,” Yu Erjie also perished by swallowing gold.
So, why can non-toxic gold be deadly? Is it truly poisonous?
Residual impurities may contain toxicity.
In ancient times, from copper coins to silver and then to gold, one thousand copper coins equaled one ounce of silver, and ten ounces of silver could be exchanged for one ounce of gold. Gold, being the pinnacle currency, naturally held great value. Its value was closely related to ancient refining techniques – the complex and environmentally hazardous refining techniques made gold a luxury item in itself.
Gold as a metal itself is not toxic, but the ancient purification methods endowed it with certain toxicity.
Initially, gold prospectors would dig mud from various riverbeds, then repeatedly clean and wash this mud with river water to separate the gold particles mixed within it. Following this, a method known as mercury amalgamation, which has a history of two thousand years, would be used to isolate all the gold mixed with the mud.
The mercury amalgamation method involves using liquid mercury to extract gold and silver from precious metal ores, a highly poisonous process where it separates the gold particles from the earth. Typically, for every gram of gold collected, two grams of liquid mercury are required. While this method was highly effective, it posed significant environmental hazards.
Some people argue that in ancient times, swallowing gold for suicide actually meant ingesting mercury, showcasing the differences in interpretation over time.
Through a series of processes, gold would combine with mercury to form a substance called amalgam, which would then be heated in a furnace to evaporate the toxic mercury, leaving behind only the gold.
However, such methods inevitably had certain shortcomings.
In comparison to conventional cyanide processes using zinc powder to precipitate and recover gold, or processes like the direct adsorption of gold from cyanide slurries using activated carbon without the need for filtration and washing, refining gold by swallowing it left behind significant impurities, which could be fatal.
While the residual impurities were toxic, they would not poison someone upon contact; even identifying gold by biting it would not result in poisoning. However, once swallowed, these impurities would slowly vaporize their toxicity within the individual, leading to their eventual demise.
Swallowing gold cannot be considered an appropriate method of suicide. Sometimes, its effects only manifest after a month, subjecting the individual to more pain.
Sharp edges can injure internal organs.
Ordinarily, gold presented in public would be in the form of gold ingots or gold bricks, items of large volumes that when swallowed could puncture the intestines, disrupt the digestive system, settle within the body, causing stomach perforations. Given the limited medical resources in ancient times, removing such substances was impossible.
Moreover, the angular nature of gold itself could harm the body’s organs.
Once organs are damaged, they start to deteriorate gradually, reaching a point where recovery becomes beyond reach. Even if a miraculous physician were to appear, the individual would still succumb to pain and eventual death.
Thus, there are instances where swallowing gold did not immediately cause death; the effects of gold within the body require time to manifest, during which the person experiences unprecedented suffering. Therefore, it appears that Zhang Min’s decision to die with dignity by swallowing gold was not a wise choice.
Even if his end was near due to swallowing gold, Lady Wan could easily intensify his suffering during that period, subjecting him to inhuman torment.
It is unquestionable that gold itself is non-toxic. The fact that ancient people chose such a method of suicide can be attributed to peculiar beliefs. Perhaps they did not truly understand why non-toxic gold could be fatal but felt that this novel method of suicide might make their departure from this world less painful. Another possibility is that ancient people believed in karma. Their choice to commit suicide by swallowing gold may have been in the hope of ensuring a worry-free and blissful next life.
Indeed, it is often said that where there is a will, there is a way. So, why can’t people gradually seek solutions when faced with problems? Many claim to have lost faith in this world, but fear any form of suicide, believing that enduring pain is the only way to continue surviving.
For those who fear not death, why not try to discover the beauty of life and continue witnessing the ebb and flow of the world?
Therefore, if you feel uncomfortable, do not attempt to shut yourself off. On one hand, communicate more with those close to you; on the other hand, learn to reconcile with yourself. The world is vast, and if you haven’t truly explored it, how can you lightly give up on your own life?
