Housewife Laura Tamburrini, who is from Switzerland, has never felt anything but welcome since she moved into Serangoon Gardens with her family two months ago.
‘Though I’m just getting to know the area, people here have been very warm,’ said the 34-year-old mother of two.
She and her husband, who works in a Swiss bank, moved to the private estate in the north-east because it is near the Australian International School in Lorong Chuan which her sons attend.
Australian Ron Barnes, 47, a physical education teacher at the school, has been living in Chuan Park, a condominium on the fringe of the estate, for a year.
‘It’s such a friendly, nice little community,’ he said with affection.
Last week, foreigners in Serangoon Gardens made the news, although these weren’t middle-class types like Ms Tamburrini and Mr Barnes but blue-collar ones who work in jobs like construction.
Residents were up in arms over news that the authorities were thinking of turning the premises of the former Serangoon Gardens Technical School in Burghley Drive into dormitories for at least 1,000 workers.
A petition was started and signed by residents in about 1,600 households. There are between 4,000 and 7,000 households in the estate, depending on where the boundaries are drawn. Among other things, the residents were worried that the crime rate would rise.
Even before the possible influx of these foreign workers, the face of the estate has been changing, with more non-Singaporeans calling the area home.
There are an estimated 5,000 foreigners living in the area and many are there because of their children.
In 1999, the Lycee Francais De Singapour, or the Singapore French School, was set up in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, a short distance from the estate. And in 2003, the Australian International School set up home in Lorong Chuan.
By all accounts, shopkeepers and residents have welcomed these expatriates.
Mr N.K. Hazra, 66, general manager of the Serangoon Gardens Country Club, said there are 150 term members - those with short-term membership - at the club, most of whom are expatriates.
‘They seem to feel very comfortable here and mingle with the local residents quite well,’ he said.
Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, an MP for Aljunied GRC who looks after the area, noted that these expatriates have assimilated so well that they do not seem out of place.
‘I notice that they hang out quite comfortably at the ‘circus’ and shops,’ she said, referring to the area’s roundabout.
Relief teacher Janet Tan, who is in her 50s and has been living in the area for 40 years, welcomes them.
‘During the colonial days, we used to have parties and play together with the European children. It was like one happy family and I don’t mind them here,’ she said.
Even businesses have begun to cater to these expatriates.
Last November, a Cold Storage speciality store opened in the area.
‘It carries over 4,000 products from around the world and it is equipped with additional services such as home delivery, party platters ordering and requests for speciality food,’ said a spokesman.
Long-time residents said this is just one of the many changes that have taken place in the area, which started life in the 1950s when houses were built to accommodate the British soldiers in colonial Singapore. They said their sleepy ‘village’ is now becoming more vibrant, crowded and youthful.
‘There are a lot of younger people these days. Shops that cater to the younger crowd have moved in, like Coffee Bean and Cafe Cartel,’ said Mr Lim Sim Kwang, 56, owner of the New Huak Hing coffee shop. His shop has been around since the 1960s.
Mr Jeffery Wong, 35, owner of the Tuan Kee steamboat restaurant, said he set up his eatery next to the roundabout three months ago because he thinks the area has potential to boom.
‘Traffic here is very heavy and I believe it can become the next Holland Village in two or three years’ time,’ he said.
Denise The Wine Shop opened an outlet eight months ago and it is enjoying roaring business.
‘At first there were fewer than 100 customers on weekends, but in just eight months, it has risen to 200,’ said branch supervisor Joey Liew, 21.
But some residents are worried that the area is changing too quickly.
It has been reported that the Serangoon Gardens Village complex, which opened 50 years ago as the Paramount Theatre, will be torn down next February to make way for a big mall.
‘I used to watch movies there and it will be sad when it’s gone,’ said retiree Jonathan Choo, 61.
Others are worried about the crowds and heavy traffic.
‘Four years ago, on weekends, there would be cars parked outside our house, blocking the driveway. Now they are there on weekdays too,’ said Singaporean polytechnic student Ryan Peterson, 20.
‘People are already fighting for parking. What will it be like with the new developments?’
Sunday, September 7, 2008
另一伴对理财路的影响
突然想起, 爱人曾经说过, 有两种女人, 一种是专门帮忙男人"散水", 一种则是"聚水"的. 如果一个男人选择了"散水"女人, 就不用想会有致富的一天, 因为无论男人赚再多的钱, 都很快被女人花光光.
在理财路, 另一伴的思想和心态最好还是选择和自己大致相同的, 至少日后可以减少为钱而吵的局面.
朋友和她爱人在约两年前买了一间两层半的花园屋, 而在买屋后的约两年, 该屋依然还没有储蓄到足够的钱做装修. 记得朋友说过, 某房间的不懂什么东东让她不满意, 她要把墙给拆了, 以便做扩大空间.
歪歪总是忍不住要念这朋友, 不要花太多钱的, 因为这朋友的爱人目前已经做着两份工作, 为的就是要供屋, 储蓄结婚典礼的费用, 还有那高昂的家具和装修费.
其实结婚后的两个人需要住在多大的空间才足够呢? 而结婚后的两个人又会花多少的时间呆在屋里享受漂亮的爱窝呢?
如果我们拼命的工作, 就为了继续拥有一间漂亮又大的屋子, 那么我们可以确保自己的每天会呆在该房子多少的时间呢?
当我们为了拥有漂亮又大的屋子而不得不拼命工作时, 那么那房子不就大部份的时间都是主人不在家吗? 因为房屋的主人必须每天在外忙碌的工作, 就为了拼命赚取房屋贷款的费用.
两个人结婚后的日子是否能过得让双方的手头越来越松动, 还是负担越来越沉重都抉择在两人的理财态度上.
一个节省的人和一个爱花钱的人结合, 钱财赚得再多, 也会守不住. 守不住钱财, 就更不用去奢望能靠投资理财让日后的生活变得舒服.
屋子
当两个人决定生活在一起时, 第一个也许就会先考虑到屋子. 而这屋子的抉择和日后的理财路的影响则是非常大的.
如果两个人选择了买大一点的房子, 日后就会更难储蓄到闲钱作为投资用途. 因为现金流入的大部份都被锁定在需要成为房屋贷款的费用流回出去.
汽车
也有些的两个人, 最容易就是做出旧车换新车的决定, 而最终的目标就是为了让自己出入能坐在更舒服的汽车.
汽车对于日后的现金流动也带来了很大的影响. 汽车再大, 再豪华毕竟还是会贬值的负资产. 每一辆新车在购买后, 就会降价成为二手车, 而再使用了一段的日子后, 也一样会成为旧车. 除了分期汽车贷款要付外, 新车也依然需要定期保养和维修.
不要忘记, 结婚后的两个也要给未来的孩子准备养育费用. 如果在孩子还没有到来前, 自己的经济负担已经过于沉重, 日后又要怎么給孩子过好一些的生活和好一些的教育呢?
两个人
两个人如果选择了对方成为终生伴侣, 那么就是说认定了要和对方一起度过每一个今天和明天. 竟然如此是否应该心连心, 无论做出什么决定都要想到这决定到底会让双方成为负担, 还是会更幸福呢?
而在选择了现在看起来会很舒服的物品, 是否也会让未来的日子过得轻松舒服? 又或者是现在的选择会让双方在今天的开始后, 都必须变得更忙碌, 不得不减少陪伴对方的时间, 就为了拥有现在这看起来会让大家会过得很舒服的物品呢?
在理财路, 另一伴的思想和心态最好还是选择和自己大致相同的, 至少日后可以减少为钱而吵的局面.
朋友和她爱人在约两年前买了一间两层半的花园屋, 而在买屋后的约两年, 该屋依然还没有储蓄到足够的钱做装修. 记得朋友说过, 某房间的不懂什么东东让她不满意, 她要把墙给拆了, 以便做扩大空间.
歪歪总是忍不住要念这朋友, 不要花太多钱的, 因为这朋友的爱人目前已经做着两份工作, 为的就是要供屋, 储蓄结婚典礼的费用, 还有那高昂的家具和装修费.
其实结婚后的两个人需要住在多大的空间才足够呢? 而结婚后的两个人又会花多少的时间呆在屋里享受漂亮的爱窝呢?
如果我们拼命的工作, 就为了继续拥有一间漂亮又大的屋子, 那么我们可以确保自己的每天会呆在该房子多少的时间呢?
当我们为了拥有漂亮又大的屋子而不得不拼命工作时, 那么那房子不就大部份的时间都是主人不在家吗? 因为房屋的主人必须每天在外忙碌的工作, 就为了拼命赚取房屋贷款的费用.
两个人结婚后的日子是否能过得让双方的手头越来越松动, 还是负担越来越沉重都抉择在两人的理财态度上.
一个节省的人和一个爱花钱的人结合, 钱财赚得再多, 也会守不住. 守不住钱财, 就更不用去奢望能靠投资理财让日后的生活变得舒服.
屋子
当两个人决定生活在一起时, 第一个也许就会先考虑到屋子. 而这屋子的抉择和日后的理财路的影响则是非常大的.
如果两个人选择了买大一点的房子, 日后就会更难储蓄到闲钱作为投资用途. 因为现金流入的大部份都被锁定在需要成为房屋贷款的费用流回出去.
汽车
也有些的两个人, 最容易就是做出旧车换新车的决定, 而最终的目标就是为了让自己出入能坐在更舒服的汽车.
汽车对于日后的现金流动也带来了很大的影响. 汽车再大, 再豪华毕竟还是会贬值的负资产. 每一辆新车在购买后, 就会降价成为二手车, 而再使用了一段的日子后, 也一样会成为旧车. 除了分期汽车贷款要付外, 新车也依然需要定期保养和维修.
不要忘记, 结婚后的两个也要给未来的孩子准备养育费用. 如果在孩子还没有到来前, 自己的经济负担已经过于沉重, 日后又要怎么給孩子过好一些的生活和好一些的教育呢?
两个人
两个人如果选择了对方成为终生伴侣, 那么就是说认定了要和对方一起度过每一个今天和明天. 竟然如此是否应该心连心, 无论做出什么决定都要想到这决定到底会让双方成为负担, 还是会更幸福呢?
而在选择了现在看起来会很舒服的物品, 是否也会让未来的日子过得轻松舒服? 又或者是现在的选择会让双方在今天的开始后, 都必须变得更忙碌, 不得不减少陪伴对方的时间, 就为了拥有现在这看起来会让大家会过得很舒服的物品呢?
Saturday, September 6, 2008
茶里放姜，身体安康
生姜含多种活性成分，具有解毒、消炎、去湿活血、暖胃、止呕、消除体内垃圾等作用。
科学证实，生姜还有抑制癌及预防心血管疾病的作用。从姜中提取的精华素，还可以被用来治疗偏头痛、行动障碍和关节炎。
我国民间早就有喝姜茶的习惯。把10克姜洗净之后切成五等份，与5 10克茶叶及300毫升水齐煮滚五至十分钟，隔去渣滓及茶叶，加30克冰糖搅匀后饮用。
这种姜茶可能喝一次即驱走轻微的感冒，症状较重者一连三天每日喝一次，就不再流鼻水、咳嗽、发烧、喉咙痛、头痛；容易患感冒者也可以每三天喝一次以起预防之效。
如果你频频便秘，动不动疲倦不堪，喝自制的姜茶可以通便，而且精力充沛。
生姜可以治疗晕车船、恶心。专家建议乘车船之前喝一杯姜茶。这种姜茶的做法是：取指头大小一块鲜姜，去皮，切丁，加点蔗糖放入杯中，倒入滚水，泡15分钟后饮用。不要用姜酒，因为其中姜的成分太低。
科学证实，生姜还有抑制癌及预防心血管疾病的作用。从姜中提取的精华素，还可以被用来治疗偏头痛、行动障碍和关节炎。
我国民间早就有喝姜茶的习惯。把10克姜洗净之后切成五等份，与5 10克茶叶及300毫升水齐煮滚五至十分钟，隔去渣滓及茶叶，加30克冰糖搅匀后饮用。
这种姜茶可能喝一次即驱走轻微的感冒，症状较重者一连三天每日喝一次，就不再流鼻水、咳嗽、发烧、喉咙痛、头痛；容易患感冒者也可以每三天喝一次以起预防之效。
如果你频频便秘，动不动疲倦不堪，喝自制的姜茶可以通便，而且精力充沛。
生姜可以治疗晕车船、恶心。专家建议乘车船之前喝一杯姜茶。这种姜茶的做法是：取指头大小一块鲜姜，去皮，切丁，加点蔗糖放入杯中，倒入滚水，泡15分钟后饮用。不要用姜酒，因为其中姜的成分太低。
治疗胃寒的养胃偏方
下面介绍三个治疗胃寒的三个偏方
治疗胃寒方法一：鲜姜、白糖治胃寒痛：鲜姜500克（细末），白糖250克，腌在一起；每日3次，饭前吃，每次吃1勺（普通汤匙）；坚持吃一星期，一般都能见效；如没彻底好，再继续吃，直至好为止。治疗胃寒方法二：白酒烧鸡蛋治胃寒：二锅头白酒50克，倒在茶盅里，打1个鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧干了鸡蛋也熟了，早晨空胃吃。轻者吃一、二次可愈。注意鸡蛋不加任何调料。
治疗胃寒方法三：吃苹果可缓解胃酸：有的人在冬末春初，遇阴冷天或饮食不当，常泛胃酸，很难受。如果此时吃一个或半个大苹果，胃很快舒服了。
治疗胃寒方法一：鲜姜、白糖治胃寒痛：鲜姜500克（细末），白糖250克，腌在一起；每日3次，饭前吃，每次吃1勺（普通汤匙）；坚持吃一星期，一般都能见效；如没彻底好，再继续吃，直至好为止。治疗胃寒方法二：白酒烧鸡蛋治胃寒：二锅头白酒50克，倒在茶盅里，打1个鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧干了鸡蛋也熟了，早晨空胃吃。轻者吃一、二次可愈。注意鸡蛋不加任何调料。
治疗胃寒方法三：吃苹果可缓解胃酸：有的人在冬末春初，遇阴冷天或饮食不当，常泛胃酸，很难受。如果此时吃一个或半个大苹果，胃很快舒服了。
天凉，艾灸治疗胃寒症状
进入冬季，陈小姐一吃生冷、冰冻的食物，胃部就会感觉不适。每当胃痛难忍的时候，她就随意买点胃药吃，但效果总不如意。东莞市东华医院消化内科主任刘玉洁教授指出，陈小姐是典型的胃寒表现。冬季昼夜温差较大，如果不注意腹部保暖，嗜食生冷，引起腹部着凉，就会导致胃病的发生。因此，这个季节是胃病的多发季节，患者应格外小心，以防胃病发作或复发。
一般来讲，胃寒症状比较轻者，只要调理饮食，忌食生冷，注意保暖，调整作息时间，保持开朗的心境，症状可得到改善。如果通过以上方法，症状不能缓解者，不妨通过温补的食疗来改善症状，可在煲汤时加入高丽参、北芪、党参或者红参等；另外可以通过中医调理，治以温补脾胃中药，或者通过艾灸，既能止痛，又能缓解胃部寒冷症状。中医药治疗可从根本上调理好胃寒的病症，恢复健康脾胃，但患者要坚持治疗，注意复诊。
刘玉洁同时表示，当出现胃部经常疼痛、体重下降、食欲不振等症状时就要警惕了，最好去医院做胃镜检查，以排除胃的器质性病变。
一般来讲，胃寒症状比较轻者，只要调理饮食，忌食生冷，注意保暖，调整作息时间，保持开朗的心境，症状可得到改善。如果通过以上方法，症状不能缓解者，不妨通过温补的食疗来改善症状，可在煲汤时加入高丽参、北芪、党参或者红参等；另外可以通过中医调理，治以温补脾胃中药，或者通过艾灸，既能止痛，又能缓解胃部寒冷症状。中医药治疗可从根本上调理好胃寒的病症，恢复健康脾胃，但患者要坚持治疗，注意复诊。
刘玉洁同时表示，当出现胃部经常疼痛、体重下降、食欲不振等症状时就要警惕了，最好去医院做胃镜检查，以排除胃的器质性病变。
白术暖胃散治疗马属动物胃寒腹痛气胀
胃寒腹痛是阴冷刺激胃肠、消化机能受阻、食积气滞的一种疾病，有急性和慢性之分。急性发作无明显季节性，发病急若治疗不及时致使寒凝气滞，最后导致死亡。慢性发作多因久食霜冻草料或过饮寒冷凉水，若遇风冷袭，内外合邪则可发病，多在深秋或初春之机，特别是平时体质衰弱之马属动物发病较多，临床上以慢性病多见。笔者共治疗该病13例，治愈率达100%。
1病因
空腹过饮冷水或吃霜冻草料，使寒邪凝聚于胃，阴冷传之于脾，胃火不足、脾阳不振，胃的排空和输送机能受损，或因使役过重，气虚血亏脏腑失调寒邪趁虚而入，互相转于脏腑，寒邪凝聚气滞致成其患，轻则胃内寒胀，腹痛起卧，时痛不止，间隔时间长，呈阵发性。重则继发肚胀，疼痛、起卧剧烈，持续时间较长。
2 症状
急性：腹胀急痛，突然急起急卧，卧地滚转扭腰呻吟，站立时弓腰拍蹄，急走急跑，呼吸迫粗，肠音响亮，叩诊腹部呈臌音，严重时被毛出现震颤；慢性：精神不振，表现阵发性腹痛，痛时站立不宁，肢蹴腰弓，肠音响亮，间歇期精神萎靡，卧地不起，食欲不振或废绝。脉象沉迟无力，口色青白，舌苔青灰，口津滑润。
3 治疗
暖胃健脾，理气止痛。药用自拟白术暖胃散：炒白术80 g，肉桂60 g，干姜20 g，炒厚朴40 g，砂仁30 g，陈皮60 g，醋香附子40 g，炒益智仁40 g，当归80 g，炒枳壳60 g，炒二丑40 g，炙川乌20 g，炙甘草30 g，共为末，开水冲，加大葱(捣烂)250 g，白酒100～200 ml，一次灌服，牵遛至畜体发热为度。同时肌肉注射解热镇痛药。
4 病例
天祝县王某一匹马来站就诊。症见：膘情差，精神不振，表现出阵发性腹痛，肠音响亮，腹痛时站立不宁，回头看腹，脉象沉迟无力，口津滑润，口色青白，不痛时卧地不起，精神萎靡，诊为胃寒腹疼气胀。治疗：30%安乃近20 ml，肌肉注射。自拟白术暖胃散：炒白术80 g，肉桂40 g，干姜40 g，炒厚朴40 g，砂仁20 g，陈皮60 g，炒益智仁40 g，当归80 g，炒枳壳40 g，炒二丑40 g，炙川乌20 g，炙甘草30 g，共为末，开水冲，加大葱(捣烂)250 g，白酒100～200 ml，混合一次灌服，后牵遛至发热为度，一剂即愈。
1病因
空腹过饮冷水或吃霜冻草料，使寒邪凝聚于胃，阴冷传之于脾，胃火不足、脾阳不振，胃的排空和输送机能受损，或因使役过重，气虚血亏脏腑失调寒邪趁虚而入，互相转于脏腑，寒邪凝聚气滞致成其患，轻则胃内寒胀，腹痛起卧，时痛不止，间隔时间长，呈阵发性。重则继发肚胀，疼痛、起卧剧烈，持续时间较长。
2 症状
急性：腹胀急痛，突然急起急卧，卧地滚转扭腰呻吟，站立时弓腰拍蹄，急走急跑，呼吸迫粗，肠音响亮，叩诊腹部呈臌音，严重时被毛出现震颤；慢性：精神不振，表现阵发性腹痛，痛时站立不宁，肢蹴腰弓，肠音响亮，间歇期精神萎靡，卧地不起，食欲不振或废绝。脉象沉迟无力，口色青白，舌苔青灰，口津滑润。
3 治疗
暖胃健脾，理气止痛。药用自拟白术暖胃散：炒白术80 g，肉桂60 g，干姜20 g，炒厚朴40 g，砂仁30 g，陈皮60 g，醋香附子40 g，炒益智仁40 g，当归80 g，炒枳壳60 g，炒二丑40 g，炙川乌20 g，炙甘草30 g，共为末，开水冲，加大葱(捣烂)250 g，白酒100～200 ml，一次灌服，牵遛至畜体发热为度。同时肌肉注射解热镇痛药。
4 病例
天祝县王某一匹马来站就诊。症见：膘情差，精神不振，表现出阵发性腹痛，肠音响亮，腹痛时站立不宁，回头看腹，脉象沉迟无力，口津滑润，口色青白，不痛时卧地不起，精神萎靡，诊为胃寒腹疼气胀。治疗：30%安乃近20 ml，肌肉注射。自拟白术暖胃散：炒白术80 g，肉桂40 g，干姜40 g，炒厚朴40 g，砂仁20 g，陈皮60 g，炒益智仁40 g，当归80 g，炒枳壳40 g，炒二丑40 g，炙川乌20 g，炙甘草30 g，共为末，开水冲，加大葱(捣烂)250 g，白酒100～200 ml，混合一次灌服，后牵遛至发热为度，一剂即愈。
口香糖鼻祖治疗胃寒呕吐
中医认为丁香性温、味半，归脾、胃、肺、肾经，具温中降逆、温肾助阳的功效，可用于胃寒呕吐，呃逆，以及肾阳不足所致的阳萎、脚弱等症。 丁香树属桃金娘科常绿乔木，其栽培已有2000多年的历史，其干燥花蕾名公丁香，成熟果实名母丁香，又名鸡舌香。印度尼西亚的摩鹿加岛盛产丁香。据考证，古时爪哇国人，口噙丁香，以使口气芬芳。公元前200年，爪哇国使臣觐见汉朝皇帝时，进献丁香。东汉应邵在《汉官仪》中记述：汉桓帝刘志“赐侍中于存以鸡舌香，令含之。”原来于存因年老口臭，皇帝怜惜这位老臣，特赐此物以除口臭。这是1800年前的事，鸡舌香可称得上是世界上最早的“口香糖”了。
传统中医认为，“齿疳”等口腔疾患， 多为阳明胃经湿热上攻所致，丁香能散阳明之邪，故可消除多种口腔病症。古医书中收载有相当多的口香剂与口香糖丸，其配方大多离不开丁香。治口臭，可用丁香1-2只含服或泡水J良，或常咀嚼丁香、小豆寇等清香食品。治龋齿疼痛：可取公丁香10粒，研细末贮瓶中备用，痛时将丁香粉纳入龋洞内或牙隙处，一般数秒钟即能止痛。重者可连续使用2-3次;也可将丁香油滴入龋洞，痛即止。治口臭或用于口腔保健，可取丁香2份，厚朴2份，薄荷1份，将以上药物采用蒸馏法，馏取挥发油，密封贮存备用;或每次取公丁香4克，厚朴4克，薄荷2克，用开水浸泡15分钟，滤去药渣后使用。用时先取温开水50毫升，加入丁香漱口液O 5-1.0毫升，摇匀后含漱;牙痛者可用棉球蘸少许上药贴在牙痛处，或用开水浸泡液合漱。
中医认为丁香性温、味半，归脾、胃、肺、肾经，具温中降逆、温肾助阳的功效，可用于胃寒呕吐、呃逆，以及肾阳不足所致的阳萎、脚弱等症。例如治胃寒呃逆，可用丁香5克，橘皮15克，水煎服;治反胃，将丁香15颗，研成细末，以甘蔗汁、生姜汁和丸，如莲子大，含咽之;治脘腹冷痛，用丁香、吴茱萸各15克，共研细末，每服3克，饭前温酒调服。现代分析表明，丁香含挥发油，主要为丁香油酚和鞣质、齐墩果酸等，丁香油能促进胃液分泌，有抗菌、驱虫、止痛及产生麻醉、抗惊厥等作用。目前利用其健胃、抗菌特性以治疗腹泻，已取得较理想的疗效。方法定：以丁香30克，炒车前子20克，荜茇10克，胡椒、肉桂各5克，研成极细末，装瓶备用;用时取药末100~300毫克，置脐窝内(脐部发炎或过敏者忌用)，胶布固定，1-2天换药1次，一般1-2次即可使大便恢复正常，此法对小儿尤为奏效，亦可用丁香2克，草果4克打碎，分别炒焦黑存性并研细末，再炒250克面粉至焦黄(以味香不苦为宜)，加入200克食糖，趁热在锅内搅匀成颗粒状，每次2-3匙口服，小儿酌减。还可以丁香5-10克、肉桂4-6克、木香5-10克，研成细末，置于纱布袋里，用绷带缚在小儿脐上一夜，一般用药1-3次则见效。
此外，治麻痹性肠梗阻，用丁香30-60克，研细末，加75%酒精调和(对酒精过敏者可用开水)，敷于脐及脐周，直径约6—8厘米，用塑料薄膜覆盖，胶布或绷带固定。大多经用药1～3次，用药2小时后即可听到肠呜音，4-8小时排便、排气，效果满意。
传统中医认为，“齿疳”等口腔疾患， 多为阳明胃经湿热上攻所致，丁香能散阳明之邪，故可消除多种口腔病症。古医书中收载有相当多的口香剂与口香糖丸，其配方大多离不开丁香。治口臭，可用丁香1-2只含服或泡水J良，或常咀嚼丁香、小豆寇等清香食品。治龋齿疼痛：可取公丁香10粒，研细末贮瓶中备用，痛时将丁香粉纳入龋洞内或牙隙处，一般数秒钟即能止痛。重者可连续使用2-3次;也可将丁香油滴入龋洞，痛即止。治口臭或用于口腔保健，可取丁香2份，厚朴2份，薄荷1份，将以上药物采用蒸馏法，馏取挥发油，密封贮存备用;或每次取公丁香4克，厚朴4克，薄荷2克，用开水浸泡15分钟，滤去药渣后使用。用时先取温开水50毫升，加入丁香漱口液O 5-1.0毫升，摇匀后含漱;牙痛者可用棉球蘸少许上药贴在牙痛处，或用开水浸泡液合漱。
中医认为丁香性温、味半，归脾、胃、肺、肾经，具温中降逆、温肾助阳的功效，可用于胃寒呕吐、呃逆，以及肾阳不足所致的阳萎、脚弱等症。例如治胃寒呃逆，可用丁香5克，橘皮15克，水煎服;治反胃，将丁香15颗，研成细末，以甘蔗汁、生姜汁和丸，如莲子大，含咽之;治脘腹冷痛，用丁香、吴茱萸各15克，共研细末，每服3克，饭前温酒调服。现代分析表明，丁香含挥发油，主要为丁香油酚和鞣质、齐墩果酸等，丁香油能促进胃液分泌，有抗菌、驱虫、止痛及产生麻醉、抗惊厥等作用。目前利用其健胃、抗菌特性以治疗腹泻，已取得较理想的疗效。方法定：以丁香30克，炒车前子20克，荜茇10克，胡椒、肉桂各5克，研成极细末，装瓶备用;用时取药末100~300毫克，置脐窝内(脐部发炎或过敏者忌用)，胶布固定，1-2天换药1次，一般1-2次即可使大便恢复正常，此法对小儿尤为奏效，亦可用丁香2克，草果4克打碎，分别炒焦黑存性并研细末，再炒250克面粉至焦黄(以味香不苦为宜)，加入200克食糖，趁热在锅内搅匀成颗粒状，每次2-3匙口服，小儿酌减。还可以丁香5-10克、肉桂4-6克、木香5-10克，研成细末，置于纱布袋里，用绷带缚在小儿脐上一夜，一般用药1-3次则见效。
此外，治麻痹性肠梗阻，用丁香30-60克，研细末，加75%酒精调和(对酒精过敏者可用开水)，敷于脐及脐周，直径约6—8厘米，用塑料薄膜覆盖，胶布或绷带固定。大多经用药1～3次，用药2小时后即可听到肠呜音，4-8小时排便、排气，效果满意。
蜂蜜是寒性的
蜂蜜的功效
蜂蜜，味甘性平，《神农本草经》：“主心腹邪气，诸惊痫痉，安五脏诸不足，益气补中，止痛解毒，除众病，和百药，久服强志轻身，不饥不老”，可见它集合了治病强身两大功用。归纳其作用为：
清热。《良疗本草》说“若觉热，四肢不和，即服蜜浆一碗，甚良”，由于蜜有养阴作用，故用于虚热者为宜。近有用于鼻炎，鼻窦炎及角膜溃疡及脸缘炎等。
补中。蜜能补养脾气，古代谓其长服能明耳目、面如花色、强志、轻身、不饥不老、适宜于虚弱之体及病后调养。故《药品化义》有：蜂蜜采百花之精，味甘主补，滋养五脏之说。
解毒。可治各种皮炎及阴道滴虫，及解乌头毒，解酒毒，现代科研认为其〈含咖啡酸〉有抗癌作用。据俄罗斯报道蜜是一种良好的口腔消毒剂。由于蜜既能解毒又能补益，古人常用其制成各种膏方。美国已用蜂蜜兑各种果汁作澄清剂，效果理想，并能保持全部的营养价值。
润燥。可治肺燥咳嗽。配生姜更佳。张锡纯认为其性“其凉滑润，为清肺润肺、利痰宁嗽之要品也”；老人津亏便结，可用此开水冲服润下。
止痛。蜜具缓急止痛作用，魏长春医师常用此配合乌梅安胃丸等冲服以治痛胆道蛔虫症、胆囊炎、胆石症等。蜜外涂还可疗烧伤，冻伤及各种外伤。
但须注意，凡痰湿较盛，脘腹胀满或肠弱泄泻者，蜂蜜则当慎用。
蜂蜜是蜜蜂采集植物花蜜或分泌物，经过充分酿造而贮藏在巢脾内的甜物质。
古代祖先早就知道蜂蜜的医疗性能，汉代已将蜂蜜列为中药上品，我国第一部医药巨著《神农本草经》中记述：“蜂蜜甘平无毒，主益气补中，久服轻身延年。”《本草纲目》所载：“蜂蜜生则性凉，故能清热，熟则性温，故能补中；甘而平和，故能解毒，柔而濡泽，故能润燥，其入药之功有五，，清热也、补中也、解毒也、润燥也、止痛也……”
现代研究表明，蜂蜜是一种营养丰富的食疗佳品。蜂蜜中含有单糖及少量的矿物质、维生素、蛋白质、有机酸、酶类等多种营养成份。临床医学证明，用蜂蜜或蜂蜜与其它药物配伍治疗各种疾病并取得良好的疗效。1．治疗肠胃道疾病 由于蜂蜜有杀菌作用，且具有调节肠胃功能，治疗胃及十二指肠溃疡有显著效果，同时蜂蜜对结肠炎、习惯性便秘、老人和孕妇便秘及儿童痢疾等都有良好的疗效；2．治疗呼吸系统疾病 临床经验表明，结核病患者服蜂蜜后，血红蛋白增加，血沉减慢，咳嗽逐渐减轻，食欲增强；3．治疗肝脏病 蜂蜜治疗肝脏病主要由于它的化学和生物学上的成份所决定，此外也用它来治胆囊病；4．治疗心脏病 主要由于蜂蜜能营养心肌和改善心肌的代谢功能，蜂蜜能扩张冠状动脉，所以它也能治疗心绞痛；5．治疗神经系统疾病；6．美容作用 蜂蜜是皮肤细胞滋生剂，外用可增加表皮细胞的活动，改善皮肤的营养状况，从而使皮肤保持自然的红润、白嫩，消除和减少皱纹，有防止皮肤衰老的特殊功效。此外，蜂蜜对皮炎手足皲裂、口腔炎、冻伤、烫伤等疾患有一定的疗效。
蜂蜜，味甘性平，《神农本草经》：“主心腹邪气，诸惊痫痉，安五脏诸不足，益气补中，止痛解毒，除众病，和百药，久服强志轻身，不饥不老”，可见它集合了治病强身两大功用。归纳其作用为：
清热。《良疗本草》说“若觉热，四肢不和，即服蜜浆一碗，甚良”，由于蜜有养阴作用，故用于虚热者为宜。近有用于鼻炎，鼻窦炎及角膜溃疡及脸缘炎等。
补中。蜜能补养脾气，古代谓其长服能明耳目、面如花色、强志、轻身、不饥不老、适宜于虚弱之体及病后调养。故《药品化义》有：蜂蜜采百花之精，味甘主补，滋养五脏之说。
解毒。可治各种皮炎及阴道滴虫，及解乌头毒，解酒毒，现代科研认为其〈含咖啡酸〉有抗癌作用。据俄罗斯报道蜜是一种良好的口腔消毒剂。由于蜜既能解毒又能补益，古人常用其制成各种膏方。美国已用蜂蜜兑各种果汁作澄清剂，效果理想，并能保持全部的营养价值。
润燥。可治肺燥咳嗽。配生姜更佳。张锡纯认为其性“其凉滑润，为清肺润肺、利痰宁嗽之要品也”；老人津亏便结，可用此开水冲服润下。
止痛。蜜具缓急止痛作用，魏长春医师常用此配合乌梅安胃丸等冲服以治痛胆道蛔虫症、胆囊炎、胆石症等。蜜外涂还可疗烧伤，冻伤及各种外伤。
但须注意，凡痰湿较盛，脘腹胀满或肠弱泄泻者，蜂蜜则当慎用。
蜂蜜是蜜蜂采集植物花蜜或分泌物，经过充分酿造而贮藏在巢脾内的甜物质。
古代祖先早就知道蜂蜜的医疗性能，汉代已将蜂蜜列为中药上品，我国第一部医药巨著《神农本草经》中记述：“蜂蜜甘平无毒，主益气补中，久服轻身延年。”《本草纲目》所载：“蜂蜜生则性凉，故能清热，熟则性温，故能补中；甘而平和，故能解毒，柔而濡泽，故能润燥，其入药之功有五，，清热也、补中也、解毒也、润燥也、止痛也……”
现代研究表明，蜂蜜是一种营养丰富的食疗佳品。蜂蜜中含有单糖及少量的矿物质、维生素、蛋白质、有机酸、酶类等多种营养成份。临床医学证明，用蜂蜜或蜂蜜与其它药物配伍治疗各种疾病并取得良好的疗效。1．治疗肠胃道疾病 由于蜂蜜有杀菌作用，且具有调节肠胃功能，治疗胃及十二指肠溃疡有显著效果，同时蜂蜜对结肠炎、习惯性便秘、老人和孕妇便秘及儿童痢疾等都有良好的疗效；2．治疗呼吸系统疾病 临床经验表明，结核病患者服蜂蜜后，血红蛋白增加，血沉减慢，咳嗽逐渐减轻，食欲增强；3．治疗肝脏病 蜂蜜治疗肝脏病主要由于它的化学和生物学上的成份所决定，此外也用它来治胆囊病；4．治疗心脏病 主要由于蜂蜜能营养心肌和改善心肌的代谢功能，蜂蜜能扩张冠状动脉，所以它也能治疗心绞痛；5．治疗神经系统疾病；6．美容作用 蜂蜜是皮肤细胞滋生剂，外用可增加表皮细胞的活动，改善皮肤的营养状况，从而使皮肤保持自然的红润、白嫩，消除和减少皱纹，有防止皮肤衰老的特殊功效。此外，蜂蜜对皮炎手足皲裂、口腔炎、冻伤、烫伤等疾患有一定的疗效。
治疗胃寒小方法
由于肠胃受寒有别于细菌感染，因此患者别自作主张吃抗生素、解痉止痛或止泻药，有时只要禁食一段时间，减轻消化道负担，等肠胃功能恢复正常即可。今介绍两则小验方。
1.二锅头白酒一两，倒在茶盅里，打一个生鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧干了，鸡蛋也熟了，早晨空腹吃，轻者吃一
两次可愈，重者三五次可愈。
注意：鸡蛋不加调料。白酒需高度的。
2.鲜姜末500克，白糖250克，腌在一起，每日三次，饭前吃，每次吃一调羹（普通汤匙），坚持吃一星期，一般就能见效。如没彻底好再继续吃，直至好为止。
另外，应忌吃油腻食物，以减轻肠胃负担。也可做一些热身运动。如跑步、俯卧撑等，可使人体内的产热量增加，增强抵御寒冷的能力。错埠岭二路大风
1.二锅头白酒一两，倒在茶盅里，打一个生鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧干了，鸡蛋也熟了，早晨空腹吃，轻者吃一
两次可愈，重者三五次可愈。
注意：鸡蛋不加调料。白酒需高度的。
2.鲜姜末500克，白糖250克，腌在一起，每日三次，饭前吃，每次吃一调羹（普通汤匙），坚持吃一星期，一般就能见效。如没彻底好再继续吃，直至好为止。
另外，应忌吃油腻食物，以减轻肠胃负担。也可做一些热身运动。如跑步、俯卧撑等，可使人体内的产热量增加，增强抵御寒冷的能力。错埠岭二路大风
治疗胃寒的几种食疗方法图
来源】 《饮膳正要》
【原料】 高良姜15克，粳米50克。
【制作】 先煎高良姜，去渣取汁，后下米煮粥。
【用法】 空腹服食。
【疗效】 温中散寒。治胃寒作痛或寒霍乱、吐泻交作、腹中疼痛等。
二、茴香狗肉汤
〖 来 源 〗： 民间药膳方
〖 原 料 〗： 大茴香10克，桂皮5克，陈皮6克，草果6克，生姜2片，狗肉250克，酱油适量，大蒜头4枚。
〖 做 法 〗： 将大回香、陈皮、桂皮、草果、生姜洗净；大茴香、桂皮、草果槌碎；大蒜头去皮；狗肉洗净，切小块，放鼎内热油炒去膻味。将全部用料放入锅内，加水适量，武火煮沸，改用文火煮至狗肉熟烂即成，饮汤吃狗肉。每天1料，分2次食完，连服5天为1疗程。
〖 功 效 〗： 温中、助阳、暖胃。用于寒胃上脘疼痛、喜热喜按、呕吐清水、神疲乏力。又可用于胃虚胃寒、平素四肢不温者。
三、其他相关食疗方
1、香花菜水煎服，治胃寒痛。
2、姜捣汁，加少量开水饮服，治胃寒呕吐。
3、龙眼核三颗，烧炭存性研末，冲热酒服，治胃寒痛。
4、治胃寒呕吐，妊娠呕吐：生姜绞汁1汤匙，砂仁5克，清水半碗，蒸半小时，去渣饮汁。每日2次。
5、公鸡一只，宰杀后去毛及内脏，党参20克，干姜6克，苹果2克，陈皮3克，桂皮3克，胡椒10粒，同煮汤食用，可治脾胃虚弱，饮食不振，虚寒胃寒，腹部隐痛等症。
6、治胃寒腹痛：狗肉250克，干姜10克，白术10克，党参30克，豆蔻仁12克，水煎去药渣，饮汁食狗肉，每日1料。
7、治胃寒痛症：芫荽1000克，浸入葡萄酒500毫升。3天后去渣饮酒，痛时服15毫升。
8、取50度以上白酒50克，倒在碗中，打一鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧完，鸡蛋也就熟了，早晨空胃吃。轻者二、三次，重者三、五次可愈。
【原料】 高良姜15克，粳米50克。
【制作】 先煎高良姜，去渣取汁，后下米煮粥。
【用法】 空腹服食。
【疗效】 温中散寒。治胃寒作痛或寒霍乱、吐泻交作、腹中疼痛等。
二、茴香狗肉汤
〖 来 源 〗： 民间药膳方
〖 原 料 〗： 大茴香10克，桂皮5克，陈皮6克，草果6克，生姜2片，狗肉250克，酱油适量，大蒜头4枚。
〖 做 法 〗： 将大回香、陈皮、桂皮、草果、生姜洗净；大茴香、桂皮、草果槌碎；大蒜头去皮；狗肉洗净，切小块，放鼎内热油炒去膻味。将全部用料放入锅内，加水适量，武火煮沸，改用文火煮至狗肉熟烂即成，饮汤吃狗肉。每天1料，分2次食完，连服5天为1疗程。
〖 功 效 〗： 温中、助阳、暖胃。用于寒胃上脘疼痛、喜热喜按、呕吐清水、神疲乏力。又可用于胃虚胃寒、平素四肢不温者。
三、其他相关食疗方
1、香花菜水煎服，治胃寒痛。
2、姜捣汁，加少量开水饮服，治胃寒呕吐。
3、龙眼核三颗，烧炭存性研末，冲热酒服，治胃寒痛。
4、治胃寒呕吐，妊娠呕吐：生姜绞汁1汤匙，砂仁5克，清水半碗，蒸半小时，去渣饮汁。每日2次。
5、公鸡一只，宰杀后去毛及内脏，党参20克，干姜6克，苹果2克，陈皮3克，桂皮3克，胡椒10粒，同煮汤食用，可治脾胃虚弱，饮食不振，虚寒胃寒，腹部隐痛等症。
6、治胃寒腹痛：狗肉250克，干姜10克，白术10克，党参30克，豆蔻仁12克，水煎去药渣，饮汁食狗肉，每日1料。
7、治胃寒痛症：芫荽1000克，浸入葡萄酒500毫升。3天后去渣饮酒，痛时服15毫升。
8、取50度以上白酒50克，倒在碗中，打一鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧完，鸡蛋也就熟了，早晨空胃吃。轻者二、三次，重者三、五次可愈。
治胃寒3法
①鲜姜、白糖治胃寒痛：鲜姜500克（细末），白糖250克，腌在一起；每日3次，饭前吃，每次吃1勺（普通汤匙）；坚持吃一星期，一般都能见效；如没彻底好，再继续吃，直至好为止。
②白酒烧鸡蛋治胃寒：二锅头白酒50克，倒在茶盅里，打1个鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧干了鸡蛋也熟了，早晨空胃吃。轻者吃一、二次可愈。注意鸡蛋不加任何调料。
③吃苹果可缓解胃酸：有的人在冬末春初，遇阴冷天或饮食不当，常泛胃酸，很难受。如果此时吃一个或半个大苹果，胃很快舒服了。
②白酒烧鸡蛋治胃寒：二锅头白酒50克，倒在茶盅里，打1个鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧干了鸡蛋也熟了，早晨空胃吃。轻者吃一、二次可愈。注意鸡蛋不加任何调料。
③吃苹果可缓解胃酸：有的人在冬末春初，遇阴冷天或饮食不当，常泛胃酸，很难受。如果此时吃一个或半个大苹果，胃很快舒服了。
怎样治疗胃寒？
一般胃寒都是因为胃部长期受凉导致的。首先要想治疗胃寒显而易见的就是从饮食上面对自己进行控制，注意自己的饮食方式，饮食节奏以及饮食质量。少吃或者禁止吃凉的食物。比如：生的瓜果，凉拌黄瓜，凉拌西红柿，各种凉拌菜等以及一些凉的水果，特别是放在冰箱里面的西瓜。
另外反之。尽量多喝热姜汤。姜汤是暖胃的良药，有条件有时间可以坚持每天晚上睡觉前喝一碗姜汤，加个鸡蛋会更好。特别是蛋清是保护胃的最好的营养物质。还有就是药物的治疗。去年冬天我胃寒总是想吐什么都吃不进去。去医院做全面检查后，医生开了这个药效果非常的好 小柴胡冲剂和温胃舒。
很便宜的药却效果很不错。其实治疗胃寒最重要最有效的就是自己的饮食习惯，自己的生活习惯。睡觉注意盖好胃部，有胃寒千万不可以吃刺激性的冷的食物，还有一点就是，尽量不要让自己饿肚子，要按时吃饭，这样可以保证自己的胃能够经常处于一种按时工作状态。再好的药物不如自己的平时饮食的注意。希望我回答的对你有帮助。
另外反之。尽量多喝热姜汤。姜汤是暖胃的良药，有条件有时间可以坚持每天晚上睡觉前喝一碗姜汤，加个鸡蛋会更好。特别是蛋清是保护胃的最好的营养物质。还有就是药物的治疗。去年冬天我胃寒总是想吐什么都吃不进去。去医院做全面检查后，医生开了这个药效果非常的好 小柴胡冲剂和温胃舒。
很便宜的药却效果很不错。其实治疗胃寒最重要最有效的就是自己的饮食习惯，自己的生活习惯。睡觉注意盖好胃部，有胃寒千万不可以吃刺激性的冷的食物，还有一点就是，尽量不要让自己饿肚子，要按时吃饭，这样可以保证自己的胃能够经常处于一种按时工作状态。再好的药物不如自己的平时饮食的注意。希望我回答的对你有帮助。
胃寒
病症名。指脾阳虚衰，过食生冷，或寒邪直中所致阴寒凝滞胃腑的病症。症见胃脘疼痛，得温痛减，呕吐清涎，口淡喜热饮，食不化，舌淡苔白滑，脉沉迟。治宜暖胃散寒。
生物信息学对于寒热的解释（别说中药不行）
“寒、热”是中医辨证“八纲”中具有代表性的两纲。近30年的寒、热证候相关研究涉及神经系统机能、神经一内分泌一免疫(NEI)、能量代谢，以及第二信使、微量元素、微循环等方面，具有较为丰富的研究积累。进一步发现寒热证候相关的“系统”在生物信息学上取得突破。寒热证候与NEI网络的不同调节模式有关，即寒证、热证在NEI背景下具有可分性。从构建基于NEI网络相互作用的中医寒、热证网络模型的，通过网络拓扑结构分析，发现寒证与激素状态有关，热证与细胞因子状态有关，寒证、热证在神经递质的相关性上无显著差异。同时，随着激素、细胞因子量的变化，寒、热证具有相互转化的趋势。我国研究者选取21种“但寒不热”的疾病(寒证相关疾病)和38种“但热不寒”的疾病(热证相关疾病)，从OMIM数据库调查其基因分布并进行NEI相关通路的统计显著性检验，发现寒证相关疾病与热证相关疾病在细胞因子通路(Pathway)上具有显著性差异，从“异病同证”的角度验证了寒证、热证的以上网络模式。通过生物信息学的进一步分析发现寒热证网络具有复杂网络的性质，即网络的功能实现依赖于部分关键节点，分别选取了寒证、热证网络的关键节点，从“同病异治”的角度，通过动物实验进行寒、热方剂的干预效应观察，结果发现寒热方剂的效应靶点与寒热证候网络的关键节点密切相关，进一步验证了寒热证的生物网络模型。以上结果综合表明，证候的形成并非单一因素作用的结果，机体生物网络的异常模式可较好地反映寒热证候的生物学基础，在治疗上提示复杂病证对于单因素刺激具有很强的耐受性，而中药方剂的协同式刺激有助于改善证候状态¨ 。该研究为中医探索寒热证候在多种具体疾病过程中的共性规律及其辨识方法提供了基础。同时，通过证候网络关键节点相互作用的量化，也可解决证候研究的预选微观指标等难题。我们的进一步工作发现，证候研究中的实测指标无统计意义，而计算模型所推导出的未测指标，则具有统计学差异，可有效反映证候的特点。这也解释了为什么以往时候在没有大量信息学工具的帮助下，往往认为中医是伪科学的原因是统计的范围一开始就选对。
胃寒呕吐
症名。因真阳不足，脾胃虚寒不能运化水谷所致的呕吐。见《症因脉治·呕吐论》。其证畏寒喜热，不思饮食，遇冷即呕，四肢清冷，二便清利，口不渴，唇不焦，食久不化，吐出不臭，脉沉迟。真阳不足者，宜八味肾气丸；脾胃虚寒者，宜理中汤、四逆汤。参见寒呕条。
胃寒恶阻
病名。恶阻证型之一。多因妇女平素脾胃虚寒，孕后胞门闭塞，脏气内阻，寒饮逆上。症见呕吐清水，倦怠畏寒，喜热饮，兼见面色苍白，肢冷倦卧。治宜温胃止呕。方用干姜人参半夏丸。
胃寒的症状表现为：常因天气变冷、感寒食冷品而引发疼痛，疼痛时伴有胃部寒凉感，得温症状减轻。
胃寒的主要病因是饮食习惯不良如饮食不节制、经常吃冷饮或冰凉的食物引起。再加上生活节奏快，精神压力大，更易导致胃病。所以需养成良好的饮食习惯，还有胃寒病人可多吃胡椒猪肚汤，生姜水。胡椒和生姜是健胃、暖胃的调味品，可以调理好胃寒的病症，恢复健康脾胃。当然，出现胃痛需警惕胃的器质性病变，最好去医院做胃镜检查。
治胃寒3法
①鲜姜、白糖治胃寒痛：鲜姜500克（细末），白糖250克，腌在一起；每日3次，饭前吃，每次吃1勺（普通汤匙）；坚持吃一星期，一般都能见效；如没彻底好，再继续吃，直至好为止。
②白酒烧鸡蛋治胃寒：二锅头白酒50克，倒在茶盅里，打1个鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧干了鸡蛋也熟了，早晨空胃吃。轻者吃一、二次可愈。注意鸡蛋不加任何调料。
③吃苹果可缓解胃酸：有的人在冬末春初，遇阴冷天或饮食不当，常泛胃酸，很难受。如果此时吃一个或半个大苹果，胃很快舒服了
寒性胃痛忌食下列食物。
猕猴桃
性寒，味甘酸。《开宝本草》中指出：“冷脾胃。”《中药大辞典》也说：“脾胃虚寒者慎服。”凡胃寒痛者当忌。
甘蔗
性寒，味甘。虽有清热生津作用，但胃寒之人则不宜食。《本草经疏》中明确告诫：“胃寒呕吐者忌之”。故凡胃痛属寒者当忌食甘蔗。
莼菜
性寒，味甘。《本草汇言》中记载：“莼菜凉胃，……不宜多食久食，恐发冷气，困脾胃，亦能损人。”《医林纂要》亦指出：“多食腹寒痛”。凡胃寒疼痛者应忌食之。
西瓜
性大凉，能清胃火。《滇南本草》说它能“治一切热症”，素有“天生白虎汤”之称。《中药大辞典》中指出：“中寒者忌服。”故寒性胃痛之人切勿食之。
茭白
俗称茭瓜，唐代著名食医孟诜曾指出：“茭白寒，性滑，发冷气，滑中，不可多食。”《本草汇言》亦说：“脾胃虚冷者勿食。”因此，寒性胃痛者宜忌之。
蚌肉
性凉，味甘咸。《食疗本草》说它“性大寒”。《本草衍义》中认为：“多食发风，动冷气。”《随息居饮食谱》亦云：“多食寒中。”寒性胃痛之人，尤当忌食。
麦门冬
性寒，故寒性胃痛者忌食。正如明·李时珍在《本草纲目》中早有告诫：“气弱胃寒者必不可饵。”
螺蛳
性大凉，寒性胃痛者切忌。《本草汇言》中早有告诫：“此物体性大寒，胃中有冷饮，不宜食之。”姚可成《食物本草》中也说：“多食令人腹痛不消。”不可不慎。田螺性同螺蛳，寒性胃痛者亦在忌食之列。
蟹
性寒，味咸，亦属大凉之物。《本草经疏》中记载：“若血因寒凝，与夫脾胃寒滑，腹痛喜热恶寒之人，咸不宜服。”《随息居饮食谱》也说“中气虚寒者均忌。”所以，寒性胃痛以及气虚胃痛之人，皆不宜食。
柿子
性大凉，味甘涩，寒性胃痛之人切忌服食。《本草经疏》中早有告诫：“……素有寒积、感寒腹痛、感寒呕吐者皆不得服。”尤其不得与螃蟹一同食用。
香蕉
性凉，味甘。明·李时珍在《本草纲目》中还说它“甘，大寒。”凡有寒性胃痛之人，均不宜服食，否则食后即感胃冷不适，甚则立即引起胃痛发作，故当忌之。
苦瓜
苦寒食品，胃寒疼痛之人法当忌食。《滇南本草》中曾说：“脾胃虚寒者，食之令人吐泻腹痛。”
梨
性凉水果，胃寒疼痛者，切忌多食。诚如《本草经疏》中告诫：“……腹痛冷积，胃冷呕吐，法咸忌之。”再如《增补食物秘书》、《饮食须知》等也都有“多食令人寒中”的记载，故胃寒痛者勿食生梨。
荸荠
甘寒之物，能清胃热，但寒性胃痛者则当忌食。正如唐代食医孟冼所说：“有冷气，不可食。”清代食医王孟英也在《随息居饮食谱》中说：“中气虚寒者忌之。”
甜瓜
俗称香瓜。性寒，味甘。《孙真人食忌》中早已告诫：“甜瓜动冷疾”。《食疗本草》中也指出：“动宿冷病”。凡平素胃寒之病者，切不可食，否则容易引起胃痛发作。
此外，寒性胃痛者还应忌食绿豆、柿饼、生番茄、竹笋、瓠子、生菜瓜、海带、生莴苣、生萝卜、生藕、生黄瓜、生地瓜、金银花、菊花、薄荷、鸭蛋、蛤蜊、蕹菜、蕺菜、地耳、豆腐、马兰头、冷茶以及各种冷饮、冰镇食品，性凉生冷的食品会使胃寒疼痛加剧。
生物信息学对于寒热的解释（别说中药不行）
“寒、热”是中医辨证“八纲”中具有代表性的两纲。近30年的寒、热证候相关研究涉及神经系统机能、神经一内分泌一免疫(NEI)、能量代谢，以及第二信使、微量元素、微循环等方面，具有较为丰富的研究积累。进一步发现寒热证候相关的“系统”在生物信息学上取得突破。寒热证候与NEI网络的不同调节模式有关，即寒证、热证在NEI背景下具有可分性。从构建基于NEI网络相互作用的中医寒、热证网络模型的，通过网络拓扑结构分析，发现寒证与激素状态有关，热证与细胞因子状态有关，寒证、热证在神经递质的相关性上无显著差异。同时，随着激素、细胞因子量的变化，寒、热证具有相互转化的趋势。我国研究者选取21种“但寒不热”的疾病(寒证相关疾病)和38种“但热不寒”的疾病(热证相关疾病)，从OMIM数据库调查其基因分布并进行NEI相关通路的统计显著性检验，发现寒证相关疾病与热证相关疾病在细胞因子通路(Pathway)上具有显著性差异，从“异病同证”的角度验证了寒证、热证的以上网络模式。通过生物信息学的进一步分析发现寒热证网络具有复杂网络的性质，即网络的功能实现依赖于部分关键节点，分别选取了寒证、热证网络的关键节点，从“同病异治”的角度，通过动物实验进行寒、热方剂的干预效应观察，结果发现寒热方剂的效应靶点与寒热证候网络的关键节点密切相关，进一步验证了寒热证的生物网络模型。以上结果综合表明，证候的形成并非单一因素作用的结果，机体生物网络的异常模式可较好地反映寒热证候的生物学基础，在治疗上提示复杂病证对于单因素刺激具有很强的耐受性，而中药方剂的协同式刺激有助于改善证候状态¨ 。该研究为中医探索寒热证候在多种具体疾病过程中的共性规律及其辨识方法提供了基础。同时，通过证候网络关键节点相互作用的量化，也可解决证候研究的预选微观指标等难题。我们的进一步工作发现，证候研究中的实测指标无统计意义，而计算模型所推导出的未测指标，则具有统计学差异，可有效反映证候的特点。这也解释了为什么以往时候在没有大量信息学工具的帮助下，往往认为中医是伪科学的原因是统计的范围一开始就选对。
胃寒呕吐
症名。因真阳不足，脾胃虚寒不能运化水谷所致的呕吐。见《症因脉治·呕吐论》。其证畏寒喜热，不思饮食，遇冷即呕，四肢清冷，二便清利，口不渴，唇不焦，食久不化，吐出不臭，脉沉迟。真阳不足者，宜八味肾气丸；脾胃虚寒者，宜理中汤、四逆汤。参见寒呕条。
胃寒恶阻
病名。恶阻证型之一。多因妇女平素脾胃虚寒，孕后胞门闭塞，脏气内阻，寒饮逆上。症见呕吐清水，倦怠畏寒，喜热饮，兼见面色苍白，肢冷倦卧。治宜温胃止呕。方用干姜人参半夏丸。
胃寒的症状表现为：常因天气变冷、感寒食冷品而引发疼痛，疼痛时伴有胃部寒凉感，得温症状减轻。
胃寒的主要病因是饮食习惯不良如饮食不节制、经常吃冷饮或冰凉的食物引起。再加上生活节奏快，精神压力大，更易导致胃病。所以需养成良好的饮食习惯，还有胃寒病人可多吃胡椒猪肚汤，生姜水。胡椒和生姜是健胃、暖胃的调味品，可以调理好胃寒的病症，恢复健康脾胃。当然，出现胃痛需警惕胃的器质性病变，最好去医院做胃镜检查。
治胃寒3法
①鲜姜、白糖治胃寒痛：鲜姜500克（细末），白糖250克，腌在一起；每日3次，饭前吃，每次吃1勺（普通汤匙）；坚持吃一星期，一般都能见效；如没彻底好，再继续吃，直至好为止。
②白酒烧鸡蛋治胃寒：二锅头白酒50克，倒在茶盅里，打1个鸡蛋，把酒点燃，酒烧干了鸡蛋也熟了，早晨空胃吃。轻者吃一、二次可愈。注意鸡蛋不加任何调料。
③吃苹果可缓解胃酸：有的人在冬末春初，遇阴冷天或饮食不当，常泛胃酸，很难受。如果此时吃一个或半个大苹果，胃很快舒服了
寒性胃痛忌食下列食物。
猕猴桃
性寒，味甘酸。《开宝本草》中指出：“冷脾胃。”《中药大辞典》也说：“脾胃虚寒者慎服。”凡胃寒痛者当忌。
甘蔗
性寒，味甘。虽有清热生津作用，但胃寒之人则不宜食。《本草经疏》中明确告诫：“胃寒呕吐者忌之”。故凡胃痛属寒者当忌食甘蔗。
莼菜
性寒，味甘。《本草汇言》中记载：“莼菜凉胃，……不宜多食久食，恐发冷气，困脾胃，亦能损人。”《医林纂要》亦指出：“多食腹寒痛”。凡胃寒疼痛者应忌食之。
西瓜
性大凉，能清胃火。《滇南本草》说它能“治一切热症”，素有“天生白虎汤”之称。《中药大辞典》中指出：“中寒者忌服。”故寒性胃痛之人切勿食之。
茭白
俗称茭瓜，唐代著名食医孟诜曾指出：“茭白寒，性滑，发冷气，滑中，不可多食。”《本草汇言》亦说：“脾胃虚冷者勿食。”因此，寒性胃痛者宜忌之。
蚌肉
性凉，味甘咸。《食疗本草》说它“性大寒”。《本草衍义》中认为：“多食发风，动冷气。”《随息居饮食谱》亦云：“多食寒中。”寒性胃痛之人，尤当忌食。
麦门冬
性寒，故寒性胃痛者忌食。正如明·李时珍在《本草纲目》中早有告诫：“气弱胃寒者必不可饵。”
螺蛳
性大凉，寒性胃痛者切忌。《本草汇言》中早有告诫：“此物体性大寒，胃中有冷饮，不宜食之。”姚可成《食物本草》中也说：“多食令人腹痛不消。”不可不慎。田螺性同螺蛳，寒性胃痛者亦在忌食之列。
蟹
性寒，味咸，亦属大凉之物。《本草经疏》中记载：“若血因寒凝，与夫脾胃寒滑，腹痛喜热恶寒之人，咸不宜服。”《随息居饮食谱》也说“中气虚寒者均忌。”所以，寒性胃痛以及气虚胃痛之人，皆不宜食。
柿子
性大凉，味甘涩，寒性胃痛之人切忌服食。《本草经疏》中早有告诫：“……素有寒积、感寒腹痛、感寒呕吐者皆不得服。”尤其不得与螃蟹一同食用。
香蕉
性凉，味甘。明·李时珍在《本草纲目》中还说它“甘，大寒。”凡有寒性胃痛之人，均不宜服食，否则食后即感胃冷不适，甚则立即引起胃痛发作，故当忌之。
苦瓜
苦寒食品，胃寒疼痛之人法当忌食。《滇南本草》中曾说：“脾胃虚寒者，食之令人吐泻腹痛。”
梨
性凉水果，胃寒疼痛者，切忌多食。诚如《本草经疏》中告诫：“……腹痛冷积，胃冷呕吐，法咸忌之。”再如《增补食物秘书》、《饮食须知》等也都有“多食令人寒中”的记载，故胃寒痛者勿食生梨。
荸荠
甘寒之物，能清胃热，但寒性胃痛者则当忌食。正如唐代食医孟冼所说：“有冷气，不可食。”清代食医王孟英也在《随息居饮食谱》中说：“中气虚寒者忌之。”
甜瓜
俗称香瓜。性寒，味甘。《孙真人食忌》中早已告诫：“甜瓜动冷疾”。《食疗本草》中也指出：“动宿冷病”。凡平素胃寒之病者，切不可食，否则容易引起胃痛发作。
此外，寒性胃痛者还应忌食绿豆、柿饼、生番茄、竹笋、瓠子、生菜瓜、海带、生莴苣、生萝卜、生藕、生黄瓜、生地瓜、金银花、菊花、薄荷、鸭蛋、蛤蜊、蕹菜、蕺菜、地耳、豆腐、马兰头、冷茶以及各种冷饮、冰镇食品，性凉生冷的食品会使胃寒疼痛加剧。
Cold and Flu: Immune Boosting Strategies
One in three Americans suffers from the common cold each year, but this year it doesn't have to be you! Fight the flu and combat your cold with these immune-boosting strategies and remedies.
Prepare for Cold Season!
The best natural protection from cold and flu is to keep your immune system going strong and to practice preventative measures. Wash your hands frequently with soap, and wash your face at least twice a day. Also, protect your upper back and neck area, because this is where most of the colds will attack the body. The activities listed below will help you build your immunity.
6 Simple Ways to Boost Your Immunity
1. Rest up.
Studies show that your immune system function drops by an average of 60% after just three nights of poor sleep, so be sure you are getting plenty of quality rest, at least eight hours each night.
2. Lessen your stress.
Keep your stress level low with meditation, tai chi or yoga.
3. Eat sweet potatoes and mushrooms.
These foods help optimize your body's immunity function. Sweet potatoes contain higher amounts of vitamin C (a famous immune support) and beta-carotene than carrots, as well as being rich in DHEA, a potent immunity booster. Certain types of mushrooms, like shitake, maitake and reishi, contain polysaccharides, sterols, coumarin, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that increase your immune function.
4. Pick potent herbs.
Eat lots of potent herbs and spices, especially garlic, ginger, cilantro, and oregano.
5. Astralagus: the immunity super herb.
Astralagus has been used in Asia to prevent cold and flu for more than 2,000 years. This herb stimulates the body's production of interferon, which is a potent immune protein that boosts your ability to fight infections and diseases.
6. Keep your middle warm.
In Chinese medicine, the abdomen is considered the storehouse of the body's energy. Keeping your abdomen warm and protected from weather extremes has immense immune benefits. A good way to replenish your energy bank is to regularly place a hot water bottle on your abdomen. Also beneficial is applying abdominal wraps soaked in rejuvenating herbal solutions, or pouches containing similar herbs.
Natural Remedies and Relief for Cold and Flu
If it's too late to prepare, and you are already suffering from the runny nose, headache and fever of cold and flu, these recommendations can help you get you back on your feet in no time!
• At the first sign of a cold attack, drink scallion and ginger tea, and lots of liquids.
• Fasting or light eating is sometimes recommended when you have a cold, so as not to detract from the body's healing by having to digest heavy foods. In general, eat as little solid food as possible to avoid burdening the immune system, but drink plenty of warm fluids such as soups, porridges and tea.
• Get plenty of rest and don't engage in exercise. When you have a cold, exercise depletes the body of qi, the vital energy needed to fight pathogens.
• Taking up to 50 milligrams of zinc a day may help reduce the symptoms of the common cold.
• It is helpful to inhale eucalyptus, oregano, and lavender, which are antibacterial, antiviral, and decongesting.
• I often recommend to my patients our Cold and Flu Formula that contains natural herbs like honeysuckle flower, burdock root, apricot seed, mulberry root and others that support healthy immune function, and comfort cold and flu symptoms. This formula is available online at askdrmao.com.
I hope you use these suggestions in times of sickness and that they serve you well. I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.
Prepare for Cold Season!
The best natural protection from cold and flu is to keep your immune system going strong and to practice preventative measures. Wash your hands frequently with soap, and wash your face at least twice a day. Also, protect your upper back and neck area, because this is where most of the colds will attack the body. The activities listed below will help you build your immunity.
6 Simple Ways to Boost Your Immunity
1. Rest up.
Studies show that your immune system function drops by an average of 60% after just three nights of poor sleep, so be sure you are getting plenty of quality rest, at least eight hours each night.
2. Lessen your stress.
Keep your stress level low with meditation, tai chi or yoga.
3. Eat sweet potatoes and mushrooms.
These foods help optimize your body's immunity function. Sweet potatoes contain higher amounts of vitamin C (a famous immune support) and beta-carotene than carrots, as well as being rich in DHEA, a potent immunity booster. Certain types of mushrooms, like shitake, maitake and reishi, contain polysaccharides, sterols, coumarin, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that increase your immune function.
4. Pick potent herbs.
Eat lots of potent herbs and spices, especially garlic, ginger, cilantro, and oregano.
5. Astralagus: the immunity super herb.
Astralagus has been used in Asia to prevent cold and flu for more than 2,000 years. This herb stimulates the body's production of interferon, which is a potent immune protein that boosts your ability to fight infections and diseases.
6. Keep your middle warm.
In Chinese medicine, the abdomen is considered the storehouse of the body's energy. Keeping your abdomen warm and protected from weather extremes has immense immune benefits. A good way to replenish your energy bank is to regularly place a hot water bottle on your abdomen. Also beneficial is applying abdominal wraps soaked in rejuvenating herbal solutions, or pouches containing similar herbs.
Natural Remedies and Relief for Cold and Flu
If it's too late to prepare, and you are already suffering from the runny nose, headache and fever of cold and flu, these recommendations can help you get you back on your feet in no time!
• At the first sign of a cold attack, drink scallion and ginger tea, and lots of liquids.
• Fasting or light eating is sometimes recommended when you have a cold, so as not to detract from the body's healing by having to digest heavy foods. In general, eat as little solid food as possible to avoid burdening the immune system, but drink plenty of warm fluids such as soups, porridges and tea.
• Get plenty of rest and don't engage in exercise. When you have a cold, exercise depletes the body of qi, the vital energy needed to fight pathogens.
• Taking up to 50 milligrams of zinc a day may help reduce the symptoms of the common cold.
• It is helpful to inhale eucalyptus, oregano, and lavender, which are antibacterial, antiviral, and decongesting.
• I often recommend to my patients our Cold and Flu Formula that contains natural herbs like honeysuckle flower, burdock root, apricot seed, mulberry root and others that support healthy immune function, and comfort cold and flu symptoms. This formula is available online at askdrmao.com.
I hope you use these suggestions in times of sickness and that they serve you well. I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.
Just can't say NO to SEX
Psychiatrists here are seeing more sex-addiction cases, mostly men. Stress can be a trigger for such urges
Just three years ago, psychiatrists here hardly saw what may be described as sex-addiction cases.
The situation today is different.
Risk group: The shy and introverted
'Often, it manifests in people with shy, introverted personalities who have social anxiety and are under some kind of stress.'
DR ANG YONG GUAN, a consultant psychiatrist at Paragon Medical
Three psychiatrists interviewed said they each see two to four cases a year, most of whom are men.
The disorder made the news last week when it was reported that Hollywood actor David Duchovny, 48, most famous for his TV series The X-Files, was seeking treatment for it.
'Before 2005, I saw zero cases. Now I see two or three cases a year,' said Dr Ang Yong Guan, a consultant psychiatrist at Paragon Medical.
Experts said sex addiction is a disorder similar to other addictions and dependencies like alcohol abuse.
There is seemingly no genetic cause for it and it may lie dormant in a person for years, only to appear when triggered by stress.
It also commonly occurs in people who are vulnerable to other addictions like drugs.
It can take several forms, ranging from a constant urge to view pornographic material to seeking out one-night stands with, say, prostitutes. Some even indulge in fetishes like sex with objects.
Although some addicts have partners, they often seek external stimulation at the expense of their relationships as they may find their partners boring.
The affliction becomes serious when one's social life or work is noticeably affected.
Several factors have contributed to the increase in the number of people being identified with sex addiction.
Dr Ken Ung, a consultant psychiatrist at Adam Road Medical Centre under the Pacific Healthcare Group, noted that the Internet has led to chatlines and easily available pornography.
Dr Adrian Wang, a consultant psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre, agreed and cited cases in which addicts were able to satisfy their urges online, from viewing pornography to contacting people for sex.
The Internet has also led to more people being caught for their addiction as partners or family members can track the addict's history of visited websites.
The experts said sex addiction is more prevalent in men and that it cuts across social classes.
Dr Ung added: 'It is seen more commonly in men as they are more open than women in dealing with their needs.'
Dr Ang said that people who have experienced abuse or neglect may be more prone to developing sex addictions.
'Often, it manifests in people with shy, introverted personalities who have social anxiety and are under some kind of stress,' he said.
Added Dr Ung: 'People with high sex drives who use sex as a way of coping with life's stresses are also more prone to addiction.'
In women, sex addiction usually takes the form of highly impulsive sexual relationships like one-night stands.
Sex addiction can lead to crimes like molestation or the stealing of fetish items like underwear.
There are various treatments, lasting from six months to a year.
Dr Ung uses a combination of medication like anti-depressants and therapy. In the latter, the patient has to imagine his arousing behaviour alongside consequences like getting caught.
'Sometimes, practical methods help. A businessman travelling often can limit the opportunity to stray by arranging to share a room with a male colleague,' he said.
Dr Wang teaches patients to focus on the negative impact of their addictions and helps them identify the trigger factors, which can be anything from low selfesteem to relationship or work stress.
It is also important to improve their sex lives with their partners, who they sometimes find sexually boring, he said.
He had a case of a young man who was addicted to seeking commercial sex but seldom had sex with his own girlfriend.
The man later learnt that sex with his girlfriend could be more satisfying if he abstained from commercial sex.
He added: 'Sex addiction is probably more prevalent than we imagine because it is less socially acceptable than addictions like drinking or gambling. People are still less likely to seek help.'
Just three years ago, psychiatrists here hardly saw what may be described as sex-addiction cases.
The situation today is different.
Risk group: The shy and introverted
'Often, it manifests in people with shy, introverted personalities who have social anxiety and are under some kind of stress.'
DR ANG YONG GUAN, a consultant psychiatrist at Paragon Medical
Three psychiatrists interviewed said they each see two to four cases a year, most of whom are men.
The disorder made the news last week when it was reported that Hollywood actor David Duchovny, 48, most famous for his TV series The X-Files, was seeking treatment for it.
'Before 2005, I saw zero cases. Now I see two or three cases a year,' said Dr Ang Yong Guan, a consultant psychiatrist at Paragon Medical.
Experts said sex addiction is a disorder similar to other addictions and dependencies like alcohol abuse.
There is seemingly no genetic cause for it and it may lie dormant in a person for years, only to appear when triggered by stress.
It also commonly occurs in people who are vulnerable to other addictions like drugs.
It can take several forms, ranging from a constant urge to view pornographic material to seeking out one-night stands with, say, prostitutes. Some even indulge in fetishes like sex with objects.
Although some addicts have partners, they often seek external stimulation at the expense of their relationships as they may find their partners boring.
The affliction becomes serious when one's social life or work is noticeably affected.
Several factors have contributed to the increase in the number of people being identified with sex addiction.
Dr Ken Ung, a consultant psychiatrist at Adam Road Medical Centre under the Pacific Healthcare Group, noted that the Internet has led to chatlines and easily available pornography.
Dr Adrian Wang, a consultant psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre, agreed and cited cases in which addicts were able to satisfy their urges online, from viewing pornography to contacting people for sex.
The Internet has also led to more people being caught for their addiction as partners or family members can track the addict's history of visited websites.
The experts said sex addiction is more prevalent in men and that it cuts across social classes.
Dr Ung added: 'It is seen more commonly in men as they are more open than women in dealing with their needs.'
Dr Ang said that people who have experienced abuse or neglect may be more prone to developing sex addictions.
'Often, it manifests in people with shy, introverted personalities who have social anxiety and are under some kind of stress,' he said.
Added Dr Ung: 'People with high sex drives who use sex as a way of coping with life's stresses are also more prone to addiction.'
In women, sex addiction usually takes the form of highly impulsive sexual relationships like one-night stands.
Sex addiction can lead to crimes like molestation or the stealing of fetish items like underwear.
There are various treatments, lasting from six months to a year.
Dr Ung uses a combination of medication like anti-depressants and therapy. In the latter, the patient has to imagine his arousing behaviour alongside consequences like getting caught.
'Sometimes, practical methods help. A businessman travelling often can limit the opportunity to stray by arranging to share a room with a male colleague,' he said.
Dr Wang teaches patients to focus on the negative impact of their addictions and helps them identify the trigger factors, which can be anything from low selfesteem to relationship or work stress.
It is also important to improve their sex lives with their partners, who they sometimes find sexually boring, he said.
He had a case of a young man who was addicted to seeking commercial sex but seldom had sex with his own girlfriend.
The man later learnt that sex with his girlfriend could be more satisfying if he abstained from commercial sex.
He added: 'Sex addiction is probably more prevalent than we imagine because it is less socially acceptable than addictions like drinking or gambling. People are still less likely to seek help.'
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Uncertainty principle
In quantum physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that locating a particle in a small region of space makes the momentum of the particle uncertain; and conversely, that measuring the momentum of a particle precisely makes the position uncertain.
In quantum mechanics, the particle is described by a wave. The position is where the wave is concentrated and the momentum, a measure of the velocity, is the wavelength. Neither the position nor the velocity is precisely defined; the position is uncertain to the degree that the wave is spread out, and the momentum is uncertain to the degree that the wavelength is ill-defined.
The only kind of wave with a definite position is concentrated at one point, and such a wave has no wavelength. Conversely, the only kind of wave with a definite wavelength is an infinite regular periodic oscillation over all space, which has no definite position. So in quantum mechanics, there are no states which describe a particle with both a definite position and a definite momentum. The narrower the probability distribution is for the position, the wider it is in momentum.
For example, the uncertainty principle requires that when the position of an atom is measured with a photon, the reflected photon will change the momentum of the atom by an uncertain amount inversely proportional to the accuracy of the position measurement. The amount of uncertainty can never be reduced below the limit set by the principle, regardless of the experimental setup.
A mathematical statement of the principle is that every quantum state has the property that the root-mean-square (RMS) deviation of the position from its mean (the standard deviation of the X-distribution):
times the RMS deviation of the momentum from its mean (the standard deviation of P):
can never be smaller than a small fixed multiple of Planck's constant:
The uncertainty principle is related to the observer effect, with which it is often conflated. In the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle is a theoretical limitation of how small this observer effect can be. Any measurement of the position with accuracy Δx collapses the quantum state making the standard deviation of the momentum Δp larger than .
While this is true in all interpretations, in many modern interpretations of quantum mechanics (many-worlds and variants), the quantum state itself is the fundamental physical quantity, not the position or momentum. Taking this perspective, while the momentum and position are still uncertain, the uncertainty is an effect caused not just by observation, but by any entanglement with the environment.
Historical Introduction
Main article: Introduction to quantum mechanics
Werner Heisenberg formulated the uncertainty principle in Niels Bohr's institute at Copenhagen, while working on the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics.
In 1925, following pioneering work with Hendrik Kramers, Heisenberg developed matrix mechanics, which replaced the ad-hoc old quantum theory with modern quantum mechanics. The central assumption was that the classical motion was not precise at the quantum level, and electrons in an atom did not travel on sharply defined orbits. Rather, the motion was smeared out in a strange way: the time Fourier transform only involving those frequencies which could be seen in quantum jumps.
Heisenberg's paper did not admit any unobservable quantities, like the exact position of the electron in an orbit at any time, he only allowed the theorist to talk about the Fourier components of the motion. Since the Fourier components were not defined at the classical frequencies, they could not be used to construct an exact trajectory, so that the formalism could not answer certain overly precise questions about where the electron was or how fast it was going.
The most striking property of Heisenberg's infinite matrices for the position and momentum is that they do not commute. His central result was the canonical commutation relation:
and this result does not have a clear physical interpretation.
In March 1926, working in Bohr's institute, Heisenberg formulated the principle of uncertainty thereby laying the foundation of what became known as the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg showed that the commutation relations implies an uncertainty, or in Bohr's language a complementarity. Any two variables which do not commute cannot be measured simultaneously — the more precisely one is known, the less precisely the other can be known.
One way to understand the complementarity between position and momentum is by wave-particle duality. If a particle described by a plane wave passes through a narrow slit in a wall, like a water-wave passing through a narrow channel the particle will diffract, and its wave will come out in a range of angles. The narrower the slit, the wider the diffracted wave and the greater the uncertainty in momentum afterwards. The laws of diffraction require that the spread in angle Δθ is about λ / d, where d is the slit width and λ is the wavelength. From de Broglie's relation, the size of the slit and the range in momentum of the diffracted wave are related by Heisenberg's rule:
In his celebrated paper (1927), Heisenberg established this expression as the minimum amount of unavoidable momentum disturbance caused by any position measurement[1], but he did not give a precise definition for the uncertainties Δx and Δp. Instead, he gave some plausible estimates in each case separately. In his Chicago lecture[2] he refined his principle:
(1)
But it was Kennard[3] in 1927 who first proved the modern inequality
(2)
where , and σx, σp are the standard deviations of position and momentum. Heisenberg himself only proved relation (2) for the special case of Gaussian states.[2].
[edit] Uncertainty principle and observer effect
The uncertainty principle is often explained as the statement that the measurement of position necessarily disturbs a particle's momentum, and vice versa—i.e., that the uncertainty principle is a manifestation of the observer effect.
This explanation is sometimes misleading in a modern context, because it makes it seem that the disturbances are somehow conceptually avoidable--- that there are states of the particle with definite position and momentum, but the experimental devices we have today are just not good enough to produce those states. In fact, states with both definite position and momentum just do not exist in quantum mechanics, so it is not the measurement equipment that is at fault.
It is also misleading in another way, because sometimes it is a failure to measure the particle that produces the disturbance. For example, if a perfect photographic film contains a small hole, and an incident photon is not observed, then its momentum becomes uncertain by a large amount. By not observing the photon, we discover that it went through the hole, revealing the photons position.
It is misleading in yet another way, because sometimes the measurement can be performed far away. If two photons are emitted in opposite directions from the decay of positronium, the momentum of the two photons is opposite. By measuring the momentum of one particle, the momentum of the other is determined. This case is subtler, because it is impossible to introduce more uncertainties by measuring a distant particle, but it is possible to restrict the uncertainties in different ways, with different statistical properties, depending on what property of the distant particle you choose to measure. By restricting the uncertainty in p to be very small by a distant measurement, the remaining uncertainty in x stays large.
But Heisenberg did not focus on the mathematics of quantum mechanics, he was primarily concerned with establishing that the uncertainty is actually a property of the world--- that it is in fact physically impossible to measure the position and momentum of a particle to a precision better than that allowed by quantum mechanics. To do this, he used physical arguments based on the existence of quanta, but not the full quantum mechanical formalism.
The reason is that this was a surprising prediction of quantum mechanics, which was not yet accepted. Many people would have considered it a flaw that there are no states of definite position and momentum. Heisenberg was trying to show that this was not a bug, but a feature--- a deep, surprising aspect of the universe. In order to do this, he could not just use the mathematical formalism, because it was the mathematical formalism itself that he was trying to justify.
[edit] Heisenberg's microscope
Heisenberg's gamma-ray microscope for locating an electron (shown in blue). The incoming gamma ray (shown in green) is scattered by the electron up into the microscope's aperture angle θ. The scattered gamma-ray is shown in red. Classical optics shows that the electron position can be resolved only up to an uncertainty Δx that depends on θ and the wavelength λ of the incoming light.Main article: Heisenberg's microscope
One way in which Heisenberg originally argued for the uncertainty principle is by using an imaginary microscope as a measuring device [2] he imagines an experimenter trying to measure the position and momentum of an electron by shooting a photon at it.
If the photon has a short wavelength, and therefore a large momentum, the position can be measured accurately. But the photon will be scattered in a random direction, transferring a large and uncertain amount of momentum to the electron. If the photon has a long wavelength and low momentum, the collision will not disturb the electron's momentum very much, but the scattering will reveal its position only vaguely.
If a large aperture is used for the microscope, the electron's location can be well resolved (see Rayleigh criterion); but by the principle of conservation of momentum, the transverse momentum of the incoming photon and hence the new momentum of the electron will be poorly resolved. If a small aperture is used, the accuracy of the two resolutions is the other way around.
The trade-offs imply that no matter what photon wavelength and aperture size are used, the product of the uncertainty in measured position and measured momentum is greater than or equal to a lower bound, which is up to a small numerical factor equal to Planck's constant.[4] Heisenberg did not care to formulate the uncertainty principle as an exact bound, and preferred to use it as a heuristic quantitative statement, correct up to small numerical factors.
[edit] Critical reactions
The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle were seen as twin targets by detractors who believed in an underlying determinism and realism. Within the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, there is no fundamental reality which the quantum state is describing, just a prescription for calculating experimental results. There is no way to say what the state of a system fundamentally is, only what the result of observations might be.
Albert Einstein believed that randomness is a reflection of our ignorance of some fundamental property of reality, while Niels Bohr believed that the probability distributions are fundamental and irreducible, and depend on which measurements we choose to perform. Einstein and Bohr debated the uncertainty principle for many years.
[edit] Einstein's Slit
The first of Einstein's thought experiment challenging the uncertainty principle went as follows:
Consider a particle passing through a slit of width d. The slit introduces an uncertainty in momentum of approximately h/d because the particle passes through the wall. But let us determine the momentum of the particle by measuring the recoil of the wall. In doing so, we will find the momentum of the particle to arbitrary accuracy by conservation of momentum.
Bohr's response was that the wall is quantum mechanical as well, and that to measure the recoil to accuracy ΔP the momentum of the wall must be known to this accuracy before the particle passes through. This introduces an uncertainty in the position of the wall and therefore the position of the slit equal to h / ΔP, and if the wall's momentum is known precisely enough to measure the recoil, the slit's position is uncertain enough to disallow a position measurement.
[edit] Einstein's Box
Another of Einstein's thought experiments was designed to challenge the time/energy uncertainty principle. It is very similar to the slit experiment in space, except here the narrow window through which the particle passes is in time:
Consider a box filled with light. The box has a shutter, which opens and quickly closes by a clock at a precise time, and some of the light escapes. We can set the clock so that the time that the energy escapes is known. To measure the amount of energy that leaves, Einstein proposed weighing the box just after the emission. The missing energy will lessen the weight of the box. If the box is mounted on a scale, it is naively possible to adjust the parameters so that the uncertainty principle is violated.
Bohr spent a day considering this setup, but eventually realized that if the energy of the box is precisely known, the time at which the shutter opens is uncertain. In the case that the scale and the box are placed in a gravitational field, then in some cases it is the uncertainty of the position of the clock in the gravitational field that will alter the ticking rate, and this can introduce the right amount of uncertainty. This was ironic, because it was Einstein himself who first discovered gravity's effect on clocks.
[edit] EPR Measurements
Bohr was compelled to modify his understanding of the uncertainty principle after another thought experiment by Einstein. In 1935, Einstein, Podolski and Rosen published an analysis of widely separated entangled particles. Measuring one particle, Einstein realized, would alter the probability distribution of the other, yet here the other particle could not possibly be disturbed. This example led Bohr to revise his understanding of the principle, concluding that the uncertainty was not caused by a direct interaction.[5].
But Einstein came to much more far reaching conclusions from the same thought experiment. He felt that a complete description of reality would have to predict the results of experiments from locally changing deterministic quantities, and therefore would have to include more information than the maximum possible allowed by the uncertainty principle.
In 1964 John Bell showed that this assumption can be tested, since it implies a certain inequality between the probability of different experiments. Experimental results confirm the predictions of quantum mechanics, ruling out local hidden variables.
While it is possible to assume that quantum mechanical predictions are due to nonlocal hidden variables, in fact David Bohm invented such a formulation, this is not a satisfactory resolution for the vast majority of physicists. The question of whether a random outcome is predetermined by a nonlocal theory can be philosophical, and potentially intractable. If the hidden variables are not constrained, they could just be a list of random digits that are used to produce the measurement outcomes. To make it sensible, the assumption of nonlocal hidden variables is sometimes augmented by a second assumption--- that the size of the observable universe puts a limit on the computations that these variables can do. A nonlocal theory of this sort predicts that a quantum computer will encounter fundamental obstacles when it tries to factor numbers of approximately 10000 digits or more, an achievable task in quantum mechanics [6].
[edit] Popper's criticism
Karl Popper criticized Heisenberg's form of the uncertainty principle, that a measurement of position disturbs the momentum, based on the following observation: if a particle with definite momentum passes through a narrow slit, the diffracted wave has some amplitude to go in the original direction of motion. If the momentum of the particle is measured after it goes through the slit, there is always some probability, however small, that the momentum will be the same as it was before.
Popper thinks of these rare events as falsifications of the uncertainty principle in Heisenberg's original formulation. In order to preserve the principle, he concludes that Heisenberg's relation does not apply to individual particles or measurements, but only to many many identically prepared particles, to ensembles. Popper's criticism applies to nearly all probabilistic theories, since a probabilistic statement requires many measurements to either verify or falsify.
Popper's criticism does not trouble physicists. Popper's presumption is that the measurement is revealing some preexisting information about the particle, the momentum, which the particle already possesses. In the quantum mechanical description the wavefunction is not a reflection of ignorance about the values of some more fundamental quantities, it is the complete description of the state of the particle. In this philosophical view, the Copenhagen interpretation, Popper's example is not a falsification, since after the particle diffracts through the slit and before the momentum is measured, the wavefunction is changed so that the momentum is still as uncertain as the principle demands.
[edit] Refinements
[edit] Everett's uncertainty principle
While formulating the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics in 1957, Hugh Everett III discovered a much stronger formulation of the uncertainty principle [7]. In the inequality of standard deviations, some states, like the wavefunction:
have a large standard deviations of position, but are actually a superposition of a small number of very narrow bumps. In this case, the momentum uncertainty is much larger than the standard deviation inequality would suggest. A better inequality uses the Shannon information content of the distribution, a measure of the number of bits which are learned when a random variable described by a probability distribution is found to have a certain value.
The interpretation of I is that the number of bits of information an observer acquires when the value of x is given to accuracy ε is equal to Ix + log2(ε). The second part is just the number of bits past the decimal point, the first part is a logarithmic measure of the width of the distribution. For a uniform distribution of width Δx the information content is log2Δx. This quantity can be negative, which means that the distribution is narrower than one unit, so that learning the first few bits past the decimal point gives no information since they are not uncertain.
Taking the logarithm of Heisenberg's formulation of uncertainty in natural units.
but the lower bound is not precise.
Everett conjectured that for all quantum states:
Ix + Ip > log2(eπ).
He did not prove this, but he showed that Gaussian states are minima in function space for the left hand side, and that they saturate the inequality. Similar relations with less restrictive right hand sides were rigorously proven many decades later.
[edit] Derivations
When linear operators A and B act on a function ψ(x), they don't always commute. A clear example is when operator B multiplies by x, while operator A takes the derivative with respect to x. Then
which in operator language means that
This example is important, because it is very close to the canonical commutation relation of quantum mechanics. There, the position operator multiplies the value of the wavefunction by x, while the corresponding momentum operator differentiates and multiplies by , so that:
It is the nonzero commutator that implies the uncertainty.
For any two operators A and B:
which is a statement of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for the inner product of the two vectors and . The expectation value of the product AB is greater than the magnitude of its imaginary part:
and putting the two inequalities together for Hermitian operators gives a form of the Robertson-Schrödinger relation:
and the uncertainty principle is a special case.
[edit] Physical interpretation
The inequality above acquires its physical interpretation:
where
is the mean of observable X in the state ψ and
is the standard deviation of observable X in the system state ψ.
by substituting for A and for B in the general operator norm inequality, since the imaginary part of the product, the commutator, is unaffected by the shift:
The big side of the inequality is the product of the norms of and , which in quantum mechanics are the standard deviations of A and B. The small side is the norm of the commutator, which for the position and momentum is just .
[edit] Matrix mechanics
In matrix mechanics, the commutator of the matrices X and P is always nonzero, it is a constant multiple of the identity matrix. This means that it is impossible for a state to have a definite values x for X and p for P, since then XP would be equal to the number xp and would equal PX.
The commutator of two matrices is unchanged when they are shifted by a constant multiple of the identity--- for any two real numbers x and p
Given any quantum state ψ, define the number x
to be the expected value of the position, and
to be the expected value of the momentum. The quantities and are only nonzero to the extent that the position and momentum are uncertain, to the extent that the state contains some values of X and P which deviate from the mean. The expected value of the commutator
can only be nonzero if the deviations in X in the state times the deviations in P are large enough.
The size of the typical matrix elements can be estimated by summing the squares over the energy states :
and this is equal to the square of the deviation, matrix elements have a size approximately given by the deviation.
So in order to produce the canonical commutation relations, the product of the deviations in any state has to be about .
This heuristic estimate can be made into a precise inequality using the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality, exactly as before. The inner product of the two vectors in parentheses:
is bounded above by the product of the lengths of each vector:
so, rigorously, for any state:
the real part of a matrix M is , so that the real part of the product of two Hermitian matrices is:
while the imaginary part is
The magnitude of is bigger than the magnitude of its imaginary part, which is the expected value of the imaginary part of the matrix:
Note that the uncertainty product is for the same reason bounded below by the expected value of the anticommutator, which adds a term to the uncertainty relation. The extra term is not as useful for the uncertainty of position and momentum, because it has zero expected value in a gaussian wavepacket, like the ground state of a harmonic oscillator. The anticommutator term is useful for bounding the uncertainty of spin operators though.
[edit] Wave mechanics
In Schrödinger's wave mechanics The quantum mechanical wavefunction contains information about both the position and the momentum of the particle. The position of the particle is where the wave is concentrated, while the momentum is the typical wavelength.
The wavelength of a localized wave cannot be determined very well. If the wave extends over a region of size L and the wavelength is approximately λ, the number of cycles in the region is approximately L / λ. The inverse of the wavelength can be changed by about 1 / L without changing the number of cycles in the region by a full unit, and this is approximately the uncertainty in the inverse of the wavelength,
This is an exact counterpart to a well known result in signal processing --- the shorter a pulse in time, the less well defined the frequency. The width of a pulse in frequency space is inversely proportional to the width in time. It is a fundamental result in Fourier analysis, the narrower the peak of a function, the broader the Fourier transform.
Multiplying by h, and identifying ΔP = hΔ(1 / λ), and identifying ΔX = L.
The uncertainty Principle can be seen as a theorem in Fourier analysis: the standard deviation of the squared absolute value of a function, times the standard deviation of the squared absolute value of its Fourier transform, is at least 1/(16π²) (Folland and Sitaram, Theorem 1.1).
An instructive example is the (unnormalized) gaussian wave-function
The expectation value of X is zero by symmetry, and so the variance is found by averaging X2 over all positions with the weight ψ(x)2, careful to divide by the normalization factor.
The fourier transform of the gaussian is the wavefunction in k-space, where k is the wavenumber and is related to the momentum by DeBroglie's relation :
The last integral does not depend on p, because there is a continuous change of variables which removes the dependence, and this deformation of the integration path in the complex plane does not pass any singularities. So up to normalization, the answer is again a Gaussian.
The width of the distribution in k is found in the same way as before, and the answer just flips A to 1/A.
so that for this example
which shows that the uncertainty relation inequality is tight. There are wavefunctions which saturate the bound.
[edit] Robertson-Schrödinger relation
Given any two Hermitian operators A and B, and a system in the state ψ, there are probability distributions for the value of a measurement of A and B, with standard deviations ΔψA and ΔψB. Then
where [A,B] = AB - BA is the commutator of A and B, {A,B}= AB+BA is the anticommutator, and is the expectation value. This inequality is called the Robertson-Schrödinger relation, and includes the Heisenberg uncertainty principle as a special case. The inequality with the commutator term only was developed in 1930 by Howard Percy Robertson, and Erwin Schrödinger added the anticommutator term a little later.
[edit] Other uncertainty principles
The Robertson Schrödinger relation gives the uncertainty relation for any two observables that do not commute:
There is an uncertainty relation between the position and momentum of an object:
between the energy and position of a particle in a one-dimensional potential V(x):
between angular position and angular momentum of an object with small angular uncertainty:[8]
between two orthogonal components of the total angular momentum operator of an object:
where i, j, k are distinct and Ji denotes angular momentum along the xi axis.
between the number of electrons in a superconductor and the phase of its Ginzburg-Landau order parameter[9][10]
[edit] Energy-time uncertainty principle
One well-known uncertainty relation is not an obvious consequence of the Robertson-Schrödinger relation: the energy-time uncertainty principle.
Since energy bears the same relation to time as momentum does to space in special relativity, it was clear to many early founders, Niels Bohr among them, that the following relation holds:
,
but it was not obvious what Δt is, because the time at which the particle has a given state is not an operator belonging to the particle, it is a parameter describing the evolution of the system. As Lev Landau once joked "To violate the time-energy uncertainty relation all I have to do is measure the energy very precisely and then look at my watch!"
Nevertheless, Einstein and Bohr understood the heuristic meaning of the principle. A state which only exists for a short time cannot have a definite energy. In order to have a definite energy, the frequency of the state needs to be accurately defined, and this requires the state to hang around for many cycles, the reciprocal of the required accuracy.
For example, in spectroscopy, excited states have a finite lifetime. By the time-energy uncertainty principle, they do not have a definite energy, and each time they decay the energy they release is slightly different. The average energy of the outgoing photon has a peak at the theoretical energy of the state, but the distribution has a finite width called the natural linewidth. Fast-decaying states have a broad linewidth, while slow decaying states have a narrow linewidth.
The broad linewidth of fast decaying states makes it difficult to accurately measure the energy of the state, and researchers have even used microwave cavities to slow down the decay-rate, to get sharper peaks [11]. The same linewidth effect also makes it difficult to measure the rest mass of fast decaying particles in particle physics. The faster the particle decays, the less certain is its mass.
One false formulation of the energy-time uncertainty principle says that measuring the energy of a quantum system to an accuracy ΔE requires a time interval Δt > h / ΔE. This formulation is similar to the one alluded to in Landau's joke, and was explicitly invalidated by Y. Aharonov and D. Bohm in 1961. The time Δt in the uncertainty relation is the time during which the system exists unperturbed, not the time during which the experimental equipment is turned on.
In 1936, Dirac offered a precise definition and derivation of the time-energy uncertainty relation, in a relativistic quantum theory of "events". In this formulation, particles followed a trajectory in space time, and each particle's trajectory was parametrized independently by a different proper time. The many-times formulation of quantum mechanics is mathematically equivalent to the standard formulations, but it was in a form more suited for relativistic generalization. It was the inspiration for Shin-Ichiro Tomonaga's to covariant perturbation theory for quantum electrodynamics.
But a better-known, more widely-used formulation of the time-energy uncertainty principle was given only in 1945 by L. I. Mandelshtam and I. E. Tamm, as follows.[12] For a quantum system in a non-stationary state and an observable B represented by a self-adjoint operator , the following formula holds:
,
where ΔψE is the standard deviation of the energy operator in the state , ΔψB stands for the standard deviation of the operator and is the expectation value of in that state. Although, the second factor in the left-hand side has dimension of time, it is different from the time parameter that enters Schrödinger equation. It is a lifetime of the state with respect to the observable B. In other words, this is the time after which the expectation value changes appreciably.
[edit] Popular culture
The uncertainty principle appears in popular culture in many places, although it is sometimes stated imprecisely, or as a stand-in for the observer effect:
In the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the fictional transporters used to "beam" characters to different locations overcame the sampling limitations due to the Uncertainty Principle with the use of "Heisenberg compensators." When asked, "How do the Heisenberg compensators work?" by Time magazine on 28 November 1994, Michael Okuda, technical advisor on Star Trek, famously responded, "They work just fine, thank you."[13]
In The Luck of the Fryrish episode of the animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama the Professor loses at the horse track when his horse is narrowly beat out in a "quantum finish". He complains, "No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!", conflating the Uncertainty principle with the observer effect.
In the well known joke: "Heisenberg is pulled over by a policeman whilst driving down a motorway, the policeman gets out of his car, walks towards Heisenberg's window and motions with his hand for Heisenberg to wind the window down, which he does. The policeman then says ‘Do you know what speed you were driving at sir?’, to which Heisenberg responds ‘No, but I knew exactly where I was.’"
In the 1997 film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, chaostician Ian Malcolm claims that the effort "to observe and document, not interact" with the dinosaurs is a scientific impossibility because of "the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, whatever you study, you also change." This conflates the uncertainty principle with the observer effect.
The Michael Frayn play Copenhagen (1998) highlights some of the processes that went into the formation of the Uncertainty Principle. The play dramatizes the meetings between Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr. It highlights, as well, the discussion of the work that both did on nuclear bombs - Heisenberg for Germany and Bohr for the United States and allied forces.
In an episode of the television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Meatwad (who was temporarily made into a genius) tries to explain (albeit incorrectly) Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle to Frylock to explain his new found intelligence. "Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle tells us that at a specific curvature of space, knowledge can be transferred into energy, or — and this is key now — matter."
In an episode of Stargate SG-1, Samantha Carter explains, using the Uncertainty Principle, that the future is not predetermined, that one can only calculate possibilities.
On the television show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" in the episode Living Doll, Gil Grissom says that he lives "by the uncertainty principle. The mere act of observing a phenomenon changes its nature" again conflating it with the observer effect.
In Episode 16 (No Need for Hiding) of the English-dubbed version of the Japanese anime Tenchi Universe, Washu gives a rapid explanation of the Uncertainty Principle while singing karaoke.
The French electronic music group Télépopmusik recorded a song called "dp.dq>=h/4pi" for their album Genetic World (2001).
In the webcomic Questionable Content, Pintsize tries to explain his lateness using relativity and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
In 2008 Thinkgeek, the geek culture ecommerce site, sold a t-shirt saying "I am uncertain about quantum mechanics".
In quantum mechanics, the particle is described by a wave. The position is where the wave is concentrated and the momentum, a measure of the velocity, is the wavelength. Neither the position nor the velocity is precisely defined; the position is uncertain to the degree that the wave is spread out, and the momentum is uncertain to the degree that the wavelength is ill-defined.
The only kind of wave with a definite position is concentrated at one point, and such a wave has no wavelength. Conversely, the only kind of wave with a definite wavelength is an infinite regular periodic oscillation over all space, which has no definite position. So in quantum mechanics, there are no states which describe a particle with both a definite position and a definite momentum. The narrower the probability distribution is for the position, the wider it is in momentum.
For example, the uncertainty principle requires that when the position of an atom is measured with a photon, the reflected photon will change the momentum of the atom by an uncertain amount inversely proportional to the accuracy of the position measurement. The amount of uncertainty can never be reduced below the limit set by the principle, regardless of the experimental setup.
A mathematical statement of the principle is that every quantum state has the property that the root-mean-square (RMS) deviation of the position from its mean (the standard deviation of the X-distribution):
times the RMS deviation of the momentum from its mean (the standard deviation of P):
can never be smaller than a small fixed multiple of Planck's constant:
The uncertainty principle is related to the observer effect, with which it is often conflated. In the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle is a theoretical limitation of how small this observer effect can be. Any measurement of the position with accuracy Δx collapses the quantum state making the standard deviation of the momentum Δp larger than .
While this is true in all interpretations, in many modern interpretations of quantum mechanics (many-worlds and variants), the quantum state itself is the fundamental physical quantity, not the position or momentum. Taking this perspective, while the momentum and position are still uncertain, the uncertainty is an effect caused not just by observation, but by any entanglement with the environment.
Historical Introduction
Main article: Introduction to quantum mechanics
Werner Heisenberg formulated the uncertainty principle in Niels Bohr's institute at Copenhagen, while working on the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics.
In 1925, following pioneering work with Hendrik Kramers, Heisenberg developed matrix mechanics, which replaced the ad-hoc old quantum theory with modern quantum mechanics. The central assumption was that the classical motion was not precise at the quantum level, and electrons in an atom did not travel on sharply defined orbits. Rather, the motion was smeared out in a strange way: the time Fourier transform only involving those frequencies which could be seen in quantum jumps.
Heisenberg's paper did not admit any unobservable quantities, like the exact position of the electron in an orbit at any time, he only allowed the theorist to talk about the Fourier components of the motion. Since the Fourier components were not defined at the classical frequencies, they could not be used to construct an exact trajectory, so that the formalism could not answer certain overly precise questions about where the electron was or how fast it was going.
The most striking property of Heisenberg's infinite matrices for the position and momentum is that they do not commute. His central result was the canonical commutation relation:
and this result does not have a clear physical interpretation.
In March 1926, working in Bohr's institute, Heisenberg formulated the principle of uncertainty thereby laying the foundation of what became known as the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg showed that the commutation relations implies an uncertainty, or in Bohr's language a complementarity. Any two variables which do not commute cannot be measured simultaneously — the more precisely one is known, the less precisely the other can be known.
One way to understand the complementarity between position and momentum is by wave-particle duality. If a particle described by a plane wave passes through a narrow slit in a wall, like a water-wave passing through a narrow channel the particle will diffract, and its wave will come out in a range of angles. The narrower the slit, the wider the diffracted wave and the greater the uncertainty in momentum afterwards. The laws of diffraction require that the spread in angle Δθ is about λ / d, where d is the slit width and λ is the wavelength. From de Broglie's relation, the size of the slit and the range in momentum of the diffracted wave are related by Heisenberg's rule:
In his celebrated paper (1927), Heisenberg established this expression as the minimum amount of unavoidable momentum disturbance caused by any position measurement[1], but he did not give a precise definition for the uncertainties Δx and Δp. Instead, he gave some plausible estimates in each case separately. In his Chicago lecture[2] he refined his principle:
(1)
But it was Kennard[3] in 1927 who first proved the modern inequality
(2)
where , and σx, σp are the standard deviations of position and momentum. Heisenberg himself only proved relation (2) for the special case of Gaussian states.[2].
[edit] Uncertainty principle and observer effect
The uncertainty principle is often explained as the statement that the measurement of position necessarily disturbs a particle's momentum, and vice versa—i.e., that the uncertainty principle is a manifestation of the observer effect.
This explanation is sometimes misleading in a modern context, because it makes it seem that the disturbances are somehow conceptually avoidable--- that there are states of the particle with definite position and momentum, but the experimental devices we have today are just not good enough to produce those states. In fact, states with both definite position and momentum just do not exist in quantum mechanics, so it is not the measurement equipment that is at fault.
It is also misleading in another way, because sometimes it is a failure to measure the particle that produces the disturbance. For example, if a perfect photographic film contains a small hole, and an incident photon is not observed, then its momentum becomes uncertain by a large amount. By not observing the photon, we discover that it went through the hole, revealing the photons position.
It is misleading in yet another way, because sometimes the measurement can be performed far away. If two photons are emitted in opposite directions from the decay of positronium, the momentum of the two photons is opposite. By measuring the momentum of one particle, the momentum of the other is determined. This case is subtler, because it is impossible to introduce more uncertainties by measuring a distant particle, but it is possible to restrict the uncertainties in different ways, with different statistical properties, depending on what property of the distant particle you choose to measure. By restricting the uncertainty in p to be very small by a distant measurement, the remaining uncertainty in x stays large.
But Heisenberg did not focus on the mathematics of quantum mechanics, he was primarily concerned with establishing that the uncertainty is actually a property of the world--- that it is in fact physically impossible to measure the position and momentum of a particle to a precision better than that allowed by quantum mechanics. To do this, he used physical arguments based on the existence of quanta, but not the full quantum mechanical formalism.
The reason is that this was a surprising prediction of quantum mechanics, which was not yet accepted. Many people would have considered it a flaw that there are no states of definite position and momentum. Heisenberg was trying to show that this was not a bug, but a feature--- a deep, surprising aspect of the universe. In order to do this, he could not just use the mathematical formalism, because it was the mathematical formalism itself that he was trying to justify.
[edit] Heisenberg's microscope
Heisenberg's gamma-ray microscope for locating an electron (shown in blue). The incoming gamma ray (shown in green) is scattered by the electron up into the microscope's aperture angle θ. The scattered gamma-ray is shown in red. Classical optics shows that the electron position can be resolved only up to an uncertainty Δx that depends on θ and the wavelength λ of the incoming light.Main article: Heisenberg's microscope
One way in which Heisenberg originally argued for the uncertainty principle is by using an imaginary microscope as a measuring device [2] he imagines an experimenter trying to measure the position and momentum of an electron by shooting a photon at it.
If the photon has a short wavelength, and therefore a large momentum, the position can be measured accurately. But the photon will be scattered in a random direction, transferring a large and uncertain amount of momentum to the electron. If the photon has a long wavelength and low momentum, the collision will not disturb the electron's momentum very much, but the scattering will reveal its position only vaguely.
If a large aperture is used for the microscope, the electron's location can be well resolved (see Rayleigh criterion); but by the principle of conservation of momentum, the transverse momentum of the incoming photon and hence the new momentum of the electron will be poorly resolved. If a small aperture is used, the accuracy of the two resolutions is the other way around.
The trade-offs imply that no matter what photon wavelength and aperture size are used, the product of the uncertainty in measured position and measured momentum is greater than or equal to a lower bound, which is up to a small numerical factor equal to Planck's constant.[4] Heisenberg did not care to formulate the uncertainty principle as an exact bound, and preferred to use it as a heuristic quantitative statement, correct up to small numerical factors.
[edit] Critical reactions
The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle were seen as twin targets by detractors who believed in an underlying determinism and realism. Within the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, there is no fundamental reality which the quantum state is describing, just a prescription for calculating experimental results. There is no way to say what the state of a system fundamentally is, only what the result of observations might be.
Albert Einstein believed that randomness is a reflection of our ignorance of some fundamental property of reality, while Niels Bohr believed that the probability distributions are fundamental and irreducible, and depend on which measurements we choose to perform. Einstein and Bohr debated the uncertainty principle for many years.
[edit] Einstein's Slit
The first of Einstein's thought experiment challenging the uncertainty principle went as follows:
Consider a particle passing through a slit of width d. The slit introduces an uncertainty in momentum of approximately h/d because the particle passes through the wall. But let us determine the momentum of the particle by measuring the recoil of the wall. In doing so, we will find the momentum of the particle to arbitrary accuracy by conservation of momentum.
Bohr's response was that the wall is quantum mechanical as well, and that to measure the recoil to accuracy ΔP the momentum of the wall must be known to this accuracy before the particle passes through. This introduces an uncertainty in the position of the wall and therefore the position of the slit equal to h / ΔP, and if the wall's momentum is known precisely enough to measure the recoil, the slit's position is uncertain enough to disallow a position measurement.
[edit] Einstein's Box
Another of Einstein's thought experiments was designed to challenge the time/energy uncertainty principle. It is very similar to the slit experiment in space, except here the narrow window through which the particle passes is in time:
Consider a box filled with light. The box has a shutter, which opens and quickly closes by a clock at a precise time, and some of the light escapes. We can set the clock so that the time that the energy escapes is known. To measure the amount of energy that leaves, Einstein proposed weighing the box just after the emission. The missing energy will lessen the weight of the box. If the box is mounted on a scale, it is naively possible to adjust the parameters so that the uncertainty principle is violated.
Bohr spent a day considering this setup, but eventually realized that if the energy of the box is precisely known, the time at which the shutter opens is uncertain. In the case that the scale and the box are placed in a gravitational field, then in some cases it is the uncertainty of the position of the clock in the gravitational field that will alter the ticking rate, and this can introduce the right amount of uncertainty. This was ironic, because it was Einstein himself who first discovered gravity's effect on clocks.
[edit] EPR Measurements
Bohr was compelled to modify his understanding of the uncertainty principle after another thought experiment by Einstein. In 1935, Einstein, Podolski and Rosen published an analysis of widely separated entangled particles. Measuring one particle, Einstein realized, would alter the probability distribution of the other, yet here the other particle could not possibly be disturbed. This example led Bohr to revise his understanding of the principle, concluding that the uncertainty was not caused by a direct interaction.[5].
But Einstein came to much more far reaching conclusions from the same thought experiment. He felt that a complete description of reality would have to predict the results of experiments from locally changing deterministic quantities, and therefore would have to include more information than the maximum possible allowed by the uncertainty principle.
In 1964 John Bell showed that this assumption can be tested, since it implies a certain inequality between the probability of different experiments. Experimental results confirm the predictions of quantum mechanics, ruling out local hidden variables.
While it is possible to assume that quantum mechanical predictions are due to nonlocal hidden variables, in fact David Bohm invented such a formulation, this is not a satisfactory resolution for the vast majority of physicists. The question of whether a random outcome is predetermined by a nonlocal theory can be philosophical, and potentially intractable. If the hidden variables are not constrained, they could just be a list of random digits that are used to produce the measurement outcomes. To make it sensible, the assumption of nonlocal hidden variables is sometimes augmented by a second assumption--- that the size of the observable universe puts a limit on the computations that these variables can do. A nonlocal theory of this sort predicts that a quantum computer will encounter fundamental obstacles when it tries to factor numbers of approximately 10000 digits or more, an achievable task in quantum mechanics [6].
[edit] Popper's criticism
Karl Popper criticized Heisenberg's form of the uncertainty principle, that a measurement of position disturbs the momentum, based on the following observation: if a particle with definite momentum passes through a narrow slit, the diffracted wave has some amplitude to go in the original direction of motion. If the momentum of the particle is measured after it goes through the slit, there is always some probability, however small, that the momentum will be the same as it was before.
Popper thinks of these rare events as falsifications of the uncertainty principle in Heisenberg's original formulation. In order to preserve the principle, he concludes that Heisenberg's relation does not apply to individual particles or measurements, but only to many many identically prepared particles, to ensembles. Popper's criticism applies to nearly all probabilistic theories, since a probabilistic statement requires many measurements to either verify or falsify.
Popper's criticism does not trouble physicists. Popper's presumption is that the measurement is revealing some preexisting information about the particle, the momentum, which the particle already possesses. In the quantum mechanical description the wavefunction is not a reflection of ignorance about the values of some more fundamental quantities, it is the complete description of the state of the particle. In this philosophical view, the Copenhagen interpretation, Popper's example is not a falsification, since after the particle diffracts through the slit and before the momentum is measured, the wavefunction is changed so that the momentum is still as uncertain as the principle demands.
[edit] Refinements
[edit] Everett's uncertainty principle
While formulating the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics in 1957, Hugh Everett III discovered a much stronger formulation of the uncertainty principle [7]. In the inequality of standard deviations, some states, like the wavefunction:
have a large standard deviations of position, but are actually a superposition of a small number of very narrow bumps. In this case, the momentum uncertainty is much larger than the standard deviation inequality would suggest. A better inequality uses the Shannon information content of the distribution, a measure of the number of bits which are learned when a random variable described by a probability distribution is found to have a certain value.
The interpretation of I is that the number of bits of information an observer acquires when the value of x is given to accuracy ε is equal to Ix + log2(ε). The second part is just the number of bits past the decimal point, the first part is a logarithmic measure of the width of the distribution. For a uniform distribution of width Δx the information content is log2Δx. This quantity can be negative, which means that the distribution is narrower than one unit, so that learning the first few bits past the decimal point gives no information since they are not uncertain.
Taking the logarithm of Heisenberg's formulation of uncertainty in natural units.
but the lower bound is not precise.
Everett conjectured that for all quantum states:
Ix + Ip > log2(eπ).
He did not prove this, but he showed that Gaussian states are minima in function space for the left hand side, and that they saturate the inequality. Similar relations with less restrictive right hand sides were rigorously proven many decades later.
[edit] Derivations
When linear operators A and B act on a function ψ(x), they don't always commute. A clear example is when operator B multiplies by x, while operator A takes the derivative with respect to x. Then
which in operator language means that
This example is important, because it is very close to the canonical commutation relation of quantum mechanics. There, the position operator multiplies the value of the wavefunction by x, while the corresponding momentum operator differentiates and multiplies by , so that:
It is the nonzero commutator that implies the uncertainty.
For any two operators A and B:
which is a statement of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for the inner product of the two vectors and . The expectation value of the product AB is greater than the magnitude of its imaginary part:
and putting the two inequalities together for Hermitian operators gives a form of the Robertson-Schrödinger relation:
and the uncertainty principle is a special case.
[edit] Physical interpretation
The inequality above acquires its physical interpretation:
where
is the mean of observable X in the state ψ and
is the standard deviation of observable X in the system state ψ.
by substituting for A and for B in the general operator norm inequality, since the imaginary part of the product, the commutator, is unaffected by the shift:
The big side of the inequality is the product of the norms of and , which in quantum mechanics are the standard deviations of A and B. The small side is the norm of the commutator, which for the position and momentum is just .
[edit] Matrix mechanics
In matrix mechanics, the commutator of the matrices X and P is always nonzero, it is a constant multiple of the identity matrix. This means that it is impossible for a state to have a definite values x for X and p for P, since then XP would be equal to the number xp and would equal PX.
The commutator of two matrices is unchanged when they are shifted by a constant multiple of the identity--- for any two real numbers x and p
Given any quantum state ψ, define the number x
to be the expected value of the position, and
to be the expected value of the momentum. The quantities and are only nonzero to the extent that the position and momentum are uncertain, to the extent that the state contains some values of X and P which deviate from the mean. The expected value of the commutator
can only be nonzero if the deviations in X in the state times the deviations in P are large enough.
The size of the typical matrix elements can be estimated by summing the squares over the energy states :
and this is equal to the square of the deviation, matrix elements have a size approximately given by the deviation.
So in order to produce the canonical commutation relations, the product of the deviations in any state has to be about .
This heuristic estimate can be made into a precise inequality using the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality, exactly as before. The inner product of the two vectors in parentheses:
is bounded above by the product of the lengths of each vector:
so, rigorously, for any state:
the real part of a matrix M is , so that the real part of the product of two Hermitian matrices is:
while the imaginary part is
The magnitude of is bigger than the magnitude of its imaginary part, which is the expected value of the imaginary part of the matrix:
Note that the uncertainty product is for the same reason bounded below by the expected value of the anticommutator, which adds a term to the uncertainty relation. The extra term is not as useful for the uncertainty of position and momentum, because it has zero expected value in a gaussian wavepacket, like the ground state of a harmonic oscillator. The anticommutator term is useful for bounding the uncertainty of spin operators though.
[edit] Wave mechanics
In Schrödinger's wave mechanics The quantum mechanical wavefunction contains information about both the position and the momentum of the particle. The position of the particle is where the wave is concentrated, while the momentum is the typical wavelength.
The wavelength of a localized wave cannot be determined very well. If the wave extends over a region of size L and the wavelength is approximately λ, the number of cycles in the region is approximately L / λ. The inverse of the wavelength can be changed by about 1 / L without changing the number of cycles in the region by a full unit, and this is approximately the uncertainty in the inverse of the wavelength,
This is an exact counterpart to a well known result in signal processing --- the shorter a pulse in time, the less well defined the frequency. The width of a pulse in frequency space is inversely proportional to the width in time. It is a fundamental result in Fourier analysis, the narrower the peak of a function, the broader the Fourier transform.
Multiplying by h, and identifying ΔP = hΔ(1 / λ), and identifying ΔX = L.
The uncertainty Principle can be seen as a theorem in Fourier analysis: the standard deviation of the squared absolute value of a function, times the standard deviation of the squared absolute value of its Fourier transform, is at least 1/(16π²) (Folland and Sitaram, Theorem 1.1).
An instructive example is the (unnormalized) gaussian wave-function
The expectation value of X is zero by symmetry, and so the variance is found by averaging X2 over all positions with the weight ψ(x)2, careful to divide by the normalization factor.
The fourier transform of the gaussian is the wavefunction in k-space, where k is the wavenumber and is related to the momentum by DeBroglie's relation :
The last integral does not depend on p, because there is a continuous change of variables which removes the dependence, and this deformation of the integration path in the complex plane does not pass any singularities. So up to normalization, the answer is again a Gaussian.
The width of the distribution in k is found in the same way as before, and the answer just flips A to 1/A.
so that for this example
which shows that the uncertainty relation inequality is tight. There are wavefunctions which saturate the bound.
[edit] Robertson-Schrödinger relation
Given any two Hermitian operators A and B, and a system in the state ψ, there are probability distributions for the value of a measurement of A and B, with standard deviations ΔψA and ΔψB. Then
where [A,B] = AB - BA is the commutator of A and B, {A,B}= AB+BA is the anticommutator, and is the expectation value. This inequality is called the Robertson-Schrödinger relation, and includes the Heisenberg uncertainty principle as a special case. The inequality with the commutator term only was developed in 1930 by Howard Percy Robertson, and Erwin Schrödinger added the anticommutator term a little later.
[edit] Other uncertainty principles
The Robertson Schrödinger relation gives the uncertainty relation for any two observables that do not commute:
There is an uncertainty relation between the position and momentum of an object:
between the energy and position of a particle in a one-dimensional potential V(x):
between angular position and angular momentum of an object with small angular uncertainty:[8]
between two orthogonal components of the total angular momentum operator of an object:
where i, j, k are distinct and Ji denotes angular momentum along the xi axis.
between the number of electrons in a superconductor and the phase of its Ginzburg-Landau order parameter[9][10]
[edit] Energy-time uncertainty principle
One well-known uncertainty relation is not an obvious consequence of the Robertson-Schrödinger relation: the energy-time uncertainty principle.
Since energy bears the same relation to time as momentum does to space in special relativity, it was clear to many early founders, Niels Bohr among them, that the following relation holds:
,
but it was not obvious what Δt is, because the time at which the particle has a given state is not an operator belonging to the particle, it is a parameter describing the evolution of the system. As Lev Landau once joked "To violate the time-energy uncertainty relation all I have to do is measure the energy very precisely and then look at my watch!"
Nevertheless, Einstein and Bohr understood the heuristic meaning of the principle. A state which only exists for a short time cannot have a definite energy. In order to have a definite energy, the frequency of the state needs to be accurately defined, and this requires the state to hang around for many cycles, the reciprocal of the required accuracy.
For example, in spectroscopy, excited states have a finite lifetime. By the time-energy uncertainty principle, they do not have a definite energy, and each time they decay the energy they release is slightly different. The average energy of the outgoing photon has a peak at the theoretical energy of the state, but the distribution has a finite width called the natural linewidth. Fast-decaying states have a broad linewidth, while slow decaying states have a narrow linewidth.
The broad linewidth of fast decaying states makes it difficult to accurately measure the energy of the state, and researchers have even used microwave cavities to slow down the decay-rate, to get sharper peaks [11]. The same linewidth effect also makes it difficult to measure the rest mass of fast decaying particles in particle physics. The faster the particle decays, the less certain is its mass.
One false formulation of the energy-time uncertainty principle says that measuring the energy of a quantum system to an accuracy ΔE requires a time interval Δt > h / ΔE. This formulation is similar to the one alluded to in Landau's joke, and was explicitly invalidated by Y. Aharonov and D. Bohm in 1961. The time Δt in the uncertainty relation is the time during which the system exists unperturbed, not the time during which the experimental equipment is turned on.
In 1936, Dirac offered a precise definition and derivation of the time-energy uncertainty relation, in a relativistic quantum theory of "events". In this formulation, particles followed a trajectory in space time, and each particle's trajectory was parametrized independently by a different proper time. The many-times formulation of quantum mechanics is mathematically equivalent to the standard formulations, but it was in a form more suited for relativistic generalization. It was the inspiration for Shin-Ichiro Tomonaga's to covariant perturbation theory for quantum electrodynamics.
But a better-known, more widely-used formulation of the time-energy uncertainty principle was given only in 1945 by L. I. Mandelshtam and I. E. Tamm, as follows.[12] For a quantum system in a non-stationary state and an observable B represented by a self-adjoint operator , the following formula holds:
,
where ΔψE is the standard deviation of the energy operator in the state , ΔψB stands for the standard deviation of the operator and is the expectation value of in that state. Although, the second factor in the left-hand side has dimension of time, it is different from the time parameter that enters Schrödinger equation. It is a lifetime of the state with respect to the observable B. In other words, this is the time after which the expectation value changes appreciably.
[edit] Popular culture
The uncertainty principle appears in popular culture in many places, although it is sometimes stated imprecisely, or as a stand-in for the observer effect:
In the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the fictional transporters used to "beam" characters to different locations overcame the sampling limitations due to the Uncertainty Principle with the use of "Heisenberg compensators." When asked, "How do the Heisenberg compensators work?" by Time magazine on 28 November 1994, Michael Okuda, technical advisor on Star Trek, famously responded, "They work just fine, thank you."[13]
In The Luck of the Fryrish episode of the animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama the Professor loses at the horse track when his horse is narrowly beat out in a "quantum finish". He complains, "No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!", conflating the Uncertainty principle with the observer effect.
In the well known joke: "Heisenberg is pulled over by a policeman whilst driving down a motorway, the policeman gets out of his car, walks towards Heisenberg's window and motions with his hand for Heisenberg to wind the window down, which he does. The policeman then says ‘Do you know what speed you were driving at sir?’, to which Heisenberg responds ‘No, but I knew exactly where I was.’"
In the 1997 film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, chaostician Ian Malcolm claims that the effort "to observe and document, not interact" with the dinosaurs is a scientific impossibility because of "the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, whatever you study, you also change." This conflates the uncertainty principle with the observer effect.
The Michael Frayn play Copenhagen (1998) highlights some of the processes that went into the formation of the Uncertainty Principle. The play dramatizes the meetings between Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr. It highlights, as well, the discussion of the work that both did on nuclear bombs - Heisenberg for Germany and Bohr for the United States and allied forces.
In an episode of the television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Meatwad (who was temporarily made into a genius) tries to explain (albeit incorrectly) Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle to Frylock to explain his new found intelligence. "Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle tells us that at a specific curvature of space, knowledge can be transferred into energy, or — and this is key now — matter."
In an episode of Stargate SG-1, Samantha Carter explains, using the Uncertainty Principle, that the future is not predetermined, that one can only calculate possibilities.
On the television show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" in the episode Living Doll, Gil Grissom says that he lives "by the uncertainty principle. The mere act of observing a phenomenon changes its nature" again conflating it with the observer effect.
In Episode 16 (No Need for Hiding) of the English-dubbed version of the Japanese anime Tenchi Universe, Washu gives a rapid explanation of the Uncertainty Principle while singing karaoke.
The French electronic music group Télépopmusik recorded a song called "dp.dq>=h/4pi" for their album Genetic World (2001).
In the webcomic Questionable Content, Pintsize tries to explain his lateness using relativity and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
In 2008 Thinkgeek, the geek culture ecommerce site, sold a t-shirt saying "I am uncertain about quantum mechanics".
Monday, September 1, 2008
Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt (April 2, 1725 – June 4, 1798) was a Venetian adventurer and author. His main book Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life), part autobiography and part memoir, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century.
So famous a womanizer was he that his name remains synonymous with the art of seduction and he is sometimes called "the world's greatest lover". He enjoyed the company of European royalty, popes and cardinals, along with men such as Voltaire, Goethe and Mozart; but if he had not been obliged to spend some years as a librarian in the household of Count Waldstein of Bohemia (where he relieved his boredom by writing the story of his life), he would probably be forgotten today.
Youth
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725 to actress Zanetta Farussi, wife of actor and dancer Gaetano Giuseppe Casanova. Giacomo was the first of six children, being followed by Giovanni Alvise (1730–1795), Faustina Maddalena (1731–1736), Maria Maddalena Antonia Stella (1732–1800), Gaetano Alvise (1734–1783), and Francesco (1737–1803). Because of his mother's profession, it is suspected that some or all of these were fathered by men other than her husband. Casanova himself suspected his biological father to have been Michele Grimani, a member of the patrician family that owned the San Samuele theatre where Zanetta and Gaetano had worked. Lending support to this, Grimani’s brother Abbé Alvise Grimani, became Casanova’s guardian. In his memoirs, however, Casanova provides an elaborate paternal genealogy to explain his birth, beginning in Spain in 1428.
The Republic of Venice during Casanova’s time was past its peak as a naval and commercial power. Instead Venice thrived as ‘the’ pleasure capital of Europe, ruled by political and religious conservatives who tolerated social vices and encouraged tourism. It was a required stop on the Grand Tour, traveled by young men coming of age, especially Englishmen. The famed Carnival, gambling houses, and beautiful courtesans were powerful drawing cards. This was the milieu that bred Casanova and made him its most famous and representative citizen.
Casanova was cared for by his grandmother Marzia Baldissera while his mother toured about Europe in the theater. His father died when he was eight. As a child, Casanova suffered nosebleeds, and his grandmother sought help from a witch: “Leaving the gondola, we enter a hovel, where we find an old woman sitting on a pallet, with a black cat in her arms and five or six others around her.” Though the unguent applied was ineffective, Casanova was fascinated by the incantation. Perhaps to remedy the nosebleeds (a physician blamed the density of Venice’s air), Casanova, on his ninth birthday, was sent to a boarding house on the mainland in Padua. For Casanova, the neglect by his parents was a bitter memory. “So they got rid of me,” he proclaimed flatly.
Conditions at the boarding house were appalling so he appealed to be placed under the care of Abbé Gozzi, his primary instructor, who tutored him in academic subjects as well as the violin. Casanova moved in with the priest and his family and lived there through most of his teenage years. It was also in the Gozzi household that Casanova first came into contact with the opposite sex, when Gozzi’s younger sister Bettina fondled him at the age of eleven. Bettina was “pretty, lighthearted, and a great reader of romances. … The girl pleased me at once, though I had no idea why. It was she who little by little kindled in my heart the first sparks of a feeling which later became my ruling passion.” Although she subsequently married, Casanova maintained a life-long attachment to Bettina and the Gozzi family.
Early on, Casanova demonstrated a quick wit, an intense appetite for knowledge, and a perpetually inquisitive mind. He entered the University of Padua at twelve and graduated at seventeen, in 1742, with a degree in law (“for which I felt an unconquerable aversion”). It was his guardian’s hope that he would become an ecclesiastical lawyer. Casanova had also studied moral philosophy, chemistry, and mathematics, and was keenly interested in medicine. (“I should have been allowed to do as I wished and become a physician, in which profession quackery, is even more effective than it is in legal practice.” He frequently prescribed his own treatments for himself and friends. While attending the university, Casanova began to gamble and quickly got into debt, causing his recall to Venice by his grandmother, but the gambling habit became firmly established.
Back in Venice, Casanova started his clerical law career and was admitted as an abbé after being conferred minor orders by the Patriarch of Venice. He shuttled back and forth to Padua to continue his university studies. By now, he had become something of a dandy—tall and dark, his long hair powdered, scented, and elaborately curled. He quickly ingratiated himself with a patron (something he was to do all his life), 76-year-old Venetian senator Alvise Gasparo Malipiero, the owner of Palazzo Malipiero, close to Casanova’s home in Venice. Malipiero moved in the best circles and taught young Casanova a great deal about good food and wine, and how to behave in society. When Casanova was caught dallying with Malipero’s intended object of seduction, actress Teresa Imer, however, the senator drove both of them from his house.[17] Casanova’s growing curiosity about women led to his first complete sexual experience, with two sisters Naneeta and Maria Savorgnan, then fourteen and sixteen, who were distant relatives of the Grimanis. Casanova proclaimed that his life avocation was firmly established by this encounter.
Early careers in Italy
Scandals tainted Casanova’s short church career. After his grandmother’s death, Casanova entered a seminary for a short while, but soon his indebtedness landed him in prison for the first time. An attempt by his mother to secure him a position with bishop Bernardo de Bernardis was rejected by Casanova. Instead, he found employment as a scribe with the powerful Cardinal Acquaviva in Rome. On meeting the Pope, Casanova boldly asked for a dispensation to read the “forbidden books” and from eating fish (which he claimed inflamed his eyes). He also composed love letters for another cardinal. But when Casanova became the scapegoat for a scandal involving a local pair of star-crossed lovers, Cardinal Acquaviva dismissed Casanova, thanking him for his sacrifice, but effectively ending his church career.
In search of a new profession, Casanova bought a commission to become a military officer for the Republic of Venice. His first step was to look the part:
Reflecting that there was now little likelihood of my achieving fortune in my ecclesiastical career, I decided to dress as a soldier … I inquire for a good tailor … he brings me everything I need to impersonate a follower of Mars. … My uniform was white, with a blue vest, a shoulder knot of silver and gold… I bought a long sword, and with my handsome cane in hand, a trim hat with a black cockade, with my hair cut in side whiskers and a long false pigtail, I set forth to impress the whole city.[21]
He went to Corfu, after which he was stationed for a short period in Constantinople.[22] He found his advancement too slow and his duty boring, and he managed to lose most of his pay playing faro. Casanova soon abandoned his military career and returned to Venice.
At the age of 21, he set out to become a professional gambler but losing all his remaining money, he turned to Grimani for a job. Casanova thus began his third career, as a violinist in the San Samuele theater, “a menial journeyman of a sublime art in which, if he who excels is admired, the mediocrity is rightly despised. … My profession was not a noble one, but I did not care. Calling everything prejudice, I soon acquired all the habits of my degraded fellow musicians.”[23] He and some of his fellows, “often spent our nights roaming through different quarters of the city, thinking up the most scandalous practical jokes and putting them into execution … we amused ourselves by untying the gondolas moored before private homes, which then drifted with the current”. They also sent midwives and physicians on false calls.[24]
Unhappy with his lot as a musician, good fortune came to the rescue when Casanova saved the life of a Venetian nobleman of the Bragadin family, who had a stroke while riding with Casanova in a gondola after a wedding ball. They immediately stopped to have the senator bled. Then, at the senator’s palace, a physician bled the senator again and applied an ointment of mercury to the senator’s chest (mercury was an all-purpose but toxic remedy of the time). A priest was called as death seemed to be approaching. Casanova, however, took charge and taking responsibility for a change in treatment, under protest from the attending physician, ordered the removal of the ointment and the senator recovered with rest and a sensible diet.[25] Because of his youth and his facile recitation of medical knowledge, the senator and his two bachelor friends thought Casanova wise beyond his years, and concluded that he must be in possession of occult knowledge. Being cabalists themselves, the senator invited Casanova into his household and he became a life-long patron.[26]
Casanova stated in his memoirs:
I took the most creditable, the noblest, and the only natural course. I decided to put myself in a position where I need no longer go without the necessities of life: and what those necessities were for me no one could judge better than me.… No one in Venice could understand how an intimacy could exist between myself and three men of their character, they all heaven and I all earth; they most severe in their morals, and I addicted to every kind of dissolute living.[27]
For the next three years under the senator’s patronage, working nominally as a legal assistant, Casanova led the life of a nobleman, dressed magnificently, and as was natural to him, spending most of his time gambling and engaging in amorous pursuits. His patron was exceedingly tolerant, but he warned Casanova that some day he would pay the price; “I made a joke of his dire Prophecies and went my way.” However, not much later, Casanova was forced to leave Venice, due to further scandals. Casanova had dug up a freshly buried corpse in order to play a practical joke and exact revenge—but the victim went into a paralysis, never to recover. And in another scandal, a young girl who had duped him accused him of rape and went to the officials.
Portrait of Casanova by Pietro LonghiEscaping to Parma, Casanova entered into a three-month affair with a Frenchwoman he named “Henriette”, perhaps the deepest love he ever experienced—a woman who combined beauty, intelligence, and culture. In his words, “They who believe that a woman is incapable of making a man equally happy all the twenty-four hours of the day have never known an Henriette. The joy which flooded my soul was far greater when I conversed with her during the day than when I held her in my arms at night. Having read a great deal and having natural taste, Henriette judged rightly of everything.” She also judged Casanova astutely. As noted Casanovist J. Rives Childs wrote:
Perhaps no woman so captivated Casanova as Henriette; few women obtained so deep an understanding of him. She penetrated his outward shell early in their relationship, resisting the temptation to unite her destiny with his. She came to discern his volatile nature, his lack of social background, and the precariousness of his finances. Before leaving, she slipped into his pocket five hundred louis, mark of her evaluation of him.
The Grand Tour
Crestfallen and despondent, Casanova returned to Venice, and after a good gambling streak, he recovered and set off on a Grand Tour, reaching Paris in 1750.[32] Along the way, from one town to another, he got into sexual escapades resembling operatic plots.[33] In Lyon, he entered the society of Freemasonry, which appealed to his interest in secret rites and which, for the most part, attracted men of intellect and influence who proved useful in his life, providing valuable contacts and uncensored knowledge. Many famous 18th Century men were Masons including Mozart and George Washington. Casanova was also attracted to Rosicrucianism.[34]
Casanova stayed in Paris for two years, learned the language, spent much time at the theater, and introduced himself to notables. Soon, however, his numerous liaisons were noted by the Paris police, as they were in nearly every city he visited.[35]
He moved on to Dresden in 1752 and encountered his mother. He wrote a well-received play La Moluccheide, now lost.[36] He then visited Prague, and Vienna, where the tighter moral atmosphere was not to his liking. He finally returned to Venice in 1753.[37] In Venice, Casanova resumed his wicked escapades, picking up many enemies, and gaining the greater attention of the Venetian inquisitors. His police record became a lengthening list of reported blasphemies, seductions, fights, and public controversy.[38] A state spy, Giovanni Manucci, was employed to draw out Casanova’s knowledge of cabalism and Freemasonry, and to examine his library for forbidden books. Senator Bragadin, in total seriousness this time (being formerly an inquisitor himself), advised his “son” to leave immediately or face the stiffest consequences.
Imprisonment and escape
The following day, at age thirty, Casanova was arrested: “The Tribunal, having taken cognizance of the grave faults committed by G. Casanova primarily in public outrages against the holy religion, their Excellencies have caused him to be arrested and imprisoned under the Leads.”[39] “The Leads” was the famous prison attached to the Doge's palace, across the Bridge of Sighs, named for the thick lead plates on the roof. Without a trial, Casanova was sentenced to five years in the “unescapable” prison.
At first, he was placed in solitary confinement. Over months, he was given reading matter, better food, and even an armchair, all provided by his patron. During walks he was granted in the prison attic, he found pieces of marble and an iron bar which he secreted back to his cell and hid in his chair. When he was absent temporary cell-mates, he turned the bar into a spike through a month of sharpening. Then he began to dig in the floor, realizing that his cell was just above the Inquisitor’s chamber.[41] Just three days before his intended escape during a festival (when no one would be in the chamber below), Casanova was moved to a “better” cell (with a view), despite his protests that he was perfectly happy where he was. In his new cell, “I sat in my armchair like a man in a stupor; motionless as a statue, I saw that I had wasted all the efforts I had made, and I could not repent of them. I felt that I had nothing to hope for, and the only relief left to me was not to think of the future.”
Overcoming his inertia, Casanova set upon another escape plan. He solicited the help of the prisoner in the adjacent cell, Father Balbi, a renegade priest. The spike was passed to the priest in a heaping plate of pasta carried on top of a Bible by the hoodwinked jailer. The priest made a hole in his ceiling then climbed across and made a hole in the ceiling of Casanova’s cell. To neutralize his new cell-mate, who was a spy, Casanova played on his superstitions and terrorized him into silence.[43] When Balbi broke through to Casanova’s cell, Casanova lifted himself through the ceiling. He left behind a note with the motto “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord”.[44]
The spy remained behind, too frightened of the consequences if he would be caught escaping with the others. Casanova and Balbi pried their way through the lead plates and onto the sloping roof of the Doge’s Palace, with a heavy fog swirling. The drop to the nearby canal being too great, Casanova pried open the grate over a dormer window, and broke the window to gain entry. They found a long ladder on the roof, and with the additional use of ropes, lowered themselves into the room whose floor was twenty-five feet below. They rested until morning, changed clothes then broke a small lock on an exit door and passed into palace corridor, through galleries and chambers, down stairs, and out a final door. It was six in the morning and they escaped by gondola. Eventually, Casanova reached Paris, where he arrived on the same day (January 5, 1757) that Robert-François Damiens made an attempt on the life of Louis XV.
Skeptics contend that Casanova’s tale of escape is implausible, and that he simply bribed his way to freedom with the help of his patron. However, some physical evidence does exist in the state records, including repairs to the cell ceilings. Thirty years later in 1787, Casanova wrote Story of My Flight, which was very popular and was reprinted in many languages, and he repeated the tale a little later in his memoirs.
Return to Paris
He knew his stay in Paris might be a long one and he proceeded accordingly: “I saw that to accomplish anything I must bring all my physical and moral faculties in play, make the acquaintance of the great and the powerful, exercise strict self-control, and play the chameleon.”[47] Casanova had matured, and this time in Paris, though still depending at times on quick thinking and decisive action, he was more calculating and deliberate. His first task was to find a new patron. He reconnected with old friend de Bernis, now the Foreign Minister of France. Casanova was advised by his patron to find a means of raising funds for the state as a way to gain instant favor. Casanova promptly became one of the trustees of the first state lottery, and one of its best ticket salesmen. The enterprise earned him a large fortune quickly.[48] With money in hand, he traveled in high circles and undertook new seductions. He duped many socialites with his occultism, particularly the Marquess Jeanne d'Urfé, using his excellent memory which made him appear to have a sorcerer’s power of numerology. In Casanova’s view, “deceiving a fool is an exploit worthy of an intelligent man”.
Casanova claimed to be a Rosicrucian and an alchemist, aptitudes which made him popular with some of the most prominent figures of the era, among them Madame de Pompadour, Count de Saint-Germain, d'Alembert and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. So popular was alchemy among the nobles, particularly the search for the “philosopher’s stone”, that Casanova was highly sought after for his supposed knowledge, and he profited handsomely. He met his match, however, in the Count de Saint-Germain: “This very singular man, born to be the most barefaced of all imposters, declared with impunity, with a casual air, that he was three hundred years old, that he possessed the universal medicine, that he made anything he liked from nature, that he created diamonds.”
De Bernis decided to send Casanova to Dunkirk on his first spying mission. Casanova was paid well for his quick work and this experience prompted one of his few remarks against the ancien régime and the class he was dependent on. He remarked in hindsight, “All the French ministers are the same. They lavished money which came out of the other people’s pockets to enrich their creatures, and they were absolute: The down-trodden people counted for nothing, and, through this, the indebtedness of the State and the confusion of finances were the inevitable results. A Revolution was necessary.”
As the Seven Years War began, Casanova was again called to help increase the state treasury. He was entrusted with a mission of selling state bonds in Amsterdam, Holland being the financial center of Europe at the time.[53] He succeeded to sell the bonds at only an 8% discount, and the following year was rich enough to found a silk manufactory with his earnings. The French government even offered him a title and a pension if he would become a French citizen and work on behalf of the Finance Ministry, but he declined, perhaps because it would impede his wanderlust.[54] Casanova had reached his peak of fortune but could not sustain it. He ran the business poorly, borrowed heavily trying to save it, and spent much of his wealth on constant liaisons with his female workers who were his “harem”.[55]
For his debts, Casanova was imprisoned again, this time at Fort-l'Éveque, but was liberated four days afterwards, upon the insistence of the Marquess d'Urfé. Unfortunately, though he was released, his patron de Bernis was dismissed by Louis XV at that time and Casanova’s enemies closed in on him. He sold the rest of his belongings and acquired another mission to Holland to distance himself from his troubles.
On the run
This time, however, his mission failed and he fled to Cologne, then Stuttgart in the spring of 1760, where he lost the rest of his fortune. He was yet again arrested for his debts, but managed to escape to Switzerland. Weary of his wanton life, Casanova visited the monastery of Einsiedeln and considered the simple, scholarly life of a monk. He returned to his hotel to think on the decision only to encounter a new object of desire, and reverting to his old instincts, all thoughts of a monk’s life were quickly forgotten.[57] Moving on, he visited Albrecht von Haller and Voltaire, and arrived in Marseille, then Genoa, Florence, Rome, Naples, Modena, and Turin, moving from one sexual romp to another.[58]
In 1760, Casanova started styling himself the Chevalier de Seingalt, a name he would increasingly use for the rest of his life. On occasion, he would also call himself Count de Farussi (using his mother's maiden name) and when Pope Clement XIII presented Casanova with the Papal Order of the Éperon d'Òr, he had an impressive cross and ribbon to display on his chest.
Back in Paris, he set about one of his most outrageous schemes—convincing his old dupe the Marquess d'Urfé that he could turn her into a young man through occult means. The plan did not yield Casanova the big payoff he had hoped for, and the Marquess d'Urfé finally lost faith in him.
Casanova traveled to England in 1763, hoping to sell his idea of a state lottery to English officials. He wrote of the English, “the people have a special character, common to the whole nation, which makes them think they are superior to everyone else. It is a belief shared by all nations, each thinking itself the best. And they are all right.”[61] Through his connections, he worked his way up to an audience with King George III, using most of the valuables he had stolen from the Marquess d'Urfé. While working the political angles, he also spent much time in the bedroom, as was his habit. As a means to find females for his pleasure, not being able to speak English, he put an advertisement in the newspaper to let an apartment to the “right” person. He interviewed many young women, choosing one “Mistress Pauline” who suited him well. Soon, he established himself in her apartment and seduced her. These and other liaisons, however, left him weak with venereal disease and he left England broke and ill.
He went on to Belgium, recovered, and then for the next three years,travelled all over Europe, covering about 4,500 miles by coach over rough roads, and going as far as Moscow (the average daily coach trip being about 30 miles in a day). Again, his principal goal was to sell his lottery scheme to other governments and repeat the great success he had with the French government. But a meeting with Frederick the Great bore no fruit and in the surrounding German lands, the same result. Not lacking either connections or confidence, Casanova went to Russia and met with Catherine the Great but she flatly turned down the lottery idea.
In 1766, he was expelled from Warsaw following a pistol duel with Count Colonel Franciszek Ksawery Branicki over an Italian actress, a lady friend of theirs. Both duelists were wounded, Casanova on the left hand. The hand recovered on its own, after Casanova refused the recommendation of doctors that it be amputated.[64] Other stops failed to gain any takers for the lottery. He returned to Paris for several months in 1767 and hit the gambling salons, only to be expelled from France by order of Louis XV himself, primarily for Casanova’s scam involving the Marquess d'Urfé.[65] Now known across Europe for his reckless behavior, Casanova would have difficulty overcoming his notoriety and gaining any fortune. So he headed for Spain, where he was not as well known. He tried his usual approach, leaning on well-placed contacts (often Freemasons), wining and dining with nobles of influence, and finally arranging an audience with the local monarch, in this case Charles III. But when no doors opened for him, however, he could only roam across Spain, with little to show for it. In Barcelona, he escaped assassination and landed in jail for six weeks. His Spanish adventure a failure, he returned to France briefly, then to Italy.[66]
Return to Venice
In Rome, Casanova had to prepare a way for his return to Venice. While waiting for supporters to gain him legal entry into Venice, Casanova began his modern Tuscan-Italian translation of the Iliad, his History of the Troubles in Poland, and a comic play. To ingratiate himself with the Venetian authorities, Casanova did some commercial spying for them. After months without a recall, however, he wrote a letter of appeal directly to the Inquisitors. At last, he received his long sought permission and burst into tears upon reading “We, Inquisitors of State, for reasons known to us, give Giacomo Casanova a free safe-conduct … empowering him to come, go, stop, and return, hold communication wheresoever he pleases without let or hindrance. So is our will.” Casanova was permitted to return to Venice in September 1774 after eighteen years of exile.
At first, his return to Venice was a cordial one and he was a celebrity. Even the Inquisitors wanted to hear how he had escaped from their prison. Of his three bachelor patrons, however, only Dandolo was still alive and Casanova was invited back to live with him. He received a small stipend from Dandolo and hoped to live from his writings, but that was not enough. He reluctantly became a spy again for Venice, paid by piece work, reporting on religion, morals, and commerce, most of it based on gossip and rumor he picked up from social contacts.[68] He was disappointed. No financial opportunities of interest came about and few doors opened for him in society as in the past.
At age 49, the years of reckless living and the thousands of miles of travel had taken its toll. Casanova’s smallpox scars, sunken cheeks, and hook nose became all the more noticeable. His easy going manner now more guarded. Prince Charles de Ligne, a friend (and uncle of his future employer), described him around 1784:
He would be a good-looking man if he were not ugly; he is tall and built like Hercules, but of an African tint; eyes full of life and fire, but touchy, wary, rancorous—and this gives him a ferocious air. It is easier to put him in a rage than to make him gay. He laughs little, but makes other laugh. … He has a manner of saying things which reminds me of Harlequin or Figaro, and which makes them sound witty.
Venice had changed for him. Casanova now had little money for gambling, few willing females worth pursuing, and few acquaintances to enliven his dull days. He heard of the death of his mother and more paining, he went to the bedside of Bettina Gozzi, who had first introduced him to sex, and she died in his arms. His Iliad was published in three volumes, but to limited subscribers and yielding little money. He got into a published dispute with Voltaire over religion. When he asked, “Suppose that you succeed in destroying superstition. With what will you replace it?” Voltaire shot back, “I like that. When I deliver humanity from a ferocious beast which devours it, can I be asked what I shall put in its place.” From Casanova’s point of view, if Voltaire had “been a proper philosopher, he would have kept silent on that subject … the people need to live in ignorance for the general peace of the nation”.
In 1779, Casanova found Francesca, an uneducated seamstress, who became his live-in lover and housekeeper, and who loved him devotedly.Later that year, the Inquisitors put him on the payroll and sent him to investigate commerce between the Papal states and Venice. Other publishing and theater ventures failed, primarily from lack of capital. In a downward spiral, Casanova was expelled again from Venice in 1783, after writing a vicious satire poking fun at Venetian nobility. In it he made his only public statement that Grimani was his true father.
Forced to resume his travels again, Casanova arrived in Paris, and in November 1783 met Benjamin Franklin while attending a presentation on aeronautics and the future of balloon transport.For a while, Casanova served as secretary and pamphleteer to Sebastian Foscarini, Venetian ambassador in Vienna. He also became acquainted with Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart’s librettist, who noted about Casanova, “This singular man never liked to be in the wrong.” Notes by Casanova indicate that he may have made suggestions to Da Ponte concerning the libretto for Mozart’s Don Giovanni.[75]
Final years in Bohemia
In 1785, after Foscarini died, Casanova began searching for another position. A few months later, he became the librarian to Count Joseph Karl von Waldstein, a chamberlain of the emperor, in the Castle of Dux, Bohemia (Duchcov Castle, Czech Republic). The Count—himself a Freemason, cabalist, and frequent traveler—had taken to Casanova when he had met Casanova a year earlier at Foscarini’s residence. Although the job offered security and good pay, Casanova’s describes his last years as boring and frustrating, even though it was the most productive time for writing.[76] His health had deteriorated dramatically and he found life among peasants to be less than stimulating. He was only able to make occasional visits to Vienna and Dresden for relief. Although Casanova got on well with the Count, his employer was a much younger man with his own eccentricities. The Count often ignored him at meals and failed to introduce him to important visiting guests. Moreover, Casanova, the testy outsider, was thoroughly disliked by most of the other inhabitants of the Castle of Dux. Casanova’s only friends seemed to be his fox terriers. In despair, Casanova considered suicide, but instead decided that he must live on to record his memoirs, which he did until his death.
In 1797, word arrived that the Republic of Venice had ceased to exist and Napoleon Bonaparte had seized Casanova’s home city. It was too late to return home. Casanova died on June 4, 1798 at age 73. His last words are said to have been “I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian”.
The memoirs
The isolation and boredom of Casanova’s last years enabled him to focus without distractions on his Histoire de ma vie, without which his fame would have been considerably diminished, if not blotted out entirely. He began to think about writing his memoirs around 1780 and began in earnest by 1789, as “the only remedy to keep from going mad or dying of grief”. The first draft was completed by July 1792, and he spent the next six years revising it. He puts a happy face on his days of loneliness, writing in his work, “I can find no pleasanter pastime than to converse with myself about my own affairs and to provide a most worthy subject for laughter to my well-bred audience.”[79]His recollections only go up to the summer of 1774.[80] His memoirs were still being compiled at the time of his death. A letter by him in 1792 states that he was reconsidering his decision to publish them believing his story was despicable and he would make enemies by writing the truth about his affairs. But he decided to proceed and to use initials instead of actual names, and to tone down its strongest passages.[81] He wrote in French instead of Italian because “the French language is more widely known than mine”.
The memoirs open with:
I begin by declaring to my reader that, by everything good or bad that I have done throughout my life, I am sure that I have earned merit or incurred guilt, and that hence I must consider myself a free agent…Despite an excellent moral foundation, the inevitable fruit of the divine principles which were rooted in my heart, I was all my life the victim of my senses; I have delighted in going astray and I have constantly lived in error … my follies are the follies of youth. You will see that I laugh at them, and if you are kind you will laugh at them with me. You will laugh when you discover that I often had no scruples about deceiving nitwits and scoundrels and fools when I found it necessary. As for women, this sort of reciprocal deceit cancels itself out, for when love enters in, both parties are usually dupes.
Casanova is clear about the purpose of his book:
I expect the friendship, the esteem, and the gratitude of my readers. Their gratitude, if reading my memoirs will have given instruction and pleasure. Their esteem if, doing me justice, they will have found that I have more virtues than faults; and their friendship as soon as they come to find me deserving of it by the frankness and good faith with which I submit myself to their judgment without in any way disguising what I am.[84]
He also advises his readers that they “will not find all my adventures. I have left out those which would have offended the people who played a part in them, for they would cut a sorry figure in them. Even so, there are those who will sometimes think me too indiscreet; I am sorry for it.”[85] And in the final words, Casanova hints at adventures unrecorded: “The next morning at the appointed hour I see her in the carriage. I pay her a brief compliment; I sit down beside her, and we set off.”[86]
Uncut, the memoirs ran to twelve volumes, and the standard editions to nearly 1200 pages. Though his chronology is at times confusing and inaccurate, and many of his tales exaggerated, much of his narrative and many details are corroborated by contemporary writings. He has a good ear for dialogue and writes at length about all classes of society.[87] Casanova, for the most part, is honest about his faults, intentions, and motivations, and shares his successes and failures with good humor.[88] The confession is largely devoid of repentance or remorse. He celebrates the senses with his readers, especially regarding music, food, and women. “I have always liked highly seasoned food. … As for women, I have always found that the one I was in love with smelled good, and the more copious her sweat the sweeter I found it.”[89] He mentions over 120 adventures with women and girls, with several veiled references to male lovers as well.[90][91] He describes his duels and conflicts with scoundrels and officials, his entrapments and his escapes, his schemes and plots, his anguish and his sighs of pleasure. He demonstrates convincingly, “I can say vixi (‘I have lived’).”
The manuscript of Casanova’s memoirs was held by his relatives until it was sold to F. A. Brockhaus publishers, and first published in heavily abridged versions in German around 1822, then in French. During World War II, the manuscript survived the allied bombing of Leipzig. The memoirs were heavily pirated through the ages and have been translated into some twenty languages. But not until 1960 was the entire text published in its original language of French.[93]
The art of seduction
For Casanova, as well as his fellow sybarites of the upper class, love and sex were more casual and less endowed with the seriousness later bestowed by the Romantic movement during the 19th century.[94] Flirtations, bedroom games, and short-term liaisons were common among nobles who married for social connections rather than love. For Casanova, it was an open field of sexual opportunities (and, alas, disease.)
Although multi-faceted and complex, Casanova's personality was dominated by his sensual urges: “Cultivating whatever gave pleasure to my senses was always the chief business of my life; I never found any occupation more important. Feeling that I was born for the sex opposite of mine, I have always loved it and done all that I could to make myself loved by it.”
Casanova’s ideal liaison had elements beyond sex, including complicated plots, heroes and villains, and gallant outcomes. In a pattern he often repeated, he would discover an attractive woman in trouble with a brutish or jealous lover (Act I); he would ameliorate her difficulty (Act II); she would show her gratitude; he would seduce her; a short exciting affair would ensue (Act III); feeling a loss of ardor or boredom setting in, he would plead his unworthiness and arrange for her marriage or pairing with a worthy man, then exit the scene (Act IV).[96]
He advises, “there is no honest woman with an uncorrupted heart whom a man is not sure of conquering by dint of gratitude. It is one of the surest and shortest means.”[97] Alcohol and violence, for him, were not proper tools of seduction.[98] Instead, attentiveness and small favors should be employed to soften a woman’s heart, but “a man who makes known his love by words is a fool”. Verbal communication is essential; “without speech, the pleasure of love is diminished by at least two-thirds”, but words of love must be implied not boldly proclaimed.[99]
Mutual consent is important, according to Casanova, but he avoided easy conquests or overly difficult situations as not suitable for his purposes.[100] He strove to be the ideal escort in the first act—witty, charming, confidential, helpful—before moving into the bedroom in the third act. Casanova claims not to be predatory (“my guiding principle has been never to direct my attack against novices or those whose prejudices were likely to prove an obstacle”); however, his conquests did tend to be insecure or emotionally exposed women.[101]
Casanova valued intelligence in a woman: “After all, a beautiful woman without a mind of her own leaves her lover with no resource after he had physically enjoyed her charms.” His attitude towards educated women, however, was typical for his time: “In a woman learning is out of place; it compromises the essential qualities of her sex … no scientific discoveries have been made by women … (which) requires a vigor which the female sex cannot have. But in simple reasoning and in delicacy of feeling we must yield to women.”[102]
Casanova and gambling
As he recorded, gambling played a large role in the high society that Casanova traveled in. It helped gain him women to seduce and men to scheme with and against. In his memoirs, he discusses many forms of 18th century gambling—including lotteries, faro, basset, piquet, biribi, primero, quinze, and whist—and the passion for it among the nobility and the high clergy.[103] Cheaters (known as “correctors of fortune”) were somewhat more tolerated then than today in the casinos, and seldom caused affront. Most gamblers were on guard against cheaters and their tricks. Scams of all sorts were also common, and Casanova delighted in them.[104]
Throughout his life, Casanova would gamble for recreation and as an occasional means of living, winning and losing large sums. He was tutored by professionals, and he was “instructed in those wise maxims without which games of chance ruin those who participate in them”. He was not above occasionally cheating. At times, he even teamed up with professionals. Casanova claims that he was “relaxed and smiling when I lost, and I won without covetousness”. However, when outrageously duped himself, he could act violently, sometimes calling for a duel.[105] Casanova admits that he was not disciplined enough to be a professional gambler: “I had neither prudence enough to leave off when fortune was adverse, nor sufficient control over myself when I had won.”[106] Nor did he like being considered to a professional gambler: “Nothing could ever be adduced by professional gamblers that I was of their infernal clique.”[107] For Casanova, gambling was primarily a means for flirting, making connections, acting gallantly, and proving himself a gentlemen among his social superiors.
Casanova's fame and influence
Although best known for his prowess in seduction for more than two hundred years since his death, Casanova was also recognized by his contemporaries as an extraordinary person, a man of far-ranging intellect and curiosity. Casanova was one of the foremost chroniclers of his age. He was a true adventurer, traveling across Europe from end-to-end in search of fortune, seeking out the most prominent people of his time to help his cause. He was a man of contradictory traits—generous and mean, honest and deceptive, fawning and aloof, skeptical and gullible, superstitious and rational. He was a servant of the establishment and equally decadent as his times, but also a participant in secret societies and a seeker of answers beyond the conventional. He was religious, a devout Catholic, and believed in prayer: “Despair kills, prayer dissipates it; and after man trusts and acts.” But he also believed in free will and reason and clearly did not subscribe to the notion that pleasure-seeking would keep him from heaven, if heaven did indeed exist.
He was, by vocation and avocation, a lawyer, clergyman, military officer, violinist, con man, pimp, gourmand, dancer, businessman, diplomat, spy, politician, mathematician, social philosopher, cabalist, playwright, and writer. He wrote over twenty works, including plays and essays, and many letters. His novel Icosameron is an early work of science fiction.
Born of actors, he had a passion for the theater and for an improvised, theatrical life. But with all his talents, he frequently succumbed to the quest for pleasure and sex, often avoiding sustained work and established plans, and got himself into trouble when prudent action would have served him better. His true occupation was living largely on his quick wits, steely nerves, luck, social charm, and the money given to him in gratitude and by trickery.
Prince Charles de Ligne, who understood Casanova well, and who knew most of the prominent individuals of the age, thought Casanova the most interesting man he had ever met: “there is nothing in the world of which he is not capable.” Rounding out the portrait, the Prince also stated:
The only things about which he knows nothing are those which he believes himself to be expert: the rules of the dance, the French language, good taste, the way of the world, savoir vivre. It is only his comedies which are not funny, only his philosophical works which lack philosophy—all the rest are filled with it; there is always something weighty, new, piquant, profound. He is a well of knowledge, but he quotes Homer and Horace ad nauseam. His wit and his sallies are like Attic salt. He is sensitive and generous, but displease him in the slightest and he is unpleasant, vindictive, and detestable. He believes in nothing except what is most incredible, being superstitious about everything. He loves and lusts after everything. … He is proud because he is nothing. … Never tell him you have heard the story he is going to tell you. … Never omit to greet him in passing, for the merest trifle will make him your enemy.
So famous a womanizer was he that his name remains synonymous with the art of seduction and he is sometimes called "the world's greatest lover". He enjoyed the company of European royalty, popes and cardinals, along with men such as Voltaire, Goethe and Mozart; but if he had not been obliged to spend some years as a librarian in the household of Count Waldstein of Bohemia (where he relieved his boredom by writing the story of his life), he would probably be forgotten today.
Youth
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725 to actress Zanetta Farussi, wife of actor and dancer Gaetano Giuseppe Casanova. Giacomo was the first of six children, being followed by Giovanni Alvise (1730–1795), Faustina Maddalena (1731–1736), Maria Maddalena Antonia Stella (1732–1800), Gaetano Alvise (1734–1783), and Francesco (1737–1803). Because of his mother's profession, it is suspected that some or all of these were fathered by men other than her husband. Casanova himself suspected his biological father to have been Michele Grimani, a member of the patrician family that owned the San Samuele theatre where Zanetta and Gaetano had worked. Lending support to this, Grimani’s brother Abbé Alvise Grimani, became Casanova’s guardian. In his memoirs, however, Casanova provides an elaborate paternal genealogy to explain his birth, beginning in Spain in 1428.
The Republic of Venice during Casanova’s time was past its peak as a naval and commercial power. Instead Venice thrived as ‘the’ pleasure capital of Europe, ruled by political and religious conservatives who tolerated social vices and encouraged tourism. It was a required stop on the Grand Tour, traveled by young men coming of age, especially Englishmen. The famed Carnival, gambling houses, and beautiful courtesans were powerful drawing cards. This was the milieu that bred Casanova and made him its most famous and representative citizen.
Casanova was cared for by his grandmother Marzia Baldissera while his mother toured about Europe in the theater. His father died when he was eight. As a child, Casanova suffered nosebleeds, and his grandmother sought help from a witch: “Leaving the gondola, we enter a hovel, where we find an old woman sitting on a pallet, with a black cat in her arms and five or six others around her.” Though the unguent applied was ineffective, Casanova was fascinated by the incantation. Perhaps to remedy the nosebleeds (a physician blamed the density of Venice’s air), Casanova, on his ninth birthday, was sent to a boarding house on the mainland in Padua. For Casanova, the neglect by his parents was a bitter memory. “So they got rid of me,” he proclaimed flatly.
Conditions at the boarding house were appalling so he appealed to be placed under the care of Abbé Gozzi, his primary instructor, who tutored him in academic subjects as well as the violin. Casanova moved in with the priest and his family and lived there through most of his teenage years. It was also in the Gozzi household that Casanova first came into contact with the opposite sex, when Gozzi’s younger sister Bettina fondled him at the age of eleven. Bettina was “pretty, lighthearted, and a great reader of romances. … The girl pleased me at once, though I had no idea why. It was she who little by little kindled in my heart the first sparks of a feeling which later became my ruling passion.” Although she subsequently married, Casanova maintained a life-long attachment to Bettina and the Gozzi family.
Early on, Casanova demonstrated a quick wit, an intense appetite for knowledge, and a perpetually inquisitive mind. He entered the University of Padua at twelve and graduated at seventeen, in 1742, with a degree in law (“for which I felt an unconquerable aversion”). It was his guardian’s hope that he would become an ecclesiastical lawyer. Casanova had also studied moral philosophy, chemistry, and mathematics, and was keenly interested in medicine. (“I should have been allowed to do as I wished and become a physician, in which profession quackery, is even more effective than it is in legal practice.” He frequently prescribed his own treatments for himself and friends. While attending the university, Casanova began to gamble and quickly got into debt, causing his recall to Venice by his grandmother, but the gambling habit became firmly established.
Back in Venice, Casanova started his clerical law career and was admitted as an abbé after being conferred minor orders by the Patriarch of Venice. He shuttled back and forth to Padua to continue his university studies. By now, he had become something of a dandy—tall and dark, his long hair powdered, scented, and elaborately curled. He quickly ingratiated himself with a patron (something he was to do all his life), 76-year-old Venetian senator Alvise Gasparo Malipiero, the owner of Palazzo Malipiero, close to Casanova’s home in Venice. Malipiero moved in the best circles and taught young Casanova a great deal about good food and wine, and how to behave in society. When Casanova was caught dallying with Malipero’s intended object of seduction, actress Teresa Imer, however, the senator drove both of them from his house.[17] Casanova’s growing curiosity about women led to his first complete sexual experience, with two sisters Naneeta and Maria Savorgnan, then fourteen and sixteen, who were distant relatives of the Grimanis. Casanova proclaimed that his life avocation was firmly established by this encounter.
Early careers in Italy
Scandals tainted Casanova’s short church career. After his grandmother’s death, Casanova entered a seminary for a short while, but soon his indebtedness landed him in prison for the first time. An attempt by his mother to secure him a position with bishop Bernardo de Bernardis was rejected by Casanova. Instead, he found employment as a scribe with the powerful Cardinal Acquaviva in Rome. On meeting the Pope, Casanova boldly asked for a dispensation to read the “forbidden books” and from eating fish (which he claimed inflamed his eyes). He also composed love letters for another cardinal. But when Casanova became the scapegoat for a scandal involving a local pair of star-crossed lovers, Cardinal Acquaviva dismissed Casanova, thanking him for his sacrifice, but effectively ending his church career.
In search of a new profession, Casanova bought a commission to become a military officer for the Republic of Venice. His first step was to look the part:
Reflecting that there was now little likelihood of my achieving fortune in my ecclesiastical career, I decided to dress as a soldier … I inquire for a good tailor … he brings me everything I need to impersonate a follower of Mars. … My uniform was white, with a blue vest, a shoulder knot of silver and gold… I bought a long sword, and with my handsome cane in hand, a trim hat with a black cockade, with my hair cut in side whiskers and a long false pigtail, I set forth to impress the whole city.[21]
He went to Corfu, after which he was stationed for a short period in Constantinople.[22] He found his advancement too slow and his duty boring, and he managed to lose most of his pay playing faro. Casanova soon abandoned his military career and returned to Venice.
At the age of 21, he set out to become a professional gambler but losing all his remaining money, he turned to Grimani for a job. Casanova thus began his third career, as a violinist in the San Samuele theater, “a menial journeyman of a sublime art in which, if he who excels is admired, the mediocrity is rightly despised. … My profession was not a noble one, but I did not care. Calling everything prejudice, I soon acquired all the habits of my degraded fellow musicians.”[23] He and some of his fellows, “often spent our nights roaming through different quarters of the city, thinking up the most scandalous practical jokes and putting them into execution … we amused ourselves by untying the gondolas moored before private homes, which then drifted with the current”. They also sent midwives and physicians on false calls.[24]
Unhappy with his lot as a musician, good fortune came to the rescue when Casanova saved the life of a Venetian nobleman of the Bragadin family, who had a stroke while riding with Casanova in a gondola after a wedding ball. They immediately stopped to have the senator bled. Then, at the senator’s palace, a physician bled the senator again and applied an ointment of mercury to the senator’s chest (mercury was an all-purpose but toxic remedy of the time). A priest was called as death seemed to be approaching. Casanova, however, took charge and taking responsibility for a change in treatment, under protest from the attending physician, ordered the removal of the ointment and the senator recovered with rest and a sensible diet.[25] Because of his youth and his facile recitation of medical knowledge, the senator and his two bachelor friends thought Casanova wise beyond his years, and concluded that he must be in possession of occult knowledge. Being cabalists themselves, the senator invited Casanova into his household and he became a life-long patron.[26]
Casanova stated in his memoirs:
I took the most creditable, the noblest, and the only natural course. I decided to put myself in a position where I need no longer go without the necessities of life: and what those necessities were for me no one could judge better than me.… No one in Venice could understand how an intimacy could exist between myself and three men of their character, they all heaven and I all earth; they most severe in their morals, and I addicted to every kind of dissolute living.[27]
For the next three years under the senator’s patronage, working nominally as a legal assistant, Casanova led the life of a nobleman, dressed magnificently, and as was natural to him, spending most of his time gambling and engaging in amorous pursuits. His patron was exceedingly tolerant, but he warned Casanova that some day he would pay the price; “I made a joke of his dire Prophecies and went my way.” However, not much later, Casanova was forced to leave Venice, due to further scandals. Casanova had dug up a freshly buried corpse in order to play a practical joke and exact revenge—but the victim went into a paralysis, never to recover. And in another scandal, a young girl who had duped him accused him of rape and went to the officials.
Portrait of Casanova by Pietro LonghiEscaping to Parma, Casanova entered into a three-month affair with a Frenchwoman he named “Henriette”, perhaps the deepest love he ever experienced—a woman who combined beauty, intelligence, and culture. In his words, “They who believe that a woman is incapable of making a man equally happy all the twenty-four hours of the day have never known an Henriette. The joy which flooded my soul was far greater when I conversed with her during the day than when I held her in my arms at night. Having read a great deal and having natural taste, Henriette judged rightly of everything.” She also judged Casanova astutely. As noted Casanovist J. Rives Childs wrote:
Perhaps no woman so captivated Casanova as Henriette; few women obtained so deep an understanding of him. She penetrated his outward shell early in their relationship, resisting the temptation to unite her destiny with his. She came to discern his volatile nature, his lack of social background, and the precariousness of his finances. Before leaving, she slipped into his pocket five hundred louis, mark of her evaluation of him.
The Grand Tour
Crestfallen and despondent, Casanova returned to Venice, and after a good gambling streak, he recovered and set off on a Grand Tour, reaching Paris in 1750.[32] Along the way, from one town to another, he got into sexual escapades resembling operatic plots.[33] In Lyon, he entered the society of Freemasonry, which appealed to his interest in secret rites and which, for the most part, attracted men of intellect and influence who proved useful in his life, providing valuable contacts and uncensored knowledge. Many famous 18th Century men were Masons including Mozart and George Washington. Casanova was also attracted to Rosicrucianism.[34]
Casanova stayed in Paris for two years, learned the language, spent much time at the theater, and introduced himself to notables. Soon, however, his numerous liaisons were noted by the Paris police, as they were in nearly every city he visited.[35]
He moved on to Dresden in 1752 and encountered his mother. He wrote a well-received play La Moluccheide, now lost.[36] He then visited Prague, and Vienna, where the tighter moral atmosphere was not to his liking. He finally returned to Venice in 1753.[37] In Venice, Casanova resumed his wicked escapades, picking up many enemies, and gaining the greater attention of the Venetian inquisitors. His police record became a lengthening list of reported blasphemies, seductions, fights, and public controversy.[38] A state spy, Giovanni Manucci, was employed to draw out Casanova’s knowledge of cabalism and Freemasonry, and to examine his library for forbidden books. Senator Bragadin, in total seriousness this time (being formerly an inquisitor himself), advised his “son” to leave immediately or face the stiffest consequences.
Imprisonment and escape
The following day, at age thirty, Casanova was arrested: “The Tribunal, having taken cognizance of the grave faults committed by G. Casanova primarily in public outrages against the holy religion, their Excellencies have caused him to be arrested and imprisoned under the Leads.”[39] “The Leads” was the famous prison attached to the Doge's palace, across the Bridge of Sighs, named for the thick lead plates on the roof. Without a trial, Casanova was sentenced to five years in the “unescapable” prison.
At first, he was placed in solitary confinement. Over months, he was given reading matter, better food, and even an armchair, all provided by his patron. During walks he was granted in the prison attic, he found pieces of marble and an iron bar which he secreted back to his cell and hid in his chair. When he was absent temporary cell-mates, he turned the bar into a spike through a month of sharpening. Then he began to dig in the floor, realizing that his cell was just above the Inquisitor’s chamber.[41] Just three days before his intended escape during a festival (when no one would be in the chamber below), Casanova was moved to a “better” cell (with a view), despite his protests that he was perfectly happy where he was. In his new cell, “I sat in my armchair like a man in a stupor; motionless as a statue, I saw that I had wasted all the efforts I had made, and I could not repent of them. I felt that I had nothing to hope for, and the only relief left to me was not to think of the future.”
Overcoming his inertia, Casanova set upon another escape plan. He solicited the help of the prisoner in the adjacent cell, Father Balbi, a renegade priest. The spike was passed to the priest in a heaping plate of pasta carried on top of a Bible by the hoodwinked jailer. The priest made a hole in his ceiling then climbed across and made a hole in the ceiling of Casanova’s cell. To neutralize his new cell-mate, who was a spy, Casanova played on his superstitions and terrorized him into silence.[43] When Balbi broke through to Casanova’s cell, Casanova lifted himself through the ceiling. He left behind a note with the motto “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord”.[44]
The spy remained behind, too frightened of the consequences if he would be caught escaping with the others. Casanova and Balbi pried their way through the lead plates and onto the sloping roof of the Doge’s Palace, with a heavy fog swirling. The drop to the nearby canal being too great, Casanova pried open the grate over a dormer window, and broke the window to gain entry. They found a long ladder on the roof, and with the additional use of ropes, lowered themselves into the room whose floor was twenty-five feet below. They rested until morning, changed clothes then broke a small lock on an exit door and passed into palace corridor, through galleries and chambers, down stairs, and out a final door. It was six in the morning and they escaped by gondola. Eventually, Casanova reached Paris, where he arrived on the same day (January 5, 1757) that Robert-François Damiens made an attempt on the life of Louis XV.
Skeptics contend that Casanova’s tale of escape is implausible, and that he simply bribed his way to freedom with the help of his patron. However, some physical evidence does exist in the state records, including repairs to the cell ceilings. Thirty years later in 1787, Casanova wrote Story of My Flight, which was very popular and was reprinted in many languages, and he repeated the tale a little later in his memoirs.
Return to Paris
He knew his stay in Paris might be a long one and he proceeded accordingly: “I saw that to accomplish anything I must bring all my physical and moral faculties in play, make the acquaintance of the great and the powerful, exercise strict self-control, and play the chameleon.”[47] Casanova had matured, and this time in Paris, though still depending at times on quick thinking and decisive action, he was more calculating and deliberate. His first task was to find a new patron. He reconnected with old friend de Bernis, now the Foreign Minister of France. Casanova was advised by his patron to find a means of raising funds for the state as a way to gain instant favor. Casanova promptly became one of the trustees of the first state lottery, and one of its best ticket salesmen. The enterprise earned him a large fortune quickly.[48] With money in hand, he traveled in high circles and undertook new seductions. He duped many socialites with his occultism, particularly the Marquess Jeanne d'Urfé, using his excellent memory which made him appear to have a sorcerer’s power of numerology. In Casanova’s view, “deceiving a fool is an exploit worthy of an intelligent man”.
Casanova claimed to be a Rosicrucian and an alchemist, aptitudes which made him popular with some of the most prominent figures of the era, among them Madame de Pompadour, Count de Saint-Germain, d'Alembert and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. So popular was alchemy among the nobles, particularly the search for the “philosopher’s stone”, that Casanova was highly sought after for his supposed knowledge, and he profited handsomely. He met his match, however, in the Count de Saint-Germain: “This very singular man, born to be the most barefaced of all imposters, declared with impunity, with a casual air, that he was three hundred years old, that he possessed the universal medicine, that he made anything he liked from nature, that he created diamonds.”
De Bernis decided to send Casanova to Dunkirk on his first spying mission. Casanova was paid well for his quick work and this experience prompted one of his few remarks against the ancien régime and the class he was dependent on. He remarked in hindsight, “All the French ministers are the same. They lavished money which came out of the other people’s pockets to enrich their creatures, and they were absolute: The down-trodden people counted for nothing, and, through this, the indebtedness of the State and the confusion of finances were the inevitable results. A Revolution was necessary.”
As the Seven Years War began, Casanova was again called to help increase the state treasury. He was entrusted with a mission of selling state bonds in Amsterdam, Holland being the financial center of Europe at the time.[53] He succeeded to sell the bonds at only an 8% discount, and the following year was rich enough to found a silk manufactory with his earnings. The French government even offered him a title and a pension if he would become a French citizen and work on behalf of the Finance Ministry, but he declined, perhaps because it would impede his wanderlust.[54] Casanova had reached his peak of fortune but could not sustain it. He ran the business poorly, borrowed heavily trying to save it, and spent much of his wealth on constant liaisons with his female workers who were his “harem”.[55]
For his debts, Casanova was imprisoned again, this time at Fort-l'Éveque, but was liberated four days afterwards, upon the insistence of the Marquess d'Urfé. Unfortunately, though he was released, his patron de Bernis was dismissed by Louis XV at that time and Casanova’s enemies closed in on him. He sold the rest of his belongings and acquired another mission to Holland to distance himself from his troubles.
On the run
This time, however, his mission failed and he fled to Cologne, then Stuttgart in the spring of 1760, where he lost the rest of his fortune. He was yet again arrested for his debts, but managed to escape to Switzerland. Weary of his wanton life, Casanova visited the monastery of Einsiedeln and considered the simple, scholarly life of a monk. He returned to his hotel to think on the decision only to encounter a new object of desire, and reverting to his old instincts, all thoughts of a monk’s life were quickly forgotten.[57] Moving on, he visited Albrecht von Haller and Voltaire, and arrived in Marseille, then Genoa, Florence, Rome, Naples, Modena, and Turin, moving from one sexual romp to another.[58]
In 1760, Casanova started styling himself the Chevalier de Seingalt, a name he would increasingly use for the rest of his life. On occasion, he would also call himself Count de Farussi (using his mother's maiden name) and when Pope Clement XIII presented Casanova with the Papal Order of the Éperon d'Òr, he had an impressive cross and ribbon to display on his chest.
Back in Paris, he set about one of his most outrageous schemes—convincing his old dupe the Marquess d'Urfé that he could turn her into a young man through occult means. The plan did not yield Casanova the big payoff he had hoped for, and the Marquess d'Urfé finally lost faith in him.
Casanova traveled to England in 1763, hoping to sell his idea of a state lottery to English officials. He wrote of the English, “the people have a special character, common to the whole nation, which makes them think they are superior to everyone else. It is a belief shared by all nations, each thinking itself the best. And they are all right.”[61] Through his connections, he worked his way up to an audience with King George III, using most of the valuables he had stolen from the Marquess d'Urfé. While working the political angles, he also spent much time in the bedroom, as was his habit. As a means to find females for his pleasure, not being able to speak English, he put an advertisement in the newspaper to let an apartment to the “right” person. He interviewed many young women, choosing one “Mistress Pauline” who suited him well. Soon, he established himself in her apartment and seduced her. These and other liaisons, however, left him weak with venereal disease and he left England broke and ill.
He went on to Belgium, recovered, and then for the next three years,travelled all over Europe, covering about 4,500 miles by coach over rough roads, and going as far as Moscow (the average daily coach trip being about 30 miles in a day). Again, his principal goal was to sell his lottery scheme to other governments and repeat the great success he had with the French government. But a meeting with Frederick the Great bore no fruit and in the surrounding German lands, the same result. Not lacking either connections or confidence, Casanova went to Russia and met with Catherine the Great but she flatly turned down the lottery idea.
In 1766, he was expelled from Warsaw following a pistol duel with Count Colonel Franciszek Ksawery Branicki over an Italian actress, a lady friend of theirs. Both duelists were wounded, Casanova on the left hand. The hand recovered on its own, after Casanova refused the recommendation of doctors that it be amputated.[64] Other stops failed to gain any takers for the lottery. He returned to Paris for several months in 1767 and hit the gambling salons, only to be expelled from France by order of Louis XV himself, primarily for Casanova’s scam involving the Marquess d'Urfé.[65] Now known across Europe for his reckless behavior, Casanova would have difficulty overcoming his notoriety and gaining any fortune. So he headed for Spain, where he was not as well known. He tried his usual approach, leaning on well-placed contacts (often Freemasons), wining and dining with nobles of influence, and finally arranging an audience with the local monarch, in this case Charles III. But when no doors opened for him, however, he could only roam across Spain, with little to show for it. In Barcelona, he escaped assassination and landed in jail for six weeks. His Spanish adventure a failure, he returned to France briefly, then to Italy.[66]
Return to Venice
In Rome, Casanova had to prepare a way for his return to Venice. While waiting for supporters to gain him legal entry into Venice, Casanova began his modern Tuscan-Italian translation of the Iliad, his History of the Troubles in Poland, and a comic play. To ingratiate himself with the Venetian authorities, Casanova did some commercial spying for them. After months without a recall, however, he wrote a letter of appeal directly to the Inquisitors. At last, he received his long sought permission and burst into tears upon reading “We, Inquisitors of State, for reasons known to us, give Giacomo Casanova a free safe-conduct … empowering him to come, go, stop, and return, hold communication wheresoever he pleases without let or hindrance. So is our will.” Casanova was permitted to return to Venice in September 1774 after eighteen years of exile.
At first, his return to Venice was a cordial one and he was a celebrity. Even the Inquisitors wanted to hear how he had escaped from their prison. Of his three bachelor patrons, however, only Dandolo was still alive and Casanova was invited back to live with him. He received a small stipend from Dandolo and hoped to live from his writings, but that was not enough. He reluctantly became a spy again for Venice, paid by piece work, reporting on religion, morals, and commerce, most of it based on gossip and rumor he picked up from social contacts.[68] He was disappointed. No financial opportunities of interest came about and few doors opened for him in society as in the past.
At age 49, the years of reckless living and the thousands of miles of travel had taken its toll. Casanova’s smallpox scars, sunken cheeks, and hook nose became all the more noticeable. His easy going manner now more guarded. Prince Charles de Ligne, a friend (and uncle of his future employer), described him around 1784:
He would be a good-looking man if he were not ugly; he is tall and built like Hercules, but of an African tint; eyes full of life and fire, but touchy, wary, rancorous—and this gives him a ferocious air. It is easier to put him in a rage than to make him gay. He laughs little, but makes other laugh. … He has a manner of saying things which reminds me of Harlequin or Figaro, and which makes them sound witty.
Venice had changed for him. Casanova now had little money for gambling, few willing females worth pursuing, and few acquaintances to enliven his dull days. He heard of the death of his mother and more paining, he went to the bedside of Bettina Gozzi, who had first introduced him to sex, and she died in his arms. His Iliad was published in three volumes, but to limited subscribers and yielding little money. He got into a published dispute with Voltaire over religion. When he asked, “Suppose that you succeed in destroying superstition. With what will you replace it?” Voltaire shot back, “I like that. When I deliver humanity from a ferocious beast which devours it, can I be asked what I shall put in its place.” From Casanova’s point of view, if Voltaire had “been a proper philosopher, he would have kept silent on that subject … the people need to live in ignorance for the general peace of the nation”.
In 1779, Casanova found Francesca, an uneducated seamstress, who became his live-in lover and housekeeper, and who loved him devotedly.Later that year, the Inquisitors put him on the payroll and sent him to investigate commerce between the Papal states and Venice. Other publishing and theater ventures failed, primarily from lack of capital. In a downward spiral, Casanova was expelled again from Venice in 1783, after writing a vicious satire poking fun at Venetian nobility. In it he made his only public statement that Grimani was his true father.
Forced to resume his travels again, Casanova arrived in Paris, and in November 1783 met Benjamin Franklin while attending a presentation on aeronautics and the future of balloon transport.For a while, Casanova served as secretary and pamphleteer to Sebastian Foscarini, Venetian ambassador in Vienna. He also became acquainted with Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart’s librettist, who noted about Casanova, “This singular man never liked to be in the wrong.” Notes by Casanova indicate that he may have made suggestions to Da Ponte concerning the libretto for Mozart’s Don Giovanni.[75]
Final years in Bohemia
In 1785, after Foscarini died, Casanova began searching for another position. A few months later, he became the librarian to Count Joseph Karl von Waldstein, a chamberlain of the emperor, in the Castle of Dux, Bohemia (Duchcov Castle, Czech Republic). The Count—himself a Freemason, cabalist, and frequent traveler—had taken to Casanova when he had met Casanova a year earlier at Foscarini’s residence. Although the job offered security and good pay, Casanova’s describes his last years as boring and frustrating, even though it was the most productive time for writing.[76] His health had deteriorated dramatically and he found life among peasants to be less than stimulating. He was only able to make occasional visits to Vienna and Dresden for relief. Although Casanova got on well with the Count, his employer was a much younger man with his own eccentricities. The Count often ignored him at meals and failed to introduce him to important visiting guests. Moreover, Casanova, the testy outsider, was thoroughly disliked by most of the other inhabitants of the Castle of Dux. Casanova’s only friends seemed to be his fox terriers. In despair, Casanova considered suicide, but instead decided that he must live on to record his memoirs, which he did until his death.
In 1797, word arrived that the Republic of Venice had ceased to exist and Napoleon Bonaparte had seized Casanova’s home city. It was too late to return home. Casanova died on June 4, 1798 at age 73. His last words are said to have been “I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian”.
The memoirs
The isolation and boredom of Casanova’s last years enabled him to focus without distractions on his Histoire de ma vie, without which his fame would have been considerably diminished, if not blotted out entirely. He began to think about writing his memoirs around 1780 and began in earnest by 1789, as “the only remedy to keep from going mad or dying of grief”. The first draft was completed by July 1792, and he spent the next six years revising it. He puts a happy face on his days of loneliness, writing in his work, “I can find no pleasanter pastime than to converse with myself about my own affairs and to provide a most worthy subject for laughter to my well-bred audience.”[79]His recollections only go up to the summer of 1774.[80] His memoirs were still being compiled at the time of his death. A letter by him in 1792 states that he was reconsidering his decision to publish them believing his story was despicable and he would make enemies by writing the truth about his affairs. But he decided to proceed and to use initials instead of actual names, and to tone down its strongest passages.[81] He wrote in French instead of Italian because “the French language is more widely known than mine”.
The memoirs open with:
I begin by declaring to my reader that, by everything good or bad that I have done throughout my life, I am sure that I have earned merit or incurred guilt, and that hence I must consider myself a free agent…Despite an excellent moral foundation, the inevitable fruit of the divine principles which were rooted in my heart, I was all my life the victim of my senses; I have delighted in going astray and I have constantly lived in error … my follies are the follies of youth. You will see that I laugh at them, and if you are kind you will laugh at them with me. You will laugh when you discover that I often had no scruples about deceiving nitwits and scoundrels and fools when I found it necessary. As for women, this sort of reciprocal deceit cancels itself out, for when love enters in, both parties are usually dupes.
Casanova is clear about the purpose of his book:
I expect the friendship, the esteem, and the gratitude of my readers. Their gratitude, if reading my memoirs will have given instruction and pleasure. Their esteem if, doing me justice, they will have found that I have more virtues than faults; and their friendship as soon as they come to find me deserving of it by the frankness and good faith with which I submit myself to their judgment without in any way disguising what I am.[84]
He also advises his readers that they “will not find all my adventures. I have left out those which would have offended the people who played a part in them, for they would cut a sorry figure in them. Even so, there are those who will sometimes think me too indiscreet; I am sorry for it.”[85] And in the final words, Casanova hints at adventures unrecorded: “The next morning at the appointed hour I see her in the carriage. I pay her a brief compliment; I sit down beside her, and we set off.”[86]
Uncut, the memoirs ran to twelve volumes, and the standard editions to nearly 1200 pages. Though his chronology is at times confusing and inaccurate, and many of his tales exaggerated, much of his narrative and many details are corroborated by contemporary writings. He has a good ear for dialogue and writes at length about all classes of society.[87] Casanova, for the most part, is honest about his faults, intentions, and motivations, and shares his successes and failures with good humor.[88] The confession is largely devoid of repentance or remorse. He celebrates the senses with his readers, especially regarding music, food, and women. “I have always liked highly seasoned food. … As for women, I have always found that the one I was in love with smelled good, and the more copious her sweat the sweeter I found it.”[89] He mentions over 120 adventures with women and girls, with several veiled references to male lovers as well.[90][91] He describes his duels and conflicts with scoundrels and officials, his entrapments and his escapes, his schemes and plots, his anguish and his sighs of pleasure. He demonstrates convincingly, “I can say vixi (‘I have lived’).”
The manuscript of Casanova’s memoirs was held by his relatives until it was sold to F. A. Brockhaus publishers, and first published in heavily abridged versions in German around 1822, then in French. During World War II, the manuscript survived the allied bombing of Leipzig. The memoirs were heavily pirated through the ages and have been translated into some twenty languages. But not until 1960 was the entire text published in its original language of French.[93]
The art of seduction
For Casanova, as well as his fellow sybarites of the upper class, love and sex were more casual and less endowed with the seriousness later bestowed by the Romantic movement during the 19th century.[94] Flirtations, bedroom games, and short-term liaisons were common among nobles who married for social connections rather than love. For Casanova, it was an open field of sexual opportunities (and, alas, disease.)
Although multi-faceted and complex, Casanova's personality was dominated by his sensual urges: “Cultivating whatever gave pleasure to my senses was always the chief business of my life; I never found any occupation more important. Feeling that I was born for the sex opposite of mine, I have always loved it and done all that I could to make myself loved by it.”
Casanova’s ideal liaison had elements beyond sex, including complicated plots, heroes and villains, and gallant outcomes. In a pattern he often repeated, he would discover an attractive woman in trouble with a brutish or jealous lover (Act I); he would ameliorate her difficulty (Act II); she would show her gratitude; he would seduce her; a short exciting affair would ensue (Act III); feeling a loss of ardor or boredom setting in, he would plead his unworthiness and arrange for her marriage or pairing with a worthy man, then exit the scene (Act IV).[96]
He advises, “there is no honest woman with an uncorrupted heart whom a man is not sure of conquering by dint of gratitude. It is one of the surest and shortest means.”[97] Alcohol and violence, for him, were not proper tools of seduction.[98] Instead, attentiveness and small favors should be employed to soften a woman’s heart, but “a man who makes known his love by words is a fool”. Verbal communication is essential; “without speech, the pleasure of love is diminished by at least two-thirds”, but words of love must be implied not boldly proclaimed.[99]
Mutual consent is important, according to Casanova, but he avoided easy conquests or overly difficult situations as not suitable for his purposes.[100] He strove to be the ideal escort in the first act—witty, charming, confidential, helpful—before moving into the bedroom in the third act. Casanova claims not to be predatory (“my guiding principle has been never to direct my attack against novices or those whose prejudices were likely to prove an obstacle”); however, his conquests did tend to be insecure or emotionally exposed women.[101]
Casanova valued intelligence in a woman: “After all, a beautiful woman without a mind of her own leaves her lover with no resource after he had physically enjoyed her charms.” His attitude towards educated women, however, was typical for his time: “In a woman learning is out of place; it compromises the essential qualities of her sex … no scientific discoveries have been made by women … (which) requires a vigor which the female sex cannot have. But in simple reasoning and in delicacy of feeling we must yield to women.”[102]
Casanova and gambling
As he recorded, gambling played a large role in the high society that Casanova traveled in. It helped gain him women to seduce and men to scheme with and against. In his memoirs, he discusses many forms of 18th century gambling—including lotteries, faro, basset, piquet, biribi, primero, quinze, and whist—and the passion for it among the nobility and the high clergy.[103] Cheaters (known as “correctors of fortune”) were somewhat more tolerated then than today in the casinos, and seldom caused affront. Most gamblers were on guard against cheaters and their tricks. Scams of all sorts were also common, and Casanova delighted in them.[104]
Throughout his life, Casanova would gamble for recreation and as an occasional means of living, winning and losing large sums. He was tutored by professionals, and he was “instructed in those wise maxims without which games of chance ruin those who participate in them”. He was not above occasionally cheating. At times, he even teamed up with professionals. Casanova claims that he was “relaxed and smiling when I lost, and I won without covetousness”. However, when outrageously duped himself, he could act violently, sometimes calling for a duel.[105] Casanova admits that he was not disciplined enough to be a professional gambler: “I had neither prudence enough to leave off when fortune was adverse, nor sufficient control over myself when I had won.”[106] Nor did he like being considered to a professional gambler: “Nothing could ever be adduced by professional gamblers that I was of their infernal clique.”[107] For Casanova, gambling was primarily a means for flirting, making connections, acting gallantly, and proving himself a gentlemen among his social superiors.
Casanova's fame and influence
Although best known for his prowess in seduction for more than two hundred years since his death, Casanova was also recognized by his contemporaries as an extraordinary person, a man of far-ranging intellect and curiosity. Casanova was one of the foremost chroniclers of his age. He was a true adventurer, traveling across Europe from end-to-end in search of fortune, seeking out the most prominent people of his time to help his cause. He was a man of contradictory traits—generous and mean, honest and deceptive, fawning and aloof, skeptical and gullible, superstitious and rational. He was a servant of the establishment and equally decadent as his times, but also a participant in secret societies and a seeker of answers beyond the conventional. He was religious, a devout Catholic, and believed in prayer: “Despair kills, prayer dissipates it; and after man trusts and acts.” But he also believed in free will and reason and clearly did not subscribe to the notion that pleasure-seeking would keep him from heaven, if heaven did indeed exist.
He was, by vocation and avocation, a lawyer, clergyman, military officer, violinist, con man, pimp, gourmand, dancer, businessman, diplomat, spy, politician, mathematician, social philosopher, cabalist, playwright, and writer. He wrote over twenty works, including plays and essays, and many letters. His novel Icosameron is an early work of science fiction.
Born of actors, he had a passion for the theater and for an improvised, theatrical life. But with all his talents, he frequently succumbed to the quest for pleasure and sex, often avoiding sustained work and established plans, and got himself into trouble when prudent action would have served him better. His true occupation was living largely on his quick wits, steely nerves, luck, social charm, and the money given to him in gratitude and by trickery.
Prince Charles de Ligne, who understood Casanova well, and who knew most of the prominent individuals of the age, thought Casanova the most interesting man he had ever met: “there is nothing in the world of which he is not capable.” Rounding out the portrait, the Prince also stated:
The only things about which he knows nothing are those which he believes himself to be expert: the rules of the dance, the French language, good taste, the way of the world, savoir vivre. It is only his comedies which are not funny, only his philosophical works which lack philosophy—all the rest are filled with it; there is always something weighty, new, piquant, profound. He is a well of knowledge, but he quotes Homer and Horace ad nauseam. His wit and his sallies are like Attic salt. He is sensitive and generous, but displease him in the slightest and he is unpleasant, vindictive, and detestable. He believes in nothing except what is most incredible, being superstitious about everything. He loves and lusts after everything. … He is proud because he is nothing. … Never tell him you have heard the story he is going to tell you. … Never omit to greet him in passing, for the merest trifle will make him your enemy.
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