蓮瓣辟蠹的文獻記載與實踐

Use of Lotus Petals to Repel Silverfish: Literature and Practice

「蓮瓣辟蠹」是前人曾經使用的一種書籍防蟲方法，學界在此方面研究甚少。本文結合文獻記載與歷史上實踐的例證，利用詩文集、檔案、日記、回憶錄、報刊等史料，梳理蓮瓣用於書籍防蟲的歷史，並考證該種防蟲方法的起始時間，探討其地域性分佈特點。根據清人蓮瓣題字紀事詩等例可以推證，清朝書籍中已有放入蓮瓣的現象，蓮瓣辟蠹之說在清朝後期有明確的文字記載；清末民初「蓮瓣辟蠹」成為生活常識，用於書籍防蟲。在地域分佈上，蓮瓣因為需乘鮮使用，該種方法僅限於蓮花生長區域，時間則限在夏季蓮花盛開之時。

Lotus petals were once inserted into book pages by our predecessors as a method of preventing bookworm damage in ancient times, a topic on which scholars have conducted little research and rarely provided practical examples. By combining documentary records with historical practices and utilizing sources such as poetry collections, archives, diaries, memoirs, and newspapers, the history of using lotus petals for bookworm prevention can be traced. This research aims to authenticate the origins of this method and explore its regional distribution characteristics. Temporal distribution can be illustrated through poems and inscriptions on lotus petal papers by Qing dynasty literati, suggesting that the practice of inserting lotus petals into books was already in use during the Qing dynasty, with explicit textual records appearing from the late Qing period onward. The use of lotus petals for bookworm prevention became common knowledge from the late Qing dynasty to the early Republic of China period. Regarding geographical distribution, this practice was limited to regions where lotus flowers grew abundantly and was only employed when the petals were fresh, typically during the summer when lotus flowers were in full bloom.