352 BOTANY OF THE VOYAGE OP H.M.S. HERAL]). 
kang-muli' (Materia Medica) of Li-shi-chin as the standard to judge of their knowledge, we 
must own that they were, at the time that great work was written, as nearly as possible on 
a level with their contemporaries in Western Europe. The ' Pung-tsan-kang-muh/ to which 
allusion has been made, is a valuable compilation, and was first published about three hun- 
dred years ago; it consists of no less than forty closely-printed octavo volumes,* containing 
several hundred figures and several thousand descriptions of minerals, plants, and animals 
used in medicine. True, both these representations and descriptions are imperfect, but they 
are by no means inferior to those found in the ' Krauterbiicher' and Herbals puMished in 
Europe before the time of Linnajus. To identify the names and figures given by Li-shi-chin 
with scientific appellations, will be an interesting study to those who occupy themselves with 
Chinese Natural History, and, judging from the few extracts which have from time to time 
been published, the labour of translating the whole into some European language would be 
amply repaid by a vast amount of curious and useful information, and has indeed become 
one of the desiderata of our time. 
•^That i. the number of the volumes in mj possession ; Daniel Hanbury, Esq., has however ten more 
■' "'■''' '^ ^ *^^^"^'^* '^^^ ^'^"^ ^^'^ °^ ^t'^t^er my copj is imperfect, I have at present no 
"Whether 
means of deciding. 
