570 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



set animals, with no appreciable neck or ex- 

 ternal ears, and very small eyes. The feet 

 are adapted to digging, the fore paws in 

 particular being very strong and armed with 

 long, curved claws, while the sides of the 

 toes are lined with rows of bristles that 

 prevent the dirt from passing between the 

 fingers. The tail is moderately long, thick, 

 fleshy, usually hairless, and sensitive to the 

 touch. In working under the earth the 

 animals loosen the ground with their upper 

 incisors, while they keep their fore feet in 

 active operation in digging and pressing the 

 earth back under the body, and their hind 

 feet in moving it still farther backward. As 

 the dirt accumulates in its rear the animal 

 turns in its burrow and, bringing its wrists 

 together under its chin, with the palms of 

 its hands held up, forces itself along by its 

 hind feet, pushing the earth outward. All 

 the pocket gophers have external cheek 

 pouches, which are used for carrying food. 

 They are great hoarders, and fill their store- 

 houses with vastly more than they consume. 

 The cheek pouches reach back as far as the 

 shoulder. A captured animal filling its 

 pouches after a meal made motions so rapid 

 that they were hard to observe. If a piece, 

 say of potato, too large to go in the pouch, 

 was given him, he would grasp it with both 

 paws and pry ofE small bits with his long 

 lower incisors, then raise himself a little on 

 his hind legs and hold the fragment between 

 his fore paws while eating previous to put- 

 ting away what was left. Small pieces were 

 disposed of promptly ; others were trimmed 

 by cutting off projecting angles. The ani- 

 mal has to use its fore paws in passing food 

 from its mouth to the pouches, and in 

 emptying the pouches these paws are used 

 very dexterously. 



Ginseng. This drug, which is frequently 

 spoken of as the panacea of eastern Asia, 

 consists of the roots of Panax ginseng, be- 

 longing to the natural order Araliaceoe, a 

 plant indigenous to China and Japan, but 

 chiefly occurring in Corea and Manchuria. 

 The following account is taken from the Lan- 

 cet: When full grown, the ginseng plant 

 stands from a foot to a foot and a half high, 

 each stem supporting a single palmate leaf. 

 The flower is purple-colored, and in summer 

 is replaced by brilliant red berries. The 



roots are gathered at the commencement of 

 winter, and, after maceration in cold water 

 for three days, are placed in covered vessels 

 which are suspended over fires until the con- 

 tents become hard, resinous, and translucent. 

 The drug then appears in the form of brittle 

 rods, often forked or many-tailed, about the 

 thickness of the little finger and from two 

 to four inches in length. The taste is sweet- 

 ish and glutinous, recalling, in spite of slight 

 bitterness, that of licorice. The wild plant 

 is the most highly valued, but it is extreme- 

 ly rare, being worth more than its weight in 

 gold. According to the Chinese Times, ten 

 large sticks of ginseng and eight of medium 

 size, weighing collectively nine ounces and 

 one fifth, fetched, including duty, seventeen 

 hundred and seven taels (about seventeen 

 hundred dollars). Ginseng culture in Corea is 

 exclusively in the hands of a few state farm- 

 ers, and is most carefully supervised. The 

 fields are surrounded by lofty barriers, while 

 in each a watchman, perched on a platform, 

 keeps guard night and day. The seeds are 

 set in ridges, the tender shoots being pro- 

 tected from sun or storm by sheds of thatch 

 or coarse cloth. During the first year or two 

 the seedlings are frequently transplanted. 

 They do not attain to maturity until about 

 the fifth year, and, as a rule, are not culled 

 before the sixth or seventh. The leaves are 

 said to possess emetic and expectorant prop- 

 erties, but the roots alone are employed medi- 

 cinally, being prescribed as a tonic in every 

 disease that is attended by debility. It is as 

 an aphrodisiac, however, that ginseng is in 

 greatest request throughout the whole of the 

 Orient. It is taken in the form of an extract 

 or decoction, the latter mode being generally 

 preferred. It is usually taken in the morn- 

 ing and at bedtime. From three to five 

 grammes of the root constitute a daily dose, 

 and the exhibition may be continued for a 

 week or more. Several unsuccessful attempts 

 have been made to introduce the drug into 

 Europe. 



Pilgrims ef the Japanese Alps, In ex- 

 ploring what are called the Japanese Alps, 

 the Rev. Walter Weston found himself in a 

 region still unaffected by European innova- 

 tions; a plateau more than a hundred and 

 twenty miles long, surrounded by mountain 

 ridges, and known, on account of its se- 



