556 Sino-Iranica 



ihelg as-sin ("Chinese snow"), and the rocket as sahm xatai ("Chinese 

 arrow"). 1 



22. Ibn al-Faqlh extols the art-industries of the Chinese, par- 

 ticularly pottery, lamps, and other such durable implements, which are 

 admirable as to their art and permanent in their execution. 2 Kaolin is 

 known to the Persians as xdk-i clni ("Chinese earth"). In excellent 

 quality it is found in Kermanshah, but the art of making porcelain 

 there is now lost. 3 The Persian term for porcelain is fag furl or fagfur-i 

 clnl. i Fagfur (Sogdian va7vur, "Son of Heaven"), as far as I know, is 

 the only sinicism to be found in Iranian, being a literal rendering of 

 Chinese fien-tse % ■?. 



23. Persian lubi cini ("China root"), Neo-Sanskrit cobaclnl or 

 copaclnl (kub-cini in the bazars of India), is the root of Smilax pseudo- 

 china, so-called Chinese sarsaparilla {fu-fu-lih zh $t 4*) , a famous 

 remedy for the treatment of Morbus americanus, first introduced into 

 Europe by the returning sailors of Columbus, and into India by the 

 sailors of Vasco da Gama (Sanskrit phirangaroga, "disease of the 

 Franks"). It is first mentioned, together with the Chinese remedy, in 

 Indian writings of the sixteenth century, notably the Bhavaprakaga. 5 

 Good information on this subject is given by Garcia da Orta, who 

 says, "As all these lands and China and Japan have this morbo napo- 

 litano, it pleased a merciful God to provide this root as a remedy with 

 which good doctors can cure it, although the majority fall into error. 

 As it is cured with this medicine, the root was traced to the Chinese, 

 when there was a cure with it in the year 1 53 5. " 6 Garcia gives a detailed 

 description of the shrub which he says is called lampatam by the Chi- 

 nese. 7 This transcription corresponds to Chinese len-fan-fwan <v f£ @8 

 (literally, "cold rice ball"), a synonyme of Vu-fu-lin; pronounced at 



1 G. Jacob, Oriental Elements of Culture In the Occident (Smithsonian Report 

 for 1902, p. 520). See also Leclerc, Traits des simples, Vol. I, pp. 71, 333; and 

 Quatremere, Journal asiatique, 1850, I, p. 222. 



2 E. Wiedemann, Zur Technik bei den Arabern, Sitzber. Phys.-Med. Soz. Erl., 

 Vol. XXXVIII, 1906, p. 355- 



3 Schlimmer, Terminologie, p. 334. 



4 See Beginnings of Porcelain, p. 126. 



5 J. Jolly, Indische Medicin, p. 106. 



6 C. Markham, Colloquies, p. 379. Cf. also Fluckiger and Hanbury, Phar- 

 macographia, p. 712. F. Pyrard (Vol. I, p. 182; ed. of Hakluyt Society), who trav- 

 elled in India from 1601 to 1610, observes, "Venereal disease is not so common, 

 albeit it is found, and is cured with China-wood, without sweating or anything 

 else. This disease they call farangui baescour (Arabic basur, 'piles'), from its coming 

 to them from Europe." A long description of the remedy is given by Linschoten 

 (Vol. II, pp. 107-112, ed. of Hakluyt Society). 



7 C. Acosta (Tractado de las drogas, p. 80) writes this word lampatan. 



