PANAX QUINQUEFOLIUM. 
bitterness. It is a fine, gentle and agreeable stimulant, also re- 
storative and anfispasmodic. No analysis has been made of it; 
but Rarinesque states that the root owes its active properties to 
a peculiar substance very similar to camphor, which he calls 
Panacine. We says that this is white, pungent, soluble in alco- 
hol and water, and more fixed than camphor ; it contains also a 
volatile oil, sugar, mucilage, resin, &c. 
According to the Chinese authorities, the use of this plant 
nourishes and strengthens the body, clears the judgment, re- 
moves all nervous affections, gives a vigorous tone to the human 
frame, and in short is an effectual remedy in all complaints. 
Ossuk, in his Voyage to China, (Svo. London, 1781,) says that: 
‘he never looked into the apothecaries’ shops but they were always 
selling Ginseng ; that both poor people and those of the highest 
rank made use of it, and that they boil half an ounce in their 
tea or soup every morning as a remedy for consumption and 
other diseases. Father Jarrovux relates that the most eminent 
physicians of China have written volumes on the medicinal 
_ powers of this plant; asserting that it gives immediate relief in 
extreme fatigue, either of body or mind, that it dissolves pitui- 
tous humours and renders respiration easy; strengthens the 
_ stomach, promotes appetite, stops vomiting, removes hysterical, 
_ hypeondriacal, and all nervous affections ; gives a vigorous tone 
of body even in extreme old age. It is given by them in a 
variety of forms, and the only ill [resailt that it is capable of pro- 
ducing is a Sectinany to hemorrhage when it is used in very large 
doses. It may be stated, also, that other persons who have used 
the Chinese root are of opinion that.many of the virtues attri- 
buted to it are real, and that it is a highly valuable remedy, 
On the other hand, the trials made with it, both in this country 
and in Europe, show that the American species gives no proof of 
such efficacy. It is merely a gentle stimulant, with some anti- 
spasmodic powers, and is of little estimation. No fair and ex- 
tended trial of it, however, has been made; and as regards the 
Chinese kind, it is difficult to come to any just conclusion, for 
it ean scarcely be possible that any article se long in use and so 
highly prized, can be wholly worthless; and yet there is much 
reason to believe that its beneficial effects are rather to be as- 
= Lae to fashion and the effects of Mier ea than to be in- 
