24 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 



Also the Pen ts'ao kang mu (Section on Stones, Ch. g, p. 14) of Li 

 Shi-chen, the Chinese standard work on materia medica and natural 

 history completed in 1578 after 26 years' labor/ mentions the 'fir-tree 

 stone ' (sung shi) after Su Sung, an author of the Sung period, as being 

 produced in Ch'u-chou fu (Che-kiang Province) and being like the 

 trunk of a fir-tree but solid stone. According to the opinion of some, it 

 is fir-tree which has changed into stone after a long time ; it is gathered a 

 great deal on the mountains, and is made into pillows.^ 



It seems to me that similar notions have been active in inducing the 

 Chinese to confer on the turquois the name "green fir-tree stone," 

 because they looked upon it as a transformation from the fir-tree. 

 This may be inferred as a plausible explanation, for as far as I know, 

 there are no definitions of the name in Chinese literature; the word 

 lil sung shi can be traced only to the eighteenth century (see p. 60). 



A modem author, Chung Kia-fu, in his collected works (Ch'un ts'ao 

 fang ts'ung shu, 1845, ^h. 29, p. 19) has developed a peculiar view on 

 the origin of turquois which he places in the same category as amber: 



"When the moss growing on rock after many years consoHdates and assumes 

 color, turquoises arise, those of a deep hue being called lii sung, those light in color 

 sung erh ('fir-tree ears'). This is the same process as takes place with respect to 

 fir-tree resin which after many years consolidates and develops into amber, that of a 

 deep shade being called hu-p'o, that light in color being called bees'-wax (mi-la). ^ 



^ The literary history of this interesting work, first printed in 1596, has been traced 

 by Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicum, pt. i, p. 55. Despite many efforts I have 

 not succeeded in procuring the original edition which seems to be entirely lost and 

 not now to exist in any Chinese library. Bretschneider states that the earliest edi- 

 tion extant seems to be that of 1658; but a print of 1645 in 16 vols., edited by Ni 

 Tun-yii of Hang-chou, was secured by me in Tokyo, now in the John Crerar Library 

 of Chicago, which, besides, has an edition of 1826 in 39 volumes, and one issued in 

 1885 in 40 volumes, the best print in existence. An excellent photo-lithographic 

 reprint was published in 1908 by the firm Tsi ch'eng t'u shu of Shanghai after an edi- 

 tion of 1657 by Chang Ch'ao-lin. The text in the Shun-chi editions is more accurate 

 than in the K'ien-lung and Tao-kuang editions. Prof. Hirth {Journal China Branch 

 Royal As. Sac, Vol. XXI, 1886, p. 324) mentions a Ming edition printed in 1603, 

 possibly the second edition published. 



^ A. Wylie (in his treatise Asbestos in China: Chinese Researches III, p. 152, 

 Shanghai, 1897) quotes from the T'u king: "Among the hills at Ch'u chou (in ChS- 

 kiang Province) a species of pine stone is produced, resembling the trunk of the pine, 

 but in reality a stone ; some say that the pine in the course of time becomes changed 

 into stone. Many people take it to decorate their mountain lodges, and also shape 

 it into pillows." This passage is evidently taken from the Pen ts'ao kang mu, the 

 abbreviated title T'u king being identical with the T'u king pen ts'ao of Su Sung. 

 Compare also F. de M£ly (Les lapidaires chinois, p. 86, Paris, 1896) where the trans- 

 lation "pour representer des tranches d'arbres" should read "to represent pillows." 

 On p. 208 DE M6ly cites an interesting note from de Rosny, according to which a 

 fossil pine-tree was found in Japan in 1 806. 



^ Mi-la is the designation for a light -yellow kind of amber in which presumably 

 also copal and artificial productions occur. The Imperial Geography of the Manchu 

 Dynasty {Ta Ts'ing i t'ung chi, Ch. 274) ascribes its production to Shi-nan fu in 

 Hu-pei Province, but in another passage connects its introduction with the Hol- 

 landers. Other Chinese authors derive the origin of mi-la from Yiin-nan Province 



