8 BOTANICON SINICUM. 
are seldom guided by experience, but rather by fanciful 
suppositions regarding the virtues of drugs. The Chinese 
are much addicted to the doctrine of “ signatures,” which 
prevailed also in Kurope centuries ago and which is based 
upon a belief that an external mark or character on a plant 
indicates its suitableness to cure particular diseases. Thus 
they employ internally a decoction of thorns of Gleditschia 
or Zizyphus to accelerate the bursting of abscesses. The 
pods of a Gleditschia, which resemble in shape the tusk of a 
boar, are administered in toothache ; the yellow bark, or 
wood, of Berberry in jaundice ; emmenagogue properties are 
ascribed to the red coloured root of Rubia cordifolia. The 
reader interested in the Chinese views with respect to the 
medical virtues of drugs may find information on the subject 
in Dr. F. Porrer Surra’s Contribution towards the Materia 
Medica, ete. of China, 1871. 
We constantly meet in the ancient Chine 
plants and drugs with names 
tricts, ete, 
se accounts of 
of provinces, prefectures, dis- 
where the drugs were produced. ‘The author has 
bestowed a peculiar attention upon the correct identification 
of the geographical names of various periods appearing in 
the Pen ts‘ao kang mu. This is by no means an easy task. 
As has already been pointed out in the first part of my 
Botanicon sinicum [p. 67-69] the same names at different 
times were applied to quite different localities of the empire.* 
Tao Hune-king, in speaking of the localities where me- 
dicinal plants are produced, frequently employs the terms 
WE kin tao and 32 3B pien tao, adjoining and border 
provinces. The first we understand to mean the provinces 
not far distant from the capital and transhite it by Central 
China. 
Comp. eg. in the Appendix: 160, 4 Bie ae 
Liang chin ; 228, Nan hats 889, War vag and hoe 5 284, Ning chow ; 18%, 
Nan hang, : : ; "4 
King chou ; 124, Kiang nan ; 229, 
