MATERIA MEDICA OF THE ANCIENT CHINESE. 13 
THE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE SHEN NUNG 
PEN TS‘AO KING AND THE PIF LU. 
1.— ff Kans‘. P., XIla,1. T. CLX. 
Comp. also Rh ya, 199, Class‘es, 425, 
Pen king :—NKan ts‘ao (sweet herb). The root is sweet 
of a uniform nature, non-poisonous. 
Pie lu :—Kan ts‘ao, also BH mi kan (honey sweet), 
| ¥i mi ts‘ao (honey herb), Fz Fl mei ts‘ao (excellent herb), 
ie Glu ts‘ao [this name occurs in the ancient dictionary 
AG tsiu pien and in Tung fang so, second century B.C.], 
BYE kuo lao. The latter name, old man of the Empire, which 
properly is a title given to meritorious statesmen, according 
to Tao Hune-xrna is applied to the plant on account of its 
eminent virtues as a remedy. The Pie lu says:—The kan 
‘s‘ao grows in the river valleys (plains) of Ho si [west of 
the Yellow River, +. App. 79] and on sand-hills. It is also 
found in Shang kiin [north-eastern part of Shen si, x. 
App. 273]. The people gather the root towards the end of 
the 8th month and dry it in the sun during 10 days. 
T‘ao Hone-k1xa considers the kan ts‘ao to be one of the 
most important of medicines, which takes the same place 
among drugs as the Ch‘en hiang [Aloewood, see 307] 
among fragrances. It enters into almost all prescriptions, 
Besides this it has the property of neutralizing the effect of 
poison, He says that in his time the drug was not brought 
from Ho si and Shang kiin, but the places of production 
were Shn [Sz‘ ch‘uan, x. App. 292], Han chung [Southern 
Shen si, v. App. 54] and especially it was supplied by the 
