CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA 35 



process of digestion of each herb and mark its influence on 

 the system. A pharmacopoeia, said to have been written by 

 him, formed the nucleus of the " Pun-tsao " or Herbal, a 

 great work on the Chinese materia medica. In every druggist's 

 shop of repute there is an image of Shen-nung, and he is looked 

 upon as the presiding deity of the business. 



The Herbal above referred to was published about a.d. 1590, 

 and its compiler, one Li Shi-chin, spent 30 years in collecting 

 the information. He consulted some 800 previous authors, 

 from whose writings he selected 15 18 prescriptions, and added 

 374 new ones, arranging his materials in 52 chapters in a 

 methodical and (for his day) scientific manner. The work, 

 which is usually bound in 40 octavo volumes, was well received, 

 and attracted the notice of the emperor, who ordered several 

 succeeding editions to be published at the expense of the 

 State. It was, in fact, so great an advance on all previous 

 books, that it checked future writers on the subject, and Li 

 is likely now to be the first and last Chinese critical writer on 

 Natural Science in his mother tongue. 



Many curious statements naturally occur in this extensive 

 old work. For example : " The heart of a white horse, or 

 that of a hog, cow, or hen, when dried and rasped into spirit, 

 and so taken, cures forgetfulness." " Above the knees the 

 horse has night-eyes (warts), which enable him to go in the 

 night ; they are useful in the toothache," Another is : " If a 

 man be restless and hysterical when he wishes to sleep, and it 

 is requisite to put him to rest, let the ashes of a skull be mingled 

 with water and given him, and let him have a skull for a pillow 

 and it will cure him." 



Some very extraordinary remedies are practised to-day. 

 For example : Human milk is supposed to give strength to 

 enfeebled old age. It is considered a meritorious filial act for 

 daughters, granddaughters, and others to thus succour their 

 aged relatives. In Chungking in 1908 an extraordinary case 

 came to my knowledge. A native doctor informed a young 

 woman that the only way to save her mother's life was to 

 administer to her a portion of human liver. This daughter 

 took a large knife and deliberately plunged it into her own 

 body and cut away a portion of her liver. Dr. Asmy, a noble, 



