86 Observations on some of the Medical Plants 
drink. Being driven, by stress of weather, into Humbroe 
Sound, near Lillasand, I entered the house of the pilot, who 
had a great bunch hung up in his room. He spoke English, 
and, in answer to a question of mine, he informed me of its 
use there, and that its English name was porse. 
Mandrake. There are two plants which are denominated 
Mandrake by our countrymen; they have large and forked 
roots. Of these, the Bryonia diocia is largest, white, and 
hairy; the Tamus communis is smaller, dark, and smooth. 
Shakspeare compares Justice Shallow to these roots. 
«©T do remember him at Clement’s Inn, like a man made after supper of a 
cheese-paring. When he was naked, he was for all the world like a forked 
radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife; he was the very 
genius of famine, yet lascivious as a monkey, and they called him Mandrake.” 
King Henry IV. act iil. sc. 2. 
The etymology of the word is from its root being generally 
divided and forked, like a man. 
‘«« Semihominis mandragore flores.””— Colum. ~ 
It is also denominated Mandragon by Gerard. ‘The English 
word man exists in the Latin humanus; likewise in the 
Hebrew, and other languages. In the present instance, it is 
found in the Greek combined with the word dracon, from 
depxw, aspicio. 
Littleton supposes the word is substituted for andragoras, 
from ayn, vir, and ayopew, loquor. ‘‘ Quod humanam spe- 
ciem quodammodo etiam vocem quum evellitur, si vera tra- 
dunt referat ejulans?” To this Shakspeare adverts: 
«¢ And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth: 
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad.”—R.§ Jul. a.iv. s. 2. 
Again, 
«© Would curses kill as doth the mandrake’s groan, 
V’d—” 2d Part K. Henry VI, act iii. se. 2. 
From hence it appears that the plant was believed to utter a 
horrible and fatal shriek when dug out of the earth. 
We receive a small forked root from Chinese 'Tartary, the 
name of which is Ginseng. I have always believed that the 
Chinese etymology of this word was Jin-seang, (vide Morr. 
8868,) Mr. Morrison, however, in No. 8803, gives it diffe- 
rently; and in part iii. p. 187, he gives it thus, jén-san, from 
jin, a man, and san, gradual; its slow growth being supposed , 
according to him, to have suggested the name. I am still of 
opinion that the form 8803 is rather derived from 5868, or 
jin-seang, man’s likeness; and I have no doubt but it has the 
same meaning as the word mandrake, although the origin of 
the term may have been obscured by its antiquity. 
Mr. Morrison illustrates the use of this root in the follow- 
