26 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



a vegetable, though not so highly prized as the native leek 

 (Alliu7n odorn7n). The small bulbs, called ^Jj! ^ (Hsieh-pai), 

 449, are pickled, as in Europe, and they are also preserved for 

 medicinal use in alcohol. Tonic, nutrient, astringent, and 

 alterative properties are attributed to the plant, and the bruised 

 bulb is applied as a discutient or vulnery remedy. Combined 

 with honey, it is said to be a useful application in burns. 



ALLIUM FISTULOSUM.— ^ (Ts'ung). This is the 

 Chinese onion, or ciboule, native to Siberia and Mongolia. It 

 is largely cultivated in several parts of China. It differs from 

 the common onion (Allium cepa) in never forming a globular 

 bulb. The common onion is largely cultivated in Southern 

 China and Cochin China, but it probably is of foreign origin. 

 It is called ^ ^ Hu-ts'ung) and [el 7^ (Hui-hui-ts'ung) ; 

 this latter term, "Moharaedan onion," indicating its deriva- 

 tion from the West. The Chinese onion, belonging to the 

 class of nitrogenous foods called ^ (Hun i, is much used as an 

 article of diet. It, together with other vegetables of its class, 

 constitutes a large proportion of the poor man's "meat" ; 

 being eaten with rice, millet, or bread, together with succulent 

 and green vegetables. Several varieties are cultivated, and the 

 article is as much used as its prototypes are in Spain and 

 Portugal. A large, coarse variety is called Tfc ^ (Mu-ts'ung), 

 or "tree-onion" (Alliuvi cepaproliforu77if). The wild onion, 

 § ^ (Ko-ts'ung) or ^ ^, (Shan-ts'ung), {Allium victorialis?)^ 

 and the foreign onion are specially mentioned in the Pentsao. 

 It says that the latter are indigenous to the mountains of 

 Szechuan, but we have not been able to verify this. Onion 

 tea is given to persons suffering from catarrh, fever, headache, 

 cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, urinary affections, and rheumatic 

 disorders. It is also used as a sedative in children's diseases. 

 The persons in charge of life boats on the Yangtse depend, in 

 cases of drowning, upon strong onion tea to excite vomiting and 

 reaction. Onions are applied to the noses of persons who have 

 attempted to hang themselves. Buboes, abscesses, and frac- 

 tures are poulticed with the bruised bulb, or annointed with 

 the juice. Every part of the plant is supposed to have some 

 special therapeutic property. 



