VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 39 



but that it is now found in the marshes of Lingnan. The 

 product appears in the Chinese medicine shops in two distinct 

 portions, which are prescribed in different affections. The 

 one most commonly appearing in commerce is the capsules, 



# t ^ (Sha-jen-k'o), 1076, which Hanbury describes as 

 follows: "These empty capsules are mostly attached to a 

 common stalk, which, when perfect, is about five inches long 

 and beset with remains of sheathing bracts. The superior 

 portion, which is much stouter than the rest, bears the fruits 

 closely crowded together on short bracted pedicels. The 

 capsules, having been deprived of seeds, are shrunken and 

 compressed, but after soaking in boiling water they acquire 

 their proper volume, becoming nearly spherical and about 

 three-quarters-of-an-inch in diameter." These capsules are 

 parched, pulverized, and prescribed in ulcerous affections of 

 the throat and mouth. As they are practically odorless and 

 tasteless, and the process of parching would probably drive 

 away any volatile substances they might contain, it is likely 

 that any other kind of charcoal would serve in these affections 

 equally well. 



The oblong, triangular, compact masses of the seeds of 

 these capsular fruits are sold as |f^ ^j; tl (So-sha-jen), or simply 



# t (Sha-jen), 1075. They vary from four to six lines in 

 length, and are covered with a white membrane, which when 

 removed discovers the small black seeds. They have nearly 

 the same flavor as that of the Amo^niim villosiwi^ and are said 

 by Hanbury to be substituted in the London market for those 

 of the officinal Elettaria (or Malabar) cardamom. The Chinese 

 consider the Amomimi cardaDwmiim^ Amovium villosinn^ and 

 Amom7C7n xajithoides to be similar in composition and virtues, 

 and this is probably the case. But as they almost invariably 

 prescribe the drug in the form of a decoction, and as its 

 medicinal virtues depend upon a volatile oil and a resin, it is 

 doubtful if this substance plays any very imporant part.iu their 

 prescriptions. Tonic, stomachic, astringent, carminative, seda- 

 tive, and tussic properties are referred to the seeds. They are 

 used as a preserve or condiment, in flavoring spirit, and are said 

 to hasten the solution of copper or iron cash, fish bones, or 

 any other metalic or foreign substance accidentally swallowed. 



