lO CHINESK MATERIA MKDICA. 



to be cultiv^ated upon a large scale in Changming Hsien, 

 Lungan Fu, Szechnan. An elaborate work on its cultivation 

 was written in tlie Sung dynasty, from which it appears that by 

 the use of pig's-dung, and a long period of domestication, this 

 species of aconite, and perhaps Acoiiitum napellus^ have been 

 rendered much less poisonous. The plant is made to develop 

 very many appended side tubers, which, when gathered in the 

 winter, are prepared by steeping in vinegar and salting them, 

 and afterwards treating them by a process best known to those 

 engaged in the trade. The tubers with numerous radicles are 

 the most esteemed. As found in the drug shops, they are larger 

 than the roots of the Ts'ao-wu (U^ H^), but otherwise very- 

 similar in appearance. Fu-p'ien (|f| Y^) is merely the tubers of 

 the Aconitum Jischeri stripped of the cuticle, after soaking 

 with vinegar, dried thoroughly, and cut into slices, which are 

 brittle, curled, translucent, white, and exhibit the concentric 

 arrangement of the vascular bundles which traverse the root 

 lengthwise. It is but very slightly acrid, as might be expected 

 from the action of the acid on the root, in which it is macerated 

 for a week. Another drug, said to be derived from the small 

 side tubers of the Aconitiun fischeri^ is called Tse-tzii (/jB,!) ■^). 

 The first character in both Fii-tzu and Ts^-tzu are properly 

 written with the grass radical {f^ and ^). 



T'ien-hsiung (5c 11) is by some classed as Aconitum 

 variegattnn. But, judging by the description given in the 

 Pentsao^ it would almost appear to be a stameniferous or sterile 

 variety of the Aconitutn Jischeri^ cultivated in Szechnan and 

 altered by domestication. The prepared tubers are top-shaped, 

 ovoid, measuring one inch and three quarters long by one inch 

 and a half in breadth, of a black color externally, and often 

 encrusted with a saline efflorescence. Several tubercles emboss 

 the outer surface, more especially at the upper part. The 

 interior is of a blackish-brown color, moist and greasy. In some 

 fresher specimens the color was lighter and the texture more 

 amylaceous. The taste is saltish, followed by the characteristic 

 sensations caused by aconite. 



The Pentsao considers all of the various forms of aconite 

 to be the same. That is to say, each is a different stage in the 

 growth or cultivation of the plant. A number of explanations 



