VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 53 



them up in a stone mortar with water, separating out the 

 coarsest particles and refuse and drying what remains. Ai- 

 mien (^ |^), 4, is the Ai-jung picked to pieces by hand. This 

 latter is principally used as a stamping-ink pad for seals, being 

 mixed with vermillion and castor oil for that purpose. 



The Ai-jung is used as a moxa (^ >X\ ^otli for cauterizing 

 purposes and as a counterirritant. A small portion is rolled 

 into a pellet the size of a pea, placed upon the ulcer or place 

 to be cauterized and ignited. The preferred method of igniting 

 the moxa is with a burning glass or mirror. The number 

 of pellets used depends upon the effect desired. If it is used 

 for the relief of pain, the process is continued until the pain is 

 relieved, or until more than ten pellets have been used. If for 

 the cauterization of an ulcer, or for the loss of sensation in a 

 part, its application should be continued until acute pain is 

 produced, or ten or more pellets have been used. This treat- 

 ment is recommended and practiced indiscriminately by native 

 doctors for nearly all of the ills to which flesh is heir — from itch 

 to sterility. It is reported to have fallen somewhat into disuse 

 in some parts of tlie empire, but in Kiangnan it seems to be 

 as much employed by the native faculty as it ever was. 



The number of diseases for which Artemisia vulgaris is 

 prescribed, is very large. It is regarded as having haemostatic, 

 antiseptic, and carminative virtues. Therefore it is prescribed in 

 decoction in haemoptysis, dysentery, menorrhagia, post-partura 

 hsemorrhaoe, snake and insect bites, as a wash for all sorts of 

 wounds and ulcers, and to allay the griping pains of indigestion, 

 diarrhoea, or dysentery. The expressed juice of the fresh plant 

 is employed as a haemostatic, for tape worm, and as a carmin- 

 ative. A tincture, made up in native spirits, is used as a 

 nerve sedative in abdominal j^ain and in labor. The leaves are 

 also steamed and used as a poultice for the relief of pain. This 

 is called Ai-pa (^ ^). 



As this plant is so frequently used as a charm, and is held 

 in a measure of superstitious veneration by the people, it is a 

 little difficult to determine just where its remedial use in native 

 therapeutics begins. At the time of the Dragon Festival (fifth 

 day of the fifth moon) the Artemisia is hung up to ward off 

 noxious influences. This is done either together with a Taoist 



