84 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



dragon". The Chinese pay but little attention to these 

 "chops" and brands. Tea stores that profess to sell the best 

 quality of tea, always put Kf |^ (Yii-ch'ien) on their sign boards ; 

 but its use in this case does not indicate any special brand, but 

 only that the best qualities are offered for sale ; that is, what 

 the people like best, the early or first picking before the 

 summer rains have set in. These teas are all green, as com- 

 paratively little black tea is used by the Chinese themselves. 

 Among the few who distinguish between brands, that known 

 as 11 ^ (Lung-ching) is considered to be the finest among plain 

 teas. Scented teas are made by mixing the petals of certain 

 flowers, notably the J;^ "^ (Chu-lan) or Chloranthus^ and the 

 ^ ^^ (Mo-li), or white jasmine {Jasniiniim sainbac)^ of which the 

 former is the one preferred, with the tea leaves until these 

 have acquired the aroma of the flowers, then sifting out the 

 petals and quickly packing the tea in air tight boxes to 

 preserve the flavor. These teas are not so popular with the 

 Chinese as has been commonly supposed. 



Brick tea is made in China, at present principally by 

 the Russian tea packers, for the trade of Central Asia. It is 

 usually the older leaves, stems, and broken tea that are 

 o-round, steamed and compressed by machinery into bricks of 

 various sizes. These are wrapped in paper, packed in boxes, 

 and shipped to the northern ports, thence to be sent by camel 

 or mule train across the mountains and plains to their destina- 

 tion in the heart of the continent. By the tribes inhabiting 

 this large tract of country, including much of Siberia, it is 

 consumed leaf and all, being by some dressed with milk, salt, 

 and butter, and eaten as a vegetable. Inasmuch as tea con- 

 tains a large amount of soluble nitrogen, it would seem that 

 the use of the leaf as a food would be a rational procedure. 

 Whether caffeine and theine are physiologically identical, is still 

 undecided. To say the least, the much feared deleterious 

 effects of theine are not very apparent, either upon the Chinese 

 tea drinker or the Central Asian tea eater. 



While but little attention is paid by the Chinese to the 

 brand of tea used for ordinary consumption, it is quite other- 

 wise when it comes to the domain of native therapeutics. 

 Here, the place of origin, the time of picking, the mode 



