no CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



much stouter and thicker. The texture is more open, of a 

 lighter color, and the inner surface is more distinctly striated. 

 The external surface, like that of the Kuei-pH^ is variegated 

 with lichenous patches. The taste is exceedingly pungent and 

 spicy. 



Cassia is more often used by the Chinese as a condiment 

 than as a medicine, being employed as a flavor for pork and 

 other meats. Stomachic, stimulant, carminative, astringent, 

 sedative, and tonic qualities are attributed to this drug. It is 

 especially recommended in colic and excessive sweating. Post- 

 partum difficulties and retained foetus are among the troubles 

 for which it is prescribed, as also are snake bite and rhus poi- 

 soning. The prolonged use of the better qualities of cassia is 

 thought to improve the complexion, giving one a more youth- 

 ful, rubicund appearance. ^ Pao P'u-tzu said that if cassia was 

 taken with toad's brains for seven years, one could walk on 

 the surface of the water and never grow old or die ; and Chao, 

 the hunch-back, took the drug continuously for twenty years, 

 with the result that hair grew on the bottom of his feet ; he 

 was able to walk five hundred li (200 miles) in a day, and lift a 

 weight of one thousand chin (1,333 pounds). 



CITRULLUS VULGARIS. — H % (Hsi-kua), % JDi 

 (Han-kua), ^ -^ jji (Yang-ch'i-kua). This is the ordinary 

 watermelon, which is very extensively grown in China, and is 

 eaten as a cooling fruit in very hot weather. It was introduced 

 from Mongolia in the tenth century, having been brought 

 there at an earlier period by the Kitans from the country of the 

 Uigurs farther west. This is the reason that it is called 

 "western melon", and not as some have supposed, because it 

 was introduced from what is now "the west". The Chinese 

 melon is not so large as the ordinary American variety, and 

 not so sweet or so fine flavored ; but it is very juicy. Several 

 varieties are grown ; some having white pulp, some yellow, and 

 some red. The seeds of these varieties are of different colors — 

 white, red, brown, and black. The black seeded variety with 

 red pulp is usually the finest flavored. Melon seeds (S ^, 

 Kua-tzu) are extensively eaten in tea shops, and in fact are in 

 evidence wherever tea is formally or socially served. They 



