174 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



is also spoken of. There is a saying to the effect that "of 

 assaf(vfida there is none genuine ; of skullcap (a common herb> 

 there is none sophisticated." Garlic, together with the pla- 

 centa of a lying-in woman, or a dead foetus, is actually boiled 

 in water and evaporated to produce an abominable compound 

 as a substitute for this stinking drug. The Mongols use as- 

 safoetida with meat as a condiment. The drug is said to be 

 the exudation from both an herb and a tree. That prepared by 

 pounding and boiling down the root is deemed superior to the 

 simple exudation of the cut root. The yellow grained samples 

 are said to be the best. Siamese and Sumatran assafoetida are 

 said to be collected Wke ga>nboge^ with which they are perhaps 

 confounded. Several tests for proving the genuineness of the 

 drug are given in the PSfitsao ; one being that it should leave 

 a white mark on a copper vessel after being kept in it over 

 night. Deodorizing, anthelmintic, carminative, cordial, altera- 

 tive, antispasmodic, deobstruent, alexipharmic, and antiperiodic 

 properties are ascribed to it. It is said to assist in the diges- 

 tion of every kind of meat, and to correct the poison of stale 

 meats, meats of animals that have died of disease, and of edible 

 mushrooms and herbs. Possibly one of the ascribed virtues 

 which would prove most useful to ordinary humanity is that 

 of suppressing the devil and driving out evil. The Pentsao 

 does not say whether this is a result of the odor, or of an astral 

 aura emanating from the second character of the name. This 

 character is properly written ^ (Wei). It is possible that 

 galbanum is also sometimes confounded with assafoetida. 



FICUS CARICA.— ^ -^ ^ (Wu-hua-kuo), R^ B :|| 

 (Ying-jeh-kuo;, @ # i^ (Yu-t'an-po), PnJ |a (A-tsang). The 

 first two names given above are the common names of the 

 ordinary Chinese fig, and the third and fourth names are said 

 to be those of the Cantonese and Persian varieties respectively. 

 The Chinese fig, the natural habitat of which is probably the 

 Yangtse valley, is a small, irregular shrub, bearing a fruit very 

 'much smaller and inferior in quality to the Persian variety. 

 '" In the article on this subject in the Pentsao^ three other fig- 

 like plants are spoken of. One, the '% % %. (Wen-kuang- 

 kuo), Faber identifies as Xanthoceras sorbifolia. Another, 



