VEGETABLE KINGDOM. l8l 



G. 



GALANGA. — See Alpinia oficinariim. 



Gx\LBx\NUM. — It is entirel}- probable that this drug is 

 imported into China, as it comes from a region which supplies 

 many such products to the Chinese markets. But under what 

 name it may come has not yet been ascertained. It is possible 

 that in some cases it may be confounded with assafoetida. 



GAUUM APARINE.— It f^^^(Chu-yang-yang). This 

 cleavers is thus identified by Faber, but it is not found in the 

 Pentsao. The Kua7ig-chihi-fa7ig-pii places it among green vege- 

 tables, but nothing is said in regard to it except that pigs are 

 very fond of it, and that it is used as a vegetable in the spring. 



GALLA.— |ffi % ^ (Wu-shih-tzii), t^ ;& •? (I\Iu-shih- 

 tzu), 874, M S" T^ v-Mo-shih-tzii), Jp ^ ^f (Mo-t'u-tse). The 

 most of the names above given are attempts to reproduce the 

 Persian name Mazii. Efforts to explain the Chinese names in 

 any other way are scarcely warranted, however plausible some 

 of these explanations may seem. The description of the tree 

 given in the Pentsao is very vague, and the Chinese seem to be 

 ignorant of the origin of these galls, which they suppose to be 

 a fruit of the tree alternating with the proper fruit. Those 

 coming from Persia and Arabia have long been prized in 

 China. These galls are not essentially different from those 

 found in the European markets, as they practically come from 

 the same place. The Chinese books direct that the galls shall 

 be pierced, and dried in a sand bath until they assume a 

 brownish-black color, when they are ready for use in medicine. 

 Their use in making ink seems to have been formerly known 

 in China, as also their use as a hair dye. They are powdered 

 and given in dysentery, chronic diarrhoea, nocturnal sweating, 

 seminal emissions, toothache, and the kan (^) disease in 

 children. They are applied to sores and skin affections as a 

 stimulant and astringent. Galls have been successfully em- 

 ployed in some parts of India in very mild and chronic forms of 



