1 82 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



inteniiittent fever. Modern Chinese seem to understand the 

 antiperiodic effect of this drug, although the Cinchona salts 

 have superseded all other forms of treatment for malarial fevers. 



GALIvA SINENSIS.— S ^ ^ (Wu-pei-tzu), 1466. 

 These are the galls that are produced upon the leaves or leaf- 

 stalks of Rhus semialata by an insect, which is probably an 

 aphis. The tree is of the same genus as that which yields the 

 Chinese and Japanese varnish or lacquer. In India the excres- 

 cence is called Kakra-singie^ and sometimes attains to the size 

 of a man's fist. The galls are usually met with as hard, brittle, 

 oblong, horn-like, contorted bodies, about an incli and a half 

 long, and resembling a seashell. They are pointed, or taper- 

 ing, at either end, or triangular, irregular, and tuberculated. 

 The outer surface is velvety, of a yellowish or light brown 

 color, the thin walls somewhat translucent, and the interior 

 smooth, and occupied by the remains of the insect. They 

 contain between seventy and eighty per cent, of tannin. They 

 are collected for the most part in Manchuria and the province 

 of Szechuan. There is a Japanese kind which is smaller, and 

 that from India, produced upon the Rhus succedanea^ is more 

 cylindrical. These galls are used by dyers and tanners to pro- 

 duce a black color, or are mixed with cochineal and other 

 coloring substances (according to Dr. Williams) to produce grey, 

 brown, and fawn tints. They are the principal ingredient in a 

 kind of imperial electuary, which is very highly rated and only 

 obtainable as a gift from the throne. The Chinese use them 

 medicinally as an expectorant, astringent, and corrective 

 remedy, and they are applied topically to chancres, swellings, 

 and wounds. The second character in the name at the head of 

 this article is properly written |§ (P'ei). 



Faber speaks of the Galls of Celtis smettsis^ which he calls 

 Tic t^ 5i (Mu-t*ao-erh), but these are not mentioned in the 

 Pentsao. 



GAMBIR. — See Ar'eca catechu and Uncaria gambir. 



GARCINIA MORELLA.— fi % (T'eng-huang). These 

 characters are sometimes wrongly written |jg ^ (T'ung-huang). 

 This is the same as Garcinia hanburiiy and the drug produced, 



