VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 1 83 



which is the inspissated juice, derived from incisions made into 

 the bark of the tree, and collected in a hollow bamboo, is the 

 Siamese gamboge of commerce. The tree, which is common in 

 Hunan and Shensi, is called ^ ff (Hai-t'eng). When the 

 juice exudes from the bark and drops upon the stones, it is 

 called ^ ^ (Sha-huang). That which exudes from the tree 

 and congeals on the bark is called )||j i^ (Iva-huang). We are 

 indebted to Hanbury for his careful observations upon this 

 substance. A full account will be found in his Science Papers, 

 page 326 et seq. Gamboge, as it appears in the Chinese mar- 

 ket, consists of short cylindrical pieces of the shape of the 

 bamboo tube in which it has been prepared. Irregular masses 

 are also found. Chinese draughtsmen use it as a pigment. Its 

 medicinal use is limited to external application ; its purgative 

 properties either not being known, or else considered of too 

 violent a character for safety. The Chinese regard it as very 

 poisonous. It is used both alone in powder, and as an ingre- 

 dient in a large number of prescriptions, for the treatment of 

 wounds of all kinds, cancerous sores, and to cause decayed and 

 painful teeth to drop out. Its irritant and stimulant action 

 upon the skin is fully taken advantage of in the treatment of 

 indolent ulcers. 



GARDENIA FLORIDA.— ;jf ^ (.Chih-tzits 639. There 

 are several kinds of this shrub in China, and these have been 

 divided into species by various observers, such as the one here 

 given. Gardenia radica7is^ Gardenia grandifiora^ Gardenia 

 rubra^ and the like. Btit great confusion exists in regard to 

 these identifications, and as the uses of the various drugs 

 derived from these plants are practically the same, and as the 

 Phtfsao discusses them all under one head, they will not be 

 separated here. Generally speaking, two kinds of dried fruits 

 from these plants are found in Chinese medicine. One, the 

 larger, is called simply 1^ ^ (Chih-tzu), while the other and 

 smaller is called ill ^ ^ iShan-chih-tzu). The larger occurs 

 as a smooth, oblong, orange-brown, or yellowish, imperfectly 

 two-celled berry, from one to two inches in length, strongly 

 marked with six ribs which terminate in the superior perma- 

 nent calyx, which generally crowns even the dried fruit of the 



