198 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



south-west, or by both of these factors. The plant is now 

 grown in all parts of southern and central China. Under the 

 title of TJC :|,^ (Mu-mien) the Pentsao discusses this plant and 

 gives -^ ^ (Ku-pei) and -^ i^^ (Ku-chung) as synonj^ms, saying 

 that the former refers to the tree, while the latter refers to the 

 plant. The Sanscrit names given are ^^ ^ (San-p'o) and ^ 

 J^ ^ |)J. (Chia-lo-p'o-chieh), the latter of which may be an 

 attempt at transliteration of the Indian name Karpasi. Kao- 

 chang, the country of the Uigurs, is named as possessing a 

 cotton plant which produces a textile fiber, called |^ ^ (Pai- 

 tieh). The Kiiaitg-chun-fa7ig-p7i gives full directions as to the 

 growing of cotton, and names the various varieties raised. 

 The Chinese card cotton by means of a bow, producing a very 

 light floss. Usually the Chinese cotton fiber is short staple, 

 but they have one kind, called j^ j^ (Ssti-mien), which is very 

 silky and of great length. They consider the foreign cotton, 

 which they have had to buy so largely of late years on account 

 of the failure of their own crops, as inferior in warmth to their 

 own staples. The cotton plant does not seem to be used in 

 medicine. The fiber, both in the raw state and after having 

 been incinerated, is used to staunch wounds. The seed, |^ ^ 

 •^ (Mien-hua-tzu), ^ f^ t (Mien-hua-jen), 848, are employed 

 in the manufacture of cotton seed oil^ which was formerly used 

 in villages as food and for lamps. Its taste is very unpleasant, 

 which fact is due to the Chinese roasting the seeds before 

 expressing the oil. It is used medicinally as a demulcent, and 

 is applied to leprous, scabious, and other forms of skin disease. 



GYMNOCLADUS CHINENSIS. — SE ^ ^ (Fei-tsao- 

 chia). This is a leguminous tree, similar to Gleditschia. It 

 was for some time supposed to be a CcBsalpinia^ but it was 

 later found to belong to Gymnocladus^ and the above designa- 

 tion was assigned to it. It is a large tree, growing in central 

 China, and bearing white flowers. Its pods are collected for 

 the market, and are met with as greasy, fleshy, yellowish, or 

 reddish-brown legumes, three or four inches long, and about 

 one and a half inches broad. They abound in an acrid, deter- 

 gent, fatty principle, so that when the pods are roasted and 

 pouuded into a pulp, they may be kneaded into balls. These 



