VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 295 



ered to be constipating, and therefore is recommended to be 

 used in diarrhoeas. Cakes made of this rice and fried in camel's 

 fat are used for hemorrhoids. The congee is used in fevers as 

 a diuretic, and both internally and externally as a demulcent. 

 The Chinese often heat the water in which the rice is to 

 be scoured, and after thorough washing the water is called 

 ^ '^y- (Mi-kan). This is considered cooling as a drink, is 

 administered in fluxes from the bowels, and used to wash foul 

 sores. The rice flowers, ||| f^ :^ (No-tao-hua) are dried and 

 used as a dentifrice and cosmetic. The root, ||| f^ j^ (No- 

 tao-ken), 912, is not mentioned in the Pentsao. The green 

 culm or stalk is recommended in biliousness, and the ash of 

 the straw is used in the treatment of wounds and discharges. 

 The awns (^ ,^^, Ku-ying) are also recommended in jaundice. 

 The ashes of the hulls are used to clean discolored teeth. 



The non-glutinous kind is described under the title ||? 

 (Keng). There are two varieties : the 7]<C ^ (Shui-mi) and the 

 ^u ^ (Han-mi), or the water-grown and the upland varieties. 

 The former is by far the more common. The Chinese regard 

 rice as the best food, and their term for the prepared article, |g 

 (Fan), has about the same signification that the word "bread" 

 had to English-speaking people of the time of King James ; 

 that is, a term signifying food in general. Their estimate is 

 very nearly correct, as rice is the one cereal which comes 

 nearest having all the elements necessary to sustain life. It 

 is said to benefit the breath, remove anxiety and thirst, check 

 discharges, warm the viscera, harmonize the gases of the 

 stomach, and cause the growth of flesh. If taken in the form 

 of congee, together with Euryale ferox^ it will benefit the 

 vital principle, strengthen the will, clarify the hearing, and 

 brighten the eye. If one constantly eats the dry cooked rice, 

 he will not have hiccough. The second water in which non- 

 glutinous rice is scoured is called J|f [H \'^ (Hsi-erh-kan) and 

 %. V§ (Mi-shen), and is regarded as cooling to the blood and 

 diuretic. It is given in hematemesis, epistaxis, and in cases in 

 which medicine has beeu taken in excessive doses. Parched 

 rice broth, 'j:j; % (^ (Ch'ao-nii-t'ang), benefits the stomach and 

 drives away the vicious humor produced by eating too much 

 farinaceous food ; but if the element of fire is not driven out of 



