320 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



what part is not nieiitioued) is recommeuded in wasting, and 

 is said to benefit the male principle and to act as a tonic to the 

 loins and legs. 



PILEA. — yfC ^ (Shui-ying). There is not much descrip- 

 tion of this plant, and it is confounded with QliiantJie stolojiifcra. 

 It grows in Szechuan, and is there used for the treatment of the 

 form of rheumatism known as >^ JU, (Ku-feng). 



PILLS. — This is a favorite method of exhibiting drugs 

 among the Chinese. But the remarkable diflference between 

 the Ciiinese and western practice in the use of these, is that the 

 former never use this form of preparation for the exhibition of 

 cathartics. iV pill with the Chinese usually means a tonic or 

 astringent rem,edy. The general term for these is '^ (Wan), 

 although ^ (Tan) nearly always refers to a similar preparation, 

 while '% (Kao) frequently refers to a pill-mass, rather than to a 

 medicinal extract. In regard to the character ^ (Tan), it refers 

 to what is considered to be an efficacious drug compound, 

 usually exhibited in the form of pill or pill mass, and almost 

 seems sometimes to have been miswritten for %^ (Wan). Pills 

 are usually made up with honey as an excipient, but if they 

 are to be eaten fresh, they are prepared with rice-flour or 

 wheat-flour paste. Those which are not desired to dissolve at 

 once in the stomach are usually made small and coated with 

 wax, Pills are made of all sizes, from that of a millet seed to 

 that of a pigeon's ^^^^ and are most frequently not swallowed 

 whole, but are chewed up in the mouth and swallowed with 

 some approved decoction, with spirits, or with meat broth. 

 This explains why patients in mission hospitals are sometimes 

 seen to chew up the sugar or gelatine coated pills given them 

 by the dispenser. Sometimes the pill mass is not made up 

 into pills or bolu^s, but the patient simply helps himself to a 

 piece as large as he likes, and eats it as he would confec- 

 tionery. There is a very large number of formulae extant, 

 and we give below the most famous of these. 



Accumidation Pill; ^ >^ ;^ (Chiao-chia-wan). Atractylis 

 sinensis, Zanthoxylum, Psoralea coryli folia, Phellodendron amu- 

 rense, fennel, and honey. This causes water to ascend and fire to 



