VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 335 



PISUM SATIVUM.— H^S (Wan-toii). ^ ^ (Juiig-sbu), 

 W *h 3- (Ch'ing-hsiao-tou). Peas are of foreign origin, but 

 are now extensively cultivated in China. They are planted 

 in the autumn, and the young stalks are used for food in the 

 spring. The peas, both green and dry, are much relished, 

 and they are also ground into flour and used in this way as a 

 sort of gruel or porridge. Peas are thought to promote 

 flatulence. They are considered cooling, and are recommended 

 in feverish conditions, fluxes from the bowels, nausea, urinary 

 difficulties, to promote the secretion of milk, and to increase 

 the flesh. 



PLANTAGO MAJOR.— $ ti (Ch'e-ch'ien^ 34. This, 

 the common plantain^ is as much of a pest in China as it is in 

 other lands. It grows at the roadside and in dooryards, and is 

 exceedingly prolific, springing from both seeds and roots and 

 killing out all other grass. P'ormerly the plant and the seeds 

 were eaten, and in rare cases this is still done. The seeds, 35, 

 are mucilaginous, and have a sweetish, cooling taste. They 

 are considered to be quieting, diuretic, antirheumatic, and tonic. 

 The drug is good for wasting diseases in male and female, 

 promotes the secretion of the semen, and therefore conduces 

 to fertility. It nourishes the liver, assists in difficult labor, 

 and cures summer diarrhoea. The plant and the root are used 

 as astringents in wounds, nosebleed, hematuria, and other 

 hemorrhages, as a diuretic, in seminal emissions, and in gravel. 



PLASTERS.— The character ^ (Kao) is used for these, 

 as it is also for medicinal extracts, ointments, fats, gelatinous 

 and cereose substances. In order to distinguish plasters from 

 these latter, medical missionaries use B,^ % (T'ieh-kao) for the 

 former. The Chiijcse do not have a very large number of 

 these preparations, but they use what they have in season and 

 out. An adhesive plaster pure and simple is practically 

 unknown, unless the common compound of resin and wood-oil 

 can be called such, ' Even this is not often used uncombined 

 with other drugs. But all sorts of gaping wounds are often 

 plastered over with some of the medicinal plasters. A 

 Universal Plaster Basis ^ called "% M- ^ (Wan-ying-yu), is 



