388 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



transferred into earthen-ware vessels of a conical shape, 

 the article being then known as |)| H (T'ang-ts'ai). These 

 cones being inverted into empty vessels to drain, in a short 

 time an article known as J^ ^, t| (Chi-ch'ih-t'ang) is formed 

 and partly dried in the sun. In refining, moist clay is placed 

 on the base, renewed as required, and in due course removed, 

 when the sugar, on being shaken free from the cone, is found 

 to consist of three or four grades, that at the apex being coarse 

 and moist, known to the trade as |^ ^ (Lou-wei), the next in 

 order being fg |f (Chieh-t'ang), the next |^ If (Yang-t'ang), 

 and above all x ^ li (Kung-fen-t'ang), which is the whitest 

 and best." The molasses is treated afterwards to make the ^X 

 H (Hung-t'ang), an article which the Chinese use as a laxative 

 remedy. Steam mills and refineries have been introduced into 

 the south, many of which are the result of foreign enterprise. 

 These are supplying much better grades of sugar at such cheap 

 rates that local manufacture is being driven out. It has not 

 been possible to learn whether the sugar-beet is yet cultivated 

 to any extent in China. Barley sugar is manufactured in 

 Fukien under the name of 7X H (Ping-t'ang). A sort of 

 dextrose is also made in many parts of China from the ||| ^ 

 (No-mi), glutinous rice. Sugar is often found adulterated in 

 China, as elsewhere, with sand, ricemeal, and the like. The 

 same ideas about the damage to the teeth and digestive organs 

 by sugar prevail in China as are entertained in Western countries. 

 It is frequently used as an application to wounds, ulcers, boils, 

 and inflamed eyes. It is noted that both barley sugar and 

 rock-candy are called 7X H- 



S AGIN A MAXIMA.—^ ^ ^ (Ch'i-ku-ts'ao). This is 

 a Japanese identification. It is given in the Pentsao under the 

 article on ^ :¥^ ^ (Shu-yang-ch'iian), which in Japan is 

 Solanum lyratimi. Three distinct plants are described, the 

 third being called ^ ^% iS Bf ^ (Lao-ya-yen-ching-ts'ao), 

 which is the same as the f| ^ (Lung-k'uei), Solanuin nigi'tmu 

 These descriptions are very much mixed ; but there is no 

 doubt that one of them refers to a Sagina^ and that this is the 

 one most commonly called ChH-ku-ts'-ao. The name is said 

 to be derived from the fact that the plant is regarded as an 



