394 CHINKvSK MATERIA MEDICA. 



medicine, have a sour taste, and are poisonous, beinp^ emetic. 

 They are used in decoction in the bath in the treaunent of 

 itchy, scaly, and parasitic skin diseases. They are somewhat 

 used internally in obstinate agues, suppressed lochia, and 

 anasarca. 



SANDARAC. — It is not known that this substance 

 appears by itself in Chinese commerce ; at least no name has 

 been found for it. Porter Smith gives ^ ^ (Yiin-hsiang) as a 

 term for it, and this term is indeed found in the Penisao refer- 

 ring to an herb [Ruta graveolens)^ and as one of the names of 

 Symplocos prnnifolia. Under this last article there is a refer- 

 ence to a resin coming from Khoten which is called ^ ^ ^ 

 (Yiin-hsiang-chiao). It is used in polishing jade. It is quite 

 probable that olibanum is sometimes found with an admixture 

 of sandarac, as often happens in that found in western phar- 

 macies, and it may even be that the pure sandarac is sometimes 

 confounded in China with olibanum or storax. Porter Smith 

 did not claim to be able to procure the drug in Hankow, but says 

 that it is somewhat whiter than mastich and is used in much 

 the same way as the other resins: i.e.^ as a stimulant, sedative, 

 and deodorizing drug. It is often put into clothes-trunks to 

 keep away moths. Gtinda birosa is the Indian name of a 

 drug resembling sandarac. 



SANGUISORBA OFFICINALIS.— M ^t CTi-yu) ; see 

 Poteriuin officinale. 



SANTALUM ALBUM.— ^ @ (T'an-hsiang). This is 

 somewhat confounded with Dalbergia Jmpeana and Plerocar- 

 piis santaliniis. But it is distinguished as the M ^ (Chen- 

 t'an), "true fan," and |^ ^ (Chan-t'an), which is in imita- 

 tion of the Sanscrit chandana^ the name of the sandal wood 

 in India. Another n ime is ^ j5^ ^ (Pai-chan-t'an). The 

 principal name is explained by its phonetic g (Tan), which 

 means "true," "sincere, ' and refers to the use of the wood as 

 incense for worship. Tlie wood originally came from the 

 countries of the Buddhists and Mohammedans, but is now 

 grown in Lingnan. Medicinall)^ it is regarded as carminative 



