430 CHINEvSE MATERI/V MEDIC A. 



tion, so that it is difficult to distinguish. The stalk and the 

 flower spike of the plant spoken of is used in medicine, and 

 they are both eaten as an herb, and an infusion is drunk as a 

 tea. Tonic and alterative properties are ascribed, and it is 

 recommended in fevers, in abscesses and swellings, after labor, 

 in menstrual difficulties, in headaches, indigestion, and as an 

 astringent in hemorrhages. 



TERMINALIA CHEBULA.— M f: f^ (Ho-li-le), fpf ^ 

 (Ho-tzu), 379. The identification is not quite certain, as the 

 fruits described in the Penisao are six-angled, while all the 

 TermiJialia fruits are five-angled. Emblica officinalis may be 

 suggested as an alternative. The fruits of this tree, as well as 

 those of the Tcrtniiialia bellcj'ica^ have been long celebrated 

 in European and Indian medical practice under the name of 

 myrobalans. The first name is an imitation of some Sanscrit 

 name, the drug having been brought by T'ien Wang from 

 India. According to Chinese account, the tree grows in the 

 Kuangtung province and resembles Sapindiis chine7isis. It 

 belongs to the order Combretacea;, and produces in India a 

 peculiar gall-like excrescence upon its leaves, the result of the 

 deposition of the ova of some unknown insects. These are 

 called Kadii-kai-pK. in Tamil, but are not known in China. 

 They are astringent and very useful in infantile diarrhoea. 

 In former days Cochin-China, Persia, and Arabia supplied the 

 myrobalans to China. As they are placed in the P^ntsao'ywsX 

 after galls, and not along with fruits, it is possible that the 

 galls of the tree were imported along with the fruits. The 

 tnyrobalan fruits are deeply furrowed, wrinkled, oblong, and 

 pointed at the lower end. They vary from one inch to an 

 inch and a half in length, and are of a reddish or greenish- 

 yellow color. The interior is hard and woody, and the taste 

 is bitter. They are used in China as a mild laxative, deob- 

 struent, tonic, carminative, and even astringent remedy va- 

 riously combined with other drugs to determine its action to 

 the lungs, stomach, and intestines. In India it is used as a 

 topical and general astringent drug, highly extolled by the 

 natives. Twining has found the fruits serviceable in enlarged 

 spleen. Curious accounts are given in the Pcntsao of ships 



