,136 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



The first of these three plants, the Hght-blue monk's-hood, which 

 is found in mountain forests all over Japan, furnishes in its bulbs, 

 called Udzu (Shurku by the Ainos), the familiar poison with 

 which the Ainos arm their hunting-arrows. It is the same Coniin 

 Cg Hi7 N, which is found in the bulbs of other aconites also, and 

 has lately been artificially reproduced.^ It produces convulsive 

 movements and paralysis in animal organisms. 



The fruits of the Skimi, which is consecrated to Buddha and 

 therefore much grown about Buddhist temples and cloisters, made 

 a great stir some time ago. They came to market as a spice, 

 instead of the Staranis, which they closely resemble, and turned 

 out to be poisonous. Quite a different role is played by its bark, 

 which is pulverized and then, with the help of a little resin, formed 

 into small brown sticks, of the thickness of quills. In this shape 

 they are the " smoke-candles " with which incense is made before 

 the idols. These glimmering candles are also used with the 

 Mogusa (pronounced Moxa). This is a peculiar sort of plaster, 

 used to avert diseases. The Moxa or pieces of blossom of the 

 Artemisia vulgaris are dried with the felt that surrounds them. A 

 piece of this is laid on the naked body and then burnt by contact 

 with the glimmering candle. This gives rise to wounds and later 

 to scars as big as a shilling, such as one can frequently see, 

 especially on the backs and posteriors of labourers. 



The above-mentioned plants hold no position whatever in the com- 

 merce of Japan. They supply a home demand only, and have no 

 place at all, in comparison with ginseng and camphor, two oriental 

 drugs which deserve a more thorough consideration, not merely 

 because of the strange mode of their acquisition and use, but also 

 as being noteworthy articles of export from Japan. 



(15) Panax ginseng, C. A. Meyer {Aralia ginseng, Jap. Nin-jin, 

 Chinese Jin-san). Kaempfer says of ginseng, that next to tea it is 

 the most celebrated plant in the whole Orient, on account of its 

 root. It is closely related to the umbelliferous plants, and is a 

 perennial growth, of the family of the Araliacece. Its cylindrical, 

 carrot-like root yields the medicine so highly prized by the Chinese, 

 Japanese, and Coreans. In fact this ginseng-root, or all-heal, as it 

 is also called with us, the cinchona and the musk of these races, is 

 a cure for fevers and weaknesses of all sorts — the chief and most 

 costly medicine. Recourse is still had to it in cases of deadly 

 illness, when nothing else will work. As characterizing both its 

 costliness and the belief in its power to cure, we may repeat the 

 Japanese proverb : " Ninjin kute kubi kukuru," i.e., literally, " After 

 ginseng death by hanging," meaning " You will probably get well 

 if you eat ginseng, but will die of hunger afterward, for it will 

 make you poor." 



From what has been said it is plain enough that Linnaeus could 



^ See the recent experiments of A. W. Hofmann in the " Berichten der d. 

 chem. Gesellschaft," 17. Jahrg,, pp. 825-833. 



