212 NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



1860-62. Before commencing the task proposed, it is desirable briefly 

 to review some sources of information upon Chinese Materia 

 Medica, to which frequent reference will have to be made. 



Of a considerable number of native works, the most important 

 and well-known is, undoubtedly, the great herbal entitled Pun- 

 The Chinese tsaou-kang-mtih, 1 written by Le-she-chin, in the middle of the 

 Pim-tsaou- sixteenth century. It was commenced in the reign and by 

 kang-nmh. the command of the Emperor Kea-tsing, and completed by the 

 son of the author in the reign of Wan-leih, to whom it was 

 presented in the year 159G. For some centuries previous 

 to this period, works of the same character had appeared at 

 intervals, some of them published by authority of the govern- 

 ment, and others by private individuals. Of a few of these 

 works, Du Halde has preserved slight notices, to which I would 

 Descrition of refer the reader who is desirous of further information. 2 Ac- 

 COI> ding to tfri 8 author, the Pun-tsaou of Le-she-chin was written 

 with the design of obviating the difficulties and confusion 

 arising from a multitude of authorities, by supplying in one 

 work a compendium of all that was more valuable in its pre- 

 decessors. This design it probably fulfils, as it is held in high 

 estimation by the Chinese and is frequently reprinted; but, 

 excepting a revision and enlargement which it underwent in 

 the fourteenth year of the Emperor Shun-chi, A.D. 1657, no 

 attempt appears to have been made for the verification of old, 

 or the acquisition of new, information. The Pun-tsaou is 

 divided into 52 chapters, usually bound into about 40 thin octavo 

 volumes, the first three of which contain woodcuts of many of the 

 minerals, plants, and animals referred to in the text. These 

 woodcuts, four of which occur on a page, amount in number to 

 more than 1100; the name is placed above each,, and sometimes 

 a synonym at the side. No general translation of the Pun-tsaou 

 into any European language has been published, though small 

 portions of the work to illustrate particular subjects have fre- 

 quently been translated. These extracts show that among much 



1 Like other Chinese names, it is written by Europeans in various 

 manners, as, Pen thsao bang mo, Pen tsao cang mow, &c. 



2 Desertion de V Empire de la Chine, Paris, 1735, fol. tome iii., p. 441. 



