THE GENUINE RHUBARB. 293 



Rhubarb in its native land, were Marco Polo and the 

 Jesuits, who travelled through China and surveyed it, at the 

 end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth 

 century, by order of the government. But as they neither 

 brought to Europe a scientific description of the plant, nor 

 the plant itself, nor even seed, the genuine Rhubarb ever 

 remained unknown. At the beginning of the last century 

 the Russian Government prepared at Kiakhta, on the 

 Siberian-Chinese frontier, a Rhubarb-' Brack,' where all the 

 Rhubarb imported from China w'as subjected to a compul- 

 sory and strict examination previous to being admitted to 

 the European market, in consequence of wdiich that received 

 through Russia, and called the Muscovite Rhubarb, was 

 universally considered the best. The officers stationed at 

 this ' Brack,' endeavoured in the discharge of their office to 

 obtain fresh seed of the genuine Rhubarb through the 

 Chinese Rhubarb importers. The jealousy of the Chinese, 

 who would not allow so valuable a plant to leave their land, 

 rendered this attempt at first unsuccessful. A few seeds 

 were certainly obtained in 1740, at a high price, propagated 

 in European gardens, and the plants raised from them con- 

 sidered for some time to be genuine, and even described by 

 Linnaeus under the name. Rheum Rhabarbariim ; but this 

 soon proved to be nothing more than the RJiapontik R., 

 which also grew' in Siberia, and Linnaeus accordingly altered 

 his hastily-given name to R. undulatnm. But about the 

 year 1750, fresh seed was obtained from which the genuine 

 R. palinatinii, never before seen, was propagated. In this 

 way, thanks to the exertions of Russia, Europe acquired 

 the genuine Rhubarb plant ; its cultivation developed 

 rapidly, and in the eightieth year of the last century it was 

 widely diffused through Scotland, England, and Germany ; 

 indeed, in the tAvo first-mentioned of these countries, where 

 the Horticultural societies in every way encouraged its 

 culture and preparation, the root had already become an 

 article of trade, and was found by many doctors fully equal 

 to the Chinese in operation, and w^as exclusively used in 

 practice. It was found, however, after numerous experi- 



