60 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNN0 1713. 



This plant dies away, and springs again every year. The number of its 

 years may be known by the number of stalks it has shot forth, of which there 

 always remains some mark ; as may be seen in the figure by the letters bbb. 

 From whence it appears that the root a was 7 years old, and that the root h, 

 fig. 10, was 15. 



As to the flower, not having seen it, I can give no description of it. Some 

 say that it is white, and very small: others have assured me, that this plant has 

 none, and that nobody ever saw it. I rather believe, that it is so small, and 

 so little remarkable, that they never took notice of it: and what confirms me 

 in this opinion is, that those who look for the ginseng, having regard to and 

 minding only the root, commonly neglect and throw away all the rest of the 

 plant, as of no use. 



There are some plants which, besides the bunch of berries, have also one or 

 two berries like the former, placed an inch or an inch and a half below the 

 bunch. And when this happens, they say, if any one takes notice of the 

 point of the compass that these berries direct to, he cannot fail of finding the 

 plant thereabouts. The colour of the berries, when the plant has any, dis- 

 tinguishes it from all others, and makes it remarkable at first sight: but it 

 sometimes happens that it bears none, though the root be very old ; as that 

 marked by the letter h had no fruit, though it was in its 15th year. 



The height of the plants is proportionable to their size and the number of 

 their branches. Those that bear no fruit are commonly small and very low. 



The root, the larger and more uniform it is, and the fewer small strings or 

 fibres it has, is always the better: on which account that marked with the 

 letter h, is preferable to the other. I know not for what reason the Chinese 

 call it ginseng, which signifies the representation or form of man ; as it has no 

 resemblance to the signification of its name; though there may now and then 

 be found some roots which by accident have very odd forms. The 1 artars, 

 with more reason, call it orhota, which signifies the chief of plants. 



It is not true that this plant grows in China, as father Martini affirms, on 

 the authority of some Chinese books, which make it grow on the mountains 

 of Yong-pinfou in the province of Pekin. They might easily be led into this 

 mistake, from that being the place where it first arrives, when brought from 

 Tartary into China. 



Those that gather this plant preserve only the root, which they bury together 

 in some place in the earth. They wash it well, and cleanse it with a brush 

 frbm all extraneous matter; then dip it into scalding water, and prepare it in 

 tlie fume of a sort of yellow millet, which communicates to it part of its 

 colour. The millet is put into a vessel with a little water, and boils over 



