2 THE GINSENG INDUSTRY. 



form, are specially useful in certain ailments. For 

 instance, the leg-like parts are particularly valuable for 

 leg troubles ; the arm-like portions for affections of the 

 arm, and so on. Whole roots of this form are believed 

 to be capable of prolonging life itself, and are conse- 

 quently very highly valued ; in fact, cannot be pur- 

 chased for less than their weight in gold. Truly, the 

 plant is well named panax a panacea. It is, however, 

 not dependent wholly upon superstition for its power, 

 but is possessed of medicinal qualities, more highly prized 



in it by the Chinese than by 

 us, since we have a number of 

 drugs that we use in prefer- 

 ence. By us ginseng is rec- 

 ognized as possessing slightly 

 stimulating and mildly aro- . 

 matic qualities, as well as de- 

 mulcent, alterative, carmina- 

 tive and tonic properties. It 

 is probable that these we're 

 discovered by the Chinese be- 

 fore the qualities of more val- 

 uable drugs of the same class 

 were discovered, and that the 



FIG. 1. HUMAN FORM OF ROOT. maiL1 r6aSOI1S f r its P^Sent 



popularity in China are the 



conservative ideas of the Chinese and their belief in 

 supernatural affairs, which, coupled together, exalt the 

 merits of the plant unduly. In America, the root is 

 seldom used except as a demulcent, and even for this 

 purpose we have other drugs that are more popular. 



The reverence in which the plant is held, and the 

 high price that it commands in the open markets of 

 China, of course led to untiring search for a substitute^ 

 not only in adjoining countries, but in remote parts of 

 the world. Roots were, and still are, found in Japan 



