MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. 



131 



The ensuing paragraphs are quoted from Bulletin 

 No. 1 6 of the Division of Botany already referred to. 



"In this country ginseng is considered of little 

 medicinal value. The root is mildly aromatic and 

 slightly stimulant. The Chinese and Koreans, how- 

 ever, place a high value on it, and, indeed, regard it as 

 a panacea. Father Jartoux, while making a map of 

 Tartary under the orders of the Emperor of China, 

 spent some time in Manchuria, where the most valued 

 ginseng grows. The following is his description of 

 the uses to which the Chinese put this root : 



" They affirm that it is a sovereign remedy for all 

 weaknesses occasioned by excessive fatigues either of 

 body or mind ; that it dissolves pituitous humors ; that 

 it cures weakness of the lungs and the pleurisy; that 

 it stops vomitings ; that it strengthens the stomach and 

 helps the appetite; that it disperses fumes or vapors; 

 that it fortifies the breast, and is a remedy for short 

 and weak breathing; that it strengthens the vital 

 spirits, and increases lymph in the blood ; in short, that 

 it is good against dizziness of the head and dimness 

 of sight, and that it prolongs life in old age/ 



"Dr. F. P. Smith, a medical missionary of recent 

 times, makes the following statement, according to 

 the Chinese materia medica: 'This drug is prepared 

 as an extract, or a decoction, in silver vessels as a rule. 

 Its effects are apparently those of an alterative, tonic, 

 stimulant, carminative, and demulcent nature. It is 

 prescribed in almost every description of disease of a 

 severe character, with few exceptions, but with many 

 reservations as to the stage of the disease in which 

 it may be administered with the greatest benefit and 

 safety. All forms of debility, spermatorrhea, the 

 asthenic hemorrhages, the various forms of severe 

 dyspepsia, the persistent vomiting of pregnant women, 

 malarious affections of a chronic character, the typhoid 

 stages of fever, especially of an epidemic character, 



