8 



OPIUM : 



Notes on the 

 poem. 



small and look like su (millet). It is sown with wheat and ripens with panicled 

 millet chi ($), Panicum miliaceum; when growing it may be eaten like the 

 vegetables of spring. Its seeds are like autumn millet. When ground they yield 

 a sap like cows' milk ; when boiled they become a drink fit for BUDDHA. Old men 

 whose powers have decayed, who have little appetite, who when they eat meat 

 cannot digest it, and when they eat vegetables cannot distinguish their flavour, 

 should take this drink. Use a willow mallet and a stone basin to beat it. Boil 

 it in water that has been sweetened with honey. It does good to the mouth and 

 to the throat. It restores tranquillity to the lungs and nourishes the stomach. 

 For three years the door has been closed, and I have gone nowhere and come 

 back from nowhere. I see here the Hermit of the Shade (a Taoist priest) and the 

 long-robed Buddhist priest ; when they sit opposite I forget to' speak. Then I 

 have but to drink a cup of this Poppy-seed decoction. I laugh, I am happy, I have 

 come to Ying-ch'uan, and am wandering on the banks of its river. I seem to be 

 climbing the slopes of the Lu Mountain in the far west." 



There is a small river in the province of Anhwei which is called Ying-shui. 

 The city mentioned was on the banks of that river, which is famous in history. The 

 mountain called Lu-shan is in Western China, on the north of the celebrated O-mei- 

 shan. The poet went to live at Ying-ch'uan when he was old. As a boy he had 

 lived with his brother near the Lu Mountain. 



Medico. 



of the eleventh 



by Su 



6. 



The Emperor JEN TSUNG, of the SUNG dynasty, about the year 1057, ordered 



J J J 



compilation by Su SUNG (H !>$) and others of the work known as Tu-ching-pen- 

 ts'ao (IH fS & 1$.). The magistrates of all cities were ordered to supply information 

 on all medical plants in their vicinity, according to the method before employed 

 in preparing the previous work, called Ying-kung T'ang Pen-ts'ao (3 & %$ ^J |), 

 made in pursuance of an order given by the Emperor KAO TSUNG, in the T'ANG 

 dynasty, to the Prince named YING KUO-KUNG (5 HI &). In this work it is said 

 Cultivation of the by Su SUNG that " The Poppy is found everywhere. Many persons cultivate it 



Poppy mentioned. 



as an ornamental flower. There are two kinds, one with red flowers and another 



