90 



very small, and it gave a hollow sound. This egg had been foun^ 

 in the T'ien shing era (1023—1032) in the midst of the Grea 

 Eiver, and by Imperial orBer had been 'presented to the monastery 

 That very year, however, a great flood washed away a larg 

 number of houses near by, and the people ascribed this to th 

 dragon's egg. 



According to a work of the sixteenth century ' of our era thi 

 dragon's eggs are found in times of heavy rains. Further, wi 

 read there that in 1469 a fisherman picked up a big egg, a 

 large as a human head, five-coloured, the lower end pointed am 

 the upper round. If one shook it, there was a sound as of wate 

 inside the egg, which was very heavy and luke-warm. Th( 

 people worshipped it, looking upon it as a supernatural thing 

 A diviner declared it to be a dragon's egg. 



^^^^ 7- Dragon's bones, sk ins, tontVi, Tl ffVTig, V.ygia ii, Iwnyn, pl n nnntn o-anH 



" foetus, usedas_me^icixies»— ■- ^ 



Among the nine ingredients of spectre-killing pills, mentioned 

 by De Gtkoot ^, we find "Dragon's bones", "certain fossil bones 

 t6 be found in the shops Of leading apothecaries". There is, indeed 

 an extensive medical literature on the curative power of thest 

 bones, which are probably remains of prehistoric animals. 



The Pen-ts'ao hang-muh ^ is, as in all medical matters, the besi 

 source of our knowledge about these bones and the use made oi 

 them by the Chinese physicians. According to some of the authors 

 referred to by Li Shi-chen, the learned author of this medical 

 standard work, dragon's bones are cast-oflf skins of living dragons 

 for these animals are said to cast off not only their skins bul 

 also their bones ; according to others they are the remains a\ 

 dead dragons. Li Shi-chen, on comparing all the different views 

 and tales, arrives at the conclusion that the dragon, although a 

 divine being, -certainly dies like other animals, and that tht 

 Pen king *, one of his principal sources, is right in declaring tht 

 dragon's bones to belong to dead dragons. 



1 Suh wen Men fung k'ao, ^^ "^ Sir ^ffi ^^ , 'written by Wakg K'i, ^ jyf 

 who obtained official rank in ISBl ; Ch. 224. 



2 Rel. Syst., Vol. VI, p. 1087. 



4 2k ■^■- Under this abbreviated title the Shen Nung Pen ts'ao-king, "Classica 

 work on Medicines of (the Emperor) Shen Nung", the oldest medical work, is quotet 

 in the Pen-ts'^ao kana-muh. The work itself is lost. Of. Bretsohneider. Botanicor 



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