95 



they are good when getting (i. e. being mixed with)" jen-ts^an 

 (ginseng) and cow-yellow (cow-bezoar), but they fear (i. e. it is 

 not good to mix or prepare them with) gypsum and iron utensils". 

 The illnesses which are cured by means of dragon's teeth are 

 enumerated as follows in the Shen Nung Pen-ts^ao king ' : " Beings 

 that kill the vi tal spirit; when adults have spasms or epileptic 

 fits ^ convul sions or madness , when they run as madmen and their 

 b reath is~tie(l under t hSF heart y so that they cannot breathe 

 (i. e. when they are asthmatic); furthe r, the five (kinds o f )^ts 

 ^iIid~i:tlB twelve (InnHs oi') cnny nl sions of_ b abies ". 



According to Chen K'^Cen ^ they " quiet the heart and calm 

 down the souls (the hwun and the p''ohy\ Chen Jeh-hwa ^ declares 

 them to cure head-ache, melancholy, hot fever, madness, and 

 (possession . of ) kwei and mei (demons). They also cure liver diseases, 

 for "as the hwun which is stored away in the liver can change 

 itself, those whose hwun is erring about and is not fixed are 

 cured by means of dragon's teeth". * Li Shi-chen gives the fol- 

 lowing explanation: "Because the dragon is the god of the Eastern 

 quarter, his bones, horns and teeth all conquer liver diseases" ^. 



DragQi i!s horns are used for curing aboj i t the Fi nmo il lup mnn nn- 

 JJi o a c mentioned with regard to th e drag o n's LeeLh. " " " 



Dragon's brains w e re believed to stop dysente ry ', and the liver 



of this divine animal, s ometimes of a living one , was prescrib ed 



_ by some physicians in 'difficult - cases^_ SQmetimes a royal patient 



for this reason even ordered to kill the dragon of a pond, which 



used to hear the people's prayers for rain in times of drought 



1 Quoted ibidem: ^ '^ ^ , i^ A "M M ^ ^ MB ^ . & ^ 



^i!> T ^ ^ ^ il B^ .i . >J^ la 3l 1 + z: )li , 



2 Quoted ibidem : ^M. j\j) , -^f zjfe &^ • About the hwun and the p'^oh see De 

 Groot, Rel. Syst, Vol. IV, Part. I, Ch. I, pp. 4 sqq., p. 23. 



3 1^ Q ^^, who lived in the Sung dynasty and -wrote the King yen fang, 

 M. 'H ^ (Bretschneideb, 1. 1., p. 161, nr 338). Quoted ibidem : '^j^ j^ f^ ^ 



4 Hij Shuh-wei, ffj^ ;fe ^S^i who lived in the time of the Sung dynasty and 

 wrote the Pen shi fang, jfe ^ "^ (Bbetschneider, 1.1., p. 179, nr 588). Quoted 

 ibidem: mM^tl^^^^ ^^M^^ ^ ^ 'i^ Z l^MM . 



6 P^-W^aa kang-muh, 1. l.i p. 46. ^ 



7 T'ao Hung-king, quoted ibidem. The "brain of a dragon a thousand years old" is 

 mentioned among a hundred medicines in the Shuh i ki, Ch. II, p. oa. * - 



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