December 31, 1370.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
523 
query excited my interest at the time, hut partly 
from Thunberg noting under Zea Mays (FI. Japon. 
37), “ Colitur prope Nagasaki, a Cliinensibus forsan 
piimum in regnum hocce illata,” and partly owing to 
the incongruity which attached in my mind to the 
notion of armorial bearings amongst the Japanese,— 
though we now know that these exist, and that the 
feudal retainers of the powerful chieftains wear their 
badges precisely as did those of the mediaeval barons, 
—the subject soon escaped my memory. Some 
months back, however, my attention was attracted 
by an advertisement in the London seedsmen’s cata¬ 
logues of a striped-leaved form, alleged to have been 
introduced from Japan, of Zea Guragua, a Chilian 
species (and probably the only other one of its 
genus) described about eighty years ago by Molina ; 
but on what evidence a Japanese origin is assigned 
to this variety I have no means of ascertaining. 
About the same time also Mr. A. Ernst, of Caracas, 
wrote to me, requesting that I would, if possible, as¬ 
certain when maize was first known in this country. 
In the ‘ Geographic Botanique ’ of M. Alph. de 
Candolle (ii. 912 sqq.) the distinguished author has 
given a very complete resume of what was known 
respecting the introduction of this cereal, and, after 
a careful and lucid examination of all the data, has 
expressed his unhesitating conviction that it was 
brought from America, though from what part of 
that continent he considers very doubtful, inclining, 
however, rather in favour of Mexico. He expresses, 
moreover, a desire that reliable investigations should 
be made as to Bonafous’ suspicion, that the grain 
was cultivated in China prior to the discovery of 
America, 
The question whether, in common with Pliryma 
leptostachya, Panax quinquefolium, Tipularia dis¬ 
color, and some other plants, maize may claim 
Asia equally with America as its native country; or, 
failing probable grounds for such an opinion, whether 
trustworthy printed evidence exists of its cultivation 
in Asia antecedent to the second discovery of the 
great American continent at the close of the fifteenth 
century,—is evidently of the highest interest; and the 
Chinese nation boasting a rich historical literature, 
and in matters of antiquity having perhaps a right 
to look on Western records much as the Saitic 
priests are represented in the Timteus to have re¬ 
garded those of the Greeks, I felt convinced that the 
examination of native works, the statements in which 
relative to the sciences of observation have com¬ 
manded the respect of such men as Arago, Hum¬ 
boldt and Biot, could not be wholly unproductive. 
I am not myself a Chinese scholar, but was so fortu¬ 
nate as to enlist in this inquiry the services of my 
friend Mr. W. F. Mayers, H.B.M. vice-consul at Can¬ 
ton, one of the most accomplished and learned of sino¬ 
logues, and who besides enjoys exceptional advan¬ 
tages from being on amicable terms with all the 
high native officials at the southern capital. This 
gentleman had the kindness, at my request, to make 
inquiries of his Chinese literary acquaintances, and 
to undertake and execute himself a thorough exami¬ 
nation of all the works treating of maize to which he 
could procure access, and the results are embodied 
in the accompanying memoir, the interest and value 
of which, as a contribution to the history of plants, 
all botanists will acknowledge. It was, through the 
writer’s liberality, freely placed at my disposal, and 
is here given without a single alteration. 
I am far from maintaining that the evidence 
adduced is sufficient to establish the claims of Asia 
to rank as a native country of this cereal. But, for 
my own part, I am much disposed to coincide in a 
remark made to me by Mr. Mayers, “ that the unhe¬ 
sitating statement of the Bun Ts’ao, as to its origin 
in the countries west of China, goes a considerable 
way towards establishing this origin, the assertion 
being so unqualified that I think it must be founded 
on antecedent evidence, although this is now un- 
traceable.” And I may add that, in my judgment, 
the remote date assigned by Chinese records to its 
introduction, and the circumstance that the intro¬ 
ducer is unknown are irreconcilable with the suppo¬ 
sition that it was brought to this country by the Por¬ 
tuguese, their first arrival here, under Fernand 
Perez d’Andrada, being, I believe, in 1517, and the 
earliest notice of maize in European literature dating- 
later than 1530. To those, finally, who would urge 
the conflicting and erroneous opinions of the early 
European writers, as to the country whence maize 
found its way to the West, as a ground for regarding 
Chinese statements with equal distrust, I would 
answer that it is not logical to apply the same canons 
of criticism to Western and Chinese literature, the 
latter being, at the period in question, in a very dif¬ 
ferent and comparatively far more advanced state of 
development. 
Whampoa, 1867. H. F. H. 
Ox the Introduction of Maize into China. 
In answer to inquirers on this subject information 
has been sought from private sources and from the 
published works of Chinese authors. The following 
is a translation of a memorandum by Mei K’i-cliao, the 
present Intendant of the Grain Revenue for the 
Province of Kwang-tung. 
I. Notes on Maize ( Pao-ltu ). 
“ Pao-hu is identical with Yu Slm-shu, or the 
jade-like Shu Millet.* * * § The Complete Treatise 
concerning Agriculturef gives also the name of 
Yii-mi, or jade rice. The plant takes its name from 
the resemblance of the stem and leaves to those of 
the Shu-shu, or millet of Sz’-ch’wan (Barbadoes mil¬ 
let), compared with which, however, they are more 
fleshy and shorter. They also resemble the I-i, or 
Goix lachryma. From its lustrous white colour it 
obtains the name of “jade-like.” It is also called 
Yu Kao-Hang, and Yu-me, or jade wheat. Also* 
from its seed having been brought originally from 
the country of Si-fan, J it is likewise called Fan-me , 
or Fan wheat; and, having been formerly presented 
as tribute, it is also called imperial wheat, Yii-me.% 
Other names are in use, such as Jung-shu, or western 
pulse {Jung designating the territories to the west¬ 
ward of ancient China), and Yu Shu-sliu, or jade 
millet of Sz’-clTwan. The variety of these terms is 
due to the fact that the seed was introduced from 
abroad, so that at first it had no definite name; 
* For note respecting this plant see post, p. 525. 
f This work, entitled £ Nung Cheng Ts’iian Shu, was the 
production of Sii Kwang-k’i, an enlightened statesman of 
the sixteenth and seventeenth century, noted for his friend¬ 
ship with the Romish missionaries. His treatise, above re¬ 
ferred to, was laid before the Emperor Wan-li in a.d. 1619. 
J The territory to the N.W. of Tibet has been known to 
the Chinese from the earliest times by the name of Si-fan, 
which has now, however, disappeared in favour of that of 
Inner Mongolia. The Si-fan (or Western-alien) territory 
borders on the present provinces of Sz’-ch’wan and Kan-su. 
§ See^>os£, section iv. note, p. 525. 
