REMARKS    ON    CHINESE  PHARMACY. 
99 
The  scales  show  the  great  antiquity  of  the  people.  They  still 
disdain  to  use  other  than  thos,e  which  have  been  in  use  for  centu- 
ries. These  have  but  a  single  plate  and  a  long  beam,  the  weight 
sliding  on  this  last,  similar  to  the  old  fashioned  steelyard.  Many 
however  are  of  fine  workmanship,  and  in  the  hands  of  a  skilful 
person  prove  very  accurate. 
For  writing  their  prescriptions,  labelling,  and  in  fact  for  all 
kinds  of  writing,  they  use  the  camel's  hair  pencil  and  India  ink. 
Each  store  has  these  laid  on  a  small  stone  slab,  and  rice  paper  by 
the  side  for  immediate  use. 
We  now  come  to  the  nature  of  the  remedies  given  by  Chinese 
physicians,  for  the  cure  of  the  sick.  A  Chinaman  always  prides 
himself  on  the  ancient  origin  and  unchangeableness  of  his  people, 
and  it  is  probable  that  but  few  articles  have  been  added  to  their 
"  Materia  Medica  "  for  many  hundred  years.  Unfortunately,  out 
of  the  numerous  articles  we  examined,  but  very  few  were  familiar, 
and  the  similitude  of  uses  with  our  own,  induced  us  to  copy  them. 
They  were  Panax ;  Mentha  viridis;  Mentha  piperita;  Cinnamo- 
mum  ;  Glycyrrhiza  radix  ;  Scilla  ;  Senega;  Ulmus  cortex;  Rheurn  ; 
Resina  ;  Maranta  ;  Carbo  ligni  ;  Ficus  ;  Camphor ;  Moschus  ; 
Anthemis  ;  Hordeum  ;  Aurantii  cortex  ;  Crocus ;  dried  snakes, 
and  dried  flies. 
The  Ulmus,  Maranta  and  Hordeum,  are  used  as  articles  of  diet 
for  the  sick;  the  Cinnamomi,  Aurantii  cortex,  Glycyrrhiza,  &c, 
for  flavoring  and  disguising  medicines  of  a  nauseous  taste  ;  Cam- 
phor as  an  aromatic,  and  decoctions  of  Senega  and  Scilla  as  expec- 
torants. The  dried  snakes  are  only  for  external  use  in  rheumatic 
pains,  but  the  dried  flies,  which  greatly  resemble  the  "  Cantharis 
vesicatoria"  of  the  U.  S.  P.  we  were  repeatedly  assured  were  given 
in  cases  of  gonorrhcea,  and  were  considered  in  that  disease  as  a 
specific,  thus  proving  their  acquaintance  with  the  diuretic  properties 
of  the  article. 
Nearly  all  medicines  are  given  in  the  form  of  a  decoction,  and 
each  prescription  usually  contains  from  twelve  to  twTenty  arti- 
cles. 
During  sundry  visits  to  our  Chinese  professional  brother,  we 
have  seen  him  compounding,  and  we  have  never  noticed  less  than 
twelve  articles  in  any  of  the  prescriptions  he  has  compounded 
while  we  were  present. 
