596  Chinese  Drug  Stores  in  America.  {Am'D0ecr,i887arm' 
decimally  graduated,  ivory  rod,  from  one  end  of  which  a  brass  scale 
pan  is  suspended  by  silk  threads.  The  smaller  kind  weigh  from  one 
1%  to  five  and  one-half  leung,  or  Chinese  ounces,1  and  are  remarka- 
bly accurate. 
Various  simple  expedients  are  resorted  to  by  the  clerk  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  medicines.  Some  are  powdered  in  the  upright  iron  mor- 
tar, chung  hdm,  and  others  in  the  porcelain  mortar,  lui  un;  certain 
roots  and  seeds  are  roasted  in  a  pan,  while  others  are  steeped  for  a 
few  moments  in  Chinese  rice  spirits.  The  package  of  medicine  is 
carried  home  to  be  boiled,  and  the  infusion  taken  at  one  dose  by  the 
patient.  Some  hah  tsd,  Chinese  prunes,  are  usually  furnished  to  be 
eaten  at  the  same  time.  The  prescription,  of  which  no  record  is  kept, 
is  returned  with  the  medicine. 
The  practice  of  medicine  by  the  Chinese  doctors  here  is  confined 
almost  entirely  to  what  is  called  by  the  Chinese  noi  jo,  or  internal 
medicine.  Ngoi  fo,  "external  practice"  or  surgery,  which  consti- 
tutes a  distinct  branch  of  their  healing  art,  is  little  understood  by 
them,  and  their  patients  seldom  make  greater  demands  upon  them 
than  for  a  cure  for  a  cold,  indigestion  or  headache.  But  slight  as 
may  be  their  ailments,  the  Chinese  of  our  cities  are  constantly  takiug 
medicines.  Well,  they  resort  to  prophylactics,  or  try  to  improve  their 
digestion ;  ill,  they  take  one  prescription  after  another,  and  drink 
quantities  of  unpalatable  tea  every  night,  usually,  upon  their  own 
testimony,  to  little  advantage. 
No  less  than  four  shops  supply  medicines  to  the  little  colony  in 
Philadelphia,  and  day  and  night  their  clerks  are  busy,  weighing  and 
pounding  and  tying  up  packages  for  the  relief  of  their  suffering 
countrymen.  Nor  are  the  drugs  regularly  prescribed  by  their  phy- 
sicians the  only  medicine  used  by  them  ;  almost  every  shop  furnishes 
an  assortment  of  pills  and  teas  compounded  by  Canton  pharmacists. 
First  among  these  are  the  Wai  Shang  Un,  or  "Life  Preserv- 
ing Pills,"  which  are  taken  by  both  the  sick  and  well  on  account 
of  their  supposed  vitalizing  properties.  In  common  with  many  other 
Chinese  pills  they  are  enclosed  in  a  shell  of  vegetable  wax,  upon  which 
is  stamped  the  name,  with  that  of  the  makers,  in  vermilion  and  gold. 
1  1  U  =.57984  grains,  Troy. 
10  U    =lfan  =5.7984 
10  fan  =1  ts'in  =57.984        "  " 
10  ts'in  =1  Zeun#=579.84        "  " 
