Am,Dec.?i88^arm'}      Chinese  Drug  Stores  in  America.  597 
One  of  these  boluses — they  are  nearly  an  inch  in  diameter- — is  taken 
.at  a  dose.  The  usual  price  for  the  best  kind  is  one  dollar  apiece. 
They  are  said  to  be  composed  of  yan  sham  (Manchurian  ginseng),  luk 
yung  (deer's  horns),1  and  other  expensive  drugs.  A  cheaper  kind  is 
entitled  upon  a  printed  advertisement,  Yan  sham  luk  yung  ning  shan 
po  shan  un — (ginseng  and  deer's-horn  pills  for  tranquilizing  the  spirits 
and  strengthening  the  kidneys).  These  also  purport  to  contain  yuk 
kwai,  a  precious  cinnamon,  the  bark  of  the  Cinnamomum  Cassia  (?),  one 
of  their  most  highly  valued  drugs.  That  used  by  the  Chinese  phar- 
macists here  is  imported  in  boxes  covered  with  raw  silk,  each  contain- 
ing one  piece,  about  fourteen  inches  in  length.  The  price  varies 
with  the  quality,  from  two  dollars  and  a  half  to  five  dollars  for  one 
Uung. 
Su  hop  un  (rose  mallows  pills),  are  taken  to  relieve  flatulency ;  king 
Jung  un  are  intended  for  children ;  ying  im  ugdn  un  (the  well  approved 
eye  pills),  are  dissolved  in  water  and  used  as  an  eye  lotion ;  Shan  hau 
pak  chuk  un  purport  to  be  a  remedy  for  a  certain  disease,  and  Shan  hau 
hung  un  (Divinely  efficacious  red  pills),  are  taken  as  a  prophylactic 
against  the  same  complaint.  Occult  and  magical  properties  are  claimed 
for  nearly  all  of  these  compounds,  and  they  are  not  regarded  with  much 
favor  by  the  regular  physicians. 
Several  varieties  of  ginseng  are  sold  in  the  shops.  The  Ameri- 
can root,  sold  under  the  name  of  ytung  sham  (foreign  ginseng),  is 
the  cheapest,  the  current  price  being  40  cents  per  leung.  Next 
in  value  is  kat  lam  sham,  said  to  be  obtained  from  Corea,  costing 
50  cents  per  leung.  Kb  lai  sham  (Corean  ginseng),  is  the  kind  most 
used  here,  and  costs  from  $2.50  to  $3.50  per  leung.  Yan  sham, 
Chinese  or  Manchurian  ginseng,,  the  most  precious  and  famous  drug  of 
the  Chinese  pharmacopoeia,  is  seldom,  if  ever,  to  be  found  in  the  stores. 
Occasionally  one  sees  small  roots  purporting  to  be  yan  sham  kept 
wrapped  in  raw  cotton  in  tin  boxes ;  but  the  enormous  price  asked  for 
them,  often  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  dollars  for  one  leung,  prevents 
their  use  except  in  extreme  cases,  or  as  a  matter  of  luxurious  extrava- 
gance. 
In  concluding  these  notes,  we  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  Ameri- 
can students  to  the  field  afforded  by  these  Chinese  drug  shops  for  the 
investigation  and  study  of  Chinese  materia  mediea.    Local  observers 
1  Two  deer's  horns  exposed  in  the  window  of  a  Chinese  shop  in  Philadelphia 
are  said  by  the  proprietor  to  have  cost  ninety-five  dollars  for  the  pair. 
