Musk. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1       March.  1891. 
China.  If,  then,  opium-growing  is  suffered  with  impunity,  it  is  not 
likely  that  any  regulations  would  seriously  avail  against  the  hunt- 
ing of  the  musk  deer.  Besides  Yunnan,  the  provinces  of  Sse-chuan 
and  Kwei-chow  also  produce  musk ;  but  the  product  of  these  two 
provinces  is  said  to  be  of  a  very  inferior  quality,  and  the  Chinese 
themselves,  who  consume  musk  for  many  more  purposes  than  the 
Europeans,  will  have  none  of  it.  According  to  Mr.  Hosie,  in  his 
work  on  Western  China,  the  musk  deer  is  rather  plentiful  in  Sse- 
chuan  ;  and  other  writers  also  assign  to  the  animal  a  rather  more 
extensive  habitat  than  does  the  French  writer.  The  only  other 
musk  besides  that  of  Yunnan,  says  the  latter,  used  by  the  Chinese 
themselves  is  musk  from  Thibet,  known  in  Europe  as  cabardine 
musk. 
Two  distinct  varieties  of  cabardine  musk  are  known  in  European 
trade,  viz  :  the  so-called  China  cabardine,  and  the  Russian  cabar- 
dine, which  reaches  London  by  way  of  Siberia.  It  is  probably  to 
the  former  and  more  valuable  variety  that  the  writer  refers,  as  the 
Russian  cabardine  musk  is  collected  much  farther  north.  The 
quantity  of  musk  which  the  deer  (known  to  the  Chinese  by  the 
name  of  Tshan  Tse)  furnishes,  varies  according  to  its  age  and  the 
season  when  the  musk  is  obtained.  With  somewhat  superfluous 
simplicity,  it  is  stated  that  "the  operation  of  cutting  off  the  musk- 
pouch  is  fatal  to  the  animals;"  and  it  is  also  affirmed  that  there  is 
an  idea  that  if  the  deer  is  killed  before  the  operation  the  musk  is 
lost.  How  this  can  be  is  not  explained,  though  it  would  be  inter- 
esting to  know  how  the  musk  deer  is  induced  to  allow  itself  to  be 
caught  alive  to  submit  to  the  operation.  In  the  Chinese  musk- 
hunt  illustrations,  moreover,  which  are  found  inclosed  as  advertise- 
ments in  the  Shanghai  musk  caddies,  the  animals  are  often  repre- 
sented as  being  killed  by  arrows  shot  from  a  distance,  and  this  is 
evidence  towards  the  supposition  that  the  pods  are  not  taken  from 
live  animals.  The  best  musk  is  yielded  by  well-fed  deer  from  five 
to  six  years  old,  and  it  should  only  be  taken  in  the  spring  or  summer, 
as  at  other  seasons  it  is  not  in  good  condition. 
From  the  three  trade  centres  in  Yunnan,  which  we  have  enumerated, 
the  musk-pods  are  brought  to  Yunnanfu,the  capital  of  the  province, 
where  they  are  bought  up  by  merchants  from  the  province  or  Kiang- 
si,  who  make  a  specialty  of  this  article,  and  carry  it  to  Shanghai 
and  Canton,  the  two  principal  markets.    Shanghai  is  by  far  the 
