Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1890. 
Notes  on  Ginseng. 
283, 
bitter,  tonic,  stimulant,  and  believed  to  be  aphrodisiac.  The 
Chinese  consider  it  a  most  powerful  and  life-preserving  medicine, 
hence  the  enormous  retail  price  attached  to  a  worthless  drug.  It 
sells  at  7  dollars  a  catty  (of  1%  pounds)  or  about  28  sh.  per  pound. 
The  Chinese  consider  the  Japanese  ginseng  inferior  to  that  from 
Mandchouria  and  Corea.  The  last  is  the  best  and  whitest,  selling  at 
30  dollars  a  catty. 
The  imports  of  ginseng  in  the  port  of  Shanghai  in  1882  were 
to  the  value  of  356,309  taels,  or  about  £89,100. 
In  the  five  years  ending  1872,  the  average  annual  import  ot 
ginseng  into  China  was  3,^00  cwt.  In  1887  it  was  rather  more, 
4,975  cwt.,  valued  at  £181,800.  The  extent  of  the  home  produc- 
tion there  are  no  means  of  ascertaining. 
Old  ginseng  is  imported  from  Japan.  American  comes  through 
Singapore.  Bastard  ginseng  is  worth  only  80  dollars  a  picul 
(1%  cwt.). 
Resinous  ginseng,  received  from  Suchon-fu,  in  the  province  of 
Kiansu,  is  prescribed  in  hematesis,  epistaxis  and  dysentery.  When 
ginseng  is  taken,  it  is  given  in  decoction  of  1  to  12  gram,  for 
five  or  six  days  continuously,  the  patient  abstaining  from  tea  for 
about  a  month.  Crude  ginseng  is  the  natural  dried  root;  the  clari- 
fied is  rendered  translucent  by  steaming,  skimming  and  drying  the 
fresh  root.  The  finest  is  reserved  for  the  Court  at  Pekin,  and  con- 
sidered more  valuable  than  its  weight  in  gold. 
In  Japan  Panax  Ginseng  (called  Nindzin)  is  often  cultivated  in  the 
environs  of  Hakodata  (Isle  of  Yeso).  That  collected  at  Ningkoola 
is  reserved  for  the  use  of  the  Emperor  and  his  family. 
In  Japanese  medicine  the  roots  of  Aralia  edulis  or  cordata,  known 
as  Udo,  are  prescribed  in  heart  disease,  uterine  affections  and  for 
stopping  hemorrhages.  In  China  this  species  is  prescribed  as  a 
tonic  in  menstrual,  chlorotic  and  puerperal  diseases  of  women.  It 
sells  at  30  dollars  a  picul. 
In  Japan  there  is  much  fraud  carried  on  in  ginseng.  It  is  mixed 
with  the  roots  of  Platycodon  grandiflorum,  Campanula  glauca, 
Adenophora  verticillata,  and  a  species  of  Convolvulus  root. 
Another  fraud  consists  of  redrying  the  roots  that  have  been  used 
and  sending  them  again  into  commerce. 
Bastard  ginseng  is  Panax  amerigo,  which  is  reclarified  in  Canton 
