ON CHINESE PHARMACY. 
131 
an example of the latter disposition, it was observed that 
five balls, larger than marbles, to be taken at once, were 
prepared for some form of bowel complaint. It might be 
assumed that they did not possess very active ingredients ; 
but how the patient, without the assistance of a probang, 
contrived to gorge them was the wonder. Men who should 
order or issue such perilous looking pellets in England, 
would be considered fit to deal with the diseases of horses 
csnly. 
The Chinese Pharmacopoeia, or rather Materia Medica, 
is a work of great magnitude; a brief epitome of it in the 
writer's possession extends to upwards of 1300 octavo 
pages. 
Ginseng is the paramount promoter of health, and pro- 
longer of life. It is said to possess astonishing power, not 
only of sustaining, but restoring the human frame, and is 
regarded with a degree of admiration bordering on religious 
adoration. No one's case need be considered desperate who 
can procure this, the pabulum vitas, in abundance ; but it 
is so costly, as to be beyond the reach of the great proportion 
of the afflicted. Generally it is, except in very small quan- 
tities, an article of sale by itself, the man who deals in it, 
dealing in nothing else ; and it cannot be procured in every 
drug-shop. At Tinghae, the writer visited a ginseng reposi- 
tory, which was a most unpromising and barren-looking 
place. The commodity is too precious to be displayed at 
windows or deposited on shelves. Strong boxes behind a 
rampart of counters alone appear; there it is rigidly kept, 
disposed in small cases, each of which contains about a 
drachm weight. A stranger well introduced, or a person of 
known character, may look at, but not touch it, till he has 
paid the price. Proverbially it is represented as worth 
more than its weight in gold, which is confirmed by common 
practice; for the dealer alluded to asked, as a matter of 
course, for a bit shown, at the rate of twenty-five dollars an 
ounce. — Ibid, from Dr. Wilson's Medical Notes on China. 
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