Botanicon Sinicum: notes on Chinese botany from native and Western sources. Part 3, Botanical investigations into the materia medica of the ancient Chinese / [E. Bretschneider].

  • Emil Bretschneider
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Botanicon Sinicum: notes on Chinese botany from native and Western sources. Part 3, Botanical investigations into the materia medica of the ancient Chinese / [E. Bretschneider]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/638 (page 13)
    THE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE SEEN NUNG PEN TSlAO KING AND THE PIE LU. 1.—■# W- Kan ts‘ao- P•, XII a, 1. T. CLX. Comp, also Ph ya, 199, Class'cs, 425. Pen king:—Kan ts‘ao (sweet herb). The root is sweet of a uniform nature, non-poisonous. Pie lu :—Kan tslao, also mi kan (honey sweet), mi ts^io (honey herb), §j| ]p! mei ts‘ao (excellent herb), lu ts‘ao [this name occurs in the ancient dictionary Ki tsiu pien and in Tung fang so, second century B.C.], ID qSj kuo lao. The latter name, old man of the Empire, which properly is a title given to meritorious statesmen, according to T‘ao Hung-king is applied to the plant on account of its eminent virtues as a remedy. The Pie lu says :—The kan ts'ao grows in the river valleys (plains) of Ho si [west of the Yellow River, r. App. 79] and on sand-hills. It is also found in Sluing kiln [north-eastern part of Shen si, v. App. 273]. The people gather the root towards the end of the 8th month and dry it in the sun during 10 days. T‘ao Hung-king considers the kan lslao to be one of the most important of medicines, which takes the same place among drugs as the CUen hiang [Aloewood, see 307] among fragrances. It enters into almost all prescriptions. Besides this it has the property of neutralizing the effect of poison. He says that in his time the drug was not brought from Ho si and Sluing kirn, but the places of production were Shu [Sz‘ ch‘uan, v. App. 292], Han cluing [Southern Shen si, v. App. 54] and especially it was supplied by the