The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-07-10
MONGOLIAN MEDICINE.
Poisonous Reptiles and Insects Employed
in Their Composition.

Poisonous Reptiles and Insects Employed
| In Their Composition.
| Chinese drug stores, which may be
numbered by the scores in the Mongo-
liam quarter, are in themselves COM
plete and unabridged museums of in
sects. In the hundreds of neat drawers
which line the walls and in the numer-
Gus jars of fantastic design and bar
barrie form which ornament these es-
| adjustments, are to be found pre-
served flies, beetles, bees and every
other species of insect life, not to men
ton every variety of toad. snake and
lizard Every box is carefully labeled
with Chinese signs, and the contents
are carefully dried before being stored
away for medical use.
The Chinese druggist and his clerks
wear the same naughty and secretive
airs which so become their Caucasian
co-laborers. Should an ailing fellow
countryman call at the establishment to
have his pains relieved and his ills
cured, he merely steps into the store.
| The druggists knowledge of Monaghan
| diseases enables him to Diagnose at
once where the seat of the suffering
mans ailment lies. The wise and all
discerning pharmacist shrugs his Shout
ders and mutters a word or two. A
clerk steps up to a box and draws forth
dried snake, coiled and held in that
position by skewers He passes it to an
attendant, and while the patient is
counting out his two dollars, the snake
is reduced to powder and put in
paper package. The sufferer goes his
way with a CLEAN of hope in his eyes,
for every Chinese knows that snake
| powder is determined foe to rheumatic
pains
Indigestion, such baneful disease
where cooks do not mind their parts, is
cured by powder of dried horned toad,
provided it has been carefully caught
and prepared when the moon is on the
wane.
Centipcdes, which in life produce
agonizing blisters in the neigh borhood
of their bites, still carry with them in
the powdered state the faculty of rails
ing blisters when made into poultice.
Scorpions, according to the Chinese
way of thinking, are invaluable when
employed as remedy for badly con-
gested liver, which ailment can only be
surmised by the Chinese druggist to be
the one which affiicts his sore and
wearied customer.
Powdered bees and beetles are highly
regarded by the Chinese physician in
the treatment of throat troubles, and if
they do not instantly effect a cure on
being taken the patient deserves to
suffer.
Blood troubles, malignant cancers
and scrofulous diseases HE away when
brought into combat with powdered
lizard.
The materia medica of the Chinese
physician would be Shorn of much of its
value did it not contain sea horse. Sea
horse is Il general cure-all, and if
Chinese druggist was unable to supply
his customers with any other remedy
they would still have implicit faith in
their ultimate recovery if powders of
that curious fish were frequently adj.
ministerGd.
The grasshopper, which is so dreaded
by the farmers in the western states, is
highly valued in it's powdered state by
Mongolians.
The weak and afflicted Chinese or
gans of vision are returned to their
normal condition by poultice of mac
Grated hornets
Broken limbs rapidly knit together
under the beneticcnt influence of
decoction of cockroaches.
1t must not be supposed for a moment
that these are all the remedies dis
pensed by the Chinese druggist The
few mentioned are but the staple rene.
dies which may be found in the mcdi-
cine chest of every Chinese family. The
willy Monaghan, too, does not trust his
well-being to them alone, but invokes
the aid of his household deity to rid him
of his sufferings.
The evil spirits which constantly be.
set the pathway of the Monaghan are
charged with being the cause of all
diseases. Such thing as attributine
physical troubles to bad sewers, being
out too late at night or going to the
lodge would not be given the honor OF
consideration by any high minded and
honorable Chinese. If the gods and in
sects will not aid him, he closes his eyes
in serenity as his end approaches, and
calmly yields up his spirit-fate has de,
nraa1 -