The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-27
QUEER PHARMACY OF CHINA.
FANTASY, SENSE AND TRADITION
ALL JUMBLED TOGETHER.

FROM our own, When You Come TO
Think of 1t.
Dr W. E. s. Fales. in the American Drug
eist and Pharmaceutical Record.
No one can study the pharmaceutics of
the Celestial empire without being, sur
nrfsed at the huge amount of matter which
- has preserved from long past and even
ling forgotten periods. In these relics of
on+iouity there are charms and talismanic
soalls and nominations, superstitions and
wen barbarous rites and ideas.
The same thing, although to much les
CIR degree, has been done by pharmacy in
civilized lands The initial letter capital
Nth which we begin a prescription, and
which we read as Recipe dake), is really
q contraction of the phrase I'm the name
Of the planet Jupiter take" The abbre-
,tation Sig" refers to the astrologic
house which had been computed by either
professional astrologer or else by a Skill
e5 leech Such terms as muriate alcohol,
,11abvde aqua regia, aqua fortlS aqua
IL calcined, flux and corrosive subn-
r-ate are remnants of the days when the
alohenist was king. Spirits OF hartShorn,
savers of sulphur oil of vitrol. friars bal
yam salts and SIENNA come undoubtedly
Srom the household lore of the middle
ages. - u,,o,,4 "a o,,r,o,,s
eurvfvaIs of the past partly as a matter
.of professional etiquette, partly because
.+ba profession is naturally conservative
and partly because the seriousness and
solemnity which are the concomitants OF
disaase and death lend half sanctity to
overvthing connected with the remedial
The same factors are potent in the far
east and to them is added a tremendous
force which has almost no existence in
our own civilization-that is the duty
moral social and Legal of following the
example of ones ancestry. The Chinese
drug store of to-day is very like that at
which Confucius made his purchases $500
wears ago The weights and measures,
tba names and substances, the rules and
theories have changed but little in that
long period. What change they have un-
o-rgone has been in the nature of extern
sion and development, and not of altera-
tion or even modification of that which
has long existed. Among the curious rel
los of antiquity the charm or talsman is
one of the most striking. They are made
bv either an astrologer, a physician or
pharmacist. In popular esteem there is
but little difference as to the three.
popular pharmacist is preferred to an I'M
popular physician or an unsuccessful
sooth-sayer
The only difference between the charm
and the taHsman is in the size and the
use The charm should be worn about
the body and the talisman should be att1x-
ed to some place in the house near the
front door, The talisman is usually about
nine inches wide and twelve long, and the
charm of about one-quarter that size.
They are made by writing in black or in
vermilion upon piece of paper of impe-
rial yellow color.
che of as Of
law can only be used by royalty. The
color is supposed to be the color of heaV-
en- and the emperor is the son of heaven.
But inasmucn as the church and the as
trologer represent heaven, and as the
charm or the talisman are related to NOR
tally and Immortality, they may be writ
ten on the same kind of paper. To pre-
vent any suggestion of lese majestic the
paper is of imperial yellow, but is notified
with little Irregularities, as if it had been
Iained upon and the rain drops had dried
upon the paper.
The character written upon the paper is
said to be taken from an ancient Manchu-
rian script, which was muse several thou
sand years ago.
1t is a sealed book to the man who
writes it as well as to the customer who
purchases it.
There are 100 stock talismans which can
be written by any pharmacist, no matter
in what part of the empire he may be.
The prices of these antidotes or preveu>
tives vary a great deal. A wealthy man
thinks nothing of paying IS for one While
poor coolie can secure one for as many
cents.
Another extraordinary survival is the
spell or incarnation. These consist of brief
poems, which are written, or are SAID
TO be written by unseen spirits more par
ucularly by those of great benefactors
OF the human race who have been deifled
by a grateful posterity. A favorite poet
OF the class is the god Liu Che Sin Szu
who was famous sage and philosopher in
the early historic past. For the plague he
gives the following incarnation. 1t is
quite musical in the original and suggests
the style of poetry of which Sing a Song
oil SiXpence" in England is the best exam
pie
The free translation is as follows:
The plague to north and south
To east and west swift goes,
And all who feel dts breath
Must suffer many woes.
THOSE who are doomed to die
Cannot by man be cured,
But those of righteous lives
VI health may feel assured
The verse is written in black upon yell
low paper, and may be worn as charm,
put 1t should be recited at least three
umes a day to warn off disease. This
FNLil' written IN 1881 by the distinguished
spirit referred to, reaped quite a fortune
Tor the pharmacist who first gave it to
the public:
TO good or evil soon or late !
rewards are sent by viewless fate.
The evil suffer many a time
AND oft are cut off in their prime;
me good, infected by the bad,
recover soon If treatments had.
Nothing could be more puerile and yet
nolhlng Is more popular among the guile
less Mongolians
another feature is a singular combina-
uon OF modern and ancient thoughts
me SICK man presents himself to a phar-
maclst and relates his symptoms If his
diagnosis commends it,, the latter gives
tne patient an outline drawing of a hui
man hgure, on which he puts a number
Ui spots Of ink with a camel s-hair brush
IHese spots are the places where the evil
spirits have entered the body and from
winch thpV "a driven b