The St. Mary banner., 1902-12-27
QUEER ORIENT DRUGS
Tpottcd HhiEoceIos Horn For iEleFtiHn'
Disorders.

Disorders.
At any Chinese drug store there can
be obtained for twenty-five cents an
ASSORTMENT of dried herbs. insects and
1ther weird things composing pc
scription that. it is said, Will cure the
ailments OF ordinary people. When II
comes to the sickness of wealthy
Cbinaman, of course there are drugs
which are as high in price as Their re-
puted medicinal virtues.
First in the list OF these sovereign
remedies is the powder n1"de from
spotted rllinoce"0s lCrn. IN Ordinary
rh,nocoros horn is said to be less 'ill-
cacious. The spotted variety is . won-
;lcrfuI cure for Intestinal disorders.
Thes, horns come chiefly from some Of
the rivers of the Philippines. and bring
rs much as $50 each In the Singapore
Chinese drug market. In the old Jap
anese pharmacorcea they Were cata-
!ogued as unicorn horn-at least that
that Is what the unicorns S horn is sup
posed to have been.
Next to spotted rhiaoccros come the
three tiger rcmcdies-thc ey@bau. the
liver and the blood AS may be im3G-
incd. tiger eycball can only be pre-
scribcd for the exceedingly wealthy,
but it is firmly believed there is 80
disease it will not cure. The tiger llE-
or. when dried and reduced TO 4 pow
der. is worth It's weight in geld all over
bn-
atad to Il sediment II 4 temperature OF
10 degrees. and taken in The form o.
4 powder. is believed by all ASiatics TO
be the best tonic known. ard will make
4 fine warrior out of the most chicken
hearted.
In desperate cases. when neither
spotted rhinoccrous hCIn nor tiger eye
ball affords relief. the Chinese phySl-
clans prescribe what is known rs Il
majoon. This IS compound OF ground
pearls and other precious stone, which.
II is held. nothing but the lnali@n ini.u-
ence Of some powerful devil can over
come. y majOOn. Of course, IS nigh
priced medicine. but il has fallen il
good deal iii the popular estimation,
because the Chinese doctors are sus-
nected of taking advantage Of the pa
tents critical state and Of craftily sub
sttuting a fraudulent powder OF glass
and mother of pearl. In this way, it is
said, they pocket 4 handsome differ
rnce. attributing the death Of the pa
,iei,t to devil even more powerful
than the majcon.
Next in price and virtue to the RENE
dies mentioned are the various oils and
fats obtained from scrpents. The
mere deadly Tie serpent the more pc
t2Et apparently are its medicinal quail
tiles. The fat from the tail OF Il coDra.
lo- example. applied externally. is
highly priced in Eastern Asia rs 4 cure
for chronic rheumatism.
\ ore armed o.. one legged Chinanan
is seldom seen. The reason for this is
that all Orientals have a profound Oh
lection to surgical operations. Indeed,
they prefer to die rather than lose a
'remocr because they believe THAI as
they came iIto the world with two
arms. two IeSs. etc, they must Of ne
cassitr go out Of it with the same num-
her. Otherwise something horribly ull-
lucky might happen. They might for
Instance, be sent TO hunt for the miss
ns arm o.. LEG ard spend half their fu-
turity in finding it. Ore Of the great
est difficulties tho new school of meai-
cine In Japan has had to overcome is to
induce the People to submit to surgical
operations. New Yorl. Sun.