The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-12-29
MEDICINE THE
CHINAMAN TAKES

In the Chinatown of any of GU
larger cities the Celestial practise o
medicine and dispensing of drugs ma
be observed. DR.. wun Lung, general,
adorned with huge, circular, horn
trimmed spectacles and thin patriarcha
| chin whiskers, sits behind his counte
with his stock of remedies to hand
| The doctor speaks of majoon as tht
| sovereign remedy of his pharmaco.
poeia This majoon Us composed Of
pearls and other precious stones
ground to a powder. Presumably or
account of it's high price it is regard
ed as an infallible cure for any sick
ness, i. e., unless a devil happens to
Jump down a patients throat after
the dose and upsets DR.. Wun Lung S
diagnosis. a rumor has been in eircu-
lation that instead of the real jewels
charged up to the patient, DR.. Wun
Lung sometimes substitutes powdered
mother-of-pearl and ground glass: and
the joss house BONES say that the
spurious majoon, and not the devil,
has been the cause of the untimely de-
cease of more than one estimable
Chinaman.
Next to the majoon comes the spot
ted rhinoceros horn. 1t appears that
the ordinary variety is of little value,
but the spotted horn is a wonderful
cure for intestinal troubles; at least
so says DR.. Wun Lung. This horn, or
the animal to which it pertains, is
found chiefly in the Philippine Is
lands, and at Singapore a single speci-
men will bring as high as $50. Horns
of many kinds are held in great es-
TEEN by the Chinese. Deer horns. in
the velvet are used in extreme cases,
but they must be of an exact shade
of color and when of that shade will
bring from $50 to $500 a pair in the
wholesale market. Old deer horns are
boiled down TO make the medicinal
glue which binds the 40 to so ingredi-
ents composing the average Chinese
pill. AS in these pills one may get
anything from pinch of ground Eng
lish walnut shells to powdered lizard
dust, it is not the fault OF DR.. Wun
Lung if just the right kind of specific
escapes the patient.
Equal in medicinal efficacy to the
above are three high-grade tiger rem
edies-the eyeball, liver and blood. AS
may be imagined, tiger eyeball, i. e.,
the genuine article, can be prescribed
for only the exceedingly wealthy Chi
nese. their Morgans, Astors and Van
derbilts. Similarly the liver when
dried and reduced to powder is worth
it's weight in gold all over the ORR
emit. Tiger blood when evaporated to
a sediment at a temperature of 10
toll in of
der is believed by the Asiatics to make
a redoubtabIe warrior out of the most /
craven hearted.
For the multitude of his patients, |
however, DR.. Wun Lung is able to /
prescribe powdered tiger bone, which |
IAN be secured at any Chinese drug [
store for a trifling 80 cents a pound, |
The Newchwang brand is the best, for /
he Manchuria tigers have the repu- I
alton of being more fierce than those I
If Bengal or elsewhere. In one year |
400 pounds of tiger bone were cleared /
rom Newchwang for the Peking drug /
market
OF recent years the United States has
come 10 supply the Chinese with a |.
treat part of one of their most highly I
,rized medicines, ginseng root. Though +
disputed by our authorities, ginseng is
held by the Chinese to be
tonic of rare excellence. Tt has, how
yer, wide range of value according
o age and whether cultivated or pro-
,ured in its natural state. Ordinary
cultivated ginseng may be purchased
or Sc an ounce, but the wild root may
un up to a thousand times it's weight
n silver, or somewhere in the neigh
sorhood of $500 an ounce. The latter
-ariety, wrapped in silk and encased in
several metal-hned boxes to protect it
rom moisture, is often exchanged
.mong wealthy Chinese as a present.
'uch specimens of ginseng must not be
andled or even breathed upon for fear
# detracting from their virtue
As iiniments the Chinese physicians
lin their faith briefly to the fats and
lis of serpents. Apparently the more
eadly the serpent the greater is the
enefit to be derived from it's extract.
'hus in cases of chronic rheumatism
|r. Wun Lung can do no better than
ecommend cobra tail oil imported from
ndia
In connection with Chinese medicine
iioS OCSui ~ many ptOplc liletl IH6y |
ave never seen Chinaman bereft of
n arm, leg or other member of his
ody. The reason for this is that all
maintain a profound objee-
ion to surgical operations. Indeed they
luch prefer to die rather than to be
eprived of member, because as it
; undeniable that they came into the !
yorld with two arms, two legs, eight
myers, two thumbs. &c. they must of
ecessity go out of it with the same
lumber. Otherwise, once on the other
ide, they might be sent to hunt for a
Kissing member and spend the greater
art of eternity in finding it. Perhaps
he nearest approach to internal sur
cry that a Chinese doctor will attemptJ
to stand on the patients body and
nth his bare feet move about on the
art afflicted. In dentistry the Chinese
ave reached the discovery that the
erve is a worm, and the best method
D treat an aching tooth is to loosen
by driving in wedges in order that !
ne worm may escape.
BORN.