Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-04-10
CHINESE MEDIC Tvs.


Some Astonishing Things which ARK
Used as Cures for Diseases.
Wondrous are the remedies used by
the Chinese In their pharmacopOeia.
The sovereign of all medicines Is the
majoon, composed of pearls and other
precious stones ground to powder.
Next to majoon comes spotted rhinocer-
os horn. 1t appears that the ordinary
variety Is of little value, but the spot
ted horn is a wonderful cure for intes-
final troubles. This horn, or the ami
NAL to which 1t pertains, is found
chiefly in the Philippine Islands, and
at Singapore single specimen will
bring as high as $50. Horns of many
kinds are held in great esteem 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 $3.50 to
$500 pair in the wholesale market.
Old deer horns are boiled down to
make the medicinal glue which binds
the forty or sixty ingredients compos-
ing the average Chinese pill.
Equal in medicinal efficacy to the
above are three high-grade tiger rene.
dies-the eyeball, liver and blood. AS
may be imagined, tiger eyeball, |. 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 a powder is worth Its
weight in gold all over the Orient.
Tiger blood when evaporated to sed-
lment at temperature Of ITO degrees
and taken in the form of powder is be-
4 lieved by all Asiatics to make re-
doubtable warrior out of the most cray-
en- hearted.
OF recent years the United States
has come to supply the Chinese with a
great part of one of their most highly
priced medicines, ginseng root. Ordi-
nary cultivated ginseng may be pur-
chased for SO an ounce, but the wild
root may run up to thousand times
its weight in silver or somewhere in
the neighhorhood Of $500 an ounce. The
latter variety wrapped in silk and en-
cased In several metal-lined boxes to
protect 1t from moisture, is often ex-
changed among wealthy Chinese as a
present Such specimens Of ginseng
must not be handled or even breathed
upon for fear Of detracting from their
virtue.
AS llniments the Chinese physicians
pin their faith briefly to the fats and
| - 1xy
: deadly the serpent the greater is the
, benefit to be derived from its extract,
, Thus in cases of chronic rheumatism
the Chinese doctor can do no better
: than recommend cobra tail oil imported
from India.
In connection with Chinese medicine
1t may occur to many people that they
: have never seen Chinaman bereft Of
an arm, leg or other member of hit
body. The reason for this Is that al
= Orientals maintain a profound objec
q ton to surgical operations. Indeed
they much prefer to die rather than t
! be deprived of a member, because as
a Is undeniable that they came into tn
a wp4ld with two arms two legs, eigh
q fingers, two thumbs, etc, they mus
of necessity go out of 1t with the sam
number. Otherwise once on the othe
@ side they might be sent to hunt for
4 missing member and spend the create
: part of eternity in finding 1t. Perhap
q the nearest approach to internal sui
s gerry that Chinese doctor will attemE
!. is to stand on the patients body an
L with his bare feet move about on til
). part afflicted. In dentistry the Gnines
: have reached the discovery that I'll
J, nerve IS worm, and the best methC
9 to treat an aching tooth Is to loosen
). by driving in wedges in order that IL
worm may escape.