Ginseng

Ginseng, a root highly esteemed in China as a medicine, being universally regarded as possessing the most extraordinary virtues, and as a remedy for almost all diseases, but particularly for exhaustion of body or mind. It is the root of a species of Panax (order Araliaceæ), appropriately so called since so typical a panacea. P. Ginseng of Chinese Tartary is, however, scarcely distinct from P. quinquefolium of North America, which is exported to China to the amount of about 500,000 lb. annually, but fetches a lower price. The ginseng of Corea is most valued, and is carefully cultivated in that country. It is raised from seed; the seedlings are planted out, and frequently transplanted, and it is not till the fifth year that the plant reaches maturity. Ordinary ginseng is prepared by simply drying the root over a charcoal fire; the red or clarified ginseng is steamed in earthenware vessels with holes. The root is mucilaginous, sweetish, also slightly bitter and aromatic. It has been regarded as a very elixir of life all over the East, but especially in China and Japan. Western medical practitioners, however, have as yet failed to confirm or explain its extraordinary reputation among the Chinese. The export from Corea, amounting to 27,000 lb. in a good year, is a strict monopoly. The wild ginseng of Corea has frequently fetched twenty times its weight in silver in China. P. fruticosus and cochleatus of the Moluccas are fragrant aromatics used in Indian native medicine.