The Price Is
Enormous, And Doubtless Its Dearness Contributes With A People Like The
Chinese To Raise Its Celebrity So High.
The rich and the Mandarins
probably use it only because it is above the reach of other people, and
out of pure ostentation." It is the principal tonic used throughout
Central Asia, and was well known in Europe when Sarsaparilla arose to
dispute with it the palm of popularity.
In India, Persia, and
Afghanistan, it is called chob-chini,-the "Chinese wood." The
preparations are in two forms, 1. Sufuf, or powder; 2. Kahwah, or
decoction. The former is compound of Radix China Qrient, with gum
mastich and sugar-candy, equal parts; about a dram of this compound is
taken once a day, early in the morning. For the decoction one ounce of
fine parings is boiled for a quarter of an hour in a quart of water.
When the liquid assumes a red colour it is taken off the fire and left
to cool. Furthermore, there are two methods of adhibiting the
choh-chini: 1. Band; 2. Khola. The first is when the patient confines
himself to a garden, listening to music, enjoying the breeze, the song
of birds, and the bubbling of a flowing stream. He avoids everything
likely to trouble and annoy him; he will not even open a letter, and
the doctor forbids anyone to contradict him. Some grandees in central
Asia will go through a course of forty days in every second year; it
reminds one of Epicurus' style of treatment,-the downy bed, the
garlands of flowers, the good wine, and the beautiful singing girl, and
is doubtless at least as efficacious in curing as the sweet relaxation
of Gräfenberg or Malvern.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 95 of 571
Words from 26634 to 26923
of 157964
