--T^~
~U  INTERESTING  HISTORY LM
OK T1IK
SPi^Kfik
      (QUINQUEFOLIUM,)

          Of*. LINNJEU:?,

She Ginseng of il)e £\)uxtst,
FHOM THE
ARCHIVES OF  IIIS^RY
AND
IgDQCAIL ©©DIBiO'l.
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    1851.
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r\ 
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07
ATCi
    DR.   CONINE'S
            SYRUP OF
GINSENG  AND  MALYA.
  This medicine will  probably depend more upon its
own virtue and  actual  merit than any other ever before
offered to the public.
  The recipe is from Dr. Conine, a gentleman who
travelled for many years in China and the islands of that
vicinity, where this compound is the potent and effectual
remedy for the numerous,-diseases arising from a disor-
dered  or debilitated stomach, and

   Affections  of the  Lungs.

  But what will particularly attract
astonishing
DXSSOLVSlftT  PO
tion is its
neous matter from the throat, stoma
WLEGM 01
L]^| or^ffngs.
By which it at once removes ALL ^LE™_or ®f£"
neous mat
therefore,
   ANTI-EXPECTORANT,
And from attestations of trial here, it is now offered as
Nature's kindest remedy for the removal of
 Consumption, Whooping Cough, and all Coughs,
By precipitating the phlegm instead of creating irritation
by expectoration. 
4
tute  of foundation.   Nothing better deserves sci-
entific investigation.—See Penny Cyclopedia,  London,
Vol XI. p. 223.
  Ginseng is the name of a root which constitutes one
of the  principal medicines of the Chinese and  Tartars.
It grows chiefly in Chinese Tartary, and also in several
parts of North America, from which it is  sent to China.
This trade to  China was carried  on by the French in
1750, and subsequently by the English;  but since the
Americans established their independence  they have car-
ried  it  direct  to  China.  The American root  seldom
exceeds the size  of the  little finger.   It  is  frequently
forked, and is  of a horny texture, and a yellowish white
color.   In the  year  1709 the  emperor of  China sent an
army of 10,000 Tartars in search of this root, on condi-
tion that each  soldier should give him  two catties of the
best, and sell the rest for its  weight in silver.   By this
means the emperor gained 20,000  catties in one  year.
See EdinburgbLJEimjclopcedia, Vol. X., p. 283.
  Ainsliefl   Bks:—"The  Chinese  allege that it
nourishes  afl   trenegJiens the body,  stops vomitings,
clears the judgment Amoves  hypochondriasis, and all
other nervous aHecffims—in a word gives a vigorous tone
to the human frame even  in old age.   The plant  (Gin-
seng) is a native of Chinese Tartary, from whence  it has
been obtained from time immemorial.   It is used by the
French in Canada for  Asthmatic  Complaints,
as  a Stomachic,  &c.  The French writers say they
have the authority of the Jesuit missionaries for its use; 
5
and by Thunfoerg's account, it is held to  this day in
high reputation amongst the Japanese.—See Ainslie's
Materia Indica, London, vol. I. p. 154.
  The Chinese  esteem  the Ginseng  as  a general
restorative and  powerful Aphrodisiac.   The aroma
of the root preserved in the extract is pleasantly warm.
See Parr's Lon. Med. Die.  vol. I. p. 701.
  It  has  often been sold in  China for several times its
weight in silver, but has seldom been employed in Eu-
rope, more  seldom, perhaps, than it  ought to  be.—See
Hendrick's Med. Die. Edinburgh, vol. II

  Panax, (<luinauefolium) of Linnaeus.   The
great value  set upon  the root by the Chinese has pre-
vented its being exported from thence into other countries,
and its discovery in North America is but of late date, so
that among us it has hitherto been vem^ely made use
of, although from what can be judgJ   Reserving of
regard, especially as  it is now procuH   MSee Lewis'
Dis. Edinburgh, 1785.  Part 2, ^^SS^m^S-

   It first became known iiifburOM     pFthe mission-
aries.  Father  Jartou*, a missionary at  Pekin,
 had an opportunity of witnessing the collection and  use
 c  the Ginseng in 1709, and made a drawing of the plant
 while among the mountains of Tartary.  The emperor
 of China employs his own  servants in  the collection of
 it.   The collectors of the Ginseng  carry with them  nei-
 ther tents nor beds, every one being sufficiently loaded 
6
 with his provision, which is only parched millet, on which
 he is obliged to subsist during the whole journey.  The
 mandarins send from time to time some pieces of beef,
 with such game as they happen to take, which they eat
 very greedily and almost raw.   They are accustomed to
 sleep on the ground, and notwithstanding six months  are
 passed in this manner, this army of herbalists continue
 in perfect health.   The root is an ingredient  in almost
 all the  remedies  which they give to their nobility,  its
 price being too expensive for the populace.
  The sick take it to recover health,  and the  healthy to
 make themselves stronger and more vigorous; they affirm
 that  it removes all fatigues, either of body or mind, dis-
 solves humors, cures Pulmonary Diseases, strength-
 ens the stomach, increases the vital spirits, and prolongs
 life to extreme old age.
  Linnaeus  has  given to  the  genus of plants which
 includes the Ginseng the name of Panax, a Greek word
 intended to express the character of the Chinese panacea.
 The berries aiFkiuWy-shaped, retuse at both ends, com-
 pressed, of a bright scarlet color, crowned with the calx
 and  styles^     Ruaining two semi-circular seeds—the
 plants  diiffl      Biother  vegetables in their berried
 fruit.    It is'&■ ewhat  remarkable  that  its name with
 the Chinese amrrfoflh  American Indians should sig-
 nify  the same thing in their respective languages, viz : a
resemblance  to the figure of a man.   Father Lafit-
 eau, a Jesuit missionary, discovered it in North America
 among the Iroquois, and sent it to France.   In  1718  M.
 Sarasin published an account of it in  the memoirs of the
 academy at Paris.—Bigelow's Med. Bot. vol. 2, p.  82. 
7
  Ginseng, in the Materia Medica, is one of the principal
medicines of the  Chinese and Tartars, and their  most
eminent physicians have written many volumes concern-
ing its virtues.
  It is known among  them by divers other names, ex-
pressing  only Spirit,  or  Pure  Spirit of the
earth.   The  plant  that  gives  immortality, &c.  It
makes in effect the whole materia medica for the people
of condition, but is too  precious  for the populace.  All
the writers of the Chinese affairs make mention of the
Ginseng, as Martinus in his atlas, F. Kircher in his
China Illustrata,  F. Tachard  in  his  voyages,  and
F.  Le Comtc  in his memoirs.
  As yet we know but very little of this plant, before
F.  Jartoux, a Jesuit and missionary  in  China, who
being employed by order of the emperor in making a map
of Tartary in the year  1709, had an opportunity of see-
ing it growing in a village about four leagues from the
kingdom of Corea, inhabited by Tartars  called  Calca
Tatze.                        ^HP*
  That father took this opportuni^p^makeka draught of
the plant, and give an accurate description^ it, with its
virtues, and manner of preparinMj^   The ^Quiseng, ac-
cording to his description a|d if wing, hAsartvhite root,
somewhat knotty, about thrice lie jhick JPsof the  stem,
and which grows tapering to the  end; at a few inches
from  the  head  it  frequently parts into  two  branches,
which give it the resemblance of a  man, and hence it
takes the denomination Ginseng, which signifies a figure
of a man.
  The Tartars, with good reason, call it Orhota, that 
8
 is, the first of plants.  It  grows to the height of about
 eighteen inches.
   The  plant dies away every year,-  the  number of its
 years may be known by the number of stalks it has shot
 forth, of which there always remains some  mark.   Those
 who gather the Ginseng  preserve only the root;  they
 then dry it in  the sun ; when the roots are dried they
 must be kept close in some very dry place, otherwise they
 are in danger of corrupting or of being eaten  by worms.
  As to the place where  this root grows, it is between
 the thirty-ninth  and forty-seventh degree  of north lati-
 tude, and between the tenth and twentieth degree of east
 longitude, reckoning from the meridian  of  Pekin.
 Here is found  a long  tract of mountains, which thick
 forests that cover and encompass  them),  render  almost
 impassable.  It is upon the declivities of these mountains,
 and in thick forests upon the banks of torrents, or about
 the roots of trees, and  amidst  a thousand other different
 sorts of plants, that the Ginseng is  found;  it is not to be
 met with in p^ttsyKilleys, marshes, the  bottom of rivu-
 lets, or in  plawtoojnuch  exposed and open.
  If the foM r takes^e  and be  consumed,  this plant
 does not ai^fr till two ^r  three years  after; it also lies
 hid from t^Tsim as much asirossible, which shows that
 heat is an  eiwjjy to.U.  *,*'  W
  The places \vTTere the  Ginseng grows are on every side
separated from the province of Quang Tong by a bar-
rier  of  wooden  stakes which encompass this  whole
province, and about  which guards continually patrol to
hinder the Chinese from going out and looking  after this
root. 
9
  Yet  however vigilant they are, greediness  after gain
incites  the Chinese to lurk privately about these deserts,
sometimes to the number  of two or three  thousand, at
the hazard of losing their liberty and all the fruits of
their labor, if they are taken, either as they go out of or
come into the province.
  The emperor in order that the Tartars should reap all
the advantage that is to be made of this plant, rather than
the Chinese, gave orders  in  1709 to  ten thousand
Tartars to go  and gather all they  could fmd of the
Ginseng, upon  condition  that each personjshould give
him  two ounces of the best, and the rest sHopldbe paid,
weight for weight, in pure silver !  It was computed, by
this means, the  emperor would get this year about twenty
thousand  Chinese pounds of it, which would not  cost
him  one-fourth  part of  its  value.
   We  met by chance, says F.  Jartonx, with some of
these Tartars in the midst of those frightful deserts; and
their mandarins who were not far out of the way, came,
one after another, and offend, us oxen for our subsistence
according to  the commands they had  received from the
emperor.                      #
   This army  of herbalists observed the  following
order:  after  they had  divided  a certain  tract of land
among their several, conftanies, each  company, to the
number of a hundred jprstyis, spread itself out in a right
line, to a certain fixed^lace, every ten  of them keeping
at a  distance from the rest.
   They then searched  carefully for the plant, going on
leisurely in the same  order;  and in this manner, in a
certain number of days, they run over the whole  space
of ground appointed them. 
10
   When the time was expired, the mandarins, who Were
encamped in their tents in such places as were proper for
the subsistence of their  horses, sent to view each troop,
to give them  fresh orders, and to inform themselves if
their number was complete.
   If any one of them was wanting, as it often happened,
either  by wandering out of the way, or being attacked
by wild beasts, they always looked for him a day or two,
and then returned again to their labor as before.
   Ginseng was formerly supposed to grow only in Chi-
nese Tartary, affecting mountainous  situations, shaded
by close  woods; but it has now been long known that
this plant  is also  a native  of North America, whence
M. Sarrasin transmitted specimens  of it to Paris in
the year  1704; and the Ginseng since discovered in Can-
ada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, by Iiatiteau, Kalm,
Bartram,  and  others, has been found to  correspond
exactly with the Tartarian species, and its roots are now
regularly purchased by the Chinese, who consider them
to be the same with those olfelastern  growth, which  are
known to undergo a certain^ preparation  by which they
.assume a  somewhat  ■Btererit TOtppearance.  This plant
was first introduced into Euglandth 1740 by that  indus-
trious  naturalist, Peter Collinson.   The dried root
of Ginseng as it is imported  hale, is scarcely as thick as
the little finger, about three or fou^hiches long, frequently
forked, transversely wrinkled, of a horny texture, and
both externally and internally of a yellowish white color.
To the taste, says  Lewis, (mat. med.) it discovers a mu-
cilaginous  sweetness, approaching to that of  liquorice,
and a slight aromatic warmth, with little smell.  It is  far 
11
sweeter, and of a more grateful  smell than the roots of
fennel, to which  it has by some been supposed similar,
and differs likewise remarkably from those  roots in the
nature and  pharmaceutic properties of its active princi-
ples ;  the sweet  matter of the Ginseng being procured
entire  in the watery as well as the spirituous extracts,
whereas that of fennel roots is destroyed  or dissipated
in the iiispissation of the watery tincture.  ' The aromatic
impregnation of  the Ginseng is likewise in good measure
retained  in the watery extract, and  perfectly  in the
spirituous.                               *&?
   The Ginseng, as we have observed, is an  ingredient in
most of the medicines which the Chinese physicians pre-
scribe to the better sort of  patients.  They  affirm that it
is a sovereign remedy for all  weaknesses occasioned by
excessive fatigues either of body or mind; that it
attenuates  and  carries off  pituitous  humors;  cures
weakness of the  lungs and pleurisy;  stops
vomitings, strengthens the  stomach, and helps  the  ap-
petite 5  disperses fumes or vapors; fortifies  the breast;
is a remedy for short and  weak breathing; strengthens
the vital spirits, and is good against dizziness of the
head and dimness of sight; and that it prolongs life  to
extreme old age.  Nobody can  imagine that the
 Chinese and Tartars would set  so high  a
 value upon this root if it did not constant-
 ly produce a  good effect.   Those that are  in
 health often  make use of it to render themselves more
vigorous and strong.  And  I am persuaded, adds Father
Jartoux above mentioned, it  would prove an excellent
medicine in any country. 
12
  It is certain that it subtilizes, increases  the motion of,
and  warms the blood; that it  helps digestion, and
invigorates in  a  very  sensible manner.  After I had
designed the root, (he  goes on) I observed the state of
my pulse, and then took half of a root raw as it was and
unprepared;  in  an hour after I  found  my pulse  rnuch
fuller and quicker.   I had an appetite,  and  perceived
myself much more vigorous, and  could bear labor  better
and easier than before.   Four days after, finding myself
so fatigued and weary that I could scarcely sit on horse-
back, a mandarin who was in company with us perceiving
it, gave me one of  these roots ;  I  took half of  it imme-
diately, and in an hour after I was  not in the least sensible
of any weariness.  I have often  made  use of it  since,
and always with  the same success.  I have observed also
that the green leaves, and  especially  the fibrous parts of
them, chewed, would  produce nearly the same effect.
The Tartars often bring  people  the  leaves of Ginseng
instead  of  tea, and I always find myself so well  after-
wards, that I should readily prefer them before  the best
tea; their decoction is of a grateful color,  and when one
has taken it twice  or thrice, its taste  and  smell become
very agreeable.
  The Chinese when they give it  to sick persons, seldom
give more than the fifth  part of  an  ounce of  the  dried
root, or the same proportionate strength of the  liquid.—
Reese's  Cyclopedia, vol. 17, first  edition, adapted to
this country. 
13
                  REMARKS.
                                                  i
  It is strange indeed that a remedy of this character,
with such a mass of able testimony in its favor, should
have been for so great  a length of time scattered or ne-
glected ;  though probably never destined by its Creator to
go  into  ultimate  oblivion.  Long alienated  however,
from among the crowd  of its more forward, and doubtless
in many instances less worthy competitors, it  has  been
coldly driven an exile  from its  native soil, and only by
Strangers cherished.  Sleeping in its own land the  deep
sleep which follows an unkind reception and long neglect,
while for so long a period  "unhonored and  uneung,"—
yet from the fullness and vitality of the power graciously
bestowed upon it by the hand that first gave  it being ;
destined  still to perform its wide work of mercy among
earth's many happy and many suffering children, to the
end of all compounding time. 
MALVA.
      Formerly the Malva was admitted among the common
\    articles  of  diet.   To this purpose it  is referred  to  by
    Horace.
      The Chinese are said to eat the leaves of Malva either
    raw as salad, or boiled as spinnach.
      Horace also speaks of Leves Malvae, apparently
    meaning light of digestion.   There are many varieties.
    Linnaeus refers to twenty-six in the 14th edition  of his
    Systema Vegetablium.—See Reese's Cyclopaedia, vol. 23.
      The species of which  the present Syrup of Ginseng
    and Malvais compounded, is the particular kind employed
    by a gentleman in Maryland  in three cases of obstinate
    whooping cough, attended previously to its application
    with fits and excessive strangulation.   He remarks—
      "These  three cases occurred in the winter  of 1840,
    and commenced  at different  periods within a month  or
    two.  Near the 1st of March, the  eldest, a  boy of about
    five years of age, (in other respects a remarkably healthy
    child) was  discovered to  be  strangling or  choking with
    phlegm  about four o'clock in the  morning.  He was  at
    once taken  up, and after a frightful spasm of four or five
    minutes, seemed to lose all power for breathing, became
    livid in the  face, relaxed in all his muscles, and was finally
    laid upon the bed as a dead child—so considered by both
    my wife and  myself; in a minute  or two more, again 
15
showing signs of breathing, he was joyfully taken up and
revived.   The other two children, a girl  and an infant
boy, were also very severe cases, one of them also accom-
panied with spasms.
  " At that period one of my family was engaged in pur-
chasing and repacking Ginseng for shipment to China,
and I had  been much in the habit of chewing it: pleased
with its flavor, and aromatic warmth, I decided to follow
the directions of Dr. Conine, and accordingly gave it  to
all of the children in  a  syrup, combined with  a certain
kind of Malva root; the effect was wonderful—imme-
diate relief following—no more  spasms—the  phlegm
dissipated—nothing more than a slight cough for a week
or so, when all anxiety subsided—the children apparently
had all recovered together.
   " A recent case  however has greatly  increased my con-
fidence in it as a remedy for coughs and affections of the
lungs.
   " In October last, a young lady in my family not quite
of age, was prostrated with so severe a cough as to be
attended with bleeding of the lungs ;  and when I returned
from a journey westward in November,  I found her unable
to  rise and nearly speechless.   Resort  was then had to
the Ginseng and Malva syrup as soon as it could be pro-
cured.  The result in this case was equally astonishing—■
an  immediate  revival of spirits—the lungs healing—
strength  returning—the cough subsiding—and very soon
no appearance of a cough remaining.   She has since been,
and continues as well as ever.
   " It appears to me that the Ginseng and Malva  syrup,
as used in these cases, possesses a great dissolvent  power 
16
of singular efficacy in  affections of the lungs, or cases
attended with phlegm in the throat or stomach, peculiar,
probably, to no other remedy.   I gave  it three times a
day, and in some instances  rather  more than  half of a
wine-glass-full  at  a time.   I shall probably never  again
be without the remedy."
  The above is from Mr. "W. Carroll, of Maryland, whose statements
will find ample warranty in this community for their accuracy.
   In  the  first introduction, therefore, of this  remedy to
the public, it will be seen that far less was promised than
ancient testimony  and other circumstances warranted;
and thefe now appears scarcely a shadow  of doubt of
future results proving fully the  beneficial experience of
the past. 
           THE  PAPER  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.


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