The  pith  of  plants,  too,  was  pronounced  better  in
internal  distempers  than  the  bark,  which  was  to
be  used  only  in  diseases  of  the  skin,  as  the  branches
were  in  those  of  the  limbs  ;  the  leaves  which  were
light  in  weight  had  a  tendency  towards  the  higher
organs  of  the   breast,  but  the  heavier  wood  sank


HE   PALLS    ILL,    ETC.  77

into  the  kidneys  and  pit  of  the  stomach ;  and,
finally,  a  distinction  was  made  in  favor  of  the  upper
parts  of  herbs,  which  were  suited  to  the  upper  half
of  the  body,  whereas,  the  roots  produced  the  best
effects  on  the  nether  extremities.  These  nice
distinctions  were  pointed  out  to  Hung-Jang  and
his  family,  as  the  different  simples  were,  one  by  one,
taken  from  the  chest  of  drawers,  and  deposited  in  a
kettle.
These  forty  simples  having  been  duly  com-
pounded, and  directions  given  for  the  administra-
tion of  the  decoction,  as  well  as  the  pills,  doctor
Tchong-king-ho's  work  was  done.  It  remained  only
to  assure  Hung-Jang  that  his  son  would  be  well  in
seven  days — to  pocket  a  fee  the  poor  rice-planter
could  ill  afford  to  pay — and  to  depart  with  his  cane,
his  servant,  and  his  chest  of  drawers.  The  exit,  as
well  as  the  entire  service,  was  done  in  the  very  best
style  of  the  art,  and  could  scarcely  have  been  sur-
passed in  its  decorous  gravity  by  that  of  doctor
Chin-Kwei  himself,  when  he  took  leave  of  the
patient  from  whose  abdomen  he  had  removed  one
half  its  viscera,  and  who  got  well,  it  is  recorded
in  the  books,  in  thirty  days  afterwards.  •

Siu-tshuen  also  got  well ;  and  as  his    recovery

•  Compare  Du  Halde.
78  TAI-PING-WAXG.
