Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/623

Rh GINSENG, the root of a species of Panaa: (P. Ginseng, Meyer), belonging to the natural order Araliacece, is a very celebrated Chinese medicine. The demand is so great that many other roots are substituted for it, notably that of Panda: quz'nquqfolium, Linn, distinguished as American ginseng, and imported from the United States. At one time the ginseng obtained from Manchuria was considered to be the ﬁnest quality, and in consequence became so scn'ce that an imperial edict was issued prohibit- ing its collection. That prepared in Corea is now the most esteemed variety. The root of the wild plant is preferred to that of cultivated ginseng, and the older the plant the better is the quality of the root considered to be. Lockhart states that all the ginseng collected in the Chinese empire is imperial property, and is sold to those who have the privilege of dealing in it at its weight in gold. Great care is taken in the preparation of the druv. The account given by Koempfer of the preparation of nindsin, the root of I 'z'um niusi, Thunb., in the Corea, will give a good idea of the preparation of ginseng, ninsi being a similar drug of sup- posed weaker virtue, obtained from a different plan-t, and often confounded with ginseng. “ In the beginning of winter nearly all the population of Sjansai turn out to collect the root, and make preparations for sleeping in the ﬁelds. The root, when collected, is macerated for three days in fresh water, or water in which rice has been boiled twice ; it is then suspended in a closed vessel over the ﬁre, and afterwards dried, until from the base to the middle it assumes a hard, resinous, and translucent appearance, which is considered a proof of its good quality.” Ginseng of good quality generally occurs in hard, rather brittle, translucent pieces, about the size of the little ﬁnger, and varying in length from 2 to 4 inches. The taste is mucilaginous, sweetish, and slightly bitter and aromatic. The root is frequently forked, and it is probably owing to this circumstance that medicinal properties were in the ﬁrst place attributed to it, its resemblance to the body of a man being supposed to indicate that it could restore virile power to the aged and impotent. In price it varies from 6 or 12 dollars to the enormous sum of 300 or 400 dollars an ounce. toot of this quality can of course only be pur— chased by the most wealthy, and the greatest care is taken of such pieces by the vendors.

1em 1em 1em  GIOBERTI, (1801–1852) the ablest philo- sophical writer of modern Italy, and one of the most interesting actors in the recent history of the country, was born in Turin on the 5th April 1801, the only child of parents in moderate circumstances there, and was educated by the fathers of the Oratory with a view to the priesthood, to which he was ordained in 1825. His study of the ancient philosophers, and the fathers and doctors of the church, occupied him for years, during which he led a very retired life; gradually, however, he took more and more interest in the affairs of his country, as well as in the litera- ture of the day, entering warmly into the new ideas then beginning to be discussed in connexion with politics. The freedom of Italy from foreign masters became his ruling motive in life, and this freedom in his conception of it was an emancipation, not only from armed masters, but from modes of thought alien to its genius, and detrimental to its European authority. This authority was in his mind con- nected with papal supremacy, though in a way quite novel-— intellectual rather than political. One must remember this in considering nearly all his writings, and also in estimating his position, both in relation to the ruling clerical party— the J esuits—and also in relation to the politics of the court of Piedmont after the accession of Charles Albert in 1831. He was now noticed by the king and made one of his chaplains. His popularity and private inﬂuence, however, were masons enough for the court party to mark him for exile; he was not one of them, and could not be depended on. Knowing this, he in 1833 asked permission to resign his Chaplaincy, but was suddenly arrested while walking with a friend in the public gardens, and, after an imprisonment of four months, sent out of the country in the escort of a. carabineer, under decree of banishment. This was done without trial or process—simply, it. would appear, by private inﬂuence of the clerical party, his name being at the same time struck off the list of theological. doctors of the college of Turin. With broken fortunes and ruined plans Gioberti arrived in Paris in the beginning of October 1833. A year later he went to Brussels, where he spent the best period of his life from that time to 1845, teaching phil0sophy, and assisting in the work of a College superintended by his friend Gaggia, yet ﬁnding time, by rising early and sitting late, to write many works of great importance in philosophical inquiry, but bearing a special relation to his country and its position. His spirits never returned to him, however, as his whole being was bound up with the welfare of his native country. All amnesty having been passed by Charles Albert in 1846, Gioberti had liberty to return to Italy, just as Pius IX. in the beginning of his pontiﬁcatc manifested strongly liberal sympathies. Gioberti took no step, however, on the end of 1847, and (lid not return to his native land till after