Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/584

570 animals, with no appreciable neck or external ears, and very small eyes. The feet are adapted to digging, the fore paws in particular being very strong and armed with long, curved claws, while the sides of the toes are lined with rows of bristles that prevent the dirt from passing between the fingers. The tail is moderately long, thick, fleshy, usually hairless, and sensitive to the touch. In working under the earth the animals loosen the ground with their upper incisors, while they keep their fore feet in active operation in digging and pressing the earth back under the body, and their hind feet in moving it still farther backward. As the dirt accumulates in its rear the animal turns in its burrow and, bringing its wrists together under its chin, with the palms of its hands held up, forces itself along by its hind feet, pushing the earth outward. All the pocket gophers have external cheek pouches, which are used for carrying food. They are great hoarders, and fill their storehouses with vastly more than they consume. The cheek pouches reach back as far as the shoulder. A captured animal filling its pouches after a meal made motions so rapid that they were hard to observe. If a piece, say of potato, too large to go in the pouch, was given him, he would grasp it with both paws and pry off small bits with his long lower incisors, then raise himself a little on his hind legs and hold the fragment between his fore paws while eating previous to putting away what was left. Small pieces were disposed of promptly; others were trimmed by cutting off projecting angles. The animal has to use its fore paws in passing food from its mouth to the pouches, and in emptying the pouches these paws are used very dexterously.

Ginseng.—This drug, which is frequently spoken of as the panacea of eastern Asia, consists of the roots of Panax ginseng, belonging to the natural order Araliaceœ, a plant indigenous to China and Japan, but chiefly occurring in Corea and Manchuria. The following account is taken from the Lancet: When full grown, the ginseng plant stands from a foot to a foot and a half high, each stem supporting a single palmate leaf. The flower is purple-colored, and in summer is replaced by brilliant red berries. The roots are gathered at the commencement of winter, and, after maceration in cold water for three days, are placed in covered vessels which are suspended over fires until the contents become hard, resinous, and translucent. The drug then appears in the form of brittle rods, often forked or many-tailed, about the thickness of the little finger and from two to four inches in length. The taste is sweetish and glutinous, recalling, in spite of slight bitterness, that of licorice. The wild plant is the most highly valued, but it is extremely rare, being worth more than its weight in gold. According to the Chinese Times, ten large sticks of ginseng and eight of medium size, weighing collectively nine ounces and one fifth, fetched, including duty, seventeen hundred and seven taels (about seventeen hundred dollars). Ginseng culture in Corea is exclusively in the hands of a few state farmers, and is most carefully supervised. The fields are surrounded by lofty barriers, while in each a watchman, perched on a platform, keeps guard night and day. The seeds are set in ridges, the tender shoots being protected from sun or storm by sheds of thatch or coarse cloth. During the first year or two the seedlings are frequently transplanted. They do not attain to maturity until about the fifth year, and, as a rule, are not culled before the sixth or seventh. The leaves are said to possess emetic and expectorant properties, but the roots alone are employed medicinally, being prescribed as a tonic in every disease that is attended by debility. It is as an aphrodisiac, however, that ginseng is in greatest request throughout the whole of the Orient. It is taken in the form of an extract or decoction, the latter mode being generally preferred. It is usually taken in the morning and at bedtime. From three to five grammes of the root constitute a daily dose, and the exhibition may be continued for a week or more. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to introduce the drug into Europe.

Pilgrims of the Japanese Alps.—In exploring what are called the Japanese Alps, the Rev. Walter Weston found himself in a region still unaffected by European innovations; a plateau more than a hundred and twenty miles long, surrounded by mountain ridges, and known, on account of its