o completed his
task in 1578 after twenty-six years' labour. No fewer than eighteen
hundred and ninety-two species of drugs, animal, vegetable and
mineral, are dealt with, arranged under sixty-two classes in sixteen
divisions; and eight thousand one hundred and sixty prescriptions are
given in connexion with the various entries. The author professes to
quote from the original _Pen Ts'ao_, above mentioned; and we obtain
from his extracts an insight into some curious details. It appears
that formerly the number of recognized drugs was three hundred and
sixty-five in all, corresponding with the days of the year. One
hundred and twenty of these were called _sovereigns_ (cf. a sovereign
prescription); and were regarded as entirely beneficial to health,
taken in any quantity or for any time. Another similar number were
called _ministers_; some of these were poisonous, and all had to be
used with discretion. The remaining one hundred and twenty-five were
_agents_; all very poisonous, but able to cure diseases if not taken
in over-doses. The modern _Pen Ts'ao_, in its sixteen divisions, deals
with drugs classed under water, fire, earth, minerals, herbs, grain,
vegetables, fruit, trees, clothes and utensils, insects, fishes,
crustacea, birds, beasts and man. In each case the proper name of the
drug is first given, followed by its explanation, solution of doubtful
points, correction of errors, means of identification by taste, use in
prescriptions, &c. The work is fully illustrated, and there is an
index to the various medicines, classed according to the complaints
for which they are used.

_Divination, &c._--The practice of divination is of very ancient date
in China, traceable, it has been suggested, back to the Canon of
Changes (see above), which is commonly used by the lettered classes
for that purpose. A variety of other methods, the chief of which is
astrology, have also been adopted, and have yielded a considerable
bulk of literature. Even the officially-published almanacs still mark
certain days as suitable for certain undertakings, while other days
are marked in the opposite sense. The spirit of Zadkiel pervades the
Chinese empire. In like manner, geomancy is a subject on which many
volumes have been written; and the same applies to the pseudo sciences
of palmistry, physiognomy, alchemy (introduced from Greek sources) and
others.

_Painting._--Ca