Chinese Materia Medica

IN an article in NATURE of June 7, 1930, a description was given of the progress that is being made in the elucidation of the botanical origin of Chinese vegetable drugs, and it was pointed out that what might at first sight appear to be a peculiarly abstruse investigation, in which medical historians and anthropologists alone could be concerned, has resulted in a revival of interest in Ephedra and the use of its principal alkaloid, ephedrine, in the treatment of asthma.