[
    {
        "id": 205826,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1969",
        "page_number": 132,
        "title": "RAS-1969",
        "content_text": "126\n\nARMANDO DA SILVA\n\nThe large leaves of this plant reputedly have healing qualities that arrest the growth of leprous sores.\n\nVillagers are very conscious of some plants that can, if necessary, be eaten without ill effects, the so-called famine foods. Wild plants are classified into shoh (#) covering edible plants in general, and sut (†) a term describing wild medicinal plants. The distinguishing line between these two is hard to define as many medicinal plants are suspected of being famine foods to which are attributed tonic qualities. Their leaves, stalks, or succulent sections are usually added to soup or congee to impart taste and body. An example of a famine food is the pulpy fruit of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa. In August and September this shrub yields a sweet purple fruit which is picked and eaten. The local name for the fruit is kong ním (¥) but its other name of pei kwan kong (¤) meaning \"the berry that one eats when fleeing from soldiers\" strongly suggests that it is indeed one of many famine foods of this area.3\n\nTo keep insects from ruining crops, village cultivators often use insecticides derived from plants. A rotenone extract, injurious to insects but not to man, is derived from the tuber roots of Derris trifoliata, called locally tuk yue tung (“fish poison vine\"). The insecticide extract is diluted in water and sprinkled on crops, particularly the leaves of the sweet potato.4\n\nThe castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, called pei ma (¦) is a plant that was formerly widely used by villagers. The seeds were crushed to make an illuminant oil, and the leaves are still used as poultice for foot sores. It is still a common plant about villages. Most non-economic medicinal plants associated with home remedy are usually regarded as communal property. While these plants are not specifically protected by the villagers, neither are they uprooted without cause. Thus the castor oil plant exists because some of the more conservative villagers still rely on it to supply leaf poultices for leg sores.\n\nMany older villagers still place a greater reliance on plant medicine than on patent medicine and pills. Again for this reason, many plants that to outsiders seem of no useful significance are tolerated, though not purposefully cultivated for their curative qualities. The god of medicinal plants, Shun Nung (µ) is honoured on Chinese New Year when bits of red paper or cloth",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211463,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1988",
        "page_number": 179,
        "title": "RAS-1988",
        "content_text": "155\n\nI remember crying in pain and rage because adults and children gathered around me to watch.\n\nMother also used some of the ointments that Grandfather Jong brewed for us. One white jar contained a blackish, gummy substance, a bit of which in warm tea was for gastro-intestinal discomfort, and which I later learned contained a little opium. A jar of pink ointment was for drawing influence to a head after it had been warmed over a small flame and applied as a poultice. Mother was so pleased when Uncle Yim sent us a dried gall bladder of a bear because of its \"cooling\" effect on an infected area. Once she dissolved some of it in water and applied it to me. When I fell and cut my head, what Mother did was to press some tobacco, which Grandmother Jong used for her water-pipe, on the wound to stop the bleeding.\n\nAs we grew older and Mother began to learn more Western practices from some of her new-found friends, in particular Mrs. Lam Quan, a neighbour who had studied at Kawaiahao Seminary, castor oil was the first order of treatment when any of us got sick, followed by a dose of Chinese herbal tea to “cool” our system. According to Dr. Joseph Lam, the herbs served as a diuretic. Diet for the sick would always be congee, or sweet potatoes boiled in water and sweetened with cakes of brown sugar from China, or a thin sweetened gruel of white-flowered sweet potato flour, also imported from China. For a congested chest, she would rub the area with warm peanut oil and the feel of her soft, warm hand would give me comfort and reassurance.\n\nMother's health was always fragile, but she took very good care of herself. I do not know what her early ailments were, but she used to buy \"Vivai\" from a Mrs. McAllister upon the advice of Mrs. Lam Quan. Mother would drink the liquid and have either Ruth or me massage her back with the ointment at bedtime. Young and tired, I would often doze off while trying to do the boring task. Fortunately, this did not last long. In addition, Mother would use all kinds of Chinese medicines, often referring to a handbook of medicine. Soon after Helen was born, she suffered such severe gastric pains that a herbalist was called in to treat her. When I was in high school, it seemed that every time I planned to go to a football game, she would get so sick that I would have to be home with her. Later, after Father's death, when women were",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211521,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1988",
        "page_number": 238,
        "title": "RAS-1988",
        "content_text": "214\n\nMeasurements:\n\n―\n\nAg. wt.: 4.60g - 0.43g. (wt. of 3 pins and lock) Size: 1.8 cm, diam., 4 mm. thick.\n\n=\n\n= 4.17 g\n\nSimilar original gold coins weigh 132.7 grain = 8.547 g. and have a diameter of 0.7 inches. It is only natural that the silver coin weighs much less, its density being 10.7868 compared to that of gold which is 19.6967.\n\nThe comparative volume of the coins shows a great approximation, Au. 43/Ag. 39, despite the difficulty in assessing the weight of the silver of similar original silver coins one.\n\nReports point to the possibility of the present coin being original. It is true that while gold was the precious metal ‘par excellence’ in Europe and in Asia Minor, silver was more commonly sought after in Asian countries. The coin is probably a contemporary or near contemporary copy of the gold original, probably made somewhere in the Persian Empire.\n\nDescription of the Coin\n\nObverse:\n\nHead of Demeter or Hera (?) wearing stephane (head band) and veil on the back of the head, earring and necklace. On the left, in front of the forehead, the letters TAPA (in Greek: Tara). A dolphin at the left, down the side, and a letter K near the neck, in front. A border circular line.\n\nReverse:\n\nYoung horseman (Kastor or Taras), naked, with javelin in the right hand and resting on the right shoulder. The horse is galloping or cantering. Below: AΠOΛ. In front of the horse's head a thunderbolt. On certain parts of the coin border dots are visible.\n\nNotes:\n\n1. TAPA is an abbreviation for TAPANTΩN, (Taranton), of the Tarantines.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211522,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1988",
        "page_number": 239,
        "title": "RAS-1988",
        "content_text": "215\n\n2. Hera was the sister-wife of Zeus, queen of the Olympian gods.\n\n3. The dolphin is a symbol of rescue: the dolphin is a friendly animal; it saves sea-farers. It also has a public connotation: the emblems of love to Ceres comprise a column and a dolphin.\n\n4. The letter K is the first letter of the inscription KYAIX found on the original gold coins.\n\n5. Kastor or Castor and Pollux are twin deities, Dioscouroi, DIO KOYPOI sons of Leda and Zeus. Castor was renowned as a horseman and Pollux as a wrestler. As deities they were famed for rescuing shipwrecked sailors. They were also called Polydeuces in Sparta.\n\n6. The letters ATOA are an abbreviation for AПOAAØN i.e. Jupiter, hence the thunderbolt, the symbol of his power.\n\nHistory\n\nAbout the year 706 B.C., during the 8th century, Greeks from Sparta and Laconia occupied the village of Taras on the river of the same name and founded the city of Taras. It lasted till 209 B.C. when it was captured by Fabius Maximus. From the widespread use of its coinage can be ascertained its great influence in history. The Tarentines founded a number of other cities on the Adriatic: Hydrus (Otranto), Heraclea (in Lucania) and Gallipoli (Gallipol) on the Dardanelles. Mention of Tarentum is to be found in several ancient writers.\n\nHellenic Culture in the Ancient World\n\nIn historic times the \"Yavans\" (Sanskrit word for Greek with reference to Ionians) were to be found everywhere in the East from the 7th century B.C. onwards. They were merchants, architects, soldiers, artisans, advisers, etc. (e.g. Greek mercenaries under Psammetichus, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Darius, etc., Artisans for Darius, Hystaspes etc.)\n\nThe original coin was dated between 344 and 334 B.C., i.e. before Alexander the Great had crossed the Indus in 326 to invade India. But in the 5th century a series of events increased East-West relations considerably, namely, the Persian Wars. The result of these events was that Persians had learned to fear and respect Greek power. Hostilities gave place to friendly relations, based on gold and diplomacy. They",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q",
        "rank": 0
    }
]