中草药(chinese herbs)

　　modern medicine is saving millions of lives with such wonder drugs as penicillin and the mycins and such advanced techniques as radioactive treatment. at the same time, more and more chinese and a growing number of westerners place greater confidence in the prescriptions of herb medicines and acupuncture therapy.

　　herbs used in the aromatic but often bitter brews are not limited to the vegetable kingdom. materialsand animal substances are also ingredients. moreover, not all the concoctions are to be drunk. many medicines are in the form of pills, ointments and powders.

　　hundreds of millions of people in china, east asia and overseas chinese communities have been cured of diseases which western prescriptions failed to do so.

　　herbal medical treatment is mild and tonic, and its curative processes slow. the objective is to find the seat of the trouble or obstruction and then work to counteract its effects.

　　surprisingly enough, chinese herbs also include such strange things as insects, deer horn, tiger bones, cicada shells, frogs, and toads. liquid concoctions usually thick,brownish or black, and.often taste bitter.

　　a proverb says "efficacious remedies are i bitter in the mouth but beneficial to the body," and i think chinese herbs bear the best proof.