Mr Brown on the Muciioge of the Fuci. 413 



precarious food of men and cattle be eked out from this source? 

 Already have these weeds yielded us much. To them we once 

 owed our soda, and chlorine, and iodine. Now that these are 

 procured more easily from another source, the kelp-making of 

 our coasters has been taken from them. Why not make avail 

 of the mucilaginous matter with which the indigenous growth 

 of our island, now under consideration, is so replete ? and thus 

 save one more natural product of Scotland from the obloquy of 

 iiselessness, create one more subject of industry for some of its 

 unwilling idlers, and erect one more internal defence against 

 the peradventure of famine. 



Indeed, several of the fuci have been used as a means of su|> 

 port for both men and cattle. The Irish eat their carrageen, 

 and we our dulce; and the former of these, the specific name 

 of which is cndivice/blius, is now well known over the coun- 

 try by the name " Irish Moss,"" as a nourishing and easily di- 

 gested food for invalids. In some parts of the shore, tangle is 

 mixed with the food of the cattle. Among the Orkneys, I am 

 told they, of their own- accord, descend to the sea-side for the 

 purpose of satiating an appetite, the demands of which are too 

 scantily supplied by their bleak and barren pasture-grounds. 

 An imperious lust for food forces them to devour what, with 

 almost any alternative, they would reject with disgust. The 

 cause of this disgust seems to reside in the numerous saline 

 matters of the plants. By the simple removal of this a vast 

 source of nutriment will be recovered from waste, the feeding 

 of cattle generally be rendered less expensive, and our northern 

 countrymen have one other item added to their stinted means 

 of sustenance. This end may be rudely effected by merely 

 boiling well bruised ware in water acidulated by a mixture of 

 sulphuric and hydrochloric acids (oil of vitriol and spirit of 

 salt). The residue may be mixed up with bran or chipped 

 straw, or the refuse of linseed-oil making, or it may be given 

 alone. In both forms do swine eat this, and a mule to which 

 I presented it, seemed to devour it with pleasure. 



If, however, cattle were to be fed from this source on an ex- 

 tended scale, the method in which the preparation should be 

 managed is this. Let the tangle- ware be bruised by some rude 



