128 Sir Win. J. Hooker on the Medical Properties 



XLVI. — On the "Jatun condenado" (Lycopodium catharti- 

 cum), an efficacious remedy for the Leprosy among the Indians 

 of Columbia, By Sir Wm. J. Hooker. 



[With a Plate] 



Species of the genus Lycopodium exist in almost every part 

 of the world, from the equator to the extreme arctic regions, 

 and from the level of the sea to a height on the Andes ap- 

 proaching to the limit of perpetual snow. No less than 200 

 species are enumerated in the fullest list that has yet been 

 published*, and many new ones exist, yet undescribed, in 

 our Herbaria. All are, I believe, capable of affording a blue 

 dye ; but not more than one, so far as I know, has been found 

 to possess any remarkable or valuable properties. I allude 

 to the Lycopodium clavatam, or common club-moss of Europe, 

 which has been celebrated for ages, and perhaps not unde- 

 servedly, for its various uses, insomuch that upon the conti- 

 nent it is a well-known article of commerce. The best general 

 account we have of it is that given in the f NouveauDictionnaire 

 des Sciences Naturelles/ where we learn that a the whole plant 

 possesses peculiar qualities, but is most celebrated for the 

 yellowish inflammable and detonating dust, which even re- 

 sembles gunpowder in the two latter respects, and is afforded 

 by its capsules in an immense quantity. This substance is 

 largely collected, and applied to different purposes, being known 

 by the vulgar name of vegetable brimstone or lycopode, A 

 pinch of it, when cast upon any burning matter, takes flame 

 instantly, darting forth a blaze which almost immediately dis- 

 appears, and without leaving any perceptible odour. It is 

 this singular property which has caused the lycopode to be 

 employed on the stage to represent lightning, infernal flames, 

 &c., as well as in the preparation of fire-works. Its consump- 

 tion is so great as to render it a rather lucrative object of com- 

 merce in Switzerland and Germany, where this vegetable 

 powder is principally collected, and where it is often adulte- 

 rated with the staminal dust of the fir-cones, which, however, 

 possesses none of its qualities. Towards the close of summer, 

 during autumn, and the commencement of winter, the spikes 



* See Hooker and Greville, ' Enumeratio Filicum', in Bot. Misc., vol. ii. 

 p. 3G0, and vol. iii. p. 104. 



