46 ox THE MEDICINAL AND TOXICOLOGICAL 



regarded it as an emanation, a residue left by the stars, and liave 

 attributed to it miraculous A'irtucs, among others, a j^owcr in it 

 to transmute metals to gold. They describe it under the names, 

 Throne of the Earth, Fleur de Soliel and Jaculum Stellce, Bealgar 

 de VAir, etc. Merat, in his Diet, de M. Med., refers the curious to 

 a paper by M. Yallot in the first volume of the Mem. de la 

 Societe Linneenne de Paris, p. 473. By chemical analyses, 

 Vauquelin and Braconnot say that it contains, of water 185.00 ; 

 of matter analogous to bassorine (cerasine) 13.80 ; of mucus, 1.20. 

 By distillation it affords, a brown oil ; an alkaline liquor, which 

 holds the acetate and carbonate of ammonia; the incinerated 

 residue gave phosphate and carbonate of lime. (Ann. de Chim. 

 Ixxxvii. 265, and xxxiv. 190.) 



"With respect to the medicinal virtues of the nostoch, accord- 

 ing to Magnot it was much lauded during the end of the seven- 

 teenth century ; if we believe the alchemist, it was supposed to 

 cure all diseases. Paracelsus carried it in the head of his cane ; 

 yet he died in his 31th year. It was employed as a remedy for 

 sores, for the most inveterate fistulse, and to calm the pains of 

 colic ; also for cough, and in diseases of the kidney. In Siberia, 

 it was used in inflammations, particularly those of the eye, swell- 

 ing of the feet, &c. Merat & De L., Diet, de M. M. iv. 636 ; 

 Geoffroi, Obs. sur le Nostoch de Paracelse, qui j^rouvent que 

 c'est reellement une plante (Mem. de I'Acad. des Sc. 1T08) ; 

 Eeaumer, Obs. sur la Reg. du ISTost. (Mem. de I'Acad. des Sc. 

 1722) ; Vernig, Mem. sur le Nost. (Nouv. Mem. de I'Acad. de 

 Dijon, 1781) ; Corti, Obs. sur la plante appelee Ti'emella (Obs. 

 sur la Phys. vii. T'S, et Mem, de la Soc. d'Emulat. v. 515) ; Fon- 

 tana, Lettres sur la Trem. (Obs. sur la Phys. vii. 328) ; Carradori, 

 Mem. sulle transformazione del Nost., Florence, 1708 (Journ. de 

 la Lit. Etrang. i. 212) ; Cassini, Doutes sur I'origine du Tremella, 

 mst. L. (Bull, de la Soc. Philomath, v. 81, 1817). See M. & De 

 L. ; Wade's Plantte Rariores, 112 ; Smith's Tour on the Continent, 

 V. 3, 150 ; Withering's Eng. Botany, v. Y, 461 ; Flora Scotica, 

 V. 2, 199. 



ALOiE {diatomacece). 



Schizonema Dillwy^iii, Ag. Syst. 



The pkant has a fetid odor, and frequently glistens witli a 

 faint metallic luster when dry. Crypt. Eng. 



