THE USES OF SEA- WEEDS. 59 



England under the name of Laver, in Ireland under the 

 name of Sloke, and in Scotland as Slaak, In Scotland it is 

 seldom used, except as a luxury by the affluent under the 

 English name of Laver. It is prepared in different ways : 

 sometimes it is boiled for hours, and, when reduced to a 

 pulp, eaten with lemon-juice ; at other times it is well 

 boiled and seasoned with spices and butter. So far as our 

 own experience goes, it requires them all ; with these 

 appliances, however, it is tolerable, verifying the good 

 Scottish proverb, " If you boil stanes in butter, you may 

 sup the Iroo." 



Some, however, are of opinion that by proper management 

 our Sea-weeds might yield in time of need even the neces- 

 saries of life. A distinguished and well-known chemist of our 

 own country says, in the ' Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,' 

 that a gum might easily be procured from them, that would 

 serve all the purposes of gum arabic, and which, by reason of 

 its cheapness, might be applied to a host of other purposes. 

 How is it, argues he, that gum is so little used as an article 

 of diet in this country, seeing that its nutritious qualities 

 are so well attested by the fact, that the Moor of the desert 

 can subsist on six ounces of gum a day for weeks together ? 

 Why is it that so many of our countrymen bear the signs 



