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for other matters. The nests of the third are consequently most esteemed, 

 and sold for nearly their weight in gold. Gracillaria lichenoides is highly 

 valued for food in Ceylon and other parts of the East, and bears a great 

 resemblance to Gracillaria compressa, a species recently discovered on the 

 British shores, .and which seems to be little inferior to it; for my friend 

 Mrs. Griffiths tried it as a pickle and preserve, and in both ways found 

 it excellent. 



" It is not to mankind alone that marine Algse have furnished luxuries, 

 or resources in times of scarcity. Several species are greedily sought 

 after by cattle, especially in the north of Europe. Rhodomenia palmata • 

 is so great a favourite with sheep and goats, that Bishop Gunner named it 

 Fucus ovinus. In some of the Scottish islands, horses, cattle, and sheep, 

 feed chiefly upon Fucus vesiculosus during the winter months ; and in 

 Gothland it is commonly given to pigs. Fucus serratus also, and Chorda 

 Filum, constitute a part of the fodder upon which the cattle are supported 

 in Norway. 



" In medicine we are not altogether unindebted to the Algse. The 

 Gigartina helminthocorton, or Corsican Moss, as it is frequently called, is a 

 native of the Mediterranean, and held 'once a considerable reputation as a 

 vermifuge. The most important medical use, however (omitting minor ones), 

 derived from sea-weeds, is through the medium of Iodine, which may be 

 obtained either from the plants themselves, or from kelp. French kelp, 

 according to Sir Humphrey Davy, yields more Iodine than British ; and, 

 from some recent experiments made at the Cape of Good Hope by M. 

 Ecklon, Laminaria buccinalis is found to contain more than any European 

 Algge. Iodine is known to be a powerful remedy in cases of goitre. The 

 burnt sponge formerly administered in similar cases, probably owed its 

 efficacy to the Iodine it contained ; and it is also a very curious fact, 

 that the stems of a sea-weed are sold in the shops, and chewed by the 

 inhabitants of South America, wherever goitre is. prevalent, for the same 

 purpose. This remedy is termed by them Palo Coto (literally, goitre- 

 stick) ; and, from the fragments placed in my hands by my friend 

 Dr. Gillies, to whom I am indebted for this information, the. plant 

 certainly belongs to the order .Laminariese, and is probably, a species of. 

 Laminaria. 



" Were the Algse neither ' really serviceable either in supplying the wants 

 or in administering to the comforts of mankind' in any other respect, their 

 character would be redeemed by their usefulness in the arts ; and it is highly 

 probable th&t we shall find ourselves eventually infinitely more indebted t ) 

 them. One species (and I regret to say that it is not a British one) is inva- 

 luable as a glue and varnish to the Chinese. This is the Gracilaria tenax, 

 the Fucus tenax of Turner's Historia Fucorum. Though a small plant, the 

 quantity annually imported at Canton from the provinces of Fokien and 

 Tche-kiang is stated by Mr. Turner to be about 27,000 lbs. It is sold at 

 Canton for ^d. or M. per pound, and is used for the purposes to which we 

 apply glue and gum-arabic. The Chinese employ it chiefly in the manufac- 

 ture of lanterns, to strengthen or varnish the paper, and sometimes to thicken 

 or give a gloss to silks or gauze. In addition to the above account, the sub- 

 stance of which I have extracted from Mr. Turner's work, Mr. Neill remarks 

 that it ' seems probable that this is the principal ingredient in the celebrated 

 gummy matter called Chin-chon, or Hai-tsai, in China and Japan. Win- 

 dows made merely of slips of Bamboo, crossed diagonally, have frequently 

 their lozenge-shaped interstices wholly filled with the transparent gluten of 

 the Hai-tsai.' 



