339 



stated by Mr. Turner to be about 27,000 lbs. It is sold at Canton for 6d. or 

 8d. per pound, and is used for the purposes to which we apply glue and gum- 

 arabic. The Chinese employ it chiefly in the manufacture 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 substance of which I 

 have extracted from Mr. Turner's work, Mr. Neill remarks that it ' seems pro- 

 bable that this is the principal ingredient in the celebrated gummy matter 

 called Chin-chon, or Hai-tsai, in China and Japan. Windows made merely of 

 slips of Bamboo, crossed diagonally, have frequently their lozenge-shaped in- 

 terstices wholly filled with the transparent gluten of the Hai-tsai.' 



" On the southern and western coasts of Ireland, our own Chondrus crispus 

 is converted into size, for the use of house-painters, &c; and, if I be not er- 

 roneously informed, is also considered as a culinary article, and enters into the 

 composition of blanc-mange, as well as other dishes. In the manufacture of 

 kelp, however, for the use of the glass-maker and soap boiler, it is that the 

 Algaj take their place among the most useful vegetables. The species most 

 valued for this purpose are, Fucus vesiculosus, nodosus, and serratus, Lamina- 

 ria digitata and bulbosa, Ilimanthalia lorea, and Chorda Filum." 



Examples. Protococcus, Chroolepus, Mesogloia, Batrachospermum, Con- 

 ferva, Ulva, Fucus, Sargassum. 



