THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 125 



by age, when not exceeding four or five years, if strongly compressed 

 and kept moist. The Chinese, when they have occasion to use it, 

 merely wash off the saline particles and other impurities, and then 

 steep it in warm water, in which, in a short time, it entirely dis- 

 solves, stiffening, as it cools, into a perfect gelatine, which, like 

 glue, again liquefies on exposure to heat, and makes an extremely 

 powerful cement. It is employed among them for all those purposes 

 to which gum or glue is here deemed applicable, hut chiefly in the 

 manufacture of lanthorns, to strengthen or varnish the paper, and 

 sometimes to thicken or give a gloss to gauze or silks." Mr. Turner 

 derived the above information respecting G. fenax from Sir Joseph 

 Banks ; but recent travellers tell us that Gracilaria spinosa, known 

 colloquially as Agal-agal* yields the strongest cement used by the 

 Chinese, and that it is brought in large quantities from Singapore and 

 neighboring shores to the China markets. Probably both species ar« 

 esteemed for similar qualities. 



Several Algas are used in the arts in a minor way. Thus, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Patrick Neill;, knife-handles are made in Scotland of the 

 stems of Laminaria dlgltata. "A pretty thick stem is selected, and 

 cut into pieces about four inches long. Into these, when fresh, are 

 stuck blades of knives, such as gardeners use for p)runing or graft- 

 ing. As the stem dries, it contracts and hardens, closely and firmly 

 embracing the hilt of the blade. In the course of some months the 

 handles become quite firm, and very hard and shrivelled, so that 

 when tipped with metal they are hardly to be distinguished froin 

 hartshorn." 



On the authority ot Lightfoot,t the stems of Chorda jilum, which 

 often attain the length of thirty or forty feet, and which are popularly 

 known in Scotland as " Lucky Minny's lines," " skinned, when*half 

 dry, and twisted, acquire so considerable a degree of strength and 

 toughness," that the Highlanders sometimes use them as fishing 

 lines, TJie slender stems of Nereocystis are similarly used by the 

 fishermen in Russian America. In parts of England bunches of 

 Fucus vesiculosus or F. Serratus are frequently hung in the cottages 

 of the poor as rude barometers, their hygrometric qualities, which 

 arise from the salt they contain, indicating a change of weather. 



In our account of the artistic value of Alga?, we ought not to pass 

 unnoticed the ornamental works which the manuficturers of " sea- 

 weed pictures," and baskets of "ocean-flowers," construct from the 

 various beautiful species of our coasts, and which are so well known 

 at charity bazaars, accompanied by a much-hackneyed legend, com- 

 mencing, 



" Call us not weeds ; we are flowers of the sea," &c. 



Some of these "works of art " display considerable taste in the 

 arrangement, and the objects themselves are so intrinsically beauti- 

 ful that they can rarely be otherwise than attractive. During the 

 recent pressure of Irish famine^ many ladies in various parts of the 

 country employed a portion of their leisure in the manufacture of 



* See the Voyage of H. M. S. Samarang. 

 t Fl. Scot. vol. 2, p. 9G4. 



