DIATOMAGEM. ^41 



F 



Commerce. — See last Article. This substance is preferred to 

 Japanese Isinglass by the Hindus, as they suspect the latter 

 substance to be of animal origin. Yalue, Es. 12 per cwt. 



LAMINARIA SACCHARINA, Lam 



Fig.— Turn. Fuc, t. 163. Sweet Tangle (Eng.). 



Hab, — All deep Seaa. The plant- 

 Vernacular. — Galhdr-ka-patta {Hind.). 



History, Uses, &C^— This sea-weed is a regular article 

 of commerce coming through Cashmere to India, and is to 

 he found in most of the bazars of the Punjab and Sind. 

 Cayley (1807) noted its import into Leh from Yarkand, and 

 Honigberger states that in his time the plant was officinal at 

 Lahore and in Cashmere, and that it was stated to be obtained 

 from a salt lake somewhere in Tibet. Murray says that it is 

 supposed to come from the Caspian, and that it is used in 

 ^^md in the form of a syrup combined with a decoction of 

 quince seeds for the cure of goitre, scrofula, and syphilitic 

 affections. When dried in the sun it exudes a whitish 

 saccharine substance. 



For an interesting note on Algin, first isolated by Mr. Staaford 

 irom sea-weed, we would refer the reader to tlie J/'. Soe. 

 Chem. Industry for 1885 and 1886. 



DIATOMACE^. 



Husn-i-yusuf is composed of small, hard, white bodies, which, 

 on being magnified, are seen to be the shells of different 

 <iiatom8. The drug is described in native medical works as 



and 



^8 said to be found floating in lakes in Cashmere, and would 

 appear to be the same as the Shuka of Sanskrit medical 



111.-8, 



