or light be placed in it, or it be cast on live coals. In case the plaun 

 is not to be obtained, finely powdered sweet-scented gum or rosin will 

 answer the purpose, and this, besides the amusement, produces a plea- 

 sant smell. The plaun has no particular smell and produces no 

 smoke."* Subsequent writers appear to have curtailed and garbled 

 these interesting remarks, rather than verified them by their own ob- 

 servations. 



In some of the chemists' shops of this country the seed of Lycopo- 

 podium is kept as an article of sale ; and Mr. Luxford, who has tried 

 the experiment, bears ample testimony to its inflammable property. 

 The demand for this article, as may be supposed, is extremely limited, 

 yet a friend has informed me that he is acquainted with a chemist who 

 has received an order for several pounds weight of it; the purpose for 

 which this large quantity was required is unknown. Sir J. E. Smith 

 says that the seeds are still sold in the shops in Germany for the pur- 

 pose of producing artificial lightning on the stage :t this use must how- 

 ever be very limited, on account of the difficulty of procuring the seed 

 in any quantity ; and moreover, as mentioned above by Olearius, pul- 

 verised rosin is found to be a cheap and efficient substitute. I have 

 lately been informed that these seeds, spread upon a plate of metal, 

 have been employed in Chladni's lectures to illustrate the vibration 

 produced by sound. 



The medical properties of the common club-moss have been greatly 

 extolled by our earliest writers. Tragus gives a flaming account of 

 its virtues, the chief of which seem to be the removal of calculus by 

 comminution, and the cure of gout ; % Matthiolus,§ Camerarius, || 

 LobeljII Tabemaemontanus,** Ray, ft and Dillenius,Jt appear to 

 have taken these virtues for granted, as they have copied them with- 

 out hesitation. Ray indeed adds several others, and asserts that a 

 decoction of its leaves was used in Poland as a cure for a disease call- 

 ed Plica, whence, he observes, the plant has been named Plicarius ;§§ 

 and John Bauhin, in addition to many other valuable properties, states 



* Olearius, < Itin. Muscovit. Persic' lit. \v. cap. 24. f Eng. Fl. iv. 331 . 



J Vino decoctus ac potus calculos comminuit; * * nonnulli etiam aquam ex eo 

 (listillant, adeadem affectionem. Muscus contusus ant in vino decoctus dolorem et in- 

 flammationem sedandi vim obtinet, ideoque podagrse calidaB impositus prodest. Tra- 

 gus, 555. 



§ Matthiolus, Valgr. i. 57. || Camerarius, Epitome, 32. IT Lobelius, 645. 

 ** Tabemaemontanus, 1201. f j- Ray, Hist. 120. ++ DiHenius, Hist. Muse. 441. 

 §§ Apud Rnthenos et Lithuanos ad Plicam morbum gentibus illis endemium adhi- 

 bitur, unde Plicarium et Cingularium eum nominant. Syn. 107. 



