that loose teeth may be fixed by washing the mouth with a decoction 

 of the seed in red wine.* I am, however, incUned to think that its 

 use in either of these capacities must have been much less extensive 

 than its historians imagined ; indeed, fi'om certain references, it seems 

 not improbable that many of its supposed virtues owe their origin to 

 a passage in Dioscorides, on a plant which he calls Muscus marinus, 

 and which, beyond all doubt, is one of the Algse. Mr, Ward informs 

 me that whatever may have been its pristine fame, it holds no place in 

 the modem Pharmacopoeia. Tragus observes that the Germans call 

 the plant Weingrein, from its power of restoring injured wine, f 

 The same observation is repeated by liis successors. 



Lightfoot, in his ' Flora Scotica,' says that the Swedes make mats 

 of the club-moss to rub their feet on ; if this be true, it is remarkable 

 that the fact should have escaped the notice of such observant men as 

 Linnaeus and Wahlenberg ; neither of whom makes the slightest allu- 

 sion to the subject. Is it possible that Lightfoot has made free with 

 the remark in Wahlenberg's 'Flora Suecica,' that the Swedes call the 

 plant Mattegriis, % a most appropriate name, being simply equivalent 

 to matted grass, and not at all implying its employment in the manu- 

 facture of mats ? 



The older botanists have generally called this species Muscus ter- 

 restris, or Muscus clavatiis : Cordus terms it CliauKepeuce, or dwarf 

 fir : and all writers since the establishment of the Liunean binominal 

 nomenclature, have agreed in naming it Lycopodmm clavatum. It is 

 figured by Tragus, Lobel, Tabernsemontanus, Cordus, Gerarde, John 

 Bauhin, Plukenet, Matthiolus, Camerarius, Dillenius, &c., but with 

 the exception of the figure by Dillenius, || none of them give a very 

 accurate idea of the plant ; of later representations, that in the ' Flora 

 Danica'II is perhaps the best, but even this does not approach in ac- 

 curacy or freedom of drawing the admirable figure by Dillenius. 



The roots of this species are very tough, wiry, and pale in colour; 

 they are generally nearly straight and simple for an inch or more, then 

 suddenly divided and tortuous ; they are usually placed singly and at 

 rather long distances fi'om each other, and do not penetrate dee])ly into 

 the earth, but yet fix the creeping stem most firmly, and prevent any 



* In eodem [rubro] vino coctus, si eo abluatur os, tremulos denies confirmat. Hist, 

 iii. 759. 



f Muscus terrestris vino pendulo impositus, intra paucos dies illud restituit. * * 

 Hinc quidem apud Germanos museum terrestrem Weingrein nominant. Tragus, 555. 

 J Suecis Mattegras. Wahlenberg, ' Flora Suecica,' 684. 

 II' Historia Muscorum,' tab. Iviii. fig. 1. 11 Tab. 126. 



