420 ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL 



G. SOME MINOR USES OF LICHENS 



The possibility of extracting gum or mucilage from lichens was demon- 

 strated by the Russian scientist, Professor Georgi 1 , and later by Amoreux 2 , 

 the method employed being successive boiling of the plants. The larger 

 foliose or fruticose forms were specially recommended. 



At a later date, during the Napoleonic wars, the "ingenious Lord 

 Dundonald 3 ," of great fame as an inventor, published an account of the 

 extraction process and of the application of the gum to calico-printing, 

 staining and manufacture of paper, dressing and stiffening silks. Lord 

 Dundonald's aim was to replace the gum Senegal, then a monopoly of the 

 French, who were in possession of the Settlement of Senegambia. He took 

 out a patent for his invention, but whether the gum was successfully used 

 is not recorded. 



According to Henneguy 4 , lichen mucilage, as a substitute for gum arabic, 

 has been used at Lyons with advantage in the fabrication of dyed materials. 



1 Georgi 1779. 2 Amoreux 1787. 3 Dundonald 1801. * Henneguy 1883. 



