1 INTRODUCTION. 



iodine, exclusively obtained from plants of this family, and 

 which probably exists in the mucus, is now considered so 

 powerful a remedy. " It is a curious fact, 1 ' observes Dr. 

 Greville, " that the stems of a sea-weed are sold in the 

 shops, and chewed by the inhabitants of South America, 

 wherever goitre is prevalent, for the same purpose. This 

 remedy is termed by them Palo coto (literally goitre-stick), 

 and from the fragments placed in my hands by my friend 

 Dr. Gillies, to whom I am indebted for this information, 

 the plant certainly belongs to the order LaminariecB, and 

 is probably a species of Laminaria" Acanthophora mus- 

 coides and Gigartina helminlhocorton still hold a place in 

 the Pharmacopoeia as vermifuges, and are sold in the shops ; 

 but they have ceased to be in much esteem. 



As highly useful in some of the finer arts I must not for- 

 get to mention Gigartina tenax, a Chinese species, which 

 is extensively used by the ingenious inhabitants of that 

 country as a glue and varnish. Large quantities of this 

 plant, according to Turner as much as 27,000 Ibs. weight, 

 are annually imported into Canton from the provinces of 

 Fo-kien and Tche-Kiang, and sold at from Qd. to Sd. per 

 ft. It is converted by boiling into a vegetable glue of a 

 very tenacious quality, which cools into a stiff jelly, and 

 again liquifies on the application of heat. It is much 

 used in the manufacture of the lanterns and transparencies 

 for which the Chinese are so celebrated. Mr. Neill sup- 

 poses that it forms a principal ingredient in the gummy 

 matter chin-chou or hai-tsai, of China and Japan, with 

 which " windows framed simply of slips of bamboo crossed 

 diagonally, have their lozenge-shaped interstices wholly 

 filled up." It is surely probable that when we become 

 better acquainted with these plants, similar valuable pro- 

 perties may be discovered in other species of the genus 

 Gigartina, and of the allied genera Chondrus and Geli- 



