ALG.E 



and transparent the thallus remaining nearly smooth and uniform 

 and not swollen except at the tips. 



A solution made by boiling 0.3 Gm. in 100 mils of water and filter- 

 ing gives no precipitate on the addition of tannic acid T.S. (gelatin), 

 and does not give a blue color when cold upon addition of iodine T.S. 

 (starch). 



CONSTITUENTS. The principal constituent (90 per cent.) is mucikge, 

 which is precipitated by lead acetate; traces of iodine and bromine 

 have also been detected. There seems to be no starch present, but 

 the cell-walls acquire a dark blue color in contact with iodine (Fliick- 

 iger). Literature rather contradictory as to the nature of its various 

 constituents. 



FIG. I. Chondrus crispus. 



ACTION AND USES. Demulcent and slightly nutritious. A dietetic is 

 specially prepared from the powder, made in the form of jelly with 

 water. Dose: 6 dr. (24 mils) in decoction. 



2. FUCUS VESICULOSUS, N.F. BLADDER- WRACK. The whole plant, Fu'cus 

 vesiculo'sus Linn6, growing on muddy rocks and floating to the shores of 

 the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, consists of long, flattened, 

 branched fronds, upon which are dispersed blackish air-vessels (tubercles) 

 in pairs, one on each side of the midrib. These cavities contain thin, gelatin- 

 ous matter, and bear on their inner walls, when young, hair or transparent 

 filiform cells. Odor marine-like; taste mucilaginous and saline. "Wracks" 

 or rock weeds of other species are also collected, such as Fucus nodosus. 2a. 

 The medicinal properties probably lie in the inorganic matter, the ash of 

 the plant containing chlorides, bromides, iodides, phosphates, and sulphates; 

 the organic matter is mainly mucilage. The medicinal value of the drug as 

 an alterative has been questioned; it is used in obesity. "The fl'ext. and 

 extract are irrational preparations, the only form in which to obtain the 

 effects of the plant being the recent decoction (Shoemaker)." Pucus, N.F., 

 constitutes the dried thallus of the above plant, yielding not more than 20 

 per cent, of ash. 



