208 JAPANESE ISINGLASS SO-CALLED. 



i860. the new material, inasmuch as they do not dissolve in the mouth 

 as ordinary animal jelly. The jelly of gelose is but little prone 

 to undergo change so little indeed that sometimes under the name 



Seaweed Jelly, of sea-weed jelly, it is imported to this country from Singapore, 

 sweetened, flavoured and ready for use, and in this state it 

 may be kept for years without deterioration. 



Chemical cha- Gelose differs from animal gelatine in not precipitating tannic 

 Tfelose. ac id fr m starch jelly in not being rendered blue by iodine ; 

 from gum, by its insolubility in cold water and its great gela- 

 tinizing power. From the mucilage of Chondrus crispus, named 

 by Pereira carrageenin, it appears to differ chiefly in its power 

 of combining with a great amount of water to form a jelly, 

 which is not the case with carrageenin. 



Botanical ori- Of the botanical origin of crude gelose, or Japanese isinglass, 



gin of Gelose. an( j ^ m0( j e o f jt s preparation in Japan and China we are not 

 yet well informed. M. Payen finds it may be extracted from 

 many species of sea-weed, but especially from Gelidium corncum, 

 Lamour., and Gracilaria lichenoides, Grev., the former of which 

 yielded in his experiments to the extent of 27 per cent. Geli- 

 dium corneum is certainly used by the Chinese, as I find by a 

 small collection of economic Chinese alyce sent to the Society of 

 Arts in 1857, the specimens in which Dr. Harvey of Dublin has 

 at my request been kind enough to examine and name. It 

 appears, however, that several other sea-weeds are likewise 

 employed by the Chinese, some of them on account of their 

 gelatinous qualities ; such are Laurencia papillosa, Grev., Lamin- 

 aria saccharina, Lamour., Porphyra vulgaris, Ag., and a species 

 of Gracilaria, apparently G. crassa, Aarv. (Alg. Zeylan. No. 29.) 

 Another sea- weed which is largely collected in the Indian archi- 

 pelago for exportation to China, and which is one of the species 

 known as Agar-agar, is Eucheuma spinosa, Ag. 



