'258 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1758. 



calls it the flat dyers lichenoides with longer and sharper horns. * It is truly 

 and properly a plant of the lichen genus, though the older writers of the last cen- 

 tury called it a fucus. They were led into this mistake by its having flat ramifi- 

 cations, and from its growing on the rocks by the sea-side. It is found in the 

 East Indies upon trees, and is frequent on the coasts of the Mediterranean, as 

 well as about the Canary Islands. 



7. LiCHENES PeLTATI. 



Such as consist of a tough or coriaceous matter, disposed into a foliaceous 

 appearance ; on the edges of which, in general, the parts of fructification are 

 placed, in the form of flattish oblong bodies, in these mosses called shields or 

 pelts. 



This division contains the 3d series of the 2d order of Dillenius's lichenoides ; 

 the lichenes coriacei of Linneus; and several of the placodium of Hill. 



That celebrated and well-known plant, the ash-coloured ground liverwort -jf 

 of Ray belongs to this order. It is very common all over England on dry and 

 barren ground ; and indeed almost all Europe, and America too, seems to afibrd 

 it in sufficient plenty, as we find it observed by almost all the botanic writers 

 since Ray, who was one of the first that described it. The earliest account we 

 have of its use for the bite of a mad dog is in the Phil. Trans, vol. 20, p. 49 ; 

 (or vol. iv, p. 232 of these Abridgments) from Mr. Dampier, in whose family 

 it had been a secret for a number of years. It was communicated first to Sir 

 Hans Sloane, as a kind of fungus, or Jew's-ear ; and at the request of Dr. Mead 

 was some years afterwards received into the London Dispensatory. Scarcely any 

 of the boasted specifics of former ages ever acquired so great reputation as this 

 plant has done in modern times, for its prevalence against the bite of a mad 

 dog ; and the patronage of the late learned Dr. Mead made it sufficiently known 

 throughout all the world. Happy would it be indeed if it fully deserved the 

 high encomiums which have been bestowed on it. A great and eminent physi- 

 cian ■*■ has doubted its efficacy at all in such cases ; and it is well known that 

 Boerhaave even laughed at it. Dr. Mead had certainly a high opinion of it : he 

 tells us it never failed, through the course of 30 years experience, where it was 

 duly given before the hydrophobia came on.§ Later instances have showed that 

 it is not infallible, and Dr. Van Swieten's supposition is but too likely to prove 



• Lichenoides fuciforme tinctoriuni corniculis longioribus et acutioribus. Hist. Muse. 168. Pla- 

 tysma corniculatum. Hill Hist. Plant. 90. Lichen fuciformis, Lin. Sp PI. 1 147— Orig. 



+ Lichenoides digitatum cinereum lactucae. foliis sinuosis, Dilleu. Hist. Muse. 200. Platysma sinu- 

 osum scutellis ovato-rotundis. Hill Hist. PI. 89. Lichen caninus, Lin. Sp. PJ. 1149.— Orig. 



: Dr. Van Swieten. See Comment, in Boerh. Aphor. § 1 147. — Orig. 



^ Mechanical Account of Poisons, ed. 4tb, p. 156. — Orig. 



