CHONDRUS CRISPUS. 7-17 



that it is less prone to become deteriorated by age than that of rye, and 

 that it never produces the deleterious effects sometimes occasioned by 

 the latter. 



The same writer asserts that Ergot of Oat is sometimes collected and 

 sold either per se, or mixed with that of rye. It differs from the latter 

 in the ergots being considerably more slender. 



Ergot of the North African grass Arv.ndo Amyelodesmos Cirillo, 

 known as Diss, has been collected for use, and according to Lallemant^ 

 is twice as active as that of rye. It is from 1 to 3 inches long by only 

 about -^ of an inch broad, generally arched, or in the large ergots twisted 

 spirally. We find it to share the structural character of the ergot of 

 rye; it is in all probability the same formation, yet remarkably 

 modified. 



ALG^ (FLOKIDE^). 



CHONDRUS CRISPUS. 



Fttcus Hibemicxis; Carrageen^ Irish Moss; F. Mousse cVIrlande, 

 Mousse perlee ; G. Knorpeltang, Irldndisches Moos, Perlnioos. 



Botanical Origin — Chondrus crispus LjTigbye {Fucus crispus L.), 

 a sea weed of the class Floridece, abundant on rocky sea-shores of Europe 

 from the North Cape to Gibraltar ; not frequent however in the Baltic, 

 and altogether wanting in the Mediterranean, but largely met with on 

 the eastern coasts of North America. 



History — GJiondrus crispus was figured in 1699 by Morison,^ yet 

 only Todhunter at Dublin introduced it to the notice of the medical 

 profession in England in 1831, and shortly afterwards it attracted some 

 attention in Germany. It was never admitted to the London or British 

 pharmacopoeia, and is but little esteemed in medicine. 



Description — The entire plant is collected : in the fresh state it is 

 soft and cartilaginous, varying in colour from yeUowish-green to livid 

 purple or purplish-brown, but becoming, after washing and exposure 

 to the sun, white or yellowish, and when dry, shrunken, horny and 

 translucent. 



The base is a small flattened disc, from which springs a frond or 

 tballus 4 to 6 inches or more in length, having a slender subcyliudrical 

 stem, expanding fan-like into wedge-shaped segments, of very variable 

 breadth, flat or curled, and truncate, emarginate or bifid at the 

 summit. 



The fructification ■* consists of tetraspores or cystocarps, rising but 

 slightly from the substance of the thallus, and appearing as little wart- 

 like protuberances. 



In cold watei', carrageen swells up to its original bulk, and acquires 

 a distinct seaweed-like smelL A quantity of water equal to 20 or 30 



^ Etude sur V Ergot du Diss, Alger et it would be more correctly written carrai- 



Paris, 1863 ; Journ. de Pharm. i. (1865) geen. 

 444. 3 Plantar, hist, universal. Oxon. iii. tab. 11. 



^ Carrageen in Irish signifies moss of the < See Luerssen (quoted at p. 734) i. 124 



rock. We learn from an Irish scholar that et seq. 



