366 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
likelihood, if they were more studied, many of the 
active species might afford valuable remedies. As 
it is, however, one species at least is a highly 
powerful medicine. The ergot of rye is an im- 
portant article in the Materia Medica, as it has 
been found capable of exerting a specific action 
upon the womb, and is administered in small doses 
in certain extreme cases. This remedy has been 
principally used in America, although of late it has 
been successfully employed in France and in this 
country. Dufresnoy is said to have used Agari- 
cus emeticus with success in the early stage of con- 
sumption ; and the sweet-scented Polyporus has 
been much vaunted for its surprising effects in the 
treatment of the same disease, but it has now fallen 
entirely into disuse. Under the name of Lyco- 
perdon nuts or Hart's truffles, the Elaphomyces 
granulatus used to be employed on account of its 
supposed medicinal properties, and it may still be 
seen occasionally in herbalists’ shops in country 
districts. A species of Polyporus growing upon 
the birch is used, when dried and pounded, as an 
ingredient in snuff, by the Ostyacks on the Obi. 
Lysurus mokusin is used by the Chinese as a 
remedy in gangrenous ulcers, but its virtues are 
probably fabulous. In Lapland, the common 
amadou (Polyporus fomentarius), when beaten out 
into thin pieces, is employed to remove pain by 
