22 



BULLETIN 5 



Ramalina Arabum. To our mind a vinous infusion of most 

 any thing would produce similar results if enough of the 

 vinous stuff was incorporated. The "cup mosses", species 

 of Cladonia, enjoyed repute as a specific for coughs. It was 

 prepared as a decoction, or as a syrup, or merely powdered. 

 The remedy is to this date one of the simples employed by 

 the peasantry of Europe. The yellow Theloschistes parietinus 

 * was used to relieve jaundice, its employment probably 

 prompted through adherence to that peculiar form of insan- 

 ity known in the middle ages as the "doctrine of signa- 

 tures". 



Many other lichens played a part in the herbals of those 

 times, with a variety of applications and uses. Happily for 

 the doctors, these and the herbs and weeds known to our 

 grandmothers are now relegated to oblivion. 



The most valuable economical application of the lichens 

 has been in relation to the arts. The capacity of certain 

 species to yield dyes has long been known and the knowledge 

 formerly generally employed. The species of many genera 

 contributed to the dyer's uses, and |pme of the colors were 

 superbly handsome. It would appear that the extraction of 

 dyes from lichens was of very ancient origin, for seemingly 

 the process or results was alluded to by Dioscorides, Theo- 

 phrastus and Pliny. These allusions were only fragmentary 

 and unscientific, however, and it was not until the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century that any classification or litera- 

 ture appears. It is unquestionable, however, that through- 

 out the dark ages, and from time immemorial, the common 

 people of many countries w 7 ere acquainted with primitive 

 methods of extracting the dye, and its easy application to 

 their uses. The basis of the pigments is said by Lindsay to 

 have been derived from the joint action of the atmospheric 

 air, water and ammonia on certain colorless nitrogenous 

 organic acids. These acids, from the names of the genera in 

 which they have been first or chiefly found, are denominated 

 Orcellic, Lecanoric, Gyrophoric and Evernic. The pro- 

 duction of the pigments seem to have had its genesis in 

 connection with the admixture of alkaline bases by a process 

 of oxidation. The manufactured products of the early dye 



