126 



POPULAR HISTORY OP LICHENS. 



even lauded as an anodyne ! It was the basis of some 

 hair-powders and perfumes, and was also supposed to pos- 

 sess qualities which rendered it serviceable in the manu- 

 facture of detonating or combustible mixtures. Ray states 

 that it was boiled in beer and drunk in catarrh and dropsy; 

 the Laplanders have used it in scald-head and other erup- 

 tions in children ; and so early as the times of Dioscorides 

 it is said to have been prescribed in diseases of females. 

 Its central medullary thread has been recommended in 

 paper-making; but even in these times, when substitutes 

 for linen rags and flax fabrics in the manufacture of paper 

 have become matters of necessity, we fear such a substance 

 will not be thought of by experimentalists, for one reason 

 alone, that it contains no fibrous tissue. (For the minute 

 anatomy and development of this species, vide Dr. Speer- 

 schneider in the 'Botanische Zeitung' for March 24 and 

 31, and April 7, 1854.) 



Nat. Ord. II. CORNICULABIACEJE. 



Fam. Char. — Thallus filamentous or linear-laciniate, ascending 

 or pendulous. Ajoothecium scutellate, varying in site and colour. 

 (Name probably from corniculum, a little horn.) 



