CETBARIA. 



157 



agreeable form of pudding of the blanc-mange or Irish 

 Moss class. In this form chiefly it is used in this country 

 by dyspeptics and invalids labouring under various chest- 

 diseases, or suffering from chronic exhausting ailments ; 

 it constitutes a light and easily digested article of diet, 

 and is employed instead of arrowroot et hoc genus omne. 

 The Icelanders use it in a similar way, and also boiled in 

 milk, whey, and soup. Proust found 1 lb. of Lichen suf- 

 ficient to convert into a tremulous jelly, on cooling, 8 lbs. 

 of soup. In the making of broth in Iceland it frequently 

 serves the same purpose as our ordinary kitchen vegetables. 

 Sir George Mackenzie, in his travels in Iceland, found it 

 very palatable in chocolate; and other travellers mention 

 an agreeable mixture made with sugar, lemon-peel, and 

 butter or oil. The Icelanders frequently reduce it to pow- 

 der, and preserve it for winter use, in the form of bread, 

 porridge, or gruel, as w T e do meal or flour ; or they clean and 

 wash, dry, and chop it into small pieces. Not only do they 

 make use of it themselves, but they store it up as fodder for 

 their cattle and domestic animals. In so many w T ays indeed 

 is it important in the domestic economy of the poor Ice- 

 landers, that they declare with a fervent gratitude " a boun- 

 tiful Providence sends them bread out of the very stones." 



