L I C 
As a phyfician he is bed known for his work on monitors, 
entitled De Monjlrorum Caujis, Natura, et Dijferenliis, of 
which the heft edition is that of Blafius, Amlt. 1665, 4to. 
In this piece he clafiilies monftrous productions, and af- 
figns caufes to each, according to the principles of his 
philofophy, hut without anatomical defcriptions, or ex- 
periments of his own. Halleri Bibl. Anatom. 
LICH, adj. [lie, Sax.] Like or alike.—For both to be, 
snd feeme, to him was labor lick. Spenfer. 
LICH, / [lice, Sax.] A dead carcale 5 whence lichwake, 
the time or aCt of watching by the dead ; lichgate, the gate 
through which the dead are carried to the grave ; Lichjield , 
the field of the dead, a city in Stafford (hire, fo named from 
martyred Chriftians ; lickowl, a fort of owl by the vulgar 
fuppofed to foretel death. Lichwake is (till retained in 
Scotland in the fame fenfe. Johnfon. 
LICH, a town of Germany, in the principality of Ho- 
hen Solms, on the Wetter : twelve miles eaft-foutli-eaft of 
Wetzlar.and thirty-fix north-eaft of Mentz. Lat. 50. 31. N. 
Ion. 8.49. E. 
LI'CHADES, fmall iflands near Caeneum, a promon¬ 
tory of Euboea ; fo called from Lichas. 
LICHA'IA, a river of Ruflia, in the country of the 
Coffacs, which runs into the Donetz near Biftraia. 
LICHA'JSIOS, f. in the ancient nuific, the name of the 
third found of the two lowed tetrachords in the fyftem of 
the Greeks; as this found was produced by the index or 
fore-finger, which was called lickanos. The third found 
of the lowed tetrachord afeending, was that of the hypate, 
and called lichanos-hypaton, fometimes hypaton-diatonos, 
enharmonic, or chromatic, according to the genus.. That 
of the fecond, or mean tetrachord, was called lichanos- 
mefon, or mefon-diatonos. 
LI'CHAS, a fervant of Hercules who brought him the 
poifoned tunic from Dejanira. He was thrown by his 
matter into the fea with great violence; and changed into 
a rock in the Eubcean Sea, by the compafiion of the gods. 
Ovid. Met. 
LI'CHEN,/ Liverwort ; in botany, a genus of the 
elafs cryptogamia, order algae, natural order of algae. The 
generic characters are—I. Male flowers? Vehicles con¬ 
glomerated, extremely fmall, crowded or fcattered on the 
difk, margin, or tips of the fronds. II. Female flowers ? 
en the lame or on a diftinft plant. Receptacle roundilh, 
flattilh, convex (tubercle),concave (fcutella), lubrevolute 
affixed to the margin (pelta), often differing from the 
frond in colour, within containing the feeds difpofed in 
rows. The powder adhering to fome lichens feems rather 
to be of the nature of buds than of male fructifications. 
Of this very numerous genus, Dr. Withering, in the 
third edition of his Arrangements, has enumerated no 
fewer than 216 fpecies, befides a great number of varieties. 
The fpecies defined in the 14th edition of the Syftema Ve- 
getabilium amount to 130; but the infufficiency of this 
catalogue, to comprife all the Lichens in the world, will 
be ftrikingly evident, when we confider that about 345 
Britifli fpecies have already appeared in Englifli Botany, 
and that feveral more remain to be publifhed there. The 
fpecies enumerated by Dr. Turton, in his tranflation of 
Gmelin’s edition of Linnaeus, are no fewer than 579. It 
can therefore, we think, only be expected of us to feleCt 
for defeription a few of the mod remarkable and ufeful 
fpecies. For fome general obfervations on the genus, and 
an illuftration of the mode of fructification, fee the article 
Eotany, vol. iii. p. 282, 3. and Plate XV. fig. 15, 16, 17. 
The mod minute fpecies of this great genus hold a 
much more important place in the economy of nature 
than is apparent to fuperficial obfervers. They are the 
firft beginning of vegetation on ftones of all kinds ex- 
pofed to the air, whole decompofing furfaces are the re¬ 
ceptacle of their imperceptible feeds, and foon afford nou- 
rifhment to the fprouting plants, whofe minute fibrous 
roots dill farther infinuate themfelves. The larger fpe¬ 
cies take polfeffion of every cavity and fiffure, both of 
fiones and the decaying external bark of trees. In time 
Vox,. XII. No. 857. 
L I C 6 15 
they all decay, and furnifli a portion of vegetable mould 
capable of nourifhing modes, or dill larger plants. The 
refiduum of thefe, being (till more confiderable, is wafhed 
by rains into larger cavities, where even foreft-trees can 
fcatter their feeds, by the penetrating power of whofe 
roots great mattes are diflodged from the molt lofty rocks. 
Thus the vegetable kingdom exercifes dominion over the 
tributary foflil world, and, in its turn, affords the fame no 
lefs neceffary aid to animal exiltence. 
Species. 1. Lichen Iflandicus, or Iceland mofs: a na¬ 
tive of Britain, particularly on the mountains of Wales 
and Scotland. In Iceland this is ufed as food. For this 
purpofe, a difli of it is prepared by chopping it fmall, 
boiling it in three or four fucceffive portions of water to 
take off its natural bitternefs,and then for an hour or two 
in milk. When cold, this preparation has the form of a 
jelly, which is eaten with miik or cream, and makes a very 
palatable difh. The medicinal qualities of this lichen 
have of late been fo well ettablifhed at Vienna, that the 
plant is admitted into the Materia Medica of the Edin¬ 
burgh Pharmacopeia, and into the London Pharma¬ 
copeia of the year 1S09. It is extremely mucilagi¬ 
nous, and to the tafte fomewhat bitter and aftringent; 
but its bitternefs, as well as the purgative quality which 
it manifefts in its recent Hate, are in a great meafure 
diffipated by drying, or, as we have already obferved, 
may be extracted by infufion in water. An ounce of this 
lichen boiled a quarter of an hour in a pint of water, 
yielded feven ounces of a mucilage as thick as that pro¬ 
cured by the folution of one part of gum arabic ir> 
three pints of water. Lord Dundonald has given the fol¬ 
lowing directions for preparing the mucilage from the li¬ 
chen : The lichen has an outer lkin, covering a green re- 
finous fubftance; and the remainder of the plant confifts 
chiefly of gum and of fibrous matter, on which water does 
not act. In order to feparate the outer (kin from the re- 
finous matter, the plant mud be fealded two or three time* 
with boiling water, which caufes the (kin to crack, fwell, 
and peel off. It is then put into a boiler with about 
three quarts of water for every pound of the plant, and 
about half an ounce of potatti or foda, and the boiling 
Ihould.be continued till the liquor acquires a confiderable 
degree of gummy confidence. The liquor is then to be 
taken out and drained from the plant, and fretti water ad¬ 
ded to the fame material, for the pufpofe of farther ex- 
haufting the gum. The feveral liquors, after Handing 
fome hours to fettle, and then removing the dregs, are to 
be boiled down in a regulated heat to the confidence 
which is required for ufe, but not farther, left it fhould 
burn and become coloured. Two or three boilings will 
be neceffary for entirely exhaufting the lichen of its 
mucilage or gum ; which, when produced, is affirmed by 
his lordfhip to be equal to the bed gum fenegal. Phil. 
Mag. x. 293-299. 
The editor of the Annales des Arts having inferted in 
that journal an account of lord Dundcnald’s procefs for 
extrafling a gum from lichens, Dr. Robert, of the univer- 
fity of Montpellier, fent him fome remarks relative to that 
fubjefl; from which it appears, that a fimilar difeovery 
was made feveral years ago by MM. Hoffmann and Amo- 
reux, who publifhed it in their Treatife on Lichens, which 
gained the prize offered by the Academy of Lyons in 
1786, and from which it is evident, that they prepared a 
true gum from lichens. Nor were they the firft difeove- 
rers: they followed and cited the experiments made by 
Dr. Georgi, (in the Memoirs of the Academy of Peterf- 
burg, 1779,) who afferts, that he had obtained from Li¬ 
chen farinaceus, glaucus, phyfodes, and pulmonarius, a 
mucilage, which, on drying, becomes tranfparent, and 
poffeffes the other properties of gum arabic. Four fpecies 
are here laid to have yielded gum ; and lord Dundonald 
does not feem to have obtained it from the fame fpecies, as 
he tells us, that the lichen is fometimes from twelve to 
thirteen feet in length ; fo that thefe trees bend under 
their weight; which cunnot.be underftood of any other 
7 R , fpecies, 
v 
