346 Dr. Greville on the Economical Uses 
little inferior to it ; for my friend Mrs. Gritliths tried it as a pic- 
kle and preserve, and in both ways found it excellent. 
It is not to mankind alone that marine A/ew have furnished 
luxuries, or resources in times of scarcity. Several species are 
greedily sought after by cattle, especially in the north of Europe. 
Rhodomenia palmata is so great a favourite with sheep and goats, 
that Bishop Gunner named it Fucus ovinus. In some of the Scet- 
tish Islands, horses, cattle, and sheep feed principally upon Fucus 
vesiculosus during the winter months, and in Gothland it is com- 
monly given to pigs. Fucus serratus also, and Chorda Filum, con- 
stitute a part of the fodder upon which the cattle are supported im 
Norway. 
In medicine we are not altogether unindebted to the Algw. The 
Gigartina helminthocorton, or Corsican Moss, as it is frequently 
calied, is a native of the Mediterranean, and held ence a consider- 
able reputation as a vermifuge. The most important medical use, 
however, (omitting minor ones,) derived from sea-weeds, is through 
the medium of /odine, which may be obtained either from the 
plants themselves or from kelp. French kelp, according to Sir 
Humphrey Davy, yields more Iodine than British ; and, from some 
recent experiments made at the Cape of Good Hope, by M. Ek- 
lond, Laminaria buccinalis is found to contain more than any Eu- 
ropean Algw. Iodine is known to be a powerful remedy in cases 
of Goitre. The burnt sponge formerly administered in similar 
cases, probably owed its efficacy to the iodine it contained ; and it 
is also a very curious fact, that the stems of a sea-weed are seld in 
the shops, and chewed by the inhabitants ef South America, wher- 
ever Goitre is prevalent, for the same purpese. This remedy is 
termed by thent Palo Coto, (literally Goitre-stick,) and, from the 
fragments placed in my hands, by my friend Dr. Gillies, to whom 
I am indebted for this information, the plant certainly belongs to 
the order LAMINARIE#, and is probably a species of Laminaria. 
Were the dlgw neither “ really serviceable either in supplying 
the wants or administering to the comforts of mankind” in any 
other respect, their character would be redeemed by their useful- 
ness in the arts ; and it is highly probable that we shall find our- 
selves eventually infinitely more indebted to them. One species— 
and I regret to say it is not a British one—is invaluable as a glue 
and varnish to the Chinese. This is the Gracilaria tenax, the 
Fucus tenax of Turner’s Historia Fucorum. Though a small plant, 
the quantity annually imported at Canton from the provinces of Fo- 
kien and Tchekiang, is stated by Mr. Turner to be about 27,000 
Ib. It is sold at Canton for 6d. or 8d. per pound, and is used for 
the purposes to which we apply glue and gum arabic. The Chi- 
nese employ it chieily in the manufacture of lanthorns, to strengthen 
er varnish the paper, and sometimes to thicken or give a gloss to 
gauze or silks. In addition to the above account, the substance of 
which I have extracted from Mr. Turner’s work, Mr. Neill re- 
marks that it “seems probable’that this is the principal ingredient 
