LITHIUM  AND  ITS  SALTS. 
75 
In  the  town  of  Scituate,  Plymouth  county,  this  business  is 
carried  on  by  natives  of  Ireland,  who  are  located  upon  the  cliffs, 
dt  the  base  of  which  is  a  bold  rocky  beach,  where  the  moss  is 
gathered  in  greater  quantity  than  in  any  other  part  of  New 
England. 
It  is  estimated  that  in  the  town  of  Scituate,  from  three  to 
four  thousand  barrels  are  yearly  sent  to  the  Boston  and  New 
York  markets ;  from  Cohassett  and  other  towns  in  the  immedi- 
ate vicinity,  one  or  two  thousand  barrels  more  ;  the  total  num- 
her  of  pounds  being  estimated  at  about  five  hundred  thousand. 
While  the  Carrageen  is  no  doubt  of  the  first  quality,  its  mar- 
ket value  depends  upon  the  care  with  which  it  is  prepared  ;  thus 
its  price  varies  according  to  the  uses  for  which  it  is  intended 
and  by  whom  prepared. 
The  collecting  of  "moss"  in  New  England  for  commercial 
purposes  is  of  comparatively  recent  date,  it  being  obtained  al- 
most wholly  by  Irish  emigrants,  who  during  a  period  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  years,  have  landed  upon  our  shores  to  pursue  an  occu- 
pation familiar  to  them  in  their  native  island. — Proc.  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  1860. 
LITHIUM  AND  ITS  SALTS. 
This  metal  was  discovered  in  1817,  by  Arfwedson,  in  the 
mineral  petalite.  It  exists  also  in  spodumen^,  and  lepidolite, 
and  as  a  carbonate  in  many  of  the  continental  medicinal  springs, 
viz.,  Carlsbad,  Marienbad,  Kreuznach,  Aix.la-Chapelle,  Kiss, 
ingen,  Ems,  Tiplitz,  Bilin,  Vichy^  &c.  Though  so  long  known 
it  was  not  introduced  as  a  remedy  for  any  specific  diseases  until 
Dr.  Garrod  wrote  his  elaborate  treatise  on  gout,  &c.,  in  which 
complaint  he  attributes  to  carbonate  of  lithia  wonderful  and 
marvellous  properties. 
Lithium  may  be  obtained,  by  galvanic  action,  from  hydrated 
oxide,  LiO+HO. 
Davy  ascribes  to  this  metal  properties  analogous  to  sodium, 
and  recent  experiments  tend  to  verify  that  assertion.  In  ap- 
pearance it  closely  resembles  silver,  being  of  a  beautiful  white 
color.  On  exposure  to  the  atmosphere  it  becomes  converted 
into  oxide.    Its  specific  gravity  is  less  than  that  of  water,  and 
