Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Sept.,  1876.  j 
Fucus  Vesiculosus. 
395 
T.  botrys^  Lin.  Leaves  triangular-ovate  in  outline,  pinnatified  \ 
flowers  axillary,  in  threes  ;  corolla  pale  red,  punctate  in  the  throat. 
These  and  a  few  other  species,  indigenous  to  Southern  Europe  and 
the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean,  most  probably  do  not  differ  in  their 
medicinal  properties  from  Teucrium  Ganadense,  Lin.,  the  wood  sage  or 
germander  of  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
Somewhat  different  properties  are  met  with  in  T.  marum^  Lin.,  cat 
thyme,  or  Syrian  herb  mastich,  which  is  found  in  the  countries  border- 
ing on  the  Mediterranean.  Its  leaves  are  petiolate,  ovate  or  ovate- 
oblong,  rather  acute,  white  tomentose  beneath  ;  the  rose-red  flowers 
are  single  in  the  axils  of  the  bracts,  and  form  a  terminal  one-sided 
raceme.  It  has  a  strong  aromatic,  somewhat  camphoraceous  odor,  and 
an  aromatic,  bitterish  and  acrid  taste.  It  has  been  employed  internally, 
in  doses  of  20  to  60  grains,  in  various  spasmodic  and  other  nervous 
disorders,  and  externally  chiefly  for  its  errhine  properties  ;  it  consti- 
tuted the  active  ingredient  of  the  Pulv'is  sternutatorius  of  some  old 
European  "  Pharmacopoeias,"  which  was  composed  of  sweet  marjoram 
3  parts,  cat  thyme,  lily  of  the  valley  and  orris  root,  of  each  one  part. 
Cat  thyme  is  prescribed  in  Europe  under  the  name  of  Herba  marl  vert. 
ON  FUCUS  VESICULOSUS  AND  SOME  ALLIED  SPECIES. 
BY  JOHN   M.  MAISCH. 
[Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  August  15th.) 
Though  Theophrastus  already,  in  his  history  of  plants,  mentions 
several  species  of  marine  algae,  the  sea  wrack  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  employed  medicinally  before  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  ;  I  find,  at  least,  no  mention  made  of  it  in  the  new  "  London 
Dispensatory"  of  1676.  Russell  seems  to  have  been  instrumental  in 
introducing  it  into  medicine  through  his  essay,  "  De  tabe  glandulari," 
which  was  published  in  1750,  and  in  which  he  specially  recommended 
Fucus  vesiculosus  in  the  form  of  charcoal  and  jelly,  the  former,  known 
afterwards  under  the  name  of  Mthiops  vegetabilis,  being  prepared  by 
heating  the  plant  in  a  crucible  closed  with  a  perforated  cover  until 
smoke  ceased  to  be  given  off",  while  the  latter  was  made  by  expressing 
the  mucilaginous  liquid,  and  also  by  macerating  the  fucus  in  an  equal 
weight  of  sea-water  for  two  weeks,  or  until  it  was  converted  into  a  kind 
of  jelly,  which  was  employed  both  externally  and  internally.   Upon  the 
