considerable economical value. 
charina, Halymenia palmata, Halymenia edulis, 
and several other fuci, are eaten by many per- 
sons, and are much relished both raw and dressed. 
Fucus lichenoides appears to be the chief ingre- 
dient in the edible birds’ nests which form so 
costly and so exceedingly esteemed an article of 
epicurism among the Chinese. Many kinds of 
the fuci are probably eaten by fish, and in conse- 
quence indirectly serve for the sustenance of 
land-animals and of man ; some of the same great 
division of the Algze have been extensively used 
in the arts, particularly in the manufacture of 
| kelp and the preparation of dyes ; and enormous 
masses of them are collected in many parts of the 
British coasts, and in every part of the coasts of 
Ireland, and used by farmers as manure. A great 
quantity of vegeto-animal matter is procured 
| from sea-weeds, and they are the only things in 
| which iodine, supposed to be one of the simple or 
primitive substances, has been found. As it is 
against the rules of sound reasoning to admit 
that iodine is created by the mere power of vege- 
tation, so it is evident, that it must be derived 
from some extraneous source ; although Messrs. 
| Davy and Gaultier de Claubry have not been able 
to detect it in sea-water, and it has not been found 
by any analysis to be present in the soils on which 
sea weeds grow. In fact, the discovery of the 
origin of iodine still remains to be made. See 
articles Fuct and Ssaware.—Loudon’s Hneyclo- 
pedia of Plants—Withering’s Botany.—Kerth’s 
Botanical Lexicon.—Greville’s Alge Britannice. 
—C. F. B. Mirbel in Quarterly Journal of Science, 
vols. v. and vi. 
ALIMENT. Any substances which, being re- 
ceived into the bodies of organized beings, animal 
or vegetable, promote the growth, support the 
|| they contain oxygen and hydrogen in the ratio 
I. 
strength, and renew the waste of their systems. 
See the following article, also articles Foop and 
Nutrition. 
ALIMENTARY PRINCIPLES. The follow- 
ing extracts from Pereira’s Materia Medica con- 
vey a sufficiently extended view of the subject. 
For details respecting the several substances, see 
the articles on them in the present work. 
Dr. Prout has divided the alimentary princi- 
ples into three great classes or groups—the sac- 
charine, the oleaginous, and the albwminous, to 
which he has latterly added a fourth, the aqueous. 
He was led to this division by observing that 
milk—the only article actually furnished and in- 
tended by nature as food—always contains a sac- 
charine principle, a butyraceous or oily principle, 
and a caseous, or, more correctly speaking, an 
albuminous principle. 
Cuass 1. Saccnarine Princrpius. The princi- 
ples contained in this class are Sugar, Gum, Pxc- 
TIN, StarcH, and Lienrn: see these articles. 
These agree in being of vegetable origin, and in 
consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 
With the exception of pectin or vegetable jelly, 
Laminaria sac- | 
ALIMENTARY PRINCIPLES. 113 
to form water; and might, therefore, be termed 
hydrates of carbon. 
Those varieties of each principle which contain 
the smallest quantity of water, Dr. Prout terms 
strong or high ; while those containing the largest 
proportion of water, he denominates weak or low. 
Thus, sugar-candy is a high or strong sugar,— 
sugar of starch, a weak or low one. 
1. Saccharine substances. Under this head are 
placed several sweet organic principles, capable, 
for the most part, of undergoing vinous fermen- 
tation when mixed with yeast and a due propor- 
tion of water. 
a. SUGARS SUSCEPTIBLE oF ViNous FERMENTA- 
TION. 
1. Crystallizable. This division includes com- 
mon sugars, viz., cane, maple, and heet- 
root sugars ; granular sugars, viz., grape, 
- honey, starch, and diabetic sugars ; and 
sugar of milk. . 
2. Unerystallizable. Known as liquid or mu- 
cous sugars, as treacle. 
b. SugARS UNSUSCEPTIBLE oF Vinous FrrMmEn- 
TATION. 
1. Crystallizable. Mannite. 
2. Unerystallizable. Glycyrrhizin, glycerin, 
and sarcocollin. 
Sugar is a highly nutritious substance, and by 
the healthy stomach is readily digested. It ap- 
pears to be especially adapted for the food of 
young plants; hence we find it gencrated in 
many seeds (as pease, barley, &c.) during germina- 
tion. It is nutritive to animals. Thus it is an 
important constituent of milk,—a liquid intended | 
for the nourishment of mammals during the first 
period of their existence. It is employed by man 
on account of its agreeable taste, rather than as 
a direct source of nourishment ; yet, of its nutri- 
tive qualities few entertain any doubt. The in- 
jurious effects which have been ascribed to it are 
more imaginary than real. Some individuals 
have consumed large quantities of it, for along | 
series of years, without suffering any ill conse- 
quences. 
2. Mucilaginous substances. The gummy prin- 
ciples, called arabin, tragacanthin or adraganthin, 
cerasin or prunin, cydonin, and bassorin, belong 
to this group. They possess nutritive properties, 
but are somewhat difficult of digestion. Hassel- 
quist tells us, that a caravan of more than a thou- 
sand persons, travelling from Abyssinia to Cairo, 
and whose provisions were exhausted, supported 
themselves for two months on the gum they were 
carrying as merchandise. The Moors and the 
Negroes near the Niger employ it as a common 
kind of food. The Hottentots also are well aware 
of its nutritive properties. 
3. Vegetable jelly. To this head are referred 
pectin or groussulin, and carrageenin. These 
are nutritive and digestible. 
4, Amylaceous, farinaceous, or starchy substances. 
Under this division are included wheat-starch, 
sago, tapioca, arrow-root, potato-starch, salop, 
H 
