CORSICAN MOSS.

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sent it to Paris (P. J. Scliwendimann, in Sclilegel’s Thesaurus Mat. Med.t. iii. p. 181).

Botany. Gen. Char. — Frond homy or cartilaginous, filiform, cylin-drical, irregularly branched. Fructification uniform ; spherical, sessilecapsules containing a globose mass of seeds [sporules ?] ( Greville).

Sp. Char. — Frond cartilaginous, terete, tufted, entangled. Stem,filiform, creeping : branches, setaceous, somewhat dichotomous, markedindistinctly with transverse streaks.

Hab. —-The Mediterranean Sea , on the shores of Corsica.

Physical Properties. —Under the name of Corsican moss is sold inthe shops a mixture of various marine vegetables and animals. Theessential, though usually smaller, part of the mixture is the GigartinaHelmintliocorton; the remainder consists of Corallines, Sertularias, andCeramiums, to the number of twenty species (Decandolle, Essai sur lesProprietes Med. p. 348, 2d ed.) Lamouroux states he found the remains°f eighty species of marine plants (Fee, Cours d'Hist. Nat. i. 147). Seealso T. C. Martius, ( Grundriss d . Pharmakog. 12).

The structure of the frond of Gigartina Helminthocorton is “ verypeculiar, being exceedingly lax and cellular, with a consistence similarto that of the stems and leaf-stalks of some aquatic herbaceous plneno-gamous plants, and having the appearance of articulations which dobot actually exist” (Greville, Alga Brit. p. 146). The fructification isScarcely ever seen. The plant has a reddish grey colour externally, butls whitish internally. Its odour is strong, marine, and disagreeable : itstaste is saline.

Composition. —Bouvier [Ann. de Chini. ix. 83,1791) obtained fromtOO parts of Corsican moss,, vegetable jelly (pectin ?), 60'2 ; vegetable fibre,tl'O ; chloride of sodium, 9 2 ; sulphate of lime, 11*2 ; carbonate of lime, 7‘5;lr on, manganese, silica, and phosphate of lime, 17. Straub ( Gilbert’sAnn. Bd. 66, S. 242), and Gualtier de Claubry ( Ann de Chim. xciii. 134),have subsequently detected iodine, but the quantity is small.

Chemical Characteristics. —Corsican moss effervesces with acids,P'ving to the carbonate of lime which it contains. The brown wateryjDfusion is deepened in colour by sesquichloride of iron, and lets fall somebrown flocculi. Tincture of galls does not alter it. Nitric acid ands tarch give no indication of iodine.

Physiological Effects. —Its effects are not very obvious. The vege-table jelly must render it nutritive ; the iodine and saline matters alte-r ative. Mr. F arr [A Treat, explan, of a Method whereby occult Cancersrria y be cured, 2d ed. 1825) says, that after using the decoction for six° r seven days, it acts as a diuretic and diaphoretic, and occasionallyProduces nausea and giddiness: after some time the stools become darker,Present greenish specks, and are sometimes slimy.

Uses. —It has been principally celebrated as an anthelmintic againstbe large round worm ( Ascaris lumbricoides). Bremser ( Sur les Versn testin. 417) ascribes its efficacy to chloride of sodium.

. In 1822, Mr. Farr brought it fonvard as a remedy for cancer. He wase d to try it from the circumstance of Napoleon Bonaparte having statedf Parry O’Meara, that it was used in Corsica for dispersing tumors.

x perience does not warrant us in ascribing any benefit to its employ-b^nt i n this disease.

•Administration. —In powder it is given in doses of a scruple to two