The medicinal, poisonous, and dietetic properties of the cryptogamic plants of the United States : being a report made to the American Medical Association at its sessions held in Richmond, Va., and St. Louis, Mo. / by Francis Peyre Porcher.

  • Porcher, Francis Peyre, 1824-1895.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The medicinal, poisonous, and dietetic properties of the cryptogamic plants of the United States : being a report made to the American Medical Association at its sessions held in Richmond, Va., and St. Louis, Mo. / by Francis Peyre Porcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Diet, ties Sc. Med., xvii. 125, express astonishmenl thai more use is not made of the fucus abounding on the sea-coast, in making gelatine and as articles of food and commerce, as is done in China. The fnci are among the most valuable of the tribes in the preparation of kelp. This species contains far less salt than F. vesicidosus, and is consequently much less esteemed for kelp. In Norway it is the food of cattle, sprinkled with a little una], according to Gunner. The Dutch cover their crabs and lobsters with it, and say that it is preferable to F. vesicidosus, because the mucus from the vesicles of the latter ferments and soon becomes putrid. It is employed as a manure, and with much benefit, though its value endures but for a single season. It is found pecu- liarly well adapted to potato culture, and when spread on the ground in winter yields an abundant crop of the very best hay. But if its application be deferred till the time of planting, the for- mer produce, though erpially abundant, is watery, ill-tasted, and unfit for the table, though it answers well enough for seed. This remark equally applies to all the Algse, which, under the general name of cart-wracks are rolled ashore by the gales. Capt. Car- michael; Crypt, of Eng.; Turner's Synopsis of British Fnci, i. 1157. It constitutes a part of the fodder upon which cattle are supported in Norway. Grev., Algee Brit., xix.; Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, ii. 903; Lind., Nat. Syst., 338. From the alkali obtained from this plant a soap is made, not much esteemed, on account of its hydro-sulphurous odor; it is, however, employed by glass-blow- ers. The Pacha of Tripoli is said to realize a large income from the sale of this plant. In Barbadoes they manure the land with it, in order to raise the sugar cane. Merat & De Lens, iii. 307. Bladdered fu- cus, sea-wrack. Rocky shores; very abundant in Eur.; found also on our shores, from Greenland to X. Fork. W. II. Harvey. This sea-weed is abundantly employed in the manufactory of Fucus vesicidosus, Linn. Turn. Syn. Fuc, 117. Bcdticus, Agardlu Svensk Bot.