Pharmacographia : a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in Great Britain and British India / by Friedrich A. Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury.

  • Friedrich August Flückiger
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacographia : a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in Great Britain and British India / by Friedrich A. Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    696/736 page 670
    Cfcallogen^. LICHENES. LICHEN ISLANDICUS. Iceland Moss; F. Lichen ou Mousse d’Islande ; G. Islandisches Moos. Botanical Origin—Cetraria Islandica Acharius.1—It is abundant in high northern latitudes, as Greenland, Spitzbergen, Siberia, Scandi- navia and Iceland, where it grows even in the plains. It is found in the mountainous parts of Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain, in Switzerland and in the Southern Danubian countries. It also occurs in North America and in the Antarctic regions. History—In the North of Europe, this lichen has long been used under the general name of Mosi, Mossa or Mus as an article of food. Ole Borrich, of Copenhagen (1G71), called it Muscus catharticus, under the notion that in early spring it possesses purgative properties.2 Its medicinal employment in pulmonary disorders was favourably spoken of by Hjarne in 1683,3 but it is only since 1757 that it has come into! general use as a medicine, chiefly on the recommendation of Lin and Scopoli. thallus, about 4 inches high, curled, channelled or roiled into t , terminating in spreading truncate, flattened lobes, the edges of which are fringed with short thick prominences. The thallus is smooth, grey, 1 or of a light olive-brown; the under surface is paler and irregularly j beset with depressed white spots. The apothecia (fruits), which are not j very common, appear at the apices of the thallus, as rounded boss-like ] bodies, yy to A, of an inch across, of a dark, rusty colour. The colour ‘ and mode of division of the thallus vary greatly, so that many varieties I of the plant have been distinguished. In the dry state, Iceland moss is light, harsh and springy ; it absorbs water in which it is placed, to the extent of a third of its weight, becoming soft and cartilaginous ; it ordinarily contains about 10 per l cent, of hygroscopic water. It is inodorous, but when wetted has a slight seaweed-like smell; its taste is slightly bitter. B 1 Cetraria from cctra, an ancient shield of ® Murray, Apparatus Mcdicaminum, v. j hide, in allusion to the circular apothecia. (1790) 510. 2 Bergius, Materia Medica, Stockholm, ii. (1778) 850. Description—The plant consists of an erect, foliaceous, bran
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