This section of the book is from "The Complete Herbalist" by Dr. O. Phelps Brown. Also available from Amazon: The Complete Herbalist: The People Their Own Physicians By The Use Of Nature's Remedies.
MEDICINAL PART. The whole plant.
Description. -- This marine plant has a cartilaginous,
tufted, entangled frond, with branches marked indistinctly with transverse
streaks. The lower part is dirty-yellow, the branches more or less
purple.
History. -- It is found growing on the Mediterranean
coast, and especially on the Island of Corsica. It is cartilaginous
in consistence, is of a dull and reddish-brown color, has a bitter, salt,
and nauseous taste, but its odor is rather pleasant. Water dissolves
its active principles.
Properties and Uses. -- It is an excellent
anthelmintic. The influence it exercises upon the economy is entirely
inappreciable, but it acts very powerfully on intestinal worms. Dr.
Johnson says: "It destroys any worms domiciliating in the bowels as effectually
as choke-damps would destroy the life of a miner." This excellent
vermifuge plant is one of the ingredients of my Male Fern Vermifuge, see
page 469.
Dose. -- From ten to sixty grains, mixed
with molasses or syrup, or in infusion.
The FUCUS VESICULOSIS, Sea-wrack, or Bladder Fucus,
possesses analogous properties.
 
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