SEAWEEDS FOR FOOD AND MEDICINE.

Evening Star, Issue 14999, 5 October 1912, Page 5

SEAWEEDS FOR FOOD AND MEDICINE.

Seaweeds liaving been suggested as a nosjible source of future wealth, especially for food products, I'errot and G-atin, two French oceanographers, give some facts eoneerninsr present uses. In Europe they are collected lor ttieir alkalies and iodine, for which thev are chiefly valued. In some localities thev ere popular medicines, one kind being employed as a vermifuge in Corsica, and others on account of their iodine, being given in' goitre and scrofula. In Brittany, where some of the poorer inhabitants have 'employed seaweed as food, abouc 20 tons in a vear has been collected of the variety known as Iceland moss. In the north of Franco a little seaweed is gathered by the peasants as manure. To the Asiatics these plants have been more important, and in Japan edible seaweed is not only the source of a number of food preparations, but is even extensively cultivated to give a sufficient supply. Gelatines and glue are among the products. These gelatines are not very nutritious as food, and it is supposed that their popularity may bo as an aid to the digestion of the great quantities of fish and rics eaten by the Japanese.