Part 86

Professor Sonnenschein has succeeded in converting brucia into strychnia. He says--"Brucia C_{23}H_{26}N_{2}O_{4} and Strychnia C_{21}H_{22}N_{2}O_{2} differ apparently considerably in their composition; but the former may easily be converted into the latter. Referring to the formulæ it will be seen that strychnia is produced by combining brucia with 4O, and eliminating 2H_{2}O_{1} and 2CO_{2}. This is effected as follows:--Brucia is moderately heated with 4 to 5 times its weight of diluted nitric acid, when a red colouration will be produced and gases evolved, which cause in a mixture of barium chloride and ammonia a white precipitate of carbonate of barium.

The red solution is concentrated in a water-bath, super-saturated with potassa, and agitated with ether, which, on spontaneous evaporation, leaves a reddish mass, containing a red colouring matter, a yellowish resin, and an alkaloid which is obtained pure by dissolving in an acid and crystallising. This base has the intensity, bitter taste, and other properties of strychnia, gives the characteristic reactions with potassium chromate, cerium oxide, and sulphuric acid, and yields with chlorine the sparingly soluble compound. The muriate crystallises in fine silky needles, from which 9·20 per cent. of chlorine was obtained.

The conversion of brucia into strychnia is not only highly interesting, but it is likewise of great importance in forensic analysis, proving again that in such cases the employment of oxidising agents is admissible only with great caution. A student who had received for analysis a mixture containing, among other substances, brucia and nitrate of lead, employed the process of Stas and Otto for the separation of the alkaloids, and found strychnia instead of brucia which had been oxidised by the liberated nitric acid.

"If strychnia is heated with a strong base like potassa, soda, or baryta, for some time, in a sealed glass tube placed in a water-bath, a body is obtained which no longer shows the reactions of strychnia, but resembles brucia in its reactions. The experiments on this decomposition, which is likewise of importance in forensic analysis, are not yet concluded."

=BRUISE= (br[=o][=o]ze). _Syn._ CONTU'SIO, CONTU'SUM, L.; CONTUSION, MEURTRISSURE, Fr.; BRAUSCHE, QUETSCHUNG, &c., Ger. A contusion; but in popular language applied chiefly to cases in which there is an extravasation of blood owing to the rupture of the minute vessels, with consequent discoloration or tumefaction of the part.

_Treatment._--In common cases, sufficiently serious, bruises may be rubbed with a little opodeldoc or soap-liniment; or, if the inflammation be considerable, they may be bathed with a little weak goulard water, or with vinegar and water. In more severe cases leeches may be applied. See CONTUSION.

_Treatment for Animals._--The same as for man.

=BRUNS'WICK BLACK.= See VARNISHES.

=BRUNS'WICK GREEN.= See GREEN PIGMENTS.

=BRUSHES.= Brushes may be best washed in a moderately cold weak solution of borax. They should afterwards be rinsed in cold water and dried.

=BRUSTBONBONS--PECTORAL BONBONS= (Fr., Stollwerck, Cologne). Carageen, 3 parts; Iceland moss, 2 parts; red poppy petals, 1-1/2 parts; coltsfoot, 1 part; liquorice, 2 parts; marshmallow root, 2 parts; daisy (_Bellis perennis_), 1-1/2 parts; Souchong tea, 1 part; boiled with 24 parts of water till reduced to half, and the fluid afterwards mixed with refined sugar.

=BRUSTGELEE--PECTORAL JELLY= (Daubitz, Berlin). A yellowish-brown nearly clear jelly, with a sweet, weak anise, followed by a somewhat bitter taste, made of gelatin, 12 grammes; sugar, 60 grammes; and a herbal infusion, 120 grammes; the latter made from anise, star-anise, Iceland moss, &c.

=BRUSTPULVER--PECTORAL POWDER= (Beliol, Paris). For chronic pains in the chest. A mixture of 75 parts milk-sugar, 20 parts gum arabic, 5 parts Rochelle salt. (Mayer).

=BRUSTSAFT PRAPARIRTER--PREPARED PECTORAL JUICE= (Rudolph Büttner, Berlin). For coughs, hoarseness, tightness of the chest, &c. An ordinary pectoral tea made of an infusion of red poppy petals, which is boiled to a syrup with sugar (Hager).

=BRUSTSYRUP WEISER MAYERSCHER--WHITE PECTORAL SYRUP= (G. A. W. Mayer, Breslau). 4 parts powdered radish extracted with 5 parts water (according to others rose-water), the liquor expressed and filtered. 6 parts of the clear liquor digested with 10 parts of sugar to make a syrup. (Hager.) Frequently nothing but a simple solution of sugar.

=Brustsyrup--Pectoral Syrup= (Dr Moth). A mixture of syrup of marshmallow, 1000 parts; extract of horehound, 30 parts; oxymel of squills, 50 parts; aq. amygd. amar., 25 parts; aqua. foenic, 100 parts; spirit of ether, 10 parts.

=BRUSTWARZEN--MITTEL ZUR HEILUNG WUNDER.= Miraculous remedy for healing sore nipples. (From Paris.) A dirty brownish-yellow, somewhat turbid liquid, smelling of vinegar, and with a taste both sour and sweet. A solution of 1-1/4 parts litharge in 100 parts vinegar. (Wittstein.)

=Brustwarzen--Mittel Gegen Wunde.= Sore nipple preventive. (From Paris.) Acetic acid, 1 part; sugar of lead, 3 parts; camphor, 5 parts; water, 100 parts. (Terreil.)

=BRUSTWARZENBALSAM, RIGAER--RIGA'S NIPPLE BALSAM.= A mixture of the yolk of one egg with 10 to 12 grammes balsam of Peru.

=BRY'ONIN= (-n[)i]n). A peculiar bitter principle extracted from the root of white bryony (_bryonia dioica_, Jacq.). It is obtained from the dry extract of the expressed juice, by solution in alcohol, filtration, and cautious evaporation.

_Prop., &c._ A yellowish-white mass. It is a drastic purgative; and, in large doses, poisonous. It enters into the composition of several quack medicines.

=BUBBLE-AND-SQUEAK.= In _cookery_, a species of olla podrida variously prepared, as the materials and fancy of the maker dictate.

_Prep._ (Rundell.) Take slices of cold meat, fry them quickly until brown, and put them into a dish to keep them hot. Then clean the pan from the fat; put in it greens and carrots (previously boiled and chopped small); add a little butter, pepper, and salt; make them very hot, and put them round the beef with a little gravy. Cold boiled pork is a better material for bubble-and-squeak than beef. In either case the slices should be very thin and lightly fried.

=BUB'BLE FEVER[double-dagger].= See PEMPHIGUS.

=BU'CHU= (-k[=u]). The plant _dios'ma crena'ta_ (which _see_).

=BUCK'BEAN= or =BOG'BEAN=. The _menyanthes trifoliata_. See INFUSIONS.

=BUCKINGHAM'S DYE= for the whiskers; manufactured by R. E. Hall & Co., Nashua, N.H. This whisker dye is an ammoniacal solution of nitrate of silver, and consists of 1/2 gramme nitrate of silver, 2-1/2 grammes solution of ammonia, and 40 grammes distilled water. (Dr Schacht).

=BUCK'THORN.= _Syn._ RHAM'NUS, L. The _rham'nus cathar'ticus_ (Linn.). Berries (BAC'CÆ RHAM'NI, L.), cathartic; juice of the berries (SUC'CUS R., L.) is officinal in the B. P. See RHAMNINE, SYRUPS, &c.

=BUCK'WHEAT.= See WHEAT.

=BUG.= _Syn._ CI'MEX, L.; PUNAISÉ, Fr.; WANSE, Ger. A name popularly and very loosely applied to a vast number of insects that infest houses and plants; in _zoology_, hemipterous insects of the genus 'cimex,' of which there are many hundred species; appr., the bed-bug.

=Bug.= _Syn._ BED'-BUG, HOUSE'-B., WALL-B., WALL'-LOUSE*, &c.; CI'MEX DOMES'TICUS, C. LECTULA''RIUS (Linn.), L.; PUNAISE, Fr.; BETTWANZE, HÄUSWANSE, Ger. An insect too well known in all the larger towns of Europe and America, and in the huts of squalid poverty everywhere, to require a description here. It is almost the only species of the bug kind that has undeveloped wings. Its introduction to England is believed to have occurred soon after the great Fire of London (A.D. 1666). Human blood appears to be its favourite food; but it will also eat grain, seed, flour, dried paste, size, soft deal, beech, osier, &c. Cedar, mahogany, and the odorous and harder woods are usually avoided by this insect. Aromatics, perfumes, and strong odours generally are unfavorable to its propagation.

_Exterm., &c._ Various means have been adopted to prevent the accession, and to destroy or drive away, these enemies of "tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep." Among the most certain of these is thorough cleanliness and ventilation. The furniture brokers put articles infested with these insects into a room with doors and windows fitting quite close, and subject them to the fumes of burning sulphur or chlorine gas. In the small way poisonous washes are commonly resorted to. For this purpose nothing is more effective than chloride of lime or chloride of zinc; the latter being preferable to the other on account of its being comparatively scentless.

The following mixtures are in common use, or have been recommended for this purpose:--

1. Corrosive sublimate (in powder) and hydrochloric acid, of each 1 oz.; hot water, 3/4 pint; agitate them together until the first is completely dissolved. It is applied with a paint-brush, observing to rub it well into the cracks and joints. This is the common 'bug-wash' of the shops. It is a deadly poison!

2. As the last, but substituting 2 oz. of sal-ammoniac for the hydrochloric acid.

3. Oil of turpentine, 1 pint; camphor, 2 oz.; dissolve. Very cleanly and effective.

4. Tobacco-water, made by steeping 2 oz. of good shag in 1 pint of warm water for a few hours.

5. Crude pyroligneous acid.

6. Coal-tar naphtha. This, as well as No. 3 (_above_), should never be used by candle-light, as it is excessively inflammable. When the smell of the common naphtha is objectionable, benzol or benzine may be used instead. The celebrated nostrum vended under the name of 'Insecticide' is said to be nothing but benzol.

7. Sulphurated potash (in powder), 6 oz.; soft soap, 1/2 lb.; oil of turpentine, 1/4 pint or q. s. to make a species of soft ointment. The odour of the last three (Nos. 5, 6, 7) is rather persistent and disagreeable; but they are very effective.

8. Strong mercurial ointment, soft soap, and oil of turpentine, equal parts, triturated together. Rather greasy and dirty.

9. Scotch or Welsh snuff, mixed with twice its weight of soft soap.

10. Sulphur, or squills, in impalpable powder, blown into the cracks or joints, or scattered in a fine cloud, by means of a hollow ball or balloon of vulcanised india rubber filled with it and furnished with a small wooden jet or mouth-piece, or in any other convenient manner. Very cleanly and effective. Dumont's 'Patent Vermin Killer,' as well as the whole host of imitations of it, is of this kind.

_Obs._ Out of the above list there is ample room for selection. The common practice is to take the bedstead or other piece of furniture to pieces before applying them.

These pests exist only in dirty houses. A careful housewife or servant will soon completely destroy them. The surest method of destruction is to catch them individually when they attack the person in bed. When their bite is felt, instantly rise and light a candle and capture them. This may be troublesome, but if there be not a great number a few nights will finish them. When there is a large number, and they have gained a lodgment in the timbers, take the bed in pieces, and fill in all the apertures and joints with a mixture of soft soap and Scotch snuff. A piece of wicker-work, called a BUG-TRAP, placed at the head of the bed, forms a receptacle for them, and then they may be daily caught till no more are left. Oil-painting a wall is a sure means of excluding and destroying them. It has been asserted that these insects are so fond of narrow-leaved dittany or pepperwort (_lepidium ruderale_), that if a bunch of it be suspended near their haunts they will settle in it, and may be thus easily captured. It is said to be commonly used as a bug-trap in some of our rural districts. Water, poured boiling from the spout of a kettle into the cracks and joints, is a cleanly and certain remedy, which we have often seen employed; so also is a jet of steam; they are both destructive to all insects, and will be found particularly so to beetles.

The proper time for attacking these pests is early in March, or shortly before they are revived from their dormant state by the warm weather. See INSECTS.

=Bug, Harvest.= See ACARI.

=BU'GLE= (bu'gl). An elongated cylindrical glass bead. See BEAD.

=BUILDING STONES.= Amongst the calcareous and magnesian stones used for building many of the fine-grained and porous varieties are liable to split into flakes after a few years' exposure to the atmosphere, owing to the absorption by the stone of water, which, becoming frozen during severe weather, fractures the stone by its expansion. Brard invented a simple means of ascertaining whether a building stone is liable to this defect, which consists in taking a smoothly-cut block of the stone, one or two inches square, and placing it in a cold saturated solution of sodic sulphate. The temperature of the solution is gradually raised to the boiling point; it is allowed to boil for half an hour, and then the stone is left to cool in the liquid. When cold it is suspended over a dish, and once a day for a week or a fortnight plunged for a few moments into a cold saturated solution of sodic sulphate, and it is then again freely suspended in the air. The sulphate crystallises in the pores of the stone and splits off fragments of it. A similar experiment is made upon an equal-sized mass of stone which is known to be free from this defect. By the comparative weight of these fragments in the two cases the tendency of the stone to the defect in question may be estimated.

A stone that is placed in a building in a position similar to that in which it is found in the quarry, that is, with its seams lying horizontally, is found to resist the weather much more successfully than one that has not been so placed.

=BUN.= A well-known kind of light, sweet cake.

_Prep._ 1. BATH-BUNS:--As 6, but adding a little candied lemon and orange peel, and putting a little grated peel and a few caraway comfits on the top of each.

2. CROSS-BUNS:--Flour, 2-1/2 lbs.; sifted sugar 1/2 lb.; coriander seeds, cassia, and mace, of each (powdered) a sufficiency; make a paste with butter, 1/2 lb.; (dissolved in) hot milk, 1/2 pint; work with three table-spoonfuls of yeast; set it before the fire for an hour to rise, then make it into buns, and set them before the fire on a tin for half an hour; lastly, brush them over with warm milk, and bake them to a nice brown in a moderate oven.

3. MADEIRA-BUNS:--Butter, 8 oz.; 2 eggs; flour, 1 lb.; powdered sugar, 6 oz.; half a nutmeg (grated); powdered ginger and caraway seeds, of each 1/2 teaspoonful; work well together, then add as much milk as required, and ferment; lastly, bake on tins in a quick oven.

4. PLAIN BUNS:--Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 1/4 lb.; sugar, 6 oz.; a little salt, caraway and ginger; make a paste with yeast, 4 spoonfuls, and warm milk, q. s.; as before.

5. PENNY-BUNS:--To the last add of currants, well washed, 1/2 lb.; and water, stained by steeping a little saffron in it, q. s., to give a light yellow tinge to them.

6. RICH BUNS:--Fine flour, 3 lbs; sugar, 1 lb.; butter, 2 lbs. (melted and beat with) rose water, 4 oz.; currants, 1 lb.; yeast, 1/4 pint; as before.

_Obs._ The great secret in producing good buns is the use of sweet yeast and the best currants only, and thoroughly washing these last in a sieve or colander, to remove grit, before adding them to the dough.

=BUNION= (-y[)u]n). A species of corn or swelling on the ball of the great toe, resulting from pressure, and irritation by friction. The treatment recommended for corns applies also to bunions; but in consequence of the greater extension of the disease, the cure is more tedious. A bunion may often be effectually stopped and removed by poulticing it, and, at the proper time, carefully opening it with a lancet. See CORNS.

=BURETTE.= A graduated glass vessel employed in volumetric analysis for measuring liquids.

1. The first burette was invented by Gay-Lussac, a drawing of whose instrument is given below.

It rarely, if ever, has a capacity greater than 50 cubic centimetres, and consists of a narrow tube fused on to a wider one. The larger tube is about 33 centimetres long, the graduated portion occupying about 25 centimetres, and its internal diameter measures 15 millimetres; the narrow tube has a diameter of 4 millimetres, which in the upper bent end decreases to 2 millimetres. When used the instrument should be held in the left hand, the bottom part being allowed to lean a little against the chest. The operation is aided by giving the instrument from time to time a slight turn in the direction of its longitudinal axis, thereby placing the curve of the stout alternately in a more vertical, alternately in a more horizontal position. The volume must not be read off before the surface of the liquid has attained a constant height.

2. Geissler's burette. This instrument differs from Gay-Lussac's in having the narrow tube inside, instead of outside the wider one. It is found very convenient in use, and is less liable to fracture than Gay-Lussac's.

3. Mohr's burette, which can be more easily and readily managed than either of the two preceding ones, is described and figured under ALKALIMETRY.

In volumetric analysis the method of taking the readings of the burette is an operation of great importance, requiring considerable method and practice.

The first proceeding is to bring the eye to a level with the fluid, and to adopt a fixed and unalterable standard of what is to be considered the surface.

If you hold a burette partly filled with water between the eye and a strongly illumined wall, the surface of the fluid presents the appearance shown in fig. _a._ If you hold close behind the tube a sheet of white paper with a strong light falling on it, the surface of the fluid will present an appearance similar to that shown in fig. _b._

In both cases you have read off at the lower border of the dark zone, this being the most distinctly marked line. Its distinctness may be heightened by adopting Mohr's contrivance which consists in pasting on a sheet of very white cardboard a broad strip of black paper, and when reading off holding this close behind the burette in a position to place the border line between white and black from 2 to 3 millimetres below the lower border of the dark zone as shown in figure _c._

Great care must be taken to hold the paper invariably in the same position, since if it be held lower down, the lower border of the black zone will move higher up.

To test the correctness of the graduation of a burette proceed as follows:--Fill the instrument up to the highest division with water at 60·8° F., then let the cubic centimetres of the liquid flow out into an accurately weighed flask, and determine the weight of these ten cubic centimetres in the usual way; then let another quantity of ten cubic centimetres flow out, and weigh again, and repeat the operation till the contents of the burette are exhausted. If the instrument is correctly graduated, every ten cubic centimetres of water at 60·8° F. must weigh 9·990 grammes.

=BURG'LARIES.= The common precautions of locks and bolts, alarum-bells and fire-arms, are frequently found useless in preserving houses from burglars; but a light in the upper part of the house, or a small dog on the ground-floor, with the means of running into a place of safety from its enemies, has been seldom known to fail. A combination of the two would undoubtedly be doubly effective. The bark of the dog and the fear of detection by the approach of the light would deter the majority of rogues of common pluck and feeling. A dog out of doors, and consequently accessible, however large and fierce, is easily pacified or silenced by men of the class referred to.

=BURLS, REMOVAL OF, from Cloth and Wool.= Introduce the wool or the woollen goods into 100 litres of sulphuric acid at 6° B., in which 500 grams of alum and 250 grams of salt have been dissolved. Work in this bath for one or two hours, drain in the centrifugal, and hang up at 100° to 120°. Wash for an hour and a half in clear water, treat for two hours with fuller's earth, soda and lime, and wash again for two hours. Sulphuric acid is adapted only for whites and indigo blues. For coloured goods solutions of chloride of tin, and chloride of manganese at 6° B., are recommended.

=BURNS[234] and Scalds.[235]= _Treatm._ When the injury is superficial and slight, a little creosote may be applied to the part. If a scald, the vesicle should be first pierced with a needle, or what is better, snipped with a pair of scissors, and the water which it contains should be then gently squeezed out. When creosote is not procurable, a liniment formed of equal parts of soft soap, basilicon ointment, oil of turpentine, and water, may be used instead. When the part feels very hot and painful, a poultice may be applied, on the surface of which a few drops of creosote, or of the liniment, should be spread with a knife. This treatment will generally succeed in allaying the pain. It may be followed by a dressing of zinc ointment, or any other like simple emollient or unctuous preparation. Creosote, contrary to what is commonly asserted, produces scarcely any smarting or pain; whilst it rapidly removes the burning sensation, and the charred surface soon assumes a dry scabby appearance, which, by dressing with simple ointment, soon comes off and leaves the part beneath in a sound and healthy state. If a poultice be applied it is best to keep it on until the next day. Plunging the part into very cold water immediately after the receipt of an injury of this kind will frequently prevent any further remedy being required. Flexible collodion painted over a burn forms a good protective envelope. In all cases cooling laxatives should be administered; and the diet should be rather low until the inflammatory symptoms subside.

[Footnote 234: BURN, s. sing.; AMBUS'TIO, L. BRÛLURE, Fr.; BRAND, BRANDMAHL, Ger.]

[Footnote 235: See SCALDS (under _S_).]

_Treatment for Animals._ Carbolic dressing, exclusion of air, cotton wool, linseed oil and lime water.

=BURNING-GLASS.= See LENS.

=BUTEA FRONDOSA=, _Roxb._ (Ind. Ph.) _Syn._ BENGAL KINO TREE. _Habitat._ Common all over India.--_Officinal part._ The inspissated juice obtained from the stem by incision (_Buteæ Gummi_, _Kino Bengalensis_, _Bengal kino_). It occurs in the form of irregular shining fragments, seldom as large as a pea; more or less mixed with adherent pieces of greyish bark; of an intense ruby colour and astringent taste; soluble, but not freely so, in water and in alcohol. Its astringency is due to the presence of tannic and gallic acids.--_Prop. & Uses._ Similar to those of kino, for which it has been found an efficient substitute.--_Prep._ Same as those of kino.

=BUTTER.= [Eng., Ger.] _Syn._ BUTY'RUM, L.; BEURRE, Fr.; BUTER, BUTERA, Sax. The fatty matter obtained from cream by churning it.