Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 80

The following are the temperatures, &c., of this bath:[119]--

[Footnote 119: The temperatures of baths given here, and previously are those now generally adopted in the profession. See Dr Forbes's 'Cycl. of Prac. Med.,' vol. i, 265; Pereira's 'Mat. Med.,' i, 17; &c.]

-----------------+----------------------------- Temperature of Vapour, Fahr.

+-------------+--------------- Breathed. Not breathed.

Tepid vapour bath 90 to 100 96 to 106 Warm " " 100 " 110 106 " 120 Hot " " 110 " 130 120 " 160 -----------------+-------------+---------------

_Uses, &c._ It is one of the most powerful diaph.o.r.etics known, and is almost specific in nearly all those cases wherein warm or hot bathing proves advantageous. It is one of the most certain agents existing in cases of chronic rheumatism, contracted muscles and tendons, stiffness of joints, indurations, dysentery, diarrha, suppressions, &c. Instances are numerous in which the lame have thrown aside their crutches and the bedridden have again mixed with the world after a few applications of this bath. It is no uncommon thing to hear a patient start and shriek with agony before entering the bath, and to receive his congratulations and thanks on his coming out. They often exclaim--"It is wonderful. I could not have believed it!"[120]

[Footnote 120: Culverwell 'On Baths and Bathing.']

=Bath, Warm.= _Syn._ BAL'NEUM CAL'IDUM, B. CALID'ULUM, B. THERMA'LE, THERM'A, &c. L., BAIN THERMAL, B. CHAUD, &c., Fr. A bath at a temperature equal, or nearly equal, to that of the human body.

The sensations attendant upon immersion in a warm bath are most delicious.

Its first effect is to increase the circulation of the blood, and to determine it to the skin. After a few minutes an agreeable and universal increase of heat is experienced; the face and head are generally soon bedewed with perspiration; a pleasing and prevailing calm, both mental and physical, follows; and after remaining in it some 12 or 15 minutes the effect is of the most refres.h.i.+ng and happy character.

The idea that the warm bath is relaxing is erroneous. It is only so where persons remain in it too long, or take it too frequently. Nor are those who indulge in it more liable to take cold than others. On the contrary, they are less liable, unless they wilfully expose themselves, insufficiently clad (particularly about the neck and chest), to draughts of cold air.[121]

[Footnote 121: We have been for many years accustomed to take baths at 98 to 100 Fahr., in all weathers and seasons, even during our severest winter, and on leaving the bath have often been engaged, for hours, moving about in the open air, even until midnight, without 'catching cold,' or the slightest inconvenience. However, we do not recommend others to follow our practice without due care.]

As a remedial agent, the warm bath is adapted to general torpor of the system, liver and bowel complaints, hypochondriasis, hysterical affections, morbid suppressions, dryness of the skin, nearly all cutaneous and nervous diseases, chronic rheumatism, &c. As a tonic or stimulant after excessive fatigue, great mental excitement, or physical exertion, it is unequalled, and furnishes one of the most wholesome, and at the same time luxurious sources of refreshment we are acquainted with. "To those who are past the meridian of life, who have dry skins and begin to be emaciated, the warm bath for half an hour, twice a week, I believe to be eminently serviceable in r.e.t.a.r.ding the advances of age." (Darwin.) The healthy longevity of the late Duke of Wellington, after a period of exposure and trials equal to the entire life of many individuals, has been by some, and we think correctly, mainly attributed to the free and constant use of the warm bath. A warm bath frequently gives great relief to infants suffering from griping or flatulence. See BATH (_ante_), &c.

=Bath, Wa'ter.= _Syn._ BAL'NEUM A'QUae, B. AQUO'SUM, B. MA"RIae, B.

MA"RIS, L.; BAINMARIE, Fr. A water bath; in _chemistry_ and _cookery_, applied to a bath of hot or boiling water. See BATH (in _chemistry_), BAINMARIE, &c.

=BATH'ING= (bathe-). See BATH.

=BATH METAL.= A species of bra.s.s having the following composition:--

1. Zinc, 3 _parts_; copper, 16 _parts_; melted together under charcoal.

2. Fine bra.s.s, 32 _parts_; spelter, 9 _parts_. See BRa.s.s and ALLOYS.

=BATH PIPE.= See PIPES.

=BATH, VICHY= (ARTIFICIAL). Bicarbonate of soda, 17 _oz._; water, 60 _galls._

=BATHS= and =WASH'HOUSES=. See BATH.

=BATTER.= Ingredients beaten together so as to form a semi-fluid ma.s.s. In _cookery_, a semi-fluid paste, which becomes hard in dressing, formed of flour, and milk or water, or a mixture of them, enriched and flavoured with eggs, b.u.t.ter, and (frequently) spices, currants, &c., at will. Used for frying vegetables, fillets, &c., and as a material for fritters and pancakes; also to form puddings, which are either baked alone, or under meat; and to cover various articles during the operation of cooking them.

Miss Acton gives the following formulae:--1. (For the Frying-pan.) b.u.t.ter, 2 _oz._; boiling water (nearly) 1/4 pint; mix, and stir in, gradually, of cold water, 3/4 pint; when quite smooth, mix it by degrees, very smoothly with fine dry flour, 3/4 _lb._; adding (for fruit) a small pinch of salt (but more for meat or vegetables); just before use, stir in the whites of two eggs (or the white and yelk of one), and fry until light and crisp. In humble cookery the eggs may be omitted.

2. (For Puddings.) Eggs (yelk and white), about 4 in no.; flour, 1/2 _lb._; milk, q. s.

_Obs._ When fruit, &c., are added, the batter must be made thicker than when none is used, to prevent it sinking. When sufficiently dressed it should cut smoothly and not stick to the knife. Eggs increase its firmness.

=BATT'ERY.= In _frictional electricity_, a series of Leyden jars so arranged as to admit of being charged and discharged together. See ELECTRICITY, &c.

=Battery.= In _electro-chemistry_, _galvanism_, &c., a pair, or series of pairs, of 'excited' metallic plates, so arranged as to act in unison, producing an electrical current by chemical decomposition.

=BAUME= (Baume). See AREOMETER.

=Baume Nerval.= See OINTMENTS.

=BAUXITE.= A ferruginous aluminic hydrate containing 554 per cent. of alumina and 445 of ferric oxide. It is met with in roundish ma.s.ses in the crystalline limestone of Baux (hence its name) near Arles, in France.

Bauxite is one of the sources of alum.

=BAY.= See SWEET BAY.

=BAY ESSENCE.= BAY RUM. This compound, which is largely employed as a perfume in America, and is one of the articles of the United States'

Pharmacopia, is, when genuine, imported from the West Indies, where it is said to be prepared by distilling rum, with the leaves of the bayberry tree. More than three fourths, however, of the bay rum consumed is undoubtedly an imitation of the imported essence, and is a mechanical mixture of the volatile oil of the bayberry tree, rum, and spirit; sometimes with the addition of aromatic spices and various colouring matters. The volatile oil from which this last preparation is made is frequently adulterated to a large extent.

Mr Rother, an American chemist, states that in one sample alone he found about fifty per cent. of fixed oil. The imported rum is far superior in point of fragrance to the artificial. When mixed with water the genuine essence remains clear, whilst the imitation almost always becomes turbid or milky.

Mr Rother finds the following formula to yield a satisfactory product, and one much stronger in aroma than the imported perfume:

Oil of bayberry tree 1 fl. oz. and m_{l} xx.

Jamaica rum 1 pint } Strong alcohol 4 pints } o.m.

Water 3 " }

Mix the rum, alcohol, and water, then add the oil; mix, and filter.

=Bay Rum.= One of the highly valued American head-washes, pleasant in use, cooling and cleansing, and promoting the growth of the hair. It is prepared by distilling rum from the leaves of _Myrica acris_ (called "Bayberry" in America).

=BDEL'LIUM= (del'-yum). The commercial name of two gum-resins:--

=Bdellium, Af'rican.= _Syn._ BDELLIUM, AFRICA'NUM, L. From the _heudola'tia africa'na_ (Guillem.), a terebinthaceous tree, of Senegal.

=Bdellium, In'dian.= _Syn._ IN'DIAN MYRRH, FALSE M.; BDELLIUM (of Scripture); BDELLIUM IN'DIc.u.m, L. From _am'y??ris commiph'ora_ (Roxb.), or _balsamoden'dron Roxbur'gii_, a terebinthaceous tree of India.

_Prop., &c._ Once considered slightly deobstruent; sometimes used as a pectoral and emmenagogue, and, externally, as a stimulant and suppurative.

It is now seldom met with in this country.

=BDELLOM'ETER= (del-). _Syn._ MECHAN'ICAL LEECH; BDELLOM'ETRUM, L.; BDELLOMeTRE, Fr. In _surgery_, a contrivance combining the principle of the cupping-gla.s.s, scarificator, and exhausting-syringe in one small instrument.

=BEACH'S (Dr) Specific against Hemorrhoids and Stomach Complaints of all kinds.= A tin box containing about 160 grammes of a fine sulphur-yellow powder, and imbedded in it a vial with 40 grammes of a brown clear fluid.

The powder is a mixture of 7 parts of washed flowers of sulphur, 2-1/2 parts cream of tartar, 1/6 part of an inferior kind of rhubarb, finely powdered. The drops consist of a solution of brown sugar in strong spirit, with traces of various ethers. (Hager.)

=BEAD= (bede). _Syn._ GLOB'ULUS, SPHaeR'ULA, &c., L.; GRAIN (de collier), &c., Fr.; BETHE, PERLE, &c., Ger. A little ball or spheroid pierced for stringing; any very small globular body; a bubble ( or tech.). A number of the first mounted on a thread or ribbon form a 'string of beads' or 'chaplet.'

_Materials, Manufac., &c._ Beads are often formed of coral, gems, jet, pearls, porcelain, rock-crystal, &c.; but much more frequently of white and coloured gla.s.s. The mode in which these last are produced is as follows:--Gla.s.s tubes, appropriately ornamented by colour, reticulation, &c., are drawn out in various sizes, and from 100 to 200 feet in length.

These tubes are cut into two-feet lengths, and then, by means of a steel knife, divided into pieces having, as nearly as possible, the same length as diameter. The resulting small fragments or cylinders are next well stirred with a mixture of sand and wood ashes, in order to prevent the closure of the perforations and their adhering together during the subsequent part of the process. They are then placed in a revolving cylinder and gradually heated until they become sufficiently spherical.

They are next sifted from the sand and ashes, sorted into sizes, first by means of sieves, and afterwards by hand, and are lastly either put up in weighed parcels or strung by women and children for the market.

The manufacture of coral, gems, jet, and minerals generally, into beads, belongs to the lapidary.

_Uses._ Chiefly to form necklaces, bracelets, and other articles of personal ornament; by milliners to decorate head-dresses, &c.; and for other like purposes. They are also employed among Catholic and Mohammedan nations for devotional purposes; and among savage tribes in lieu of money.

They are still sometimes worn as amulets. See BUGLE, CORAL, GLa.s.s, PASTE, PEARLS, &c.