Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 101

Boils (_furun'culi_) generally attack the healthy and robust during the period of youth and early manhood, and seldom trouble persons who have arrived at the middle age of life.

_Treatm., &c._ When boils begin to appear, and exhibit persistency by daily enlargement and increasing pain, suppuration should be promoted by warm poultices of bread and linseed-meal, to which a little fat or oil may be added, to prevent their getting hard. If poultices are inconvenient, warm and stimulating embrocations, or exposure to the vapour of hot water, or the application of stimulating plasters, may be adopted instead. When the tumour is sufficiently 'ripe,' the matter should be evacuated by gentle pressure, and the wound dressed with a little simple ointment spread on a piece of clean lint or linen. The diet may be full and liberal until the maturation of the tumour and the discharge of the matter, when it should be lessened, and the bowels kept gently open by saline purgatives, as Epsom-salt or cream of tartar. When there is a disposition in the const.i.tution to the formation of boils, the bowels should be kept at all times regular, and tonics, as bark or steel, had recourse to, with the frequent use of sea-bathing when possible. An occasional dose of the Abernethy medicines (which _see_) also often prevents their recurrence. A course of sarsaparilla may be likewise taken with advantage. See ABSCESS, TUMOURS, &c.

Dr Sydney Ringer prescribes a 1/16th grain of sulphide of sodium, mixed with sugar of milk, three or four times a day on the tongue; but this should only be administered under medical supervision.

_Treatment_ for HORSES and CATTLE.--Fomentations; poultices containing belladonna, cold water, carbolic acid dressing, counter-irritants, laxatives, sulphites, and chlorates.

=BOIL'ERS.= See INCRUSTATION and STEAM.

=BOIL'ING.= In _cookery_, the operation of dressing food in water at the point of ebullition, or one very closely approaching it. The practice of cooking animal food by boiling, although exceedingly simple, and often most convenient, is neither judicious nor economical when the broth or liquid in which it has been dressed is to be rejected as waste; as in this way the most nutritious portion of the flesh of animals, consisting of soluble saline and other matter required for the formation of bone, and the nutrition of the muscular tissues, &c., is to a great extent lost.

This particularly applies to small pieces so dressed, and to those presenting a large surface to the action of the water in proportion to their weight. Large pieces of meat suffer less in proportion than smaller ones, for the same reason; but even with them the outside should be rejected, as it is both insipid and innutritious compared with the interior portion. To reduce the solvent and deteriorating action of the water to the lowest possible point, the articles to be boiled should not be put into the water until it is in a state of full ebullition, which should be maintained for 5 or 6 minutes afterwards, by which time the surface and the parts lying immediately beneath it will have become, to a certain degree, hardened, and will then act as a protective shield to the inner portion of the ma.s.s. The boiling being continued for 5 or 6 minutes cold water is added, until the temperature becomes about 150 F., and the cooking of the joint is carried on at this heat until the meat is done: meat loses nearly a fourth of its weight in boiling, salt meat, which is intended to be eaten cold, should be allowed to cool in the water in which it has been boiled. The practice of dressing meat by putting it into cold water, which is then gradually raised to the boiling-point, cannot be too much censured. A 1/4 of an hour per lb. for dressing young meat, poultry, and small pieces, and 20 minutes per lb. for old, tough, and larger ones are the usual times allowed by cooks for the purpose. See BOUILLI, FOOD, &c.

=BOIL'ING-POINT.= See EBULLITION.

=BOIS DURCE= (bwah dur-sa). [Fr.] The substance invented in France, and to which this name is given, is made from sawdust, which, under the influence of a high temperature and the enormous pressure of 600 tons, acquires a degree of hardness very much exceeding that of ordinary wood. It has a very fine grain, and is unaffected by atmospherical variations; but its princ.i.p.al merit is its adaptation to moulding, so that by the most economical processes forms and impressions are given to it which it would require, in any other way, considerable labour and workmanship.

=BOLAS.= Sweet light cakes which, according to Mrs Rundell, are prepared as follows:--Into flour, 2 lbs., pour of warm milk, 3/4 pint, a small teacupful of yeast, and 6 eggs; make a dough, add of b.u.t.ter 1 lb. (by degrees), and set it in a warm place to rise for an hour; then mix in of powdered sugar 1 lb.; and make the ma.s.s into cakes; put these into cups or tins previously well b.u.t.tered, and ornament the top with candied orange or lemon peel; lastly bake them. See CAKES.

=BOLDO= (nat. ord. Monimiaceae). A shrub growing in the Chilian Andes. The bark is used in tanning, and the wood makes a good charcoal. It is reported to be useful in affections of the liver and digestive organs. It has been employed as a tonic in cases where quinine is inadmissible. In large doses it provokes vomiting. The powder of the dried leaves is a sternutatory. See a paper by M. Claude Verne, translated into the 'Pharm.

Journ.,' 3rd series, v, 405.

=BOLE.= _Syn._ BO'LUS, L.; TERRE BOLAIRE, &c., Fr. The name of several argillaceous minerals, varying in colour from white to yellow, red, and brown, which they owe chiefly to iron. See OCHRES and RED and BROWN PIGMENTS.

=BOLOG"NA PHI'AL= (-lawn'-ya). See PHIALS.

=BO'LUS=, [L., Eng.] _Syn._ BOL, Fr. Boluses, in _pharmacy_ and _medicine_, are small, roundish ma.s.ses of medicinal substances, which are taken in the same manner as pills, which they resemble, except in their larger size. Those persons who object to swallowing them in their common state may wrap them in soft paper, or introduce them into the emptied husks of raisins or grapes.

Boluses (bo'li, L.) are prepared with the same ingredients, and in a similar manner to pills (which _see_).

=Bolus, Guaiac.u.m= (HORNE). Guaiac.u.m resin 1/2 drachm, elder rob, enough to make into a bolus. Formerly given in quinsy.

=Bolus for Ague.= (The _bolus ad quartanum_ of the French Hospital).

Peruvian bark 1 ounce; carbonate of potash 1 drachm; tartarised antimony 15 grains; syrup, a sufficient quant.i.ty, one to be taken every four hours during the intermission.

=Bolus, Vermifuge= (Dr Campbell). Basilie powder one scruple, conserve of wormwood, a sufficient quant.i.ty to make into one bolus for an adult.

(FOY.) Powdered pomegranate root 1 drachm, a.s.saftida half a drachm, croton oil 3 or 4 drops, syrup sufficient. Divide into 15 boluses; 5 daily for tapeworm. (FRENCH HOSPITAL.) Wormseed 1 scruple, calomel 5 grains, camphor 15 grains, syrup sufficient. Make into 3 doses; one, two, or three in the day.

=BON'-BON= (bon_g_'-bon_g_). [Fr.] A sugarplum. See CONFECTIONERY and SUGARPLUMS.

=BONBONS VERMIFUGES OF GAROZ.= A bonbon containing 15 centigrammes of scammony, and 2 centigrammes of santonin. (Reveil.)

=BONE.= _Syn._ Os, L., Fr.; BEIN, KNOCHEN, Ger.; BaN, Sax. The hard substance forming the interior skeleton of animals, or any single part of it.

_Comp._ According to Berzelius:--

Human bones. Ox bones.

Animal matter soluble in boiling water 3217} 3330

Vascular substance 113}

Phosphate of calcium, with a little fluoride of calcium 5304 5735

Carbonate of calcium 1130 385

Phosphate of magnesium 116 205

Chloride of sodium and other salts 120 345 -------- -------- 100 100

The soluble animal matter is chiefly fat and gelatin.

_Uses, &c._ The bones of animals are employed for various purposes in the arts, manufactures, and domestic economy. Those of good meat form most excellent materials for making soups and gravies, as is well known to every cook. In France, soup is extensively made by subjecting bruised bones to a steam heat of 2 or 3 days' continuance. In England the same is commonly effected in an iron Papin's digester. When the earthy matter of a bone is dissolved out by digesting it in a large quant.i.ty of very dilute hydrochloric acid, a lump of gelatine is obtained, which, after being well washed with water, is equal to isingla.s.s for all the purposes of making soups and jellies. The following is the process recommended by Proust for making the best of bones, in hospitals, gaols, and similar establishments:--

The bones, crushed small, are to be boiled for 15 minutes in a kettle of water, and the fat (which is fit for all common purposes) skimmed off as soon as cold. The bones are then to be ground, and boiled in 8 to 10 times their weight of water (of which that already used must form a part), until half of it is wasted, when a very nutritious jelly will be obtained. Iron vessels should alone be used in this process, as the jelly and soup act upon copper, bra.s.s, and the other common metals. The bones of fresh meat are the most productive; those of boiled meat come next, whilst those of roasted meat scarcely afford any jelly. As 'boning' meat before cooking is now a very general practice, a quant.i.ty of fresh bones may always be obtained.

Bones are, for the most part, WROUGHT, TURNED, BLEACHED, and DYED in a similar manner to ivory, but with less care, owing to their inexpensive and coa.r.s.er character. Before being submitted to any of these operations they are, however, first submitted to long boiling, to deprive them of grease.

The bones of living animals may be dyed by mixing madder with their food.

The bones of young pigeons may thus be tinged of a rose colour in 24 hours, and of a deep scarlet in 3 days; but the bones of adult animals take a fortnight to acquire even a rose colour. The bones nearest the heart become tinged the soonest. In the same way extract of logwood tinges the bones of young pigeons purple. See BLEACHING, DYEING, IVORY, &c.

In all manufacturing processes in which bones are operated upon, foul vapours, unless special precautions are observed, will be thrown off, to the great annoyance and discomfort of those living near the building where the operations are performed.

To avoid this the offensive vapours should always be carried by a flue made for the purpose into the furnace-fire, and there consumed. But this will not remedy another source of annoyance which arises from the disgusting stench caused by the putrefaction of the flesh adhering to the bones, which lie in heaps about the premises.

The trade of a bone-boiler comes under the head of offensive trades (see 'Public Health Acts,' s. 112-114), and is under the control and regulation of an urban sanitary authority, which has also the power of preventing the bone-boiling being carried on within its district if it thinks proper.

=BONE'-ASH.= Impure triphosphate of calcium, obtained by calcining bones to whiteness, and reducing the ash to fine powder. Used to make pure phosphate of calcium, to form cupels, &c.; also sold for burnt hartshorn.

=BONE'-DUST.= _Syn._ BONE-MANURE. Bones (previously boiled for their grease) ground to different degrees of coa.r.s.eness, in a mill. It is sown along with the seed in a drill. Wheat thus treated is said to yield 30 to 50 per cent, more weight in straw and grain than by the common methods.

Turnip and other light soils it renders more than ordinarily productive.

Bone manure is much used in the west of Yorkshire, Holderness, and Lincolnshire. The usual quant.i.ty per acre is 70 bushels, when used alone; but when mixed with ashes or other common manure, 30 bushels per acre is said to be enough. When coa.r.s.e, and applied in the same manner as other manures, it has been found to remain upwards of seven years in the ground, the productiveness of which it has increased during the whole time.

=BONE'-GLUE.= See GELATIN.

=BONE'-GREASE.= From refuse bones, bruised, boiled in water, and the broth skimmed when cold. _Prod._ 1/8th to 1/4th of the weight of the dry bones.

(Proust.) Used for making soap and candles. See CHARCOAL, ANIMAL.

=BONE'-PHOSPHATE.= See TRIBASIC PHOSPHATE OF LIME.

=BONE'-SHAVINGS.= _Syn._ BONE'-DUST (Turners'), BONE-TURNINGS. This, by boiling with water, yields a beautiful jelly, which is nearly equal to that produced from hartshorn and ivory shavings, for which it is very frequently sold. Used to make jellies and blancmanges, to stiffen straw bonnets, &c.

=BONE-SPAVIN.= A bony enlargement on the antero-internal parts of the hock in horses. In recent cases it is best to apply cold applications, but in protracted and chronic cases, hot fomentations will be found best. In case of these failing, recourse should be had to blistering or firing, or if need be to a seton.

=BOOK'BINDING= (-bind-). Although a full description of the various operations of this well-known art, or handicraft, does not properly fall within the province of this work, a brief notice of them will probably, in many cases, prove useful to the amateur and the emigrant:--

The process of binding books is divided into several distinct operations, which, in large establishments, are usually performed by different persons; such a method being found to produce greater expedition, and better work, than when the whole is done by one person.

The sheets received from the hands of the printer are--