[For further information in connection with the above subject the reader is referred to the ‘articles’ Aneroid, Atmosphere, Gas, Heights, Steam, Storm-glass, Vapour, Weather, &c.]
BAR′OSCOPE† (-skōpe). [Eng., Fr.] Syn. Barosco′pium, L. A barometer; sometimes applied to the wheel-barometer of Hooke.
BAR′RAS. The concrete resinous exudation from the bark of fir-trees. That from pi′nus marit′ima is called GALIPOT.
BARSE. [Provincial.] The common perch.
BAR′WOOD. A red dye-wood imported from Angola and other parts of Africa. It closely resembles cam-wood and sanders-wood in its colouring matter being of a resinous nature, and scarcely soluble in water. In dyeing this difficulty is obviated by taking advantage of the strong affinity existing between it and the proto-salts of tin and iron. Thus, by strongly impregnating the goods with protochloride of tin, either with or without the addition of sumach, according to the shade of red desired, and then putting them into a boiling bath containing the rasped wood, the colour is rapidly given out and taken up, until the whole of the tin in the fibres of the cloth is saturated, and the goods become of a rich bright hue. In like manner the dark red of bandana handkerchiefs is commonly given by a mordant of acetate of iron followed by a boiling bath of this dye-stuff. See Dyeing, Mordants, &c.
BASALT′ (bă-sŏlt′). [Eng., Ger.] Syn. Basal′tes (-săl′-tēz), L.; Basalte, Fr. In geology, &c., a species of trap-rock, essentially composed of the minerals felspar and augite. It is of a fine compact texture, of a dark-green, grey, or black colour, and usually occurs in regular columns, of which the Giants’ Causeway and the Island of Staffa furnish magnificent examples. It is fusible; and when rapidly cooled forms a dark brittle glass; but when slowly cooled retains its original beauty and hardness almost unimpaired. Messrs Chance, Brothers, of Birmingham, have availed themselves of this property to apply it to decorative and ornamental purposes. Their process is to melt the material[110] in a reverberatory
furnace, and, when sufficiently fluid, to pour it into red-hot moulds of sand encased in iron boxes. The corresponding adj. is BASALT′IC (-sōlt′-; BASAL′TICUS, -săl′-, L.; BASALTIQUE, Fr.).
[110] Rowley-rag is used by the Messrs C.; as beside ordinary basalt, greenstone, whinstone, and other similar minerals, possess the same property.
BASE. [Eng., Fr.] Syn. Ba′sis (pl., ba′ses), L., Gr.; Grund, Grundfläche, Ger. In chemistry it was formerly, and is now occasionally, applied to metallic oxides which possess the property of forming salts with acids. The alkaloids are also designated organic bases. In pharmacy, the characteristic or principal ingredient in any medicine or compound preparation; or that on which its qualities or efficacy depends.
BAS′IL (-băz′-). Syn. Sweet bas′il, Cit′ron b.; Basil′icum, L.; Basilic, Fr.; Basilikum, Ger. The oc′ymum (ŏs′-) basil′icum (Linn.), an annual aromatic herbaceous plant, of the nat. ord. Labiatæ (DC.). It is a native of India, but is largely cultivated in every part of Europe as a pot-herb. Leaves strong-scented; popularly reputed emmenagogue; much used to flavour salads, soups, &c., especially in French cookery. Mock-turtle soup derives its peculiar flavour from this herb; as also did the original Fetter-lane sausages, once so highly esteemed by cockney gourmands. In India it is commonly employed as an anodyne in childbirth.