BROOM. The common name of the plant spar′tium scopa′′rium. A useful diuretic; of great service in dropsy. See Decoction.
Broom Ashes. From broom-stalks burnt. Formerly used as a diuretic in dropsy.
Broom, Salt of. Obtained by dissolving broom ashes in water, and filtering and evaporating the solution. It consists principally of carbonate of potassa. It was formerly used in dropsy, and as an antacid, &c.
BROSSÉ DE CORAIL. [Fr.] The root of lucerne (medicago sativa), cleaned, dried, and hammered at the end. Used as a tooth-brush.
BROTH. Syn. Jus (coctis carnibus), Jus′culum, L.; Bouillon, Jus, Fr.; Fleischbrühe, Ger. In cookery, the liquor in which flesh has been boiled. Broth is distinguished from soup by its inferior strength and quantity of seasoning, &c. It contains much of the nutriment of the meat. We extract the following from Dr Letheby’s work ‘On Food’:—
“A nutritious broth, containing the albumen of the meat or chicken, may be obtained by infusing a third of a pound of minced meat or chicken in 14 oz. of cold water, to which a few drops (4 or 5) of muriatic acid and a little salt (from 10 to 18 grains) have been added. After digesting for an hour or so, it should be strained through a sieve, and the residue washed with five ounces of water, and pressed, The mixed liquids thus obtained will furnish about a pint of cold extract of meat, containing the whole of the soluble constituents of the meat (albumen, creatin, creatinin, &c.), and it may be drunk cold, or slightly warmed, the temperature not being raised above 100° F., for fear of coagulating the albumen.”
Broth, Scotch. This, which is in very general use amongst the middle and working classes of Scotland, is made as follows:—Put into a pot three quarts of cold water along with a cupful of Scotch barley, and let it boil; add two pounds of neck of mutton. Allow it to stew gently for an hour, skimming occasionally. Then add turnips cut in squares, and onions sliced, and carrots and turnips uncut. The half of a small cabbage chopped in moderately fine pieces may be put in instead of all these vegetables; and leeks may be used instead of onions. Stew the whole for an hour longer. The broth is now ready. Season with salt and serve in a tureen. The meat is served in a separate dish, with the uncut pieces of turnip and carrot and a little of the broth as gravy. Any meat may be employed in the same way. Broths and soups contain the greater part of the saline matter of the meat, the crystalline principles, viz. creatin and creatinin, some of the albumen and fat, and an amount of gelatin, dependent upon the duration of the boiling process. They also contain nearly all the odorous matters of the meat. Cold water extracts from one sixth to one fourth of the solid ingredients of meat. The presence of a large quantity of highly nitrogenous crystalline principles in broths and soups accounts for their restorative powers. These, which are the creatin and creatinin, bear a close resemblance to the thein of tea and coffee, and the theobrominæ of cocoa, in their physiological effects.
Broth is contra-indicated for children at the breast, as it not unfrequently induces sickness, disorders the bowels, and induces fever. The same applies to beef tea. When, however, broth and beef tea are used as clysters in such quantities that can be retained, they act most beneficially. See Boiling, Soup, &c.
BROWN DYE. Every shade of brown may be produced, almost at will, by mixtures of reds and yellows with blues and blacks; or directly by simple dyes. The following are examples:—
a. For Cotton:—