Butyrate of Barium. Prep. Saponify butter with a boiling solution of caustic alkali, and decompose the resulting soap by adding a solution of tartaric acid; filter and distil; neutralise the distillate with hydrate of barium, and evaporate; the first crystals that form are caprate of barium; the next, caproate of barium; and the last, butyrate of barium. This salt is very soluble in water, and hence is easily separated from the others.—Use. Chiefly for making butyric acid.
BUTYRIC (-tĭr′-). Syn. Butyr′icus, L.; Butyrique, Fr. Of or from butter.
BUTYRIC ACID. HC4H7O2. Syn. Acidum Buty̆̆r′icum, L.; Acide butyrique, Fr.; Buttersäure, Ger. An oily acid, first obtained by Chevreul from butter.
Prep. From butyrate of barium or magnesium, by adding sulphuric acid in quantity not quite sufficient to decompose the whole of the salt; the clear liquid, filtered and distilled, yields butyric acid, from which the water may be removed by digestion with chloride of calcium.
Prop. A thin colourless liquid, of pungent rancid odour, and sour taste, miscible with water and alcohol. It boils and distils unchanged at 327° Fahr. Sp. gr. ·963. See Ethers.
BU′TYRIN (-in). [Eng., Fr.] An oily substance existing in butter, and of which it forms the characteristic portion. It was discovered by Chevreul.
Prep. Keep clarified butter in a porcelain vessel, at a heat of 66°, for some days; carefully collect the oily portion which separates, mix it with an equal weight of alcohol of the sp. gr. ·796, and agitate it frequently for 24 hours; after repose pour off the clear portion, and evaporate it; treat the oily residuum with a little carbonate of magnesium, to remove free acid, and wash off the butyrate of magnesium, thus formed, with water; lastly, heat the remaining fatty matter in alcohol, filter, and evaporate, by a gentle heat; the residuum is butyrin.
BUXINE (-ĭn). A substance detected by M. Faure in bux′us semper′virens, or the common box-tree.
CABBAGE. Syn. Bras′sica, L.; Chou, Fr.; Kohl, Ger. This common esculent, and all its numerous varieties, are merely cultivated specimens of the wild sea-cabbage of our coasts (bras′sica olera′cea, Linn.), one of an extensive and valuable genus of plants belonging to the nat. ord. Cruciferæ. After the potato, the cabbage is doubtless more extensively used by the masses of the people than any other fresh vegetable. When young, and properly dressed, it forms an agreeable and wholesome addition to animal food, the grossness of which, it is said, it tends to correct. It should be eaten only when fresh gathered and fresh cooked; and the unconsumed portion, as well as the water in which it has been boiled, should be at once thrown away. Persons troubled with a weak digestion, or who have a tendency to flatulence, diarrhœa, or worms, would do well to avoid them. Their use is particularly serviceable in scurvy, and in numerous skin diseases.