only when the boiler is kept hot by a large fire that this is found to answer. Sometimes a boiler is placed behind the fire-place in the dressing-room; but this is objectionable, from the escape of steam which sometimes takes place, and from danger of the flues becoming choked with soot and taking fire. Another and safer method is the following:-"A wagonshaped boiler, holding about six gallons of water, is properly placed over a small furnace, in any convenient and safe part of the house, as the kitchen, scullery, servants'-hall, or wash-house. The bath itself, of the usual dimensions and construction, is placed where it is wanted, with a due supply of cold water from above. Two pipes issue from within an inch of the bottom of the bath, at its opposite extremities: one at the head of the bath, about one inch, and the other at the foot, an inch and one-eighth in diameter. These tubes descend to the boiler, the smaller one entering it at the bottom, and the larger one issuing from its top. Under these circumstances, supposing the pipes and boiler everywhere perfectly tight, when the bath is filled, the water will descend into, and expel | the air from, the boiler, and completely fill it. Now, upon making a gentle fire under the boiler, an asscending current of warm water will necessarily pass upwards through the larger pipe which issues from its top, and cold water will descend by the pipe which enters at the bottom; and thus, by the establishment of currents, the whole mass of water in the bath will become heated to the desired point, or, if above it, the temperature may easily be lowered by the admixture of cold water." The quantity of fuel required for this kind of bath is very small, as is the time occupied in heating it; but two or three things have to be observed in using it. As soon as the water is sufficiently hot, the fire should be put out, or there may be an unpleasant increase of heat while the person is in the bath. Care should also be taken never to make so fierce a fire under the boiler as to cause the water in it to boil; for, in this case, the steam rising to the top, and condensing in the pipe, occasions violent concussions, which are very apt to injure the pipes, while they also cause alarm to the inmates of the house.

Baths are sometimes heated by steam; but this is more suitable for public than private establishments. Tinned iron or copper baths are also sometimes constructed with an outer case, in which water flows, and is made hot from a furnace at one end, thus heating the whole mass within the bath. The simplest of all contrivances for large establishments is that first alluded to, and which may be employed on a very large scale. A large boiler connected with the cistern, placed above the level of the baths, affords the means of drawing hot water in any quantity directly into the baths. Hot water should enter the bath by a pipe of 11⁄2 inch diameter, and cold water the same; and every bath should have a 2 inch waste-pipe, opening about two inches from the top of the bath, so that when the person is immersed, or the pipes are inadvertently left open, there may be no danger of an overflow.

BATTEN. A Scantling of stuff from 2 to 6 inches broad, and from ths to 2 inches thick. Battens are used in walls to secure the laths over which the plaster is laid. Before fixing the battens, equidistant bond timbers are either built in the wall, or the wall is plugged in equidistant points. The plugs are generally placed at the distance of 1 foot or 14 inches from centre to centre in the length of the batten. Battens upon exterior walls, quarters in partition walls, the ceiling and bridging joists of a naked floor, also the common joists for supporting the boarding of a floor, are fixed at the same distance, namely, from 11 to 12 inches in the clear. When battens are fixed against flues, iron holdfasts are employed instead of bond timbers or plugs. When attached to a wall, they are generally fixed in vertical lines. Great care should be taken to regulate the faces of the battens, so as to be as nearly equidistant as possible from the intended surface of the plaster. The act of fixing battens to walls is called battening, but in floors it is called boarding. Every piece of masonry or brick work which is not sufficiently dry should be battened for lath and plaster. When the windows are boarded, and the walls of a room not sufficiently thick to contain the shutters, the surface of the plastering is brought out, so as to give the architrave a proper projection, and quarterings are used for supporting the lath and plaster instead of battens. The same is also done when the breast of a chimney projects into the room, in order to cover the recesses, and make the whole side flush, or all in the same surface with the breast.1

BAY-SALT. [See SALT.]

BEAM, in building, is a piece of timber or metal used for sustaining a weight or counteracting two equal and opposite forces, either drawing or compressing it in the direction of its length. When employed as a lintel, it supports a weight; when used as a tie-beam, it is drawn or extended; and, as a collarbeam, it is compressed. "The word beam is most frequently subjoined to another word, used adjectively, or in apposition, which shows the use, situation, or form of the beam: as tie-beam, collar-beam, dragonbeam, straining-beam, camber-beam, hammer-beam, binding-beam, girding-beam, truss-beam, summer-beam, &c. Some of these are also used simply, as collar, instead of collar-beam; lintel, instead of lintel-beam; girder, instead of girding-beam; summer, instead of summerbeam. Lintels and girders are almost constantly used simply, and bressummers and joists are never used in composition."—Nicholson..

BEAVER. [See HAT.]

BEER. At nearly all periods in the world's history, and among nearly all nations, the art of making a fermented drink from some kind of grain appears to have been known. Of all the cereals, barley is best adapted to the making of beer, and .it is curious to notice how early this experimental fact was discovered. Herodotus, who wrote about 450 years B. C., states that the Egyptians made their wine, as he calls it, from barley, because they had no vines. (1) Nicholson's Architectural Dictionary.

66

corides describes two kinds of beer made from barley. Tacitus states that, in his time, beer was the common drink of the Germans, as it is at the present day. Pliny says, that all the nations of the west of Europe make an intoxicating liquor of corn and water. The manner of making this liquor, is sometimes different in Gaul, Spain, and other countries, and is called by many various names; but its nature and properties are everywhere the same." Isidorus and Orosius, describe the mode of manufacture adopted by the ancient Britons and other Celtic nations:-" The grain is steeped in water and made to germinate, by which its spirits are excited and set at liberty; it is then dried and ground, after which, it is infused in a certain quantity of water; which being fermented, becomes a pleasant, warming, strengthening, and intoxicating liquor." A better definition of beer could scarcely be given at the present day.

The curious and even complicated processes of brewing, have thus been in operation during several thousand years, but it has only been within our own time that chemical science has enabled us to comprehend them. It will be seen by reference to the article BREAD, that most seeds contain a considerable portion of the well-known nutritive substance STARCH or fecula. When seeds begin to germinate, a peculiar azotised substance named diastase (from diorημ, I separate) is formed, which possesses the remarkable property of converting the starch into a fermentable sugar resembling cane-sugar, but not identical therewith. This change does not, however, immediately take place, for the starch is first changed into a gummy mucilaginous substance, largely soluble in water, named dextrine, from the action of its solution upon a ray of polarised light, in causing the plane of polarization to turn to the right, while a solution of common gum causes a deviation in the opposite direction. Dextrine does not ferment by the addition of yeast; but by the action of diastase, it is readily converted into starch sugar, which is fermentible.

Preparatory to the process of brewing, the barley is converted into malt by being made to germinate up to a certain point, at which the proportion of diastase is largest; the vitality of the young plant is then destroyed by heat. The operation of a high temperature also serves another useful purpose, for it has been found that when starch is carefully heated up to a point when vapour rises from it, it loses its gelatinous character and becomes converted into dextrine. In the kiln-drying of malt, a portion of the starch, therefore, undergoes this change. In the first process of brewing, namely, infusing or mashing the malt with hot water, the starch or dextrine of the grain is converted into sugar by the action of the diastase, the quantity of which, in malted barley, scarcely exceeds 1 part in 500. A solution of diastase has no remarkable action on most vegetable principles, but on starch it exerts a specific action, converting it first into dextrine and afterwards into

the action of diastase, takes place in gelatinous starch even at the freezing point of water; but the conversion into sugar is most powerful between 150° and 160°. At the boiling point of water, diastase ceases to act on starch. So powerful is the action of diastase at proper temperatures, that 1 part is said to be sufficient to saccharify 2000 parts of dry starch; but the larger the proportion of diastase the quicker the change. Thus, Messrs. Payen and Persoz, by the action of diastase, converted starch into dextrine or sugar according to the temperature of the mixture and the duration of the process. In a mixture of from 6 to 10 parts of pale malt, 100 of starch, and 400 of water, the starch was converted chiefly into dextrine, in from 20 to 30 minutes, at the temperature of 158°; but at the temperature of 167° the starch was almost entirely converted into sugar in the course of 2 or 3 hours.

These details throw great light upon the ancient arts of malting and brewing, and will, doubtless, assist the reader in following the practical details which we are now about to enter upon.

The principal substances concerned in the manufacture of beer are two; the one to form the sugar, and consequently the alcoholic portion of the liquor; the other to communicate a particular flavour, and also to assist in its preservation. The experience of mankind has led to the choice of barley for the first object and hops for the second. But instead of barley, any of the cereals, such as wheat, oats, maize, rice, &c., are fitted for the purpose, in consequence of the quantity of starch contained in them, and occasionally other vegetable bitters are substituted for hops.

There are two species of barley, Hordeum vulgare and Hordeum hexastichon. In the first or common barley, two seeds are arranged in a row on its spikes; and in the other, three seeds form a point, so that its double row has apparently six seeds. It is a hardy plant, better adapted to cold climates than common barley; it is largely cultivated in Scotland under the name of bear or big. The finest barley is grown in mild climates, and hence the barley of Norfolk and Suffolk has a denser and larger grain and a thinner husk than that of Scotland. When barley is converted into malt, a change takes place, which is represented in the following comparative analysis by Dr. Thomson. 100 parts of barley and 100 parts of malt contain respectively-

Hops are the seed pods of the female plants of the Humulus lupulus, a creeping plant of the family Urtices. It is cultivated in considerable quantities in Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire. The active part of the plant called lupulin, which is alone useful in making beer, is a yellow aromatic dust occurring at the base of the hop-flowers or cones. It consists of an essential oil, a resin, an azotised substance, sulphur, silica, chloride of calcium, sulphate and malate of potash, phosphate and carbonate of lime, and oxide of iron. This powdery secretion forms th of the weight of the flowers. It can be easily collected by drying the flowers at the temperature of about 86° and shaking them in a coarse canvass bag. Of the complicated analysis of this dust, the volatile essential oil, which forms 2 per cent. of the total weight of the hop, is the most essential part.

The cones are gathered before they are scarcely ripe, for which purpose the plants are cut about 3 feet from the ground, and the cones carefully picked off one by one. Those that are too zipe or defective,

and both kinds are carried to the kiln as soon as possible after they are picked. The heat of the kiln must be carefully regulated, to prevent the essential oil from being evaporated. The heat should not exceed 86° Fahr. In many cases the kiln has two floors, on the uppermost of which the greener hops are spread and gradually dried before they are subjected to the greater heat of the lower floor. Charcoal is the only kind of fuel which is found not to injure the flavour of the hops. They are considered sufficiently dry when they become crisp; but their brittleness is removed by allowing them to reabsorb a little moisture in the storehouse before being packed. 5lbs. of moist hops weigh only 1lb. when taken from the kiln. The good qualities of the hops can only be retained by excluding them from the air, for which purpose they are strongly compressed by means of a hydrostatic press, and packed in sacks of fine canvass called pockets, which weigh about 1 cwt. each. The stronger and darker coloured hops are packed in coarse canvass bags weighing about 3 cwt. The former are used chiefly by the ale brewer, and the latter by the porter and beer brewer.

The number of acres of hops in England, in 1848, was 49,232; the number of pounds weight charged with duty, was 44,343,985; 357,029 lbs. of British hops were exported, and 32,218 lbs. were imported and retained for home consumption. The Excise duty on British hops is 18s. 8d. per cwt. and 5 per cent. extra; the Customs duty on Foreign hops is 45s. per cwt.'

The conversion of barley into malt is generally a distinct occupation from that of brewing. It consists of four processes, namely, steeping, couching, flooring, and kiln-drying. In the first process the barley is thrown into a square cistern lined with stone, and sunk at one end of the malt barn, Fig. 105. It is placed as evenly as possible upon the floor of the cistern, and a quantity of water is let in sufficient to cover it. The water is often introduced before the barley, and it is customary to draw off this water and introduce fresh during the steeping, to prevent anything like fermentation. The law requires that

VOL. I.

the barley shall remain in the cistern at least 40 hours, but in cold weather a much longer period is often required.

During the steeping, the barley imbibes moisture and increases in bulk; it also evolves carbonic acid, nearly all of which remains in solution in the water; a portion of the husk or skin of the grain also becomes dissolved, thereby imparting a yellow colour and a particular odour to the water. The quantity of water absorbed by the grain depends upon the goodness of the barley, and the time employed in

(1) Companion to the Almanac. 1850.

steeping. Dr. Thomson states the general average | to be 0.47; or 100 lbs. of barley steeped the usual time, weigh, when taken out of the steep and dried, 147 lbs. English barley acquires more weight than Scotch barley, and this more than big. While the barley is in the steep cistern it is gauged by the exciseman, and the duty on the malt is levied by what is called the best gauge, or that which gives the greatest bulk of grain. Dr. Thomson has known Suffolk barley to swell from 100 to 183. This was the greatest he ever observed; the smallest was from 100 to 109, which took place in Perth big.

As the steep-water becomes of a yellow colour, the grain becomes whiter. and so soft that the two ends of a grain can be squeezed together between the finger and thumb. The water is then let off, and the grain allowed to drain. It is then thrown out of the cistern upon the malt floor, and arranged in a regular rectangular heap called the Couch. Here it is again gauged by the exciseman, and if it measure more than it did in the steep, he can charge an increased duty. The grain remains in the couch about 26 hours, during which time it gradually increases in temperature, and parts with its moisture. In about 96 hours after being thrown out of the steep, it is about 10° higher than the temperature of the surrounding air. It exhales an odour resembling that of apples; it feels warm and moist if the hand be thrust into it. This moisture is called sweating, and on examining the grains in the interior of the heap, it will be found that germination has commenced. Small roots appear at the bottom of each seed, having at first the appearance of a white prominence, which soon divides into three or more rootlets, which rapidly increase in length unless means be taken to check their growth, and in doing so consists the principal art of the maltster. The temperature is lowered, and the growth of the roots checked by the operation of flooring or spreading the grain thinner upon the floor, and turning it over carefully several times a day (see Fig. 105), so as to keep it at the temperature of about 62°. For this purpose the depth of the layer, which at first is 16 inches, is diminished a little every time the grain is turned, till at length the depth is only 3 or 4 inches. About a day after the sprouting of the roots, the rudiments of the future stem, called by the maltsters acrospire, begin to appear. It rises from the same extremity of the seed with the root, and advancing within the husk would, if the process were continued, at length issue from the other extremity in the form of a green leaf, but the process is stopped before it has made such progress. During this process the grain absorbs oxygen, and emits carbonic acid; and the temperature rises to about 70°, and in some cases even to 90°. The appearance of the kernel or mealy part of the corn undergoes considerable change. The glutinous and mucilaginous matter in great measure disappears, the colour becomes whiter, and the texture so loose that it crumbles to powder between the fingers. When the acrospire has come nearly to the extremity of the seed, the process is

stopped, and the object of malting has been accomplished. The time usually occupied in this process of couching is about 14 days.

The germination of the malt is stopped by drying upon a kiln, which consists of a chamber, floored with an iron plate full of holes, and furnished with a vent in the roof for the escape of fumes. Below this floor is a furnace containing charcoal or coke, and the heated air ascends through the holes of the floor, and then through the malt, as in Fig. 106.

The malt is first heated to about 90°, and then slowly raised to 140° or higher. The more rapid the drying of the malt, the greater is its bulk, and as malt is sold by measure, it is to the interest of the maltster to dry it quickly; but the time allowed ought to be about two days. When the fire is withdrawn, the malt is allowed to remain until it is nearly cold. In this process the roots of the grain, or cornings, as the maltsters term them, dry up and fall off, and are separated by allowing the malt to fall from the floor above through shoots, the ends of which are represented in the ceiling of Fig. 107, into a wire screen, the wires of which are set too close to allow the grain to pass through. To delay the progress of the malt down this screen, boards are placed crosswise at a short distance from the wires; and the workman, by agitating the malt with a stick,