BOTTLES. [Sce GLASS.] BRANDY. A spirituous product obtained by distilling wine. Its qualities vary with the kind of wine employed. [See DISTILLATION.] BRASS. An alloy of copper and zinc. The tcrm is commonly applied to the yellow alloy of copper, with about half its weight of zinc, in which case it is called by engineers yellow brass; but copper alloyed with about one-ninth its weight of tin is the metal of brass ordnance or gun-metal. Similar alloys used for the brasses or bearings of machinery are called hard brass, and when employed for statues and medals they are called BRONZE. [See also ALLOY.] In this article will be noticed the alloys of copper and zinc only. In the language of the brass foundry a pound of copper is taken as the standard, and the founder in speaking of the proportions of yellow brass, says "6 to 8 oz. of zinc" ("to every pound of copper" being understood). In the following list of alloys of copper and zinc, the numbers at the beginning of each paragraph denote the ounces of zinc added to every pound of copper. to oz. This small addition is to enable the copper to cast soundly, which it does not usually do in its pure state. The addition is frequently made in the shape of 4 oz. of brass to every pound or two or three pounds of copper. 1 to 14 oz. This forms gilding metal for common jewellery. It is made by mixing 4 parts of copper with 1 part of calamine brass; or 1 lb. copper with 6 oz. of brass. 3 oz. Red sheet brass made at Hegermühl, or 5 copper and 1 zinc. 3 to 4 oz. Bath metal, Pinchbeck, Mannheim gold, similor and alloys with various other names. They resemble inferior jeweller's gold greatly alloyed with copper. Some of them contain a little tin. zinc is lost in the fusing and casting, so that the ultimate proportion is less than 16 oz. The lumps are afterwards hcated nearly to redness upon a charcoal fire, and are quickly broken up on an anvil, or with an iron pestle and mortar. If the heat be too great, the solder forms into a cake or coarse lumps, and becomes tarnished. At a proper heat it becomes nicely granulated, and remains of a bright yellow colour. It is then passed through a sieve. 16 oz., or equal parts, is one of the extremes of Muntz's patent sheathing. 16 oz. Hamilton and Parker's patent Mosaic gold, which is dark-coloured when first cast, but on dipping assumes a beautiful golden tint. When cooled and broken, the yellowness disappears, and the tinge varies from reddish fawn or salmon-colour to a light purple or lilac, and from that to whiteness. The proportions are said to be from 52 to 58 zinc to 50 of copper, or 16 to 17 oz. to the pound. 32 oz., or 2 zinc to 1 copper. A bluish white brittle alloy, very brilliant, and so crystalline that it may be pounded cold in a pestle and mortar. 128 oz., or 2 oz. copper to every pound of zinc. A hard crystalline metal, differing but little from zinc, but more tenacious. It is sometimes used for laps or polishing discs. The alloys from about 8 to 16 oz. to the pound are extensively used for dipping, as in the various brass articles used in furniture, &c. The metal is first annealed before it is scoured or cleaned, or the acids, lackers, or bronzes are used. The ordinary range of good yellow brass, that files and turns well, is from about 4 to 9 oz. With additional zine, it becomes harder and more crystalline, and with less, more tenacious. Beyond 8 or 10 oz. the crystalline character of the alloys begins slowly to prevail. Up to this point, they maintain their 6 oz. Brass that bears soldering. Bristol brass is malleability and ductility. said to be of this proportion. 8 oz. Ordinary brass, less adapted to soldering than 6 oz. as it is more fusible. This is also Emerson's brass, patented in 1781, and the common ingot brass made by simple fusion of the two metals. 9 oz. This proportion is one of the extremes of Muntz's patent sheathing. 10 oz. is Muntz's metal, or 40 zinc and 60 copper. According to the patentee, any proportions between the extremes, 50 zinc and 50 copper, and 37 zine 63 copper, will roll and work at the red heat, but the proportion 40 zine to 60 copper is preferred. The metal is cast into ingots, heated to a red-heat, and rolled and worked at that heat into ship's bolts and other fastenings, sheathing, &c. 12 oz. Spelter solder for copper and iron is sometimes made in this proportion; for brass work, the metals are generally mixed in equal parts. 12 oz. Pale yellow metal, fit for dipping in acids. 16 oz. Soft spelter solder, fit for ordinary brass work, is made of equal parts copper and zinc. About 14 lbs. of each are melted together and poured into an ingot mould with cross ribs, which indent it into little squares of about 2 lbs. weight. Much of the The red colour of copper merges into that of yellow brass at about 4 or 5 oz., and remains but little altered up to 8 or 10 oz. After this, it becomes whiter. The addition of zinc increases the fusibility of the alloy, but from the very volatile and inflammable nature of zinc in the furnace, the above named proportions must not be strictly taken, for whatever weight of the two constituents be put into the crucible, there will always be a rapid and to a certain extent uncontrollable waste of zinc. Brass was manufactured by cementing sheets of copper with calamine or carbonate of zinc, long before the zine was known in a metallic form, the zine having been formed and united with the copper without becoming visible as a distinct metal. It is even now not uncommon to use the orc of zinc in making brass. For this purpose the native calamine, after being calcined for a short time, is ground in a mill, the galena contained in it is separated by washing, and it is then mixed at the same time with about a fourth part of charcoal. This mixture is put into large cylindrical crucibles with alternate layers of copper cut in small pieces, or in the form of shot. Powdered charcoal is then thrown over the whole, | up, and a man striding over the opening grasps the crucible between the jaws of a pair of tongs, and lifts it out of the furnace. The refuse is skimmed off, and the crucibles are covered and luted up with a mixture of clay, sand, and horse-dung. The old form of furnace was a cone with the base downwards, and the apex cut off horizontally. The crucibles were placed upon a circular grate or perforated iron plate at the bottom, with a sufficient quantity of fuel thrown round them, and a perforated cover made of bricks or clay was fitted to the mouth, which served as a register to regulate the heat. The modern arrangements of a brass foundry are shown in section, in Fig. 222, with the moulding trough m, for the sand on one side, and the pouring or spill trough in the centre. [See CASTING.] The furnace is usually built within a cast-iron cylinder about 20 or 24 inches diameter, and 30 or 40 inches high, which is erected over an ash-pit, arrived at through a loose grating on a level with the floor of the foundry. The mouth of the furnace stands about 8 or 10 inches above the floor, and its central aperture is closed with an iron plate t, called a tile. The inside of the furnace is contracted to Fig. 222. about 10 inches diameter by fire-bricks set in Stourbridge clay, except a small aperture at the back, about 4 or 5 inches square, leading into the chimney. There are generally three or four such furnaces standing in a row, and separate flues proceed from each into the great chimney or stack. Each furnace is furnished with a damper. The fuel is hard coke broken into lumps about the size of hens' eggs. The pot or crucible is usually put into the fire soon after it is lighted, with its mouth downwards, by which means the thin edge gets heated and expanded first, and the heat playing within the pot raises it gradually to a red-heat, and prevents the bottom from cracking. The pot is then bedded upon the fuel in its proper position, and an iron cover with a long handle put over it to keep out the small cokes while the man is making up the fire. The charge of metal is then put in, and three or four large pieces of coke are placed across the mouth of the pot; the tile is put on the furnace, and the damper adjusted to the proper heat, and the whole is left until the metal is run down. After the alloy is supposed to be formed, (the time varying in different works from 10 to 20 hours, according to the nature of the calamine, and the size of the crucibles,) the heat is increased so as to fuse the whole down into one mass. The tile is then thrown Fig. 223. BRASS FOUNDRY. and another man then seizes the crucible with a pair of tongs, and pours the contents into iron moulds placed in a sloping direction, guiding the stream with an iron rod as in Fig. 223. During this process there is a considerable combustion of zinc, the metal burning with its characteristic bluish white flame, and filling the whole place with dense fumes of white oxide of that metal, or philosopher's wool, as it was formerly called from its white colour and woolly texture. To prevent this from entering the lungs, the men tie a handkerchief over their mouths and nostrils during the casting. When the materials are good, a single fusion is sufficient to make good malleable brass; but the finer sorts undergo a second fusion with fresh calamine and charcoal. If the brass is intended to be rolled into sheets, or made into wire, it is cast into plates between two blocks of Cornwall stone. The lower stone is fixed, and the face made smooth by filling up the recesses of the rough stone with fine sand. The upper stone, prepared in a similar manner, is suspended over the fixed one, the space or mould between the two being limited by iron bars laid on the lower stone, which is a little longer than the upper one, and projects to the front, so as to form a lip or mouth-piece for receiving the metal. The brass, whether in ingots or sheets, solidifies immediately, and can be turned out of the moulds directly the casting is complete. The most certain method of forming the alloys of copper and zinc, is by the direct union of the two metals in given weights. The usual plan is to thrust broken lumps of zinc beneath the surface of the melted copper with tongs; but there is always a loss of zinc, and in every successive fusion, the more oxidizable metal wastes, so that the original proportion is more and more departed from. When the metals are not well covered with flux, the loose oxido frequently mixes with the metal, giving rise to white coloured stains in the brass, and little cavities filled with oxide of zinc. Mr. Holtzapffel, in his work on "Mechanical Manipulation," to which we are already indebted for some of our information contained in this article, has detailed a number of interesting experiments which he tried for ascertaining the best methods of forming alloys of copper and zinc. "The zinc was added to the melted copper in various ways; namely, in solid lumps, in thin sheet hammered into balls, poured in when melted in an iron ladle; and all these, both whilst the crucible was in the fire, and after its removal from the same. The surface of the copper was in some cases covered with glass or charcoal, and in others uncovered, but all to no purpose; as from to the zinc was consumed with most vexatious brilliancy, according to the modes of treatment; and these methods were therefore abandoned as hopeless. I was the more diverted from the above attempts, by the well known fact that the greatest loss always occurs in the first mixing of the two metals, and which the founder is in general anxious to avoid. Thus, when a very small quantity of zinc is required, as for so-called copper castings, about 4 oz. of brass are added to every 2 or 3 lbs. of copper. And in ordinary work, a pot of brass weighing 40 lbs. is made up of 10, 20, or 30 lbs. of old brass, and two-thirds of the remainder of copper. These are first melted. A short time before pouring, the onethird of the new metal or zinc is plunged in when the temperature of the mass is such that it just avoids sticking to the iron rod with which it is stirred." Mr. Holtzapffel next determined to melt the metals on a much larger scale, and in the usual proportions, or 24 lbs. copper to 12 lbs. zinc. Then to ascertain the first loss of zinc. To re-melt a quantity of the alloy over and over again, taking a trial bar each time in order to ascertain the average loss of zinc in each fusion. | and poured. The weight of the brass was 34 lbs. 12 oz., showing a loss of 1 lb. 3 oz., orth of the zinc, orth of the whole quantity. In another experiment, the loss differed from this by only half an ounce, and the mean of the two was 314 per cent. zinc, or instead of 8 oz. to the pound, it was only 74 oz. 12 lbs. of each of these brasses were re-melted six times, a bar of 14 lbs. being taken each time. The loss per cent. of zinc was exactly the same in each of the six experiments, that is, at the sixth melting each bar contained 22 per cent., or 4 oz. to the pound of copper. In each case the second fusion sustained the greatest loss, (nearly twofold,) and in the others the loss was pretty much alike. In forming an alloy of 2.75 copper and 1 zinc, the proportions of which require to be very carefully preserved, as that alloy was found to expand equally with the speculum metal to which it had to be soldered, Lord Rosse found that by employing a furnace deeper than usual, and by covering the metal with a layer of charcoal powder 2 inches thick, the loss each time was the smallest, and almost exactly the 180th each casting. The charcoal dust was renewed by folding it up in paper and throwing it in. BRAZIL-WOOD. A red dyeing material, obtained from one or two species of Casalpina, West Indian and South American trees, of the leguminous kind. The term, Brazil-wood-tree, was applied to these trees many years before the discovery of South America; and it is said that the portion of that continent now bearing the name of Brazil was so designated on account of the abundance of these trees found therein. Their importance was soon evident to the Portuguese government, and the name, Pao de Rainha, or Queen's Wood, was given to them, in token of the royal monopoly over their exportation. This wood has also the names of Pernambuco, wood of St. Martha, and of Sapan, according to the places which produce it. The tree is of large size, crooked, thorny, irregular of growth, with small leaves, and fragrant red flowers. The bark is exceedingly thick, and when removed, the heart of the tree, which is the only useful portion, is of comparatively small size. The wood is of a pale red when first cut, but the colour becomes deeper by exposure to the air. The thickest pieces, with a close grain, are the best. Boil 24lbs. of copper, namely, clean ship's bolts, were first melted alone, and the loss was found to be barely oz. on the whole. A similar weight of the same copper was weighed out, and also 12 lbs. of the best Hamburg zinc, in cakes about inch thick, which were broken into about 8 picces. The copper was first melted, and when the whole was nearly run down, the coke was removed to expose the top of the pot, and when all bubbling had ceased in the copper, the zinc was taken up with the tongs a lump at a time, held beside the pot for a few moments to expel the moisture, and then put into the copper with an actioning in water extracts the whole of the colour, and, if between a stir and a plunge. There was a flare and a low cracking noise as if butter had been thrown in. The zine was absorbed, and the surface of the pot was clear from its fumes almost immediately. The remainder of the zinc was added a lump at a time, care being taken not to set the copper by inserting the lumps of cold metal too quickly. After each addition, the pot was free from flame in a few moments. A handful of broken glass was then thrown in, the tile replaced, and the whole allowed to stand for about 15 minutes, to raise the metal to the proper heat for pouring, which is denoted by the commencement of the blue fumes of the zinc. The pot was then taken from the fire, well stirred for one minute, continued long enough, produces a very fine red. This colour is, however, very fleeting, and is used with alum, and tartar, and with various other mordants, which vary the shades of red considerably. The colouring matter of Brazil-wood is easily affected by the action of acids, producing an orange or yellow colour, which is durable. It is also sensitive to the action of alkalies, which produce various shades of violet and purple; but these are not to be depended upon, being, in general, very fleeting. The colour known in the trade as false crimson (to distinguish it from cochineal-red), is given to silks by means of Brazil-wood; the silk being first boiled with twenty parts of soap per cent., then alumed, and refreshed at the river, and finally passed | two forms of bread here described are still in use, through a bath charged with more or less Brazil-wood, according to the colour required. Stronger colours are gained by first giving a ground of annotto to the silk, or by adding logwood to the brazil-bath, with a little alkali, if necessary. Nicaragua and peach-wood are also species of cæsalpina. Red ink is made by boiling two ounces of Brazil-wood for a quarter of an hour in a pint of water, and adding a little gum and alum. The colouring principles belonging to Brazil-wood are known to chemists as brasiline and brasileine; the first being the colouring matter of the wood, and the second, a colourless substance, which appears to pass into the proper colouring matter by oxidization. Within the last ten years, Brazil-wood has been in some measure superseded by a wood imported from Africa, which yields a finer and more permanent colour. It is called by the dyers cam-wood. The tree from which it is obtained grows at Sierra Leone, and in the interior of Africa, and is believed to be that known among botanists as Bahia nitida. In consequence of this, and of the vexatious monopoly on Brazil-wood, the importation of the latter has greatly declined, and is now inconsiderable. By the recent alteration in the tariff, it is admitted duty-free. BRAZING. [See SOLDERING.] BREAD. Many of the useful arts seem to have originated in the necessities of man's nature, which led him to use a great proportion of his food in a manner peculiar to himself, and thus raised him above the lower animals in not devouring it raw. When the difficulties of the subject are considered, it is not surprising that some nations regarded the useful arts as of divine origin; for in the absence of science, and of that spirit of inquiry which scientific researches so eminently encourage, what can be more difficult than the first step in the art of bread-making? It was, indeed, a great discovery in the early history of the world, that by moistening grain, and then subjecting it to the action of heat, a compact cake of food could be formed, containing within a small compass a large amount of nutrition, capable of being kept for a length of time, and yielding when masticated an agreeable relis the palate. The second step was also a difficult one, namely, the reducing of the grain to powder before moistening it. This was done by pounding or braying' it between two stones, or in a mortar, a method still practised by some rude nations. But the third step must have been most difficult of all, namely, that of exciting fermentation, or combining with the bread a gaseous body identical with that which gives the foaming appearance to ale, and the sparkling appearance to champagne. The effect of this process is as remarkable as the process itself, for instead of a heavy, hard, tough, dull, indigestible mass, a light, porous, elastic food is produced, more agreeable to the palate, and more conducive to health. The (1) According to Horne Tooke, the word bread is derived from brayed grain, from the verb to bray, or pound in a mortar, the ancient method of making flour. the one being the common sea-biscuit [cide BISCUIT], and the other the wheaten loaf. In well-made bread, the effect of the gas disseminated throughout its substance is remarkable. It forms the bread into vesicles, which are arranged in a succession of layers, one above another, perpendicular to the crust; a sort of structure called by the bakers piled bread, and regarded as a sure test of the success of the batch. The increased facility of digestion of well piled bread is thus shown by Dr. Colquhoun : 2-If a portion of such bread, well baked and thoroughly cool, be pressed between the fingers, it will crumble readily into powder, and if placed in hot water, it will immediately swell, disintegrate, and admit of being easily diffused through the liquid. Whereas, unpiled bread pressed between the fingers remains a solid cohesive mass, and in hot water does not soften further than to become a permanently tough mass of dough. The term loaf is said to be derived from the AngloSaxon hlif-ian, to raise or lift up, the dough being loaf, or raised by a fermenting substance named leaven, (Latin levo, French lever, to lift.) Hence the term leavened and unleavened bread. The word dough is said to come from the Anglo-Saxon deawian, to wet or moisten, so that dough or dow means wetted. Now, if a mass of dough be left to itself for a sufficient time, it will pass spontaneously into a state of fermentation or incipient decomposition, which will generate carbonic acid within it, and give the bread baked from it a lightened vesicular texture. A more speedy method than this is adopted in practice, but if a small portion of old dough in a state of active fermentation be diffused through a mass of fresh dough, the process of fermentation therein will be greatly accelerated. When this is done, the mass is said to be leavened, and the fermenting dough thus added is the leaven. In the earliest record of the history of man, we find that cakes and unleavened bread were made by Abraham. But leavened bread was well known in the time of Moses, for we find (Exodus xii. 15) a prohibition against the use of it during the passover. Hence it has been supposed that the use of fermented bread originated in Egypt. The Greeks refer the invention to the god Pan. The Romans derived it from the Greeks, and until about 200 B. C., when bakers were first established in Rome, the term "pulse-eating nation" was applied to the Romans by way of reproach. From Rome the art of making leavened bread was slowly introduced among the northern nations, and even at the present time, in the northern countries of Europe and Asia, fermented bread is seldom used except among the higher classes. In many parts of Sweden rye cakes, as hard as wood, are baked twice a-year, and form the common bread of the lower orders. And in Scotland, up to a recent period, barley bannocks and oaten cakes were the ordinary bread of the people. (2) Chemical Essay on the Art of Baking Bread, Annals of Philosophy, Vol. XII. New Scries, 1826. The only substance adapted to the making of good. fermented bread is the flour of wheat, a grassy plant, the triticum of botanists. It is more extensively cultivated than any other plant, and like man, seems to adapt itself to nearly every climate. Excellent crops of it have been raised in the latitude of 60° N., and it is cultivated in the East Indies within the limits of the torrid zone. Its original habitat is unknown. It improves in quality as it advances south, within certain limits. Thus, the wheat of Essex and Kent is of better quality than that of East Lothian and Berwickshire. The French wheat is better than the English, the Italian better still, but the wheat of Barbary and Egypt is probably the best in the world. The essential constituents of wheat flour are starch, also called farina or fecula, gluten, and a little sugar and albumen. According to Vogel's analysis, 100 parts of wheat flour contain starch 68 parts, gluten 24, gummy sugar 5, and albumen 1.5; but these proportions vary with the goodness of the wheat.1 The STARCH of wheat flour is very nutritive. It is a white, crisp, crystalline substance, insoluble in cold water, but forming a thick paste with hot water. When roasted till it becomes brown, it is rendered soluble, and acquires the properties of gum. When boiled for a long time in very dilute sulphuric acid, it is converted into a species of sugar. GLUTEN OF GLUTINE can be separated from wheat flour by tying up a portion of flour in a coarse cloth, and kneading it under a stream of water till the starch and soluble matters are washed out, and the water runs off clear. The gluten left in the cloth is a grey, viscid, tenacious, insoluble mass. When moistened, it undergoes a species of fermentation. Bubbles of gas separate from it, and in about ten or fourteen days it acquires the smell and taste of cheese. Gluten is a mixture of vegetable fibrine and a small quantity of a peculiar matter containing nitrogen called gliadine, to which its adhesive properties are due. Gliadine is gluey and adhesive, insoluble in water, and when dry, hard and translucent like horn. The fibrine of other grain does not contain gliadine. Barley and oatmeal yield no gluten, but these and other vegetable substances, such as potatoes, and even turnips, can be made into fermented bread by the addition of gluten or of wheat flour. 2 parts of wheat flour and 1 part of boiled potatoes form an agreeable bread. The starch of potatoes is a very beautiful substance; mixed with a little gum tragacanth, it is often sold as Indian arrow-root. The small proportion of SUGAR in wheat flour, enables it to ferment on being mixed with water, without the addition of yeast. Thus the dough of wheat flour by spontaneous fermentation becomes converted into leaven. In the first part of the process, the fermentation is entirely confined to the sugar; and here the process ought, if possible, to be arrested; but as this is not always possible, the vinous fermentation passes into the acetous, and a portion of vinegar is formed. It was formerly supposed that the fermentation of the dough made from wheat flour was peculiar to itself, and it was hence called panary fermentation. This is now known to be a mistake; for if the sugar be previously washed out of the flour, there will be no fermentation. During the rising of the dough, carbonic acid is formed at every part, and is prevented from escaping by the gluten, which forms a kind of adhesive web. The formation of the gas causes the dough to swell in every direction, and the particles of starch to separate, in which condition the process is arrested by the heat of the oven, so that when the bread is cut open, it is piled or full of cavities, each of which in the dough contained a globule of carbonic acid. If the milky water obtained by washing wheat flour in order to separate its gluten, be allowed to repose for a few hours, it becomes clear by depositing a quantity of starch. If this liquid be boiled, it becomes turbid from the production of a flocculent precipitate, which, when collected, washed, dried, and purified by boiling with ether, is found to have the same composition with animal albumen. [See ALBUMEN.] In the preparation of wheat for the manufacture of bread, the ground grain is usually separated into three parts, the flour, the pollard, and the bran. The bran is the outer husk of the grain, and is not used as food except for horses. The pollard is the part next the husk, and is coarser and darker than the flour, which forms the interior or central portion of the grain. The flour forms on an average about three-fourths of the wheat ground. In the preparation of wheat, the miller forms different kinds of flour, some of which are very fine and white, otners coarse and unpalatable. The white flour is pleasing both to the eye and to the taste, and in London there is so strong a prejudice in favour of white bread, that scarcely any bread which is not white will find a sale. Hence the baker resorts to various methods of bleaching, which will be noticed hereafter. There are, however, seven distinct kinds of flour or meal produced in England from a quarter of wheat, namely: 3 oz. 10 or 0 or nearly. Fine middlings وو |