286 BANDANNA 



befortf-inentioned district about 10,000 Ibs. When the season has boon more rainy 

 than usual the product is much lower ; but in order to meet this difficulty, the Indians 

 heat the body of the tree by fire, by this moans causing the gum to exude more freely ; 

 but this operation invariably causes the decay of the tree. 



The Indians employed in collecting the gum say that such trees as are -well shaded 

 yield a greater quantity ; but that those which have been planted by hand yield tho 

 most. This has been proved by experience, particularly in Calcutta, where a con- 

 siderable quantity is yearly collected from trees which have been so planted. During 

 the months of December and January the gum oozes away spontaneously. This class 

 of gum is called ' calcawzate.' It is orange-coloured, weighs less than the other, and 

 emits a strong odour ; is volatile and pungent. 



BALSAM STOJtAX. See STOBAX. 



B AX.S AM OP TOX.tr. (Baume de Tolu, Fr. ; Tolutanischer Balsam, Ger.) 

 Balsam of Tolu flows from the trunk of the Myrospermum toluiferum, a tree which 

 grows in South America, on the mountains of Tolu, Timbaceo, &c. It is, when 

 fresh, of the consistence of turpentine ; is brownish-red, dries into a yellowish or 

 reddish brittle resinous mass, of a smell like benzoin ; is soluble in alcohol and ether ; 

 affords, with water, benzoic acid. It appears probable that both the balsams of Peru 

 and of Tolu are obtained from one tree. Balsam of Tolu is used to manufacture Tolu 

 lozenges, and the Syrup of Tolu for irritating coughs. It is sometimes employed by 

 confectioners to flavour sweetmeats, by perfumers, and in the formation of fumigating 

 pastils. 



BAIiTXMORXTE. A variety of fibrous serpentine found at Baltimore. 



BAMBOO. (Bambou, Fr. ; Indianisches Rokr, Ger.) A species of cane, the 

 Bambusa arundinacea of botanists. A most important vegetable product in the East, 

 where it is used in the construction of houses, boats, bridges, &c. Its grain is used 

 for bread ; its fibre is manufactured into paper. Walking-sticks are said to bo of 

 bamboo ; they are the ratan, a different plant. A siliceous secretion called tabasheer 

 is frequently found in the joints of the bamboo. See BATAN and TABASHEEE. 



B AMBITS. A silicate of alumina found at Bamle, in Norway. 



BANANA. An herbaceous endogenous plant, Musa sapientum, growing in the 

 West Indies, East Indies, and generally throughout the tropics. The Plantain has a 

 fruit which is used for food to an immense extent by the inhabitants of hot climates, 

 forming, indeed, a necessary article of diet. 



BANDANNA. A style of calico-printing, in which white or brightly-coloured 

 spots are produced upon a red or dark ground. It seems to have been practised from 

 time immemorial in India, by binding up firmly with thread those points of the cloth 

 which were to remain white or yellow, while the rest of the surface was freely sub- 

 jected to the dyeing operations. 



The European imitations have now far surpassed, in the beauty and precision of tho 

 design, the Oriental patterns, having called into action the refined resources of me- 

 chanical and chemical science. The white spots are produced by a solution of chlorine 

 made to percolate down through the Turkey-red cotton cloth, in certain points defined 

 and circumscribed by the pressure of hollow lead types in plates, in an hydraulic press. 

 Fig. 101 is an elevation of one press ; A, the top of tho entablature ; B B, the checks 

 or pillars ; c, the upper block for fastening the upper lead perforated pattern to ; D, 

 the lower block, to which the fellow pattern is affixed, and which moves up and down 

 with tho piston of the press ; E, the piston or ram ; f, the sole or base ; G, the water- 

 trough for the discharged or spotted calico to fall into ; H, the small cistern for the 

 aqueous chlorine or liquor-metre, with glass tubes for indicating the height of liquor 

 inside the cistern ; e c, glass stopcocks, for admitting the liquor into that cistern from 

 the general reservoir; f f, stopcocks for admitting water to wash out tho chlorine ; 

 g ff, the pattern lead-plates, with screws for setting tho patterns parallel to each 

 other ; iji m, projecting angular pieces at each corner, perforated with a half -inch 

 hole to receive the four guide-pins rising from the lower plate, which servo to secure 

 accuracy of adjustment between the two faces of tho lead pattern-plates ; Jt h, two 

 rollers, which seize and pull through the discharged pieces, and deliver them into 

 the water-trough. To the left of D there is a stopcock for filling the trough with 

 water ; / is the waste tub for chlorine-liquor and water of washing. The contrivance 

 for blowing a stream of air across the cloth through the pattern holes is not repre- 

 sented in the figure. 



Sixteen engines, similar to tho above, each possessing thejpower of pressing with 

 several hundred tons, are arranged in one line, in subdivisions of four, the spaces 

 between each subdivision serving as passages to allow tho workmen to go readily from 

 the front to the back of tho presses. Each occupies 25 feet, so that the total length 

 of tho apartment is 100 feet. 



To each press is attached a pair of patterns in lead (or plates as they are called), the 



