300 BEER 



at least 2i)0,000/. They arc exported to London, Marseilles, Hamburg, and thence 

 to Africa and Asia, and tho great Eastern Archipelago.' The perlcs a la lunc are a 

 finer, and, consequently, more expensive bead, which are prepared by twisting a small 

 rod of glass, softened by a blow-pipe, about an iron wire. The preparation and 

 cutting of gems into beads belong especially to tho lapidary. The production of beads 

 of PASTE, and of artificial PEARLS, will be noticed under those heads respectively. In 

 India beads of rock-crystal are often very beautifully cut. In 1871 wo imported 

 2'204,241 Ibs. of glass beads. See PASTE ; PEARLS. 



BEAM TREE. (Pyrus Aria.) The wood is used for axle-trees, naves of 

 wheels, and the cogs of machinery. 



BEAN. (Faba and Pkaseolus.) See LEGUMINOSJE. 



BEAZT ORE. (Bohnerz, Ger.) Brown iron ore occurring in ellipsoidal con- 

 cretions. 



BEARINGS. The parts of a machine upon which the movable portions arc 

 supported. Upon the correct' adaptation of the rubbing surfaces to each other 

 depends the value of a machine. If, fof example, there should be much friction 

 between tho axles of a railway-carriage 'and its bearings, there would be a largo 

 amount of power lost in overcoming that friction. 



It has, therefore, been the Study 'of engineers to produce bearings which should 

 offer great resistance to pressure, and from their smoftthness produce as little friction 

 as possible. Kingston's metal has been lately used in the large engines for our iron- 

 clad fleet. Some of the railway companies are using an alloy of equal parts of tin 

 and copper. Gun-metal is, however, commonly employed for the bearings of machines. 

 See BRONZE ; COPPER ; KINGSTON'S METAL ; UNGUENTS. 



BE AT- A WAT. In mining, tho process of working away hard ground by a 

 rough method with wedges and sledge-hammers in the process of excavation. 



BEAUXITE. See BAUXITE. 



BEAVER. (Castor Fiber.) This animal is captured for its skin, and for the 

 castor (castoreum), which is employed medicinally. See FURS. 



BEBXRIXTE, or BEBEERIHTE. C 38 H 21 NO" (C'WWO 3 ). An alkaloid dis- 

 covered by Dr. Rodie, of Demerara, in the bark of the bebeern tree. It was examined 

 more minutely by Madagan and Tilley, and still more recently by Von Planta, who 

 has determined its true formula. It is very bitter, and highly febrifuge. 



BEBE. In mining, a name given to a peculiar kind of pickaxe. 



BEECH. (Hvtre. commun, Fr. ; Gemeine Buchc, Ger.) The beech-tree (tho- 

 Fagus sylvatica of Linnaeus) is one of the most magnificent of our English trees, 

 attaining, in about sixty or seventy years, in favourable situations, a height of from 

 70 to 100 feet, and its trunk a diameter of 5 feet. The wood, when green, is the 

 hardest of British timbers, and its durability is increased by steeping in water ; it 

 is chiefly used by cabinet-makers, coopers, coach-builders, and turners. 



BEEF WOOD. An Australian wood, of red colour, the produce of certain species 

 of Casuarina. It is used for inlaying and marqueterie work. 



BEER. Tho fermented infusion of malted barley, flavoured by hops, constitutes 

 tho best species of beer ; known also as ale, bitter ale, porter, or brown stout, accord- 

 ing to its varied flavour, colour, and strength. But there are many beverages of 

 inferior quality to which the name of beer is given ; such as spruce- beer, ginger-beer, 

 &c., all of which consist of a saccharine liquor, partially advanced into tho vinous 

 fermentation, and flavoured with peculiar substances. 



Tho ancients were acquainted with beer, and tho Eomans gave it the appropriate 

 name of Cerevisia (quasi Ceresia), as being the product of corn, tho gift of Ceres. 

 The most celebrated liquor of this kind in the old time was the Pelusian potation, 

 so called from the town where it was prepared, at the mouth of the Nile. Aristotlo 

 speaks of the intoxication caused by beer, and Theophrastus justly denominated it 

 the wine of barley. We may, indeed, infer, from tho notices found in historians, that 

 drinks analogous to beer were in use among the ancient Gauls, Germans, and, in fact, 

 almost every people of our temperate zone ; and they are still the universal boverago 

 in every land where the vine is not an object of rustic husbandry. 



In tho production of beer, the -raw Barley, and Hops, which are the only materials 

 necessary, have to undergo various processes which will be more fully described under 

 the separate articles on MALTING and BREWING, but tho changes which take place in 

 those operations will now be considered. 



1. THE MATERIALS. 



BARLEY. Barley, wheat, maize, and several other kinds of grain, are capablo of 

 undergoing those changes which develop tho saccharine principle from which beef 

 an bo made ; but the first-named is by far the most fit, and in this country is almost 



