340 BICARBONATES 



Silica 69-70 



Alumina 16'83 



Glucina 13-39 



Peroxide of iron , . . 4 , . . . % 24 



Beryls of gigantic size have boon found in the United States, at Acworth and 

 Graftou, Now Hampshire, and Koyalstou, Mass. One beryl from Grafton weighs 

 2,900 Ibs ; it is 32 inches through in one direction, and 22 in another transverse, and 

 is 4 feet 3 inches long. Another crystal from this locality, according to Professor 

 Hubbard, measures 45 inches by 24 in its diameters, and a single foot in length ; by 

 calculation, weighs 1,076 Ibs., making it, in all, nearly 2 tons. At Royalston, one 

 crystal exceeded a foot in length.' Dana. See EMERALD. 



Some of the natural crystals of phosphate of lime, or apatite, were formerly taken 

 for beryls, and called the Saxony beryl, 



BESSEMER PROCESS. A jrocoss for making steel, invented by Mr. Henry 

 Bessemer. See STEEL. 



BETEL A compound, in universal use in the East, consisting of the leaf of the 

 betel-pepper, with the betel-nut, a little catechu, and some chunam (lime obtained by 

 calcining shells). This is almost universally used throughout central and tropical 

 Asia ; the people are unceasingly masticating the betel. The leaf of the pepper vino 

 (Chavica betel) is extensively cultivated throughout tropical Asia, and forms a large 

 article of Eastern traffic. See PEPPEB ; BETEL. 



BETEli-UTJT, or Areca. The fruit of the Areca catechu, which is eaten both 

 in its ripe and its xinripe state. A tooth-powder used in this country is prepared by 

 charring the aroca nut, and is sold as ' areca-nut charcoal.' 



BESTOW. The French name for concrete. Self-slaked hydraulic lime is mixed with 

 sand, and when the mixture is complete it is beaten up with the ballast. See CONCRETK. 



BElTHEYIi. A mining term, signifying a living stream. It is applied by the tin- 

 miners to any portion of a lode or of the rock which is impregnated with tin. 



BEZOAR. (The most probable etymology of the word is from the Persian Pad- 

 cahr, i. e. expelling poison. Penny Cycloptedia.) A concretion found in the stomach 

 of animals of the goat kind ; it is said to bo especially produced by the Capra gazdla. 

 The finest bozoar is brought to India from Borneo and the shores of the Persian 

 Gulf; the Capra JEgagrus, or'wild-goat of Persia, producing this concretion, which 

 by way of eminence was called the Lapis bezoar orientalis. The bezoars, which 

 were supposed to cure all diseases, have been found by the analyses of Fourcroy and 

 Vauquelin, and of Proust, to bo nothing more than some portions of the food of tho 

 animal agglutinated into a ball with phosphate of lime. 



Fossil bezoars are found in Sicily, in sand and clay pits. They are concretions 

 of a purple colour around some, usually organic, body, and of the size of a walnut. 

 Fossil bezoar is sometimes called Sicilian earth. 



Bezoar Mineral. An old preparation of tho oxide of antimony. 



BHANG. See BANG. 



BIANCO-SECCO. A carefully slaked lime, mixed with powdered marble, em- 

 ployed in fresco-painting. 



BXBXRU and BXBXRX77E. See GEEENHEART TREE. 



BICARBONATES. The ordinary carbonates of potash and soda have a strong 

 alkaline reaction and caustic taste, making them unfit for many purposes where a 

 soluble carbonate is required. Moreover, there are many uses to which they are 

 applied, rendering it desirable that as largo an amount of gas as possible should bo 

 given off on the addition of a stronger acid. 



Bicarbonate of Potash* There are several modes of converting the carbonate into 

 bicarbonate. The most economical is by exposing the salt to a current of carbonic 

 acid. For this purpose some manufacturers place it, slightly moistened, on stoneware 

 trays, and allow the vapours of burning coko to travel slowly over it. Tho sources 

 of the gas used in this manufacture will vary according to the locality in which it is 

 undertaken. It is not unusual to produce it by tho action of sulphuric acid on lime- 

 stone. Tho gas generated in fermentation has been employed, and oven that which 

 in somo places issues from the earth. Tho bicarbonate of potash is far less soluble 

 than the carbonate, as it requires four parts of cold water for solution, whereas the 

 carbonate dissolves in 0-9 of its weight of water at 54 F. Consequently, if a strong 

 solution is saturated with carbonic acid, tho bicarbonate crystallises out. When 

 common pearl-ashes are dissolved in water, and the gas is passed in, a large quantity 

 of a white precipitate is often thrown down ; it consists chiefly of silica, but often 

 contains alumina and other matters. Considerable heat is developed when moistened 

 carbonate of potash is exposed to a current of carbonic acid gas. When carbonate of 

 potash is dissolved in water, and gradually treated with acetic acid, so as to form 



