412 BONES 



Additional information on the Bombyx cynthia, or Eria Silkworm, will be found in 

 the ' Society of Arts' Journal ' of June 4, 1858. 



Mr. Wells, writing from Grenada, in the West Indies, says of those silkworms for- 

 warded to him by Sir William Reid : ' I have the eighth generation of worms now 

 hatching, having had seven crops of cocoons within the year. These worms multiply 

 one hundredfold in each generation ; and there is no doubt of their being easily fed 

 to any amount.' They are fed on the castor-oil plant, Ricinus communis, which grows 

 rapidly, can be cultivated without much expense, and yields a good return in its very 

 abundant seeds. Soo SILK. 



BOW-BONS. Comfits and other sweetmeats of various descriptions pass under 

 this name. They are manufactured largely in France, and a considerable quantity 

 regularly imported into this country. The manufacture of sweetmeats, confectionery, 

 &c., does not enter so far into the plan of this work as to warrant our giving any 

 special detail of the various processes employed ; a general notice will, however, be 

 found under the head of CONFECTIONERY. 



Liqueur bon-bons are made in the following manner. A syrup evaporated to the 

 proper consistence is made, and some alcoholic liqueur is added to it. Plaster-of- 

 Paris models of the required form are made ; and these are employed, several being 

 fastened to a rod, for the purpose of making moulds in powdered starch, filling 

 shallow trays. The syrup is then, by means of a funnel, poured into these moulds, 

 and there being a powerful repulsion between the starch and the alcoholic syrup, the 

 upper portion of the fluid assumes a spherical form ; then some starch is sifted over 

 the surface, and the mould is placed in a warm closet. Crystallisation commences 

 on the outside of the bon-bon, forming a crust enclosing the syrup, which constantly 

 gives up sugar to the crystallising crust until it becomes sufficiently firm to admit of 

 being removed. A man and two boys will make three hundredweights of bon-bons in 

 a day. 



Crystallised bon-bons are prepared by putting them with a strong syrup contained 

 in shallow dishes, placed on shelves in the drying chamber, pieces of linen being 

 stretched over the surface, to prevent the formation of a crust upon the surface of the 

 fluid. In two or three days the bon-bons are covered with crystals of sugar ; the 

 syrup is then drained off, and the comfits dried. 



Painted bon-bons. Bon-bons are painted by being first covered with a layer of 

 glazing ; they are then painted in body colours, mixed with mucilage and sugar. 



The French have some excellent regulations, carried out under the 'Prefet de 

 Police,' as to the colours which may be employed in confectionery. These are to the 

 following effect : 



' Considering that the colouring-matter given to sweets, bon-bons, liqueurs, lozenges, 

 &c., is generally imparted by mineral substances of a poisonous nature, which impru- 

 dence has been the cause of serious accidents ; and that the same character of acci- 

 dents have been produced by chewing or sucking the wrapping paper of such sweets, 

 it being glazed and coloured with substances which are poisonous ; it is expressly 

 forbidden to make use of any mineral substance for colouring liqueurs, bon-bons, 

 sugar-plums, lozenges, or any kind of sweetmeats or pastry. No other colouring- 

 matter than such as is of a vegetable character shall be employed for such a purpose. 

 It is forbidden to wrap sweetmeats in paper glazed or coloured with mineral sub- 

 stances. It is ordered that all confectioners, grocers, dealers in liqueurs, bon-bons, 

 sweetmeats, lozenges, &c., shall have their name, address, and trade, printed upon the 

 paper in which the above articles shall be enclosed. All manufacturers and dealers 

 are personally responsible for the accidents which shall be traced to the liqueurs, bon- 

 bons, and other sweetmeats manufactured or sold by them.' 



If similar provisions were in force in this country, it would prevent the use, to an 

 alarming extent, in our cheap confectionery, of such poisonous substances as 



Arsenite of copper, 

 Acetate of copper, 

 Chromate of lead, 



Sulphide of arsenic, 



Oxide of lead, 



Sulphide of mercury, &c. 



The colouring-matters allowed to be used in Franco are indigo, Prussian blue, 

 saffron, Turkey yellow, quercitron, cochineal, Brazil wood, madder, and the like. 



BONES. (Os, Fr. ; Knochen, Ger.) They form the framework of animal bodies, 

 commonly called the skeleton, upon which the soft parts are suspended, or in which 

 they arp enclosed. Bones are invested with a membrane styled the periosteum, which 

 is composed of a dense tissue affording glue ; whence it is convertible into jelly, by 

 ebullition with water. Bonos are not equally compact throughout their whole sub- 

 stance: -the long ones have tubes in their centres, lined with a kind of periosteum of 

 more importance to the life of the bones than even their external coat ; the flat, as 



