I7S 



BISTORT. 



BITTERS. 



174 



By the statute 21 Hen. III., the bissextile day and the day immediately 

 preceding were to be considered legally as one day (computetur dies ille 

 et dies proximo precedens pro uno die). In the English calendar 

 the intercalated day in each leap year is placed at the end of February, 

 which has twenty-nine days. [YEAR.] 



BISTORT [POLYGONUM BISTORTA, or SNAKEWEED ; NAT. HIST. Drv.] 

 id an indigenous perennial plant, growing in woods and meadows. The 

 root, which is the officinal part, is about the thickness of a finger, 

 round or flattish, and much twisted, like the coils of a snake, externally 

 dark brown, within red and fleshy. When dried, it has no smell, but a 

 very astringent taste. Roots of plants a few years old should be taken 

 up in spring or autumn. It consists chiefly of tannin, gallic acid, 

 starch, and oxalate of lime. It was formerly given in diseases of 

 debility accompanied with sanguineous or mucous discharges, and 

 likewise fevers, especially intermittents, for the cure of which it may 

 be combined with gentian, or sweet flag-root. It is to be regretted 

 tliat an indigenous remedy of such power has fallen into neglect. It 

 can be used in dyeing. The large quantity of starch renders it nutri- 

 It is cultivated and eaten in Siberia, and other northern 

 countries. 



BISTRE, a brown pigment made from the root of different kinds of 

 wood, but that of beech is preferred by some who have given direc- 

 tions for making it. One recipe for preparing it is as foflows : Put 

 the soot of any wood (of beech when it can be procured) into water, in 

 the proportion of two pounds to a gallon, and boil them for half an 

 hour. Then, after the fluid has stood some time to settle, but while 

 it is yet hot, pour off the clearer part from the earthy sediment at the 

 bottom ; and if on standing any longer it form another earthy sediment, 

 repeat the same method ; but this should be done only while the fluid 

 remains hot. Evaporate the fluid to dryness ; and what remains will 

 be good bistre, if the soot was of the proper kind. It is then mixed 

 with a little gum-water and made into small cakes. As a colour it is 

 perfectly permanent. 



According to the late Dr. M'Culloch, bistre is a very variable article, 

 and is often unfit for use, and he concluded from his experiments, that 

 this is owing to its too near alliance to tar, and hence the disagreeable 

 gumminess which it frequently possesses. He proposed a process for 

 removing the defects which he pointed out, by preparing it from the 

 pitch of distilled wood. (' Trans. Geol. Soc.' vol. ii. p. 1.) 



BISUCCINAMIDE. />/.- ficrina><iidc (C 8 H s NO t 



= N | ^Jj' . An amide formed by the distillation of succinate 



of ammonia. [AMIDES.] 



Bl.SL'LI'HIDE OF AMYL (C^K,^). An ethereal liquid, possessing 

 a fetid odour, and consisting of one equivalent of the radical amyl, 

 Lined with two equivalents of sulphur. [AMYL.] 

 BISl'Ll'HlDK OF CARBON. [CARBON.] 

 BISULPHIDE OF ETHYL. [ETHYL.] 



BISULPHIDE OF ETHYLENE, Jiuiilphide of i't/ierine (C.H.S,). 

 When chloride of ethylene is digested for some days with an alcoholic 

 u of bisulphide of carbon, a white powder is formed, which 

 possesses the above composition. 

 i'.lsri.PHISATIDE. [IJTDIOO.] 



BITTER PRINCIPLE. When indigo and some other vegetable 

 products are acted upon by nitric acid a substance is produced, which, 

 ijefore its properties had been accurately examined, was called, on 

 account of its taste, bitter principle. This is now, however, known to 

 be a peculiar acid, and is called carbazotic or nitropicric acid, and will 

 1 mentioned hereafter under the former name. 



Besides this artificial product, there exist a vast number of vegeta- 

 bles, most or all of which are used in medicine, that contain bitter 

 extractive matter, and from which a peculiar bitter principle may in 

 many cases be separated. 



These bitter substances have been little examined chemically, and 

 they doubtless include bodies of very different composition. The 

 following list comprises a number of these substances with the deriva- 

 tion of each : 



Abtintkin, flowers of Artemisia absinthium. 



Aiotn, Aloe spicata. 



Brynniit, root of Bryonia alba. 



Ca'tfiartin, leave* of Cassia lanceolata. 



Cetmrin, Cetraria islandica. 



CUocynMm, seed-pulp of Cucumis Colocynthis. 



./'ii'ii, root of Menispermum palmatum. 

 Cutparirt, bark of Galipea cusparia. 

 Da/Axin, Daphne megereum, &c. 



/n, fruit of Momordica elaterium. 

 ' 'in, Ergot of rye. 

 Frnjeini*, bark of Fraximis excelsior. 

 Gmtiami*, root of Gentiana lutea. 

 l/etjirridin, spongy part of orange rind. 

 / in, leaves of Ilex aquifolium. 

 Lacturin, Laotuoa saliva, Ac. 

 LiritxUmiri* , root-bark of Liriodendron tulipifera. 

 lapuliH, female flowers of Humulus. lupulus. 



gum-rain of Olea Europoa. 

 Cfi'rm, leaves of Oltt Europea, 



Pifrotoxin, Menispermum cocculus 



Pkyttynn, bark of Phillyrea media. 



Quassiin, wood of Quassia amara. 



Scillitin, bulb of Scilla maritima. 



Tanacetin, Tanacetum vulgare. 



Tanghinin, seeds of Tanghina Madagascariensis. 



Xanthopicrin, bark of Xanthoxylon Clava Herculis. 



BITTERN. A name given to the mother liquor from which com- 

 mon salt has crystallised by the evaporation of sea-water. It contains 

 much sulphate of magnesia, and is used for the manufacture of that 

 salt. 



BITTERS, a collective term applied to those vegetable substances 

 the most prominent sensiblquality of which is bitterness. " Bitter- 

 ness," says Dr. Cullen, " is a simple perception that cannot be defined, 

 but must be referred to a matter of experience in which mankind are 

 commonly agreed." It was at one time attempted to refer this quality 

 to an hypothetical principle, which was termed bitter principle ; but it 

 was soon perceived that substances having a bitter taste were indebted 

 for it to very different sources. In the progress of science this term 

 was limited to such natural non-azotiaed substances as possessed the 

 general character of extractive, which was designated bitter extractive, 

 and subdivided into mild bitter, sharp bitter, and narcotic bitter ex- 

 tractive. More recently, the pure non-azotised substances, to which 

 many plants are indebted for their bitterness, have been obtained 

 separately, and even crystallised, such as gentiauine, salicine, &c. But 

 bitterness is not confined to vegetable substances destitute of nitrogen, 

 but is possessed by many alkaloids, into the composition of which nitro- 

 gen enters, such as quinia, strychnia, brucia, &c. As some of these 

 constitute valuable medicinal agents, as well as the non-azotised sub- 

 stances, it seems improper to adopt a chemical arrangement of these 

 articles as the foundation of our observations. Any bitter substance 

 taken into the mouth produces instantly a sensation which on the first 

 trial is seldom relished, but to which the taste soon becomes reconciled, 

 so that most persons can continue the use of bitter longer than sweet 

 substances. This impression on the organs of taste seems to have little 

 general effect beyond causing a secretion of saliva in most individuals, 

 and it is not till they reach the stomach that they produce much effect. 

 Upon the mucous membrane and muscular fibres of the stomach, as 

 well as upon the neighbouring glands associated with it iu the function 

 of digestion, especially the liver and pancreas, they produce a very 

 decided effect. Gummy matter, which forms a considerable portion 

 of most vegetable food, does not easily submit to the action of the 

 digestive organs, but frequently passes through the intestines very 

 little changed. But when associated with' bitter extractive it is soon 

 digested, and yields a large quantity of nourishment. Saccharine 

 matter or sugar is not, when existing alone in vegetable food, adequate 

 to the support of the animals which feed upon it, but they become 

 plump and healthy if any bitter matter exist in the plants along with 

 the sugar, or if they have access to other plants almost exclusively 

 bitter, to which they eagerly resort. Where there is a deficiency of 

 bitter matter, and the food is of a very watery kind, such as grows in 

 wet pastures, the cattle suffer from various diseases, especially from 

 the rot. 



That bitters develop and heighten the vitality of the stomach seems 

 clear, and in popular language they are called stomachics. But they 

 also cause an increased secretion of the juices of the stomach essential 

 to digestion, and also- of the bile and pancreatic juice. The secretions 

 are also improved in quality, and when previously excessive may even 

 be diminished in quantity, as A greater degree of firmness and tone is 

 imparted to the whole intestinal canal, by which hasty and imperfect 

 secretion is prevented. The beneficial effects of this improved con- 

 dition of the stomach are extended to the rest of the system by two 

 means, the first, sympathy, which is speedy in its action ; the second, 

 more slow, being the result of the improved blood obtained from 

 better digestion being distributed through the system. The nature of 

 sympathy is little understood, but the effects of that disposition or 

 consent of parts to act in concert or harmony, which physiologists 

 have agreed to term sympathy, are sufficiently manifest. The stomach 

 has been called the centre of sympathy, from its influence upon every 

 organ of the body, and of most organs of the body upon it, according 

 to then- respective condition. But by a well-ascertained law of the 

 system the sympathies of the stomach are greatest with those parts 

 the constituents of which are similar to its own : hence mucous sur- 

 faces and the muscular fibres throughout the whole body participate 

 in its changes more extensively than other parts. Hence by improving 

 the state of the stomach and intestinal canal every muscle and every 

 artery, for they as well as the heart are muscular tubes, acquire an 

 increased tone, by which the elasticity and energy of the system is 

 greatly augmented. By the improved digestion of the food, a better 

 kind of blood containing more fibrine and red particles is circulated, 

 and conveyed to every part of the body, by which not only better 

 materials are supplied to the glands, out of which to form the secre- 

 tions, but from which a firmer and better flesh is deposited ; and thus 

 the individual finds his strength much increased. The nervous 

 system likewise partakes of the benefit, and the mind is in general 

 clear and active. 



Such being the common effect of the use ot bitters, some writ* 

 regard them as synonymous with tonlos | but M all tonlo medicines r 



