BAR 



BAR 



pieces, and is reducible to powder with 

 more ease than the preceding, hs pow- 

 der is reddish brown, and has a slightly 

 bitter taste, with a good deal of astrin- 

 gency . Yellow Peruvian bark. This spe- 

 cies of bark, first brought into use in this 

 country about the year 1790, has not yet 

 been subjected to a rigorous analysis ; but 

 its constituents do not appear, from the 

 trials which have been made, to differ 

 much from those of the red species. 

 Pale Peruvian bark. This is the common 

 variety of the bark. It has not yet been 

 subjected to a correct chemical analysis. 

 Its taste is astringent and bitter, and very 

 disagreeable. It is supposed to contain a 

 bitter principle, tannin, extractive, and 

 resin. Besides these, it contains a prin- 

 ciple first pointed out by Seguin, and up- 

 on which Dr. Duncan, junior, published 

 some experiments. It is distinguished by 

 the property of precipitating infusion of 

 galls ; but as this property is common to 

 a considerable number of substances, it is 

 not sufficient alone to characterize it. 



3. Bark of cinchona caribxa. This bark 

 was first made known by Dr. Wright, 

 who published a botanical description of 

 the tree, with a figure, in the Philosophi- 

 cal Transactions, vol. 67, and an account 

 of the medicinal properties of the bark in 

 the London Medical Journal for 1787. A 

 description of a tree to which the same 

 name is given, together with a chemical 

 analysis of the bark, was published in the 

 Journal de Physique for 1790, by M. Va- 

 vasseur ; but it is not quite certain that 

 the plants are the same. 



4. Bark of the white willow (salix al- 

 ba.) The bark of this tree, which is 

 common enough in Scotland, is remark- 

 able for its astringent taste, and has been 

 often used in intennittents by the common 

 people. It has lately been proposed by 

 Bouillon la Grange as an excellent sub- 

 stitute for Peruvian bark ; being com- 

 posed, according to him, of the very same 

 constituents to which that bark owes its 

 medical virtues. A very superficial ex- 

 amination, however, may satisfy any one, 

 that the properties of the two are very 

 far from similar. 



5. Bark of quercus nigra. This tree, 

 to which the name of quercitron has been 

 given, grows spontaneously in North 

 America. Dr. Bancroft discovered, about 

 the year 1784, that the inner bark of this 

 tree contains a great quantity of colour- 

 ing matter; and since that time it has 

 been very generally used by the dyers. 

 To prepare it for them, the epidermis 

 (which contains a brown colouring mat- 

 ter) is shaved off, and then the bark is 



ground in a mill. It separates partly in- 

 to stringy filaments, and partly into a fine 

 light powder. 



BARK, or Jesuit's bark, is a name given 

 by way of eminence to the cinchona. 

 See MATERIA MEDICA and PHARMACY. 



BARK, in navigation, a little vessel with 

 two or three triangular sails ; but, accord- 

 ing to Guillet, it is a vessel with three 

 masts, viz. a main-mast, fore-mast, and 

 mizen-mast. It carries about two hundred 

 tons. 



BARKING of trees, the peeling off the 

 rind or bark, which must be done, in our 

 climate, in the month of May, because at 

 that time the sap of the tree separates 

 the bark from the wood. It would be ve- 

 ry difficult to perform it at any other time 

 of the year, unless the season was ex- 

 tremely wet and rainy, for heat and dpy- 

 ness are a very great hindrance to it. 



BARLERIA, in botany, so named in 

 honour of James Barrelier, a Dominican, 

 whose Icones were published in 1714, a 

 genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia 

 class and order. Natural order of Per- 

 sonatx. Acanthi, Jussieu. Essential cha- 

 racter : calyx four-parted ; stamens two, 

 far less than the others ; capsule qua- 

 drangular, bilocular, bivalval, elastic ; 

 without the claws ; seeds two. There 

 are eleven species, and being all natives 

 either of the East Indies or South Ame- 

 rica, require the protection of the bark- 

 stove. 



BARLEY, in botany. The principal 

 use of barley in this country is for mak- 

 ing beer ; but in seasons like the present, 

 when peas are very scarce, large quanti- 

 ties of it are used in feeding hogs. In 

 Scotland, barley is a common ingredient 

 for broths ; it is also much used for the 

 same purpose in England, at the tables ot 

 persons of rank. In some parts of the 

 continent, horses are fed with barley. 

 Pearl barley, and French barley, are bar- 

 ley freed from the husk by means of a 

 mill, the distinction between the two be- 

 ing 1 , that pearl barley is reduced to the 

 size of very small shot, all but the heart 

 of the grain being ground away. See 

 HORDEUM. 



BARLEY, in chemistry, is the seed of 

 the hordeum vulgare, which will be de- 

 scribed hereafter. Great crops of it are 

 reared annually, partly as an article of 

 food, and partly as a material from which 

 malt liquors and ardent spirits are drawn. 

 This species of corn has been examined 

 of late with considerable attention by 

 chemists, partly in order to form correct 

 conceptions, if possible, of the nature ot 

 the process of fermentation, and partly 



