BRE 



BRE 



purple will be more intense in the concen- 

 trated water, as it now holds a greater pro- 

 portion of alkali ; but if by a carbonated 

 earth, the effect will be lost, as the boiling 

 expels the loose carbonic acid, and preci- 

 pitates the carbonated earth which it held 

 in solution. The effects of the solutions 

 of tin and alum on brazil wood are the 

 most important to the dyer. Alum added 

 to the watery decoction of the wood gives 

 a copious fine red precipitate, inclining to 

 crimson, and subsiding slowly. The su- 

 pernatant liquor also retains the original 

 red colour of the decoction, but if enough 

 of alkali is added to decompose the alum, 

 its earth falls down, and carries with it 

 nearly all the remaining colouring matter 

 of the wood. In this way a fine crimson 

 lake, imitating the cochineal carmine, may 

 be prepared, which therefore consists of 

 alumine, intimately combined with the co- 

 louring matter of the wood a little height- 

 ened. Nitro-muriate of tin added to the 

 decoction separates the whole of the co- 

 louring matter, which falls down in great 

 abundance in union with the oxide of tin, 

 and the liquor remains colourless. 



The solutions of iron blacken the de- 

 coction or infusions of brazil wood, shew- 

 ing the presence of the gallic acid. Ma- 

 ny of the other metallic solutions act si- 

 milarly to that of tin, in forming lakes, 

 consisting of the colouring matter of the 

 wood united with the metallic oxide of 

 the solution employed. See DTEIKTG. 



BRAZING, the soldering or joining two 

 pieces of iron together, by means of thin 

 plates of brass melted between the pieces 

 that are to be joined. If the work be 

 very fine, as when two leaves of a broken 

 saw are to be brazed together, they cover 

 it with pulverized borax, melted with wa- 

 ter, that it may incorporate with the brass 

 powder which is added to it ; the piece is 

 then exposed to the fire without touching 

 the coals, and heated till the brass is 

 seen to run. 



Brazing is also used for the joining two 

 pieces of iron together, by beating them 

 hot, the one upon the other, which is used 

 for large pieces by farriers ; this is more 

 properly welding. 



BREACH, in fortification, a gap made 

 in any part of the works of a town by the 

 cannon or mines of the besiegers, in order 

 to make an attack upon the place. To 

 make the attack more difficult, the be- 

 sieged sow the breach with crow feet, or 

 stop it with a chevaux de frize. A practi- 

 cable breach is that where the men may 

 mount and make a lodgment, and ought 

 to be fifteen or twenty fathoms wi4e. The 



besiegers make their way to it by co- 

 vering themselves with gabions, earth - 

 bags, &c. 



BREACH, in a legal sense, is where a 

 person breaks through the condition of a 

 bond or covenant, on an action upon 

 which the breach must be assigned ; and 

 this assignment must not be general, but 

 particular ; as in an action of covenant for 

 not repairing houses, it ought to be assign- 

 ed particularly what is the want of repa- 

 ration ; and in such certain manner, that 

 the defendant may take an issue. 



BREAD is a light porous spongy sub- 

 stance, prepared by fermentation and 

 baking from the flour of certain farina- 

 ceous seeds, especially wheat, and is the 

 principal sustenance of man in the tem- 

 perate regions of the northern hemi- 

 sphere. 



When flour is kneaded with water, it 

 forms a tough paste, called dough, which, 

 if kept in a warm place, swells, becomes 

 spongy, and filled with a number of air- 

 bubbles : in this state it is called leaven : 

 and this leaven, if incorporated with fresh 

 dough, will bring the whole into a fer- 

 menting state much more speedily and 

 uniformly, than if the mass was exposed 

 to spontaneous decomposition. But though 

 leavened bread is perfect in every other 

 respect, it always retains a slightly acidu- 

 lous flavour from the leaven by which it 

 is fermented : for it is impossible to carry 

 the fermentation of the gluten to a suffi- 

 cient extent to change it into leaven, 

 without at the same time exciting the acid 

 fermentation in the sugar of the flour. It 

 was therefore a very important improve- 

 ment in the art, and one which is attribut- 

 able to the English bakers, to substitute 

 yeast, or the froth of malt liquor in a 

 state of fermentation, to leaven; for the 

 formernot only communicates no unplea- 

 sant flavour to bread, hut is also a more 

 speedy ferment, and by acting first on the 

 gluten of the flour produces the desired 

 effect, before any acid has time to be 

 evolved from the other ingredients. The 

 process of making common bread is ex- 

 tremely simple, though its perfect success 

 depends considerably on a kind of knack 

 in manipulation which cannot be describ- 

 ed by words. It is of essential conse- 

 quence, that the flour and yeast should be 

 mixed together with perfect accuracy, in 

 order that the whole muss may be equally 

 fermented, and that this action may com- 

 mence in every part at the same time. 

 Now, though in the making- of a single 

 loaf this may easily be effected at one con- 

 tinued process, yet, where a considerable 



