BARBADOES LEG. See Elephantiasis. BARK.-The term used alone, is always applied to the bark of the cinchona, also called Peruvian or Jesuit's bark, which was introduced into Europe from South America about 1640, and at first was enormously expensive. Many marvellous tales are told of the way in which the virtues of cinchona bark were first discovered by the natives of the country, but they have been proved erroneous. The remarkable power of bark in curing, not only intermittent fever or ague, but periodic diseases generally, and its efficacy as a general tonic, has rendered it one of the most valuable drugs possessed by man. The varieties of cinchona have been classed as pale, yellow, and red barks, but there are many more than these, and some of them are almost worthless as medicine. The kind of bark has now, however, since the discovery of quinine, become almost a matter of indifference to the general purchaser; when the drug itself, either whole or in powder is required, the only security is to procure it from a respectable chemist. The powder which was formerly given so largely, is scarcely ever now prescribed, but the infusion, decoction, and tincture of bark still retain their places. The infusion may be made by pouring a pint of boiling water upon an ounce of coarsely powdered bark, and allowing it to stand near the fire, in a covered vessel, for five or six hours; the dose, a wine-glassful twice or three times a-day. The decoction is made by adding double the quantity of water to the same quantity of bark, and boiling down to one-half. The dose about the same as the infusion. A favourite domestic method of administering bark, is to steep an ounce of the powder for a week in a bottle of port wine, and of this to give a small wine-glassful once or twice a day. Where the stimulant is admissible, the form is a good one. If the tincture is required, it is better bought. The characteristic properties of bark are concentrated in the alkaloid substances, quina and cinchonia. The former of these is much the most widely known and used, but the latter is considered by many equally efficacious. Quina or quinine is used in medicine, in the form of sulphate, or rather disulphate. Pure white in colour, it is in the form of silky crystals, and has a most intensely bitter taste. Its high price renders it liable to much adulteration; it ought, therefore, always to be procured from respectable parties. The dose of quinine is one grain twice a day, as a general tonic, but as an anti-periodic in ague, neuralgia, &c., much larger and more frequent doses are required.

It may be given in pill made up with bread crumb, or dissolved, by the addition of five or ten drops of dilute sulphuric acid in a small wine-glassful of water, or it may be taken in a glass of sherry if stimulants are admissible.

As a curative agent in ague, and in diseases generally of an intermittent or periodic character, bark, either in its original state, or in the form of quinine, is quite unrivalled-as a tonic, in diseases of debility, in the advanced stages of fever, or at its very commencement, in weakened digestion, it is equally efficacious. In some persons, quinine, even in small doses, is apt to occasion headache and other uncomfortable symptoms, and to disorder the bowels. When given as a stomach tonic it cannot be long continued with advantage. Where there exists inflammatory action, or tendency to head affection, quinine must never be given, except by medical sanction. Quinine in combination with iron-the citrate of quinine and iron, forms an admirable tonic in certain cases, in one-grain doses. The use of quinine in various diseases, will be found under the separate heads, such as Ague, Neuralgia, &c.

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BARLEY, when prepared as pearl-barley, is one of the most useful additions to sick cookery; its decoction, barley-water,' being a pleasant and extremely beneficial demulcent in all affections of the mucous membranes, and forming a grateful and nutritious beverage in fever; it ought, however, to be made considerably thicker in the former case than in the latter. Το make plain barley-water, two and a-half ounces of pearl-barley are to be well washed in cold water, half-a-pint of boiling water is then to be poured upon the grain, the whole boiled for a few minutes, and the water strained off, a couple of quarts of boiling water must then be poured on, the quantity boiled down one-half and strained. This process does not quite exhaust the barley, and another portion of water may be boiled upon it, by those to whom the saving is an object. A little lemon or orange peel is a pleasant addition to the beverage. A compound and very pleasant drink is made, by adding to a quart of simple barley-water, figs, sliced, and raisins, stoned, of each two and a-half ounces, liquorice-root sliced five drachms, and a pint of water, the whole to be boiled down to a quart and strained. This compound decoction is not so well adapted for a fever drink as the simpler form.

In irritation of the urinary passages, from gravel, or after the application of a blister, or from any other cause, barley-water is

most valuable; its soothing properties are still further increased by the addition of an ounce of gum arabic to each pint of liquor. In catarrh, and irritable cough, or simply as an article of mild unstimulating nourishment, it is serviceable. The late Dr. A. T. Thomson recommended equal parts of barley-water and milk, sweetened with a little refined sugar, as a good food for infants brought up by hand. It may act upon the bowels.

BAROMETER, the instrument by which the amount of atmospheric pressure is determined. Late observations would indicate that during the prevalence of epidemic disease, such as cholera and influenza, the indications of the barometer are more than usually affected.

BARRENNESS.-Sterility of the female, may be the result of defect of structure in some portion of the generative organs, or of functional disorder resulting from local or constitutional causes. Such cases always require the care and consideration of a medical attendant.

BASILIC VEIN.-Frequently opened in the operation of bleeding from the arm.SEE BLOOD-LETTING.

BASILICON OINTMENT, OR RESIN OINTMENT, is made with three-parts of resin, three of wax, and four of olive-oil. The resin and wax are melted together, the oil added, and the whole squeezed through linen. It is a stimulant ointment not as much used at the present day as formerly.

BATH.-Applications to the surface of the body, either general or partial, in the form of liquid, vapour, or gas, are now comprehended under the term bath.

Water-baths may be simple or medicated. As regards temperature, they may be, cold, tepid, and hot.

As regards application, they may be general or partial, shower, cold affusion, douche, sponge, wet sheet.

Vapour, and hot air, are both used as

baths.

The extreme vascularity, the nervous sensibility, and sympathies of the skin, and its important functions as an excreting organ, all render it a most important medium through which to impress and act upon the system generally. The subject, till of late years, has been strangely neglected and overlooked by medical men; brought prominently forward under the name of Hydropathy, or the Water-cure, by Preissnitz and his followers, it has unfortunately been carried far beyond its legitimate lengths, and become associated, in name, with quackery and undue pretensions. That much good is to be done by the use and

application of water, simply, in the treatment of disease and disorder, there can be no question; neither can it be doubted, that much and serious evil has resulted from the indiscriminate and ignorant employment of its powerful agency. With the medical profession it rests to place the subject upon its legitimate basis, by taking it into their own hands, and employing it rationally, and scientifically.

The cold bath may be of any temperature up to 80° or 85°. Fahr., the effect upon the system varying, of course, according to the temperature, the length of time it is endured, and the amount of muscular movement exerted during that time. A single plunge into ice-cold water, may depress less than a longer continued bath of a higher temperature. As a rule, individuals of a weak nervous and circulatory powers, do not bear well the effects of cold bathing, it robs them of an amount of animal heat, which they cannot readily again make up; it produces nervous exhaustion, and, perhaps, internal congestion, unrelieved by reaction to the surface.

When an individual, after the cold bath, in any form, remains chilled, the fingers and lips blue, the countenance pale; and when languor and drowsiness succeed, he may be certain that more harm than benefit is being derived from the custom, and that it must be modified or given up.

In such a case, if the bath has been usually taken before breakfast, the hour should be altered to a couple of hours after that meal, this with some will be quite sufficient to make the difference between agreeing or not; indeed, it requires a person of very good vital power to derive real benefit and comfort from bathing before breakfast. If the change in hour does not alter the effects of the cold bath, something may be due to its low temperature; or the bather, especially if he be not a swimmer, may expose himself too long to the depressing influence, he may be in the habit of going into the water after his powers have been exhausted by much exercise, or when he is in too chilled a condition. All these points require consideration, before, either the undoubted good effects, or the comfort of bathing are given up as unattainable. The last point mentioned is one on which particular caution is required; many persons in dread of going in to bathe too hot, run to the other extreme, and allow themselves to become so chilled, that reaction will not come on. After coming out of a cold bath, the skin ought to be well rubbed with a rough towel, till a glow is felt; or the hair glove, now so well known, may be used. The above remarks apply

to the application of cold water generally, to the skin, in whatever form. Few old people can take cold baths with advantage, and the perseverance in their use may lay the foundation of rheumatic, urinary, or other disease. Those who are liable to head affection, should not take the general cold bath; for them the shower bath is preferable. Females should not bathe in cold water during the menstrual period. Some persons who cannot bathe in freshwater, can do so in the sea; the saline ingredients producing a more stimulant effect upon the skin; sometimes, however, the stimulation goes so far as to produce a painful rash, which forces the person to give up the custom. The restorative and tonic effects of cold bathing, are undoubted in many cases, if the mode of taking it be properly regulated. As a general rule, five or six minutes immersion is sufficiently long. Sea-water undoubtedly exerts a more tonic influence upon the bather than fresh, moreover its temperature is more equable, and seldom so low as that of the latter. From the beginning of June to the end of September, according to weather, may be considered the sea-bathing season, during which the temperature of the water on our shores averages from 55° to 70° Fahr. When a bath is either ordered as a remedy, or desired as a comfort, and if when cold it does not agree

The tepid bath, of a temperature varying from 85° to 94° may be used-about 88° is an agreeable and convenient standard. Of course the tepid bath involves the use of a receptacle for the water. It does not produce the shock to the system like the cold, and the person may remain in it from a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes. The tepid bath relaxes and purifies the skin, and promotes the insensible perspiration. For the purposes of cleanliness and comfort it is most generally applicable.

After

fatigue from travelling, hunting, shooting, &c.; in irritable states of the system, with dry or chafed skin, the tepid bath is at once grateful to the feeling, and salutary. Neither the tepid bath, nor any other, is well if taken soon after a full meal.

The warm, or hot bath is, or ought to be, a remedial agent only, not one for general

use.

Its temperature ranges from 95° to 102° Fahr.-96° is the most general standard. The warm bath is used to promote re-action, to allay pain, spasmodic or inflammatory, to soothe convulsive action, or carried to its fullest extent, to cause faintness. The time for remaining in the warm bath is generally from twenty to five-andtwenty minutes, but this must be regulated,

somewhat, by the effect required. The hot bath of a temperature of 100° is a powerful stimulant agent, to be used cautiously, and rarely without medical advice; in disease characterized by extreme depression, coldness, &c., it is useful. In the employment of these baths generally, persons who are the subjects of any organic disease, or have a tendency to acute attacks of functional disorder, such as determination of blood to the head, &c., must be very cautious, and ought if possible to have medical advice. The regulation of the temperature of baths ought never to be left to the sensations, the thermometer is the only trustworthy guide, and, indeed, is an article which no house ought to be without; the price of the instrument is now extremely low, and whether for the bath, the temperature of the room, or the instruction of a child, it is equally useful. Baths are made either to contain the whole person the " 'slipper bath,' fig. A-the hip bath, fig. B-or the foot

B

and leg bath, fig. C. In choosing a bath, it is well to have one which will answer the desired purpose with as small a quantity of water as possible. Every house where it can be afforded should have the means of providing a bath, and every village ought to have its moveable "Parish Bath," for the use of the poor.

C

Mode of Application of Bath.-The Shower Bath, whether of fresh or salt water, whether quite cold or tepid, is a valuable agent in the treatment of many nervous affections; it will suit some whom the general bath will not. It is well for persons of weak habit, or who suffer from the head, to have a thin layer of warm water put in the bottom of the shower bath before getting in. Useful hand shower baths are now manufactured for children.

Cold Affusion-See Affusion.

The Douche Bath consists of a compact stream of water, either warm or cold, allowed to impinge forcibly upon any portion of the body. In some bathing establishments, on the continent especially, the douche stream is of great force and bulk. Domestically, the most familiar douche instrument is the pump, and a most efficient one it is to strengthen a limb which remains weak after an accident, such as fracture or sprain, —it must be used till aching is produced. The most convenient domestic douche is a watering can without a rose, but a jug will do, in short, whatever will send a stream of water upon the part required. Additional force is obtained by the person administering the douche standing upon a chair.

Sponging the skin with water is used in lieu of a bath, for purposes of cleanliness and comfort. It may produce depression if employed before breakfast. Partial sponging, sponging with tepid water, changing the hour, or having a cup of coffee on rising may obviate the effect. Rough friction is to be employed after.

The wet sheet bath is sometimes, by misnomer, called the cold wet sheet. It is, in fact, a warm bath, or rather a large warm poultice, kept warm by the animal heat. It is formed by enveloping the person in a sheet, wrung out of cold or tepid water, and covering or packing him up with layers of blankets; very free perspiration is the result. It is a most useful remedy and might with advantage be more generally used. Sponging with cold water after the use of this bath is occasionally practised.

The vapour bath produces free perspiration, and may be used whenever that is required, as in incipient cold. It is very

relaxing. Many different forms of vapour bath have been invented. A small kettle to place on the fire, with tubing to convey the steam underneath the blanket or oilcase in which the person is enveloped, forms a good vapour bath. A simple extempore vapour bath may be made by placing a vessel of boiling water underneath the coverings of the patient, and keeping up the steam by means of hot stones or metal.

The hot air bath is used for the same purposes as the vapour bath, but is more stimulating. Apparatus of various kinds for this bath may be had at the manufacturers.

Medicated baths are used, but only under medical direction.

Hip baths and Foot baths are used where a full bath is unnecessary. The former, either cold, tepid, or warm, is extremely useful in affections of the loins, hips, &c. The foot bath, generally used as a derivative, ought to be as high a temperature as can be borne, and ought to redden the skin after the immersion. If a stronger effect is requisite, an ounce of mustard, and a couple of handfuls of salt may be put in the water. To reap the full benefit of the foot bath, the extremities should either be clothed in woollen stockings, or wrapped in flannel immediately on coming out of the water. The fact must always be kept in mind, in using the foot bath in cases of insensibility, that it may be so hot as to scald, and that it cannot be complained of. The best mode is to use the thermometer, and not to raise the heat above 110°.

Fomentations, poultices, &c., may all be regarded as partial baths, but will be treated of under their separate heads.

BATH-City, celebrated for hot springs, the only ones in England. The waters are used for bathing, and are drank. They are found useful in gout, rheumatism, paralysis, liver and stomach affections. Persons who suffer from impaired health, in consequence of long residence in a hot climate, frequently derive considerable benefit from the use of the Bath waters. A pint of the water is said to contain,

BATTLEY'S SOLUTION OF OPIUM is a secret preparation, but one largely prescribed by medical men on account of its efficacy. It is more purely sedative than the other preparations of opium, and is said to be twice the strength of laudanum, but this it is not. Twenty drops of the sedative solution are almost equal to thirty-four of laudanum. It more certainly produces sleep than the latter, and excites less.

BEAN. The various species of bean are most nutritious to those whose stomachs can digest them; they are used either young and fresh gathered, or old. The nutriment they afford, as shown in the case of the miners in South America, who live almost exclusively upon them, is calculated to sustain a high condition of muscular development and vigour. Garden-beans as brought to table in this country, must be avoided by those of weak digestion. They are less likely to disagree if deprived of their skins.

BĚBEERINE.-A recently introduced substitute for quinine. A powerful bitter, and slightly stimulant tonic.

BED.-Bed-room — in health-in sickness. The fact that civilized people spend on an average, about one-third of their lives in their bed-rooms, is quite conclusive as to the importance of their salubrity being a first consideration with every one. Whatever the public rooms, bed-rooms should be as spacious, lofty, and well aired, as circumstances will permit. Unfortunately the reverse of this is the general rule, and we have close, small sleeping apartments, crowded and ill-ventilated nurseries, and bad health. Good ventilation will do much, but it will do far more if aided by plenty of space. During the day-time, there is much less danger of persons generally, suffering from want of fresh air, than during the night, when, in sleep, they are many hours confined to one place. Every respiration of the sleeper contaminates a certain amount of air, and as a matter of course, the smaller the space around, the sooner will the contamination of the whole body of air contained in that space be completed, it will become loaded with an amount of carbonic acid, injurious to health. The room must be sufficiently large, and this is rarely the case in modern houses to supply pure air for respiration during six or eight hours, or some means must be provided for carrying off the impure atmosphere. This, certainly, is not to be effected by closed doors and windows, and blockedup chimneys, assisted in their injurious operation by closely-drawn curtains, which might be contrived for the special purpose of enveloping sleepers in their own exhala

tions, rendering sleep unrefreshing, and waking a painful, rather than a pleasurable operation; it cannot be otherwise, after the poison of carbonic acid has been regularly inhaled for the last few hours of slumber.

If the door of a sleeping-apartment must be locked, the upper panels ought to be perforated for the admission of air, but the purpose is much better answered by the door being left ajar, while it may be rendered equally secure by means of a chain-bolt. There is an advantage in admitting the fresh air by this channel, for it must be warmed in some degree in its passage through the house.

Air may be admitted directly from without, through the window, left slightly open at the top, or better, by means of barred glass, or perforated zinc, fig. 1, A, B, C.