Chloride of sodium and
other salts 1·20 3·45
-------- --------
100· 100·
The soluble animal matter is chiefly fat and gelatin.
_Uses, &c._ The bones of animals are employed for various purposes in the
arts, manufactures, and domestic economy. Those of good meat form most
excellent materials for making soups and gravies, as is well known to
every cook. In France, soup is extensively made by subjecting bruised
bones to a steam heat of 2 or 3 days' continuance. In England the same is
commonly effected in an iron Papin's digester. When the earthy matter of a
bone is dissolved out by digesting it in a large quantity of very dilute
hydrochloric acid, a lump of gelatine is obtained, which, after being well
washed with water, is equal to isinglass for all the purposes of making
soups and jellies. The following is the process recommended by Proust for
making the best of bones, in hospitals, gaols, and similar
establishments:--
The bones, crushed small, are to be boiled for 15 minutes in a kettle of
water, and the fat (which is fit for all common purposes) skimmed off as
soon as cold. The bones are then to be ground, and boiled in 8 to 10 times
their weight of water (of which that already used must form a part), until
half of it is wasted, when a very nutritious jelly will be obtained. Iron
vessels should alone be used in this process, as the jelly and soup act
upon copper, brass, and the other common metals. The bones of fresh meat
are the most productive; those of boiled meat come next, whilst those of
roasted meat scarcely afford any jelly. As 'boning' meat before cooking is
now a very general practice, a quantity of fresh bones may always be
obtained.
Bones are, for the most part, WROUGHT, TURNED, BLEACHED, and DYED in a
similar manner to ivory, but with less care, owing to their inexpensive
and coarser character. Before being submitted to any of these operations
they are, however, first submitted to long boiling, to deprive them of
grease.
The bones of living animals may be dyed by mixing madder with their food.
The bones of young pigeons may thus be tinged of a rose colour in 24
hours, and of a deep scarlet in 3 days; but the bones of adult animals
take a fortnight to acquire even a rose colour. The bones nearest the
heart become tinged the soonest. In the same way extract of logwood tinges
the bones of young pigeons purple. See BLEACHING, DYEING, IVORY, &c.
In all manufacturing processes in which bones are operated upon, foul
vapours, unless special precautions are observed, will be thrown off, to
the great annoyance and discomfort of those living near the building where
the operations are performed.
To avoid this the offensive vapours should always be carried by a flue
made for the purpose into the furnace-fire, and there consumed. But this
will not remedy another source of annoyance which arises from the
disgusting stench caused by the putrefaction of the flesh adhering to the
bones, which lie in heaps about the premises.
The trade of a bone-boiler comes under the head of offensive trades (see
'Public Health Acts,' s. 112-114), and is under the control and regulation
of an urban sanitary authority, which has also the power of preventing the
bone-boiling being carried on within its district if it thinks proper.
=BONE'-ASH.= Impure triphosphate of calcium, obtained by calcining bones
to whiteness, and reducing the ash to fine powder. Used to make pure
phosphate of calcium, to form cupels, &c.; also sold for burnt hartshorn.
=BONE'-DUST.= _Syn._ BONE-MANURE. Bones (previously boiled for their
grease) ground to different degrees of coarseness, in a mill. It is sown
along with the seed in a drill. Wheat thus treated is said to yield 30 to
50 per cent, more weight in straw and grain than by the common methods.
Turnip and other light soils it renders more than ordinarily productive.
Bone manure is much used in the west of Yorkshire, Holderness, and
Lincolnshire. The usual quantity per acre is 70 bushels, when used alone;
but when mixed with ashes or other common manure, 30 bushels per acre is
said to be enough. When coarse, and applied in the same manner as other
manures, it has been found to remain upwards of seven years in the ground,
the productiveness of which it has increased during the whole time.
=BONE'-GLUE.= See GELATIN.
=BONE'-GREASE.= From refuse bones, bruised, boiled in water, and the broth
skimmed when cold. _Prod._ 1/8th to 1/4th of the weight of the dry bones.
(Proust.) Used for making soap and candles. See CHARCOAL, ANIMAL.
=BONE'-PHOSPHATE.= See TRIBASIC PHOSPHATE OF LIME.
=BONE'-SHAVINGS.= _Syn._ BONE'-DUST (Turners'), BONE-TURNINGS. This, by
boiling with water, yields a beautiful jelly, which is nearly equal to
that produced from hartshorn and ivory shavings, for which it is very
frequently sold. Used to make jellies and blancmanges, to stiffen straw
bonnets, &c.
=BONE-SPAVIN.= A bony enlargement on the antero-internal parts of the hock
in horses. In recent cases it is best to apply cold applications, but in
protracted and chronic cases, hot fomentations will be found best. In case
of these failing, recourse should be had to blistering or firing, or if
need be to a seton.
=BOOK'BINDING= (-b[=i]nd-). Although a full description of the various
operations of this well-known art, or handicraft, does not properly fall
within the province of this work, a brief notice of them will probably, in
many cases, prove useful to the amateur and the emigrant:--
The process of binding books is divided into several distinct operations,
which, in large establishments, are usually performed by different
persons; such a method being found to produce greater expedition, and
better work, than when the whole is done by one person.