it would be needless to enlarge on the treatment of the disease; but we shall observe that, beside bleeding and purgatives both by the mouth and injections, it will be necessary to drink plentifully of emollient decoctions, or other beverage of a cooling and diuretic nature. Previous to the arrival of a medical man, leeches may be applied to the part affected, the lower belly should be diligently fomented with warm water, and the patient be placed in a tepid bath, not exceeding 98°.—If, however, the pain suddenly abates, and is succeeded by cold sweats, hiccough, fetid urine, or a total suppression of it, there is reason to apprehend a mortification, and fatal issue of the disease.
BLADDER-NUT-TREE, or the Staphylea, L. is a plant containing two species, the pinnata, indigenous in Britain, and the trifolia, or three-leaved bladder-nut, a native of Virginia. For the first, to which we shall confine our account, see Withering, 317. The flowers are white, and grow on long pendulous foot-stalks; the plant blows in June, and may be found in hedges near Pontefract, and in Kent.
This shrub affords an oil which might be employed for lamps, but the trouble of expressing it is too great. The wood is hard, and used on the Continent for various domestic purposes; and the flowers are much frequented by bees.
BLAIN, in farriery, a distemper incident to horses and cattle, consisting of a tumor which grows on the root of the tongue, and swells to such a size as frequently to stop respiration. It is caused by excessive irritation and heat of the stomach, and discovers itself by the animal's gaping, and hanging out its tongue. The method of cure is as follows: Lay the beast on the ground, open the tumor, and wash it with vinegar and a little salt.
BLANCHING, the art or manner of rendering any thing white.—See Bleaching.
The blanching of woollen stuffs is performed with soap, chalk, sulphur, &c. Silk is blanched with soap and sulphur; and wax is rendered white by exposing it to the action of the sun and dew.—See Wax.
BLANKET, an article of commerce so well known in domestic economy, that any definition of it would be superfluous.
The best kind of blankets is manufactured at Witney, in Oxfordshire: their excellency is attributed by some persons to the abstersive nitrous water of the river Windrush, with which they are scoured; while others imagine it is to be ascribed to a peculiar looseness in the spinning. Blankets are made of felt-wool, or that from sheep-skins, which is divided into several sorts. Of the head-wool and bay-wool they make blankets of ten, eleven, and twelve quarters broad; of the ordinary sort, those of seven and eight quarters; and of the best tail-wool, are made blankets of six quarters broad, commonly called cuts, and used for seamen's hammocks.—See Hykes.
BLAST, in agriculture and gardening, is a term synonimous with blight, which see.
That species of blasts called uredines, or fire-blasts, is supposed by Mr. Hales to originate from the solar rays, reflected from, or condensed in the clouds, or collected by the steams in hop-gardens, &c. They wither, scorch, and blacken the leaves, blossoms, and fruits of
