complaints: but the worst consequences of this practice are, weak lungs, and a constant disposition to cough and catarrh, which frequently terminate in incurable consumption.
BURDOCK, or Clot-burr, the Arctium Lappa, L. a well-known plant growing on the road sides, on rubbish and ditch-banks, bearing purplish blossoms in July and August.
The blackish, but internally white root of this vegetable, might be very advantageously employed in washing, on account of its saponaceous property. Before the flowers appear, the tender stems stripped of their rind, are boiled and used like asparagus; or eaten with vinegar and the yolk of eggs, rather than oil, in the form of salad.—The plant is browsed upon by cows and goats, but refused by sheep and horses; nor is it relished by swine.
Böhmer mentions the root of the burdock, among those vegetables from which starch may be extracted; and Schaefer obtained from the stalks a whitish green paper. Boys catch bats with its flowers. See the article Bat, p. 185.
In medicine, says Dr. Withering, decoctions of the burdock-root are esteemed, by judicious physicians, as equal, if not superior to those of sarsaparilla. The fresh root has a sweetish bitter, and somewhat austere taste; is aperient, diuretic, and sudorific; and said to act without irritation, so as to be safely used in acute diseases. The seeds have a bitterish, sub-acrid taste, and are recommended as powerful diuretics, when taken either in the form of an emulsion, or a powder, in doses not exceeding one dram.
BURDOCK, the Lesser, or Xanthium strumarium, L. likewise a native plant growing on dung, and grounds highly manured: the thornless stem is a foot and a half high, thick, often spotted; the haves heart-shaped, lobed, on long foot-stalks; flowers from June to September.—The leaves are bitter and astringent: they are eaten by horses and goats, but refused by cows, sheep, and swine.—A decoction of the whole plant yields a bright yellow colour; which, however, is more lively, when the flowers alone are employed.
BURGOO, a kind of porridge, is a nutritive dish, eaten by mariners, and much used in Scotland: it is made by gradually adding two quarts of water to one of oatmeal, so that the whole may mix smoothly; then boiling it for a quarter of an hour, stirring it constantly; after which, a little salt and butter should be added. This quantity, prepared as directed, will serve five or six persons for a meal; and Cockburn considers it very proper for correcting that unwholesome disposition to costiveness, so frequent to persons of a sea-faring life.
BURIAL, the interment of a deceased person. The rites of burial have been, at all times, and in every civilized country, considered as a debt so sacred, that those who neglecfed to discharge it, were justly detested. It is, therefore, not a matter of surprize that the Greeks and Romans were extremely solicitous about the burial of their dead; as, in their opinion, the souls of their departed friends could not gain admittance into Elysium, till their bodies were committed to the earth. Hence, in ancient times, it was deemed a duty incumbent upon every travel-
