Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/352

BORAGE. 312 BORCHGREVINK. salads, Gerarde tells us (1597), "to make the mind glad"; and he adds: "There be also many things made of them, used everywhere for the comfort of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow, and increasing the joy of the mind." Like some other plant.s of the same order, bor- age contains nitrate of potash (nitre), and is slightly febrifuge. It is mucilaginous and emol- lient, and has been used in pectoral affections; its leaves impart a coolness to beverages in which they arc steeped; and with wine, water, lemon, and sugar, enter into the composition of an Eng- lish drink called 'cool tankard.' The young leaves and tender tops are pickled, and occasion- ally used for salad in parts of Europe. The Uow- ers" bear an abundance of nectar, and borage has quite a reputation as a bee plant. B6RAGINA'CE.ffi (Xeo Lat. Boraginaceus, pertaining to Borage: see Borage). A natural order of dicotyledonous plants, consisting chiefly of herbs, but also containing a few slirubs and trees. The leaves are generally rough, with hairs which proceed from a thick, "hard base, and the whole plant is mucilaginous and emollient. On account of the harshness and roughness of the plant, the name Asperifoliae has been given to the order. The leaves are alternate and without stipules. The flowers are in spikes, racemes, or panicles which are almost always coiled up, and gradually uncoil and elongate themselves, the flowers expanding in succession. The caly.x is 4- to 5-partite, and remains till the fruit is ripe; the corolla is generally regular, 4- to o-cleft, imbricated in bud; the stamens rise from the corolla, and are equal in number to its divisions, generally five, and alternate with them. The ovary is 4-partite, 4-eelled ; the style simple, arising from the base of the lobes of the ovary. The fruit consists of 4, or sometimes of 2, distinct achenia in some cases; the nutlets are often covered with hooked spines. Some botanists have divided the order into several groups, of which EhretioidefF, with a succulent drupe-like fruit, and Boniffinoidece, with dry nutlets, are the most important. These are usually grouped together as sections of the one genus. There are about 1200 known species of Boraginacecc em- braced in So genera. They are natives principal- ly of temperate and tropical climates, and are particularly abundant in the south of Europe and in the temperate part of Asia; Borage, Alkanet, Comfrey, Forget-me-not, and the ex- quisitely fragrant Heliotrope (qq.v.) are fa- miliar examples. The drupes of some species of Ehretia are eatable. Among the best known genera of this family are Cordia, Borago, HcUo- tropium, Ct/noglo/tsum, Echinospermiim, Anchiiso, jllkaiDia. Symphytum, LHhospermum, Echitim, etc. BORAs, bo'rfts. A town of Sweden, situated on the Wiskan River, 3G miles east of Gothen- burg. The town has a technical institute and school for weavers, and is a textile centre (Map: Sweden, E 8). Population, in 1901, 15,837. It was founded in 1022 by Gustavus Adolphus. BORAS'SUS PALM. See Paj-myba Palm. BORAUEN, li.irou-rm'. A town of Leyte, Philippines, situated 20 miles from Tacloban. Population, in 1898, 21,290. BO'RAX (Ar. boraq, bitraq, Pers. bBrah), or Sooii'.M BiBOBATE. A substancc crystallizing in the monoclinic system. It occurs native as a saline efflorescence on the shores of a series of lakes, covering a large extent of country, in Ladak, Ceylon, Transylvania, Peru, t'hile, in Borax Lake, and other places in the vicinity of t'lear Lake, Cal., and in various localities in Nevada. Borax is a clear, white, translucent crystalline compound, soluble in water, anil having a pleas- ant, sweetish taste. It is i)repared for conuuerce as follows: The crude material called tincul. from Tibet, Asia, is sent on sheeps' bax-ks over the Himalaya Kountains to Calcutta, and thence to Europe, where it is purified by washing with a solution of sodium hydroxide, dissolving in water, again treating with caustic alkali to pre- cipitate the earths, then evaporating the solu- tion, and allowing the borax to crystallize out. Ac- cording to some authorities, tincal was brought by caravan beyond China by way of Babylon and Palmyra, to the Mediterranean ports, liefore the Christian Era, An important source of commer- cial borax is found in the volcanic rocks of Tus- cany. Italy, where the process, invented in 1S18, is as follows: Boric acid, either as vapor or solu- tion, is added to a solution of sodium carbonate, which is dissolved in a covered lead-lined vessel, and heated with steam. The solution of borax thus obtained is evaporated until crystals form. The product on the Pacific Coast, which was dis- covered in 1804 at Clear Lake, and subsequently extended to other localities, is refined in Ala- meda, where the crude material is dissolved in water, and heated with sodium carbonate in a digester: the resulting solution is drawn into cooling and crystallizing tanks, where the borax forms on steel rods which are suspended in the vats. The product thus obtained is refined by successive crystallizations until the desired de- gree of purity is reached. The wholesale price in New York, which was 39 cents in 1864, has, in consequence of the production on the Pacific Slope, fallen to 7 cents, the consumption dur- ing this period having increased more than 500 ))er cent. Borax is extensively used for house- hold purposes. It is also employed as a solvent for resins, albumens, fattj- acids, and certain organic bodies; also as a detergent, loosening dirt without injury to the finest laces, and as an antiseptic and disinfectant. It also finds ex- tensive application as a flux for the glazing of pottery and chinaware, and in the making of enamels. Its property of dissolving metallic oxides makes it useful in soldering metals. It is )ised as a flux in certain chemical processes, and as a reagent in chemical analysis. Finally, it is often used in medicine. In 1899, 40,714.000 pounds of borax, valued at $1,139,882, were pro- duiM-d in the L'nited States. BORCHARDT, bOrK'Urt, Karl ■Wiltielm (1817-80). A German mathematician, born in Berlin. He studied at the I'niversity of Berlin and at that of KUnigsberg, under .Jacobi, and in 1848 became a lecturer in the University of Ber- lin. In 1850 he was made a niemlK'r of the Academy of Sciences, and assumed the editorship of the Journal fiir die h'cinc und Angcwoftdte Mathrmatilt. His studies regarding determinants were particularly valuable. His complete works have l)een edited by G. Hettner >inder the aus- pices of the Academy of Sciences (Berlin, 1888). BORCHGREVINK, bOrK'gre-vipk, Carsten Egehebg (1804 — ), A Norwegian scientist and