Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/395

Rh than copper alone, and less liable to be covered with verdigrise.

From the properties here enumerated it appears, that bronze is well calculated for the casting of bells, cannons, statues, and other works exposed to the air and weather.

Bronze-, in imitation of the metal, is much used by the colourmen of Paris, who prepare two sorts of it, namely, the red bronze, and the yellow or golden: the latter is made solely of the very finest and brightest copper-dust; the former is prepared of the same material, by adding a small proportion of well pulverized red ochre. Both are applied, with varnishes, to the outside of substances, as gold leaves are in gilding. But, to prevent it from turning green, the bronzed work should, as soon as laid on, be carefully dried over a chafing-dish.  Brooding. See.  BROOK, a little river, or small current of water. It is distinguished from a by this circumstance, that in general it has a current only at particular seasons, whereas a river flows throughout the year.

Considerable damage is sometimes occasioned by the overflow of brooks, in consequence of sudden and heavy falls of rain. An inundation is caused by a stoppage of the water in its course, which prevents it from running off as fast as it comes in; consequently, if the channel for the efflux be larger than that for the influx, the water will not overflow the banks. Thus, by opening the channel of the river Welland, at Harborough, in Leicestershire, to a considerable distance below the bridge, the river has never since overflowed the town, as it formerly did after sudden rain.

The legislature has enforced the clearing of the channels of brooks near turnpike-roads, by enacting, that the commissioners shall give notice in writing, to the overseers of the highways, of the several parishes through which such brooks or rivers flow, to open their respective channels, that the water may have free passage.  BROOK-LIME, the Veronica Beccabunga, L. a species of, growing in slow, shallow streams, and near springs that seldom freeze. The whole of this perennial plant is smooth and succulent; the stem creeping; the leaves are egg-shaped, flat, serrated with glands; the blossoms, which are blue, appear in June and July.—We have mentioned it as one of the neglected vegetables, which may occasionally be used for culinary purposes, and particularly as a salad.  BROOM, the Common, or Spartium scoparium, L. an indigenous plant, very common on sandy pastures and heaths, and requiring no particular description. When growing of a large size, the broom deserves a place among our flowering shrubs, on account of the profusion of its gold-coloured blossoms. Its use is very extensive, not only in domestic economy, but likewise in the arts, and in medicine. Although this vegetable is chiefly employed for making brooms, thatching houses, and covering stacks in preference to straw, as it more readily admits the air into the stack, and equally well secures it from rain; yet it also serves as a substitute for the oak-bark, in the tanning of bather; for which purpose both the twigs and branches are usefully employed.