VOLUME IV SLICE IV Bradford, William to Brequigny, Louis (continued 9)

A bill was accordingly presented to the legislature dispensing with the age of the emperor and declaring his majority, which after a noisy discussion was carried. The majority of the emperor Dom Pedro II. was proclaimed on the Majority of Pedro II., 1840. 23rd of July 1840. Several ministries, in which various parties predominated for a time, now governed the country till 1848, during which period the rebellious province of Rio Grande was pacified, more by negotiation than force of arms. In 1848 hostilities were roused with the British government through the neglect shown by the Brazilians in putting in force a treaty for the abolition of the slave trade, which had been concluded as far back as 1826; on the other hand the governor of Buenos Aires, General Rosas, was endeavouring to stir up revolution again in Rio Grande. The appearance of yellow fever in 1849, until then unknown in Brazil, was attributed to the importation of slaves. Public opinion declared against the traffic; severe laws were passed against it, and were so firmly enforced that in 1853 not a single disembarkation took place. The ministry of the Visconde de Olinda in 1849 entered into alliances with the governors of Montevideo, Paraguay and the states of Entre Rios and Corrientes, for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of the republics of Uruguay and Paraguay, which Rosas intended to reunite to Buenos Aires, and the troops of Rosa’s which besieged Montevideo were forced to capitulate. Rosas then declared war formally against Brazil. An army of Correntine, Uruguayan and Brazilian troops, under General Urquiza, assisted by a Brazilian naval squadron, advanced on Buenos Aires, completely routed the forces of Rosas, and crushed for ever the power of that dictator. From 1844 Brazil was free from intestine commotions, and had resumed its activity. Public works and education were advanced, and the finances rose to a degree of prosperity previously unknown.

In 1855 the emperor of Brazil sent a squadron of eleven men-of-war and as many transports up the Paraná to adjust several questions pending between the empire and the republic of Paraguay, the most important of which War with Paraguay. was that of the right of way by the Paraguay river to the interior Brazilian province of Matto Grosso. This right had been in dispute for several years. The expedition was not permitted to ascend the river Paraguay, and returned completely foiled in its main purpose. Though the discord resulting between the states on account of this failure was subsequently allayed for a time by a treaty granting to Brazil the right to navigate the river, every obstacle was thrown in the way by the Paraguayan government, and indignities of all kinds were offered not only to Brazil but to the representatives of the Argentine and the United States. In 1864 the ambitious dictator of Paraguay, Francisco Solano Lopez, without previous declaration of war, captured a Brazilian vessel in the Paraguay, and rapidly followed up this outrage by an armed invasion of the provinces of Matto Grosso and Rio Grande in Brazil, and that of Corrientes in the Argentine Republic. A triple alliance of the invaded states with Uruguay ensued, and the tide of war was soon turned from being an offensive one on the part of Paraguay to a defensive struggle within that republic against the superior number of the allies. So strong was the natural position of Paraguay, however, and so complete the subjection of its inhabitants to the will of the dictator, that it was not until the year 1870, after the republic had been completely drained of its manhood and resources, that the long war was terminated by the capture and death of Lopez with his last handful of men by the pursuing Brazilians. From its duration and frequent battles and sieges this war involved an immense sacrifice of life to Brazil, the army in the field having been constantly maintained at between 20,000 and 30,000 men, and the expenditure in maintaining it was very great, having been calculated at upwards of fifty millions sterling. Large deficits in the financial budgets of the state resulted, involving increased taxation and the contracting of loans from foreign countries.

Notwithstanding this the sources of public wealth in Brazil were unaffected, and commerce continued steadily to increase. A grand social reform was effected in the law passed in September 1871, which enacted that from that date every child born of slave parents should be free, and also declared all the slaves belonging to the state or to the imperial household free from that time. The same law provided an emancipation fund, to be annually applied to the ransom of a certain number of slaves owned by private individuals.

Under the long reign of Dom Pedro II. progress and material prosperity made steady advancement in Brazil. Occasional political outbreaks occurred, but none of very serious nature except in Rio Grande do Sul, where a long Character of Pedro II.’s reign. guerrilla warfare was carried on against the imperial authority. The emperor occupied himself to a far greater extent with the economic development of his people and country than with active political life. Unostentatious in his habits, Dom Pedro always had at heart the true interests of the Brazilians. Himself a highly-educated man, he sincerely desired to further the cause of education, and devoted a large portion of his time to the study of this question. His extreme liberalism prevented his opposing the spread of Socialist doctrines preached far and wide by Benjamin Constant. Begun about 1880, this propaganda took deep root in the educated classes, creating a desire for change and culminating in the military conspiracy of November 1889, by which monarchy was replaced by a republican form of government.

At first the revolutionary propaganda produced no personal animosity against the emperor, who continued to be treated by his people with every mark of respect and affection, but this state of things gradually changed. In 1864 the princess Isabella, the eldest daughter of the emperor and empress, had married the Comte d’Eu, a member of the Orleans family. The marriage was never popular in the country, owing partly to the fact that the Comte d’Eu was a reserved man who made few intimate friends and never attempted to become a favourite. Princess Isabella was charitable in many ways, always ready to take her full share of the duties falling upon her as the future empress, and thoroughly realizing the responsibilities of her position; but she was greatly influenced by the clerical party and the priesthood, and she thereby incurred the hostility of the Progressives. When Dom Pedro left Brazil for the purpose of making a tour through Europe and the United States he appointed Princess Isabella to act as regent, and she showed herself so swayed in political questions by Church influence that Liberal feeling became more and more anti-dynastic. Another incident which gave strength to the opposition was the sudden abolition of slavery without any compensation to slave-owners. The planters, the principal possessors of wealth, regarded the measure as unnecessary in view of the act which had been passed in 1885 providing for the gradual freeing of all slaves. The arguments used were, however, of no avail with the regent, and the decree was promulgated on the 13th of May 1888. No active opposition was offered to this measure, but the feelings of unrest and discontent spread rapidly.

Towards the close of 1888 the emperor returned and was received by the populace with every demonstration of affection and esteem. Even among the advocates of republicanism there was no intention of dethroning Dom Establishment of the Republic, 1889. Pedro, excepting a few extreme members of the party, now gained the upper hand. They argued that it would be much more difficult to carry out a successful coup d’état when the good-natured, confiding emperor had been succeeded by his more suspicious and energetic daughter. Discontented officers in the army and navy rallied to this idea, and a conspiracy was organized to depose the emperor and declare a republic. On the 14th of November 1889 the palace was quietly surrounded, and on the following morning the emperor and his family were placed on board ship and sent off to Portugal. A provisional government was then formed and a proclamation issued to the effect that the country would henceforth be known as the United States of Brazil, and that in due time a republican constitution would be framed. The only voice raised in protest was that of the minister of war, and he was shot at and severely wounded as a consequence. Dom Pedro, completely broken down by the ingratitude of the people whom he had loved so much and laboured for so strenuously, made no attempt at resistance. The republican government offered to compensate him for the property he had held in Brazil as emperor, but this proposal was declined. His private possessions were respected, and were afterwards still held by Princess Isabella.

The citizen named as president of the provisional government, was General Deodoro da Fonseca, who owed his advancement to the personal friendship and assistance of Dom Pedro. Second in authority was placed General Floriano Peixoto, an officer also under heavy obligations to the deposed monarch, as indeed were nearly all of those who took active part in the conspiracy.

Though the overthrow of the imperial dynasty was totally unexpected throughout, the new regime was accepted without any disturbances. Under the leadership of General Deodoro da Fonseca a praetorian system of government, Brazil under the Republic. in which the military element was all-powerful, came into existence, and continued till February 1891, when a national congress assembled and formulated the constitution for the United States of Brazil. The former provinces were converted into states, the only right of the federal government to interfere in their administration being for the purposes of national defence, the maintenance of public order or the enforcement of the federal laws. The constitution of the United States of America was taken as a model for drawing up that of Brazil, and the general terms were as far as possible adhered to (see above, section Government).

General da Fonseca and General Floriano Peixoto were elected to fill the offices of president and vice-president until the 15th of November 1894. This implied the continuance of praetorian methods of administration. The older class of more conservative Brazilians, who had formerly taken part in the administration under the emperor, withdrew altogether from public life. Many left Brazil and went into voluntary exile, while others retired to their estates. In the absence of these more respectable elements, the government fell into the hands of a gang of military adventurers and unscrupulous politicians, whose only object was to exploit the national resources for their own benefit. As a consequence, deep-rooted discontent rapidly arose. A conspiracy, of which Admiral Wandenkolk was the prime instigator, was discovered, and those who had taken part in it were banished to the distant state of Amazonas. Disturbances then broke out in Rio Grande do Sul, in consequence of disputes between the official party and the people living in the country districts. Under the leadership of Gumercindo Saraïva the country people broke into open revolt in September 1891. This outbreak was partially suppressed, but afterwards it again burst into flame with great vigour. In view of the discontent, conspiracies and revolutionary movements, President da Fonseca declared himself dictator. This act, however, met with such strong opposition that he resigned office on the 23rd of November 1891, and Vice-President Floriano Peixoto assumed the presidency.

Floriano Peixoto had been accustomed all his life to use harsh measures. For the first year of his term of office he kept seditious attempts in check, but discontent grew apace. Nor was this surprising to those who knew the corruption in the administration. Concessions and subsidies were given broadcast for worthless undertakings in order to benefit the friends of the president. Brazilian credit gave way under the strain, and evidences were not wanting at the beginning of 1893 that an outburst of public opinion was not far distant. Nevertheless President Peixoto made no effort to reform the methods of administration. Meanwhile, the revolution in Rio Grande do Sul had revived; and in July 1893 the federal government was forced to send most of the available regular troops to that state to hold the insurgents in check.

On the 6th of September prevailing discontent took definite shape in the form of a naval revolt in the Bay of Rio de Janeiro. Admiral Custodio de Mello took command of the naval forces, and demanded the resignation of the president. Naval revolt and civil war, 1893. General Peixoto replied by organizing a defence against any attack from the squadron. Admiral Mello, finding that his demands were not complied with, began a bombardment of the city, but did not effect his purpose of compelling Peixoto to resign. The foreign ministers then arranged a compromise between the contending parties, according to which President Peixoto was to place no artillery in the city, while Admiral Mello was to refrain from bombarding the town, which was thus saved from destruction. Shortly afterwards the cruiser “Republica” and a transport ran the gauntlet of the government forts at the entrance of the bay, and proceeded south to the province of Santa Catharina, taking possession of Desterro, its capital. A provisional government was proclaimed by the insurgents, with headquarters at Desterro, and communication was opened with Gumercindo Saraïva, the leader of the insurrection in Rio Grande do Sul. It was proposed that the army of some 10,000 men under his command should advance northwards towards Rio de Janeiro, while the insurgent squadron threatened the city of Rio. In November Admiral Mello left Rio de Janeiro in the armoured cruiser “Aquidaban” and went to Desterro, the naval forces in Rio Bay being left in charge of Admiral Saldanha da Gama, an ardent monarchist, who had thrown in his lot with the insurgent cause. All was, apparently, going well with the revolt, Saraïva having invaded the states of Santa Catharina and Paraná, and defeated the government troops in several encounters. Meanwhile, President Peixoto had fortified the approaches to the city of Rio de Janeiro, bought vessels of war in Europe and the United States and organized the National Guard.

Early in 1894 dissensions occurred between Saraïva and Mello, which prevented any advance of the insurgent forces, and allowed Peixoto to perfect his plans. Admiral da Gama, unable to leave the Bay of Rio de Janeiro on account of lack of transport for the sick and wounded and the civilians claiming his protection, could do no more than wait for Admiral Mello to return from Desterro. In the meantime the ships bought by President Peixoto arrived off Rio de Janeiro and prevented da Gama from escaping. On the 15th of March 1894 the rebel forces evacuated their positions on the islands of Villegaignon, Cobras and Enxadas, abandoned their vessels, and were received on board two Portuguese warships then in the harbour, whence they were conveyed to Montevideo. The action of the Portuguese commander was prompted by a desire to save life, for had the rebels fallen into the hands of Peixoto, they would assuredly have been executed.

When the news of the surrender of Saldanha da Gama reached Gumercindo Saraïva, then at Curitiba in Paraná, he proceeded to retire to Rio Grande do Sul. Government troops were despatched to intercept his retreat, and in one of the skirmishes which followed Saraïva was killed. The rebel army then dispersed. Admiral Mello made an unsuccessful attack on the town of Rio Grande, and then sailed to Buenos Aires, there surrendering the rebel squadron to the Argentine authorities, by whom it was immediately delivered to the Brazilian government. After six months of civil war peace was once more established, but there still remained some small rebel groups in Rio Grande do Sul. These were joined by Admiral da Gama and a number of the naval officers, who had escaped from Rio de Janeiro; but in June 1895 the admiral was killed in a fight with the government troops. After the cessation of hostilities, the greatest barbarities were practised upon those who, although they had taken no part in the insurrection, were known to have desired the overthrow of President Peixoto. The baron Cerro Azul was shot down without trial; Marshal de Gama Eza, an old imperial soldier of eighty years of age, was murdered in cold blood, and numerous executions of men of lesser note took place, among these being two Frenchmen for whose death the Brazilian government was subsequently called upon to pay heavy compensation.

General Peixoto was succeeded as president on the 15th of November 1894 by Dr Prudente de Moraes Barros. It was a moot question whether Peixoto, after the revolt was crushed, would not declare himself dictator; certainly many of his friends were anxious that he should follow this course, but he was broken down by the strain which had been imposed upon him and was glad to surrender his duties. He did not recover his health and died shortly afterwards.

From the first day that he assumed office, President Moraes showed that he intended to suppress praetorian systems and reduce militarism to a minimum. This policy received the approval and sympathy of the majority of Brazilians, but naturally met with bitter opposition from the military element. The president gradually drew to him some members of the better conservative class to assist in his administration, and felt confident that he had the support of public opinion. Early in 1895 murmurings and disorderly conduct against the authorities began to take place in the military school at Rio de Janeiro, which had always been a hotbed of intrigue. Some of the officers and students were promptly expelled, and the president closed the school for several months. This salutary lesson had due effect, and no more discontent was fomented from that quarter. Two great difficulties stood in the way of steering the country to prosperity. The first was the chaotic confusion of the finances resulting from the maladministration of the national resources since the deposition of Dom Pedro II., and the corruption that had crept into every branch of the public service. Much was done by President Moraes to correct abuses, but the task was of too herculean a nature to allow of accomplishment within the four years during which he was at the head of affairs. The second difficulty was the war waged by religious fanatics under the leadership of Antonio Maciel, known as “Conselheiro,” against the constituted authorities of Brazil.

The story of Conselheiro is a remarkable one. A native of Pernambuco, when a young man he married against the wishes of his mother, who took a violent dislike to the bride. Shortly after the marriage the mother assured her son that his wife held clandestine meetings with a lover, and stated that if he would go to a certain spot not far from the house that evening he would himself see that her assertion was true. The mother invented some plea to send the wife to the trysting-place, and then, dressing herself in male clothing, prepared to come suddenly on the scene as the lover, trusting to be able to make her escape before she was recognized. The three met almost simultaneously. Conselheiro, deeming his worst suspicions confirmed, shot and killed his wife and his mother before explanations could be offered. He was tried and allowed to go at liberty after some detention in prison. From that time Conselheiro was a victim of remorse, and to expiate his sin became a missionary in the sertao or interior of Brazil among the wild Jagunço people. He built places of worship in many different districts, and at length became the recognized chief of the people among whom he had thus strangely cast his lot. Eventually he formed a settlement near Canudos, situated about 400 m. inland from Bahia. Difficulty arose between the governor of Bahia and this fanatical missionary, with the result that Conselheiro was ordered to leave the settlement and take away his people. This order was met with a sturdy refusal to move. Early in 1897 a police force was sent to eject the settlers, but encountered strong resistance, and suffered heavy loss without being able to effect the purpose intended. In March 1897 a body of 1500 troops, with four guns, was despatched to bring the Jagunçoes to reason, but was totally defeated. An army comprising some 5000 officers and men was then sent to crush Conselheiro and his people at all costs. Little progress was made, the country being difficult of access and the Jagunçoes laying ambuscades at every available place. Finally strong reinforcements were sent forward, the minister of war himself proceeding to take command of the army, now numbering nearly 13,000 men. Canudos was besieged and captured in September 1897, Conselheiro being killed in the final assault. The expense of these expeditions was very heavy, and prevented President Moraes from carrying out many of the retrenchments he had planned.

Soon after the Canudos affair a conspiracy was hatched to assassinate the president. He was watching the disembarkation of some troops when a shot was fired which narrowly missed him, and killed General Bitencourt, the minister of war. The actual perpetrator of the deed, a soldier, was tried and executed, but he was apparently ignorant of the persons who procured his services. Three other men implicated in the conspiracy were subsequently sentenced to imprisonment for a term of thirty years. The remainder of the presidency of Dr Moraes was uneventful; and on the 15th of November 1898 he was succeeded by Dr Campos Salles, who had previously been governor of the state of São Paulo. President Salles publicly promised political reform, economy in the administration, and absolute respect for civil rights, and speedily made efforts to fulfil these pledges.

The difficulties in the reorganization of the finances of the state, which Dr Campos Salles had to face on his accession to power, were very great. The heavy cost involved in the suppression of internal disorders, maladministration, Reform under President Campos Salles. and the hindrances placed in the way of economical development by the semi-independence of the federal states had seriously depreciated the national credit. The president-elect accordingly undertook with the full approval of Dr Moraes, who was still in office, the task of visiting Europe with the object of endeavouring to make an arrangement with the creditors of the state for a temporary suspension of payments. He was successful in his object, and an agreement was made by which bonds should be issued instead of interest payments from the 1st of July 1898, the promise being given that every effort should be made for the resumption of cash payments in 1901. President Campos Salles entered upon his tenure of office on the 15th of November 1898, and at once proceeded to initiate fiscal legislation for the purpose of reducing expenditure and increasing the revenue. He had to face opposition from sectional interests and from the jealousy of interference with their rights on the part of provincial administrations, but he was able to achieve a considerable measure of success and to lay the foundation of a sounder system under which the financial position of the republic has made steady progress. The chief feature of the administration of Dr Campos Salles was the statesmanlike ability with which various disputes with foreign powers on boundary questions were seriously taken in hand and brought to a satisfactory and pacific settlement. There had for a long period been difficulties with France with regard to the territory which lay between the mouth of the Amazon and Cayenne or French Guiana. The language of various treatises was doubtful and ambiguous, largely owing to the ignorance of the diplomatists who drew up the articles of the exact geography of the territory in question. Napoleon had forced the Portuguese government to cede to him the northernmost arm of the mouth of the Amazon as the southern boundary of French Guiana with a large slice of the unexplored interior westwards. A few years later the Portuguese had in their turn conquered French Guiana, but had been compelled to restore it at the peace of Paris. The old ambiguity attaching to the interpretation of earlier treaties, however, remained, and in April 1899 the question by an agreement between the two states was referred to the arbitration of the president of the Swiss confederation. The decision was given in December 1900 and was entirely in favour of the Brazilian contention. A still more interesting boundary dispute was that between Great Britain and Brazil, as to the southern frontier line of British Guiana. The dispute was of very old standing, and the settlement by arbitration in 1899 of the acute misunderstanding between Great Britain and Venezuela regarding the western boundary of British Guiana, and the reference to arbitration in that same year of the Franco-Brazilian dispute, led to an agreement being made in 1901 between Brazil and Great Britain for the submission of their differences to the arbitration of the king of Italy. The district in dispute was the site of the fabled Lake of Parima and the Golden City of Manoa, the search for which in the early days of European settlement attracted so many adventurous expeditions, and which fascinated the imagination of Raleigh and drew him to his doom. The question was a complicated one involving the historical survey of Dutch and Portuguese exploration and control in the far interior of Guiana during two centuries; and it was not until 1904 that the king of Italy gave his award, which was largely in favour of the British claim, and grants to British Guiana access to the northern affluents of the Amazon. Before this decision was given Senhor Rodrigues Alves had been elected president in 1902. Dr Campos Salles had signalized his administration, not only by the settlement of disputes with European powers, but by efforts to arrive at a good understanding with the neighbouring South American republics. In July 1899 President Roca had visited Rio de Janeiro accompanied by an Argentine squadron, this being the first official visit that any South American president had ever paid to one of the adjoining states. In October 1900 Dr Campos Salles returned the visit and met with an excellent reception at Buenos Aires. The result was of importance, as it was known that Brazil was on friendly terms with Chile, and this interchange of courtesies had some effect in bringing about a settlement of the controversy between Chile and Argentina over the Andean frontier question without recourse to hostilities. This was indeed a time when questions concerning boundaries were springing up on every side, for it was only through the moderation with which the high-handed action of Bolivia in regard to the Acré rubber-producing territory was met by the Brazilian government that war was avoided. Negotiations were set on foot, and finally by treating the matter in a give-and-take spirit a settlement was reached and a treaty for an amicable exchange of territories in the district in question, accompanied by a pecuniary indemnity, was signed by President Alves at Petropolis on the 17th of November 1903. During the remainder of the term of this president internal and financial progress were undisturbed save by an outbreak in 1904 in the Cunani district, the very portion of disputed territory which had been assigned to Brazil by the arbitration with France. This province, being difficult of access, was able for a time to assert a practical independence. In 1906 Dr Affonso Penna, three times minister under Pedro II., and at that time governor of the state of Minas-Geraes, of which he had founded the new capital, Bello Horizonte, was elected president, a choice due to a coalition of the other states against São Paulo, to which all the recent presidents had belonged. Penna’s presidency was distinguished by his successful efforts to place the finances on a sound basis. He died in office on the 14th of June 1909.

(K. J.; C. E. A.; G. E.)

Bibliography.—History: Capistrano de Abreu, Descobrimento do Brazil e seu desenvolvimento no seculo xix. (Rio de Janeiro, 1883); John Armitage, History of Brazil from 1808 to 1831 (2 vols., London, 1836); Moreira de Azevedo, Historia do Brazil de 1831 à 1840 (Rio de Janeiro, 1841); V.L. Basil, L’Empire du Brésil (Paris, 1862); Caspar Barlaeus, Rerun per octennium in Brasiliâ ... sub praefecturâ Mauritii Nassovii... historia (Amsterdam, 1647); F.S. Constancio, Historia do Brazil (Pernambuco, 1843); Anfonso Fialho, Historia d’estabelecimento da republica “Estados Unidos do Brazil” (Rio de Janeiro 1890); P. Gaffarel, Histoire du Brésil français (Paris, 1878); E. Grosse, Dom Pedro I. (Leipzig, 1836); E. Levasseur, L’Abolition de I’esclavage en Brésil (Paris, 1888); J.M. de Macedo, Anno biographico brazileiro (3 vols., Rio de Janeiro, 1876); A.J. Mello Moraes, Brazil historico (4 vols., Rio de Janeiro, 1839); Chorographia historica, chronographica genealogica, nobiliaria e politica do Brazil (5 vols., Rio de Janeiro, 1858-1863); A Independencia e o imperio do Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, 1877); B. Mossé, Dom Pedro II., empereur du Brésil (Paris, 1889); P. Netscher, Les Hollandais au Brésil (Hague, 1853); J.M. Pereira da Silva, Varões illustres do Brazil (2 vols., Paris, 1888); Historia da fundação do imperio brazileiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1877); Segundo Periodo do reinado de D. Pedro I. (Paris, 1875); Historia do Brazil de 1831 à 1840 (Rio de Janeiro, 1888); J.P. Oliveira Martins, O Brazil e as colonias Portuguezas (Lisbon, 1888); S. da Rocha Pitta, Historia da America Portugueza (Lisbon, 1730); C. da Silva. L’Oyapock et I’Amazone (2 vols., Paris, 1861); R. Southey, History of Brazil (3 vols., London, 1810-1819); J.B. Spix and C.F. von Martius, Reise in Brasilien, 1817-1820 (3 parts, Munich, 1823-1831); F.A. de Varnhagen, Historia geral do Brazil (2 vols., Rio de Janeiro, 1877); Historia das luctas com os Hollandeses (Vienna, 187:); C.E. Akers, Hist. of South America, 1854-1904 (1904); the Revista trimensal do Instituto Historico e Geographico do Brazil (1839-1908), one or two volumes annually, is a storehouse of papers, studies and original documents bearing on the history of Brazil.

Geography, &c.: Elisée Reclus, Universal Geography (1875-1894), vol. xix. pp. 77-291; J.E. Wappãus, Geographica physica do Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, 1884); A. Moreira Pinto, Chorographia do Brazil (5th ed., Rip de Janeiro, 1895); Therese Prinzessin von Bayern, Meine Reise indenbrasilianischen Tropen (Berlin, 1897); M. Lamberg, Brasilien, Land und Leute (Leipzig, 1899); L. Hutchinson, Report on Trade in Brazil (Washington, 1906); F. Katzer, Grundzüge der Geologie des unteren Amazonegebietes (Leipzig, 1903); J.C. Branner, A Bibliography of the Geology, Mineralogy and Paleontology of Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, 1903); J.W. Evans, “The Rocks of the Cataracts of the River Madeira and the adjoining Portions of the Beni and Mamoré,” Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., London, vol. lxii., 1906, pp. 88-124, pl. v.

1 The areas are reduced from the planimetrical calculations made at Gotha and used by A. Supan in Die Bevölkerung der Erde (1904). They are corrected to cover all boundary changes to 1906.

2 The census of 1890 is the last one of which complete returns are published. That of 1900 was notoriously inaccurate in many instances.

3 The census returns are for municipalities, and not for cities proper. As a municipality covers a large extent of country, the population given is larger than that of the urban parishes, and is therefore not strictly correct according to European practice.

4 The Brazilian official titles are given for the state capitals: Belem for Pará; São Luiz for Maranhão; São Salvador for Bahia; and Recife for Pernambuco.

5 The capital of Minas Geraes in 1890 was Ouro Preto; it has since been transferred to Bello Horizonte, or Cidade de Minas, which has an estimated population of 25,000.

6 Since the naval revolt of 1893-1894 the name of the capital of Santa Catharina has been changed from Desterro to Florianopolis in honour of President Floriano Peixoto.

7 The “bran” exported is from imported wheat and cannot be considered a national product.

8 The “old metals” consist of old iron, brass, &c., derived from railway material, machinery, &c., all imported, and should not be considered a Brazilian product.

The “sundry products” would probably be included in the four general classes were the items given.

9 Previous to 1907 these two departments were united in one under the designation of “Industry, Communications and Public Works.” The division was decreed December 29, 1906.

BRAZIL, a city and the county-seat of Clay county, Indiana, U.S.A., situated in the west central part of the state, about 16 m. E. of Terre Haute and about 57 m. W.S.W. of Indianapolis. Pop. (1890) 5905; (1900) 7786 (723 foreign-born); (1910) 9340. It is served by the Central Indiana, the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, the Evansville & Indianapolis and the Vandalia railways, and is connected with Indianapolis, Terre Haute and other cities by an interurban electric line. The principal business thoroughfare is part of the old National Road. Brazil’s chief industrial importance is due to its situation in the heart of the “Brazil block” coal (so named because it naturally breaks into almost perfect rectangular blocks) and clay and shale region; among its manufactures are mining machinery and tools, boilers, paving and enamelled building bricks, hollow bricks, tiles, conduits, sewer-pipe and pottery. The municipality owns and operates its water-works. The first settlement here was in 1844; and Brazil was incorporated as a town in 1866, and was chartered as a city in 1873.

BRAZIL NUTS, the seeds of Bertholletia excelsa, a gigantic tree belonging to the natural order Lecythidaceae, which grows in the valleys of the Amazons and generally throughout tropical America. The tree attains an average height of 130 ft., having a smooth cylindrical trunk, with a diameter of 14 ft. 50 ft. from the ground, and branching at a height of about 100 ft. The lower portion of the trunk presents a buttressed aspect, owing to the upward extension of the roots in the form of thin prop-like walls surrounding the stem. The fruit of the tree is globular, with a diameter of 5 or 6 in., and consists of a thick hard woody shell, within which are closely packed the seeds which constitute the so-called nuts of commerce. The seeds are triangular in form, having a hard woody testa enclosing the “kernel”; and of these each fruit contains from eighteen to twenty-five. The fruits as they ripen fall from their lofty position, and they are at the proper season annually collected and broken open by the Indians. Brazil nuts are largely eaten; they also yield in the proportion of about 9 oz. to each ℔ of kernels a fine bland fluid oil, highly valued for use in cookery, and used by watchmakers and artists.

BRAZIL WOOD, a dye wood of commercial importance, obtained from the West Indies and South America, belonging to the genera Caesalpinia and Peltophorum of the natural order Leguminosae. There are several woods of the kind, commercially distinguished as Brazil wood, Nicaragua or Peach wood, Pernambuco wood and Lima wood, each of which has a different commercial value, although the tinctorial principle they yield is similar. Commercial Brazil wood is imported for the use of dyers in billets of large size, and is a dense compact wood of a reddish brown colour, rather bright when freshly cut, but becoming dull on exposure. The colouring-matter of Brazil wood, brazilin, C16H14O5, crystallizes with 1½ H2O, and is freely soluble in water; it is extracted for use by simple infusion or decoction of the coarsely-powdered wood. When freshly prepared the extract is of a yellowish tint; but by contact with the air, or the addition of an alkaline solution, it develops a brick-red colour. This is due to the formation of brazilein, C16H12O5·H2O, which is the colouring matter used by the dyer. Brazilin crystallizes in hexagonal amber yellow crystals, which are soluble in water and alcohol. The solution when free of oxygen is colourless, but on the access of air it assumes first a yellow and thereafter a reddish yellow colour. With soda-ley it takes a brilliant deep carmine tint, which colour may be discharged by heating in a closed vessel with zinc dust, in which condition, the solution is excessively sensitive to oxygen, the slightest exposure to air immediately giving a deep carmine. With tin mordants Brazil wood gives brilliant but fugitive steam reds in calico-printing; but on account of the loose nature of its dyes it is seldom used except as an adjunct to other colours. It is used to form lakes which are employed in tinting papers, staining paper-hangings, and for various other decorative purposes.

BRAZING AND SOLDERING, in metal work, termed respectively hard and soft soldering, are processes which correspond with soldering done at high and at low temperatures. The first embraces jointing effected with soldering mixtures into which copper, brass, or silver largely enter, the second those in which lead and tin are the only, or the principal, constituents. Some metals, as aluminium and cast iron, are less easily soldered than others. Aluminium, owing to its high conductivity, removes the heat from the solder rapidly. Aluminium enters into the composition of most of the solders for these metals, and the “soldering bit” is of pure nickel.

The hard solders are the spelter and the silver solders. Soft spelter solder is composed of equal parts of copper and zinc, melted and granulated and passed through a sieve. As some of the zinc volatilizes the ultimate proportions are not quite equal. The proportion of zinc is increased if the solder is required to be softer or more fusible. A valuable property of the zinc is that its volatilization indicates the fusing of the solder. Silver solder is used for jewelry and other fine metal work, arid has the advantage of high fusing points. The hardest contains from 4 parts of silver to 1 of copper; the softest 2 of silver to 1 of brass wire. Borax is the flux used, with silver solder as with spelter.

The soft solders are composed mainly of tin and lead. They occur in a large range. Common tinner’s solder is composed of equal parts of tin and lead, and melts at 370° Fah. Plumber’s solder has 2 of lead to 1 of tin. Excess of lead in plumber’s solder renders the solder difficult to work, excess of tin allows it to melt too easily. Pewterers add bismuth to render the solder more fusible, e.g. lead 4, tin 3, bismuth 2; or lead 1, tin 2, bismuth 1. Unless these are cooled quickly the bismuth separates out.

The essentials of a soldered joint are the contact of absolutely clean surfaces, free from oxide and dirt. The surfaces are therefore scraped, filed and otherwise treated, and then, in order to cleanse and preserve them from any trace of oxide which might form during subsequent manipulation, a fluxing material is used. The soldering material is compelled to follow the areas prepared for it by the flux, and it will not adhere anywhere else. There is much similarity between soldering and welding in this respect. A weld joint must as a rule be fluxed, or metal will not adhere to metal. There is not, however, the absolute need for fluxing that there is in soldered joints, and many welds in good fibrous iron are made without a flux. But the explanation here is that the metal is brought to a temperature of semifusion, and the shapes of joints are generally such that particles of scale are squeezed out from between the joint in the act of closing the weld. But in brazing and soldering the parts to be united are generally nearly cold, and only the soldering material is fused, so that the conditions are less favourable to the removal of oxide than in welding processes.

Fluxes are either liquid or solid, but the latter are not efficient until they fuse and cover the surfaces to be united. Hydrochloric acid (spirits of salts) is the one used chiefly for soft soldering. It is “killed” by the addition of a little zinc, the resulting chloride of zinc rendering its action quiet. Common fluxes are powdered resin, and tallow (used chiefly by plumbers for wiped joints). These, with others, are employed for soft solder joints, the temperature of which rarely exceeds about 600° Fah. The best flux for zinc is chloride of zinc. For brazed joints, spelter or powdered brass is employed, and the flux is usually borax. The borax will not cover the joint until it has been deprived of its water of crystallization, and this is effected by raising it to a full red heat, when it swells in bulk, “boils,” and afterwards sinks quietly and spreads over, or into the joint. There are differences in details of working. The borax is generally powdered and mixed with the spelter, and both with water. But sometimes they are applied separately, the borax first and over this the particles of spelter. Another flux used for copper is sal ammoniac, either alone or mixed with powdered resin.

As brazed joints often have to be very strong, other precautions are frequently taken beyond that of the mere overlapping of the joint edges. In pipes subjected to high steam pressures, and articles subjected to severe stresses, the joints are “cramped” before the solder is applied. That is, the edges are notched in a manner having somewhat the appearance of the dovetails of the carpenter; the notched portions overlap the opposite edges, and on alternate sides. Such joints when brazed are stronger than plain overlapping joints would be. Steam dome coverings are jointed thus longitudinally as cylinders, and the crown is jointed thereto, also by cramping. Another common method of union is that of flanges to copper pipes. In these the pipe passes freely within a hole bored right through the flange, and the solder is run between. The pipe is suspended vertically, flange downwards, and the spelter run in from the back of the flange. The fused borax works its way in by capillary action, and the spelter follows.

The “copper bit” is used in soft soldering. Its end is a prismatic pyramid of copper, riveted to an iron shank in a wooden handle. It is made hot, and the contained heat is sufficient to melt the solder. It has to be “tinned,” by being heated to a dull red, filed, rubbed with sal ammoniac, and then rubbed upon the solder. It is wiped with tow before use. For small brazed work the blow-pipe is commonly employed; large works are done on the brazier’s hearth, or in any clear coke fire. If coal is used it must be kept away from the joint.

In “sweating on,” a variation in soldering, the surfaces to be united are cleaned, and solder melted and spread over them. They are then brought together, and the temperature raised sufficiently to melt the solder.

A detail of first importance is the essential difference between the melting points of the objects to be brazed or soldered, and that of the solder used. The latter must always be lower than the former. This explains why soldering materials are used in a large range of temperatures. A few will melt at the temperature of boiling water. At the other extreme 2000° Fah. is required to melt a solder for brazing. If this point is neglected, it will often happen that the object to be soldered will fuse before the solder melts. This accident may occur in the soft Britannia and white metals at the one extreme, and in the softer brasses at the other. It would not do, for example, to use flanges of common brass, or even ordinary gun-metal, to be brazed to copper pipe, for they would begin to fuse before the joint was made. Such flanges must be made of nearly pure copper, to withstand the temperature, usually 98 of copper to 2 of tin (brazing metal). A most valuable feature in solder is that by varying the proportions of the metals used a great range in hardness and fusibility is obtainable. The useful solders therefore number many scores. This is also a source of danger, unless regard be had to the relative fusing points of solders, and of the parts they unite.

(J. G. H.)

BRAZZA, PIERRE PAUL FRANÇOIS CAMILLE SAVORGNAN DE, Count (1852-1905), French explorer and administrator, founder of French Congo, was born on board ship in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro on the 26th of January 1852. He was of Italian parentage, the family name being de Brazza Savorgnani. Through the instrumentality of the astronomer Secchi he was sent to the Jesuit college in Paris, and in 1868 obtained authorization to enter as a foreigner the marine college at Brest. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 he took part in the operations of the French fleet. In 1874 when the warship on which he was serving was in the Gabun, Alfred Marche and the marquis de Compiègne arrived at Libreville from an expedition in the lower Ogowé district. Interested in the reports of these travellers, de Brazza conceived the idea of exploring the Ogowé, which he thought might prove to be the lower course of the Lualaba, a river then recently discovered by David Livingstone. Having meantime been naturalized as a Frenchman, de Brazza in 1875 obtained permission to undertake his African scheme, and with the naval doctor, Noel Ballay, he explored the Ogowé river. Penetrating beyond the basin of that river, he discovered the Alima and Likona, but did not descend either stream. Thence turning northwards the travellers eventually regained the coast at the end of November 1878, having left Paris in August 1875. On arrival in Paris, de Brazza learned of the navigation of the Congo by H.M. Stanley, and recognized that the rivers he had discovered were affluents of that stream.

De Brazza was anxious to obtain for France some part of the Congo. The French ministry, however, determined to utilize his energies in another quarter of Africa. Their attention had been drawn to the Niger through the formation of the United African Company by Sir George Goldie (then Mr Goldie Taubman) in July 1879, Goldie’s object being to secure Nigeria for Great Britain. A new expedition was fitted out, and de Brazza left Paris at the end of 1879 with orders to go to the Niger, make treaties, and plant French flags. When on the point of sailing; from Lisbon he received a telegram cancelling these instructions, and altering his destination to the Congo. This was a decision of great moment. Had the Nigerian policy of France been maintained the International African Association (afterwards the Congo Free State) would have had a clear field on the Congo, while the young British Company would have been crushed out by French opposition; so that the two great basins of the Niger and the Congo would have had a vastly different history.

Acting on his new instructions, de Brazza, who was again accompanied by Ballay, reached the Gabun early in 1880. Rapidly ascending the Ogowé he founded the station of Franceville on the upper waters of that river and pushed on to the Congo at Stanley Pool, where Brazzaville was subsequently founded. With Makoko, chief of the Bateke tribe, de Brazza concluded treaties in September and October 1880, placing the country under French protection. With these treaties in his possession Brazza proceeded down the Congo, and at Isangila on the 7th of November met Stanley, who was working his way up stream concluding treaties with the chiefs on behalf of the International African Association. De Brazza spent the next eighteen months exploring the hinterland of the Gabun, and returned to France in June 1882. The ratification by the French chambers in the following November of the treaties with Makoko (described by Stanley as worthless pieces of paper) committed France to the action of her agent.

Furnished with funds by the French government, de Brazza returned in 1883 to the Congo to open up the new colony, of which he was named commissioner-general in 1886. This post he held until January 1898, when he was recalled. During his period of office the work of exploration was systematically carried out by numerous expeditions which he organized. The incessant demands on the resources of the infant colony for these and other expeditions to the far interior greatly retarded its progress. De Brazza’s administration was severely criticized; but that its comparative failure was largely due to inadequate support from the home authorities was recognized in the grant to him in 1902 of a pension by the chambers. Both as explorer and administrator his dealings with the natives were marked by consideration, kindness and patience, and he earned the title of “Father of the Slaves.” His efforts to connect the upper Congo with the Atlantic by a railway through French territory showed that he understood the chief economic needs of the colony. After seven years of retirement in France de Brazza accepted, in February 1905, a mission to investigate charges of cruelty to natives brought against officials of the Congo colony. Having concluded his inquiry he sailed for France, but died at Dakar, Senegal, on the 4th of September 1905. His body was taken to Paris for burial, but in 1908 was reinterred at Algiers.

See D. Neuville et Ch. Bréard, Les Voyages de Savorgnan de Brazza, Ogooué et Congo, 1875-1882 (Paris, 1884), and Conférences et lettres de P. Savorgnan de Brazza sur ses trois explorations dans l’ouest africain de 1875 à 1886 (Paris, 1887); A.J. Wauters, “Savorgnan de Brazza et la conquête du Congo français,” in Le Mouvement geographique, vol. xxii., No. 39 (Brussels, 1905). Giacomo or Jacques de Brazza (1859-1883), a younger brother of Savorgnan, and one of the men he employed in the work of exploration, published in collaboration with his companion A. Pecile, Tre Anni e mezzo nella regione del Congo e dell’ Ogowe (Rome, 1887).

(G. T. G.)

BRAZZA (Serbo-Croatian, Brač; Lat. Brattia), an island in the Adriatic Sea, forming part of Dalmatia, Austria. Pop. (1900) 24,408. With an area of 170 sq. m. Brazza is the largest of the Dalmatian Islands; it is also the most thickly populated, and one of the most fertile. Its closely cultivated surface though ragged and mountainous yields an abundance of olives, figs, almonds and saffron, while its wines are of good quality. The corn-crop, however, barely suffices for three months’ food. Other local industries are fishing and silkworm-rearing. The most important among twenty small villages on the island is Milná (pop. 2579), a steamship station, provided with shipwrights’ wharves. The early history of Brazza is obscure. In the first years of the 13th century it was ruled by the piratical counts of Almissa; but after a successful revolt and a brief period of liberty it came under the dominion of Hungary. From 1413 to 1416 it was subject to Ragusa; and in 1420 it passed, with the greater part of Dalmatia, under Venetian sovereignty.

BREACH (Mid. Eng. breche, derived from the common Teutonic root brec, which appears in “break,” Ger. brechen, &c.), in general, a breaking, or an opening made by breaking; in law, the infringement of a right or the violation of an obligation or duty. The word is used in various phrases: breach of close, the unlawful entry upon another person’s land (see Trespass); breach of covenant or contract, the non-fulfilment of an agreement either to do or not to do some act (see Damages); breach of the peace, a disturbance of the public order (see Peace, Breach of); breach of pound, the taking by force out of a pound things lawfully impounded (see Pound); breach of promise of marriage, the non-fulfilment of a contract mutually entered into by a man and a woman that they will marry each other (see Marriage); breach of trust, any deviation by a trustee from the duty imposed upon him by the instrument creating the trust (q.v.).

BREAD, the name given to the staple food-product prepared by the baking of flour. The word itself, O. Eng. bréad, is common in various forms to many Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Brot, Dutch, brood, and Swed. and Dan. bröt; it has been derived from the root of “brew,” but more probably is connected with the root of “break,” for its early uses are confined to “broken pieces, or bits” of bread, the Lat. frustum, and it was not till the 12th century that it took the place, as the generic name of bread, of hlaf, “loaf,” which appears to be the oldest Teutonic name, cf. Old High Ger. hleib, and modern Ger. Laib.

History.—Bread-baking, or at any rate the preparation of cakes from flour or parched grain by means of heat, is one of the most ancient of human arts. At Wangen and Robenhausen have been found the calcined remains of cakes made from coarsely-ground grain in Swiss lake-dwellings that date back to the Stone Age. The cakes were made of different kinds of grain, barley and one-grained wheat (Triticum monococcum) being among the ingredients. This bread was made, not from fine meal, but from grain crushed between some hard surfaces, and in these lake-dwellings many round-shaped stones have been found, which were evidently used for pounding or crushing grain against the surface, more or less concave, of another stone (see Flour and Flour Manufacture). Perhaps the earliest form of bread, if that word may be used, was prepared from acorns and beech nuts. To this day a sort of cake prepared from crushed acorns is eaten by the Indians of the Pacific slopes. The flour extracted from acorns is bitter and unfit to eat till it has been thoroughly soaked in boiling water. The saturated flour is squeezed into a kind of cake and dried in the sun. Pliny speaks of a similar crude process in connexion with wheat; the grain was evidently pounded, and the crushed remnant, soaked into a sort of pulp, then made into a cake and dried in the sun. Virgil (Georgics, i. 267) refers to the husbandman first torrefying and then crushing his grain between stones:—”Nunc torrete igni fruges, nunc frangite saxo.”

The question naturally arises, how did the lake-dwellers bake their cakes of bruised grain? Probably the dough was laid on a flat or convex-shaped stone, which was heated, while the cake was covered with hot ashes. Stones have been found among prehistoric remains which were apparently used for this purpose. In ancient Egyptian tombs cakes of durra have been found, of concave shape, suggesting the use of such baking-slabs; here the cake was evidently prepared from coarsely-cracked grain. In primitive times milling and baking were twin arts. The housewife, and the daughters or handmaids, crushed or ground the grain and prepared the bread or cakes. When Abraham entertained the angels unawares (Genesis xviii.) he bade his wife Sarah “make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.” Professor Maspero says that an oven for baking bread was to be found in the courtyard of every house in Chaldaea; close by were kept the grinding stones. That bread prepared by means of leaven was known in the days of the patriarchs may be fairly inferred from the passage in Genesis ML, where it is said of Lot that he “made a feast, and did bake unleavened bread.” Whether the shew-bread of the Jewish tabernacle was leavened is an open question, but it is significant that the Passover cakes eaten by Jews to-day, known as Matzos, are innocent of leaven. Made from flour and water only, they are about 12 in. in diameter, and have somewhat the look of water biscuits.

The ancient Egyptians carried the art of baking to high perfection. Herodotus remarks of them, “dough they knead with their feet, but clay with their hands.” The practice of using the feet for dough kneading, however repulsive, long persisted in Scotland, if indeed it is yet defunct. The Egyptians used for their bread, wheat, spelt, barley and durra (sorghum). In the opinion of Dr Wallis Budge, barley was in Egypt the grain of most primitive culture. However that may be, it is certain that even in ancient Egypt white bread made from wheat was used by the rich. The form of the bread is revealed by ancient monuments. A common shape was a small, round loaf, something like the muffin of to-day. Other loaves were elongated rolls, and curiously enough were sprinkled on the top with seeds like modern Vienna bread.

The history of baking in classical Greece and Italy can be clearly traced. Athenaeus in his Deipnosophists minutely describes many different kinds of bread, which may be assumed to have been currently used in Greece. According to Pliny (Nat. Hist, xviii. II. § 28) Rome had no public bakers till after the war with Perseus (171-168 B.C.). That long after public bakehouses came into use the Romans and other urban dwellers in Italy continued to make a great deal of bread at home is certain. In Pompeii several private houses had their own mill and bakehouse. That city must also have possessed bakers by trade, as loaves of bread have been found, round in form, and stamped with the maker’s name, possibly to fix responsibility for weight and purity. In the time of the Republic, public bakehouses were under the control of the aediles. Grain was delivered to the public granaries by the Saccarii, while another body called Catabolenses distributed the grain to the bakers. The latter were known as Pistores or “pounders,” a reminiscence no doubt of the primitive time when grain was pounded by a pestle in a mortar. Slaves were largely employed in the irksome work of grinding, and when Constantine abolished slavery the staff of the pistrinae was largely recruited from criminals. The emperor Trajan incorporated about A.D. 100 the college of Pistores (millers and bakers), but its members were employers, not operatives. The work of a bakery is depicted in a set of bas-reliefs on the tomb of a master Pistor named Eurysaces, who flourished about a century before the foundation of the college. Here the grain is being brought and paid for; mills driven by horse and ass (or mule) power are busy; men are sieving out the bran from the flour by hand (bolters); bakers are moulding loaves on a board; an oven of domelike shape is being charged by means of a shovel (peel); and baskets of bread are being weighed on the one hand and carried off on men’s backs on the other.

Regulation of Sale.—In the middle ages bakers were subjected to special regulations in all European lands. These regulations were supposed to be conceived in the interests of bread consumers, and no doubt were intended to secure fair dealing on the part of bread vendors. The legislators appear, however, to have been unduly biased against the baker, who was often beset by harassing restrictions. Bakers were formed into gilds, which were under the control, not only of their own officials, but of the municipality. In London the bakers formed a brotherhood as early as 1155, and were incorporated in 1307. There were two distinct corporate bodies concerned with bread-making, the Company of White Bakers and the Company of Brown Bakers; these were nominally united in 1509, but the union did not become complete till the middle of the 17th century. In Austria, bakers who offended against police regulations respecting the sale of bread were liable, until comparatively recent times, to fine, imprisonment and even corporal punishment. In Turkey the lot of the baker was very hard. Baron de Tott, writing of Constantinople in the 18th century, says that it was usual, when bread went to famine prices, to hang a baker or two. He would have us believe that it was the custom of master bakers to keep a second hand, who, in consideration of a small increase of his weekly wage, was willing to appear before the cadi in case a victim were wanted. A barbarous punishment, inflicted in Turkey and in Egypt on bakers who sold light or adulterated bread, consisted in nailing the culprit by his ear to the door-post of his shop. In France a decree of 1863 relieved bakers from many of the restrictions under which they previously suffered, but it did not touch the powers of the municipalities to regulate the quality and sale of bread. It left them the right conferred in 1791, to enforce the taxe du pain, the object of which was to prevent bakers from increasing the price of bread beyond a point justified by the price of the raw materials; but the right was exercised on their own responsibility, subject to appeal to higher authorities, and by a circular issued in 1863 they were invited to abolish this taxe officielle. In places where it exists it is fixed every week or fortnight, according to the average price of grain in the local markets.

In England an act of parliament was passed in 1266 for regulating the price of bread by a public assize, and that system continued in operation till 1822 in the case of the city of London, and till 1836 for the rest of the country. The price of bread was determined by adding a certain sum to the price of every quarter of flour, to cover the baker’s expenses and profit; and for the sum so arrived at tradesmen were required to bake and sell eighty quartern loaves or a like proportion of other sizes, which it was reckoned each quarter of flour ought to yield. The acts now regulating the manufacture and sale of bread in Great Britain are one of 1822 (Sale of Bread in the City of London and within 10 m. of the Royal Exchange), and the Bread Act of 1836, as to sale of bread beyond 10 m. of the Royal Exchange. The acts require that bread shall be sold by weight, and in no other manner, under a penalty not exceeding forty shillings. This does not, however, mean that a seller is bound to sell at any particular weight; the words quartern and half-quartern, though commonly used and taken to indicate a 4-℔ and 2-℔ loaf respectively, have no legal sanction. That is to say, a baker is not bound to sell a loaf weighing either 4 ℔ or 2; all he has to do, when a customer asks for a loaf, is to put one on the scale, weigh it, and declare the weight. When bread is sold over the counter it is usual for the vendor to cut off and tender a piece of bread to make up any deficiency in the loaf. This is known as the “overweight.” There is little doubt the somewhat misty wording of the bread acts lends itself to a good deal of fraudulent dealing. For instance, when bread is sold over the counter, two loaves may be 5 or 6 oz. short, while the piece of makeweight may not reach an ounce. The customer sees the bread put on the scale, but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred does not trouble to verify the weight, and unless he expressly asks for 2 ℔ or some specific weight of bread, it is very doubtful whether the seller, having satisfied the letter of the law by placing the bread on the scales, could be convicted of fraud. The provision as to selling by weight does not apply to fancy bread and rolls. No exact definition of “fancy bread” has ever been laid down, and it must be largely a question of fact in each particular case. All bakers or sellers of bread must use avoirdupois weight, and must provide, in a conspicuous place in the shop, beams, scales and weights, in order that all bread there sold may from time to time be weighed in the presence of the purchaser. The penalty for using any other weight than avoirdupois is a sum not exceeding £5 nor less than forty shillings, and for failing to provide beams and scales a sum not exceeding £5. Also every baker and seller of bread, delivering by cart or other conveyance, must be provided with scales and weights for weighing bread; but since the Weights and Measures Act 1889, no penalty is incurred by omission to weigh, unless there has been a request on the part of the purchaser. The acts also define precisely what ingredients may be employed in the manufacture of bread, and impose a penalty not exceeding £10 nor less than £5 for the adulteration of bread. (See further under Adulteration.)

Although the act of 1836 extends to the whole of the United Kingdom (Ireland excepted) out of the city of London and beyond 10 m. of the Royal Exchange, yet in many Scottish burghs this act is replaced by local acts on the sale of bread. These are in all cases of a much more stringent nature, requiring all batch or household bread to be stamped with the reputed weight. Any deficiency within a certain time from the withdrawal of the bread from the oven is an offence. The London County Council desired to introduce a similar system into the area under their jurisdiction, and promoted a bill to that effect in 1905, but it fell through. The bill was opposed not only by the National Association of Master Bakers, the London Master Bakers’ Protection Society, and by the West End metropolitan bakers in a body, but also by the Home Office, which objected to what it termed exceptional legislation.

It may be noted that the acts of 1822 and 1836 define precisely what may and may not be sold as bread. It is laid down in section 2 that “it shall and may be lawful ... to make and sell ... bread made of flour or meal of wheat, barley, rye, oats, buckwheat, Indian corn, peas, beans, rice or potatoes, or any of them, and with any (common) salt, pure water, eggs, milk, barm, leaven, potato or other yeast, and mixed in such proportions as they shall think fit, and with no other ingredients or matter whatsoever.”

Sanitation of Bakehouses.—The sanitary arrangements of bakehouses in England were first regulated by the Bakehouse Regulation Act 1863, which was repealed and replaced by the Factory and Workshop Act 1878; this act, with various amending acts, was in turn repealed and replaced by the Factory and Workshop Act 1901. By the act of 1901 a bakehouse is defined as a place in which are baked bread, biscuits or confectionery, from the baking or selling of which a profit is derived. The act of 1863 placed the sanitary supervision of bakehouses in the hands of local authorities; from 1878 to 1883 supervision was in the hands of inspectors of factories, but in 1883 the supervision of retail bakehouses was placed in the hands of local authorities. Under the act of 1901 the supervision of bakehouses which are “workshops” is carried out by local authorities, and for the purposes of the act every bakehouse is a workshop unless within it, or its close or curtilage or precincts, steam, water or other mechanical power is used in aid of the manufacturing process carried on there, in which case it is treated as a non-textile factory, and is under the supervision of factory inspectors.

The more important regulations laid down by the act are: (1) No water-closet, &c., must be within or communicate directly with the bakehouse; every cistern for supplying water to the bakehouse must be separate and distinct from any cistern supplying a water-closet; no drain or pipe for carrying off sewage matter shall have an opening within the bakehouse. (2) The interior of all bakehouses must be limewashed, painted or varnished at stated periods. (3) No place on the same level with a bakehouse or forming part of the same building may be used as a sleeping place, unless specially constructed to meet the requirements of the act. (4) No underground bakehouse (one of which the floor is more than 3 ft. below the surface of the footway of the adjoining street) shall be used unless certified by the district council as suitable for the purpose (see Redgrave, Factory Acts; Evans Austin, Factory Acts).

Bread Sluffs.—As compared with wheat-flour, all other materials used for making bread are of secondary importance. Rye bread is largely consumed in some of the northern parts of Europe, and cakes of maize meal are eaten in the United States. In southern Europe the meal of various species of millet is used, and in India and China durra and other cereal grains are baked for food. Of non-cereal flour, the principal used for bread-making is buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), extensively employed in Russia, Holland and the United States. The flour of pease, beans and other leguminous seeds is also baked into cakes, and in South America the meal of the tapioca plant, Jatropha Manihot, is employed. But, excepting rye, none of these substances is used for making vesiculated or fermented bread.

A normal sample of wheat-flour consists roughly of 10 parts of moisture, 72 of starch, 14 of nitrogenous matter, 2.25 of fatty matters, and 1.75% of mineral matter. Starch is thus the predominating component; it is not, however, the Quality of flour. dough-forming ingredient. By itself, starch, when saturated with water, forms a putty-like mass devoid of coherence, and it is the gluten of the nitrogenous matter which is the binding constituent in dough-making, because when wetted it forms a more or less elastic body. The proportion of gluten in wheat-flour varies from 7 to 15%, but the mere quantity of gluten is by no means the only standard of the commercial value of the flour, the quality also counting for much. One of the functions of gluten is to produce a high or well-piled loaf, and its value for this purpose depends largely on its quality. This is turn depends largely on the variety of wheat; certain races of wheat are much richer in nitrogenous elements than others, but such wheats usually only flourish in certain countries. Soil and climate are undoubtedly factors in modifying the character of wheat, and necessarily therefore of the flour. The same wheat grown in the same soil will show very varying degrees of strength (i.e. of gluten) in different seasons. For instance, the north-western districts of America grow a hard spring wheat which in a normal season is of almost unequalled strength. In 1904 an excess of moisture and deficiency in sun in the Red River Valley during the critical months of June and July caused a serious attack of red and black rust in these wheat fields, the disease being more virulent in the American than the Canadian side of the valley. The result was that the quality of the gluten of that season’s American spring wheat was most seriously affected, its famed strength being almost gone. Wheat from the Canadian side was also affected, but not nearly to so great an extent. Flour milled from hard winter wheat in the American winter districts is sometimes nearly as strong as the spring wheat of the North-west. Hungarian flour milled from Theis wheat is also very strong, and so is the flour milled from some south Russian spring wheats. But here again the degree of strength will vary from season to season in a remarkable manner. In the main each land has its own clearly marked type of wheat. While the United States, Canada, Hungary and Russia are each capable of growing strong wheat, Great Britain, France and Germany produce wheat more or less weak. It follows that the bread baked from flour milled from wheat from British, French or German wheat alone would not make a loaf of sufficient volume, judged by present British standards. As a matter of fact, except in some country districts, British bakers either use strong foreign flour to blend with English country flour, or, more frequently, they are supplied with flour by British millers milled from a blend in which very often English wheat has a small, or no place at all. If the baker’s trade calls for the making of household bread, especially of the London type, he must use a strong flour, with plenty of staple gluten in it, because it is this element which supplies the driving or lifting force, without which a high, bold loaf cannot be produced. If the demand is for tin or (as it is called in many parts of the north of England) pan bread, a weaker flour will suffice, as the tin will keep it up. A Vienna loaf should be made with at least a certain proportion of Hungarian patent flour, which is normally the highest-priced flour in the market, though probably the bulk of the Vienna rolls made in London contain no Hungarian flour. A cake of flat shape can be very well made with a rather weak flour, but any cake that is required to present a domed top cannot be prepared without a flour of some strength.

It is a general opinion, though contested by some authorities, that soft, weak flours contain more flavour than strong, harsh flours. The strong wheats of the American and Canadian North-West make less flavoury flour than Flavour of flour. soft red winter from the American South-West. It would not, however, be correct to say that all strong wheats are necessarily less full of flavour than weak wheats. Hungarian wheat, for instance, is one of the strongest wheats of the world, but has a characteristic and pleasant flavour of its own. Indian wheats, on the other hand, are not particularly strong, but are liable to give a rather harsh flavour to the bread. English, French and German wheats, when harvested in good condition, produce flour of more or less agreeable flavour. None of these wheats could be classified as strong, though from each of those lands wheat of fair strength may be obtained under favourable meteorological conditions. The Australasian continent raises white wheat of fine quality which has much affinity with British wheat—it is the descendant in many cases of seed wheats imported from England—but it is occasionally stronger. The resultant flour is noted for its sweetness. Both millers and bakers who are concerned with the supply of high-class bread and flour make free use of what may be termed flavoury wheats. The proportion of English wheat used in London mills is very small, but millers who supply West-End bakeries with what is known as top-price flour are careful to use a certain amount of English wheat, if it is to be had in prime condition. They term this ingredient of their mixture “sugar.” London bakers again, with customers who appreciate nicely flavoured bread, will “pitch” into their trough a certain proportion of English country flour, that is, flour milled entirely or chiefly from English wheat, which under such conditions is strengthened by a blend of strong flour, a patent flour for choice. It has been objected that as English wheat contains a large proportion of starch, and as starch is admittedly destitute of flavour, there is no reason why flour milled from English wheat should possess a sweeter flavour than any other starchy wheat flour. Experience, however, has amply proved that well-ripened English wheat produces bread with an agreeable flavour, though it does not follow that all English wheat is under all conditions capable of baking bread of the highest quality. But it would be as fallacious to hold that weak flour is necessarily flavoury, as that all strong flour is insipid and harsh. Different wheats are undoubtedly possessed of different flavours, but not all these flavours are of a pleasing character. In some cases the very reverse is true. Californian and Australian wheats have occasionally aromatic odours, due to the presence of certain seeds, that will impart an objectionable flavour to the resultant bread.

While the essential character of particular wheats will account for a good deal of the flavour that may be detected in the bread made from them, the baking process must also be responsible to some extent for flavour. The temperature of the oven and the degree of fermentation must be factors in the question. It has been asserted that the same flour will bake into bread of very different flavour according as the fermentation is carried out slowly or quickly, or as the oven is hot or the reverse. A high temperature seems to have the effect of quickly drawing out the subtle essences which go to give flavour to the bread, but it is a question whether they are not subsequently rapidly volatilized and partially or wholly lost. The rapid formation of a solid crust is no doubt likely to retain some of these flavouring essences. A moist, or “slack,” sponge, or dough, appears distinctly favourable to the retention of flavour, the theory being that under such conditions the yeast, having more room to “breathe,” works more easily, and is therefore less likely to convert into food those soluble constituents of the flour which give flavour.

The colour of flour is a valuable, though not an infallible, index to its baking qualities. Thus, a flour of good colour, by which bakers mean a flour of bright appearance, white, but not a dull dead white, will usually bake into a loaf Colour of flour. of good appearance. At the same time, a flour of pronounced white tint may bake into a dirty grey loaf. This has been particularly noted in the case of flours milled in Argentina. The colour of flour will vary from a rich, creamy white to a dull grey, according to its quality. The different shades are many and various, but the prevailing tints are comparatively few. Perhaps Blandy’s classification of the colours as white, yellow, red, brown and grey is as serviceable as any. Each of these tints is directly caused by the presence of certain substances. White denotes the presence of a considerable proportion of starch, while a pronounced yellow tint proclaims gluten of more or less good quality. Red and brown are tints only found in flours of low grade, because they are sure proofs of an undue proportion of branny or fibrous particles. A greyish flour invariably contains impurities, such as crease dirt, from the wheat, the intensity of the tint varying in proportion to their amount. With regard to a yellow tint, though this always denotes the presence of gluten, it is difficult to estimate the baking quality of the flour by the shade of yellow. In the best Hungarian patent flour the whole sample will be suffused by an amber tint, known to Budapest and Vienna bakers as gelblicher Stich. Rolls baked from the best Hungarian flour will not infrequently cut yellow as if eggs had been used in making them up, though nothing more than flour, yeast and water has been employed. Strong flour milled from American or Canadian spring wheat is also yellowish in colour, but the tint is not so deep as with Hungarian flour. On the other hand, there are flours of no great strength, such as those from some Australian wheats, which are apt to look yellow. When the colour of flour is not maintained in the bread, the reason is generally to be found in the baking process employed. Colour is a fairly trustworthy, but not an absolute guide to the chemical composition of flour.

Unfortunately not all flour of good colour is sound for bread-making purposes. Wheat which has been harvested in a damp condition, or has been thoroughly soaked, by drenching showers previous to cutting, or has got wet in the stook, Damp and flour. is liable, unless carefully handled, to produce flour that will only bake flat, sodden loaves. Wheat which has received too much rain as it is approaching maturity, and has then been exposed to strong sunlight, is peculiarly liable to sprout. This seems to happen not infrequently to La Plata wheat, and though wheat shippers in that country are usually careful to clean off the little green spikes, this outward cleansing does not remedy the mischief wrought to the internal constitution of the berry. Such wheat makes flour lacking in strength and stability. Its gluten is immature and low in percentage, while the soluble albuminoids are in high percentage and in a more or less active diastasic state. The starch granules are liable to have weakened or fissured walls, and the proportion of moisture and of soluble extract will be high. With regard to the beneficial action of kiln or other drying on damp flour, William Jago was convinced by a series of experiments that the gentle artificial drying of flour increases its water-absorbing capacity to about three times the amount of water lost by evaporation. On the other hand, a damp flour dried too quickly and at too great a heat is liable to be made more instead of less susceptible to diastasic changes.

Alum.—Strictly speaking, when employed with weak and unstable flours alum is a remedial agent. The popular idea that it acts as a kind of bleacher of flour, having the faculty of converting flour that is dark-coloured through containing a sensible proportion of branny particles and woody fibre, into white-coloured loaves, is erroneous. Its action as a producer of white bread is indirect, not direct, though it is none the less effective. It seems to act as a brace to or steadier of unstable gluten. If from the same wheat a certain proportion of gluten be extracted and divided into two parts, of which one is placed in a glass of water containing a strong solution of alum, and the other in a glass of plain water, the gluten in the latter case will become spent days and perhaps weeks before the sample in the alumed water is disintegrated. The place of alum in the process of fermentation is well marked. By holding together unstable gluten, it checks the diastasic action, and the proportion of starch converted into glucose (grape sugar) is reduced, with the result that a whiter and more porous loaf is produced. It is generally admitted that by the use of alum more or less eatable bread may be baked from flour which otherwise could hardly be made into bread at all. Strictly, therefore, this substance is not an adulterant, inasmuch as it is not a substitute in any sense for flour. But it is admittedly unwholesome, and therefore its legal interdiction for alimentary purposes is quite justifiable. Another aspect of the use of alum is that it is employed for the purpose of enabling bakers to use poor flour.

A fairly satisfactory test for alum in bread (or flour) is afforded by an alkaline solution of logwood and a saturated solution of ammonium carbonate. The presence of alum is shown by a lavender or full blue colour. The depth of the tint is said to be a rough guide to the quantity of alum present. According to Jago this test is so sensitive that it has resulted in the detection of 7 grains of alum in a 4-℔ loaf.

Besides alum, small quantities of copper sulphate have been used for checking diastasis and retarding fermentation. This substance has the same effect as alum, but as all copper salts are active poisons, the employment of copper sulphate is most strongly to be condemned.

Lime-water.—The object of using either alum or copper sulphate is to check over-rapid diastasis during fermentation. Baron Liebig pointed out a much less objectionable means of attaining the same end by means of lime-water, about 1½ oz. of fresh quicklime being dissolved in the water used for doughing one sack of flour. Bread made in this way is said to be spongy in texture, of agreeable flavour, and perfectly free from acidity. In the baked loaf the lime is transformed into calcium carbonate (chalk) by the carbon dioxide resulting from the panary fermentation. It is said that an increased yield of bread may be obtained by the use of lime-water; the explanation may be that lime-water, by retarding the degradation of the gluten and the diastasis of the starch, increases the water-retaining power of the flour, so that the same weight of flour yields a greater volume of bread.

Unvesiculated and Vesiculated Bread.—Wheaten bread may be divided into two main divisions, unvesiculated and vesiculated. The term vesiculated simply means provided with vesicles, or small membranous cavities, such as are found in all bread that has been treated by yeast, leaven or any other agent for rendering it spongiform in structure by the action of carbonic acid gas. Nearly all bread eaten by civilized folk is vesiculated, though there are different methods and processes for attaining this result. Into the category of unvesiculated bread enter such products as the Australian damper, a flat cake prepared from flour, water and salt, and baked in the hot ashes of a wood fire. The dough is spread on a flat stone and covered with a tin plate, while the hot ashes are heaped around and over it; the heat should not be much in excess of 212° Fahr. The scone, the bannock and other similar cakes, still much appreciated in Scotland and the north of England, are also examples of unvesiculated bread. They are baked on hot plates or “griddles,” on hearths, and sometimes in ovens. Biscuits differ from these cakes in the fact that they are baked by a high instead of a moderate heat. But they enter so far into the class of unvesiculated bread that they are generally prepared without the aid of any such aerating agent as carbon dioxide. (See Biscuit.)

Vesiculated bread is now the only article of diet made from flour to which the term bread is applied, and there are various ways of producing the spongiform texture by which it is characterized. The ordinary and doubtless the most satisfactory way is by developing the carbon dioxide within the dough itself by the use of yeast (q.v.) or leaven, which sets up alcoholic fermentation, splitting up the saccharine matters in the flour into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The latter is retained by the dough and distends it, causing the bread to “rise.” Or the carbon dioxide may be artificially introduced, as in the so-called “aerated” bread (see below), or it may be produced by the agency of certain chemicals, as for instance of baking powders.

Such powders are mixtures which, under the influence of either water or heat, evolve carbon dioxide. These powders have been divided by Jago into three groups:—(1) Tartrate powders, in which the acid constituent is either free Baking powders. or partly combined tartaric acid; (2) Phosphate powders, in which the acid is some form of phosphoric acid; (3) Alum powders. All these powders have a more or less aperient action on the human system. Tartrate powders have the disadvantage that both commercial tartaric acid and cream of tartar frequently contain lead, a poisonous substance. Phosphate powders are less open to objection, as they are more easy to obtain free from lead and other metallic impurities. Alum powders contain potassium bisulphate and alum. It is somewhat remarkable that while the presence of alum in bread is regarded by the law of England as adulteration, its use in baking powder was pronounced legal in James v. Jones, 1894, 1, Q.B. 304, on the ground that baking powder is not food within the meaning of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875. In making wholemeal bread, hydrochloric acid and sodium bicarbonate are often used in such proportions that they neutralize each other. Carbon dioxide is evolved and raises the dough. In preparing wholemeal bread the use of this combination has the advantage that the acid acting rapidly on the sodium bicarbonate soon produces enough carbon dioxide to aerate the dough, and thus hasten its entry into the oven. Wholemeal flour contains so large a proportion of cerealin that diastasis is apt to proceed rapidly, the result being a clammy, sodden loaf. For this reason, perhaps the so-called aerated process is even more suitable for making wholemeal than white bread.

Methods of dough-making differ in different countries, and even in different parts of the same land. In the off hand method the dough is made right off, without any preliminary stages of ferment or sponge. This plan is sometimes Methods of making dough. adopted for making tin bread, and occasionally for crusty loaves. For tin bread a strong flour would be used and made into a slack dough, and about 1½ ℔ to 2 ℔ of distillers’ yeast would be used for the sack (280 ℔) of flour, occasionally with the addition of a little brewers’ yeast. Salt is used in the proportion of 3 ℔ to 3½ ℔ per sack. Formerly also it was the custom to add 10-14 ℔ of boiled potatoes, but the use of potatoes has greatly decreased. A tin-bread dough would be made slack, with about 70 quarts of water to the sack, and after being mixed, would be fermented at a temperature of 76-80° Fahr. It should lie for about ten hours. A dough for crusty bread such as cottage loaves, would be made much tighter, not more than 60 quarts of water being allowed to the sack. It would be fermented at a higher temperature, and would not lie more than about six hours. A slack dough is much less laborious to work (when the dough is hand-made) than a tight dough, for which a mechanical kneader is very suitable, but as a matter of fact the use of machinery (see below) is still the exception, not the rule. When a stiff dough is made by hand, it is usually made somewhat slack to begin with, and then “cut back” and “dusted” at regular intervals, that is to say, more and more flour is added till a dough of the required consistency has been obtained. (In the British baker’s vocabulary “dust” means flour, and good dust stands for good flour.) This system, on the one hand, saves the labour involved for “sponging” and other operations, and the bread is produced in less time; but on the other hand more yeast is used, and bakers generally hold that the system sacrifices the colour and texture of the loaf to convenience of working and yield. The high porportion of yeast enables the dough to carry a large quantity of water, and about 104 4-℔ loaves to the sack is said by Jago to be a not unusual yield in the case of slack doughs. But such a result would only be possible with very strong flour. In an ordinary way 96 loaves to the sack is a very high yield, unattainable except with strong flour, and probably the average yield is not more than 90 loaves to the sack. In London the manager of a “tied” shop is usually held to account for 92 loaves to the sack.

In the ferment and dough system, the ferment usually consists of 10 to 14 ℔ of potatoes to the sack of flour, boiled or steamed, and mashed with water, so as to yield about 3 gallons of liquor. There are several substitutes for potatoes, including raw and scalded flour, malt, malt extracts, &c.; brewers’ or distillers’ yeast may also be used. A ferment should contain saccharine matters and yeast stimulants in such a form as to favour the growth and reproduction of yeast in a vigorous condition. Hence it should not be too concentrated. About six hours are required for its preparation. It is added, together with 2 to 3 ℔ of salt, to the dough, which is prepared with about 56 quarts of water to the sack, and worked at a temperature of 80-84° Fahr. The dough is allowed to lie from two to five hours according to the flour used, the character of the ferment, and the working temperature. In this system the proportion of strong flour is usually reduced to 40% of the dough, and no doubt in some cases only soft or weak flours are used. Naturally the yield of bread is not so high as in the case of an off hand dough made entirely from strong flour, and it will probably not exceed 90 loaves to the sack. This method has many advantages. After the ferment is made the labour required is not much greater than with the off hand doughs, and less yeast is required, while potatoes, which are somewhat troublesome, from the necessary cleaning, can be replaced by the substitutes already mentioned. The method produces good-looking and palatable bread, though the loaves should be eaten within some twelve hours of leaving the oven.

The sponge and dough system, which is probably in widest use in England, is adapted to almost every kind of bread, and has the advantage that any kind of flour can be employed. The stronger flours which need long fermentation can be and usually are used in the “sponge” stage, while soft flours are utilized in the dough. (The sponge is a certain proportion, varying from a quarter to one-half, of the flour necessary for making the batch.) In London the baker often uses for the sponge a bag (140 ℔) of American spring wheat flour, and for the dough a sack (280 ℔) of British milled flour, which, whether it be country flour milled largely from English wheat or London milled, is always softer and weaker than that used for the sponge. The sponge is made very slack, 26 to 32 quarts of water being used to say 100 ℔ of flour. Yeast, either distillers’ or brewers’, must be added, in proportions varying according to its character and strength. Of distillers’ yeast 6 to 10 oz. may be used for 280 ℔ of flour (including sponge and dough). Salt is added to the sponge sparingly, at the rate of about ½ ℔ to the sack of 280 ℔ The object of making the sponge so slack is to quicken the fermentation. When set the sponge is allowed to ferment from six to ten hours, according to temperature and other conditions. Sometimes all the water it is intended to use is put into the sponge, which is then known as a “batter” sponge. The sponge, when ready, is incorporated with the rest of the flour to which the necessary amount of water and salt is added. The whole mass is then doughed up into the requisite consistency, the dough being allowed to lie for about two hours. Bread made by this method, always assuming that over-fermentation has been avoided, is of good appearance, presenting a bold loaf, with even texture and a nice sheen. Owing to the use of soft flours, the flavour should be agreeable, and the loaves ought to keep much longer than bread made by ferment and dough. The yield may rise as high as 96 loaves per sack, if strong flour has been used in the sponge.

A combination of the above two methods, known as the ferment, sponge and dough system, is often used with brewers’ yeast. In this case the yeast is not added to the sponge direct, but goes into the ferment. This method is rather in favour with bakers who make their own yeast.

The system of bread-making generally used in Scotland is known as the flour barm, sponge and dough. The barm is a combination of a malt and hop yeast, with a slow, scalded flour ferment. To make the so-called “virgin” barm a Scottish baker would use a 30-gallon tub; a smaller vessel for malt-mashing; 10 ℔ malt; 3 oz. hops and a jar for infusing them; 40 lb flour; 2 to 3 oz. malt; 8 to 12 oz. sugar, and 18 gallons of boiling water. With these materials a powerful ferment is produced, which it is considered best to use in the sponge the fourth or fifth day after brewing. The sponges used in Scotland are “half” or “quarter.” About 6 ℔ of malt go to the sack, one-sixth going into the sponge. As in England, strong flours are used for the sponge, but rather stronger flours are used for the dough than is usual in England. Scottish loaves are largely of the “brick” type, high and narrow. Such bread has an attractive appearance and keeps well. It has a rather sharp flavour, approaching acidity but avoiding sourness, while the large quantity of malt used adds a characteristic taste. The yield rises in some Glasgow bread factories to 100 loaves to the sack.