Bezo'ar (Pers. pashahar, an antidote to poison), a concretion formed in the intestines of land animals, some of which were formerly celebrated for their supposed medicinal virtues. Those found in the intestines of herbivorous quadrupeds consist of the phosphate of ammonia and magnesia. Bí (Lat. bis twice), in the language of science, a prefix to numerous terms, signifying twofold.

Bib'liolite (Gr. bookstone), in mineralogy, a species of schistous stones which present the figures of leaves or simple dendrites.

Bicarbonate (Lat.), in chemistry, a carbonate containing two equivalents of carbonic acid to one of base.

Biceps (Lat. two-headed), in anatomy, applied to certain muscles. Bichloride (Lat.), in chemistry, a compound consisting of two equivalents of chlorine with one of another element.

Bichro'mate of Potash (Gr. bis, and chroma colour), a crystallized salt, the source of chrome pigments, obtained from chromate of iron, and used in dyeing and calico-printing.

Bicip'ital (Lat. two-headed), having two heads.

Bicuspid (Lat. double-pointed), having two fangs or points. Bidens (Lat.), having two teeth or

prongs.

Bid'ery-ware, in commerce and the arts, a metallurgic compound, consisting of 16 parts of copper, 4 of lead, and 2 of tin, with a portion of spelter. Articles inlaid with gold and silver, and highly polished, are manufactured from it.

Bifid (Lat.), cleft in two parts. Biforines, in natural history, a term applied to certain oval perforated sacs, consisting of two coats, found in the pulpy part of the leaves of some plants. When the biforine is placed in water, it discharges its spiculæ with considerable violence. Bifurcated (Lat.), divided into two prongs or forks.

Bignonia'cese (so called from M. Bignon), in botany, a nat. order of corolliflorous Exogens, of which the Bignonia, or Trumpet-flower, is the type. It consists of trees and shrubs, mostly climbing, and of great variety, with showy trumpet-shaped flowers, many of them of great beauty. Biju'gate (Lat.), in botany, having two pairs of leaflets. Bila'biate (Lat.), having two lips. Bilateral (Lat.), having two sides. Bile (Lat. bilis), in physiology, an animal secretion of a greenish-yellow colour and bitter taste, secreted from

the blood, collected in the gall-bladder, and discharged into the lower end of the duodenum.

Biloc'ular (Lat.), containing two cells. Bima'na (Lat. two-handed), in zoology, a term applied to the first order of the animal kingdom, consisting of the genus and species Homo, Man. In physical structure man is strikingly distinguished from the Quadrumana, which most nearly approach him, by many peculiarities, the chiet of which are the possession of hands on the fore limbs, with opposable thumbs; the structure of the pelvis and feet, by which he is enabled to support an upright position; the form of the teeth, and the adaptation of the organs of speech for articulate sounds; as also the superior magnitude of his brain, and the number of its convolutions. The normal varieties of man are the Caucasian, the Mongolian, and the Negro. The anomalous races are the Malayan, Polynesian, Australian, Tasmanian, the American Indian, and the Hyperborean.

Bima'nous (Lat.), having two hands; in zoology, applied to man. Bimarginate (Lat. bis, and margin), in conchology, an epithet applied to shells which have a double margin as far as the lip.

Bime'dial (Lat. bis, and media middle), in mathematics, belonging to a quantity arising from two other quantities. Bi'nary (Lat. binarius twofold). -Binary arithmetic is a kind of notation proposed by Leibnitz, in which, instead of the ten figures used in common arithmetic, and the progression from ten to ten, two only, I and o, are employed.-Binary theory of salts, in chemistry, is a theory which supposes that oyxgen salts are constituted on the same plan as chloride of sodium.

Binate (Lat. bis, and natus born), in botany, produced in twos; growing in couples.

Bin'ocle (Lat. bis, and oculus the eye), a dioptric telescope fitted with two tubes joined together. Binocular (Lat.), having two eyes; applied to optical instruments that have two apertures, so that both eyes may be used at the same time. Binomial (Lat. double-named), in algebra, applied to a term consisting of two quantities joined by the sign + plus, or minus. -The binomial theory is a formula by which a binomial quantity can be raised to any power, or for extracting any root of it.

Binox'ide (Gr. bis, and oxygen), in chemistry, a term applied to the second degree of oxidation of a metal or other substance.

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Biotine, a Vesuvian mineral, of yellowish colour and brilliant lustre. Bipapilla'ria (Lat. bis, and papilla a nipple), a genus of marine Mollusca. Biped (Lat. bis, and pedes feet), in zoology, an animal with two feet, as man and a bird.

Bipelta'ta (Lat. bis, and pelta a shield), in ichthyology, a family of Crustaceans, of the order Stomapoda, in which the shell is divided into two shields, the interior one being very large.

Bipen'nate (Lat. bis, and penna a wing), in zoology, having two wings. Bipes (Lat. two-footed), in ichthyology, a genus of eel-shaped reptiles. Bipin'nate (Lat.), in botany, double pinnate; applied to compound leaves, of which the leaflets are pinnate. Biquad'rate (Lat. bis, and quadratus square), in mathematics, the fourth part of a number on the square multiplied by the square; as 4 × 4 = 16 X 16 256, the biquadratic power of 4.-Biquadratic root, the fourth root of any quantity; the square root of any number or quantity, marked

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Birds (Sax.) in ornithology, the general name for oviparous vertebrated animals of the feathered tribe (see Aves). The mandible of birds is naked and protracted. They are destitute of teeth, scrotum, womb, bladder, epiglottis, and diaphragm. Cuvier divided the Aves into the following orders:-Accipitres, Passerinæ, Scansoriæ, Gallinaceæ, Grallatoriæ, and Palmipedes, which are described in their respective places.

Biros'trites (Lat. bis, and rostrum a beak), in palæontology, a fossil twobeaked bivalve shell.

Biscutel'la (Lat. bis, and scutella a saucer), a genus of plants, the Bastard Mustard, of the order Cruciferæ. Bisect (Lat. bis, and seco to cut), to divide into two equal parts. Biser'rate (Lat.), doubly serrated. Bish'opswort (Sax. bisceop-wyrt), in botany, a species of the umbelliferous genus, Honeywort.

Bismuth (Germ. wismuth), in mineralogy, a brittle metal of a reddish-white colour, and of lamellated structure. Its principal chemical compounds are, the protoxide and peroxide of bismuth, the chloride, bromide, and sulphuret of bismuth. Butter of bismuth is the chloride of bismuth. -Bismuth ores are native or octahedral bismuth, bismuth ochre, pris

matic bismuth glance, and needle ore, a kind of acicular bismuth. Bison (Lat.), in zoology, a sub-genus of the ox (bos) which has never yet been tamed. The American bisons have huge heads, a conical hump between the shoulders, and a shaggy mane. The European bison still inhabits the extensive forests of Lithuania and the Caucasus.

Biston, in entomology, a genus of moths, of the family Geometridæ, several species of which are found in this country.

Bistort (Lat. bistorta), in pharmacy, an astringent medicine, obtained from the root of the Polygonum bistorta, or Snakeweed.

Bisul'cate (Lat.), cleft in two, cloven

footed.

Bisulphate, Bisulphuret, in chemistry. a sulphate, or sulphuret, having two equivalents of sulphur to one of base. Biter'nate (Lat. bis and terni, three and three), in botany, a term applied to compound leaves.

Bitter (Sax. Swed. and Germ.), having a hot acrid taste, like wormwood.-In the sciences, bitter forms a prefix to numerous words connected with botany, chemistry, medicine, &c.; as, Bitter-almonds, of the order Amygdaleæ;-Bitter-gourd, a variety of cucumber, which has a bitter taste, and in medicine acts as a drastic purgative;-Bitter-oak, the Quercus cerris, of which there are numerous varieties;-Bitter-salt, the sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts);-Bittersweet, a species of the nightshade, Solanum dulcamara;--Bitterwort, the British plant, Genetiana amarella. Bitter-spar, in mineralogy, is a variety of dolomite, composed of carbonate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, a little iron, and manganese. -There are also many minor compounds, as Bitter-apple, Bitter-ash, Bitter-bean, Bitter-cucumber, Bitter-damson, &c.

Bitter Principle, in chemistry, a term applied to results of the action of nitric acid upon organized matter, of an intensely bitter taste.

Bitumen (Lat. from Gr. pitis the pitch tree), a tar-like combustible substance, or mineral pitch, generally known by the name of asphaltum. It is a compound of carbon and hydrogen, and constitutes the inflammable principle of coal.-In science and the arts, the name is applied to a number of inflammable substances found in a liquid or viscid state, and known as naphtha, petroleum, mineral tar, maltha or mineral pitch, asphalt, elastic bitumen, and amber.-Bituminous shale is an argillaceous or slaty clay, much impregnated with bitumen, common in the coal formation.-Bituminous springs are springs impregnated with petroleum, naphtha, &c., some of which, as in the United States and the Birman Empire, annually yield thousands of hogsheads, known by the name of crystal oil, and largely consumed in Europe and other parts of the world.

Bivalve (Lat. double doors), in conchology, having a shell of two valves, closing with a hinge.

Bizzar'ro (Ital.), in music, a term implying that the style of the movement to which it is prefixed is fantastical and irregular.

Black Flux, in metallurgy, a flux used in melting various metallic substances. It is made by deflagrating tartar with half its weight of potash; the substance remaining being a compound of the carbonate of potash and charcoal.

Black-lead, in mineralogy, a substance found in various rocks, especially in Cumberland, and much used for pencils, and for giving a metallic lustre to grates, &c. (See Plumbago). Black Salt, in chemistry, a product of the muriate of soda, fused with a species of Myrobalan.

Black Spruce (Lat. Abies nigra), a valuable tree of N. America, the wood of which furnishes the spruce deals of

commerce.

Black-wood (Lat. the Dalbergia latifolia), a valuable furniture wood, chiefly obtained from Malabar, and also from New South Wales.

Bladder (Sax. blædr), in anatomy, a membranous bag, situated between the pubis and the rectum in the male, and pubis and vagina in the female. Its use is to receive and retain the urine previous to its expulsion from the body by the urethra.

Blain (Sax. blegan), in farriery, an ulcerous distemper incident to horses. It is a bladder which grows at the root of the tongue, against the windpipe, and swells so as to stop the breath.

Blanching (Fr. whitening), a term of frequent use in the arts. In horticulture, it is the art of rendering the stalks or leaves of plants white by covering them with earth, so as to exclude the action of light. In metallurgy, blanching is the operation of covering iron plates with a thin coat or crust of tin. In numismatics, it is the operation performed on the planchets of pieces of silver, to give them the requisite lustre. -Blanching of copper is done in various ways,

so as to make it resemble silver. Blanchimeter is an instrument used for ascertaining the bleaching power of chloride of lime and potash. Blaste'ma (Gr. a bud), in botany, the axis of growth of an embryo.-In anatomy, the granular and gelatinous basis of the ovum. Blas'toderm (Gr. vital skin), the seat of development of all parts of the body of birds; the granular membrane situated beneath the membrana vitelli of the ovum.

Blatta'reæ, or Blat'tide (Lat.), a tribe of orthopterous insects, with five jointed tarsi, and wings folded longitudinally, the type of which is the Blatta, or Black-beetle.

Blechnum (Gr.) a genus of ferns, of the tribe Polypodium. Ble'dius, a genus of beetles found commonly burrowing in wet clay or sand on the sea-coast; fam. Stenidæ. Blende (Ger. dazzling), a term applied to minerals having a peculiar lustre. Blen'nide (Gr. blenna mucus), a family of acanthopterygious fishes (the Blennies), belonging to the Marlcheeks, the type of which is the Blennius, divided by Cuvier into several sub-genera, remarkable for the slimy mucus with which their bodies are covered.

Blind'age, in military science, a temporary bomb-proof or splinter-proof roofing, constructed to afford cover to magazines, earthworks, &c. Blocking, in architecture, a term applied to a course of stones, or bricks, erected on the upper part of a cornice, to form a termination.

Blood (Sax. blod), in anatomy and physical science, the red fluid which circulates in the veins and arteries of animals. The blood of vertebrated animals is red and warm; and, when allowed to cool, it separates into two substances, which in their component parts are nearly identical. According to the analyses of physiologists, the human blood consists of water, 780 145; fibrine, 2'100; colouring matter, 133.000; albumen, 65.090; crystalline fat, 2430; oily matter, 1310; extractive matter, 1790; albuminate of soda, 1'265; alkaline chlorides, carbonates, phosphates, and sulphates, 8.370; carbonates of lime and magnesia, phosphates of lime, magnesia, and iron, peroxide of iron, 2*100; loss, 200 = 1000. Blood-root, in botany, a small N. American plant, the Sanguinaria Canadensis, so termed from its roots yielding a red juice. It is called by the Indians puccoon, and by farriers turmeric.

Blood-running Itch, in farriery, a disease in horses, proceeding from an inflammation of the blood, by over-heating, hard riding, or too severe labour.

Blood-stone, in mineralogy, a green siliceous stone, classed among the gems; a variety of heliotrope spotted with jasper, as if with blood.

Blowpipe, in chemistry and mineralogy, an implement by which a small jet of air is directed into a flame, and that flame employed on a mineral substance to vitrify or fuse it. It is thus used by artists for the purpose of enamelling, and of softening and soldering small pieces of metal; by glass-blowers, in making thermometers and other glass instruments; and by chemists and mineralogists, in the examination of substances. Of late, this instrument has been greatly improved by the introduction of the self-acting or oxyhydrogen blowpipe.

Blue (Sax. bleo), in painting and the fine arts, one of the seven primary colours, which, mixed with red, produces purple, or with yellow makes green. The various shades of blue used in painting are-Prussian blue, Ultra-marine, Blue ashes, and Blue verditer.-Indigo forms the chief ingredient in blue used as a dye-stuff. Prussian blue, the ferrocyanate of peroxide of iron, prepared from bullocks' blood, carbonate of potash, sulphate of iron, and alum.-Saxon blue is sulphate of indigo.- Blue verditer is an impure carbonate of copper.-Blue is also a prefix to numerous compounds; as Blue ointment, or mercurial ointment; Blue pill, or mercurial pill; Blue-stone, or blue vitriol, the sulphate of copper; Blue eye-water, the solution of ammoniated copper.

Bluebell, in horticulture, a well-known beautiful British plant, with bellshaped flowers, the Campanula rotundifolia.

Bluebottle, in botany, the annual plant Centaurea cyanus, which is frequently seen growing in our corn-fields. In entomology, the common name of a species of dipterous insects, the Musca vomitoria.

Boa (Lat.), in herpetology, a genus of large prehensile-tailed serpents, with jaws capable of great dilatation.The great boa-constrictor, when fullgrown, is about thirty-five feet long. Body (Sax. bodig), a term of frequent use in practical science. - In geometry, it is applied to any solid figure; and in physics it is a solid, extended, palpable substance of itself merely passive. Among painters, the colour

is said to bear the body when, having been finely ground, it embodies with the oil in working, and does not separate from it.

Bog Moss, in botany, a genus of aquatic plants, the Sphagnum palustre, of the tribe Gymnostomi. The bogs, which are chiefly formed from the continued growth of this plant, are often of great depth, some of them having increased to eight feet in depth since the period of the Roman occupation of this country.

Bog Ore, in mineralogy, a species of iron ore formed in bogs or other places from the ore contained in chalybeate springs, and, in some instances, from the shields of infusoria. Bohea (Chinese), an inferior kind of black tea, of which there are two sorts from China; the inferior, called Canton bohea, which is a mixture of coarse tea and the refuse of Congou; the better kind comes from the district of Bohea, in Fokien.

Boil (Sax. bile), in pathology, a swelling of a very painful inflammatory nature, sometimes as large as a pigeon's egg. It has always a central core, which suppurates, and even +ually discharges its contents.

Boiler, in mechanical science, the vessel in which steam is engendered for propelling a steam-engine. Boiling-point, in physics, the degree of temperature at which liquids are in a state of ebullition by heat. The boiling-point varies greatly for different substances, but is constant for the same under the same circumstances. Thus, of water the boilingpoint is 212°; of alcohol, 176°; of ether, 96°; and of mercury, 66°. Bole (Gr. bolos a clod), in mineralogy, a friable clayey slate or earth, usually coloured with oxide of iron. The kind called Armenian bole is used as tooth-powder, and as colouring to the sauce called the essence of anchovies. It consists of silica, alumina, and iron. Boletic acid is an acid contained in the juice of the boletus. Boletus, a species of fungi, of the mushroom kind, on which are the Boletobius and Boletophagus, the names of two extensive genera of beetles, which live on the boletus. Bolo'gnian Stone, in mineralogy, a variety of the sulphate of barytes, found near Bologna, which, when powdered and heated with charcoal, shines in the dark.

Bol'sover Stone, in mineralogy, a yellow limestone, occurring at Bolsover, in Derbyshire. It is the stone of which the new Houses of Parliament are built.

In

Bolus (Lat.), in physiology, the mass formed by the food after mastication and insalivation, and thus prepared for its passage into the pharynx, is named the alimentary bolus. pathology, a form of medicine in which the ingredients are made up into a soft mass, larger than pills, to be swallowed at once.

Bomb (Teut.), in artillery or gunnery, a hollow ball or shell of cast-iron, filled with gunpowder or other combustible matter, to be thrown out from a mortar by means of a fuzee.Bomb-ketch -ketch is a small vessel strongly constructed for the use of mortars at sea. Bomb-vessel is a ship-of-war appointed for the bombardment of a town or place situated on the seacoast. Bomb-chest is a chest filled with combustibles for explosion underground.

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Bomba'ceæ (Lat. bombax the cotton tree), a nat. order of dicotyledonous exogenous plants, consisting chiefly of large tropical trees, with strong cotton-like flowers. From the quantity of cotton they produce they have been called cotton trees. Bom'biates, a genus of salts, the combination of bombic acid with other bases.

Bombic (Gr. bombyx, the silk-worm), pertaining to the silk-worm.-Bombic acid is an acid obtained from the silk-worm, when in its chrysalis state. Bombus, a genus of hymenopterous insects, with hairy bodies (the Humble Bees); fam. Apidæ.

Bombycidæ (Gr.bombyx, the silk-worm), a family of lepidopterous insects, chiefly distinguished by their possessing only rudimentary maxillæ; the caterpillars generally weave cocoons, as in the case of Bombyx mori, the silk-worm.

Bombycil'la (Gr.), a genus of birds, the type of the sub-family Bombycillinæ; a group of the Fruit-eaters, the Waxchatterers.

Bond (Sax.), in architecture, the method of connecting different bodies together.-In masonry, or brickwork, the artistic disposition of stones or bricks in a building.-Bond-stones are stones used in uncoursed rubble work, having their length placed in the middle of the wall.-Bond-timbers are timbers placed in the horizontal direction in the walls of buildings, in tiers at certain distances apart, and on which the battens, laths, &c., are secured.

Bone (Sax. ban), in physiology and anatomy, the firm hard substance which forms the skeleton and supports the fabric of the higher orders

of living animals. Bone is composed of solid cartilage, phosphate and carbonate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, and animal matter. The office of bone, in the animal economy, is chiefly mechanical, and the mechanical purposes to which it is subservient require that it should be of different sizes and forms. In the human skeleton there are commonly enumerated 260 different bones, which present every variety of size and figure. Some are long and round, as the bones of the upper and lower extremities; others broad and flat, as the bones of the skull; and others short and square, as the separate bones that compose the vertical column. The bones may be enumerated under three different classes, with the English and the Latin names :

Ist. Of the BONES OF THE HEAD, which, including the teeth, are 55 in number, viz. :