Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/246

 B A L

BAL

repeated at the cad of each ftrophe, as well as of the halfftrophe;, 0%an. Diet. Mathem. p. 665. Diet, de Trev. T. 1. p. 823.

In the old Engliih verfion of the bible, the book of Canticles is entitled the ballet of ballets; which has given fcandal to fome Romifii writers, as countenancing the opinion of thofe who hold that book a ballet of iove, or a recital of the amours be- tween Solomon and his concubine, as Caitalio and fome others have conceived it to be. Vid. Martin. Difcov. of Corrupt, of Script, by Hasret. c. 22. Fulk. Def. of Engl. Tranflat. Bible, c. 22. p. 508.

Some have fuggefted, that a collection of ballads is neceflary to a miuiiter, in order to learn the temper and inclinations of a people, which are here frequently uttered with great fimpli- city. The great Cecil, chief minifter to queen Elizabeth, is faid to have made a molt ample collection of ballads, on this ac- count. Vid. Frcjh. Meth. de I'etud. l'Hitt. c. 14. §. 7.

BALLANCE, (Cycl) in aftronomy, cue of the twelve figns of the zodiac. See Libra," Cycl.

Ballance Fifh) in zoology, an Englifh name for the fifh called th&zyga-na by authors, and by fome the hammer-headed jhark, or lihella. It is, according to the new Artedian fyftem, a fpecies of the fqualus, and is diftingujihed, by that author, by the name of the fqualus, with a very broad and traufverfe head, rcfembling a hammer. See Squaltjs and Zygana.

BALLANGERS, in natural hiftory, are two fmall oblong bodies, placed under the wings of the two-winged flies, and,°in fome meafuic, fupplying the office of the two other wings, which thofe of the four-winged clafs are pofieflcd of. Thefe, though very fmall, are yet extremely eafy to difcover, in almofr all the kinds; becaufe they fraud prominent, and are not applied clofa to the body. The four-winged flies never have thefe, and the two-winged never are without them. They arc indeed very often the moft ready diftinction of thefe two great daffes of the fly kingdom. For, frequently, the flies of the four-winged kind have their under-pair fo very thin, and fo clofely applied 10 the outer, that it is not eafy to feparate or diftinguifh them for what they are. This diftinction, how- ever, never fails or deceives ; for if we perceive thefe ballanccrs wanting, we may always determine the creature to have four wings, though we only difcover two of them at firft fight. Every one is acquainted with the ballances applied to divers machines, and made of an iron rod, with a plummet or ball of lead at each end. Under the wings of all the two-winged flies, there are two oblong bodies, one under each wing, which are of the fhapc of the half of this machine, and may be called half ballanccrs, with moft propriety; though the fliorter name of bal- lancers alone is fufficiently exprefiiveT

Each'of thefe is a fmall flender ftalk, fattened by one end to the corcelet of the fly, and terminated at the other by a head, which, in fome fpecies, is round, in others oblong, and, in fome of the figure of a ladle, or hollowed deeply on one fide. The head of thefe bodies is always large, in proportion to its ftalk, and forms a fort of mallet. Swarnmerdam has, for this reafon, called thefe the mallets, and fome others have named them the counterpoifes ; fuppofing them to be of the fame ufe to the creature, that the counterpoife carried in the hand of the rope-dancer is to him, ferving to keep thejuft equilibrium in all its motions.

The flies frequently carry thefe ballancers in the fame direction with their wings, and are able to move them with great fwift- nefs ; but the fmallnefs of their fize, in proportion to its body, or to the fize of its wings, feem to make them of but little ufe to the creature, in the offices they are fuppofed to ferve for. Unqueftionably they have their ufes ; but it is better abfolutely to declare we know not what they are, than to appropriate to them any they feem fo little adapted to.

The ballanccrs in the gnat kind are placed clofe under the in- fertion of their wings, and are extremely eafily feen ; thofe of fome other flies are more hid, and are not placed exactly in the fame part of the corcelet. Several of the fhort-bodicd flies, as the great blue fiefh-fiy, and others, have one ballanccr on e ch fide, placed near the extremity of the corcelet, where it joins the body.

Thefe are certainly to be looked upon as fome fort of fupple- ments to the wings of the fly that have them. If the wino- of a great blue nefh-fly be cut off near its origin, thefe two^fmall bodies may eafily be feen; they appear like mutilated, or young, and juft growing wings. The lower of thefe is the larger ; It is fattened to the corcelet of the fly, very near the infertion of the wing; its form is that of a fmall fhell, or the half of a fmall bivalve ; its concavity is turned toward the body of the fly, its convexity outward. Near its edge it has a kind of brown band, bordered with a ring of very fine hairs ; the reft of its fubftance is very tranfparent; it refembles a kind of talc, and is wholly without fibres. A little above this fmall body, or talcky fhell, there is another fmall piece of the fame fubftance, but very fhort ; this is of the fame form with the other, were it not that it is often rumpled, and folded al- moft equally in two. This, like the other, has an edge fring- ed with hairs, but is ufually black, as is alfo its fringe; where- as the edge of the other is of a deep brown, and its fringe wfc : te. Thefe two pieces have their feparate infertions in the corcelet ; but if they are traced through the whole extent, they will be found joined to one another, and are really but one

body. Thefe may be properly enough called the baftard wings'* or double fheljs, of the clafs of the two-winged flies. All the fhort bodied two-winged flies afford thefe to ourobfer- vation ; bjt, in the different fpecies, they vary a little in their - fhape and fituation. In the green and gold fly, the upper fhell is not folded, as it is in the great blue fly, and many others of that clafs. In many fpecies, the lower and larger fhell reaches to the firft ring of the body, and covers the infertion and part of the ftalk of the ballancer ; and, in the gnat kind, thefe are fo fmall as to feem wholly wanting. Vid. Reaumur, Hift. In- fect:. Vol. iv. p. 252, feq.

BALLAST, (Cy.)-That ballajl is belt which is heavieft, lies clofeft and fafteft, and drieft, both for the fhip bearing a fail, flowing of goods, health of the company, and faving of cafks and other goods. If a fhip have too much ballajl, ftie will draw too much water ; if too little, fhe will bear no fail.

To trench the Ballast, denotes, to divide the ballajl into two feveral parts, or more, in the fiiip's hold ; commonly done to find a leak in the bottom of the fhip, or to undock her.

TIjc Ballast floats, that is, runs over from the one fide to the other. Hence it is, that corn, and all kinds of grain, is dan- gerous lading, for that it is apt to Jboot. To prevent which, they make policies, that is, bulk-heads of boards, to keep it up faft, that it may not run from fide to fide, as the fhip heels up- on a tack. Ecteler, Sea Dial. 4. p. J48. Manw. in voc.

BALLATOONS, large, heavy luggage boats, carrying goods by the river from Aitracan and the Cafpian fea to Mofcow. Plan, Engl. Comm. c. 1. p. 57, feq.

Thefe will carry from a hundred to two hundred tun ; and have from a hundred to a hundred and ten, or twenty men employed to row, and tow them along.

BALLERUS, in zoology, a name given by fome authors to a fpecies of frefh water fifh of the leather mouthed kind, which appears to be the fame with the carcaffius, or, as authors call it, the carcajjii tertium genus. Rondelet de Pifc. SeeCARCAssius. I Ballkrus, in ichthyology, a name given by Ariftotle to that fpecies of cyprinus, called bliaa and plcyjla, and pallerus, by the modern writers.

BALLET, orBALFT, Baletto, a kind of dramatick poem, reprefenting fome fabulous action or fubject, divided into fe- veral entries ; wherein feveral perfona appear, and recite things under the name of fome deity, or other illuftrious character. RichcL DiQi.T. 1. p. 170. b.

Ballet is more particularly ufed for a kind of comic dance, con fitting of a fcrics of feveral airs of different kinds of move- ments, which together reprefent fome fubject or action. Brcjf. Diet. Muf. p. 12.

They are performed chiefly by mafks reprefenting fylvans, tri- tons, nymphs, fhepherds, and the like ; and conftft of three parts, the entry, figure, and the retreat. Vid. Walther. Lex. Muf. p. 67.

The word is of Greek origin, formed from &a.».m, jacere, to caft, throw, tofs ; whence alfo, in writers of the middle age, we find ballationcs for faltationcs, dancings, and ballare for j'al- tarc, to dance. Pafch. Invent. Nov. .Antiq. c. 7. § 60. F. Menettrier has a treatife exprefs on ancient and modern bal- lets, according to the rules of the ftage ; wherein he explains the nature of dancing according to Ariftotle and the antients. Vid. Act. Erudit. Leipf. 1683, p. 23H, feq.

Ballet, in the Englifh poetry, &c. See Ballad.

BALLISTA, (Cycl.) — The generality of authors confound the balUJla with the catapulta, attributing to the one what belongs to the other ; an error from which Lipfius, Father Daniel a, and Perrault himfelf, is not free. The detecting of it we owe to M. de Follard ; according to him, the ballijla had two arms, the catapidta but one. — [ a Vid. P. Daniel, Hift. de la Milice Franc. T. 1. p. 59.]

The ballijla was chiefly ufed in catting arrows, javelins, and even beams and planks of vaft bulk, befet with fpikes twelve feet long. The ofHce of the catapulta was that of throwing ftones a. We fometimes indeed meet with ballijla: lapidimi h in Cicero ; which feems to fhew that the ballijla was employed in catting of ftones; neither is this denied by M. Folard, who mentions exprefsly, that leaden bullets were alfo thrown by the ballijla:*: — [ a Vid. Folard fur Polyb. T. 2. p. 5S7, <;o,?, &6r4. Fafch. Ingen. Lex. p. 63, a. Cafar de Bell. Civil. 1. 2. c. 2. b Lie. Tufc. 1. 2. c. 24. e Folard, I.e. p. 614.] Ifidore fays exprefsly, Ballijla mngna vi jacit aut hajlas autfaxa. Some choofe to diftinguifh two kinds of ballijla:, the greater ufed for caftingftones, the lefler for darts d. According to Vi- truvius c, the ballijla was made after divers manners, though all ufed to the fame purpofe : one fort was framed with levers and bars; another with pullies; another with a crane ; and others with a toothed wheel f. — [ d Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 108, a. c Vitruv. Arch. 1. 10. c. 16. * Dan. Diet. Ant. in voc.] The ballijla is ranked by the antients in the fling kind, and its ftructure and effect reduced to the principles of the fling; whence it is called by Hero, and others, fund a and fundi 'bulns. Guntherus calls its balearica machina, as a fling peculiar to the Balearick iflands. Pliny e makes the Phoenicians inventors both of the funda and ballijla. Guntherus calls thofe which threw lefTer ftones, fundar, and thofe which threw greater, bal- lijta. The letter ballijla: were alfo called centenarian, as throw- ing ftones of an hundred pound weight. Sifena, on a like ac- count,