Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/268

 BA s

Jpifa. There were five lar/picni in the fcale. See Pycsi

and Spissum. ,, - ,

BARYTONUM, in the Greek grammar, denotes a verb, v. men having no accent marked on the lad fyllable, a grave accent is to be underftood. Vid. Nouv. Meth. Grrec. 1. 2. _

In the Italian mufic, Urytom anfwers to our common pitch of baft. Brofs Dia.Muf p. n.,.

BASALTES (Cvr/.)-The «„>/(« is a peculiar fpec.es of black marble, differing from the other kinds, in not being found in Strata, but in form of regular columns. It was fometimes called by the antients lapis lydius. They called the fame (tone, when found in its beautiful columnar form, bafaltes;, and when found in broken pieces in the beds-of rivers, not diftinguifh- incr that thefe were only fragments of the columnar fpecies, ttay called them by the name of lydius lapis. Authors have alfo called it the bafamtes, coticula, and lapis heradms ; and iome paragone. „ r ~. r-

It is a very regular and beautiful marble, of a perfeflly fine, fmooth, and equal texture, remarkably hard and heavy, and of a remarkably deep and naturally gloffy black, mixed with no other colour, nor fouled by any extraneous mixture. Its moft remarkable quality, however, is, its arranging itfelf iilto columns, and feries of them. Wherever it has been yet •found, cither by the antients or moderns, it has been always feen ftanding up in the form of regularly angular columns, compofed of a number of joints, and thofe nicely placed on, and fitted into one another, and a number of thefe columns nicely and exactly placed together, and fo joined, that the prominent angles of the one pillar fit, and exactly fall into the hollows left between the others, and the plain fides exactly an- swer to one another, the whole appearing as if formed by the hands of the niceft workman. A number of thefe columns, thus joined, make one large pillar; and there are generally found feveral of thefe pillars at fmall diftanccs one from an- other The finole columns, tho' all angular, are far from beino all alike, fome of them being of feven, feme of fix, and fame of five fides ; fome alfo are only of four, but thefe are the moft rare. See Tab. of Foffils, Clafs 5.

This is the account not only of the antients, but of every one who ever faw bafaltes in its native ftate in any part of the world ; and when we confider this, is it not amazing, that when the noble and furprifing quantity of it, called .the giants caufeway in Ireland, was taken notice of, it mould be doubted, whether it were not a work of art, and the name of the bafaltes, which alone accounts for it, never be thought of r The defections the antients have agreed to give of the bafaltes, as carefully collefled by De Boet, give us a very juft and accu- rate defcription of the'Giants caufeway, tho' that author had never feen or heard of it, the appearance of this marble 111 all parts of the world being the fame, and thefe accounts plainly evincing, that the immenfe pile of the bafaltes in Ireland is no miracle, nor work of art, but, perhaps, the nobleft colleirion of that body, which the world has to fhew. The origin and formation of this marble has much puzzled the world ; but we may confider, that many of the known foffil bodies have a property, like falls, of arranging themfelves into different figures at the time of their firft coalefcence into a mafs. This is from the fame laws in nature with that of falts ; and we are well allured by daily experience, that cryftal and fpar, according to this natural determination, ever form regu- larly angular figures, when all the proper accidents have con- curred to their concretion. The moft common figures of cry- stals are the hexangular columns ; and thofe of fpar, either tri- gonal columns or parallelepipeds The combinations and mixtures of thefe, in different degrees, may naturally produce jmixt figures, according to thefe degrees ; and a third f ubftancc, tho' in itfelf not difpofed by nature to aftiime or arrange itfelf into any particular figure, if mixed with thefe, may be able to fprcad, extend, and inlarge the figures they concrete into, or otherwife alter them.

A mixture of three bodies is therefore capable of producing a fourth, of a figure different from any one of the three above ; and we find alfo, by many parallel inftances, that the quicker or flower patting off of the fluid from whence bodies ai c con- creted, is capable of altering their figures. The marble of the Giants caufeway, or any other columns of bafaltes, analyfed by acids, is found to be compofed of an ad- mixture of cryftal, fpar, and earth. The fpar is absolutely dif- folved by the acid, may be precipitated out of it, and procured in its own form ; and the remaining mafs, after the feparation of the fpar, is found to be pure cryftal, and an earth of fire- clay kind, feeming the fame with the black pipe-clay of North- amptonshire, and fome other places, only much blacker. We know very well what would be the figures of thefe bodies con- creted alone, and may thence deduce what may be the poffible confequences of their union, and the different accidents attend- ' ing their concretions.

The bafaltes was found by the antients in columns in Ethiopia, and in fragments in the river Tmolus, and fome other places. We now have it frequently both in columns and in fmall pieces in Spain, Germany, and Ruflia. In Denmark alfo there is much of it ; and about Drefden a great deal, in fine columns : but the nobleft ftoreof it feems to be that in the cuunty of An- trim in Ireland, fo well known by the name of the Giants

B A S

caufeway. Hill's Hift. ofFoff. p. 46-/, 4O8. See Giants

caufeway*

The bafaltes makes a fine touchftone, and is ufeful on many

other occafions.

BASANITES, in natural hiftory, a name given by many au- thors to the touchftone ufed for trying gold, isc. See Lydius lapis, and Touchstone.

Pliny fpeaks of a bafamtes, which yielded a bloody ju-.ce, and was good againft difeafes of the liver. Hift. Nat. 1 36. c. 20.

BASANUS, in natural hiftory, the touchftone. Said. T. 1. p. 418. See the article Touchstone, Cycl. and Suppl.

Basanus Hybernicus. See hip Touchstone.

BASCANIA, in antiquity, ridiculous or grotefque figures hung by the smtient fmiths before their furnaces, to divert envy. Pollux. Onomaft. 1. 7. c. 24. Jun. Paint. Anc. I. 2. c. 8. p. 160.

BASE {Cycl.)— BASK-Knights, Bas-clxvaliers, denote the inferior order of knights, as diftinguifhed from barons and bannerets, who were the chief or fuperior knights.

Hence fome think, we now call bafe-knigbts, inferior to baro- nets, knights batchelors, a. d. bas-cbevalier. Kenn. Glofl. ad Antiq Paroch. in voc.

BASELS, Bafelli, in our old writers, a kind of coin abolifhed by King Henry II. 115s. Hollenfied's Chron. p. 67. ap. Blount.

BASELLA, in botany, the name of a plant, in all things agree- ing with the eufcuta, or dodder; but that the feed is fingle, only one fucceeding each flower, which is inclofed in a Succu- lent cup refembling a berry. Hort. Malab. Vol. 7 p. 24.

BASEMENT, in architecture, a continued bafe, extended a confiderable length, as around a houfe, a room, or other piece of building.

This is alfo called, by antient architefls, flereobata ; by the French, emkafement, or faubafement ; fometimes focle centime, when it is without either bafe or cornifh. Davilar, Archit. P. 2. p. 562. & 858.

B ', SHARIANS, a feft of Mahometans, being a branch or fub- divifion of the Motazalites.

The Bajharians are thofe who maintain the tenets of Bafhar Ebn Motamer, a principal man among the Motazalites, who varied, in fome points, from the general tenets, of the feci, as carrying man's free agency to a great length, and even to the making him independent. He afferted, that God is not always obliged to do that which is beft ; for that, if he pleafed, he could make all men true believers. Accordingly he taught, that God might doom an infant to eternal punifhment ; but taught at the fame time, that he would be unjuft in fo doing. Vid. Sale, Prelim. Difc. to Koran.

BASHAW (Cycl.)— The Turks, it is to be obferved, pronounce indifferently pafeba, or bafcha ; yet, according to d'Herbelot, pafcha is the title moft frequently given to the great officers of the Porte, and bafeba to the lower officers of the army, fome- times even to the common janizaries. Others pretend, that bafeba is the Arabic, and pafeba, the true, or Turkifh pronun- ciation. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 784. A bajhaw is made with the Solemnity of carrying a flag or ban- ner before him, accompanied with mufic and fongs, by the Mirialem, an officer on purpofe for the inveftiture of bajbaws. Rycaut. Pref. Stat, of the Ottom. Emp. 1. 1. c 12. p. 51. Eajbaw, ufed absolutely, denotes the prime vizier ; the reft of the denomination being diftinguifhed by the addition of the province, city, or the like, which they have the command of j as the bajbaw of Egypt, of Paleffine, &c. The bajhaws are the emperor's fpunges. We find loud com- plaints among Chriftians of their avarice and extortions. As- they buy their governments, every thing is venal with them. Aquin. Lex. Milit. T. I. p. 118. b.

When glutted with wealth, the emperor frequently makes them a prefent of a bow-ftring, and becomes heir to all their fpoil. Vid. Tournef. Voyag. T. I. let. 1. p. 17. a. It. T. 2. p. 22, 26.

There are alfo fuh-bafhaws, or deputy-governors under the firft. Vid. Phil Tranf N°. 21S. p. 14S.

BASIATRAHAGI, in botany, a name ufed by fome for the common polygonum, or knot-grafs Ger. Emar Ind. 2.-

BASIL (Cjcl.)— The order of St. Bafll ftill continues in Greece. The habit of the monks is black, and plain, confifling of a long caflbek, and a great gown with large fleeves : on their head they wear a hood, which reaches to the fhoulders : they wear no linnen ; fleep without ftieets, in the ftraw ; eat no flefh ; faft often ; and till the ground with their own hands. VE-milKon, HiftiMonaft Ord. p. 19.

This order was introduced in the Weft in 1057, and was re- formed in 1569, by pope Gregory XIII. who united the reli- gious of this order in Italy, Spain, and Sicily, into one con- gregation a ; of which the monaftery of St Saviour at Meflina is tile chief, and enjoys preheminence over the reft. Each community has its particular rule, befides the rule of St. Hafll, which is very general, and prefcribes little more than the com- mon duties of a Chriftian life b. — [ a Corn. Diet, des Arts, T. r. p. 94. b. D'Emillian, Hift. Monaft. Ord. p. 20.]

Basil, inbotany. See Ocymum.

B ASILARE Os,( Cycl.ym anatomy,a barbarous denomination given to the osjphttwi-les, on account of it being fituated at the bot- tom