Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/282

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The root oF the grown plant is as evidently and fubftantially the fame with that in the feed, called the radicle, as the arms and le<rs of a grown perfon are with thofe of the foetus. The root confifts of the skin, the cortical part, and the ligneous part. Within the root, in many cafes, there is a pith; this pith is a fubftance ordained for the perfeaing the fap, and its quicker and higher fermentation, begun in the cortical part, inferted through the ligneous part, by which the fap, like the blood of the diffcminations of the arteries, is conveyed to its intimate parts. Grew, Anat. of Plants, c. i. p. 4, feq. The medicinal and dietetic qualities of beans are faid to be nu-

- tritive, but flatulent : the pods yield a water held good againft the gripes in children ». Some have ufed the horfe-fcm as a fuccedaneum to coft'ee, which in principles it much refembles; only that it contains but half the quantity of oil b. Mr. Boyle has feveral experiments of beans treated pneumatically, to fhew the great plenty of air they afford, on which their flatulency depends =.— [ • AUeyn, lib. cit. » Height. Coll. T. 3. p. 1 28. i Boyle, Phil. Work, abridged, T. 2. p. 615-621, lie] The expanfion of beans in growing, the fame author found to confiderable, that it would raife a plug clogged with above an hundred pound weight. Id. ib. T. 1. p. 285, feq. Beam, with proper management, make one of the nneit of all baits for fifh. The method of preparing them for this purpofc is this: Take a new earthen pot, glazed on theinfide; boil fome beans in it, fuppofe a quarter of a peck : they inuft bt boiled in river-water, and fhoukl be beforehand fteeped in fome warm water for fix or feven hours. When they are about half-boiled, put in three or four ounces of honey, and two or- three grains of mufk: let them boil a little on, then take them off the fire, and ufe them in this manner : feek out a clean place, where there are no weeds, that the fifh may fee and take the beans at the bottom of the water. Throw in fome beans at five or fix in the morning, and in the evening, for fome days. This will draw them together, and they may be taken in'a cafting-net vaft numbers together.

Bean-_/?mm-, called by the Romans hmentum, was of fome re- pute among the antient ladies as a cofmctic, wherewith to fmooth the skin, and take away wrinkles. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. z. p. 102. voc. kmentum.

The anticnts made ufe of beans in gathering the votes of the people, and for the eleaion of magistrates. A white bean fig- nified abfolution, and a black one condemnation. Danet Diet, in voc. faba.

Beans had a myfrerious ufe in the lemuralia and parrntalia ; where the mafter of the family, after warning, was to throw a fort of black beans over his head, dill repeating the words, I redeem myfclf and family by thefe beans K Ovid b gives i lively defcription of the whole ceremony in verfe.— [» Mem Acad. Infer. T. 2. p. 46- " Fa?M' abjline a fabis. The Egyptian priefls held it a crime to look at beans, judginL the very fight unclean. The flamen dealis was not permitted even to mention the name c . Lucian introduces the fame phi- lofopher in hell, faying, that to eat beam, and to eat our fa- ther's head, were equal crimes d . — [ c Pitifc. Lex. Ant. p. 75 r. FoJJ. de Seft. Philof. c. 6. §. 38, feq.] This precept has been varioully interpreted : fome underftand it of forbearing to meddle in trials and verdias, which were then by throwing beans into an urn : others, building on the equivoque of the word xvit^, which equally fignifies a bean and a human tefticle, explain it by abftaining from venery '. Lucian introduces-.Pythagoras himfelf explaining it ; after fay- ing, that he eats nothing which has life, hut all other things, except beans, he is asked for what reafon ? He anfwers, be- caufe they have fomething that is divine : firft, they refemble the privy parts. 2°. Being boiled, and expofed to the moon a certain number of nights, they turn into blood. But, 3. what is moft confiderable, they make ufe of them at Athens in the eleaion of magistrates f. — [ c Voff. loc. cit. f Danet. in voc. Vvjf. loc. cit. J

Clemens Alexandrinus grounds the abffinence from beans on this, that they render women barren ; which is confirmed by Theophraftus, who extends the effea even to plants. Cicero fuggefts another reafon for this abftinence, viz. that beans are great enemies to tranquillity of mind. For a reafon of this kind it is, that Amphiaraus is faid to have abffaincd from beam, even before Pythagoras, that he might enjoy a clearer divination by dreams. It may be added, that the com- parifon afcribed to Pythagoras of eating beans, with eating one's parent's head, is by Didymus afcribed to Orpheus, who was considerably prior to the fage of Samos. Cic. de Divinat. 1. I. c. 30.

After all, both the genumenefs of the precept, and the reality of any fuch abftinence among the antient Pythagoreans, have been difpiitcd. Some attribute the precept to Empedocles, a difciple of Pythagoras, Ariftoxenus, an antient writer cited hy A. Gellius, introduces Pythagoras faying, that he eat more frequently of beans than of any other pulfe, on account of their gently loofening the belly. A. Gell. Noa. Att. 1. 4. c. ri.

Bean, is alfo ufed by fome anatomifts to denote the glans of the penis, on account of its figure and refemblance to that pulfe. Rolfinck, Traa. Metb. Part. Gener. Dicat. P. 1. c. 52. Cajl. Lex. p. 330. b.

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Bean is alfo improperly ufed for a weight, containing thfc third part of a fcruple. Rtdand.

Such appellations are of little ufe, by reafon of the great va- riety of beans ; the Egyptian bean., for inftance, hiring much larger and heavier than the vulgar, or our bean. Scribonius Largus, notwithstanding, fometimes defcribes the dofes of medicines by the magnitude of a bean ; where we are fometimes to underftand the greater bean, containing the weight of a drahm, and fometimes the lupine feed, equivalent to four grains. Caflel Lex. p. 330. b.

Kidmy-Bt an. See Phaseolus.

florfe-BEAK. See HoRSE-bean.

Molucca Bean. See Molucca bean.

Bean-/?)', in natural hiftory, the name given by authors to a very beautiful fly, of a pale purple colour, frequently found on &w;z-flowers. It is produced from the worm or maggot called by authors mida.

BEh^-Jlulhs. The afh.es of beatt-fta\ks mate good and clear glafs. Boyle, Works abridg. Vol. i.p. 131.

BEAR, (Cycf.) Urfus, in phyiiology, denotes a well-known qua- druped of the cat kind, of fome ufe in medicine ; but more in commerce and fport.

This creature differs, in many refpects, from all the other hearts of prey. Its head is much larger than theirs : its skin on the back is extremely hard, tough, and ftrong ; under the belly it is more tender : its hairs are longer, fofter, and lefs rigid than in any other wild bcaft of prey, and refemble wooll in fome degree : its skull is much thinner than that of the lion ; but its brain more than twice as much in quantity : its eyes are very fmall, and, what is very remarkable, have a militating membrane to cover them on occafion. Its feet have all five toes, as well the hinder as the fore ones ; and what is remark- able is, that the large toe, which anfwers to the thumb with us, is in the place of the little finger. It is a very common creature in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and many other places. Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 169.

Bear, in the Linnrean fyftem of zoologv, makes a diftinct ge- nus of animals of the fera kind, the characters of which arc, that the paps are two, and placed in the groin: the feet are formed either for climbing or walking; and the great toe placed outward. Under this genus, the author takes in the creature called the coati mundi, under the name of urfus catida elongata, or the long-tailed bear. Linncvus, Syft. Naturae, p. 35. See Tab. of Quadrupeds and Serpents, N° 3. The bear is obferved to bear fome analogy to man ; as havino - hair on both eye-lids, which no other brute has a. His itruc- ture and anatomy are defcribed by the French academifts b .— [ a Grew, Muf. Reg. Societ. P. 1. §. 2. c. 1. p. 1 1. b Du Harnel, Hift. Reg. Acad. Scient. 1. 1. §. n. c. 3. p. 129.] Some diftinguim two kinds of bears, terrcjlrial and marine ; the former of which keep to the mountains ; whereas the lat- ter come out on the ice as far as the middle of the North-fea. Some of this kind are found in Nova Zembla of an incredible fize.

Be AR-/cadi,ig, to mew tricks, is an antient practice, which we find prohibited in the canons of the church. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. 4. p. 137 1.

Bear-zlwy/j, urfarii, were a kind of fervants in great families among the Romans, who had the care of breeding and feed- ing thofe animals. Pitifc, Lex. Ant. T. 2. p. 1119.

Order of the Bear was a military order in Switzerland, erected by the emperor Frederic II. in 1213, by way of acknowledg- ment for the fervice the Swifs had done him, and in favour of the abbey of St. Gal. To the collar of the order hung a me- dal, on which was rcprefented a bear raifed on an eminence of earth. Diet;. Trev. T. 4. p. 403.

Bp.AR's-breech, acanthus, in botany. See Acanthus.

The farina of bear' 's-breech, microfcopically examined, has the aprearance reprefented in Tab. of m'tcrofcopical Objects, Clafs 2.

BEAR's-fe/Jj was much efteemed by the antients : even at this day, the paw of a bear falted and fmoaked, is ferved up at the table of princes. Savar. Di£t. Comm. T. 2. p. 937.

Bear's grcafe is efteemed by fome a fovereign remedy againft: cold diforders, efpecially rheumatifms. Some have alfo em- ployed it with fuccefs in the gout, and againft tumors and ulcers. Vid. Sext. Placit. de Medic, ex Animal, c. 6. Fabric. Bibl. Gr£c. T. 13. p. 402. AUeyn, Difpenf. p. 152. To be good, it muft be newly melted, grayifh, glutinous, of a ftrong difagreeable fmell, and a moderate confiftence. That which is too white, is adulterated with common tallow. Sa- vor, Diet. Comm. T. 2. p. 937.

Bear's^v'w makes a fur in great efteem, and on which depends a confiderable article of commerce, being ufed in houfings, on coach-boxes, &c. In fome countries, cloaths are made of it, more efpecially bags wherein to keep the feet warm in fevere colds. Of the skins of bears cubs are made gloves, muffs, and the like. Savar. Diet. Comm. T. 2, p. 937. BEAR-garden, a place where bears and other beaits are expofed

as a public fpedtacle to be baited, BEARD (Cycl.) — Cutting the beard has, as it is faid, in many cafes, been the occafion of difeaies. Bartholin » (peaks of a Benedictin monk, who loft his fight by being {haven, accord- ing to the rule of his order, and recovered it again by fuffering

his