Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/328

 B L A

B L E

ftorcd to life, mall call together all the dry, rotten bones,* duft, &c, to the very hairs of the head, to come to judgment. Sale, Prelim. Difc. to Koran, feci. 4. §. 17. p. 82. feq. Blast is alfo ufcd in agriculture and gardening, for what is o- therwife called a blight. Mortim. Syft. of Hufbandry, T. I. p. 303. See Blicht.

Blajls differ from mildews, ?~ubigi?ics. See Mildew. The fmut of corn is a fpecies of blajl. Vid. Plott, Nat. Hift. Stafford, c q. §. 37. See Smut.

Bfojh, or bladings, are by fome fuppofcd owing to cold a ; by others, to the want of a due fup.pl y of fap b ; by others, to af- cending fumes of the earth c ; by others, to fharp winds and ■froits, immediately fuccceding rains' 1. [ s Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 958. voc uredo, b Phil. Tranf. N° 44. p. 881. c Boyle, Phil. Work. Abr. T. 3. p. 533. * Ruft. Di£t in voc] That fpecies called uridines, or fire-blafls, is fuppofed by Mr. Hales owing to the folar rays reflected from, or condenfed in the clouds, or even collected by the denfe fteams in hop-gar- dens, and other places. Vid. Phil. Tranf. N° 399. p. 269. The effect of them is to wither, mrivcl, fcorch, turn black, and, as it were, burn up the leaves, bloflbms, and fruits of trees, fhrubs, herbs, grafs, corn, even for whole tracts of ground. Beyle, loc. cit

Phyfictans alio (peak of a kind of hlqfts affecting human bodies, and caufing eryfipela's, palfies, &c. Shaw, New Pratt, of Phyf. p. 163. See Erysipelas, Palsy, &c.

Blasts, among miners. See Damps.

BLASTED, fomething ftruck with a blaft. See Blast.

Among the Romans, places blajled with lightning were to be confecratcd to Jupiter, under the name of bidentalia, and pit- tealia. See Bidental and Puteal.

It was alfo a piece of religion to burn blajled bodies in the fire. Pitifc-. Lex. Ant. 1". i. p. S25. voc. fulgurati.

BLASTING, among miners, a term for the tearing up rocks, which they find in their way, by gunpowder. The method of doing which is this; they make a long hole, like the hollow of a large- gun-barrel, in the rock they would fplit ; this they fill with gunpowder, then they firmly flop up the mouth of the hole with clay, except a touch-hole, at which they leave a match to fire it. A fmall quantity of powder does great things this way. Shaw's Lectures, p. 247,

BLASTOLOGY, i3?,«rs?.o"/ia, the regular and ftated pruning of vines. Salmaf Exerc. ad Solin. p. 519, b. See Vine.

BLASTUM mofylitum, in the materia medica, a term ufed by fome writers to exprefs the caffm lignea, or caflia bark, when not peeled off from the branches, but kept with the wood within it ; this was a common way of collecting and preferring, not only this bark, hut the cinnamon, and many others. The word cinnamon with them is never ufed to ex- prefs any thing but this fort of drug, the young fhoots of the tree prcferved with the bark upon them: when they peeled off the bark, and kept it feparate, they called it caffm fyrinx, or cajjia fijhtla ; and when they preferved it with the wood with- in it, they called it cajjia lignea, or hylo-cajjia, and blaftum mofylitum. We have perverted the fenfe of thefe words, fince their time, but this was their original meaning.

BLATTA, (Cycl.) in natural hiftory, the name of a fpecies of beetle, called by QoXumn-xfcarabaus tejludinatus. The com- mon kind are frequently found in bakers houfes ; the males have wings, and arc fmaller than the females, which have on- ly a fort of rudiments of wings near the moulders, and are much rougher on the body than the males. The common length is about an inch ; the head is fmall, and is furnifhed with two long and flender antenna, which are remarkably mobile any way. The bread is covered with a cruftaceous fcale ; the wings in the male are four, the outer ones are of a middle nature, between the cruftaceous and membranaceous kinds, the under wings are wholly membranaceous, and white ; the legs are very long, and hairy on each fide ; and the tall has two fpines ftanding out at it, which give it a forked look. The female is of a blacker colour than the male, and has a broader body, covered with eight or nine fcales. Columna, Aquat & Terreftr. Obf. cap. 19. Rafs Hilt. Infeft. p. 68. Befide this kind, which is very common with us, there is an- other found in Jamaica, which is larger than the former, and has wings that cover the whole body, and reach bevond the tail : alfo a fmall kind, found both in the Eaft and Weft In- dies ; the wings of which are of a yellowifh colour, and the moulders variegated with lines and fpots of black.

Blatta, in middle-age writers, denotes a purple in the wool or filk, dyed with the liquor of the fifh of the blatta. Brijf. de Verb, fignif. p. 80. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 11H. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 284. Fab. Thef. p. 359. Vojf. Etym. p. 72.

This was otherwife denominated blatta f erica, or blatto-feri- cum; whence alfo blattiarius, ufed in antient writers for a dyer in purple. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. loc. cit. Fab. loc. cit.

Blatta, according to fome writers, was alfo ufed fortheker- mes infect a ; and, according to others, for the purple worm b. But both of thefe acceptations are fufpicious. — [ a Vid. Du Cange, Gloff. Lat. T. 1. p. 571. b Paul. Diacon. ap. eund. ibid.] See Kermes. We know that it was anticntly ufed for a kind of moth, or fly,

whofe fat was reputed excellent for the ears, Plin. Hiit. Nat. 1. 29, c 6. Hardiiin. Not ad loc.

BLATTARIA, ?noth mullein, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower in all particulars refemhles that of mullein ; the fruit, however, is not oval or pointed, but round, or nearly fo The fpecies of blattaria enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe.

1. The yellow blattaria, with long laciniated leaves. 2. The white flowered moth mullein. 3. The purple flowered moth mullein. 4. The duflcy, or brownifh purple flowered blattaria. 5. The violet flowered blattaria, with large mi- ning flowers. 6. The dulky blue flowered hlatiaria. 7. The ferrugineous coloured blattaria. 8. The perennial Englifh blattaria, with dufky red flowers. 9. The great flowered blattaria. 10. The great flowered blattaria, with leaves like white mullein, and yellow flowers, n. Hoary blattaria, with multifid leaves. 12. Hoary perennial cretic blattaria, with leaves placed two and two at the ftalk. Turn. Lift. p. r 47- ;

BLEA, in vegetables, is that part of a tree, which lies imme- diately under the bark, and between that and the hard wood, and is the firft progrefs of the alteration of the bark into wood by the natural growth and ftrengthning of the fibres. While the Ilea remains yet foft, and retains fomething of the nature of bark, it may maintain a feeble vegetation ; but when it is grown abfolutely hard and woody, it can contribute nothing to the growth of the tree. The vegetation of the young branches of trees is the moft lively and vigorous, and the only one that goes as far as the flowers and fruit, and that becaufe thefe branches are little elfe but bark. Bocrbaave's Chym, n. p. 138.

BLEACHED. See Bleaching, Cycl.

We fay bleached hair u, bleached linnen b , bleached yarn or thread c , bleached wax, c3V. d — [ 3 Savar. Diet:. Comm. T. 2. p. 3+5. voce herbe. b Skin. Etym. in voc. c Savar. T. 1. p. 1635. voc. fil. d Id. in Suppl. p. 147. voc. cire.] See the article Hair, £2V.

BLEAKE, in ichthyology, a name given by us to the fifh, called by authors the alburnus and albula. According to the new fyftem of Artedi, it is a fpecies of the cyprimts. The French call it thcablette. Seethe articles Alburnus and Cyprinus.

BLEB, a fmall blilter or bubble. See Burble, Cycl.

Naturalifts have obferved fmall purple blebs on all the plants of the hyfericum kind. Phil. Tranf N° 224. p. 365. Thick pieces of glafs, fit for large optic glafles, are rarely to be had without blebs. Id. N° 4. p. 57.

BLEEDING {Cycl.) — The puncture made in the operation of bleeding mould neither be too fmall, nor too large. In the making it, the lancet is to be pufhed (lightly forward by the thumb and forefinger, till it has penetrated through the coats of the vein ; and at that initant it fhould be raifed a little up- wards, in order to inlarge the orifice, and give a more free paflage to the blood. The operator mould keep between the two extremes of rafhnefs and timidity in making the puncture; for, as in the one cafe, he will only divide the common integu- ments, and leave the work undone, fo, in the other, he will run the rifk of wounding an artery, nerve, or tendon. Dif- ferent furgeons open the vein in three different directions : fome make the orifice in a ftreight line with the courfe of the vein ; others tranfverfely ; but moft make it obliquely : and if the patient is to be blooded in the left-arm, the furgeon mould be able to ufe his left hand, inftead of his right. Heifer's Surgery, p. 276.

If the blood flops after a fmall time, loofen the bandage a little, to give way to more blood's defcending by the artery, and it will bleed frefhly again ; and if the orifice be obftructed by too great a tenfion of the fkin, or an intrufion of the membrana adipofa, the piece of fat fhould be returned by prefling with the finger, or a bit of fponge, and the fkin relaxed by bending the arm; and, laftly, if the orifice be obftructed by thick grumous blood, that impediment may be removed by wiping with a fponge dipped in warm water.

As to the quantity of blood to be taken away, there can be no general rule given, becaufe different cafes and constitutions re- quire different quantities ; but this may be faid in general, that the patient, who fhews no palenefs of countenance, or dimi- nution of ftrength or fpirits, may bleed longer than thofe who quickly grow faint.

When a fufEcient quantity of blood is difcharged, the ligature muff be immediately taken off, and the fkin about the orifice gently ftroaked or preffed together by the two forefingers of the left-hand ; by which means, the lips of the divided vein are clofed : then the fmaller of the two comprefles is to be ap- plied, firft leting what little blood there may be between the orifice and the vein be difcharged ; the larger comprefs fhould then be laid on the fmaller, and preffed flightly down with the thumb : then wiping the blood from the arm, the bandage is to be applied. Some wet the comprefles in vinegar, water, or fpirit of wine ; but it is not neceffary, and they fit eafieft when applied dry. Hei/l. Surg. p. 277. 'See Bandage.

Bleeding in the hand.— There are two principal veins in the hand, which are fometimes opened to bleed the patient : the

one