Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/334

 BLO

B L O

Buffering chiefly takes place in the dropfy a, delirious and fevc- rift Jb diforders, apoplexies c, pleurifies d 3 and the like. Some alfo prefcribe it in the hydrocephalus 6, ophthalmia f , fuftocative catarrhs £, cephalcea h, Gff. Some fay, that hfiftertng'n generally found hurtful in dropfies'. — [* Vid. Nent. Fund. Med. T. 2. P. 3-p. 427. b Idem, ibid. T. r. P. 2. p. 232. Af«y. Phil. Princ. Med. p. 301, 307. c Junck. Confp. Med. p. 055. & Nent. lib. cit. T. 2. P. 3. p. 434. d Junck. lib. cit p. 305. c Id. Confp. Chir. p. 174. f A T «*. lib. cit. T. 1. P. 2. p. 240. 1 Id ibid. T. 2. P. 3. p 153. Junck. Confp. Med. p. 513. h Nent. lib. cit. T. 1. P. 2. p. 114. ' Junck.

lib. cit. p. 434.]

Blistering, in farriery, is ufed in cafes of Arams and fhrunk finews in horfes, as fome hold, with good effect k, as others, with none '. — [ k Bracken. Notes- on Burd. p. 23. ' Burd. Farr. p. 36 ]

BLI f UM, Blite, in the Linnsan fyftem of botany, the name of a diftinct genus of plants ; the diftinguifhing characters of which are thefe : the cup is a hollow, pointed, and expanded perianthium, compofed of one leaf, divided into five fegments, and remains after the flower is fallen : there are no petals : the ftamina are three fimple filaments, of the length of the cup : the anthene are fmall and fimple : the germen of the pift ilium is rounded ; the ftyle is very fmall, reflex, and divided into two : the ftigmata are pointed : the feed is fingie, rounded, and flattifh, and is contained in the open cup. Linn. Gen. Plant, p. 2C.

The characters of blite, according to Tournefort, are, that the flower has no petals ; but is compofed of three ftamina, which arife from a cup divided into three fegments : the piftil finally becomes an oblong feed, contained in an inflated cap- fule, which was before the cup of the flower. The fpecies of blite, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : 1. The great white blite. 2. The great red blite. 3. The fpiked wild blite. 4. The fpiked wild bltte, with leaves varie- gated with white and green. Tourn. Inft. p. 507. Blite is efteemed cooling and emolient, and therefore good in dyfenterics and fpitting of blood. Lemcry, des Drog.

BLOATED Jijh or herring) in our ftatutes, are thofe which are half-dried. Vid, Stat ann. 18. Car. II. c. 2. Blount, in voc. Bloated herrings are made, by fteeping them in a peculiar brine, and then hanging them in a chimney to dry. Collins, Salt and Fifh. p. 109.

BLOATING, a puffing up or inflation of the exterior habit of the body, lodged chiefly in the'adipofe cells. It is the fame with what phyficians call an emphyfema. Gorr. Def. Med. p. 138. voc. if^vtrmtist. CaJl, Lex. Med. p. 296. voc. emphy- fema. Hift. Acad. Scienc. ann. 1713. p. 15, feq.

Bloating or biding of herrings. See Bloated.

BLOCK, (Cycl.) in the mechanic arts, a mafs of wood, one or two feet high, and difficult to move, ferving to work and cut things on, or fatten them to.

In this fenfe, we fay a chopping block a ; a fugar-finer's block b 'j a fmith's block, on which his anvil is fattened ; an execu- tioner's block, on which the criminal's head is laid to be ftruck off. — [ a Moxon, Mech. Exerc. p. 196. b Saver. Supp. Diet. Comm. p. 73.]

Mounting Block, an eminence ufually of ftone, cut in fteps or notches, ferving as a help to mount on horfeback. Thefe were much m ufe among ihe antients, who were unacquainted with ftirrups. 1 he Romans erected them at proper ftations along all their great roads. Davit. Explic. Term. Archit. p. 712. in voc, montoir.

Block, among cutters in wood, is a form made of pear-tree, box, or other hard and clofe-grained wood, free from knots, on which they cut their figures in relievo with knives, chif- fels, csV. Savor. Diet. Com. T. 2. p. 1 106. voc, planche. The like blocks are in ufe for card-making j and from the fame firft arofe the modern art of printing. Phil. Tranf. N° 310. p. 2398.

Blocks, aboard a fhip, are pieces of wood, in which the fhivers of pullies are placed, and wherein the running ropes go. Fafch. Lex. Milit. p. 31 1. voc. Flufchen. & p. 446. voc. Kloben. Of thefe fome are fingie, fome double, and fome have three, four, or five fhivers in them. They are named and diftin- guifhed by the ropes they carry, and the ufes they ferve for ; as the fhtet-block, the tzek-btock, the fiih-blocks, &c. Double blocks purchafc more than fingie ones, fo that on all occafions, where much force is expected from few hands, they ufe double blocks. But thefe, as they do the work with more eafe, do it alfo more flowly ; fo that, on occafions which require difpatch, fingie blocks are ufed. Boltel, Sea Dial. 4. p. izi. Man-war. Seam. Direct, p. o. GuilLY. 1. in voc.

Block and block is a phrafe ufed, when on hauling on any tackle, hallyard, or the like, to which two blocks belong, the two meet and touch ; lb that they can haul no farther. Man- war, loc. cit. GuilL Ioc. cit.

7 heji/h-black is hung in a notch at the end of the davit, ferv- ing to haul up the nooks of the anchor to the {hip's bow, GuilL P. 3 in voc.

The fnatch block is a large block with a fliiver in it, and a notch cut through one of its cheeks, for the more ready receiving a rope, fmce, by means of this notch, the middle part of the rope may be reeved into the block, without paifing it endwife.

It is commonly fattened with a ftrap about the main-matt clofc to the upper -deck, and is chiefly ufed for the fall of the wind- ing-tackle, which is reeved into this block, and then brought to the capftan. Guill. P. 3, in voc.

Block, among bowlers, the mark which is aimed at, being a fmall-fized bowl led on the green for this purpofe.

Block- Battery, in the military art, denotes a wooden battery on four wheels, moveable from place to place, whereby to fire en barbe, or over the parapet ; fometimes alfo ufed in galleries and cafements, where room is wanted. Fafch. Lex. Milit. p. 102.

BhocK-Houfe, a kind of wooden fort or battery, either mounted on rollers, or on a veffel, and ferving either on the water, or in counterfcarps and counter-approaches. The name is fometimes alfo given to a brick or ftone fort built on a bridge, or the brink of a river, ferving not only for its defence, but for the command of the river both above and below; fuch was that noted block-houfe antiently on the bridge of Drefden, fmce demolifhed on inlarging ihe bridge. Fafch. loc. cit.

BLOCKADE (Cjc/.)— There are two manners of forming £/W-

_ ades. The firft is fimply by fortifying or feizing pofts at fome diftance from the place, chiefly on the banks of rivers both above and below, and on the great roads and inlets, where bodies of foot and horfe are placed, communicating with each other, till the place being diftrefied for want of neceflaries, occafions defertions of the garrifon, and murmurings or in- surrections of the townfmen, whereby the governor is fre- quently forced to capitulate.

The other fort is made nearer the place, bylines ofcircumval- lation, wherein an army is potted; being chiefly ufed when after a battle, the vanquifhed party have fhut themfelves up in fome town ill provided, and thereby capable of being ftarved in a fhort time. Feuquiere,Mem. fur la Guer. art. 77. p. 3Z6.

BLOCKING, in middle-age writers, denotes a kind of burial ufed for perfons dying excommunicated. Vu Cange, Gloft". Lat. T, 3. p. 22. voc. imblocatus.

BLOCKY, among jewellers, a name given to a diamond when its fides are too upright, by its table and collet being larger than they ought to be. Jeffreys on Diamonds, p. 25. See Table and Collet.

BLOOD {Cycl.)~ The blood, and other parts of animals, all con- tain more or lefs of an acid; and this feems wholly owing to the effects of their organs of digeftion upon the aliments they take in, which, in fine, become aflimilated to, and make part of their fluids and folids. All animals do not feed in the fame manner ; but may be divided, in this refpect, into three different claifes ; the firft of thofe ufually called carnivo- rous animals, that is to fay, fuch as have no other food than the flefh of other animals; the fecond, of thofe which never eat of flefh at all, but feed wholly upon roots, fruits, and other vegetable matters; and the third of thofe, which feed indif- ferently both on flefh and vegetables. This divifion extends itfelf to the whole animal creation; for there are birds, beafts, fifties, and infects of all three clafles.

It ftiould feem, that the fubftance of thofe creatures, which feed only on one fort of animals, ftiould be of a nature nearly allied to that of the animals they feed on, fmce it is that which replaces every part of the creature, and becomes its flefh and its juices ; and we have, indeed, an inconteftable proof of the truth of this obfervation in the flefh of feveral of the fea-birds, which, as they feed wholly on fiih, is fo ftrongly rank and fifhy to the tafte, that it is not eatable. Another very familiar inftance is in the fmall-birds with us, which feed on buckthorn berries ; for, during the whole time that thofe berries are in feafon, the flefh of thefe birds is of a purgative nature. From hence it feems not rafh to conclude, that fuch animals as feed on things which have acid juices in them, muft pre- ferve thofe acids unaltered in their parts and fluids ; for it ap- pears by the above inftances, that the change of the food into part of the animal, does not confift in an abfolute change of its nature, but merely in a nice and regular arrangement of its parts ; and hence the acid, which made part of the food, now becomes part of the animal which eat that food. Hence the flefh of that animal, and its juices, muft yield that acid on a chemical analyfis ; and that this acid, if it were originally ow- ing to a vegetable, will, after this ftate, be, at leaft, wholly equal in ftrength to that obtained at once from the original plant ; nay, there are reafons, of which hereafter, why it may be more than fo. All the chemical analyfes that ever were made of the common herbs, fruits, and feeds ufed in food have yielded, among other principles, a liquor manifeftly acid. This makes a part of the body of the vegetable ; and therefore man, who eats thefe vegetables, muft be fuppofed to contain in his flefh and juices thefe acids unaltered. It might be fuppofed, that this acid, however, ftiould be only found in fuch animals as eat vegetables, not on fuch as feed on other creatures ; but this doubt will vanifh when we confider, that the carnivorous animals fwallow thefe acids, at leaft at fecond-hand in the flefh of thofe animals which had fed on' ve- getables. This, tho' a very fair way of reafoning, did not, however, content Mr. Homberg, but that he tried the fa&s themfelves by a number of experi ments, the principal of which for inftruction are thefe.

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