Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/356

 B O R

B O R

indeed, they divided it among the foldiery, to animate them, and ferve in lieu of reward. But this diftribution depended on the generals, who were to conduct themfelves herein with great equity and moderation ; otherwife it became a crime of peculate to lay hands on the pillage, as regularly belong- ing only to the ftate. The confuls Romulius and Veturius, were condemned for having fold the booty taken from the /£,- qui. Vid. Liv. 1. 8.

Among the Jews, the booty was divided equally between the army and the people, though under the kings a different kind of diftribution obtained. Numb. c. 31. v. 27. Among the Mahometans, two thirds of the fpoils are allowed to the army ; the other third to God, to Mahomet and his relations, and to the orphans, the poor, and the pilgrims. Calmt, Dia. Bibl. T. 1. p. 321.

Among us, formerly, the booty was fometimes divided among the foldiery. If the general be in the field, every body takes what he can lay hold on: If the general be abfent, the booty is diftributed among the foldiery, two parts being allow- ed to the cavalry, and one to the infantry. A captain is al- lowed ten fhares, a lieutenant fix, and a cornet four. Crufo, Milit. Instruct, for Caval. P. i.e. 16. p. 8. See Prize.

BOQUINII, a fort of facramentarians, who affertcd that the body of Chrift was prefent only in the eucharifl to thofe for whom he died, that is the ele£l. Lint/an, dubit. dial. 2. Prateol Elench. Herat. 1. 2. p* 104.

They took the denomination from one Boquinus, a Lutheran divine, who was one of the chief of the party.

BORA, in natural hiftory, the name of the Bufonite, in fome authors; thefe are fuppofed by many to be real ftones, but are truly the teeth of a full.

BORAGO, Barrage, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower confifts of one leaf, of a rotated form J the cup is divided into feveral feg- ments, and from it there arifes a piftil, which is fixed in the manner of a nail to the middle part of the flower, and fur- rounded with four embryos, which are afterwards changed in- to as many feeds. Thefe are of the fhape of the head of a (hake, and are contained in the cup, which becomes much in- larged, till they are perfectly ripe.

The fpecies of barrage enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe : I. The common blue-flowered barrage. 2. The white-flower- ed barrage: and 3. The pale -red flowered barrage. Tourn. Inft. Bot. p. 133.

Borago, according to Linnaeus, is characterized thus: the cup is the perianthium, divided into five fegments, and remaining when the flower is fallen. The flower is compofed of a an- gle petal, of the length of a cup, in form of a cylindric tube, with a flat rim divided into five fegments, and its opening crowned with five obtufe prominences, with rims round their edges. The ftamina are five tapering filaments converging towards one another. The antherae are oblong, and are affix- ed to the middle of the inner fide of the ftamina, and converg- ing, like them, one towards another. The piftil has four germina, the ftyle is flender and longer than the ftamina, and the ftigma is fimple : the cup becomes larger and inflated, and ferves in the office of a fruit, containing four roundifh rough feeds, hollowed externally near their extremity, globofe at the bottom, and inferted into a hollowed receptacle. Lin- w^z Genera Plant, p. 59. See Tab. of Botany, Clafs 2. The common barrage has long held its rank as a cordial of the firft clafs, though perhaps it would not be eafy to fay on What foundation. Its flowers are of the number of the four cordial ones of the fhops, and it has been recommended as a medicine of great efficacy in malignant and peftilential fevers, andagainftthe bites ofpoifonous animals.

BORAK, among m ah ometans, a fabulous animal, fuppofed to be of a middle kind, between an afs and a mule, whereon their prophet was carried in his nocturnal flight from Jerufa- lem into the Heavens.

This animal, the Arabs called Al Barak, q. d. mining. The night when the journey was performed is called Leilat al Meer- age, i. e. the night of afcenfion ; and the flight itfelf Al Mefra ; concerning which, there are a multitude of traditions. D' Herbel. Bibl. Orient, p. 211. voc. Barak.

BORASSUS, in botany, the name of a genus of plants defcribed by Linnaeus, and called in the HortusJVIalabaricus ampana, and earimpana. The characters are thefe : ; The male and female flowers grow' on feperate plants, and give the plant fuch a dif- ferent figure, that they are called by the two names before mentioned : the male being the ampana, and the female the earimpana. The male, or ampana, has for the cup of its flower, the whole compound fpatha, which is amentaceous and imbricated : the flower is divided into three fegments, the petals being hollowed and of an oval figure : the ftamina are fix thick filaments, and the antherae are thick and ftriated. In the female, the cup is the fame as in the male, but the pe- tals of the flower, which is divided into three parts, in the manner of the male, are very fmall, of a roundifh figure, and remain when the piftil, £ffr. fall off. The germen of the piftil is roundifh ; the ftyles are three in number and fmall, and the ftigmata are fimple; The fruit is a roundifh obtufe berry, of a rigid ftructure, and containing only one cell : The feeds are three in number, and are of an oval com- preffed figure. Vid. Linnai Gen. Plant, p. 514.

BORATELLO, in zoology, a name given by fome authors to the eel while fmall, and erroncoufly fuppofed a different fpecies from the common eel.

BORAX (Cyd.) — The word Borax is formed from the modern Greek, (3opaxiov ; and that apparently from the Arabic, baura- con, nitre, as being reputed a fpecies of that fait e . The an- tient Greeks called it Xpucra KoA^a, q. d. glue of gold; the Ro- mans chryfocalla & fantcrna ; the Arabs linear or tincal f . — [ c Fater. Phyf. Exper. P. 2. Sec. 5.C.4. p. 240. ( Mcr- cat. Metalloth. Arm. 2. c. 8. p. 43. feq. Ajfalu Not ad Eund. p. 44. Dm Cange Glofs. Gr. T. I. in voc. |3opix%?i^.] This fait is naturally found in a fluid ftate, fufpended in certain waters, and difcoverable in them by a fweetifh mixt with a bitterifh and brackifh tafle : it is readily feparable by evapo- ration, and appears where feparated, in a ("olid, bright and tranfparent form, and in large and fomewhat regularly figured bodies, affording, on a nice Solution and evaporation, octuhse- dral cryftals. Hill's Hift. ofFof. p. 395. In feveral parts of the dominions of the great Mogul, in Perfia, and in fome parts of Tartary, and other places in the eaft, there ouzes out of the fides of hills, which contain me- tals, and particularly copper, a thick turbid water, of a blu- ifh grey colour, and of a brackifh bitter, and very dtfa- greeable tafte. This, where it runs in fufficient quantity, is generally taken care of for ufe, being directed in its courle into wide andfhallow pits, lined with a ftiffclay : in thefe it is left expofed to the fun, in order to evaporate ; but the peo- ple who have the care of it, daily mix among it, the grey fine mud left in itspaffage ; and when itis brought to the confidence of a foft pap, they throw into it, in the middle of a hot day, a large quantity of fome animal fat melted over the fire. This is all well {tired together; and then covered with flicks and branches of trees ; and over thefe is thrown a cruft of any com- mon clayi Thus it is left till perfectly dried up ; then the covering is taken off, and the whole fifted to feparate the earth and dirt ; and in the fieves is found, what is fent to us under the name of rough borax ; which is in rude irregular maffes, but fomewhat approaching to a prifmatic figure, very foul earthy andfattifhj ofa,dufky greenifh colour, and hav- ing a particular rank and difagrceable fmell. This is afterwards refined for ufe, by diffolving it feveral times in large quantities, and cryftalizing it while the liquor is hot and kept clofe covered from the air; and finally bei.ig diflolv- ed inalixivium of quick-lime and potafhes, andcryftahzed in the fame manner, it is what we call refined borax. It requires two and twenty times its own weight of water to diffolve it perfectly. Expofed to the fire, it (wells and bliilers, and after it has flood on the fire fome time, fubfides into a fine white glofiy fubftance, which is with difficulty foluble in water. It vitrifies all earths and ftones mixed with it, and expofed to a proper degreeofheat; and is of great ufe in foldering metals, particularly gold. The antients ufed for this laftpurpofe, a green arenaceous fubftance, which, from its ufe, they called chryfocolla, or gold folder; and the moderns have from this fimilarufe of borax, called it by the fame name. It yields nothing in d initiation, but an inlipid phlegm, and makes no efFervecence, either with acids or alkalies; yet it turns fyrup of violets green, and a folutiou of fublimate cor- rofive to a reddifh yellow ; and mixt with fal arnioniac in fiifi- on, gives a plainly urinous fmell: whence it is evident that it has fome of the properties of the alcaline (alts, tho' it wants their great character, the fermenting with acids. Hill's Hift. Foff. p. 97. 396.

Borax is of great ufe in the collecting the particles of any metal over the fire, and running them into a mafs ; and this, with very little diminution of their weight. Dirt or afties, tho* in ever fo fmall a quantity, will certainly hinder fome fmall particles of gold or filver from running together into a mafs over the fire ; but if they are fo dilpofed by a ve-

■ ry ftrong fire as to meet into a regulus, a great part of the metal will always adhere to the dirt that is thrown away. The lefs perfect metals not only fuffer the above-mention- ed accidents, but their furfaces being greatly increafed, cop- per and iron turn entirely into fcorise, and are deftroyed, and lead and tin are fo in great part. It is therefore very detri- mental when thefe baler metals are mixed in any, even in ever fo fmall a quantity, with gold or filver ; for in the melt- ing, there come upon the furfaces, light fcorise, in which part of the gold or filver are retained, as in the pores of a fpunge, and prevented from running into a regulus. To remedy this mifchief, borax is added, becaufe as it helps the melting of metals and of all bodies by fire, its bringing the whole mafs into a quick fuiion, gives the metals an op- portunity to fink together in a mafs to the bottom, and vitri- fies the lighteft fcoria;, throwing them off to the furface ; and this ufe of this fait is not reftrained to gold and filver, but takes place as well in regard to iron as copper. This fait alfo caufes metals to melt in a much lefs fire than they otherwife would, and is ofvery lingular ufe 'ii preferring thejlefsperfeclmetals while in fufiom ' IsfUiw-i overthein and co- vers their furface while tortured in the fire, as if it were with a kind of very thin glafs, which defends ihem againft the combined force of the fire and air, fo delhucuve of the imper- fect metals.

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