Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/363

 BOW

BOW

fcrazil, with grey or white feathers. 2. The crofs-bow, chiefly ufed when, through any imbecillity of the arm or back, the former cannot be managed. School Recr. p. 126, feq. The invention of the bow is ufually afcribed to Apollo, and was firft communicated to the primitive inhabitants of Crete, who are faid to have been the firft of mortals who underftood thehfeof faws and arrows. And hence, even in latter ages, the Cretan boivs were famous, and preferred by the Greeks to all others. Some, however, rather choofe to honour Perfes, the fon of Perfeus, with the invention of the bow; while others father it on Scythes, fon of Jupiter, and progenitor of the Scythians, who were excellent at this art, and by many re- puted the firft mafters of it. From them it was derived to the Grecians, fome of whofe antient nobility were inftructed by the Scythians in the life of the bow, which in thofe days pafl'ed for a moll princely education c. It was firft introduced into the Roman army, in the fecond Punic war d. — [ c Potter, Ar- chjeol. T. 2. I.3. c. 4. p. 41. d Aquin. Lex. Milit. T. 2. p. 260. voc. Sagittarii.J

Among the later nations, the Englifh formerly excelled in the ufe of the bow. See Archery, Cycl.

The Indians ftill retain the bow. In the repofitory of theRoyal Society, we fee a Weft Indian bozu two yards long. Greiv, Muf. Reg. Societ. P. 4. fee. 2. p. 367.

The Scythian bow was famous for its incurvation, which di- ftinguifhed it from the bows of Greece and other nations ; be- ing lb great as to form an halfmoon, or femicircle : whence the fhepherd in Athenjeus, being to defcribe the letters in Thefeus's name, and expreffing each of them by fome appofite refem- blance, compares the third to the Scythian lotv; meaning not the more modern character £. but the antient C,which is fem'i- circular, and bears the third place in ©HCEVC. Pott. 1. c. p. 4 z. Bow, in mufic, denotes a machine that ferves to play, or give the found to viols, violins, and other inftruments of that kind, by drawing it gently over the firings thereof. See Viol, Violin, iSc. Cycl.

The bow confifts of three parts ; the firft is the ftick^ or wood^ to which the hair -is faftened ; the fecond is compofed of about eighty or an hundred horfe-hairs, or filaments of filk ; the third is the nut, a fort of half-wheel, which ferves to keep the hairs in the due degree of tenfion. Playf. Treat, of Muf. p. 72. It p. 88. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 539. voc. Archet. The antients do not appear to have been acquainted withiozw of hair : in lieu hereof they ftruck their inftruments with a plectrum ; over which our bdwshzve great advantage, forgiv- ing long and fhort founds, and other modifications, which a plectrum cannot produce. Male. Treat, of Muf. c. 14. fee. 2. p. 475. See Plectrum. Bow, in trade and manufactures, denotes a flexible inftrument, confifting of a piece of fteel or iron, to the two ends of which is faftened a cat-gut, ufed by fmiths, watchmakers, and other artificers, for the piercing and turning of divers forts of works. Felib. Princ. Archit. 1. 1. c. 20. p. 176. It. p. 34-3. Mox. Mech.Exer. P. 1. p. 6. It. p. 217. Savar. Diet. Com. T. 1, p. 1 30. voc. Afthet.

This is more peculiarly called a drill-bow. See Drill, and Drilling.

It is fometimes alfo made of wood, whalebone, and the like. Operators in mofaic have a fort of bow made of a piece of elaf- tic wood, with a brafs wire faftened to the ends of it, which ferves to law hard and precious ftones withal. Felib. ubi fup. I. 3. c. 12. p. 3 17. Savar. loc. cit.

Letter-cafters have alfo a bow, wherewith to keep the matrix even. See Founderv, Cycl. Bow of the Gills, a term ufed by fome ichthyologifts, to exprefs the convex part of each gill, each being a long femicircle, ter- . minated by many laminae, which form what is called the leaf. Seethe article Gills. Bows of a Saddle, are two pieces of wood laid archwife, to re- ceive the upper part of a horfe's back, to give the faddle its due form, and to keep it tight.

The fore-bow, which fufiains the pommel, is compofed of the withers, the breafts, the points or toes, and the corking. See the article Withers, 6fc.

The h'md-bow bears the troufTequm, or quilted roll. See Troussechjin, Cycl.

The bows are covered with iinews, that is, with bulls pizzles beaten, and fo run all over the bows, to make them ftronger. They are likewife ftrengthened with bands of iron, to keep them tight. It is on the lower fide of the bozos that the faddle- ftraps are nailed ; the ufe of which is to make fail the girths. Vid. Guilt. Gent. Di&. P. 1. in voc. Bow of a Ship.— The proportioning of the bow is of great im- portance to the failing of the fhip ; it being this part that firft breaks off the fea, and on which is, in a manner, all the bear- ing of the fhip. If the bow be too broad, the veiTel will not make her way eafily through the water, but carry a great load of dead water before her ; andif it be too lean or thin, flie will pitch or beat much into a hollow fea, for want of breadth to bear her up. Mamvayr. Sea D. p. 13. Bow-Dye, a new kind of fcarlet red, fuperior to madder, but inferior to the true fcarlet grain for fixednefs and duration. Boyle, Phil. Works abr. T. 1. p. 136. Nought. Coll. T. 2. p. 369.

Bow-Grace, in the fea language, a frame or compofition of old ropes, or juncks of cables, ufed to be laid out at the bows' t items, and fides of fhips, to preferve them from great flakes of ice, chiefly when they fail northwards or fouthwards. Botel. Sea Dial. 4. p. 1 95. how-Cap, among botanifts, one of the forms or pofitions of the leaves of flowers, wherein the leaves are laid fomewhat con- verfely over each other, but not plaited. Grew, Anatomy of Plants, 1. 1. c. g. <§. 16. p. 31. See Flower, and Leaf; Bow-Net, or Wheel, an engine for catching fifh, chiefly lobfters and crawfifi], made of two round wicker-bafkets, pointed at the end, one of which is thruft into the other ; at the mouth is a little rim, four or five inches broad, fomewhat bent in- wards a. It is alfo ufeJ for catching fparrows b. — [ a Savar. Dia. Com. T. 2. p. 842. voc. Najje. » Trev. Did. Univ. T. 4. p. 31. voc. Nafe. Bow-fprit, or BoLT-fprit. — To the ZWr-fprit is faftened all the ftayes belonging to the fore-maft, fore-top-maft, and fore top- gallant, &c. with their bowlings and jacks, befides the riggings which belong to its own fails.

If a fhip fpend her bolt-\mt, or, as the term is, if the bolt-fpr'it drop by the board, the fore-maft will quickly follow, if it be a rough fea, efpecially in failing by a wind. Mamvayr, Seam. D. p. 11. BOWKLLING, Exenteratio, the act of pulling out the intrails of an animal. DuCange, GloiT. Lat. T. 2. p. 315. in voc. Exenteratio-.

Bowelling makes part of the procefs of embalming. See Em- balming, Cycl. and Suppl. Bowelling is alfo a part of the puniftiment of traitors in Eng- land, who are to have their bowels ripped open, torn forth, and burnt before them a. Fraclioni, fufpendio, decollatio?n, exente- ration!, & quaterixationi adjudicavit. Knyght. fub Edw. II. in the fentence of Hugh Spencer b. — [ a Waljingh. in Rich. II. b Du Cangc* Gloff. Lat. T. 1. p, 3 15. voc- Exenteratio,] BOWER, (Cycl.) in gardening, a fliady place, under covert of trees, or branches interwoven.

A bower differs from an arbour, in that the latter is always built long and arched, but a bower either round or fquare at the bottom, and made with a fort of dome or deling at the top. See Arbour, Cycl. BOWET, or Bowels, among falconers, denotes a young hawk when fhe draws things out of her neft, and covets to clamber on the boughs. Diet. Ruft. T. 1. in voc, BOWGE of Court. See Bouche of Court. BOWLDER-SftfTzci, a fpecies of fmall ftones, of an indetermi- nate texture and figure, generally roundifli, found on the' ihores of the fea and banks of rivers. Woodw. Meth. of FofT. c. 2. p. 1 3.

Bowlders, or boivlder-Qones, are only lumps and fragments of ftones or marble, broken from the adjacent cliffs, and rounded, by being bowled, and tumbling to and again by the action of the water ; whence the name bowlder-ftones, as being formed by an action like that of a bowl, and thereby reduced to the fhape of one.

Neither the bozvlders nor rubble- ftones are ever inverted with an exterior ftrong cruft or fkin : 'tis plain from the manner of their formation they cannot. This is one mark by which they are diftinguiihed from flints, pebbles, or the other native no- dules, which were formed before the fubfiding of the matter of the ftrata, and are always covered with fuch a cruft or fkin, unlefs it have been worn off. Woodw. Meth. of FofTils, c. 2.

P-'3-

BOWLINE, or Bowling, (Cycl.) in fta-affUn.— The antients appear to have been unacquainted with the ufe of the bowling ; which is the reafon they always failed before the wind. Man- wayr. Sea. Diet. p. 14.

By means of this rope, a fail may be drawn away, and the wind, when received fideways, prevented from fwelling it too much, which would hinder the fhip's run inftead of forwarding it : it alfo ferves to hinder the wind from efcaping or blowing bv on the fide they are drawn on. Attbin,Dick Marin, p 114. voc. Bouline. Ozan. Diet. Math. p. 300. Fafch, Lex. Milit. p. ic4> feq. voc. Boelinen.

The phrafes peculiar to this rope are ; /harp the bowline, \. e. hale it taught, or pull it hard; hale up the bowline, i. e, pull it harder forward on ; check, eafe, or run up the bowline, i. e. let it be more flack. Bowline Bridles, are the ropes by which the bowline is faf- tened to the leech of the fail. Botel. Sea. Dial. 4. p. isg. Gmlt. Gent. Did. P. 3. voc. Sail. BOWLING, among gamefters, the act or art of throwing bowls. Bowling, among us, is chiefly the name of a game or exer- cife, practifed either in open places, as bares and bcwling- greens, or in clofe bowling- alleys.

The ikill of bowling depends much on a knowledge of the ground, and the right choice of a bowl fuitable to it: for clofe alleys the flat bowl ; for green fwards plain and level, the bowl as round as a ball, are preferred. Sportfman's Diet. T. 1. in voc.

The terms ufed in bowling, are, to bowl wide, which is when the bias does not hold, or is not ftrong enough ; narrow, when it is too ftrong, or holds too much; finely bowled, is when the ground is well chofen, and the bowl pafles near the block, even

though