Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/393

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BUB

is immenfe ; and thofe who, in other refpeets, admit of in- fenfible gradations from one order of beings to another, muft own there is a vaft chafm between man and the moft perfect brute!. See Mr. Buffon, Hift. Natur. Vol. 2. p. 443. BRUTIA, in the medical writings of the antients, a word ufed to exprefe the fatteft and molt refinous kinds of pitch, and fuch as was propereft for making the oil of pitch, called oleum picinum.

The word brutia feems to have been an adjective of diftinction given to this kind of pitch by the antients, from their com- mon cuftom of naming things from the places whence they were brought; Brutia being the name of a country in the ex- treme pans of Italy. PHn. 1. 15. c. 7. See the article

BRYGMOS, a kind of convulfion, affecting the lower jaw, and ftrtktn" the teeth together ; moft frequently obferved in children affected with wOrms. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. £13. Gfahi. Lex.Prryf.'Med. p. 61.

The word is Greek, f2%vyjA&> i formed from @fvxttr t or @p>x s "i frequently ufed by Hippocrates for chattering of the teeth. Fcef. Occon. Hippoc. p. 129. See alfo Suic. Thef. Ecclcf. T. 1. P-7I4- voc - Bp>j*©..

The brygrmfs, or chattering of the teeth, is a fymptom of the accefs of an ague, or intermitting fever. BR YON, in the botanical writings of the antient Greeks, an abbreviation of the word bryonta. Wherever this word oc- curs in Diofcorides, Theopbraftus, &c. it means only the white bryony ; the later Greek authors, who have copied af- ter the writings of thefe, have called it Bryonia, always writing it at length ; and the virtues afcribed to it are every where thofe properly belonging to the white bryony. Yet the Latin tranflators of the works of Diofcoridcs and Theopbraftus, and many among the late botanical writers in general, have given us the word htpulus as the translation of bryon ; and are agreed in the opinion of that word's meaning the hop which we ufe in brewing.

This is a miftake owing to a too hafty reading; for it is evident to thofe who enquire deeper into the writings of the antients, that their curnele, ksmsXy, was our hop ; that being de- fcribed as a twining plant, as well as the bryon, and having all the virtues of the hop) though the other has not. The later Greeks have called this xafMXo|?or«hjj cmnehbotane. BRYONIA, in botany, a name ufually made to take in two different genera of plants, under the names of alba and nigra, the white and black kind. Mr. Tournefort, however, has determined this word to exprefs only what we call the white bryony, making tamnus the name of the black. Bryonia alba, white bryony, is a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is compofed of only one leaf, which is of the fhape of a bell, wide open at the mouth, and 'divided into feveral fegments ; and this is ufually fo nicely fur- rounded by, and firmly inclofed in the cup, that it is noteafily feparated from it. Of the flowers of this plant, which are very numerous, fome are fterile, having no embryo of fruit; others have the embryo. The firft kind are called "male flowers, the fecond female. The embryo in the female flowers ripens into a berry, of a round or oval figure, which contains a number of roundifh feeds. To thefe marks it may he added, that the bryonies are all climbing plants, and have ten- drils to faften themfelves to whatever is near them. The fpecies of bryony enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The rough-leaved white bryony, with red berries, called the wild vine. 2. The black-berried white bryony; this is called by Dodoneus black bryony. 3. The large fruited white bryony of Ceylon, with leaves very deeply divided, called by fome balfaimna feandens, and the Rinkingnmnordica. 4. The fmaller-berried white bryony of Ceylon, with deeply jagged leaves. 5. The yellow-flowered African white bryony, with fmooth and very deeply divided leaves. 6. The tubcrofe- rooted African white bryony, with green flowers. 7. The fig- leaved cluftered white bryony. 8. The American white bryony, with red berries, refembling olives. 9. The creeping Ame- rican white bryony, with a fmooth angular leaf. 10. The creeping American white bryony, with rough angular leaves ; and, 11. The Canada white bryony, with angular leaves and blackberries. Tounnf. InH. p. 202.

There has been a ftrangeconfufion among the Greek authors of later date, from the old way of writing the name of this plant ; this having been done by abbreviation, bryon, fymi, for bryonia, fyw»«. Commentators have miftaken bryon for the name of another plant, and have rendered it by the word lu- ' pulus, the hop. See the article Bryon. Mr. Boulduc, in his examinations of feveral purgative medi- cines, very juftly obferves, that white bryony is a plant of the fame nature with the mechoacan ; its root is the only part of it ufed in medicine. It was once in great efteem, but has of late loft its credit, and become difufed. However, it is found to be a very brifk purge ; fomctimes alfo it operates by vomit, and ufually very ftrongly by urine. Hence many have celebrated it as a remedy in all dropfieal cafes. In its analyfis, it appears to be very different from ?nechoa:an, in this, that it contains only a faline principle, and no refinous one. The root of this plant purges much more ftrongly in fub ftance than in any preparation. This is alfo obferved to be Suppl. Vol. I.

thd cafe In all the other vegetable purges J but as this is apt to be too rough in its operation, the feveral preparations of in- fufions, decoctions, and extracts, are to be preferred to the fubftance.

It is, when frefti, full of an ufelefs and redundant moifture, and its dofe in infufion in white wine, which is the beft men- ftruum, is a dram of the dried root, or half an ounce of the green, which is about equivalent in ftrength. Hift. Acad. Pan 1712. Black Bryony, Bryonia nigra. See the article Tamnus, Bryonia Indica, or Mechcacanna, a denomination given by fume to the mcchoacanna, or white jalap ; on a falfe luppofition, that it is a fpecies of bryony. $>uinc. Difpenf'. P. 2. feet. 8. <j. 46$. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 487. voc. Mechcacanna. Seethe article Mechoacan, Cycl. Bryonia Peruviana, a denomination given by fome to jalap, on account of its refemblance to our bryony, ^uinc. Difpenf. P. 2. feet. 8, §.478. Seethe article Jalap, C.d.&n&Suppl. Wild Bryony, h^uuna Aypa, is ufed by Diofcorides for the herb

chamepitys. Gorr. Med. Defin. p. Si. voc. Bftw»«.

BRYTIA, Bftmeiy among the antient naturalifts, denotes the

mafk or folid part of grapes, which remain after expreffingthe

juice. Galen, de Alim. Fac. I. 2. c. 9. Caji. Lex- Med p. 1 14.

BRYUM. See the article Wall-jot/}.

Bryvm lacluav folio, a name given by fome to the oyfter-green.

See the article Tremella. < IIXJBALINUS ferpens, in zoology, a name given by authors to the Anacandaya of the Ceylonefe, a very terrible ferpent, com-' mon in that part of the world, and very mifchievous among their* cattle j whence its Indian name, which fignifies as much. Ray, Syn. Anim. p. 332. See the article Serpent. BUBALUS, the buffalo, a fort of wild bull, very common in many parts of Europe, and, in the pope's territories, kept tame, for the fake of the milk of the female, of which the fa- mous cheefes, called cafe di cava/lo, arc made. They are alfo commonly employed in the affairs of hufbandry, and have, for this purpofe, a brafs or iron ring put through their nofes, and, by means of a rope, or thong of leather, put through this, they are managed at pleafure ; though, if ever fo well tamed, they ufually keep fomcthing of their native fiercenefs. The buffalo is fomewhat larger than the common bull ; his body alfo is thicker, and his horns very large, thick, and black ; the toughnefs of his skin, of which buff-leather is made, is well known. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 72. See Tab. of Quadr. N° 1 2. BUBO, in zoology, a name ufed by fome for the owl in general, but, by the more accurate naturalifts, appropriated to the great horn-owl, called alio, in fome places, the eagle-owl. Some au- thors have defcribed three fpecies of this bird ; but they feem to be only varieties of the fame fpecies, according to the diffe- rences of age, fex, and other accidents.

The horn-owl is of the bignefs of a goofe, and has large wings, capable of extending to a furprifmg breadth. Jts head is much of theflze and figure of that of a cat, and has clufters of black feathers over the ears, rifing to three fingers height ; its eyes are very large, and the feathers of its rump lone, and ex- tremely foft; its eyes have yellow irifes, and its beak is iborr, black, and crooked ; it is all over mottled with white, redifh, and black fpots. Its legs are very ftrong, and are hairy down to the very ends of the toes, their covering being of a whitifh brown. It builds in high and inacccffihlc rocks, and feeds on birds, hares, rabbets, and every thing it can lay hold upon. It is as daring as the eagle in this refpec't; and, as it preys in the night, gathers a vaft quantity of provifion together, efpecially at the time of feeding its young. See Tab. of Birds, N° 7. Rajs Onnthol. p. 63. Bubo, b«#«i-j (Cycl.) in anatomy, is fometimes ufed to denote that part otherwife called inguen, or groin. Barthoi. 1. i.Anat. in Proem. Dieter, p. 159. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 114. Seethe article Inguf. n, Cycl.

Galen, and fome others after him, alfo give the denomina- tion bubo to tumors in the glands of the head, neck, arm-pits, and other parts ; but the more exact writers reftrain the deno- mination to tumors in the glands of the inguen, on either fide of the pubis, junck. Confp. Chir. tab. 21. p. 149. Buboks, venereal, are tumors arifing principally in the groin, after contracting the venereal difeafe, and they are fometimes attend- ed with the other fymptoms of that diforder, fometimes they are themfelves the only fymptoms of it. Thefe arife fometimes fooner, fometimes later after contracting the infection. The tu- mor firft appears with hardnefs, rednefs, and pain either in one or both the groins, and fometimes in the arm-pits. Great care is to be taken to diftinguifh, in thefe cafes, whether the bubobe of a benign kind, or be really from a venereal infection ; for miftakes of this matter are on both fides very dangerous. If 3. benign bubo be miftaken for a venereal one, the patient is ufu- ally treated in too harfh a method, and has more trouble and pain than are neeeffary ; and, on the ether hand, if a venereal bubo be miftaken for a benign onej he is ufually treated fo im- properly as to be brought into a confirmed lues. The buboes are known to be venereal, when they are the con- fequences of impure embraces, or are accompanied with or pre- ceded by gonorrhoeas, chancres, and other f\ mptoms of the venereal difeafe. When from thefe attendant fymptoms, and from the patient's confeffion, we find ihe buio to be venereal, a 5 R cure