Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/413

 BUY

The Swedes and Germans make buttons of the glafs produced from it, which is very black and mining, and it has hence its name button-JIone. They make feveral other things alfo of this glafs, _as the handles of knives, and the like, and fend a large quantity of it unwrought in round cakes, as it cools from the fufion, into Holland. Mem. Acad, Scienc. Par 1736.

BUTTRESS {Cyd.)—Buttre£es amount to the fame with what 'the French call arcboutants a, the Englifh fometimes alfo hut- ments, the Italians, contraforti and fperom. Among the anti- en ts the)' were denominated anterides, A&jgt&s, ert/ma, ^ua-^x-ra, and A(l-puc-iAa,Tx b . — [ a Davil. Explic. Term. Archit. p. 385. voc. Arcboutant. b P'itrm). de Archit. 1. 6. c. 11. Item, 1. ic. c. 1. Philmul. in Vitruv. 1. 6. c. 1 1. Salmaf. ad Solin. p. 1216. P'ttijc Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 115. voc. Anterides.'] The theory and rules of buttrcjfes, or props for eafing walls, is ranked among the defiderata of architecture. They are ufually placed leaning againft the edifice they are to fuftain. We find them ufed againft the angles of fteeples, churches, and other buildings of ftone; alfo alongthe walls of fuch building as have great and heavy roofs, which would otherwife be fubject to thruft the wall out. They are alfo placed as fupports againft the feet of arches turned crofs great halls, and at the head of ftone walls where there are large crocket windows. Neve, Build. Diet, in voc.

BUTUMOS, in botany, a name by which fome have called the fparganium, or bur-reed. Dale, Pharm. p. 259.

BUTYROUS, or Butyraceous, fomething that partakes of the nature or qualities of butter. See Butter, Cyd. and SttppL

Miik confifts of three kinds of fubftances, a cafeous, a ferous, and ^butyraceous part. See Milk, Cyd. and Suppl. The butyrous part is the cream, /. e. the unctuous or oily part, which rifes above the reft. See Cream, Cyd.

BUVETTE, orBEUVETTE, in the French laws, an eftablimed place in every court, where the lawyers and councilors may retire, warm themfelves, and take a glafs of wine by way of refreibment, at the king's charge.

There is one for each court of parliament, but thefe are only for perfons belonging to that body ; there are others in the pa- lais Whither other perfons alfo refort. Trev. Diet. TJniv. T. 1. p. 1011. voc. Beuvetle. Ricliel. T. 1. p. 252.

BUXUS, Box, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe: The flower is of the apetalous kind, being compofed of a number of ftamina which arife from the fquare bottom of a foliaceous cup ; thefe, however, are barren flowers, and the embryo fruits appear in other parts cf the fame plants : thefe finally become fruits, fomewhat re- iembling an inverted veflel, and burfting when ripe, into three parts, being compofed of three cells, and furnifhed with feeds placed in elaflic capfules.

The fpecies of fax enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe : I. The common fhrubby box. 2. The box with leaves varie- gated with yellow. 3. The large box with yellow edges to the leaves. 4. The fmallcr box, with leaves edged with yel- low. 5. The long-leaved box, with {harp pointed leaves. 6. The round-leaved box. Vid. Town. Inft. p. 578, Box is an evergreen fhrub, cloathed with fmall even leaves, and yielding a clofe compact wood, of confiderable ufe in divers arts.

The word buxus is formed from the Greek w^, which fi<mi- iies the fame. Skinn. Etym. in voc.

There are divers kinds of box cultivated for the ornament of gardens, chiefly for hedges and borders, the fmallnefs of its leaf making it cut very clofe and even a. Its wood is yellow, hard, clofe, even, very heavy, and eafily taking a polifh : whence its ufe in making mufical inftruments, combs, fpoons, toothpick- cafes, and other Tunbridge ware b. It does not fwim in water, nor is it liable to rot or worm-eat ; whence its ufes for the axle-trees of wheels c, &c— [ a Mill. Gardn. Diet, in voc. Box. Bradl. Bot. Diet, in voc. Buxus. b Savar. Diet. Com. T. 1. p. 434. voc. Bouis. Mortim. Art of Husbandry, T. 2. 1. 1 1. c. 27. p. 60. c Aubin. Diet. Mar. p. 113. voc. Bonis J It yields a chemical oil and fpirit by diftillation d, of fome ufe in medicine, and its decoction is by fome held equal in virtue to guiacum, for the venereal difeafe e. — [ A Boyle, Phil. Works abr. T. 3. p. 301. c §>uinc. Difpenf. P. 2. feet. 2. n. 167. p. 1 04. See alfo Ray's Synop. Stirp. Britan. p. 310.] Among theanticnts, the box-tree was confecrated to Cybele, by reafon flutes were then made of its wood, as is done to this day. Pitifcus imagines it was alfo facred to Bacchus, from a paiTage in Statius, Cum Bacchica mugh buxus * ; but without much foundation, the word buxus here only denoting flutes, as being the matter they were ufually made of; not that the tree was confecrated to Bacchus «. — [ f Stat. Theb. 1. 9. p. ^g. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 304. voc. Buxus. g Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 1 i 52, feq. voc. Bouis.]

BUYER, Emptor. See Buying and Emptor.

BUYING, the act of making a purchafe, or of acquiring the pro- perty of athingfor a certain price. See the article Purchase, Cyd.

Buying ftands oppofed to felling, and differs from borrowing or hiring, as in the former the property of the thing is alienated for perpetuity, which in the latter is not. See Borrowing, &c. Suppi. Vol. I.

B Y S

It differs from permutation or exchanging, as, in bu ,; n ^ thing is paid for m money ; in exchanging, with goods. Calv. Lex Jur p. 326, feq. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. r. p., , 2. ££ Zmptio. bee Exchange and Pe r mutation, Cyd By the civil law, perfons are allowed to buy hope, fpem pretio einere, that is, to purchafe the event or expectation of any- thing. £_ g r. The fifhes or birds a perfon mall catch, or the money he fhall win in gaming. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 3 27. voc. hmptio.

In the Indies, people buy their wives, paying a certain price for them to their parents K One of the methods of marria»e m ufe among the Romans was called comptim, or mutual buy- ing of each other >._[■> Lett. Edif. T. 14. p. 38, feq. « Seal. Poet. 1. 3. c. 100. Pitffi, Lex. Ant. T. I. p. 482. Cah. Lex. Jur. p. 195. voc. teemptio.]

ITiere are divers fpecies of buying in ufe among traders, as buy- ing on one s own account, oppofed to buying on commiffion'" Buying for ready money, which is when the purchaler pays in actual fpecic on the fpot ; buying on credit, or for a time certain, is when the payment is not to be prefently made, but, in lieu thereof, an obligation given by the buyer 'for pavment at a time future ' ; buying on delivery, is when the good's pur- chafed are only to be delivered at a certain time futute »■

[* Saver. Did. Comm. T. 1. p. 22. voc. Jdeler. ' Male. Treat. Book-keep. c. 2. feci 2. p. 39. » Idem, ibid. p. 4/', feq.]

Buying the refufal, is giving money for the right or liberty of purchafing a thing at a fixed price, in a certain time to come ; chiefly ufed in dealing fox (hares in Itock. This is fometimes alfo called by a cant name, buying the bear. Bought. Collect. N° 102. T. 1. p. 272.

Buying the fmall-pox, is an appellation given to a me'.hod of pro- curing that difeafe by an operation nearly akin to inoculation; frequent in South Walts, where it has obtained time out of mind. See the article Inoculation.

It is performed either by rubbing fome of the pus taken out of a puftule of a variolous perfon on the (kin, or by making a punc- ture in the (kin with a pin dipped in fuch pus. Vid. Philof. Iranf. N° 375. p. 262. Item, p. 464, & 267. See Pox.

LUZ, in ichthyography, the name of a fifh more commonly known by that of albu'.a, and caught in the German lakes. Willughby, Hift. Pifc. p. ,8c. See the article Albula.

BUZIDAN, in the materia medica of the antients, a name gi- ven by Avifenna and others to a wood produced in Africa, which had the fame virtues with the radix-behen, or white and red bchen or ben root. We are not acquainted with this me- dicine at this time, but it appears to have been of the colour of our red faunders; fo that it could only ferve to adulterate the red ben root ; though they fay in general, that it was ufed to adulterate the ben when fcarce.

BUZZARD, the Englilh name of a bird of prey, of the long- winged hawk kind ; of which there are feveral fpecies. i.The bald buzzard, fo called from the whitenefs of his crown. 2. The common buzzard, diftinguifhed from the former by the fhortnefs of its wings and its fmaller fize. 3. The honey buzzard, or apivorous buzzard, which feeds its young from the beehives. 4. Wvtfubbnteo, the male of which is called the hen- harrier, the female the ring-tail ; and, 5. The moor buzzard, common in marflly places, and called milvus aruginofus by au- thors. Pay's Ornithol. p. 37, 3 3, 39, 40. See Buteo, Milvus aruginofus, &c.

BYAS, is ufed by Petty for the central point fuppofed in the middle of each atom. Pelt, Difc Duplic. Proport p. 18, & 126. See Atom and Corpuscle, Cycl.

BYRSODEPSICON, an epithet given to Sumach, denoting its ufe in dying of leather. Caji. Lex. Med. p. 117. See"lhe article Rhus.

BYSSUS, or Byssum, Bua-o®, a fine fort of thready matter pro- duced in India, Egypt, and about Elis in Achaia, of which the richeft apparel was antiently made, efpecially that wore by the priefts both Jewifh and Egyptian. Pell. Onomaft. 1. 7. c. 17. Jfid. Orig. 1. 19. c. 27. Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 19. c. 1. &1. 13. c. I. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 117. Mem. Acad. Infer. T. 7. P-.339> frq Biiff. de Verb. Signif. p. 87. voc. B^ff.num. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 304. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 120. Fab. Thef. T. 1, P.3S7, feq.

Some interpreters render the Greek, goows-, which occurs both in the Old and NewTeftament, by fine linnen. But other verfions, as Calvin's and the Spanilli printed at Ve- nice in 1556, explain the word by fdk; and yet byffus muft have been different from our filk, as appears from a multitude of antient writers, and particularly by Jul. Pollux '. M. Si- mon, who renders the word by fine linnen, adds a note to ex- plain it, viz. There was a kind of fine linnen very dear, which tile great lords alone wore in this country as well as in Egypt. This agrees perfectly with the account given by Hefychius, as well as what is obferved by Bochart, that the byffus was a finer kind of linnen, which was frequently dyed of a purple colour h. — [ ■ Poll. Onomaft. I. 7. c. 17. ' Bcclxzrt. Phale». 1 -,' c. 4.] ° ' J

Some other authors will have the byffus to be the fame with our cotton ' ; others take it for the linum asbeflinum J ; and a late author, for the lock or bunch of filky hair found adhering to the pinna marina, by which it fattens itfelf to 5 Y the