BEL
BEL
it muft particularly be a thing of great advantage to the fmali bells of common houfe-clocks, which are required to have a fhrill note, and yet are not allowed any great fize. Mr. Reau- j mur verv judicioufly obferves, that had our forefathers had op- ■ portunit'ies of being acquainted with the found of metals in this fhape, we mould probably have had all our hells at prefent of this form. Vid. Mem. Acad. Par. 1726.
Bell, in chemiftry, denotes a glafs veffel placed over fome mat- ter in a ftate of exhalation, either to collect the vapour, or gather the flowers.
Chemical bells are a fort of receptacles chiefly ufed in preparing the oil or fpirit of fulphur, for gathering and condenfing the fumes thereof into a liquor. Cajlel. Lex. Med. p. 127. b. ^
Bell, in building, is ufed to denote the body of the Corinthian and Compofite capital, by reafon of the refemblance hereof to the figure of a hell inverted. Felibien, Archit. CSV. p. 365. Da- vil. Archit. p. 444.
In this fenfe, bell is the fame with what is otherwife called vafe and tamhour, fometimes alio corbeil.
The naked of the bell is always to be even and perpendicular with the bottom of the flutings of the column. Felib. p. 366.
Bell-wc/a/ is a compofttion of tin and copper melted together in due proportion; which has this property, that it is more fono- rous than any of the ingredients taken apart. Boyle, Phil. Work, abridg- T. 3. p. 425.
Some alfo fpeak of a native mineral under the denomination bell-?netal, or bebnettel a , from which Becher b affirms he had procured zaffer and fmalt. — [ a Jnnck. Confp. Chem. tab. 30. p. 663. b Becher, in Morolbph. p. 36.]
Law Bell. See Law bell.
Bell animal, a name given by the writers on microfcopical dif- coveries to a very fmali animal found at the roots of the com- mon duckweed. The bodies oftbefe animals are fhaped like bells, and they have very long and (lender tails, by which they fallen themfelves to the roots of thefe little plants. They are ufually found in great numbers together, in a fort of cluftd or bunches ; and all of the fame bunch have always the fame motion, very frequently contracting themfelves, and after- wards expanding all together to the full length of their tails. They ufually contract inftantancoufly ; but arc more flow in the expanding themfelves again. Baker, Microfcop. p. 90.
Bell rmfchus, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the plant called bama ?nofchata 9 and mofch-feed. Chabraus, p. 302.
l&ELL-polype, in zoology, a particular fpecies of polype, the ex- tremities of whofe branches refemble bells. See Tab. of Micro- fcopical Objects, Clafs 1. See alfo the article Polype.
BuLL-wced, an EngUfh name ufed by fome authors for the jacea nigra, or common knap-weed, called alfo in many Englifh writers matfellon. Ger. Emac, Ind. 4.
BELLADONNA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants ; the characters of which are, that the flower is compofed of one leaf, fhaped like a bell, and divided into feveral fegments at the end ; this is inclofed in a cup, from the centre of which there rifes a piftil, which is fixed, like a nail, into the hinder part of the flower, and finally grows to be a fort of round and (oft fruit, divided by an intermediate feptum into two cells, and filled with feeds affixed to the placenta. See Tab. r. of Botany, Clafs, 1.
The fpecies of this genus are, I. One with large leaves and flowers. 2. One with fmali leaves and flowers. 3. A round- leaved, fhrubby kind. 4, A tobacco-leaved fhrubby kind, with white flowers. Town. Lift, p. 77.
BELLATRIX, in aflxonomy, a ruddy, glittering ftar of the fe- cond magnitude, in the left fhoulder of Orion. Vital. Lex. Math. p. 14. Wolf. Lex. Math. p. 255. It takes its name from hellmn, as being antiently fuppofed to have a great influence in kindling wars, and forming warriors. Vital, loc. cit.
Its longitude, according to Hevelius, for the year 17CO, was 1 6° 47' 20"; and its latitude fouthward 16° 52' 11". Hevel. Prodrom. Aftrom. p. 295. Wolf. loc. cit.
BELLICA Cohanna, in antiquity, a column near the temple of Bel- lona, from which the confuls or feciales caft javelins towards the enemy's country, by way of declaration of war. Danet. Diet in voc,
BELLICULI, or Bellirici Marini, among naturalifts, denotes a fpecies of fea-fhells of an umbilical figure, fometimes of a white colour, fpotted with yellow, and fometimes of a yel- low, ftreaked with black lines, after the fnail-fafhion. Cbiocc. Muf. Calc. §. 1. p. 57- ap. Caft. Lex. Med. p. 102.
BELLING of Hops denotes their opening and expanding to their cuiromary fhape, fuupofed to bear fome relation to that of a ML Bought. Collect. T. 2. p. 448-
Hops blow towards the end of July, and bell the latter end of Auguft, or beginning of September.
BELLIS, the Daify, in botany, the name of a genus of plants ; the characters of which are thefe : the flower is of the radiated kind : its disk is compofed of flofcules, and its outer circle of fcmi-flofculcs, fhnding on the embryo feeds, and contained in a common fimple cup, divided into many fegments at the end. The embryos finally become feeds, affixed to the tha- lamus, which is ufually of a pyramidal figure. The fpecies of daify, enumerated by Mr. Tourncfort, are :
1. The common wild daify. 2. The common, little, wild dafy. 3. The common, little, wild daify, with red and white flowers, 4. The common, little, wild daify, with blue flowers. 5. The little wild daify, with red double flowers. 6. The large kind of the (mail wild daify, with ftalks two feet high, and large broad leaves, and red and white flowers. 7. The alpine little daify, with fmali leaves and white flowers. 8. The fmalleft annual daify. 9. The fun-dew-leaved little daify. 10. The garden daify, with large, double, white flowers. 11. The garden daf/y, with large, double, flefh-colourcd -flowers. 12. The garden daify, with large, double, bright-red flowers. 13. The garden daify, with large, double, variegated flowers. 14. The garden daify, with fmali, double, white flowers. 15. The garden daify, with fmali, double, red flowers. 16. The pro- liferous garden daify. 17. The new Dutch umbellated daify, with bright-red flowers. 18. The green flowered garden daify. 19. The garden daify, with large, double, fiftulous, red flow- ers. 20. The garden daify, with white, bullated flowers. Tourn. Inft. p. 490.
The common little daify has the reputation of being a very eminent medicine of the tribe of vulneraries. The roots and leaves are prefcribed, frefh-gathered, both externally and in- ternally in bruifes, and in wounds. They make a fort of ca- taplafm of the whole plant bruifed in fome parts of the king- dom, which they apply to the part, and give the juice inter- nally at the fame time. The ladies have an opinion alfo, that the roots of this plant have a power of fropplng the growth of animals, and with this intent give a decoction of them in milk to the puppies of their favourite breed, to keep them fmali. 7 he two fpecies of belli 's ufed in medicine are, the bellis major, called alfo leucanihenmm vulgare, in Englifh ox-eye daify ; and the
Bellis minor, called alfo confolida minima, or fymphvtum minus, of moft repute for phyfical virtues, being crtcemed" a good at- tenuant, refolvent, healer, cooler, and aftringent, efficacious againff intumefcences of the blood, hemorrhages, &c, Vid. Lemery, Diet, des Drog. p. 119. Burggr. Lex. Med. p. 1 535. Junck. Confp. Therap. tab. 5. p. 174.
Foreign difpenfatory- writers defcribe a water, fyrup, conferve, effence, tincture, extract, and fixed fait, prepared from this plant. Vid. Burggr. loc. cit.
BELLONARII, in antiquity, priefts of Bellona, the goddefs of war and battles.
The bellanarii cut and mangled their bodies with knives and daggers in a cruel manner, to pacify the deity. In this they are Angular, that they offered their own blood, not that of other creatures, in facrifice. In the fairy and entbufiafm wherewith they were feized on thefe occafions, they ran about raging, uttering prophecies, and foretelling blood and flau^h- ter, devaluations of cities, revolutions of ftates, and the like: whence Martial calls them turba entheata Bellona:. LaRant. Inft. 1. 1. c. 21. Lucan. 1. 1. ver. 565. Tertull. Apol. c. 9. Minut. Felix, p. 298; Lamprid. in Commod. c. 9. Cafaub. adLamprid. loc. cit. Pitifc, Lex. Antiq. T. 1. p. 270. dquin. Lex. Milit. T. r. p. 121.
In after-times, they feem to have abated much of their zeal and tranfport, and to have turned the whole into a kind of farce, contenting themfelves with making figns and appearances of cutting and wounds. Lampridius tells'us, the emperor Corn- modus, out of a fpirit of cruelty, turned the farce again into a tragedy, obliging them to cut and mangle their bodies really. Lamprid. loc. cit.
BELLOWING, among fportfmen, is ufed for the noife which roes make in rutting-time. Gent. Rec. P. 1. p. ic.
BELLOWS (Cycl.)— Anacharfis the Scythian is recorded as the inventor of bellows. Sirab. 1. 7. p. 209. Pitife. Lex. Ant. T. r. p. 7 9 .
The action oHelkws bears a near affinity to that of the Iun»s ; and what we call blowing in the latter, affords a good illuiSa- tion of what is called refpiring in the former. Vid. Niewent. Relig Philof. cent. 7. §. 7. p, 47.
Animal life itfelf may, on fome occafions, be fubfifted by blowing into the lungs with a pair of bellows. Dr. Hook's ex- periment to this effect is famous : having laid the thorax of a dog bare, by cutting away the ribs and diaphragm, pericar- dium, &c. and having cut off the afpera arterla belowthe epi- glottis, and bounditon the nofeof abellozvs, hefound, that as he blowed, the dog recovered, and as he ceafed, fell convul- five. And thus was the animal kept alternately alive and dead above the fpace of an hour. Vid. Phil. Tranf. N° 28. p. 539. There are belhzvs made wholly of wood, without any leather about them ; one of which is preferved in the repofitorv of the Royal Society a ; and Dr. Plott defcribes another ufed in the copper-works at Eliafton in Staffbrdihire b . — [ * Vid. Grexu, Muf. Reg, Societ. P. 4. §. 3. p. 369. * Vid, Plott. Nat, Hilt. Staffordfh. c. 4. §■ 28.
Ant. della Fruta contrived a fubftitute for bellows, to fpare the expence thereof in the tufion of metals.
This is called by Kircher camera izolia, and in England com- monly the water bellows; where water falling through a fun- nel into a clofe veffel, fends from it fo much air continually as blows the fire. If it have the fpace of another veffel to expa- tiate in by the way, it there lets fall its humidity, which elfe mighthinder the work. Hook in Phil. Tranf. N° 3 . p. 80.
Mr.
