B A L
i he fnout of this is much more acute than in any of the others, and the belly has feveral plica. It has been feen near fifty feet long. ^ The eyes are fmall, and the fiftules arc placed fix feet from the tin of the fnout. 4. Thebalana with a double fiftulc in the forehead, and with the lower jaw much broader than the upper. The lower jaw in this fifh is of a femicircular figure. T he fiftula is of a pyramidal figure, and divided by a feptum towards the forehead. This has been found of twenty-eight feet long. Aried'i Gen Pifc. 44.
BALAM-PULLI, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the tree whofe fruit is the tamarind of the mops. Hort. Malab. Vol. t. p. 39.
BALANCIEK, a machine ufed in the ftriking of coins, medals, counters, and the like. Savor, p. 219. See Coinage, Cycl.
BALANI i ES, in natural hifiory, a name given by the anticnts to a ftone, feeming to have been one of the femipeilucid gems. They defcribe two fpecies of it ; the one of which was yel- low, and the other green, but each having veins of a flame co- lour. Their defcriptions are too £hort for us to be able to af- certain, what Hones, among thofe known at this time, they meant.
Some think the balanites to have been the lapis judaiats, on account of its acorn like figure and fize. Plin. Hill. Nat. I. 37. c. io. Hardou. not. ad loc. •
BALANU3, (Cycl.) m natural hifiory, the name of a genus of (hell-fifh; the characters of which are' thefe: they are a multi- valve fnell, of the fli3pe of an acorn, and are compofed of . twelve lamince ; the mouth, in moil fpecies, is wide; in fomc, it is very narrow. See the figure in Tab. of Shells, N° 26. The balani may be arranged under the two fubdiftinctions of wide and narrow mouthed.
Of the larger and wider mouthed balani we have the following fpecies. 1. The turban or Turkifh crown (hell. 2. The cup balanus. 3. The ftriated tulip balanus. 4. The bell balanus. 5. The purple balanus. 6. The grey balanus. Of the narrow mouthed kind, which are ufually fmaller, we have the following. 1. The narrow mouthed red balanus. 2. The narrow purple balanus. 3. The fix-plated balanus, firiated at the mouth, every other piece being bifid, occult, and of a fquare figure. 4. The (lender redifh-yellow balanus.
Balanus Marinas. It is a very common error to miftake the names of the multivalve fhells, fofar, as to confound the balani and concha anatifera, as they are called, together; though they be extremely different.
The balani are found affixed in cluuers to a thoufand different fubmarine things; fuch as the harder fea plants, all forts oftefta- ceous, and cruftaceous fea animals, rocks, and timber. Notwith- standing that, the greater nurnber of naturahfls, and all the later ones, have placed this fhell among the multivalves, there have not been wanting fome, who have ranked it with the uni- valves ; and this, feem'ingly, is its moftjuft place. For al- though it fecms formed of feveral pieces, they are, in reality, all joined together, and never can open or fcparate. This docs not aufwer to the character of what we mean by valves. A late French writer, who has taken great pains in this part of na- tural hifiory, has, however, given but a very indifferent reafon for its being placed among the multivalves, in faying, it ought to be fo, becaufe there are always feveral of this fpecies found growing together. He might have as well called the oyfters multivalves, for the fame reafon. Though the ihell of the balanus does in reality confift only of one piece, the fifh inclofed in it has four hard fubftances affixed to its head, which it mews when it thrufls itfelf out of the ihell in fearch of prey ; and thefe may have been called by fome, fhells, though of a very particular kind ; and if they can be allowed fuch, they will bring it, in fome degree, toward the clafs of the multivalves ; though, perhaps, in the ftri&eft juffice, no nearer than the operculum of the wilks, and other univalve (hells, brings them to the bivalves.
When the body of the fifh appears out of the fhell, thefe four fhells are ken to be fixed to the mouth of the creature, and are of a triangular figure, and difpofed in form of a crofs. From the center of this crofs there iifues a plume, or feathery fub- flance, compofed of many pieces, and refembling the plumes of the anat'tferts and polliaped<:s. This plumofe mbftance has been taken, in the darker ages of natural hiftory, for the rudiments of a bird in the anatifer'a, and, by fome, in thefe fhells. The four hard fubftances fixed to the head of the fifh, ferve to clofe up the aperture of the mouth of the fhell, when the creature is at reft in it ; for there is no motion in the feveral pieces of which the fhell itfelf Is compofed ; and therefore, the crea- ture would be always expofed to injuries in it, as much as if naked, were it not for thefe fubftances,which ferve in the fame office as the operculum in the wilks, and cochlea, and are here much more necefiary than in thofe fhells. Hift. Nat. Eclair. P- ^57-
The imall fifh which nature has covered with this fhell, Is of a very admirable (rruclure. Lewenhoek acknowledges, that he never met with any animal, in which fo many objects of won- der lay open to the naked eye as in this. It has twelve legs or arms, which are crooked, and garnifned with a great number of hairs : thefe twelve they elevate on all occafions ; and, be- fides thefe, they have eight others, which are much fmaller, and ftand lower. Their body is, in all refpe&s, like that of
B A L
the concha mrt&re. It is cartilaginous and mucous, and of an ill tafle. I he fhell fhapes itfelf, at the bafe, to the figure of the furface of whatever it grows to, and fticks ver/fumlv to it. ' 7
BALASS, or Ballas, a precious ftone, of the ruby kind;
whence it is alfo denominated ballas-ruby. BALATITI, in natural hifiory, a name given by the people of the Philippine iflands to a fpecies of, bird, by the flight of which they divine the event of things. They have alfo two other birds, the one of which they call Tigmemanvcquin, and the other Salacfac. Thislaft kind is beautifully coloured, and has a very long and large be?.k, of a brownifn colour, and mining. EALBUSARDUS, in zoology, the name ufed by authors for the bird called in Englifh the Bald Buzzard. It is of the long- winged and hawk kind, and has been defcribed by Aldrovan- dus, and fome other authors, under the name of the Haliatus and Morphnas, two kinds of the eagle.
It is a confiderably large bird, growing near to fixty ounces in weight. Its beak is black and crooked, and covered with a blueifh red (kin down to the noflrils, and protuberant between the noftrils and the bending part. The iris of the eyes is yel- low, and the pupils large, and the whole very prominent. It is of a blackifh and ferrugineous or raft colour on the back, and the back part of its head is covered with white feathers; whence it obtained the name of Bald Buzzard. Its throat, breaft, and belly, are white, and its thighs are covered with white and foft feathers. Its legs are long, and its toes very thick and ftrong, and of a blueifh white. Willughby, Orni- thol. p. 37.
It frequents the iliores of ponds and rivers, and fometimes of the fea, where it preys on fifh. It builds on the ground amon"- reeds, and lays three or four large white eggs, little lefs than hens eggs. BALCONY, (Cycl.) — Balconies are a kind of open galleries without the walls of buildings, contrived chiefly for theconve- nience of looking around, feeing proceffions, cavalcades, and the like.
The parts of a regular Balcony, according to Mr. Le Clcrc, are the terrace or platform, which make the floor, the ballu- ftrade, which inclofes it, and the confoles, which fupport it. Le Cere, Traite del'Archit. p. 174, feq. The Balcony is fometimes alfo fupported by a little entablature, the cornice whereof makes the terrace, and the frieze and architrave continued, the fides; the whole being farther fup- ported by confoles.
Where there is but one, it is ufually in the middle of the front of the edifice, and level with the fir'fl floor above (lairs: fome- times they are made of wood, fometimes of cafl iron ; the former furrounded with a rail, or balluftrade, the latter wrought in various figures in demi-relievo. Some are alfo made of bar iron, fafhioned in crail-work, or fiourifhes of divers fancies. Neve, Build. Dicl. in voc.
Sir Henry Wotton fpeaks of a kind of Balconies at Venice, called Pergoli, erected on the very point of the angle of the wall ; contrary to the common rule, that all outlets fhould be at a diftance from the an^le ; it being a folecifm in building, to weaken that part which is to ftrengthen all the reft. Balcony, in a (hip, denotes a gallery either covered or open, made abaft, either for ornament, or convenience of the cap- tain's cabin. Aubin Diet, de Marine, p. 6 r . BALDACANIFER, corruptly alfo written Balcanifcr, denotes a ftandard-bearer ; chiefly in the antient order of knights tem- plars. Aquin. Lex. Milit. T. 1. p. i 08. BALDACHIN, (Cycl.) is fometimes ufed to denote the chief altar of a church, when infulate, and covered with a canopy fupported by columns. Da-vil. Archlt. p. 4.07. Baldachin, or Baldakin, or Baldekin, popularly Bau- dekin, in middle age writers, denotes a rich kind of cloth, made of gold warp and filk woof, varioufly figured. It took the denomination from its being formerly brought into thefe countries from Baldaclo, or Babylon. DuCange,Q\oS.\j&t» T. ;. p. 443. Spelm.GloiT. p. 56, fcq. Baldachin is alfo frequently ufed for a canopy or umbrello, becaufe ufually made or covered with the cloth of that name. BALDMONIE, an old Englifh name for gentian, the root of which is ufed in medicine; fome alfo have called the meum or fpignal by this name. Ger Emac. Ind. 2. BALDNESS, (Cycl.) a defe& of hair, chiefly on the finci- put. It differs from alopecia, area, oph'iajis and tinea, as thefe all arife from fome vice in the nutritious humour -, baldnefs, from the defect of it. Put the diitinclion is not always ob- served by modern phyficians. Cajlel. Lex. Med. p. 126. When the eye-lids (hed their hair, it is called a ptilojis. Among the caufes of baldnefs, immoderate venery is reputed one of the chief: old-age ufually brings it on of courfe a . Some will have the proximate caufe of baldnefs to be the drvnefs of the brain, and its fhrinking from the cranium; it having been obferved, that in bald perfons there is always a vacuity or empty fpace between the fkull and the brain b .—[ a V. Bartbol. Anat. 1. 3. c. 1 . Lang. Epift. 2 1. 7. b Ray, Wifd. of God. P 2. p. 248.]
Calrus, bald-pate, was a frequent term of reproach among
the Romans ; among whom this defect was in great difcredit.
3 Hence
