B A
L
Hence J": vers arts to conceal it, as falfehatf, %gdUnculus con- trived en purpofe. Pitijc. Lex. Antiq. T. i. p. 332 The later Romans however, - fecrn to have been reconciled to faldnels ; for we find among them a kind of officers, or fer- vants, called glabratorei, or gla'irarii, whole nufinefs was to take off the hair from all parts, even from the head. ^ In an antient infeription, there is mention of one Diophantus. TI. C/ESARIS ORNATOR GLABR. that is, motor GlAbrarim. V. Pitifi. Lex. Antiq. T. 2. p. 80S b. _
BALE, (CW.) — To fell goods intheiflfe, is to fell them in the lump, on mewing a fpecimen, without unpacking, or taking oft the cordage. Thus it is the Eaft India company fell their tale goods, Savor. Diet. Comm. T. 1. p. 226. in voc. Hale.
Bale goads, in the Eaft India trade, the bulky goods, as falt- petre, pepper, red-earth, tea, &c. Plan, Engl. Comm. c. 1 . p. j.. The bole goods ftand oppofed to piece goods.
Bales of camelet, at Smyrna, are called tables, on account of their flat fqu are figure. Savor. Supp p. 1235.
Bale of paper, denotes a certain number of reams packed to- gether in a bundle
There are tales of more and fewer reams. Thofe fent from Marfeilles to Conftantinople ufually contain 24 reams. Savar. Diet. Comm. T. 1. p. 22S. in voc Ballon. A bale or ballon of crown paper, manufactured in fome parts of Provence, confifts of 14 reams, and is fold in the Levant for Venice paper. Id. p. 228.
B ,LE of due, denotes a iittle packet, or paper containing fome dozens of dice for playing with. Id. p. 227.
BALE-DOCK, a nriifom filthy hole, into which prifoners for contempt of the court, at their trials at the Old Ba'ily, were fometimes eaft, by way of chaftifement. Penn and Mead, for their ftout defence at their trial, were draeged into the bale-iocl ; and the recorder proceeded to charge the jury during their detention there ; urging for an excufe, that they were ftill within hearing of the court. V. Trial of Penn and Mead in Phenix, T. 1. p. 312.
BALENGER, Balenoaiua, in middle-age writers, a kind of veft'el of war, but what in particular feems not well known. V. Du Cange Glofl". Lat. in voc. Balengaria. Blount fays, that by the Stat. 28. Hen. 6. c. 5. Balmger feems to be a kind of barge.
BALESTRA, in zoology, a name by which Salvian and fome other authors have called the fifli, more ufually known by the name of Caprifcus. Ptfllugbb/s Hift. Pifc. p. 1 5 2. See Ca-
PHISCUS.
BALIVIS, in natural hiftory, a name given by the people of the Philippine Hands, to the common duck of that part of the world : this is fomewhat fmaller than our wild-duck, and much more beautifully coloured.
BALIVO amovendo, a writ to remove a bailiff from his office, for want of fufficient land in the bailiwick. Reg. Orig. 78. if a ftreriff chufe one to be a bailiff of a hundred J or if the lord of a liberty elect one to be bailiff of the liberty, who hath not land fufficient in the county to anfwer the king and his people, according to the ftatute of Weft. 2. then this writ (hall be fent the fheriff to difcharge fuch bailiff, and chcofe another in his place. Blount, Cowel.
BALKS, (Cycl.) among builders, large pieces of timber, brought from abroad in floats. Neve, Build. Did.
Balks, are a fort of beams imported from 5 to 12 inches fuuare.
The greater balks are accounted timber, if above 8 inches fquare. Creue b, Sutv. Cuft.
In fome parts of England, balk, or bawk, denotes the fummer- beam of a building
Balks or hawks alfo denote poles laid over a ftable, or other building for the roof Ray, Coll. Loc. words, p. 40.
EALKERS, (■)'<"'■) in the fifhery, perfons placed on rocks, and eminences at fea, to fpy the herring droves, 2nd give notice to the fifhermen by waving boughs, what way they go, and where they may be found. 1. Stat. Jac. 1 c. 23. Skin. Etym. in voc.
EALL. (!>"/) — Moxon defences the method of turning hol- low ivory-halls, one within another. Mechan Exerc. p. zio.
Balls of filk-worms andfpiders, are little cafes or cones woven of filk, wherein thofe infefls depofite their eggs ». Spiders are extremely tender of their balls, which they carry about with them, adhering to the papillae about their anus b . Grew (peaks of balls or bags of a fpecies of filk-worms in Virginia,
as big as hens eggs, and containing each, four aurelias c .
1"= Phil. Tr.nf^N J . 362. p. 1037. b Mem. Acad. Scienc.
.710. = Muf Reg. Societ. p. 1. §. 7. c. 3]
Zooloo-ifts fpeak of a fort of balls of hair covered over with
a i'mooth, mining coat, or (hell, found in the ftomachs of
oxen, cows, calves, horfes, (heep, and goats, particularly the
chamois, or rupieapra.
They are called by Pliny ', tophi nigricantes ; by Ferrante Im-
pcrato % tophi di giovenea ; by Wormius f , tophi juvenca : by
Cardan, o-a vaccina.— ['■ Hift Nat. 1. 1 1, c. 37. « Hift. Nat.
1. 28. c. . . ' Muf. 1. 1 . §. 2. c. 8 J
Thofe in the ftomachs of horfes, made of the (lender ftalks
of fmall englifii matweed, are called by fome authors, fport
talis, or bilat manftv ; thofe in the chamois goat, by Vclfchius,
B A L
Mgagropiia; by Bauhin, the germanbezoarJ. Sec Bezoard, Cyl
Balls are not only found in the firft, or fecond ventricle ; but fometimes alfo in the inteftines, from which they have fre- quently been eaft by fiege e. The like inftances have alfo been found in the human kind ; of which we meet with divers ac- counts in the Philosophical Tranfaction h . The fubftauce of thefe balls is not always hairy, but fometimes ftony, furzy, gritty, &c, ! — [e Plett, Nat Hift. Staffordfb. c. 7. §.72. h N°'. 304. p. 2164. * Phil. Tranf. N". 291 p. 1595 J Seme have alfo been found in the uterus, and ovaries of fe- males k . Sir Hans Sloan gives the hiftory of a ball found in the inteftines of a man, much afflicted with the cholic, fix inches in circumference, of a fpungy fubftancc, and which when viewed with a microfcope, appeared made up of fmall tranfparent hairs or fibres, wrought together like the tophus bovinus : in the middle, was a common plumb ftone, which made, as it were, the core or nucleus, around which the fibrous matter had gathered, Jlratum fuper Jlratum ! . — [ k Phil. Tranf. N°. 309 p. 23S7. ' Sloan, in Phil. Tranf. N°. 28,2. p. 1283. feq.j
Others have been found with plumb-ftoncs, and cherry-ftones in the centers. Bezoars have ufually fome feed for a nucleus. The origin and formation of thefe balls is contefted. Bar- tholin, and after him Dr. PJott, and others, attribute them to the creatures licking thcmfelves and fwallowing the hair, which being elaborated in the reticulum, become compacted to- gether, much after the manner that the wool of a hat is by the hand of the .workman ; and lying long in the ftomach, have a thick tough coat, fuperinduccd by the plenty of flime it there meets with. Plott, 1. c. §.71.
After the like manner, thofe found in fheep, are fuppofed to be formed of the wool, which they eat from each other, when they pafs the winter on fnowy mountains, where there is no grafs to be come at.
The royal academy of fcienccs at Paris fubftitute another origin. In dificcling a chamois, aW/was found in the third ventricle, which did not feem compofed of hair but of woody fibres, as appeared from their inequality, which were neither uniform in figure, nor fize, as hairs are. Add, that the like tails are found in horfes, which are not animals that lick themfelves, and where of confequence they muft be formed of fomething elfe than hair. Hence the generality of natu- ralifts, particularly Gefner and Camerarius, take thefe balls to be formed of the refidue of the plants, which the animals have eaten, the harder fibres whereof remain undigefted, Thofe of the rupicapra, in particular, are fuppofed to be the fibres of the plant Doronicum, reputed by fome a fpecies of aconite. Nat. Hift. Anim. p. 143. feq. Phi). TranfacT N°. 189.
P-373- ; ;■
Ball, in the military and pyrotechnical arts, is a compofition of divers ingredients, generally of the combuftible kinds, ferv- ing to burn and deftroy, give light, fmoak, ftench, or the like.
In' this fenfe we read of fire-W/r, Yight-balls, {moak-balls, ftink-iW/j-, iky-balls, water-iV/i, land-balls, &c.
F/>£-Balls, gloli incendiarn, are bags of canvas filled with gun- powder, fulphur, faltpetre, pitch, &c. m to be thrown by the foldiers, or out of mortars, in order to fire the houfes, in- commoding trenches, advanced pofts, or the like n . — [ m Wolf. Elem. Pyrotech. §. 38, and 55. " Guill. Gent. Did. p. 2. in voc]
The Greeks had divers kinds of fire-balls, or ElapofSeAoi Atflai, one kind called, more particularly, vxvlceftta, or #xui«%i£sf, made of wood, fometimes a foot, or even a cubit long; their heads being armed with fpikes of iron, beneath which were hemp, pitch, and other combuftibles, which being fet on fire, they were eaft among the enemy. Pott. Archasol. I. 3. c. 4. p. 50.
The preparations of fire-halls, among the moderns, confifts of feveral operations, viz. Making the bag, preparing the com- fition, tying, and laftly dipping the ball.
The bags for this purpofe are either oval or round. V. Wolf. 1. c. §. 48.
The compofition wherewith fire balls are filled, is various. To ten pounds of meal gun-powder, add two of fahpeter, one of fulphur, and one of colophony : or, to fix pounds of gun- powder, add four of faltpetre, four of fulphur, one of pow- dered glafs, half a pound of antimony, as much camphor, an ounce of fal ammoniac, and four of common fait, all pulve- rized °. Sometimes they even fill fire halls with hand grana- dos p. — [° Wolf. 1- c. §. si- F hhibid. §. 56. J For tying the hre b„ Us, they prepare two iron rings, one fitted around the aperture, where the ball is to be lighted, the other near its bafe. A cord is tied to thefe rings, in fuch manner as that the feveral turns reprefent femicircles of the fphcre, cutting the globe through the poles : over the cords, extended accord- ing to the length of the tall, others are tied, cutting the for- mer at right angles, and parallel to each other, making a knot at each interfetSHon Laftly, putting in a leaden bullet, the reft of the fpace is filled with tow or paper. Thus compleated, the fire ball remains to be dipped in a compofition of melted pitch four pounds, colophony two, and linfeed-oil, or oil of tur- pentine,
