B L A
B L A
tcrnal membrane had gradually detached itfelf from the exter- nal one, and made its way out by the urethra. After the whole was thus dlfcharged, the urine found no ftoppage ; and it is evident, that what had before ftopped its paffage, was no other than the pieces of this membrane falling before, or block- ing up the urethra. The pieces of the membrane, when exa- mined, appeared to have all their blood-veflels in their natural fize ; and the urine, in the whole courfe of the difeafe, hav- ing never been tinged with blood, is a proof, that the mem- brane detached itfelt naturally, not by violence. The patient, after this, was wholly cured of his complaint ; but had a fmall incontinence of urine attending him, which was plainly owing to the fpbincfer's having been weakened, by being, as well as the bladder, diverted of its membranes. Mem. Acad. Par. 1714.
1 he operations performed on the bladder are chiefly feflion, and extraction for the {tone ' ; to which may be added injec- tion, dilatation, the application of lithontriptics k , diuretics, CSV.— [ 1 Phil. Tranf. N» 236. p. 15, feq. where Hippocra- tes's aphorifm, that the lections of the bladder are always mor- tal, is defended; and the heft method of extrafting the (lone out of the bladder, efpecially in women, is fhewn to be by a gradual dilatation of the urethra. k Hift. Acad. Scienc ah. 1 720. p. 33. where the great impediments to the ditTblution of the ftone in the bladder by lithontriptics, are reprefented to be the medicines not continuing long enough in the bladder, and its being altered by the urine.] See Stone. The urinary bladders of brutes are differently contrived from the human bladder, and from each other, according to the ftruc- ture, cecononiy, and manners of living of each creature. Birds are ufually faid to be without bladders, as being without urine ' ; yet does not this hold univcrfally, fmce, in an oftrich difliaed by the French academy, a bladder was found fituatc at the extremity of the reclaim, big enough to hold both fills, and in it eight ounces of urine ".— [ ' Voter. Phyf. Exper. P. 2. §. 8. c. 3. qu. 4. p. 8io. » Mem. for Nat." Hilt. Anim. p. 227.]
Many have alfo denied a bladder of urine to fifhes" ; but the more exact obfervers find this part in all, at leaft, the greater part of the fifhy kind ° — [ " Mem. for Nat. Hift. Anim. p. 257. ° Phil. Tranf. N° 178. p. 1303, feq.]
Tortoifes, Ariftotle obferves, have large bladders, and they need no lefs ; fince being covered with a thick fhell, and hav- ing no pores or perfpirative venels whereby to carry off their moifture, it is retained within them, and accumulated in the bladder of urine. But what he adds, that the fea-tortoife has a large, and the land-tortoife a fmall bladder, is contradicted by later philofophers, who find the reverfe. Perhaps the miftake may have arifen from a corruption of the text ; fince the rcafon which Ariftotle affigns, feems rather to conclude againft him. Mem. for Nat. Hift. Anim. p. 257. In the lion, the bladder is fmall, as is the kidney ; for that creature rarely drinks, infomuch that Albertus affirms the fe- male does not fuckle her young, as having no milk. Mem for Nat. Hift. Anim. p. 14.
Bladders, when below a certain magnitude, are more ufually denominated by the diminutive veficles, vcficuU. Of thefe we meet with many forts both in the animal and getable world ; fome natural, as in the lungs p, efpecially of frogs 1, and as fome alfo imagine, in the mufcles r ; others mor- bid or preternatural, as the hydatides •, and thofc obfervable in the itch '. Naturalifts have alfo difcovered bladders in the thorax and abdomen of birds ", as well as others in the belly of fifhes, called air-bladders and fwims w .— [ ? Caft. Lex, Med p. 239. voc. cyftis, where it is noted, that Malpighi held the fubftance of the lungs to be wholly vehicular, or compofed of an infinite number of fpherical bladelers, formed of the fineft and tendered membranes. ' Em, Antidiatr. p. 69. Phil,
Tranf. N° 142. p. 1073, where it is fhewn, that what we call lungs in a frog, are only wind-bladders, anfwering to the office of fwimming in fifhes. ' Hook, Philof. Collefl. N° 2. p. 22. feq. Waller's Life of Hook, prefix, to Pofth. Works, p. 20' where the ftrudture and acfion of a mufcle are explained, by fuppofing the fibres thereof compofed of a chain of little Madders, like a necklace of pearl, blown up by the ingrefs of fome aerial matter or fpirit. It is known, that, by blowing into a bladder, a fmall force will raife a confiderable weight" but this hypothefis does not well account for the velocity or quicknefs wherewith mufcular motions are performed. Vid. iVinfl. in Hift. Acad. Scienc. ann. 1724. p. 43. * Philof. Tranf. N°295.p. 1708, where is an account of a great num- ber of bladders voided by ftool, and fome alfo by vomiting • Phil. Tranf. N° 283. p. 1296, where it is obferved, that each of the itchy bladders is the refidence of an infect. » Mem. Nat. Hift. Anim. p. 170. It. p. 23 c. Mem. Acad. Scienc. an. 1693. p, 258, feq. Du Hamel, Hift. Acad. Scienc. 1. 3. §. 6. c. 2. p. 277, feq. » Niewent. Relig. Philof. cant. 22. §. 26. p. 346. Phil. Tranf. N° 178. p. 1303, feq.] Vegetable bladders are found every-where, in the ftruc~ture of the bark *, the fruit, pith v, and parenchyma, or pulp * ; befides thofe morbid ones raifed on the furface of leaves by the punctureof infefis ».— [ * Grew, Anat. Plants, 1. 3. c. 2. %. 2. p. 107. It. I. 3. c. 4. §. 1. p. [ 19. r Id. ibid. 1. 2: c. I. §. 5. p. 62. ii c. 3. §. 4. p. 64. & c. 5. §. 6. p. 76. * Id. ibid. Suppl. Vol.. I.
1. i.e. 1. § ,8. p. 4 . & J. 4 . c . ,. ^ k .
p. 182. • Mem. Acad. Scienc. 1724. p. 465.] " S
^-Bladder, in fifhes, is a hollow membranous body, always diftended with air, and affixed generally to the backbone. Ar- tedi s defcnption of the air-bladder, being more particular than what we have already given under the article air, is as follows. In the fpinofe-fifh it is always found fingle, and is found in all ot them, except the pleuronefla;. As to its figure, it is in tome hih fingle, oblong, and pointed at each end, as in the clupea and olmerus. In others it is oblong, and more obtufe at the ends, as in the efox, pearch, falmon, &o In others it is oblong, and obtufe in the lower part ; but, in the upper part, divided into two parts, as it were, in the manner of the figure of a heart at cards. : this is its figure in the lucioperca, and the muftela fluviatilis. In others it is tranfverfcly divided into two lobes, the hinder one being larger, as in the cyprini and congers ; and in fome it is divided longitudinally into two parts, as in the fdurus.
As to the differences of its fituation, it is, in fome, extended along the whole abdomen from the diaphragm to the anus. This is the cafe in the cyprini, clupea;. coregones, falmons, (^e. In others it is lodged only in the upper part of the abdo- men, feparated by a membrane from the reft of the abdomen. As to its conncftion to the other parts of the fifh, it is in fome wholly free and loofe, except that it adheres to the ftomach by the pneumatic duft, as in the cyprini and clupeie. In others it is longitudinally affixed to the backbone, as in the. pearch, falmon, coregones, efoces, &e. Jfrted : , Ichthyol. See the articles Am-b/adder and Ductus pneumatieus.
CW-Bla doers, in the anatomy of plants. See OiL-bladders.
Bladder pueeron. SeePucERON.
BLADE, in botany, that part of the flower, or florid attire of a plant, which arifes out of the concave of the fheath, and, at the top, ufually divides into two parts, which are covered widi glo ■ bules of the fame nature as thofe of the apices, but not fo°co- pious. Grew, Anat. of Plants, 1. 1 c. 5. §. 20. p. 39. The blade runs through the hollow of the fheath and bafe, and is faftened to the convex of the feed-cafe, having its head and fides^ befet with globules, which, through a glafs, appear like turnip-feeds, and which, in fome plants, grow clofe to the blade, and in others adhere to it by little pedicles, or foot- ftalks. Thefe globules, as the blade fprings up from within the fheath, are ftill rubbed off, and fo ftand like a powder on both. In fome plants, as knap-weed, they fcem alfo to grow on the infide of thefheath, as appears on fp'litting it with a pin. The head of a blade is divided ufually into two ; but fome^ times, as in the cichory, into three parts, which, by degrees, curl outward, like fcorpion-grafs. Grew, ibid. 1. 4. c. 4. «. 5, p. 170, feq.
Blade, in commerce, a thin, flender piece of metal, either forged by the hammer, or run and caft in moulds, to be after- wards fharpened to a point, edge, or the like. Sever. Dich. Comm. T. 1. p. 476. voc. lame.
Sword-blades are made by the armourers, knife-blades by the cutlers, CsY.
The Englifh and Damafcus blades sire rnoft efteemed. Among the French, thofe of Vienne in Dauphiny have the preference. Savar. loc. cit.
The conditions of a good blade of a fmall fword are, that it be light and tough, apter to bend than break. When it will ftand in the bend, it is called a poor man's blade. Hope, Art. of Fenc. c. 4. §. 3. p. 60. It. c. 7. p. 200.
Blade of a ehiffel is the iron or fteel-part, as diftinguifhed from the wooden handle. Moxon, fVlech. Exerc. p. 77. Id. ibid. p. 202.
Blade ofmaee, or cinamon, among apothecaries, are little flips or flices of thofe barks.
Blade of an oar is the flat part, which is plunged into the water in rowing. On the length of this does the force and effect of the oar depend. Petty, Dif. of Dupl. Propor, p. 59.
Blade of a faw, the thin part wherein the teeth are cut, which, to be good, muft be ftift", yet bend equally into a re- gular bow all the way, without yielding more in one place than another. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. p. 96.
Blade-w/// is that contrived for grinding iron-tools, as fcithes, reaping-hooks, axes, chiffels, and the like, to a bright edge, Hougbt. Collect. T. 2. N° 276. p. 232.
BLADUM, in middle- age writers, is taken for all fort of Hand- ing corn in the blade and ear. The word is alfo written bla~ turn, blava, and blavium.
In our old charters, the word bladum included the whole pro- duct of the ground, fruit, corn, flax, grafs, bV. and whatever was oppofed to living creatures. Vid. Du Cange, Gloff. Lat. T. 1. p. .567 & 571.
The word bladum was fometimes alfo applied to all fort of grain or corn threflied on the floor a : tria quarteria frumenti, tria quarteria avenarum, t5f unmn quarterium fabarum, erunt quieti de fohttione pradifli bladi in perpetuum b . — [ a Kennet, Paroch. Antiq. p. 291. b Cah. Lex. Jur. p. 117, feq. See alfo Du Cange, Gloff. Lat. T. 1, p. 567. Spelm Gloff. Arch, p. 83.
But the word was more peculiarly appropriated to bread-corn, or wheat, called in French III.
Thus the knights templars are faid to have granted to Sir Wido 4 Z de
