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Some nations bury in linncn ; the Brafilians bury in filk, the Englifh bury in woollen, by virtue of a ftatute made under king Charles II. Bought. Collect. T. 2. p. 340. Among the Romans, we find two kinds of burial, mentioned in the Therdofian code ; one, the burying of whole bodies in coffins under ground ; the other, burying the bones and afhes in urns above ground. Both appear to have been ufed at the fame time ; though interring appears to be the older practice. Cod. Theodof. lib. 9. tit. 17. Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. p. 429. See the article Burning.
Mr. Monro takes the catacombs about Rome to have been the burial-phce of the antient Romans, before burning came into fafhion ; and which, on the new mode's taking place, fell intt difufe, till they were revived by the primitive chriftians. Phil Tranf. N° 265. p. 649, feq See Catacomb, Cyd. and Suppl. The Romans in Britain buried their warriours near the via lfrata, or military way, to put their bodies out of danger of infult ; and, to prevent the Scattering of their afhes in hafte, the whole army caft on them grafly turfs ; which is the ori- gin of many of the tumuli ftill found among us a : As it was thegreatcft difnonour to lie unburied, it was moft glorious to be covered with a large tumulus ; which might be one reafon of the Romans burying their generals near public ways, that paffengers might be continually adding to the heap, which it was judged a work of piety to do b .— [ n Plot, Nat. Hift. Oxf. g. 10. §.47. b Idem, ibid. §.41. p. 330.] See the article Barrow.
Tho' burning was the ordinary ufage among the Romans, yet fome frill retained the antient one of Burying. The family of the Cornelii interred their dead all along till the time of SyHa the dictator, who, in his will, gave particular order to have his body burnt, probably to avoid the indignities which might have been offered it after burial, by the Marian faction, in return for the violence (hewn by Sylla's foldiers to the tomb and re- licks of Marius. Cic. de Leg. 1. 2. p. 3 f5- Vim. Hift. Nat I 7. c. 54.
Burial was denied by the antients to traytors, profcribed per- fons, fuicides, and even frequently to enemies killed in war c ; though this was reputed by the more moral and civilized na- tions a violation of the laws of nature d . Among the Greeks, fpendthrifts and infolvent debtors were alfo refufed the rights of burial . By the laws of the church, this penalty has been car- ried further, to perfons excommunicated, to thofe who could not fay their creed and pater-nofter, to ftrikers of ecclefiaffics, and to thofe who mould omit communicating at Eafter f . — [ c Potter, Archasol. Graec. 1. 4. c. 1. p. 165, feq. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 2. p. 768. voc. Sepultura. Calm. Diet. Bibl. T. 1. p. 330, feq. d Vid. Grot, de Jure Belli, 1. 2. c. 19. §. 2. n. 6. & §. 3. n. 1. Seld. de Leg. Nat. 1. 6. c. 16. Viiriar. Inft. jur. Nat. 1. 2. c. 19. qu. 4. Budd. Inft. Phil. Pract. loc. Cit. §. 17. p. 326. c Potter, lib. cit. p. 167. f Vid. Johnf. Ecclef. Law, an. 960. §. 22. Idem ibid. aim. 1138. §. 10.
- Id. ibid. an. 1378. §. 4.]
Among the antient Egyptians, kings themfelves were to under- go a trial after their death ; and, if their behaviour had been ill, were refufed the privilege of Charon's boat, that is, to be carried to burial. Mem. Acad. Infer. T. 2. p. 11.
Chr'tjlian Burial, that performed in holy ground, and with the ufual fervice or ceremonies of the church. The chriftians were always tenacious of the plain way of bu- rying by inhumation, and could never be brought to ufe any other ; reckoning it a great piece of barbarity in their perfe- cutors whenever they denied them this decent interment after death, as they fometimes did, either by expofing their bodies to the fury of wild beafts and birds of prey, or burning them in fcorn and dcrifion of their doctrine of a future refurrection. Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. 1. 23. c. 2. §. 4. p. 429. They feem to have had a particular averfion to burning ; their method was to put the body whole in the ground, or, if there wasoccafion for any other way of burying, they embalmed the body, and laid it in a catacomb. Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. 1. 23. c. 2. §. 4. p. 429. Minut. Fel. p. 20, & 101. Tertull, de Anima, c. 51. Item, deRefurr. c. 1. Bingh. loc. cit. p. 429.
Burial of an afs, Afmi fcpultura, an ignominious kind of burial out of holy ground, under the gallows, or in a high way, where feveral roads meet, and performed by public hangmen, or the like s. Such is that of fuicides, excommunicated per- fons, csV. fometimes denoted canine burial, or burial of a dog h . — [ s Du Cange, GIofT. Lat. T. 4. p. 815. voc. Sepultura. h Vkr'iar. Inft. Jur. Nat. 1.2. c. 19. qu. 2.] In the middle age we alfo find mention of a peculiar kind of burial, called imblocation, practifed on the bodies of perfons excommunicated. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. voc. Imblocatus. See the article Imblocation.
£urial of the crucifix, Sepultura crucifixi, denoted a reprefen-
tation of the burial of Chrtft, antiently performed annually in
" churches on the day of the parafceue. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat.
T. 4. p. 815. Burials, in computations of mortality, denote deaths, and ftand oppofed to births.
In this fenfe, we have eftimates of the burials in Brandenburg a , in Francfort b , Breflaw c , &c. The burials In London exceed the births ; in other towns they come fliort of them d . The number of yearly burials at Paris was computed, in the year
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1686, to be at a*medium 16381, at London 23112 e . At Edinburgh, the burials, in 1 73 1, amounted to t 1 1 9 f ; in the year 1732, to 1247 s. — [» Phil. Tranf. N° 261. p. 50S. b Idem, N° 229. 'p. 55q. c Idem, N° 196. p. C97, feq. d Idem, loc. cit. c Idem, N° 185. p. 239. f Med. Eft; Ediiib. T. 1. p. 45. g Idem, T. 2. p. 35.J By a ftatute under king Charles II. a regifter is to be kept in every parifh, of all perfons buried within the fame, or at the common />wr/a/-places thereof. Stat. 30 Car. II. c. 3. Burial is alfo ufed to denote the dues paid for interment, efpe* dally to the minifter.
The burial-fee paid to the prieft on opening the grave, was called by our Saxon anceftors foul-feat. Phil. Tranfact. N» 1 89. p. 357- Burial is alfo ufed for the inclofing of Vegetable or mineral bo- dies in the ground, for divers purpofes. Lord Bacon gives di- vers experiments of burying fruits, &c. for prefervation and condenfation. Bac. Nat. Hift. §. 376, Works, T. 3. p. 80, feq.
Some commend burials in the earth, others in wheat, to fea- fon timber when frrff. felled, and make it of more durable ufe *. Chejnifts fometimes bury their cements. The Chinefe are re- ported to bury their porcellane, to give it the greater beauty b . — [ a Martini. Art of Hufband. T. 2. 1. 12. c. 10. p. 101. b Bacon, lib. cit. p. 253.] See Timber, &V. It has been a tradition, that pearl, coral, and turquois ftones r when they have loft their colours, recover them again by burial in the ground. But the experiment did not fucceed with Lord Bacon, upon trial of a fix weeks burial. itoaw, Nat. Hift. §. 380. Works, T. 3. p. 81. BURIS, a name given by Avifenna, and fome other old authors, to a fchirrous hernia, caufed by a hard abfeefs. Cajlel. Lex. Med. in voc. BURLAW, or Bvrlaw, Burlawa, in middle age writers, de- notes country laws, or the laws concerning country affairs. Sken. de Verb. Sign if. p. 33. Du Cange, GloiT. Lat. T. i. p. 6^. Spelm, GlofT. p. 79. BURNERS, VJiores, in antiquity, perfons whofe office-and em- ployment it was to burn the bodies of the dead. Pitifc. Lex. Antiq. T. 1. p. 1 1 19. voc. Vfiores. See the articles Burn- ing, and Burial. BURNET, Burneta, or Burnetus, in middle age writers, de- notes brown cloth made of dyed wool.
In which fenfe, the word ftands contradiftinguifhed from bru- nus, which was applied to the wool undyed. Blunt ap, %c. Law Diet, in voc. BURN (Cyd.) — Burns are divided into dry and humid. Dry Burns are thofe occafioned by the application of a naked fire, or ignited body, as coals, flame, red-hot metals, gun- powder, lightning, and the like, which are attended with a cor- rugation or fhrivelling of the part. Humid Burns, more ufually among us called fcalds, are thofe occafioned by fluid fubftances, as hot water, oil, wax, or the like. Junck. Confp. Chir. Tab. 1 1 . p. 98. Others make five degrees of burns : the firft, when the fkin only is hurt without any great rednefs : in the fecond, the pain is confiderable, and the rednefs deep, attended with puftules : the third inftantly produces puftules, with a throbbing pain, in- flammation, and ulceration of the part : in the fourth degree, a great havock is made in the fibres, by which the fkin is much corrugated, feparated from the flefh, and as it were roafted, occafioning an efchar : the fifth degree is, when the fire pene- trates deeper, and burns to the membranes, vefTels and nervc3 underneath, attended with a great fhrivelling of the part, a violent inflammatory pain, and blackifh efchar. Junck. loc. citat.
Dry burns are of a worfe kind than moift ones. Of the dry, the worft and moft penetrating of all is that of lightning ; the next are thofe caufed by melted metals and gun-powder ; the next, by fats and oily fubftances ; the flightcft of all burns is that by hot water. 'Junck. ubi fupra.
As burns nearlv refemble inflammatory diforders in their feve- ral degrees, fo they alfo do in their method of cure. In the {lighter degree of burns, the beft method is to have recourfe to emollients and aftrin gents. The beft flight aftringent is either common proof fpirit, or rectified fpirit of wine, or, when it is neceflary, fpirit of wine camphorated : thefemay beapplied to the part with linnen rags, as may alfo oxycrate, or the pickle of cabbages, or litharge vinegar; and thefe applications muft he repeated as there is occafion. Oil of turpentine has alfo very good effects, if applied in time, and repeated frequently. And the vulgar method of holding the injured part, when that is the hand or a finger, to the fire, as long and as near as can be born, is often attended with fuccefs ; for the ftagnating fluids are, by this degree of heat, driven back into their proper channels, and, by that means, the vefication, and other trou- blefome fymptoms, which naturally fucceed, are often prevent- ed. Another remedy, however, there is, very efficacious on the fame occafions, though founded on a contrary intention. This is by emollient remedies, which remove thetenfion of the fibres and veflels, and reftore the blood to its natural courfe be- fore any bad fymptoms come on, as the injured part may be fo- mented with water, made as warm as the patient can bear, till all the pain and heat entirely difappear. Sydenham very highly,
