B AS 



B AS 



tone). Baritone. That compass of the 

 male voice which is between those of the 

 tenor and of the base. The term bari- 

 tenor, employed by Bennati, is preferable, 

 as it expresses what is really meant, viz. 

 a high base. 



BA'RYTONE VERBS {ftaph?, heavy, 

 Toi/of, tone). That class of Greek verbs 

 which terminate in to, and have either a 

 consonant before <o, or a vowel a, e, o, 

 before w. These are called barytone, 

 because they have the accent [acute) on 

 the penultima, and the last syllable neces- 

 sarily has the grave accent, not expressed 

 in writing. 



BA'SALT [basal, iron, Ethiopian). One 

 of the most common varieties of the 

 Trap-rocks. It is a dark green or black 

 stone, composed of augite and felspar, 

 very compact in texture, and of con- 

 siderable hardness, often found in regular 

 pillars of three or more sides, called 

 basaltic columns. These occur in the 

 Giants' Causeway, and at Fingal's Cave 

 in StafFa. The rock often contains 

 much iron. Basaltic hornblende oc- 

 curs in various basaltic and floetz trap- 

 rocks. 



BA'SANITE (ySao-aw'^o), to test, from 

 pdaavoi, a Lydian stone). A stone by 

 which the purity of gold was formerly 

 tested; it consists of silica, lime, mag- 

 nesia, carbon, and iron. 



BASE or BASIS [3ciai<:, a base). A 

 chemical term applied to alkalies, earths, 

 and metallic oxides, in their relations to 

 the acids and salts. It is sometimes also 

 applied to the particular constituents of 

 an acid or oxide, on the supposition that 

 the substance combined with the oxygen, 

 &c. is the basis of the compound to 

 which it owes its particular qualities. 

 This notion seems unphilosophical, as 

 these qualities depend as much on the 

 state of combination as on the nature of 

 the constituent. — Ure. 



1. In the Arts, the term base is syno- 

 nymous with mordaunt, and is applied to 

 a substance used in dyeing, which has an 

 affinity for both the cloth and the colour- 

 ing matter. 



2. In Malacology, the term base is 

 generally used in opposition to the apex, 

 or pointed extremity of univalve shells. 

 In bivalves which adhere to other sub- 

 stances by one of their valves, as in 

 spondylus, that which adheres is termed 

 the basal valve ; in unattached bivalves, 

 the term is not correctly admissible. In 

 spiral shells, the last or largest whorl is 

 termed the basal whorl. 



49 



3. In Geometry, the base is the lowest 

 side of the perimeter of any figure. The 

 base of a triangle is, properly, the side 

 which is parallel to the horizon, though 

 the term may be applied to either of the 

 other sides. In rectangled triangles, the 

 base is, properly, the side opposite to the 

 right angle. 



BASE VOICE. The lowest compass 

 of the human voice, usually ranging 

 from G or F below the base staff to D or 

 E above it. 



BASIC WATER. A term applied in 

 cases in which water appears to act the 

 part of a base: phosphoric acid, for in- 

 stance, ceases to be phosphoric acid, un- 

 less three equivalents of water to one of 

 acid be present. 



BASI'DIA. Small bases ; a term ap- 

 plied to the cells on the apex of which 

 the spores of fungaceous plants are 

 form.ed. 



BASIGY'NIUM (ySao-tf, a base, fw^, 

 a female). Podogynium. A botanical 

 term applied to the long stalk upon 

 which the ovary, instead of being sessile, 

 is seated in certain plants, as in the Pas- 

 sion flower. It is frequently called the 

 thecaphore and gynophore. 



BA'SILAR [basis, a base). Belonging 

 to the base ; in Zoology, to that of the 

 skull. 



BA'SIN [ba^sin, French). A term ap- 

 plied, in Physical Geography, to the whole 

 extent of country from which the waters 

 of a particular river are drawn. In Geo- 

 logy, the term denotes those depressions 

 of the surface of the earth in which 

 waters accumulate so as to form lakes : 

 of this kind are the lakes of North Ame- 

 rica, lake Aral, the Caspian and Dead 

 Seas, &c. 



Basins of Paris, of London. Deposits 

 lying in a hollow or trough, formed of 

 older rocks. The term basin is some- 

 times used, in Geology, almost synony- 

 mously with "formation," to express the 

 deposits lying in a certain cavity or de- 

 pression in older rocks. 



BA'SSORINE. A substance extracted 

 from the gum resins which contain it, by 

 treating them successively with water, 

 alcohol, and ether. Its name is derived 

 from bassora, the gum in which it was 

 first discovered. 



BA'SYLE [fSdai^, a base, i/A»j, nature 

 or principle). A term proposed by Mr. 

 Graham to denote the metallic radical of 

 a salt. Thus, sodium is the basyle of 

 sulphate of soda; soda is the base, and 

 sulphatoxygen the salt radical, if the 



