C AC 



CAD 



BUPRE'STID^. A family of Coleo- 

 pterous insects, named from the genus 

 buprestis, and belonging to the section 

 Pentamera and sub-section Sternoxi of 

 Latreille. 



BURE'TTE. A French term applied 

 to a chemical instrument for dividing a 

 given portion of liquid into 100 or 1000 

 equal parts. 



BURNING-GLASS. A glass lens 

 which refracts the rays of the sun into a 

 focus. The solar rays may also be brought 

 to a focus by reflection from a concave 

 mirror, which is then called a burning 

 mirror. 



BURNT- EAR. A disease in corn, in 

 which the fructification of the plant is 

 destroyed, and, as it were, burned up. 

 By the French it is called charbon, by 

 the Germans brand. The disease is pro- 

 duced, according to De Candolle, by a 

 minute fungus, termed uredo carbo, 

 which he distinguishes from the uredo 

 caries, or the cause of smut. 



BUTOMA'CEiE. A natural order of 

 Monocotyledonous plants, named from 

 the butomus umbellatus. They are tri- 

 petaloideous, with several carpels, the 

 entire lining of which is covered with 

 seeds. 



BUTTERS. A term formerly applied, 

 in Pharmacy, to butter-like substances, 

 as those of antimony, of bismuth, &c., 

 meaning the chlorides of those metals. 

 Precipitated sulphur was also called 

 butter of sulphur. Vegetable butters is a 



term also applied to the concrete oil of 

 certain plants, from its resemblance to 

 butter produced from the milk of 

 animals. 



BUTTON. A technical term applied 

 to the round mass of metal found at the 

 bottom of the crucible after fusion, or in 

 the cupel in the process of assaying. 



BU'TYRIC ACID {butyrum, butter). 

 An oily limpid liquid ; one of the volatile 

 acids of butter. By distillation it yields 

 a substance called butyrone. 



BU'TYRINE {butyrum, butter). A 

 peculiar oleaginous matter, found in but- 

 ter, combined with oleine and stearine, 

 and a small quantity of butyric acid. 



BYSSI'FERA {hyssus, and fero, to 

 bear). A family of acephalous mollusca, 

 which are attached to foreign bodies by 

 means of a byssus. 



BY'SSOLITE {/Svaaof, byssus, XlOot, a 

 stone). A massive filamentous mineral, 

 implanted like moss on certain stones, at 

 the foot of Mont Blanc, and also near 

 Oisans, on gneiss. 



BY'SSUS {/3v<T<To^, fine flax). A term 

 applied to the silky filaments which pro- 

 ject from the bivalve called Pinna, and 

 hence applied to the analogous parts in 

 other molluscous animals. In Crypto- 

 gamic botany, the term byssus has been 

 given to all those filamentous plants 

 which inhabit cellars and subterranean 

 abodes, and are now ascertained to con- 

 sist of fungaceous plants in an early 

 state of growth. 



CA'CHOLONG. A variety of quartz 

 found on the borders of the river Cach, 

 in Bucharia. In the Calmuc language, 

 cholong is said to signify a stone. 



CACODY'L (/caKtianf, fetid). A limpid 

 liquid, supposed by Berzelius to be the 

 compound radical of a series of arsenical 

 compounds, and named in reference to 

 the repulsive odour of its oxide, alcarsin. 

 Cacodylic acid is obtained by the oxida- 

 tion of cacodyl and its oxide, and is syn- 

 onymous with alcargen. 



CACTA'CE^. The Indian-Fig tribe 

 of Dicotyledonous plants. Succulent 

 shrubs, usually without leaves and with 

 spinous buds. Sepals and petals con- 

 founded ; stamens indefinite ; ovary in- 

 ferior, 1 -celled; fruit succulent, eaten 

 63 



under the name of Indian figs. All the 

 species are considered to be American. 



CA'DENCE {cado, to fall). The close 

 of a passage in music, or the resolution 

 of a dissonant into a consonant chord. 

 Also, an extemporaneous addition made 

 by the performer at the end of a piece of 

 music. 



The perfect cadence is composed of the 

 chord of the dominant, or of the domi- 

 nant seventh, followed by that of the 

 tonic. The imperfect cadence consists of 

 the chord of the tonic, followed by that 

 of the dominant, but rarely occurs as a 

 final close. The interrupted or deceptive 

 cadence is formed by a chord quite foreign 

 to that which was expected, thus evading 

 the close, and deceiving expectation. 



