065 



BASE. 



BASEMENT. 



metals are placed first, and the basic power gradually diminishes 

 towards the end of the list : 



Potassium. 



Sodium. 



Magnesium. 



Manganese. 



Zinc. 



Cadmium. 



Iron. 



Nickel. 



Cobalt. 



Aluminium. 



Lead. 



Tin. 



Bismuth. 



Copper. 



Silver. 



Palladium. 



Platinum. 



Bhodiuni. 



Iridium. 



Gold. 



Such a list, however, does not give the relative basic positions of 

 these elements with infallibility. The physical conditions under which 

 the elements are present, and the nature of the possible compounds 

 which may result, influence their order. Thus, although sodium may 

 decompose the oxide of iron at one temperature, iron decomposes the 

 oxide of sodium at a higher one. For further information on this 

 subject, see CHEMICAL AFFINITY. 



Those salts which do not result from the direct combination of a 

 halogen with a metal, but from the union of compoftnds of the non- 

 metallic elements with metals, are usually supposed to contain the 

 metals in combination with a portion of the non-metallic constituents 

 of the salt. In such cases the group containing the metal is the base. 

 The bases resulting from the union of oxygen with the metals have 

 been most fully examined. Sulphur, selenium, and a few other non- 

 metallic elements, also form bases when combined with metals. 



According to the solubility of the metallic oxides in water the 

 metals which they contain are called the metals of the alkalies, of the 

 alkaline earths, and of the heavy metals. The oxides of potassium and 

 sodium are accordingly alkalis ; those of barium, strontium, calcium, 

 magnesium, the alkaline earths ; while the remaining oxides, those of 

 the heavy metals are almost absolutely insoluble. Metals may be basic 

 when in combination with a certain proportion of oxygen, and acid 

 when combined with a larger quantity. This is the case with iron, 

 manganese, chromium, and others. Sometimes one and the same stage 

 of oxidation of a metal may be basic to an acid, and acid towards a 

 base : such are the oxides of aluminium, zinc, and tin. Antimony and 

 arsenic, which occupy an intermediate position between the metallic 

 and non-metallic elements, combine directly with chlorine as bases, 

 while their oxides form well denned acids. 



The same two semi-metals in combination with sulphur play the 

 part of acids, not only to the oxides but to the sulphides of the 

 alkalies, giving rise thereby to the salts of sulphur bases alluded to 

 above, Thus the ter- and peuta-sulphides of arsenic and antimony 

 combine with the sulphides of potassium, sodium, and ammonium, 

 giving rise to sulphur salts, of which sulpharseniate of sulphide of 

 potassium may be taken as an example. Gold, platinum, and tin, in 

 combination with sulphur, also act as sulphur acids towards the oxides 

 and sulphides of the alkalis. 



A metallic chloride may be regarded as playing the part of a base, 

 as for instance, the potassio-chloride of platinum, KC1 Pt C\,, in which 

 the chloride of potassium is the base, and the chloride of platinum 

 the acid. 



In all cases of double salts, indeed, whether resulting from the union 

 of two binary compounds, or of two oxygen salts, we may consider the 

 one salt as the base, and the other as the acid, as seen in the following 

 formulae : 



KClMgCl; KOS0 3 HOS0 3 ; KOSO, MOSO 3 . 



Different quantities of the same base may combine with the same 

 acid, and form well defined salts. The phosphates furnish the most 

 complete example of this. If the phosphate of soda and ammonia 

 (2NH 4 O, Na OP0 5 ), be heated to redness, all the ammonia is expelled, 

 and m'onobasic phosphate of soda (NaO P0 5 ) is left. If ordinary phos- 

 phate of soda (HO 2NaO PO S ) be heated, water is expelled and bibasic 

 phosphate of soda remains. If ordinary phosphate of soda be treated 

 with caustic soda, tribasic phosphate of soda (3 NaO, P0 5 ) separates 

 out on evaporation. Hence phosphoric acid may combine with soda, 

 or soda with phosphoric acid in these proportions, related to one 

 another by weights, as 1, 2, and 3. Phosphoric acid is on this account 

 called polybasic. Antimonic and arsenic acids have also the power of 

 combining with bases in different proportions. Some other acids com- 

 bine with two, and others again with one or two proportions of base. 

 Among the oxides of the heavy metals, oxide of lead is pre-eminent 

 in possessing the power of uniting in various quantities with acids to 

 form salts which contain more than one basic molecule for every acid 

 one present. [Acios, SALTS.] 



The non-metallic group ammonia (NH 3 ), in combination with water 

 as the oxide of the quasi metal ammonium (NH 4 ), combines with 

 oxygen acids to form salts, in the same manner as do the oxides 

 of the metals proper. Moreover, not only do the hydrochlorate oi 

 ammonia, or chloride of ammonium, iodide of ammonium, sulphide 

 of ammonium, &c., present the strongest analogies to the chlorides, 

 , iodides, &c., of the metals proper, but such binary salts of ammonium 

 as combine with salts of the metals either binary or oxygen, exhibit 

 the same analogies ; thus : 



Analogous to 



NH,0. KO. 



NH,ON0 5 . KONO 5 . 



NHjOSOj.MOSO,. KOS0 31 MOSO,. 



NH 4 C1, PtClj. KC1, PtCl,. 



etc. etc. 



In those hydrogen salts which are called acids (hydrochloric acid, 

 julphuric acid, &c.), we have seen that zinc and other metals may take 

 ,he place of hydrogen, and the like substitution may occur in ammonia 

 .tself ; bodies being formed having the composition 



Ml Ml Ml 



H IN, M IN, M I.N. 

 nj nj MJ 



At present however, the basic nature of such inorganic substitution- 

 ammonias has not been sufficiently studied to be discussed here. 



Descriptions of the organic representatives of these substitution 

 jroducts of ammonia, where organic molecules replace one or more 

 items of hydrogen, will be found under the heads ORGANIC BASE, 

 AMIDES. 



BASE, or BASS, a name sometimes given to the violoncello. 

 BASE, in mutic, from Bio-is (basis), the base or foundation, the 

 lowest part, whether vocal or instrumental. This word is frequently 

 written bass, but the etymology, and more especially the pronunciation, 

 are decidedly in favour of the orthography here adopted, which is 

 sanctioned by Dr. Johnson and other high authorities. " The base," 

 says Rousseau, " is the most important of parts the whole harmony 

 is founded on it : hence it is a maxim with musicians, that when the 

 base is good the harmony is rarely otherwise." M. Subzer adopts this 

 opinion ; and we do not differ from two such able writers, without 

 having duly considered the question. But if by the words most 

 important is meant that which can least be dispensed with, then both 

 assuredly are in error, for the highest part, or melody, is unquestion- 

 ably the most essential. It is the theme, the subject, without which 

 the other parts, however numerous, are unintelligible. It being under- 

 stood that we are not speaking of instrumental accompaniments, such 

 as violin, flute, &c., which, in the score, are frequently above the highest 

 voice part or melody. In composition in two parts, the tyro finds it 

 more difficult to write a correct base than a tolerable melody, but to 

 the sound musician the subject and intermediate parts require more 

 thought than the base. 



BASE IN ARCHITECTURE. [COLUMN.] 

 BASE CLEFT. [CLEFT.] 

 BASE, CONTINUED. [CONTINUED BASE.] 

 BASE, DOUBLE. [DOUBLE BASE.] 

 BASE FEE. [ESTATE; RECOVERY ; TENANT-IN-TAIL.] 

 BASE, FIGURED. [FIGURED BASE.] 

 BASE, FUNDAMENTAL. [FUNDAMENTAL BASE.] 

 BASE, GROUND. [GROUND BASE.]' 

 BASE LINE. [GEODESY.] 

 BASE, THOROUGH. [THOROUGH BASE.] 



BASE VOICE, the lowest male voice, the usual compass of which is 

 from a or F below the base staff to b or E above it ; but some few 

 voices exceed the limits here assigned, and must be considered as 

 exceptions to the rule. Handel, in the aria ' Fra 1'ombre,' in his opera 

 of ' Sosarmes,' exacts from the singer a compass of two octaves from 

 F above the staff to F below ; and Purcell, in his anthem ' They that go 

 down to the sea in ships,' altogether mistaking the meaning of the 

 word ' down,' and in a wretched endeavour to express descent, writes 

 for the base a run of notes from D above to D below the staff. ' 

 BASEL, COUNCIL OF. [COUNCILS.] 



BASEMENT, in Architecture, is the lowest story of a building, 

 forming the base of a private house or public edifice. This feature of 

 a building should possess externally the character of strength; and, 

 accordingly, in the designs of Palladio, and the other great masters of 

 the Italian school, we find that the basement has a massive appearance, 

 capable of sustaining the order or orders which are often placed above 

 it. In edifices used as dwellings the basement is high ; but in churches 

 and other public buildings it is usually kept low. Some basements 

 are as high in proportion as the floor or story placed above it, while 

 others are not more than a third or a half of the height. The propor- 

 tions of basements vary according to the conveniences required in the 

 lower story, or to the importance attached to the floor or floors which 

 they may support. Sir William Chambers, in his ' Treatise on Civil 

 Architecture,' gives rules for the proportions of the parts forming the 

 characteristic features of the basement, but at the same time he admits 

 that " the proportions of these basements are not fixed," but depend 

 chiefly on the nature of the apartments forming the ground-floor. " In 

 Italy," he says, " where the summer habitations are very frequently on 

 that floor, the basements are sometimes very high. At the palace of 

 the Porti, in Vicenza, the height is eqxial to that of the order placed 

 thereon ; and at the Thiene, in the same city, its height exceeds two- 

 thirds of that of the order, although it be almost of a sufficient eleva- 

 tion to contain two stories ; but at the Villa Capra and at the Loco 

 Arsieri, both near Vicenza, the basement is only half the height of the 

 order, because in both these the ground-floor consists of nothing but 

 offices." These four works enumerated present different proportions, 

 and are all from the designs of Palladio. The true principle is that 

 the proportions of a basement should not be regulated by any rigid 

 rule, but that it be made higher or lower according to the purpose it 

 is intended to subserve in the general design. In the edifices of 

 antiquity the basement is usually low, and intended to support an 

 order of columns. The monuments of Lysicrates and Philopappus at 



