BUT 



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BUT 



Butler, tically that religion of which he was one of the ablest 

 Joseph, defenders, his prospect of doing much good was al- 

 ~" ~ v ~~ ' most as extensive as his wishes. But this prospect 

 soon vanished. His health began visibly to decline 

 soon after his removal to his new bishopric. When 

 complimented on his great resignation during his in- 

 disposition, he is reported to have expressed his re- 

 gret, that he should be called away so soon from this 

 world, after he had become capable of doing more 

 good in it. During this his last illness he was car- 

 ried to Bristol, to make trial of the waters of that 

 place : but no benefit resulting from these, he remo- 

 ved to Bath ; where, being completely exhausted, he 

 calmly breathed his last, at the age of sixty, on the 

 l6th of June 1752. His corpse was conveyed to 

 .Bristol, and interred in the cathedral. A flat marble 

 stone, placed over the spot where his remains are de- 

 posited, contains a Latin epitaph, now nearly obli- 

 terated, said to have been written by his own chap- 

 lain, the learned Dr Nath. Forster. 



Few characters are, upon the whole, more entitled 

 to our veneration than Bishop Butler. His works 

 will continue to bear testimony to his strength of 

 mind, and originality of view, as long as their sub- 

 jects shall interest the world ; and he may be ranked 

 among the ablest defenders of revelation, since the 

 age of the apostles. The selection of his topics was 

 sometimes unavoidably influenced by the questions 

 of the day. Some of them are such as, perhaps, 

 would not now be discussed with much interest ; but, 

 if they have ceased to agitate the philosophical world, 

 it is in a great measure owing to the rigid accuracy 

 with which they were finally elucidated by himself. 

 It has indeed been remarked, that his reasoning is 

 generally better calculated to silence than to con- 

 vince ; and that, by dwelling so much on the uncer- 

 tainty and imperfections of the inferences of reason, 

 he is apt to produce a sceptical turn of mind. This, 

 however, was but the manner of the times. The in- 

 fidels of those days did not all pretend to reject re- 

 velation as a subject of rational enquiry. They at- 

 tacked particular points with all the subtlety of me- 

 taphysical argumentation ; and hence a necessity was 

 imposed on the friends of religion, to dispute every 

 inch of ground with corresponding minuteness. 



Dr Butler's greatest praise is not that of an admi- 

 rable writer ; he was equally distinguished as a man 

 and a Christian. His private benefactions were nu- 

 merous, and his example in promoting charitable in- 

 stitutions eminently conspicuous. His piety was 

 truly sincere and fervent, leaning, perhaps, a little to 

 the gloomy and ascetic : a character which it possi- 

 bly derived, in part, from his early education, and 

 partly from a natural disposition inclined to melan- 

 choly. His munificence was in all respects equal to 

 the great means with which Providence had blessed 

 him. Whilst bishop of Bristol, he expended, in re- 

 pairing and improving the episcopal palace, L. 4000 ; 

 being more than the whole emoluments of that see 

 amounted to during his incumbency. At Durham, 

 he supported the episcopal dignity with equal gran- 

 deur. He set apart three days in the week for do- 

 ing the honours of the bishopric, and entertained the 

 principal gei.try of the county in the most princely 

 style. To his table were invited even the poorest of 



his clergy ; whom he' occasionally visited at their pa- Butomus, 

 rishes, and treated with the utmost kindness and Butter, 

 condescension. Bishop Butler was never married. v "-~~v ' 

 At his death, it is said that he ordered all his manu- 

 scripts to be burnt, without inspection. See Bioe. 

 Brit.; and Halifax's Preface and Notes to the Ana- 

 logy. (E) 



BUTOMUS, a genus of plants of the class Enne- 

 andria, and order Hexagynia. See BOTANY, p. 207. 



BUTTER, a fat unctuous substance, usually pre- 

 pared from the cream of cows milk by agitation. 

 It is of a yellow colour, sometimes higher, sometimes 

 lighter, possesses the properties of an oil, and readily 

 mixes with other oily bodies. The process by which 

 it is obtained from cream, is that sort of agitation 

 called churning, well known to every body. When 

 pure, it is soft and concrete, and of an agreeable 

 sweet taste. It melts at the temperature of 96, and 

 becomes transparent ; but if it be kept for some 

 time in this state, a portion of curd and water, or 

 whey, is disengaged, and it assumes exactly the ap- 

 pearance of oil. It has now, however, lost almost 

 all its peculiar flavour. 



Butter has been usually thought to be a matter 

 naturally distributed through the milk, and existing, 

 along with the caseous and serous parts thereof, in a 

 state of mechanical suspension, similar to that in 

 which oil is, when suspended in water by means of 

 syrup or mucilage. But though a mixture of this 

 sort, commonly called an emulsion, puts on a white 

 colour like milk, and its oily parts by rest rise to the 

 top, and form a cream similar to the cream of milk, 

 yet the experiments of Messrs Deyeux and Parmen- 

 tier seem to have proved, that butter does not ac- 

 tually exist in the cream, but that it is formed from 

 it during the process of churning, by certain chemi- 

 cal changes which then occur. These gentlemen 

 were led to form this opinion, by observing, that but- 

 ter could not be produced in any other way than by 

 agitation ; because whatever substances or means 

 they employed to detach either the cheesy or but- 

 tery part of the cream, they always found agitation 

 or churning necessary. 



Fourcroy considers the butyraceous matter of milk 

 as quite distinct from butter ; and says, it is a white 

 liquid oil, suspended in the serum, by means of the 

 muco-saccharine and cheesy parts, which, combining 

 with oxygen, forms butter. The oxygen he con- 

 ceives it to obtain partly from the atmosphere, and 

 partly from the milk itself. He is of opinion, that 

 butter in a small quantity can be obtained without 

 agitation ; and says, that the oily particles of the bu- 

 tyraceous matter, which, from their greater levity, 

 float, when the milk is allowed to rest, on the sur- 

 face of the caseous and serous fluid, absorb oxygen 

 from the atmosphere, and become real butter. 



That important chemical changes take place du- 

 ring the operation of churning, there can be no doubt ; 

 but the nature of these is still, we apprehend, im- 

 perfectly understood. Farther experiments seem ne- 

 cessary to elucidate the subject. In all cases, there 

 is a considerable extrication of gas ; and Dr Young 

 affirms, that there is likewise a rise of temperature 

 equal to four degrees. In the Mid- Lothian agricul- 

 tural report for 1795, it is stated, that cream churn- 



