Ml BOROUGHS, OF GREAT BRITAIN ANP 1HKLAND. 



BOTTOM HEAT. 



Bkekston*. who divides the common Uw into time divisions. treats 

 of Borough -English under the Meond division. namely : " Particular 

 customs, which for the most pert affect only the inhabitant* of par- 

 ticular district*." In the first Yolume of the Commentariea ' he gives 

 a definition of the term aimilar to that contained in Dr. Cowell's Dic- 

 tionary ; and in the aecond volume he recur* to it, and observes : 

 "Other author* have indeed giren a much stronger reaaon for thia 

 custom, aa if the lord of the fee had anciently a right to break the 

 wreath oornmandmrnit with hia tenanfa wife on her wedding- night ; 

 and that therefore the tenement descended not to the eldest but the 

 youngest son, who wai more certainly the oflspring o* the tenant." Black- 

 atooe, howerer, atatea that he cannot learn that this right was ezerciaed 

 fat England. although it certainly waa in Scotland, until abolished by 

 Malcolm III., and in aome parta of France; and even if it were, the 

 naaon, M it regards the youngest eon only, ia obviously absurd. 

 "Perhapa (he adds) a more rational account than either may be 

 fetched (though at a aufflcient diatance) from the practice of the 

 Tartan ; among whom, according to Father Duhalde, thin custom of 

 deaoent to the youngest ion also prevails. That nation ia composed 

 totally of shepherd* and herdamen, and the elder sons, u noon aa they 

 are capable of leading a pastoral life, migrate from their fathers with a 

 certain allotment of cattle, and go to seek a new habitation. The 

 youngest aon, therefore, who continue* latest with the father, -in 

 naturally the heir of his house, the rest being already provided for. 

 So that possibly this custom, wherever it prevail*, may be the remnant 

 of that pastoral state of our British and German ancestors which 

 Onsar and Tacitus describe,'' But it is unnecessary to go so far for 

 the origin of a custom which the name itself and other circumstances 

 ahow to be of English origin. 



BOROUGHS, OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. [Musi- 



err AI COBFOBATIOXB ; COMMONS, HOUSE OF.] 



BOSTANJI, from Ixxla*, a garden. The class of men who bear 

 this name, who now perform a curious variety of functions, and whose 

 head or chief (Bostanji-Bashi) is one of the grand dignitaries of the 

 Turkish empire, seem originally to have been nothing more than the 

 sultan's gardeners, attached to the imperial residence or seraglio of 

 Constantinople, and were constituted guardians of the seraglio by 

 Soliman the Great. They still work as gardeners in the sultan's 

 pleasure-grounds of Constantinople and on the Bosporus, but the more 

 conspicuous of their duties are, to mount guard in the seraglio, to row 

 the sultan's barge, to row the caiques of all the officers of the palace, 

 to follow those great men, on foot, when they ride on business through 

 the city, and to attend to the execution of the numerous orders of the 

 bostanji-bashi. They were aggregated with the janissaries, with whom 

 they formerly did military duty in the field, but the bostanjis were 

 not suppressed at the sanguinary dissolution of that turbulent militia, 

 although their number has been considerably decreased. When the 

 Ottoman Court was in its splendour, the bostanji corps amounted to 

 6000 men, who were divided into ortas, or companies, like the janis- 

 saries. The distinctive part of their costume was an enormous bonnet, 

 or caouk, made of scarlet cloth, and in war they were increased to 

 12,000. At present they do not exceed 600. 



The bostanji-bashi, who has the rank of a pasha, is governor of the 

 seraglio and the other imperial residences. He is inspector-general of 

 the woods and forests in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. The 

 shores of the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmora, from the mouth of the 

 Black Sea to the Straits of the Dardanelles, are under his jurisdiction, 

 and formerly no person whatsoever could build or even repair a house 

 on those coasts without his permission. For this licence fees were 

 exacted, which were generally fixed in the most arbitrary manner. 

 Whenever the sultan makes an excursion by water (and in the fine 

 Masons he rarely travels in any other way) the bostanji-bashi stands or 

 site behind him, and steers the magnificent barge, which is rowed by 



, 



u Tlli> brin 8* *" m mto . frequent contact and conversation 



with the sovereign, who never appoints any but personal favourites to 

 the post At court the bostanji-bashi is almost as great a man as the 

 ttslaragha (chief of the black eunuchs) or the seUctar (the sultan's 

 sword-bearer). He used also to exercise the functions of provost- 

 autor-general, presiding at the bow-stringing of the Turkish grandees - 

 wnsn the execution took place within the walls of the seraglio, and 

 superintending the tortures applied in the prison of that palace, to 

 fores from obstinate ministers and government functionaries the con- 

 fession of their guilt and disclosure of their property, which latter was 

 always confiscated to the sultan. 



Except when at the helm of the imperial barge, the bostanji-bashi 

 used rarslv to be seen abroad by day-ligVt ; - no doubt," says D'&hsson, 

 wtthmoA naive*, "on account of the sensation produced by the 

 pressoos of the supreme minister of executions." 



Another wry luoratfv. duty attached to this composite office was 

 the MMA.M of the trade in wine, and lime, or mortar for building, 

 earriatf on to ti capital and its ridnity. Of late years, however, since 

 JWtan Mahmoud has become reformer, both the money-getting 

 branches of the office, and the more horrible functions of thetSrtanj 

 bashi, hare been considerably abridged ; and in time we mar hope to 

 ses him as harmless a character as the commander of a royal yacht or 

 a court chamberlain in Christendom. 



. 



BOSWE'LLIA THURI'FKRA. A native of the mountainous parts 

 wla ; yields the gum-resin (improperly termed gum) olibanum, the 



frankincense or (Am of the ancients. This substance was long sup- 

 posed to be obtained from various species of Jn*iprru* of the family of 

 the (.'oni/rra. Some persons arc Mill >( opinion that the Arabian olibanum 

 is derived from a juniperus ; win. -I,, in.lt- |-.-n,I. nt of our positive know- 

 ledge of the source of the Indian olibanum, is very improbable, fur as 

 Ness von Esenbeck j ustly remarks, the Conifer* yield only pure resins, or 

 resins consisting of resin, volatile oil, and sub-resins, but in no case any 

 gum-resins. Indeed, if the Arabian olibanum be not obtained from 

 a Boswellia, it is most probably yielded by a Balsamodendron : (Kafal r 

 Forsk. possibly only a variety of R. Kalaf. Forsk.) at least the wood of 

 this tree is used to burn as a perfume in the mosques. There is now 

 scarcely a doubt but that it is the produce of BotvtUia Jtoribtuula of 

 Bennet, the PUAa Jtaribmula of Endlicher. Mr. Johnstone (' Philos. 

 Trans.' for 1839, pp. 304, 305) asserts that, there are two distinct gum- 

 resins in olibanum. 



The chemical analysis gives very different results, according to the 

 age of the piece examined. Sir William O'Shaughnessy analysed a 

 fine fresh specimen in India, which yielded resin, 37, volatile oil, 28 

 parts; gum, 4, gluten, 11 per cent. : while Bracoundt, analysing 

 specimens in Europe, obtained only volatile oil, 8 ; resin, 66 ; gum, 80 ; 

 gum-like matter, loss, Ac., 6 ; showing the gradual conversion of tin 

 volatile oil into resin, and the superior quality of fresh specimens. 



The odour of olibanum is faint and peculiar, but pleasantly balsamic, 

 which is increased by heat, and when inflamed it burns with a steady, 

 clear light, which is not easily extinguished, diffusing a most fragrant 

 smoke. It leaves behind it a black ash. The taste is balsamic, slightly 

 acrid and bitter. Being a gum-resin, it U not perfectly soluble <ith< Y 

 in water or alcohol ; with the former it forms n milky fluid. It con- 

 sists of gum-resin and volatile oil : the latter principle has the odour of 

 oil of lemon. The TnHiim olibanum is not often adulterated, but an 

 inferior or the Arabian kind is often substituted. The latter is 

 frequently intermixed with mastic, gum-sandarac, or Burgundy pitch : 

 when there is much of this lost article, it may be discovered by the 

 greater solubility in alcohol. 



Olibanum is now seldom used in medicine : it possesses the pro- 

 perties common to balsamic substances, and may, in the absence of 

 inflammatory symptoms, or after appropriate antiphlogistic treatment, 

 be used as on expectorant. It is more useful externally as a rube- 

 focient and ontispasmodic, especially applied as a plaster over the 

 stomach in some COSTS of cramp or spasm of that organ. It is however 

 principally employed to bum as incense in Roman Catholic churches. 



BOTTLE PAPERS. A term which of late years has been applied 

 to the inclosures frequently found in bottles discovered floating on the 

 sea, or which have been found cast by the tide upon a shore. It in 

 customary for navigators to endeavour to ascertain the sets of the 

 ocean currents by writing the ship's name, the latitude, longitude, 

 date, &c. on slips of paper, and sealing them securely in wine or other 

 bottles, which when thrown overboard ore often drifted into very 

 distant localities, whereby valuable comparisons have already assisted 

 the hydrographer. Some very interesting and important facts con- 

 nected with bottle papers, and a bottle paper chart may be seen in the 

 ' Nautical Magazine ' of September 1857, and in other numbers, as 

 published monthly under the Hydrographic Department of the 

 Admiralty. 



BOTTLES, GLASS. The manufacture of these articles is described 

 under GLASS. Considered as a source of revenue, gloss-bottles, in 

 common with other descriptions of glass-wares, were first subjected to 

 a duty by the 6 & 7 Will, and Mary ; but the duty then imposed, after 

 undergoing various modifications, was repealed four years after by an 

 act, the preamble of which recited that it was " found by experience 

 that the duties on glass and glass-wares are very vexatious and trouble- 

 some in the levying and collecting the same, and of small advantage to 

 the Crown, and should the same be continued would lessen the duty on 

 coals much more than the said duties on glass-ware would amount to, 

 would hinder the employing great numbers of poor, and endanger tin- 

 loss of so beneficial a manufacture to this kingdom." The experience 

 thus recorded led to the exemption of glass-bottles from duty for about 

 half a century ; but the exigencies of the State induced the govern- 

 ment to reimpose the duty in 1746. The duty, so reimposed, was con- 

 tinued until quite recent times, varied occasionally in ratio. 



Glass bottles are now mode to such on enormous extent in this 

 country, that after supplying the home demand, a quantity is exported 

 so large as to furnish the following figures : 



Weifht. Declared Value. 



185 

 18S7 . 

 I8J8 



528,811 ewts. 

 577, JOS 

 849,810 



119,480 

 801,188 



These, it must be observed, are designated " common bottles," made of 

 cheap materials, and do not include flint-glass bottles. 



BOTTOM HEAT, a term in horticulture expressive of an artificial 

 temperature communicated by means of fermenting matter or other- 

 wise to the soil in which plants grow. It is usually obtained either by 

 leaves, or ten, or fresh stable-litter, thrown into a heap, and enclosed 

 within the walls of a brick pit, the surface of which is covered with 

 soil The object of the cultivator is by such means to prevent tin- 

 temperature of the soil from becoming less than 60 Fahr. or more 

 than 90*. The plants to which this kind of temperature is applied 



