B L A 



ftOS 



B L A 



way some time* be accompanied by expressions which may 

 bring tlie individual using them wilhin tho scope of a 

 charge of blasphemy. It is remarkable that Blackstone, 

 who i not one of an over-liberal school, in his chapter on 

 offences against God ami religion, does not treat of this 

 Btatute in the section headed Blasphemy, but under other 

 bead*. 



We are surprised that such a statute could have been 

 passed so near our own time ; still more that such a title 

 should have been prefixed to it. We have to add, that 

 as to its main provision it remains in force. But in 1813, 

 the number of persons who openly avowed that they did 

 msidcr tho doctrine of the Trinity as possessed of 

 sufficient support from the words of Scripture, when truly 

 interpreted, to deserve assent, having greatly increased, 

 and large congregations of them being found in most of 

 the principal towns, several clergymen also of undoubted 

 respectability, learning, and piety having seceded from 

 the church on the ground that this doctrine as professed 

 in the church was without sufficient authority, a bill was 

 introduced into parliament to relieve such persons from 

 the operation of this statute, and it passed without opposi- 

 tion. This act, which is commonly called Mr. Smith's Act, 

 after the name of the late Mr. William Smith, then member 

 for the city of Norwich, by whom it was introduced, is 

 slat. 53 George III. c. 160. 



The legal crime of blasphemy and profaneness is made 

 by this statute of King William something entirely dif- 

 ferent from the crime when considered with reference to 

 religion or morals. Few persons will charge any guilt 

 upon a man who, in a course of philosophic investiga- 

 tion, is brought at last to doubt respecting any of the great 

 points of religious belief, after an investigation pursued 

 with diligence, and under a sense of the high importance 

 of the subject. Such a charge would be the result of bigotry 

 alone, ana would have no corresponding conviction in the 

 heart of the person thus accused. Yet such a person may 

 be morally guilty of blasphemy. He is morally guilty, if 

 ! suffer himself to be led to the use of gross and oppro- 

 brious expressions, such as arc shocking to the common 

 sense and common feeling of mankind, and abhorrent to 

 the minds of all philosophic inquirers, and all persons who, 

 in the spirit of seriousness, are seeking to know the truth 

 in respect of things which are of the last importance to 

 them. Whoever acknowledges the existence of God, and 

 that there is a stream of providences and dispensations, 

 common and extraordinary, proceeded and proceeding from 

 him, and yet speaks of him, or still more to him, or of 

 and concerning them, in the language of affront, or other- 

 \vi-i- indeed than with a feeling of reverence correspondent 

 to the dignity and awfulness of the subject, cannot be held 

 morally guiltless : and when there is no such admission, 

 there is at least a decency to he observed in treating or 

 speaking of them, which will be observed by all who have 

 upon their hearts any spirit of seriousness, or any just re- 

 gard for the peace and welfare of society. 



At the same time it must also be admitted that a certain 

 fp-edoni must be allowed in respect of the manner in which 

 uons referring to sacred subjects are treated. All 

 things are not really sacred which many agree to call so. 

 The term sacred mny bo made to cover any opinion however 

 absurd, and witchcraft and the popular superstitions have 

 sometimes taken shelter under it. It would scarcely ho 

 denied that it was lawful to attack opinions of this class, 

 even though the mind of a nation wns not sufficiently en- 

 lightened to discern the absurdity of them, with any wea- 

 pons, even those of insult and ridicule ; and that though 

 the cry of blasphemy might be raised, yet that at the bar 

 of sound reason such a person, so fur from being justly 

 chargeable with so odious a crime, might be one who was 

 rendering to the world the most essential service, by setting 

 the absurdity of the opinion in that clear light in which il 

 admitted of being placed, and thus attracting to it the eyes 

 of all observers. But opinions which have better pretension 

 to be called sacred may not improperly be treated with a 

 Certain freedom that to those holding them shall be offen- 

 sive. Very strong things in this way have been said 

 i-t the doctrine of transubstantiated by Protestant 

 writers, who have nut lnrcn regarded by their fellow-Pro- 

 testants as doing more than setting nn erroneous opinion 

 in its true light, though the Komnn Catholic has no 

 doubt read the blasphemy, as lie would call it, with hor- 

 ror. So tho Almighty Father, as he appears in the 



of Christian faith which is called Calvinism, has by some 

 been represented in charnrti i-- which, to the sincere be- 

 IH-MT in that system, cannot but have been ae.-ouul.d 

 blasphemous; while by those who hold the -\-iem to 

 rest on a mistaken interpretation of Scripture it ha- l-rn 

 held to be no more than the real character in whii h that 

 system invests him. There is in t.u-i, when t, 

 is regarded as one of morals rather than of law, a /<- 

 and a positive blasphemy. That is blasphemy to one which 

 is not so to another. And this should teach all persons 

 a forbearance in the application of so odious a term. Strung 

 and forcibje expressions have had their use. Satire ami 

 ridicule may reach where plain argument would not go : 

 but it behoves every man who ventures on the use ol i 

 weapons to consider the intention by which he is inlluciici-d. 

 to look upon himself as one who is a debtor in an <- 

 manner to the truth, and who has to satisfy himself that he 

 aims at nothing but the increase of the knowledge and the 

 virtue and happiness of soci> 



BLAST, BLASTING. [See MINING.] 



BLAST-FURNACE. [See IRON.] 



BLA'TTID.-E, a family of insects of the order Ortlu.p- 

 ttra. Distinguishing characters : tarsi five-jointed, the un- 

 der wings folded longitudinally only, head hidden by the 

 thorax ; body oval or rounded, and depressed ; antenna 1 long 

 and thread-like, and composed of a great number ulM-i y 

 minute joints ; palpi long; thorax large, slightly coin ex, ' 

 generally broader than long, and as it were a shield, cover- 

 ing the head and base of the wing cases, which latter are of 

 a parchment-like nature, and ramified with nerves: one 

 elytron laps over the other ; the posterior extremity of the 

 abdomen is furnished with two conical articulated appen- 

 dages; legs furnished with spines. 



The Blattidto are extremely active voracious insects, 

 some species apparently eating almost any thing that comes 

 in their way. Mr. Stephens enumerates se\ en specie* in- 

 digenous to this country, and four that are not strir; i 

 among the last mentioned, the well-known and trouhh 

 cockroach (B/atta orientalis) may be enumerated. It is said 

 to have come originally from Asia, but on this point there 

 is some little doubt; the nocturnal habits and ra\a . 

 this species are too well known to need description. The 

 male in its mature state has wings extending only half the 

 length of the body ; the female has only rudimentary w 

 her eggs, which are about sixteen in number, are dep 

 enclosed in an oblong, nearly cylindrical, but slightly com- 

 pressed case, with an elevated serrated edge on one side : 

 this at first is of a whitish colour, but after a little tini. 

 comes brown and of a firm nature ; the female carries this 

 case about with her at first, fixed to the abdomen by a gum- 

 like substance ; from this asylum the young make their 

 escape by emitting a lluid which softens a part of the 

 case. 



The species of this family have been divided into two 

 genera by Lalreille; Blatla and Kahcrlac (a name UM -d 

 for the IJlatta.' by the American colonists), the latter divi- 

 sion including those species in which the females are ap- 

 terous (of which the B. orientalis forms a type), and the 

 former those in which both sexes possess wings. 



The number of exotic species of this tribe is very great ; 

 the indigenous species oft his country are : H. (i< rnnmint, 

 ptillfns, ptrtpietlfafit, Paiizfri, nigripet, livitta, palli-lii, 

 and Liijijianira ; most of these are comparatively small, 

 and are found in woods ; the last-mentioned species i- | 

 swarm in the huts of the Laplander-, where it commit- great. 

 havoc, and, in conjunction with Silpha / <// ;;"i.-,;, has li.cn 

 known to devour their whole supply of dried lish in a single; 

 day. (See Kirhy and Spenco's Introdurlion tn Uritish En- 

 tomology, and for a description of the English species, Ste- 

 phens's UlutlrottOiU <>f Hrituh Entomology.) 



BLAVET, a river in France, rising in the mountains 

 of the antient Bretagne (Brittany) at the part where the 

 two ridges of the Monts d Arrce and the Montagues Noires 

 (Black Mountains) unite to form the chain of the Mcnez 

 Mountains. Its course is nouth-cast to Pontny, where, 

 having been swelled by several tributary streams, it becomes 

 Me ; and, turning to the south-west, passes Hcnnebon 

 and I.orient, and falls into the Atlantic at Port Louis, oppo- 

 site the He do Groix. Its course is probably not much 

 above seventy miles, but it is navigable for half its length. 

 Its source is in the department of Cotes du Nor-1, but the 

 L'realcr part uf its course is in the department of Morbihan. 

 was a small town called Blavut near the mouth of the 



