1 1 1 



BASTINADO BAT. 



sons whose honest discharge of July had t xeited 

 their displeasure, or who were acquainted with facts 

 disgraceful to the ministers them-elves. li some- 

 times happened tliat no t'urtlier examination of the 

 prisoners w.is liad, and tin- cause of their detention 

 nowhere neon Ird. In such cases, nn individual re- 

 mained in prison sometimes thirty or forty years, or 

 e\cn till his death. In (Vinse succeeding oifiVers t(xik 

 it for granted that he had been properly confined, or 

 that his imprisonment was required for reason- of 

 state. The invention of the li-ffn-s de cafht-t imme- 

 diately opened the door to the lyr.mii> of ministers 

 and the intrigues of favourites, who supplied them- 

 selves with these onlers, in order to confine indivi- 

 dual-; who had become obnoxious to them. These 

 arrests hi i-.iinc continually more arbitrary (see Cachet, 

 I^ettrcs ilt), and men of the greatest merit were lia- 

 ble to be thrown into prison, whenever they hap- 

 pened to displease a minister, n favourite, or a mis- 

 tress. When, in the beginning of the revolution, 

 the people destroyed the Bastile (the prison of indi- 

 viduals of rank, or of those whom individuals of rank 

 would not, for good reasons, bring to trial in a law- 

 ful manner), they found but few prisoners, but enough 

 to prove to the nation the danger of the continuance 

 of despotism in civilized France. It also became 

 known, that the kings of France had never obliged 

 their ministers to give an account of the use of their 

 lettres tie cachet. Alas, for the good old times ! (See 

 Iron Mask.) The story which Mercier tells of a 

 prisoner, who had been confined in the Bastile for 

 forty-seven years, and, when he received his liberty, 

 on the accession of Louis XVI., wished to be carried 

 back to confinement, is very interesting. 



BASTINADO, or BASTONADO ; a punishment used 

 among the Turks, which consists of blows upon the 

 back, or soles of the feet, applied with a light 

 wooden stick, or with a knotted string. 



BASTION (bulwark). In order to aefend a place 

 which is surrounded by a rampart and a ditch, it is 

 necessary that every point at the foot of the rampart, 

 in the ditch and before the citadel, should be, as 

 much as possible, commanded by the cannon of the 

 works. This is effected by breaking the line of 

 fortification, so that a defence sideways may be at- 

 tained. Before, and for some time after the inven- 

 tion of gunpowder, it was thought that towers, 

 standing out from the wall, would answer this pur- 

 pose ; but these soon gave place to the spacious and 

 projecting bastions or oulwarks, which consist of two 

 flanks, that serve principally for the defence of the 

 neighbouring bastions, and of two faces, which com- 

 mand the outworks and the ground before them. 

 The wall between two bastions is called the curtain. 

 These bastions are built in very different ways. 

 Some are entirely filled with earth ; some have a 

 void space inside ; some are straight, some curved, 

 some double, some have even three or four flanks, 

 one over the other ; some have, and some have not, 

 famse-brays (see Fortification) ; sometimes they have 

 casemates, destined for the retreat of the garrison, 

 or for batteries ; sometimes cavaliers (q. v.) or oril- 

 lons (q. v.), &c. In modern times, among the forti- 

 fications built according to the system of bastions, 

 those on the plan of Cormontaigne and the modern 

 French works, are considered best adapted for de- 

 fence. They are spacious ; the flank of the side 

 bulwark, which is perpendicular to the prolongation 

 of the face of the principal bulwark, is not farther 

 distant than a gunshot (300 paces) from its point ; it 

 is also straight, and orillons, and other artificial con- 

 trivances, are banished. 



BAT ; an order of mammiferous quadrupeds, char- 

 acterized "by having the tegumentary membrane ex- 

 tended over the bones of the extremities in such a 



manlier as to eonstilulc wings capable of sustaining 

 and conveying them through the air. The name ol 

 cheiroptera, or hand-winged, has therefore been be- 

 stowed on this order. It comprises a great number 

 of genera, species, and varieties ; among which are 

 to be found some most singular modTicationa of 

 structure, in the form of the wing membranes, the 

 figure and expanse of the ears, and the remarkable 

 membranous appendages to the noses of various 

 species. All the bats are either purely insectivorous, 

 or insecti-frugivorous, having exceedingly sharp cut- 

 ting, and acutely tuberculatcd jaw teeth, and the 

 whole race is nocturnal. They vary in size from that 

 of the smallest common mouse up to Hurt of the gi- 

 gantic ternate bat, whose body is as large as that of 

 a squirrel. The smaller species are abundantly distri- 

 buted over the globe ; the larger seem to be confined 

 to warm and hot regions, where they exist in great 

 numbers, and are very destructive to the frii'ts. The 

 purely insectivorous species render great service ID 

 mankind by the destruction of vast numbers of in- 

 sects, which they pursue with great eagerness in the 

 morning and evening twilight. During the day- 

 time, they remain suspendedljy their hooked hinder 

 claws, in the lofts of barns, in hollow or thickly- 

 leaved trees, &c. As winter approaches, in cold 

 climates, they seek shelter in caverns, vaults, ruinous 

 and deserted buildings, and similar retreats, where 

 they cling together in large clusters, and remain in ;\ 

 torpid condition until the returning spring recalls 

 them to active exertions. We here observe the ad- 

 mirable arrangement of the great Author of nature, 

 who has rendered it necessary that these animals 

 should be torpid during all the time that their ap- 

 propriate food is not to be obtained. In warm 

 climates, where a constant succession of insects oc- 

 curs, the same species of bat, which, in a cold region, 

 would become torpid, continue in activity throughout 

 the year. 



Bats enjoy the senses of sight and hearing to a 

 considerable degree of perfection, but the acuteness 

 of their sense or touch is perhaps unequaled through- 

 out the whole extent of animal organization. In 

 consequence of the great expansion of integument 

 forming the exceedingly delicate membrane of the 

 wings, ears, and nasal appendages, bats are able, 

 even when deprived of their eyes, to fly in such a 

 manner as to avoid every obstacle. Silk threads, 

 small sticks, or obstructions placed across the course 

 of flight of a bat purposely blinded by taking out its 

 eyes, are avoided with the most surprising dexterity, 

 and advantage is taken of any space to pass between 

 without touching them. Every inequality in the 

 ceiling of a hall or chamber is avoided in the same 

 way. The re-action of the air against the membranes 

 is sufficient to warn them of any obstacle, however 

 slight, and enables them to turn, lower themselves, 

 or draw in their wings, so as to clear the body, with- 

 out the least appearance of effort. These soft, vel- 

 vet-like wings also enable them to fly without noise, 

 and, although their motion is unsteady and wavering, 

 they advance with exceeding swiftness. From a flat 

 or level surface, it is very difficult, though not en- 

 tirely impossible, for them to rise into the air. They 

 always suspend themselves by the hooks on their 

 hind feet, whence they readily take wing by relin- 

 quishing their hold. The hook at the extremity and 

 anterior edge of the fore-arm corresponds in situation 

 to the human thumb, and the bats use it with pecu- 

 liar advantage in changing their position, to perform 

 their evacuations, &c. 



We have observed the smaller species of bat, 

 especially the young of the vespertilio arcuatus (Say), 

 to be exceedingly infested by the common bed bug 

 (cintev lectularius), and have thence been led to 



