48 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



BOW. A well known offensive weapon, which has been used in 

 war and hunting from times of the most remote antiquity. Although 

 the invention of the bow is, at first sight, extremely obvious and sim- 

 ple, yet the application of a missile body along with it, renders the 

 use of it more complicated. Hence the rudest class of savages are 

 entirely unacquainted with its properties, though they possess weapons 

 apparently of more difficult construction. 



The form and substance of the bow have been greatly diversified 

 in different countries ; wood, horn, and steel, have all been succes- 

 sively adopted ; but the first, from convenience, is in most general 

 estimation. In Tartary, Persia, and other eastern regions, bows are 

 manufactured from the horns of the antelope, and beautifully orna- 

 mented. They are sometimes composed of wood and horn, two pieces 

 of equal length beitig applied parallel to each other, bound together 

 by catgut, and then covered with the smooth bark of a tree, which 

 receives suitable decorations, and a coat of varnish. The Laplanders 

 are said to frame their bows of two flat pieces of birch and fir glued 

 together ; and in England the modern bows are constructed of yew or 

 cocoa wood, with a slip of ash, or some other elastic wood glued on 

 the back. 



BOX TREE. The box tree is a shrubby evergreen tree, twelve 

 or fifteen feet high, which has small, oval, and opposite leaves, and 

 grows wild in several parts of Britain. It has been remarked, that 

 this tree was formerly so common in some parts of England, as to 

 have given name to several places, particularly to Box- hill, in Surrey, 

 and Boxley, in Kent; and in 1815, there were cut down at Box-hill 

 as many trees of this sort as produced upwards of fifty thousand dollars. 

 This tree was much admired by the ancient Romans, and has been 

 cultivated, in later times, on account of its being easily moulded into 

 the forms of animals and other fantastic shapes. The wood is of a 

 yellowish color, close grained, very hard and heavy, and admits of a 

 beautiful polish. On these accounts it is much used by turners, by 

 engravers on wood, carvers, and mathematical instrument makers. 

 Flutes and other wind instruments are formed of it ; and furniture, 

 made of box-wood, would be valuable were it not too heavy, as it 

 would not only be very beautiful, but its bitter quality would secure it 

 from the attacks of insects. In France, it is in much demand for 

 combs, knife-handles, and button-moulds ; and it has been stated that 

 the quantity annually sent from Spain to Paris is alone estimated at 

 more than ten thousand livres. An oil distilled from the shavings of 

 box-wood has been found to relieve the toothache, and to be useful in 

 other complaints ; and the powdered leaves destroy worms. 



BRAIN. The soft substance within the skull. It has been thought 

 probable that the soul is seated in the fluid of the ventricles of the 

 brain. This opinion is drawn from the fact that the organs of vision, 

 hearing, taste, and smell are all at their origin in contact with, and 



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