BAR 



303 



BAR 



Barren, 

 Barrenness. 



dred. The dog fish, which are occasionally caught, 

 supply the inhabitants with oil for their lamps. Shell 

 fish, of various kinds, are found here in great abun- 

 dance. Cockles are particularly abundant, and in 

 some seasons of scarcity have been almost the chief 

 food of the inhabitants. Kelp is manufactured in 

 Barra in considerable quantities. West Long. 7 

 3W, North Lat. 57 2". (J) 



BARREN Island, the name of one of the Asia- 

 tic islands, situated in North Lat. 12 15', and a- 

 bout fifteeti leagues to the Ea3t of the Andaman isles. 

 It is about six leagues in circuit ; and is distinguish- 

 ed by a violent volcano, which throws out showers of 

 red-hot stones, and volumes of smoke. The moun- 

 tain rises from the lower part of the island, which is 

 a little above the level of the sea, with a slope ef 32 

 17', to the height of 1800 feet, which is the average 

 height of the other parts of the island. See Asiatic 

 Researches, vol. iv. p. 395. (u>) 



BARRENNESS, signifies cither a total incapa- 

 bility of conceiving children, or of retaining the em- 

 bryo till it becomes formed. Many women can con- 

 ceive, but cannot retain the ovum above a few days. 

 Sterility depends on the state of the womb and its 

 appendages. These organs are sometimes malformed, 

 or organically unfit for performing their functions ; 

 but in a much greater number of instances they are 

 well formed, but have not the power of acting vigor- 

 ously ; in the same way as a stomach which is sound 

 in point of structure, may be incapable of digesting 

 properly. This incapacity may be connected with, 

 or dependant on, a general condition of the sys- 

 tem, such as great irritability, plethora, or debility ; 

 or it may be consequent to the operation of causes 

 chiefly or entirely local, such as too frequent or pro- 

 miscuous intercourse ; or circumstances affecting the 

 condition of the menstrual discharge, producing ob- 

 struction, or painful and sparing menstruation, or too 

 copious or too frequent discharge, or fluor albus. 



Some specific substances have, without foundation, 

 however, been said to produce sterility, such as beans, 

 leeks, carrot seeds, sage, &c. taken internally ; or 

 the application to the womb itself of rue, vinegar, or 

 camphor. 



There are instances where a woman is barren with 

 ne husband, and fruitful with another. 



A variety of means have been employed for the re- 

 moval of this reproach among women. When it de- 

 pends on organic causes, these, unless the deviation 

 be external, can seldom be remedied by an operation. 

 But, in general, the structure appears to be correct ; 

 and then the most judicious practice is to consider 

 what particular state either of the constitution or of 

 the womb may have occasioned sterility, and to em- 

 ploy suitable remedies, especially for restoring the 

 menstrual discharge to its proper condition. Sea- 

 bathing, tonics, mineral waters, and, in some cases, 

 laxatives, are usually had recourse to for this purpose, 

 and, generally, a restrained intercourse is advisable. 

 When these means are neglected, nature seems, in 

 some instances, to remove the cause, particularly when 

 this consists in inordinate menstruation, or too great 

 irritability of the womb. Thus women, who have 

 been long barren, have at last born children ; others, 

 by a different mode, have been successful. Ferneliua 



having been consulted respecting the queen of Henry 

 II. of France, who had been ten years barren, 

 " conseilla an roi de n'approcher de sa Jemme qu'au 

 moment de I' eruption facile de ses regies ; et ce prc- 

 cepte execute fut si ejficace qu'il devint pere de dix 

 enfans." 



Sterility is, by the laws of every country, consider- 

 ed as a legal ground of separation. The Jews were 

 very lax in their notions respecting divorce. The 

 Hindoos allow of it, not merely for sterility, but also 

 for bearing only female children. By the laws of 

 China, barrenness is the first of seven causes justify- 

 ing divorce ; and it is not a little singular, that in 

 this nation of semi-barbarians, talkativeness is ano- 

 ther cause equally valid. By the Koran, the pro- 

 cess is, in many cases, very short ; for if a wife is not 

 pregnant, and at the same time does not menstruate 

 for three months after marriage, the husband may 

 put her away as barren. By the English and Scots 

 law, sterility is a ground for divorce a mensa et thoro. 

 It may, notwithstanding all these authorities, be just- 

 ly questioned, how far barrenness alone can ever be 

 an adequate cause for dissolving marriage. Besides 

 the- great difficulty of proving that a woman is alto- 

 gether incapable of conceiving and bearing children, it 

 is no better reason for divorce than any of the other 

 visitations of Providence, many of which render the 

 woman helpless, useless, and even loathsome ; and yet 

 in these cases, the laws of civilized society do not 

 permit of a dissolution of the engagement more than 

 they would sanction the practice which prevails in 

 some nations, of knocking the aged and infirm on the 

 head. By the mild precepts of the Author of Chris- 

 tianity, no divorce can be obtained for any cause but 

 unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. See Vigarous, 

 Maladies des Femmes ; and Burns's Principles of 

 Midwifery, &c. (i) 



BARRERIA, a genus of plants of the class Syn- 

 genesia, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (to) 



BARRINGTONIA, a genus of plants of the 

 class Monadelphia, and order Polyandria. See Bo- 

 tany, (to) 



BARROLOOS, the name of a tribe in South- 

 ern Africa, whose country has never been visited 

 by any European. According to the testimony of 

 a Hottentot, with whom Mr Truter conversed, the 

 Barroloos are a good natured and ingenious people, 

 who inhabit a district about ten days journey from 

 Leetakoo, the capital town of the Booshuanas. Their 

 towns are very numerous ; and the largest of them 

 is of buch a size, that the length of it is a whole 

 day's journey. Their houses he represented as bet- 

 ter built, and their fields as better cultivated than 

 those of the Booshuanas. Trees, shrubs, and ri- 

 vers, decorated the surface of the country, while the 

 soil was every where productive. They were said to 

 be particularly skilful in carving wood and ivory ; and 

 the Hottentot had seen the furnaces by which they 

 obtained iron from brown earth and stone, and cop- 

 per from a grey earth. See Barrow's Voyage to Co- 

 chin China. () 



BARROW, Isaac, an eminent theologian and a 

 profound mathematician, was born in London, Oc- 

 tober 1630. His father, Thomas Barrow, merchant, 

 was brother of the bishop of St Asaph, and nearly 



Barreria 



Barrow. 



