BAR 



124 



B AS 



which a barrel contains: A barrel of 

 beer is 36 Imp. gal. ; a barrel of Essex 

 butter is 106 lea., of Sujfolk butter 256 ; 

 a barrel of soap is also 2-56 Ib*. ; and a 

 barrel of herrings should measure 32 gals. 

 Vi. meas., and contain 1000 herrings ; a 

 barrel M' flour should weigh 226 Ibs. gross, 

 and contain 196 Ibs. of flour. Among 

 workmen, the terms barrel and drum are 

 u*ed to designate a cylinder, e. g. the 

 barrel of a watch. 



BA&'SEN. A. barren flower ,fiosabortivui, 

 ia one which produces no perfect seeds. 

 Barrec. nowers are generally such as have 

 ttamens, but no pistils; they are called 

 perhaps more commonly male flowers. 



BAR'HICADE. a Fr. word signifying a 

 gerief of oars or barriers, and used to de- 

 note, 1. In f'jrtification, a defence made in 

 a. narrow passage with such things as can 

 Ye hastily collected, as trees, waggons, &c., 



to obstruct the progress of an enemy. 



S. In ya-jc.l architecture, a strong wooden 

 rail supported by stanchions, extending 

 across the foremost part of the quarter- 

 deck in ships of war, and filled with 

 ropes, mats, pieces of old cable, and full 

 hammocks to prevent the effect of small 

 shot in time of action. 



BARRIZR-TBEATY. In 1713, a negotiation 

 between the Dutch and the French, by 

 vrhich the former reserved the right to 

 hold garrisons in certain fortresses in the 

 Spanish Netherlands. 



KXR'KOWS, or TCMULI, are said to be the 

 most ancient monuments in the world. 

 They were generally raised as sepulchres 

 tor the heroes of war, though not uni- 

 formly so. Barrow-burial is said by Sir 

 K. Hoare to have existed from a period 

 of unknown antiquity till the eighth 

 century. 



BAR'RULXT, in heraldry, the fourth part 

 of the bar, or the one half of the closet. 



BAR'HULT, in heraldry, means that the 

 field is divided bancnys, i. e. into several 

 parts from side to side. 



BAR'RY-BENDT, in heraldry, means that 

 the escutcheon is divided evenly barways 

 and lendways, i. e. by lines drawn tra- 

 vcrsely and diagonally, interchangeably 

 a)d varying the tinctures of which it is 

 composed. 



I'I.R'RY-FILT, in heraldry, is when a coat 

 i! Omded by several lines drawn obliquely 

 from side to side, where they form acute 

 angles. 



BAR'TON, means literally barley-town 

 (bafte-ton), and is taken to denote: 

 (1.) The demesne lands of a manor. (2.) 

 The manor-house. (3.) The manor itself. 



BART'TA, | from @oc,{vs, heavy. A 



P ART'TB , > mineral which occurs abun- 



BA.RT'TM, ) dantly in nature in the form 

 of sulphate and carbonate, well known 

 under the name of heavy spar, t?. alNsion 



; to its great specinc gravity : but the baryta 

 of the chemist is only obtained artificially, 

 e. g. by subjecting the nitrate to a red 

 heat, or the carbonate to an intense white 

 heat, which drives off the acid, and a 

 protoxide of barium is obtained. This is 

 the simple earth baryta; it is alkaline, 

 and all its salts arc poisonous except the 

 sulphate. Hence the best antidote is 

 dilute sulphuric acid (or a solution of sul- 

 phate of soda). 



BAS'ALT, a variety of trap-rock, usually 

 of a dark green or brownish black colour ; 

 composed of augite and felspar, with some 

 iron and olivine. It occurs sometimes in 

 veins or dykes, traversing all formations, 

 sometimes in layers spreading over the 

 surface of strata, and sometimes it form* 

 hills of considerable magnitude. It has 

 usually a columnar structure, e. g. the 

 Giants Causeway, and bears 80 close & 

 resemblance to recent lavas, as to leave 

 no doubt of its igneous origin. The nam 

 is derived by Cuvier from Ethiopic, basal, 

 iron, and Pliny informs us that tie Egyp- 

 tians found in Ethiopia a species of marble 

 called basaltes, of an iron colour and hard- 

 ness, whence it received its name. 



BAS'ANITE, a variety of schistose horn- 

 stone. So named from /3a<rf , the trier, 

 in reference to its being formerly used as 

 a touchstone in trying metals. It was 

 also called Lydian stone (Lttpit Lydiu*, 

 Plin.), from its being found abundantly 

 in Lydia. 



BASE.Lat. basis, Gr. $airi;, a foundation. 

 1. In geometry, the lowest side of the 

 perimeter of a figure, in which sense 6a.se 

 is opposed to vertex. In rectangled tri- 

 angles the base is the side opposite the 

 right angle, and in solid ligures it is the 

 surface on which they rest. The base of 

 a conic section is a right line in the hyper- 

 bola and parabola arising from the com- 

 mon intersection of the secant plane and 



the base of the cone. 2. In arcJUtecture. 



The base of a column is that part which ic 

 between the shaft and pedestal, or if there 

 be no pedestal, between the shaft and the 

 zocle or plinth. The base of a room is the 

 lower projecting part of a room, consisting 

 of a plain board which adjoins the floor, 

 ! called the plinth, and one or two mould- 

 ings above it called the base-mouldings. 



3. In surveying, a Hue measured with 



the greatest possible exactness, on which 

 a series of triangles are constructed, in 

 order to determine the position of objects 

 and places. 4. In fortification, the ex- 

 terior side of the polygon, or an imaginary 

 line drawn from the flanked angle of a 



bastion to the angle opposite. 5. li 



tactics, a tract of country well protected 

 by fortresses, or possessing certain natural 

 i advantages, and /ro::. ---MoV. *h-> rip?!*, 

 I tiom nf nn arrnv "ray p'oceed. 6. In 



