HER 



133 



BET 



acid procured in small white needles of a 

 silky lustre, from gum benzoin by subli- 

 mation, hence called flowers of ber\jamin 

 or benzoin, as well as by more compli- 

 cated chemical processes. The taste is 

 acrid, hot, acidulous and bitter, its smell 

 slightly aromatic. 



BIII'ZOIX, Ger. beniae, \ a substance 

 BEN'JAMIN, Fr. benjoin, ) classed by 

 modern chemists among the balsams and 

 chiefly used in perfumery. It is extracted 

 by incision from the trunk and branches 

 of the styrax benzoin, & tree which grows 

 in several parts of the East Indies anil 

 adjacent islands. It comes to us in brittle 

 masses, which, when white and of the 

 form of almonds, are called amygdaloid, 

 but when coloured and impure are called 

 sorted benzoin. 



BEN'ZOINE, a crystalline compound de- 

 posited from oil of bitter almonds and 

 *ome other oils when kept in contact with 

 potassa. 



BES'ZONE, a volatile fluid procured by 

 Peligot by heating dry ben/oate of lime. 

 Syn. C, 3 ,Hj,. 



BEHBEHI'UE*:, a natural order of plants 

 of which the genus berberis is the type. 



BERBERIS, the barberry or pepperidge- 

 bush, a genus. HrjrandriaMonogynia. 



BER'DASH, a kind of neck dress for- 

 merly worn in England. Persons who 

 made and sold berdashes, were called 

 berdashers, whence our modern haber- 

 dashers. 



BERE'ANS, a sect of Protestant dissen- 

 ters from the Church of Scotland, who 

 profess to follow the example of the an- 

 cient Bereans (Acts xvii.10 13, and xx. 4) , 

 in building their system of faith and 

 practice upon the scriptures alone, with- 

 out regard to human authority. 



BEIIENOA'RIANS, the adherents of Beren- 

 garius or Berenger of Tours, who de- 

 clared (1050) against transubstantiation, 

 in which he agreed with John Erigena. 



BERENICE'S HAIR (Coma Berenices), a 

 name given to seven stars in the tail of 

 the constellation Leo, in compliment to 

 Berenice, wife of Ptolemy Evergetes, who 

 made an offering of her hair to the gods 

 for the preservation of her husband. 



BEROAMOT, a species of citron (citnn 

 medico), of which there are three varie- 

 ties:!. The lemon-tree, (petiolts lineari- 

 bus, Lin.,) a native of the upper part of 

 Asia, but cultivated in Spain, Portugal 



and France. 2. The citron-tree (Citrus 



medico, Lin.), the fruit of which is tfie 

 eedromel, less succulent than the lemon 



3. The Citrus mella roia, Lara., pro 



duced at first by grafting a citron on a 

 tock of a be*gamot pear tree, whence 

 the miit participates both of the citron 

 and pear. The essential oil, called essence 

 ofberyatnotte, is prepared from this fruit. 



BERGMOTE. a court hold on a hill (Sax. 

 beoi'g, a hill, and mote, meeting) in 

 Derbyshire, to decide controversies 

 among the miners. 



BEBIB'ERI. Two perfectly distinct dis- 

 eases have been confounded under this 

 name, the one a peculiar form of acute 

 dropsy, the other a. chronic disease of 

 which paralysis is the most prominent 

 feature. The first is the true beriberi. 

 BERLIN BLUE, Prussian blue. 

 BERME, in fortification, a space of 

 ground, of three or four feet in width, 

 .eft between the rampart and the moat 

 ar foss, designed to receive the ruins of 

 the rampart, and prevent the earth from 

 filling: the foss. It is usually palisaded 

 or planted with hedge. 



BKR'NACLES, a genus of palmipedes, dis- 

 tinguished from the common geese by a 

 shorter and slenderer bill. The brant 

 and Egyptian goose are species. The 

 bernacles were included by Lin. in the 

 genus anat (q.Y.1, and are placed by Cu- 

 vier among the lameUimstres. 



BKRNARDISS, Beniardine monks. See 

 CISTB&CIXMS. 



Bea'*T. See BACCA. Berries are the 

 fruits or seeds of many plants. The bay 

 berries are of the fruit of the Laurus no- 

 bilis, a tree which is a native of the 

 south of Europe. The juniper berries are 

 the fruit of the common juniper, Juni- 

 perus communis , principally imported from 

 Holland, Germany, and Italy. The Tur- 

 key yellow berries, the Persian berries, and 

 the berries of Avignon, are extensively 

 used in dyeing yellow ; they are the un- 

 ripe fruit of the Rhamnus infectorivs, a 

 plant cultivated in Turkey, Persia, 

 France, and other countries, for the sake 

 of its berries. These are the berries 

 quoted in the London price currents. 



BER'YL, Lat. beryllus, Gr. /2-^i/A.Ae? A 

 beautiful mineral ranked among the 

 gems, usually a green colour of various 

 shades, hence called by jewellers aqua- 

 marine. See EMERALD. 



BESAYLE. (Norm, ayle, grandfather.) 

 Great grandfather. 



If an abatement happen on the death 

 of one's grandfather or grandmother, a 

 writ of ayle lieth ; if on the death of 

 the great-grandfather, then a writ of 

 besayle, but if it mount one degree 

 higher to the tresayle, or grandfather's 

 grandfather, the writ is callc-i a writ 

 of cosinage, or de consangvitK-). 

 BE'TA, the beet (q. v.). A genus of 

 plants. Pentandria ln&fnw. Named 

 from the river Bonus in .<p*iu . or accor- 

 ding to Theis, from Celtic, IM, red. 



Bs'TKi, the piper betel is a species pi 

 pepper vine cultivated extensively in 

 ladia- for its leaves, which the natives 

 are in the habit of chewing, either alone 



