BLE 



143 



BLI 



fame. Treason against the Deity : the 

 denying the existence of God, assigning 

 to him false attributes, or denying those 

 which are true; speaking irreverently of 

 the mysteries of religion ; and, in Roman 

 Catholic countries, speaking disrespect- 

 fully of the Holy Virgin and of tin- saints. 

 Blasphemy was formerly punished hy 

 death, but the laws with respect to it are 

 now modified in most countries. 



BLAST, Sax. bluest, a puff of wind ; 

 applied, 1. To the column of air forced 

 into a fire, as in forges by bellows, or the 

 blasting-machine, for the purpose of 

 quickening the combustion. 2. To ery- 

 sipelas which appears suddenly on the 

 face in consequence of exposure to cold 



wind or a blast. 3. To the explosion 



of gunpowder in splitting rocks, and also 

 the explosion of inflammable air in a 

 mine, &c. 



BLASTEMA, in botany, the axis of 

 growth of an embryo. In anatomy, the 

 homogeneous, gelatinous, and granular 

 basis of the ovum, in which the organic 

 elements, which characterise the different 

 tissues, are deposited in the early stages 

 of development. 



BLASTOCAR'POUS, fiXatr-ros, a germ, and 

 *fTo? , fruit. That kind of fruit which 

 germinates inside the pericarp, as the 

 mangrove. 



BLAT'TA, the cockroach ; a genus of or- 

 thopterous insects placed among the Cur- 

 soria or Runners by Cuvier. " The blattae 

 are very active nocturnal insects, some of 

 which live in the interior of our houses, 

 particularly the kitchen, in bake-houses 

 and flour-mills, and others inhabit the 

 country. They are extremely voracious, 

 and consume all sorts of provisions," 

 hence the name from j3^acrro, to destroy; 



BLA'ZONING. j In heraldry, the deci- 



BLA'ZONET. j phering of coats of arms, 

 from Ger. blasen, But. blaazen, to blow, 

 because the herald blew a trumpet and 

 called out the arms of a knight when he 

 entered the lists at a tournament. 



BLEACHiNG-LiatiD, Fr.,a< de javelle, 

 chlorine-water. "When chlorine is con- 

 densed in water, the result is called 

 bleaching liquid, when condensed in quick 

 lime.it is called bltcrhing powder. Bleach- 

 ing liquid is prepared from the bleaching 

 powder simply by solution. 



BLEACIIING-POWDER, chloride of lime, 

 quick-lime saturated with chlorine. 



BLECH'NTM, a genus of perennials. 

 Cryptogamia Filter* Name /3A;ve, a 

 fern. This genus is sometimes distin- 

 guished by the name of Anrd-/ern,andthe 

 British species (B. boreale) by the names 

 northern hard-fern and rough spleemcort. 



BLENCH'-HO'LDINQ, ) a tenure of lands 



BLENCH'-TE'NURE, J upon payment of a 



small sum in silver, blanch, i.e. white 

 money. 



BLENDE, black-jack, a native sulphuret 

 of zinc, named from Ger. blenden, to 

 dazzle. There are several varieties of 

 this one, as brown, yellow, and black ; 

 the primitive form of crystals is a rhom- 

 boidal dodecahedron. 



BLENNIUS, the blenny, a genus of 

 acanthopterygious fishes, placed by Cu- 

 vier among the gobricles, and by Linnaeus 

 among the juglares. The blennies live in 

 small troops among the rocks on the 

 coast, and take their name from /3A6v, 

 mucus, a slimy mucus being smeared over 

 their skin. 



BLENNORRHA'OIA, a discharge of mucus, 

 from /3A>v, mucus, and ^yvopt, to 

 burst forth. 



BLENNORRHCE'A, a flow of mucus, from 

 /Stevviz, mucus, and qttu, to flow, applied 

 to an increased discharge of mucus from 

 any mucous surface, but commonly re- 

 stricted to that from the urethra and 

 vagina. 



BLEPHAROPLE'CIA, the same with We- 

 pharoptosis (q.v.), from /S/U^a^ac, the 

 eyelid, and a-A*^, a stroke. The word 

 jrX*;^ was applied by the Greek physi- 

 cians to paralysis. 



BLEPHAROPT'OSIS, a prolapse of the 

 upper eyelid, arising from a relaxed state 

 of the common integuments of the eye- 

 lids, or from paralysis of the levator 

 muscle, from fiXiQctoov , the eyelid, and 

 frrturif, a prolapse ; of xitrca, to fall. 



BLET'ME, from Teut. bleima. to hinder. 

 In farriery, inflammation between the 

 sole and bone of the foot. It usually 

 arises from a bruise. 



BLIGHT, a general name for various 

 distempers of corn, fruit-trees, &c., by 

 which the whole plant sometimes pe- 

 rishes ; sometimes only the leaves and 

 blossoms which become shrivelled as if 

 scorched, from Sax. blaectha, leprosy. 



BLIND, a skreen.a cover. In military 

 affairs, and especially in operations 

 against fortresses, all which tend to in- 

 tercept the view of the enemy are called 

 blinds. These are of several kinds : 1. A. 

 fascine placed across the embrasures to 

 prevent the enemy from observing what 



passes near the canon. 2. Shutters 



made of strong planks placed before the 

 port-holes as soon as the guns are dis- 

 charged. 3. A screen consisting of 



three strong perpendicular posts, five 

 feet in height, between which are planks 

 covered with plates of iron on the out- 

 side, and thus made shot proof, used to 

 protect labourers in the trenches, Is 

 called a single blind. A double blind is 

 constructed of large wooden chests filled 

 with earth or bags of sand. Both thett 



