BLO 



145 



BLO 



minals, and tracing robbers and enemies, 

 whose course he invariably discovered if 

 once placed upon their track. These dogs 

 were in Scotland called sleuth-hounds, and 

 any person refusing one of them entrance, 

 in his pursuit of stolen goods, was by law 

 deemed accessory to the theft. This va- 

 riety of the hound is perhaps now extinct. 



BLOOD'-HOOT, 1 Names common to the 



BLOOD'- WORT, } species of the genus san- 

 guinaria (q. v.). These plants have also the 

 names buccoon, turmeric, and red-root. 



BLOOD'-STONE, the lapis heematites. A 

 species of calcedony, of a reddish colour, 

 hard, ponderous, with fine striae or 

 needles. It is used for trinkets, and by 

 goldsmiths and gilders to polish their 

 work. The best much resembles cinnabar. 



BLOOD'-VESSEL, any vessel or tube in 

 which the blood flows or circulates in an 

 animal body, as an artery or vein. 



BLOOD'- WITE. In ancient law, a fine or 

 amercement paid as a composition for the 

 shedding of blood. 



BLOODY HAND, a hand stained with the 

 blood of a deer, which in the old forest 

 laws of England was sufficient evidence 

 of a man's trespassing in the forest against 

 venison. 



BLOOM, BLOOMERY. At iron-works, amass 

 of iron, after having undergone the first 

 hammering, is called a bloom, and the 

 process of forming blooms is called 

 bloomery, or blomary. The term is Sax. 



bloma, a mass or lump. In botany, 



see BLOSSOM. The word bloom is the 

 Goth. Moma, Ger. blume, T>. bloem. from 

 the root of blow. The term blossom is 

 a dialectical word from the same root 

 through the Saxon. 



BLOS'SOM, from Sax. Hosma. The 

 flower or corolla of a plant ; a general 

 term applicable to every species of tree 

 or plant, but more generally used than 

 flower or bloom when we have reference 

 to the fruit which is to follow. Thus, we 

 use flowers in speaking of shrubs culti- 

 vated for ornament ; and bloom in a more 

 general sense, as flowers in general or in 

 reference to the beauty of flowers. The 

 term blossom is used to denote the colour 

 of a horse when the hair is white, but 

 intermixed with sorrel and bay hairs, 

 otherwise peach-coloured. 



BLOWING-MACHINE, an engine employed 

 at iron- works and other places for sup- 

 plying the large furnaces with a regular 

 and rapid volume of air. C is a hollow 

 cylinder, furnished with a piston E,with 

 its rod P working through a stuffing- 

 box at the top of the cylinder, as in a 

 common steam-engine. A and B are pipes 

 leading into the cylinder, and furnished 

 with valves opening inwards. F and G 

 are valves opening outwards into two 

 pipes, which lead into the upright pipe H. 



From this pipe, which is closed both at 

 bottom and top, there proceeds a pipe, 

 D O, giving off a branch at I into the 



iron chest, K, which has no bottom, but 

 rests upon a cistern of water, a part of the 

 stone- work of the sides of which is shown 

 at M and N. Above this branch there is 

 a species of safety-valve, L, opening up- 

 wards, and loaded to a certain pressure. 

 When the piston is raised, the valves A 

 and F are shut, and the air contained in 

 the cylinder is forced through the valve 

 G ; at the same time the valve B opens to 

 admit more air into the cylinder. "When 

 the piston begins to descend, the conden- 

 sation of the air within the cylinder 

 causes the valve B to shut, and F and A 

 to open : the first allows the air to pass 

 into the pipe H, and the latter admits 

 more air into the cylinder. The condensed 

 air in H passes along the pipe D O,but the 

 branch I allows it a passage into the iron 

 chest K, where it presses upon the sur- 

 face of the water, and causes it to rise on 

 the outside of the chest. By this contri- 

 vance^ a perpetual pressure is obtained, 

 equal to the height to which the water is 

 raised, and thus the force with which the 

 air passes through O into the furnace is 

 equalised, notwithstanding those irregu- 

 larities which unavoidably accompany 

 the ascent and descent of the piston. 

 From O two branches strike off to each 

 side of the furnace. 



BLOW'PIPES, are instruments used by 

 anatomists and chemists, enamellers, &c. 

 The anatomical blowpipe is a silver or 

 brass tube, by means of which parts are 

 inflated in order to develope their struc- 

 ture more distinctly. It is usually pro- 

 vided with a stopcock about its middle, 

 by turning which, when the operator 

 ceases to blow, the disagreeable effluvium 

 from the parts in a state of putrefaction 

 is avoided. The chemical blowpipe is 

 usually made of brass ; it is about one- 

 eighth of an inch in diametes at one ex- 

 tremity, and tapers to a much smaller 

 size at the other. The smaller end is bent 

 to one side, and has a minute aperture, 

 through which a stream of air is blown 

 upon the flame of a candle, lamp, or gas- 

 I jet, producing thereby a fine conical 

 i flame, possessing a very intense heat. 



