B YL 



175 



opposite side by an adventitious force, as 

 a bank of earth, or body of water. In 

 those structures improperly called Gothic, 

 buttresses are placed around the exterior 

 Bides of the building, one in the inter- 

 mediate space between every two win- 

 dows, and one or two at each of the 

 angles, in order to support the vaulting. 

 In pointed architecture two kinds of but- 

 tresses are used ; the one formed of ver- 

 tical planes, and attached to the walls, is 

 called pillared bu ttresses ; the other, which 

 arises from the pillared buttresses upon 

 the sides of the aisle, with an arch- 

 formed intrados or top, is called flying- 

 buttresses or arc-boutants. 



BUTYBA'CEOUS, having the appearance 

 or properties of butter (butyrum.) 



BUTYR'IC ACID, a volatile odoriferous 

 substance having acid properties, ob- 

 tained from butter. See BUTTER. 



Bn'TTRiNE, a substance which exists 

 \n~\)Mter (bitty rtim) , combined with oleine, 

 stearine, and a very small quantity of 

 butyric acid; Sp. Gr. 0'822. Butyrine 

 saponifies easily, and is then transformed 

 into butyric, caproic and capric acids ; 

 into glycerine, and margaric and oleic 

 acids. 



BUX'INE, an alkaline substance disco- 

 vered by M. Faure in the Btixus semper- 

 virens. 



Bux'us, the box-tree, a genus of plants. 

 HonceciaTriandria. Name from xvxZ,cu, 

 to become hard. Of this plant there is 

 only one British species, but of this there 

 are several varieties, the extremes of 

 which are the tree and the dwarf-edging, 

 common in forming the edging of garden 

 walks. 



BUZ'ZARD. 1. The Vultur aura, Wils. ; 

 Cathartes aura, Illig. ; commonly called 

 turkey -buzzard and turkey-vtdture, a bird 

 found over a vast extent of territory on 

 the American continent, in the West In- 

 dia Islands, and in the southern parts of 



Europe and Asia (See VULTURE). 2. A 



name common to two sub-genera of the 

 kite tribe. See BDTEO and PERNIS. 



BCZZARDET', a species of kite resemb- 

 ling the buzzard in most respects, except 

 that its legs are in proportion rather 

 longer. 



BY'ARD, a piece of leather across the 

 breast, used by those who drag the 

 sledges in coal-pits. 



BY' ARCS, a plexus of blood-vessels in 

 the brain. 



Br-LAW, a particular law made by a 

 corporation, or by any other distinct por- 

 tion of the community, for the regulation 

 of the affairs of its members in such of 

 their relations as are not reached by the 

 general law of the land. By-laws must 

 not involve the infraction of any public 

 lair. 



BYSSIFERS, Syssi/era, a fiffi.Uy -I 

 Lamellibranchiate acephalous mr>Uotji 



BYS'SOLITE, from fivffffOf, fcai, a.a. 

 A/flo? , stone, a rare massive mineral, in 

 short and somewhat stiff filaments, of an 

 olive-green colour, implanted perpendi- 

 cularly like moss on the surface of cer- 

 tain stones. It has been found at the 

 foot of Mont Blanc, and also near Oisons. 



BTS'SUS, /3-jiriros- 1- -A- variety of fine 

 flax much prized by the ancients (Orig. 

 1. xix., c. 27), also the cloth manufactured 



from this flax, Egyptian linen. 2. A 



genus of lichens. 3. A name of Asbes- 

 tos. ^-4. The hairy appendage by which 

 some of the bivalv* mollusca attach 

 themselves to rocks and other objects ; 

 the byssus or silky beard of the Pinna 

 marina is used in Sicily to make stock- 

 ings and gloves, but only as objects of 

 curiosity. 



BYZANT', a gold coin of the value of 

 151. sterling, so called from its being 

 struck at Byzantium, the present Con- 

 stantinople. 



C. 



C, the third letter of the alphabet in 

 most European dialects. It is probably 

 the Hebrew Caph (3) inverted for the 

 facility of writing, or the Greek kappa 

 (} with the upright stroke, left out for 

 the same reason. Some suppose that it 

 was originally the Greek gamma (<y), as 

 the earlier Romans used it in many 

 words which at a later date were written 

 with a a, as leciones for legiones. Q, and 

 C are often interchanged on old mo- 

 numents ; thus qom for com. In the 

 Roman calendars and fasti, C denoted the 

 days on which the comitia might be held. 

 In trials the unfavourable opinions of 

 the judges were given by writing on a 

 little tube (tessera) the initial letter C 

 for condemno, as A was written for ab- 

 solvo, or N. L. for non liqvet. On medals 

 C stands for many names of persons, as 

 Gssar, Caius, Cassitts, &c. ; of offices, as 

 Censor, Consul; of cities, as Carthage. As 

 an abbreviation, it stands for Christ, as 

 A.C. for Anno Christi or ante Christum , 

 and for companion, as C.B., Companion 

 of the Bath. As a numeral it denotes 

 100, being the initial letter of centum. 

 C, in music, the name of the note in the 

 natural major mode to which Guido ap- 

 plied the syllable ut, but which the Ita- 

 lians have since relinquished for do, as 

 softer and more vocal. When placed at 

 the clef, it stands for common time, and 

 with a line run through it perpendicu- 

 larly, for cut-time or a quicker kind of 

 movement. In Italian inwsie C is some- 

 times written for canto, as C 1, Ctmtt, 



