BEL 



plains, than on hills, and still farther in 

 rallies than on plains; the reason of 

 which may be easily comprehended, by 

 considering, that the higher the sono- 

 rous body is, the medium is the rarer, 

 and consequently receives the less im- 

 pulse, and the vehicle is the less proper 

 to convey it to a distance. 



The bell-founders distinguish two sorts 

 of proportions, viz. the simple and the re- 

 lative. The simple proportions are those 

 which ought to be between the several 

 parts of a bell, and which experience has 

 shewn to be necessary towards rendering 

 is sweetly sonorous. The relative pro- 

 portions are those which establish a re- 

 quisite relation between one bell and an- 

 other, so that their combined sounds may 

 effect a certain determined harmony. 



The use of bells is very ancient, as well 

 as extensive. We find them among the 

 Jews, Greeks, Romans, Christians, and 

 Heathens, variously applied, as on the 

 necks of men, beasts, birds, horses, 

 sheep ; but chiefly hung in buildings, 

 either religious, as in churches, temples, 

 and monasteries ; or civil, as in houses, 

 markets, baths; or military, as in camps, 

 and frontier towns. 



When they were first invented, or who 

 introduced them into the Christian 

 church, is not at present known : but it 

 appears that they were employed in the 

 eastern church in the ninth century, 

 when Urcus Patriciacus, Duke of Venice, 

 made a present of a set to Michael, the 

 Greek emperor, who built a tower to the 

 church of Sancta .Sophia, in which to 

 hang them. 



BELLARDIA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Tetrandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der : calyx four-cleft, superior ; nectary 

 with a four-lobed margin surrounding 

 the style ; capsule two-celled, many- 

 seeded. One species, found at Cayenne 



BELLES lettres. generally considered 

 as synonymous with polite literature ; 

 they include the origin and structure 

 of the various kinds of language ; of gram- 

 mar, universal and particular, criticism, 

 rhetoric; history in its several depart- 

 ments, and all the different kinds of poe- 

 try. Different authors have included dif- 

 ferent departments of literature under 

 this general term. The reader may* be 

 referred to Blair's Lectures, as including 

 almost every thing that is necessary for a 

 student to be informed of on the subject. 

 See CRITICISM, GRAMMAR, POETRY,-RHK- 

 TORIC, &c. 



BELLIS, in botany, common daisy, a 

 genus of the Syngenesia Poly gam/a Su- 

 perflua class and order. Natural order 



VOL, B, 



BEL 



of Composite Discoidese. Corymbiferze ? 

 Jussieu. Essential character : calyx hef- 

 mispheric, u ith equal scales ; seeds ovate, 

 with no down ; receptacle naked, coni- 

 cal. There are only two species, with 

 many varieties ; viz. B. perennis, or com- 

 mon daisy, is sufficiently distinguished by, 

 its perennial root, is a native of most 

 parts of Europe in pastures ; flowers al- 

 most all the year, and shuts up close eve- 

 ry night, and in wet weather. The taste 

 of the leaves is somewhat acrid : in some 

 countries, however, it is used as a pot- 

 herb. The roots have a penetrating pun- 

 gency. It is ungrateful to cattle, and even 

 to geese ; it occupies therefore a larg 

 share of pasture lands, to the exclusion 

 of grass and profitable herbs. B. annua 

 is a low plant, seldom rising more than 

 three inches high, with an upright stalk, 

 having leaves on the lower part, but th* 

 upper part naked, and supporting a sin- 

 gle flower like that of the common daisy, 

 though smaller. Native of Sicily, Spain, 

 about Montpelier, Verona, and Nice 



BELLIUM, in botany, a genus of the 

 Syngenesia Poly gamia Superflua class and 

 order. Natural order of Composite Dis- 

 coideae. Corymbiferae Jussieu. Essential 

 character : calyx with equal leaflets ; 

 seeds conic, with a chaffy eight-leaved 

 crown, and awned down ; receptacle na- 

 ked. There are only two species, viz. B, 

 bellidioides, has the habit of the daisy a 

 though it diners essentially from it in 

 having a down to the seed. Native of 

 Italy about Rome, and in the island of 

 Majorca. B. minutum, is one of the 

 smallest of plants. This plant, examined 

 with a glass, appears to have hairs scat- 

 tered over it. Native of the Levant. 



BELLONIA, in botany, so named in 

 honour of Pierre Uelon, a Famous French 

 physician, a genus of the Pentandria Mo- 

 nogynia class and order. Natural order 

 of Rubiaceje, Jussieu. Essential charac- 

 ter : corolla wheel-shaped ; capsule one- 

 celled, inferior, many-seeded, beaked 

 with the calyx. There are but two spe- 

 cies, viz. B. aspera is a shrub ten or twelve 

 feet in height, sending out many lateral 

 branches ; flowers in loose corymbs. This 

 species is yet. little known, and, accord- 

 ing to Swartz, has been seen only by 

 Plumier. It is very common in several 

 warm islands in America. 



BELLOWS, a machine so contrived as 

 to agitate the air with great briskness, ex- 

 piring and inspiring it by turns, and that 

 only from enlarging and contracting its 

 capacity. 



This machine is used in chambers and 

 kitchens, in forges, furnaces, and feund- 



