BIS 



BIS 



of \vhich bakes twenty shoots daily (Sun- 

 days excepted ;) the quantity of flour 

 used for each shoot is two bushels, or 112 

 pounds, which baked produce 102 pounds 

 of biscuit. Ten pounds are regularly al- 

 lowed on each shoot for shrinkage, &c. 

 .The allowance of biscuit in the navy is 

 one pound for each man per day, so that 

 one of the ovens at Deptford furnishes 

 bread daily for 2,040 men. 



BISCUTELLA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Teh-adynamia Siliculosa class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Siliquosae Cruci- 

 formes. Essential character : silicle com- 

 pressed, flat, rounded above and below, 

 two-lobed ; calyx, leaflets gibbous at the 

 base. There are six species ; of which 

 B. auriculata, in a wild state, rises about a 

 foot in height, but, in a garden, grows 

 nearly two feet high, dividing into several 

 branches; the flowers are produced at the 

 end of the branches, in loose panicles, 

 and are of a pale yellow r colour ; the nec- 

 tareous gland is very large, and, conse- 

 quently,' the calyx is bagged out very 

 much at bottom. Native of the south of 

 France and Italy. 



BISERRULA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Diadelphia Decandria class and order. 

 Natural order Papilionaceae, or Legumino- 

 sx. Essential character : legume two-cell- 

 ed, flat ; partition contrary. There is 

 but one species; viz. B pelecinus, bas- 

 tard hatchet vetch, an annual plant, which 

 grows naturally in Italy, Sicily, Spain, 

 and the South of France. 



BISHOP, a prelate, or person conse- 

 crated for the spiritual government of a 

 diocese. 



Whether the distinction of bishops from 

 mere priests or presbyters was settled in 

 the apostolical age, or introduced since, 

 is much controverted. It is certain, that 

 in the New Testament the names of bi- 

 shops and priests are used indiscriminate- 

 ly ; but tradition, the fathers, and the 

 apostolical constitutions, make a distinc- 

 tion. From this last consideration bishops 

 are conceived as the highest ecclesiastical 

 dignities, the chief officers in the hierar- 

 chy, or economy of church-government, 

 as the fathers and pastors of the faithful, 

 the successors of the apostles, and, as 

 such, the superiors of the church of 

 Christ. 



Upon the vacancy of a bishop's see in 

 England, the king grants his conge d'elire 

 to the dean and chapter, to elect the per- 

 son, whom, by his letters missive, lie hath 

 appointed; and if they do not make the 

 election in twenty days, they are t incur 

 a premunire. The dean and chapter hav- 

 ing made their election accordingly, the 



archbishop, by the king's direction, con- 

 firms the bishop, and afterwards conse- 

 crates him by imposition of hands, accord- 

 ing to the form laid down-in the Common 

 Prayer Book. Hence we see that a bi- 

 shop differs from an archbishop in this, 

 that an archbishop with bishops conse- 

 crates a bishop, as a bishop with priests 

 consecrates a priest; other distinctions 

 are, that an archbishop visits a province, 

 as a bishop a diocese ; that an archbishop 

 convocates a provincial synod, a?, a bishop 

 a diocesan one ; and that the archbishop 

 has canonical authority over all the bi- 

 shops of his province, as a bishop has 

 over the priests of his diocese. 



The jurisdiction of a bishop of the 

 church of England consists in collating 

 benefices, granting institutions, command- 

 ing inductions, taking care of the profits 

 of vacant benefices for the use of the 

 successors, consecrating churches and 

 chapels, ordaining priests and dea ons, 

 confirming- after baptism, granting ad- 

 mir.isl rations, and taking pro.bates of wills; 

 these parts of his function depend upon 

 the ecclesiastical law. By the common 

 law, he is to certify to the judges concern- 

 ing legitimate and illegitimate births and 

 marriages ; and to his jurisdiction, by the 

 statute law, belongs the licensing of phy- 

 sicians, surgeons, and school masters, 

 and the uniting of small parishes, which, 

 last privilege is now peculiar to the Bi- 

 shop of Norwich. 



All bishops of England are peers of 

 the realm, except the Bishop of Man, and 

 as such sit and vote in the House of 

 Lords ; they are barons in a three-fold 

 manner, viz. feudal, in regard to the tem- 

 poralities annexed to their bishoprics ; 

 by writ, as being summoned by writ to 

 parliament; and lastly, by patent and 

 creation ; accordingly, they have the pre- 

 cedence of all other barons, vote as ba- 

 rons and bishops, and claim all the privi- 

 leges enjoyed by the temporal 1< rds, ex- 

 cepting that they cannot be tried by their 

 peers, because, in cases of blood, they 

 themselves cannot pass upon the trial, for 

 they are prohibited by the canons of the 

 church to be judges of life and death. 



BISHOP'S court, an ecclesiastical court, 



hel-! in tile cathedral of each diocese, the 



.hereof is the bishop's chancellor, 



who judges >>y the civil and canon law ; 



and if Hie diocese be lurge, he has his 



commissaries in remote parts, who hold 



what they cull C'>n-..^ory courts for mat- 



'ed to:i.e:n by their commission 



BISHOPRIC, the district over vviii.M a 

 bishop's jurisdiction extends, otherwise 

 called u diocese. 



