BOO 



BOR 



Spain, and other countries, were distin- 

 ! !>y the appellation of siatiouers, 

 as .i.tving no shops, but only stalls and 

 stands in the streets. During this state, 

 the civil magistrates topk litttle notice of 

 the i>ooksei!<;rs, leaving the government 

 of ihem to the universities, to whom they 

 \\rrt supposed more immediate retain- 

 ers ; who accordingly gave them laws and 

 regulations, fixed prices on their books, 

 examined their correctness, and punished 

 them at discretion. 



But when, by the invention of printing, 

 books and booksellers began to multiply, 

 it became a matter of more consequence, 

 and the sovereigns took the direction of 

 them into their own hands ; giving them 

 new statutes, appointing officers to fix 

 prices, and grant licences, privileges, 

 &c. Authors frequently complain of the 

 arts of booksellers. Lord Shaftsbury 

 gives us the process of a literary contro- 

 versy blown up by the booksellers. The 

 publication ot books depends much on the 

 taste and disposition of booksellers. A- 

 mong the German writers, we find per- 

 petual complaints of the difficulty of pro- 

 curing booksellers : many are forced to 

 travel to the book fairs at Frankfort or 

 Leipsic, to find booksellers to undertake 

 the impression of their works. 



BOOM, in the sea language, a long 

 piece of timber, with which the clue of 

 the studding-sail is spread out : and some- 

 times the boom is used to spread or boom 

 out h clue of the mainsail. 



BOOM denotes also a cable stretched 

 athwart the mouth of a river or harbour, 

 with yards, topmasts, battling or spars of 

 wood lashed to it, to prevent an enemy's 

 coming in. 



BOOP1S, in botany, butt's eye, a genus 

 of the Syngenesia Segregata class and or- 

 der. Calyx one-leaved, many parted, 

 many-flowered ; florets tubular ; recep- 

 tacle chaffy ; seeds each involved in its 

 proper calycle, and crowned with its per- 

 manent teeth. Two species 



BOOT topping, in naval affairs, signifies 

 the operation of scraping off the grass, 

 slime, shells, &c. which adhere to the 

 bottom of the ship, near the surface of 

 the water, and daubing it over with a 

 mixture of tallow, sulphur, and resin ; it 

 is chiefly performed where there is no 

 dock or other commodious situation for 

 careening, or when the hurry of a voy- 

 age renders it inconvenient to have the 

 \vh;le bottom cleansed. 



BOOT tree, or BOOT last, an instrument 

 used by shoemakers i.o widen the leg of 

 a boot It is u wooden cylinder slit into 

 two parts, between which, when it is put 



into the boot, they drive by main force a 

 wedgt- or quoin. 



BOOTES, a constellation of the north- 

 ern hemisphere, consisting of 23 stars, 

 according to Ptolemy's catalogue ; and of 

 45, in Mr. Flam stead's catalogue. 



BORACIC acid. See BOHAX. 



BOKAGO, in botany, a genus of the 

 Pentandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Aspenefolix Essential 

 character : corolla rotated ; throat closed 

 with rays. There are five species. B. of- 

 ficinalis, common borage, is rough, with 

 white stiff prickly hairs ; calyx divided to 

 the very base, as is also the corolla, but 

 it falls off in one piece ; tube very short 

 and white ; segments acute. The com- 

 mon colour of the corolla is blue; but it 

 varies to flesh-coloured and white. It is 

 a biennial plant, flowering from May to 

 August. Borage was formerly in great 

 requt-st, being reckoned one of the four 

 cordial flowers. The whole herb is suc- 

 culent and mucilaginous, having a faint 

 smell when bruised. The juice affords a 

 true nitre. This plant came original!} 

 from Aleppo. 



BORASSUS, in botany, a genus of 

 plants, the characters of which are not 

 well ascertained. Class Appendix Palms, 

 Linnaeus. Essential character : corolla 

 three-parted ; male stamina six ; female 

 styles three ; drupe three-seeded. There 

 is but one species with its varieties, viz. 

 B. flabelliformis, has a dark-coloured 

 bark ; the wood is a dark-brownish red, 

 and has a soft pith in the middle ; fronds 

 decussate on the top of the trunk; stipe 

 near six feet in length, flat, and a little 

 hollow, with rough spines along the 

 edges ; below, near a span in breadth ; 

 above, not more than a palm ; the leaf 

 part is large, and folded like a fan or um- 

 brella, for which purpose it is used. The 

 male and female flowers are on different 

 trees, which have been considered as dis- 

 tinct species. This tree is from twenty- 

 five to thirty feet in height, two feet thick 

 at bottom and one at top. The fruit is as 

 large as a child's head. Wine and sugar 

 are made from the sap of this palm. It is 

 a native of Ceylon, the coast of Coroman- 

 del, Java, &c. 



BORATES, salts formed with the bora- 

 cic acid. See the next article. 



BORAX, in chemistry, is a name given 

 to a species of white salt much used by 

 various artists. Its use in soldering me- 

 tals appears to have been known to Agri- 

 cola. Borax is found mixed with other 

 substances in Thibet. It seems to exist 

 in some lands adjacent to lakes, from 

 which it is extracted by water, and de- 



