B A C 



Ganges, the capital of a country of the fame name, on the 

 eaftern bank of the river Ava. 



B ACB AKI RI, in Onuiholo^y, the name by wliich !e merle 

 a plaih-on noir de Ceylan of BufTon, is known at the cape 

 of Good Hope ; becaufe its note very clearly cxpreffes the 

 fyllables lac-ba-ki-ri. This is the green-pye from Ceylon 

 of Edwards; Ceylon thrufh of Latham; and turdus Zcylonus 

 of Linnaeus. 



BACCA, Berry, in Botany, denotes fucli fruits as con- 

 fift of a pericarpiiim full of juice and feeds, without any 

 valves. The feeds have no membranous capfule or cover- 

 ing, but are difpoftd promifcuoufly throughout the pulp, as 

 in folanum, &c., and are generally placed on foot-llalks at- 

 tached to receptacles within the pulp, as in ribes, &:c. The 

 berry is faid to be proper when it is a true pericarpium, 

 formed of a germen; and improper, when it is formed from 

 other parts of the fruftification, as in morns, rofa, juniperus, 

 taxus, &c. A large fucculent calyx becomes a berry ; in 

 juniperus the three petals become the umbilicus; in poterium 

 the berry is formed of the tube of the corolla; in fragaria, 

 &C. it is formed of the top of the receptacle; in rubus, &c. 

 it is formed from a feed, wliich is the receptacle of the berry; 

 iti rufcus, &c. it is inclofed within, and is part of the nec- 

 tary. The berry ij commonly either round or oval; and is 

 frequently furnilhed with an umbilicus, as in ribes, &c. It 

 does not naturally open to difperfe the feeds like the cap- 

 fule ; that office being performed by birds and other ani- 

 mals. 



BACCjE Bermudxcnfes, in the Materia MeJica, the 

 name of the fruit or berries of the yJ:/;;«/«j-, or foap-berry-trei. 



BACCALE, in Ancient Geography, a town of Aila, in 

 Syria, feated on a plain between the mountains and the river 

 Orontes. 



BACCALAN, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the Red 

 fea, on the coall of Arabia Felix, about 36 geographical 

 miles N.W. of Loheia. It is inhabited by fiihermen, and has 

 no water in fummer, which is then brought from Foofht. 



BACCALARIA, in MidMe Age IVriters, denotes a 

 kind of country farms, confiding of feveral manfes. Du- 

 Cange. 



Baccalaria Dominiraria, or Indonunicata, was more par- 

 ticularly ufed for a farm belonging to the lord, and kept in 

 his own hands. 



BACCANELLUS, Johannes, in Biography, a native 

 of Rheggio, lived in the early part of the fixteenth century. 

 He was deformed in body, and of a diminutive (lature, but 

 thefe defefts were abundantly compenfated by the powers of 

 his mind, as Braffavolus tetlifics. We have of him the fol- 

 lowing works, which were much efteemed : " De confenfu 

 Mcdicorum, in curandis morbis," lib 4.; and " De confenfu 

 Medicorum in cognofcendis fimplicibus Liber," Lut. 1554, 

 Venet. 1555 and 1558, and Lugd. 1572, l2mo. containing 

 a judicious abridgment of the opinions of the early Greek 

 writers, on thefe fubjefts. Linden. Rediv. p. 524. 



BACCA RACH, in Geography, a town of Germany, in the 

 Lower Palatinate, formerly imperial and free, but now fubject 

 to the elettor palatine, who has'contributed to its profperity by 

 allowing the Calvinifts and Lutheians to cilabhlh their forms 

 of ^vordiip there, under equal privileges with the Roman 

 Catholics; feated on the left bank of the Rhine, at the foot 

 of a mountain called Vottlherg. It is famous for its wines; 

 whence it is fuppofcd tohaveitsname corrupted from "Bacchi 

 ara," the altar of Bacchus. Baccarach was fo completely 

 pillaged by the troops of Louis XIV. in 16S9, that 

 the French commander was obliged, on the night before 

 he left the town, to deep on ilraw, which was ufed next 

 dav for burning it; eight miles north of Deux Fonts, and 



Vol. HI. 



BAG 



twenty-three fouth of Coblentz. N.lat. Co' 2'. E.lonp. 



Baccarach limine, a name of a particular kind of wine, 

 by fome efteemed a kind of Rhcnilh; but Portzins, who 

 has written exprefsly on the fubjeft, obferves that it differs 

 from all the common Rhenifh wine, in colour, odour, talle, 

 and virtue. 



BACCARUM, in Entomology, a fpecies of Acarus, 

 found on goofeberries, currants, and other fruit-trees. The 

 abdomen is dillendcd, red, and dulky on the fides. Linn. 

 Fn. Succ. 



Baccarum, a fpecies of CiMEx, of a fomewhat fulvoni 

 colour ; margin of the abdomen fpotted with brown. De- 

 geer, Gmelin. Inhabits Europe. 



BACCHtE, in Aniiqnity, the prieftefTes of Bacchus, who 

 celebrated the orgia, or myllcries of that god. 



The word was alfo ufed for the ivy crowns and garlands 

 worn by the priefts of Bacchus, in offering facrifices to 

 him. 



BACCHANALIA, religious feafts in honour of Bac 

 chus, celebrated with much folemnity among the ancients, 

 particularly the Athenians, who even computed their years 

 by them, till the commencement of Olympiads. 



The bacchanaha are fometimes alfo called orgia, derived, 

 as fome conceive, from the Greek ojj'r, fury; on account of 

 the madneff and enthufiafm wherewith the people appeared 

 to be pofleffed at the time of their celebration. 



They were held in autumn, and took their rife, according 

 to Herodotus, from Egypt, where they were known under 

 the name of the myftcries of Ifis and Ofiris; whence, ac- 

 cording to Diodorns, they were brought into Greece by 

 Melampus; and they afterwards paffed into Italy and Ganl, 

 and were adopted almoll throughout the whole Pagan 

 world. 



The form and difpofition of the folemnity depended, at 

 Athens, on the archon, and was at firft exceeding fimple; 

 but, by degrees, it became incumbered with a number of 

 ridiculous ceremonies, and attended with much dilfolutenefs 

 and debauchery; infomuch that the Romans, who grew 

 afhamcd of them, fupprelTed them by a fenatus-confultum 

 throughout all Italy, A.U.C. 568. B.C. 186. It was 

 a faying of Plato, recorded by Diogenes Laertius, (!. iii. 

 Segm. 39.), that to drink to exctfs was not allowable, ex- 

 cept upon the fellival of that god who is the giver of 

 wine. 



The women had a great (bare in the folemnity, which is 

 faid to have becr> 'nltitntcd on their account ; for a gre.u 

 number of them attended Bacchus in his expedition to In- 

 dia, carrying in their hands the ihyrfut, i. e. a little lance, co- 

 vered with ivy and vine leaves, finging his victories and tri- 

 umphs wherever they went; the ceremony was kept up after 

 Bacchus's deification, under the title of Bacchanalia, and th; 

 women were inttalledpriefteflcs thereof, under that of Bacckj 

 or Bacchantes. 



Thefe prieftefrcs, at the time of the feafl, ran through the 

 ftreets, and over the mountains, covered with tiger's ikins, 

 their hair diihevelled, their thyrfus in one hand, and torches 

 in the other, howling and fhrieking Emi <ra»oi, tuw B^t*;^!, or 

 Iw \vy.\i, or lii V^xy~yj, 



Men and women met promiCcuoufly at the feaft, all per- 

 feftly naked, except only for the vine-leaves and clullers of 

 grapes, which bound their heads and hips; here they danced 

 and jumped tumultuoufly, and, with tlrange gcfticulalions, 

 fung hymns to Bacchus, till, being wca'rj- and giddy, tiiey 

 tumbled down. 



Tiie licentioufncfs of thefe, and of fome other feftivals, 



was fo well known, that it was the advice of wife men to 



3 I marriei 



