B A L 



1? A L 



of rofin, twenty of fakpetre, eight of giin-powacr, and preferred pj'iv'ing their remedies as a potion or drink. The 

 four of colophony ; to thefe add tv.-o of charcoal, fix of kinds of balls will neccffanly be as various as tUe_ nature of 

 horfe-hoofs cut fmall, three of alTa-foctida, one of ftinking 



faracen, and any other offenlive ingredients. Then proceed 

 as in making fmoke and fire-balls. 



Balls, Il^aUr, thofe which fwim and bin-n a confiderable 

 time in the water, and at length burft therein. 



Thefe are made in a wooden fticll, the cavity of which is 

 fdled with a compofition of refined fakpetre, fulphur, faw- 

 dull boiled in water of fakpetre, and dried ; to which fomc- 

 times other ingredients are added, as iron-filings, Greek 

 pitch, amber-duft, glafs powdered, and camphor. The in- 

 gredients are to be ground and mixt up, and moiftened with 

 linfeed-oil, nut-oil, olive-oil, hempfecd-oil, or petrol. At 

 the bottom is placed an iron coffin, filled with whole gun- 

 powder that the ball may at lall burll with a great noifc ; 

 and laftly, the ball is, by the addition of lead, or otherwife, 

 made of the fame fpecific gravity with water. 



Balls, Jnchor, are made in the fame manner as light 

 balls, and filled with the fame compofition,; and, bcfidcs, 

 they have an iron bar two-thirds of the ball's diameter in 

 length, and three or fom- inches fquare. One half is fixed 

 within the ball, and the other half remains without; and 

 the exterior end is made to grapple with a hook. Thefe 

 are ufefnl for firing wooden bridges or buildings, the rigging 

 of (liips. Sec.; as the pile end being the heavieft, flies fore- 

 nioft, and wherever it touches, fallens, and fets fire to all 

 .about it. 



Balls, Chain. See Chain-balls. 

 Balls, Stang. See Stang-balls. 

 Ball, in Al'meralogy, is alfo ufed in Cornwall, Sec. for a 

 ■tin-mine. 



In this fenfe Godolphin's ball is faid to be the mod famous 

 of all the balls or mines in Cornwall, for quantity of metal. 

 Phil.Tranf. N°I3S. p. 951. 



BALL-F(';n, a name given by the miners in SufTcx to a 

 fort of iron ore, common there, and wrought to conliderable 

 advantage. It yields not any great quantity of metal, but 

 what it has runs freely in the fire; it is ufually found in 

 locfe maffes, not in form of ftrata, and is often covered with 

 cne or more crafts. It generally contains fome fparkling 

 particles, and is ufnally of a circular form in the perfect 

 maffes ; thickeft in the middle, and gradually thinner as it 

 approaches the fides. The ores of SufTex in general are 

 -poor, but they require very little trouble in the working, fo 

 ihat a confiderable profit is annually made from them 



Ball of a Pendulum, the weiglit at the bottom. In 

 {horter pendulums, this is called the hub. 



Ball, among Printers, a kind of wooden tunnel fluffed 

 ■with wool, contained in a cover of flieep's fkin, which is 

 •nailed to the wood ; with which the ink is applied on the 

 ■forms, to be wronght off. 



The preffman holding one of thefe balls in either hand, 

 firft daubs them on the ink-block, then working them on 

 each other, he apphes them afterwards on the forms, which 

 (retsi 1 the ink neceffary to make an impreffion. 



Balls for Horfes, in Veterinary Science, maffes made into 

 thi= f )rni which is the moft ufual and moft convenient mode of 

 adminillering medicine to thvfe animals. 



Being mixed witli fome vifcid fubftance, the propofed 

 medicine is formed into maffes of an oblong or oval form. 



the medicine which Is adminiftercd ; as purging balls, cor- 

 dial balls, diuretic, diaphoretic, febrifuge, worm-balls, 

 cough-balls, alterative balls, &c. Any tenacious fnbftance 

 not pofTefllng aftive properties, will ferve for the admixture 

 of them, as pafte made of boiled flour, or boiled linfeed 

 meal ; thefe particidarly ferve for balls that are to be imme- 

 diately given, and not kept for any length of time, as they 

 are apt to grow hard and dry, and fomelimes mouldy. To 

 prevent this, they may be immerfed in melted wax, which 

 will eficftnally coat them over and preferve them, and this 

 was a mode alfo well known to the ancients. Honey, trea- 

 cle, turpentine, aixl tar, are not fubjeft to the above objec- 

 tion, and are all ufed by different perfons for this purpofe. 

 The two lall, however, cannot be fuppoled devoid of ef- 

 feft as a medicine ; and therefore fiiould not be employed, 

 unlefs when they co-operate with, or do not deilroy, the 

 effedt of the medicine prefcribed. 



Soft foap is alfo an adhefive particularly nfeful in the ad- 

 mixture of diuretic and purging balls for horfes, as not d ly- 

 ing n9r .being particularly expenfire. Aloes, almoll the 

 only purgative at prefent known for horfes, operates better 

 when united with this fubilance than in any other way that 

 we have tried. Calomel alfo operates as a purgative on 

 horfes. For the partlcidar method of preparing them, fee 

 Pharmacopoeia Equina. 



Thefe balls fhonld not be made too large, or be fnffered 

 to get too hard ; in either cafe, by lodging in the cefopha- 

 gus, they may prove fatal. 



It may not be unneceffary alfi) to obferve, that for tlve 

 eafy adminillraticn of them the following circumftances 

 fhoidd be obicrved. The tongue fhould be t'r iwn from the 

 mouth with the left hand over the grinder teeth, the right 

 hand holding the ball between the thumb and firfl finger, 

 the ball fhould then fuddenly and at once be thruil into the 

 throat by gliding the hand along- the roof of tlie mouth ; 

 when this is done flowly, the tongue rifes, oppofts the 

 hand, and renders it difficult. An iron ring with a handle 

 is fometimes ufed to dillend their jaws ; but in this counti-y 

 thefe balls are generally given without. 



When the jaw is very narrow io as not conveniently to 

 admit the hand, the ball is placed on the end of a pointed 

 flick, or it might be placed loofely in a cup or focket at 

 the end of a fmall cane or whalebone, and be thus ver)- 

 conveniently given. 



B A L L s , in 7,oology, various fubftances under this form found 

 in the llomach and intellines of fevera) animals; they occur 

 moil frequently in thofe quadrupeds whicli lick thefurface of 

 their bodies, in which cafe they are comoofed of the hair that 

 has been removed by the tongue; the hair, partly by the ope- 

 ration of licking, and llill more by the motion of the llomach, 

 becomes mixt and interwoven in fuch a manner, tiiat it re- 

 fembles the texture of a hat, and when moulded into a round 

 figure, receives a fmooth, fhiiiing coat, or calculous incruf- 

 tation. Thele are the fiirt of balls ufually met with in the 

 cow, fheep, and goat kliid, cfpecially the chamois. Every 

 indigellible fubilance tliat is iwallowed is liable, ho\»ev-r, to 

 give origin to thele balls, or to form a nucleus for calculous 

 concretion ; hence we meet with them compofed of the 

 rtedy fibres of vegetables, huOcs of feeds, feathers, and dif- 



which are conveyed by the hand or otherwife to the root of fercnt anim-il and vegetabli; exuvise. Wlien fuch fubftances 

 the tongue, from whence they readily pafs to the ftomach. as ftones of fruit, nuts, or inorganic fubftances, as pebbles. 

 This mode of adminiftering medicines to horfes is of coins. Sec. are long detained, and have been covered with a 

 rreat antiquity. Thefe balls were termed by the Romans deep incruftation, they conftitute the bezoardic flones. 

 *^a ; by the Greeks, T^6X'<^''-^'' They, hov?€ver, generally SeeBEiOAR. See alfo jEgagropiia. 



Accord- 



