B A S 



B A S 



parts of Italy at the foot of the Alps, as well as Saxony and 

 Heffi.i in Germany, are alfo remarkable for their bafaltic 

 columns. 



Befides the ufe of bafalt as a material for bjilding and 

 pavincr, it has of late been employed as an ingredient in the 

 mamifafture of glafs bottles ; it ferves infteadof more coltly 

 fiibftances, and tne g'lafs, iho'ighblack and opake, has the 

 advantage of b;ir.g confidcrably llronger than the common 

 green kin \ When calcined and pulverized, bafalt is an ex- 

 cellent fubditute for puzzolana in the compofition of mortar, 

 to which it gives the propertv of hardening under water. 

 Emmerling. Brochant. Kirwan. Ann. de Chimie. 



BASAN, or Bashax, in indent Geography, otherwife 

 called Batanxa, lay north of the tribes cf Gad and Reu- 

 ben, and in the half tribe of Manafleh, and was bounded 

 by Gilead and the A iimonites on the ealt, by the brook 

 Jabbok on the fouth, by inount Herman on the north, and 

 by Jordan on the weft. Og was king of Bafhan, when the 

 IfraeUtes conquered it. After the Babyloniili captivity, it 

 was fubdivided ; fo that only a part was called Batana;a or 

 Bafan, another part Trahonitis, a third Aurunitis or Itursa, 

 and fome part of it Gaulonitis. It was a country famous 

 for its pafturcs, and its breed of large cattle. 



BASANITE of Kirwan, in Mineralogy. See Sili- 



CEOUS SCHISTUS. 



Basanites, in Natural Hiflory, a name given by many 

 authors to the touchftonc, ufcd for trying gold, Slc. Pliny 

 fpeaks of a bafanites which yielded a bloody juice, and was 

 good again il d'feafes of the liver. 



BASANITUS Lapis, in ylnc'ient Geography, the name 

 of a mountain in Egypt, according to Ptolemy. 



B AS ANUS, in Natural H'ijlory. See Touchstone. 



BASARA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Paleftine, 

 in Galilee, 20 lladia from Gaba, in the vicinity of Ptoiemais. 

 Jofcphus. 



BASARTSCHIK, in Geography, a confiderable town of 

 Romania, in Turkey of Europe. It is tolerably well built, 

 has broad and clean llreets and good trade, and is feattd on 

 the river Maritz. N. lat. 41° 49'. E. long. 24° 30'. 



BASARUCO, in Commerce, a fmall bafe coin in the 

 Eall Indies, being made only of very bad tin. Of this coin 

 there are two forts, good and bad ; the value of the bafe 

 fort is i lower than that of the good. Three bafarucos are 

 equal to two rees of Portugal. 



BASCANIA, in Antiquity, ridiculous or grotefque 

 figures hung up by the ancient fmiths before their iurnaces,. 

 to divert envy. 



BASCARA, in Geography,?^ town of Africa, in Biledul- 

 gerid. The foil in its vicinity is fertile in grain and Iruits, 

 particularly dates, which are excellent. 



BASCINNO, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of 

 Naples, and province of Abruzzo Ultra, 4 miles S. S. E. 

 of Teramo. 



BASCULUMBAI, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the 

 province of Natolia ; 36 miles eaft of Pergamo. 



BASE, Basis, in ArcbiteRure, denotes an affemblage of 

 mouldings conftituting the lower part of a column, of a pier, 

 ( or of a pedeftal. 



In the Grecian remains of the Ionic order, the lower 

 torus, allragal, or liliet of the bafe, refts immediately on the 

 upper ftep of the buildnig ; but in thofe of the Corinthian 

 .' order, a fquare plinth is added to the bafe. This praftice is 

 obferved in all the Roman works, with the exception of the 

 temples of Vefta at Tivoli and at Rome ; fmall circular build- 

 ings, in which a plinth radiating to the centre would have 

 had an unfightly diminution. Modern architcfts have uni- 

 yerfally given plinths to their bales j and the following rules 



may be dated from their works : the height of the bsfc of 

 columns to be half a diameter, thofe of pedeftals, two ninths 

 of the height of the refpective column and pedeftal ; Tthc 

 plinths of tiie Tufcan and Doric ordtJrs, one half the height 

 of the bafe ; and one third in the Ionic and Corinthian. 

 For the particular proportions of the mouldings, we refer to 

 the plates. 



The Aitic or Atticurgic Bafe confifts of two toruffes ard 

 fillets, with an intermediate fcotia. ( ee Plate XVI. of 

 Architcd.ure ; and Plate l-Jig. I. from the temple of Jupiter 

 Olympius at Athens ; and_y?^. 2. from the temple of Minerva 

 Pohas, of the fame place.) This bafe, probably the moil 

 ancient of any, is employed in all the Athenian remains of 

 the Ionic and Corinthian orders ; in Roman antiquities, it is 

 frequently ufcd in the Corinthian order, and conftantly in the 

 Ionic ; and it has been adopted in every order by modern 

 architefts. It may be obferved in this place, that, of the 

 Grecian Ionic baf''s, the upper torus is frequently fluted. 

 See Plate I. fg. 2. and Plate XXVIII. 



The Tufcan Bafe. The remains of antiquity do not fur- 

 nidi any complete fpecimen of the Tufcan order ; and mo- 

 dem architects have accordingly varied in this order more 

 than in any other : the bafe, however, has been determined 

 by all to conGlt of a fillet and torus. See Plate XIV. of 

 ArclnteSure. 



The Doric Bafe. It has been the praftice of antiquity to 

 execute the Doric order without a bafe. The maffive ftrength 

 of this dignified order required no additional liability frora 

 a bafe, the prvjefting mouldings of which would have em- 

 barralfed the comparative narrownefs of the mono-triglyph 

 intercolumiiiation. But modern architects having adopted a 

 column modelled rather on Roman than Grecian proportions, 

 have for the mod part, with great propriety, added a bafe 

 to their (lender order. The Doric bafe invented by Vig- 

 nola (fee Plate I. _/%. 3.) confilh of a fillet, aftragal, and 

 torus ; all other architefts have ufed the Attic bafe. 



The Ionic Bafe. The bafe pecuHar to this order, as de- 

 fcribed by Vitruvius (fee Plate I. fig. 4.), confifts of a 

 torus and fillet reiling upon two fcotias, divided by aftra- 

 gals and fillets. Of this bafe there is an example in the re- 

 mains of the temple of Minerva Polias at Priene. (See 

 Plate XXVIII.) However, the practice of ancient and 

 modern artifts, with few exceptions, has given the Attic 

 bafe to'this order. 



The Corinthian Bafe (fee Plate XXIX.) differs from the 

 Attic, in having two fcotias with aftragals between the to- 

 rufes. This bafe is found in the Pantheon, and in the 

 three columns of the Campo Vaccino. In the other Roman 

 and in the Grecian antiquities of this order, the Attic bafe is 

 employed. 



The Compof.te Bafe. The compofite order has no pecu- 

 liar bafe, and ufes the Attic and Corinthian bafes indiffer- 

 ently. Vitruvius. Stuart's Athens. Defgodetz Edif. de 

 Rome. Arch, di A. Palladio. Reofola di T. B. da Vio-. 

 nola. 



Base, Ruckntee, is that which has its tores cut like cables; 



Base, in Fortification, denotes the external fide of 



the polygon ; or that imaginary line which is drawn 



from the flanked angle of a ballion to that v.'hich is oppo- 



fite to it. 



Base of a Figure, in Geometry, denotes t"ie loweft part of 

 its perimeter: in which fenfe, the bafe ftands oppofed to 

 the vertex, which denotes the higheft part. 



Base of a Triangle, is properly the loweft fide, or that 

 which lies parallel to the horizon. 



Thus, the line AB is the bafe of the triangle ABC. 

 Plate III. C(om. fg. 38. Not but, on other occafions, 



the 



