B A S 



Hake after the pack is turned, and calling i, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sec. 

 the places of thofe cards which follow the card in view, 

 either immediately after the pack is turned, or after any 

 number of couples are drawn. Then if the card, upon 

 which the punter has laid a (take, comes out in any odd 

 place except the firli, he wins a ftake equal to his own. If 

 the card, upon which the punter has laid a flake, comes out 

 in any even place except the fecor.d, he lofes his ftake. If 

 the card of the punter comes out in the firft place, he neither 

 wins nor lofes, but takes his own ilake again. If the card of 

 the punter cnmes out in the fecond place, he does not lofe 

 his whole ftake, but only one half; and this is the cafe 

 in which the punter is faid to be faced. When the punter 

 choofes to come in after any number of couples are down, if 

 his card happen to be but once in the pack, and is the laft of 

 all, there is an exception from the general rule ; for though 

 it comes out in an odd place, which fliould entitle him to 

 win a ftake equal to his own, yet he neither wins nor lofes, 

 from that circumftance, but takes back his own ftake. 



This game has bien the fubjecl of mathematical calcula- 

 tions. Mr. De Moivre folves this problem ; to eftimate 

 at baffet the lofs of the punter under any circumftance of 

 cards remaining in the ilock, when he lays his ftake, 

 and of any number of times that his card is repeated in 

 the ftock. F om this folution he*has formed a table, 

 fhewing the feveral loftcs of the punter in whatfoever cir- 

 cumftanccs he may happen to be. See Doctr. of Chances, 



From this table it appears, r. That the fewer the cards 

 are in the ftock, the greater is the lofs of the punter. 2. 

 That the leaft lofs of the punter, under the fame circum- 

 ftances of cards remaining in the ftqck, is when his card is 

 but twice in it ; the next greater when but three times ; ftill 

 greater when four times ; and the greateft when but once. 

 The gain of the banker upon all the money adventured at 

 baflet, is 15 s. 3d. percent. De Moivre, Dotlr. of Chances, 

 p. 69. edit. 3. 



Basset, in Zoology, the name given bv Buffon to that 

 kind of dog which is called in England the turnfpit, canis 

 •vertagus Gmelin. Of this kind he makes two varieties ; le 

 baffet a jambes droites, and le baffet a jambes torfes; the 

 firft having ftraight legs, and the laft crooked ones. 



BASSETERRE, in Geography, ■& general name given by 

 the French to the lowlands of the Weft India iflands ; fuch 

 are the S.W. part of the two parts of Guadaloupe ifland, 

 feparated bv a fmall arm of the fta, called the Salt river ; 

 and alfo the N.W. part of the idand of Martinico. 



Basseterre To-tvn, a fea-port town on the S.W. coaft 

 cf the ifland of St. Chriftopher in the Weft Indies, and 

 capital of the ifland, fituated at the mouth of a river, open- 

 ing into a bay, called Baffeterre road. The town contains 

 about 800 houfes, and is defended by three batteries. N. lat. 

 17° 24'. W. long. 62° 37.' 



Basseterre To-vn, is alfo a fea-port town on the S.W. 

 coaft of the illnnd of Guadaloupe, regularly built, with fome 

 handforae houfes, and defended by a citadel. N. lat. 15° 

 59' 30". W.long. 6i°59'i5". 



BASSETING, in the Coal M'mcs, denotes the rife of the 

 vein or coal towards the furface of the earth, till it come 

 within two or three feet of the furface itfelf. 



This is alfo called by the workmen crop'mg, and ftands op- 

 pofed to dipping, which is the defcent of the vein to fuch a 

 depth that is rarely, if ever, followed to the end. 



BASSI, AvGELO,in Biography. See PoliziAno. 



Bassi, Lal'ra, an Italian lady, diftinguilhed by her ac- 

 quirements, was the wife of Dr. Jofeph Verati of Bologna. 

 She underftood the Greek, Latin, and French languages, as 



Vol. III. 



B A S 



well as her own, and was eminent for her literature and 

 fcience. In 1732, fhe was honoured with the doclorial 

 dignity, and (he kept up a correfpondence with many learned 

 perfons in Europe, who admired her talents and accomplifii- 

 ments. She commenced a courfc of lectures in philofophy 

 in 1 745, and continued them to her death. Her morals were 

 pure, and her character amiable ; and flie was liberal in her 

 aiSs of charity to the poor and orphans. She died at an ad- 

 vanced age at Bologna in 1778. Nouv. Did. Hift. 



BASSIA, in Botany, fo named by Kcenig in honour of 

 Ferdinando Baffi, curator of the botanic garden at Bologna. 

 Lin. gen. Reich, n. 64J. Schreb. 805. Juff. 132. Gxrtn, 

 t. 104. Clafs and order, dorfecanJria nionogynia. Nat.Ord. 

 Dtimofs ; Sapolit of Jufl". Gejj. Char. Cat perianth four- 

 leaved ; It.aflcts coriaceous, ovate, permanent. Cor. mono- 

 petalous, bell-ftiaped ; tube inflated, ovate, flcfhy ; border 

 fhorter than the tube, eight-parted ; divifious ovate, almoft up- 

 right. Slam, filaments fixteen ; eight below the jaws, and 

 eight in the middle of the tube ; antiiers linear, fagittate, 

 acute, villofe on the infidc, (horter than the corolla. Pifl. 

 germ fuperior, ovate ; ftyle fubulate, twice as long as the 

 corolla ; ftigma acute. Per. drupe flefliy, milky. Seeds, 

 nuts five, oblong, three-cornered. 



Eft. Char. Caf. four-leaved. Cor. eight -cleft ; tube in- 

 flated. Stam. 16 ; drupe five-feeded. (Berry five-cellid, 

 with a feed in each cell. G.) 



Species,"i. B. longifolia. Illippe Malabaris, and Miele 

 Ceylonenfibus. " Leaves ovate-lanceolate, peduncles axil- 

 lary." A lofty tree, with the outmoft branches recurved, 

 tliickiih, and covered with a grey do vri ; leaves on them al- 

 ternate, approximating, pet'.oled, entire, veined, naked, half 

 a foot long, and deciduous ; petioles roundifli, fliort ; pedun- 

 cles axillary, from one to five, filiform, one-flowered, upright ; 

 after flowering, prolonged and pendulous ; berry oblong, 

 flightly comprefTed, fmooth, ftiining, and yellow, with a 

 white band. A native of Malabar and Ceylon. 2. B. dub'ia. 

 Seed large, half-moon (haped ; flatted like a lens, fmooth and 

 fliining, of a dark chefnut colour, excepting an oblong, 

 rugged, umbilical area, which is almoft white. The (hell is 

 thick, ftony, and very hard. The feeds of baflia are not 

 eafily diftinguiflied from thofe of fapota, \vithout attending 

 to the albumen, of which baffia is entirely deftitute ; and the 

 inner integument is alfo commonly wanting. 3. B. obovata. 

 Foril. Florul. n. 200. " Leaves obovate ; peduncles heaped, 

 terminating." A native of the ifle of Tanna, in the South 

 feas. Martyn's Miller's Dici:. 



BASSIANO, Laudi, in Biography, born at Placenza, 

 difcovering early a propenfity to the knowledge of medicine, 

 was fent to Padua, where he ftudied under Baptift Monti, 

 and, having performed the ufual exercifes, in 1544 he was 

 admitted doftor in philofophy and phyfic. In 1547 he was 

 made profeffor in thofe fciences, and acquired confidcrable 

 reputation as a public teacher. Going to his houfe, in 1562, 

 he was affaulted by an aftaflin, who killed him by ftabbing 

 him in feveral parts of his body with a bayonet. He left 

 feveral publications, of which the principal are, " latrologia 

 five dialogi duo, in quibus de univerfx artis medicas, prsecipue 

 vero morborum omnium et cognofcendorum et curandorum 

 abfolutilTima m.ethodo, difl'eritur," Bafilea; 1543, 4to.; " De 

 origine et caufa peftis," Patav. 1555, Svo ; " De prodigio- 

 fis partubus." Haller. Bib. Med. Eloy. Did. Hift. 



BASSIN's River, in Geography, is fituated on the coaft 

 of Labrador, in North America, nearly oppofite to the nortk 

 point of Newfoundland. 



BASSING, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Meurte, and chief place of a canton in the diftricl ofDieuze, 

 li league N.E. of Dieuze. 



' 5D BASSIUS, 



