B A T 



or two Imndrcd pounds. Tliey couple in M.ircli and April, 

 awd fpawii in May. The fiefh of the Ikate is thought 

 better than that of the other Rays. 



BATISTANI, in jlnaL-nt Geography, a people of Spain, 

 ■who i il,abitcd the northern part of listica. 



BATISTE, in Commerce, a fnie white kind of linen 

 cloth, manufadlurtd in Flanders and Ficardy. 



There are three kinds of batilk- : the fird very thin ; the 

 fecond l.fs thin ; and the third much thicker, called Hol- 

 Innd batiile, as coming very near the f^oodnefs of Hollands. 

 The chief uie of batifle is for neck-cloths, head-cloths, 

 furplices, &c. 



BATMAN, a weight in Turkey, confifting of fix okes. 

 Forty of tiielc batma:;s make a camel's load, and amount to 

 about feven hundred and twenty pounds Englifh weight. 



Batman, or battament, is a weight ufcd in Turkey and 

 Perfia. The Turkidi batman is of tv:o kinds ; the larger 

 containing fix okes, or ocqitos, at three pounds three quar- 

 ters Paris weight the aequo ; fo that the batm m amounts to 

 about twenty-two Pans pounds and an half; the fmaller, 

 tompofcd likewife of fix ocquos, at fifteen ounces theocquo, 

 arrK)unting to five pounds ten ounces. The Peifian batman 

 is hkewife of two kinds : one called the Hug's weight, bat- 

 man i!e chcihi, or cLrny, ufcd for weighing moll of the necef- 

 faries of life, equivalent to about twelve pounds and an half 

 Paris weight ; the other called batman of Taur'is, equal to 

 fix pounds four ounces Paris or Amllerdam weight. Thefe, 

 at lead, are the proportions given by Tavernier. Cliardin 

 rates the Perfian batmans fomewliat lower, viz. the former 

 at twelve pounds twelve ounces ; and the latter at five 

 pounds fourteen ounces. 



BATMANSON, John, in JS/^^ra/^j', prior of the Car- 

 thufian monailery, or Charter-houfe, in London, in the i6th 

 century. He ftudied at Oxford ; and being a great favour- 

 ite of Edward Lee, archbifhop of York, wrote at his re- 

 queft againll Erafmus and Luther. He died in 1531, and 

 was buried in the Charter-houfe. Bale reprefents him as 

 proud, arrogant, and fond of wrangling ; and fays, that 

 Erafmus fl:yles him an ignorant fellow, and vain-glorious 

 even to madnefs. Pits, on the other hand, commends his 

 genius, learning, piety, and zeal ; his acquaintance with 

 the fcriptures, and his highly exemplary life. His works 

 are " Animadverfiones in Annotationes Erafmi in N.T." 

 " A Treatife againft fome of Luther's writings ;" both 

 ihefe he afterwards retrafled : " Comment, in Proverb. So- 

 lomonis," — " in Cantica Canticorum ;" " De Unica Mag- 

 dalena ;" " Infiitutiones Noviciorum ;" " De Contemptu 

 Muudi ;" " De Chrifto duodenni," a homily on Luke ii. 

 42 ; and " On the words Mijfas ejl, Sec." Biog. Brit. 

 Gen. Dia. 



BATNj^, in ylncient Geography, a town of Mefopata- 

 mia, in Ofdroene. Ammianus Marcellinus calls it Batne 

 and Batna, and fays, that it was a municipal city of Anthe- 

 mufia, of great trade, built by the Macedonians, at a fmall 

 diftance from the Euphrates. The emperor Juftinian made 

 it a place of defence by encompafling it with walls. Pro- 

 copius calls it a fmall and obfcure town, and fays, that it 

 was about a day's journey diilant from Edeffa. Itlayfouth 

 of Edeffa, and eaft of Zeugma. It was reduced by Tra- 

 jan, who took it from Chofroes, king of the Pai thians. 



Batn'.e was alfo a fmall town of Syria, fituate between 

 Bersea and Hicrapolis, pleafantly feated in a grove of cy- 

 pretlis, about twenty miles from the latter city. When 

 Julian vifited this town, A. D. 363, the folemn rites of fa- 

 crifice were dceently prepared by the inhabitants, who feem- 

 ed attached to the worlhip of their tutelary deities, Apollo 

 and Jupiter. 



5 



B A T 



BATNIR, or Batinda, in Geography, a town of Ilin- 

 dollan, in the country of Moultan, in a diftnft famous for 

 pafturas and fine horfes. Timur marched from Adjodin, a 

 town included in one of the large iflands formed by the 

 brandies of the Sctlege, to Batnir, the diilancc of 60 coffes, 

 50 coffes being equal to about 95 BritiHi miles ; and in his 

 way he crolfcd an exte five defert ; fo that Alexander was 

 notmifinformed when he was told there was a defert beyond 

 the Hyphafis. After takuig and deftroying Batnir, repre- 

 fentcd as a vei7 ilrong place, which, however, employed 

 only a few days, he marched by a circuitous road to Sama- 

 nah, direftly diilant from Batnir only 72 geographical miles. 

 Batnir is about 150 miles, E. S. E- of Moultan, and 170 

 N. W. of Agimere. N. lat. 29° 15'. E. long. 74= 40'. 



BATO, one of the Ladrone iflands. N. lat. 12°. E. 

 long. 142°. See Ban. 



Bato, a river of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, which 

 nms into the Mediterranean, 2 miles S. E. of Scalea, in 

 the province of Calabria Citra. 



BATOA, a fmall illand near the weft coaft of Sumatra, 

 feated very nearly under the equinoClial line. E. long. 

 98^ 



B ATOE, Ikon Batoe, lang Aboe, £ff Ikon Pampus Cambo- 

 dia, names given by Valent. in his work on Indian. fi(hes, to 

 the fpecies of Ch.'etodon, fpecifically called Annularis 

 by Gmelin. 



BATON, or Batoon, in Heraldry. See Baston. 



Baton, or Bojlon, as an inftrument of punifliment. See 

 Bastonado. 



Baton, Fr. in Mufic, a mufical charafter for filence, 

 during two bars in alia breve time, and four of common and 

 triple time. It fills up two fpaces of the five-hne ftafF ; 



— and has a 2 or a 4 placed over it, propor- 



tioned to the time of the movement. See Breve, Time- 

 table, and Rests. 



BATOONS or St. Paul, Bajondni di San Paolo, in 

 Natural Hijlory, a name given by fome of the Itahan writ- 

 ers, as Auguilino Scilla and others, to the lapides 'Juda'tci, 

 or other fpines of echini. Thefe are found in vall abun- 

 dance in the ifland of Malta ; and as eveiy thing there is com- 

 memorated with fome title, with St. Paul at the end of it, 

 thefe are called baeuli Sti Pauli, or St. Paul's batoons. 



BATOPILAH, in Geography, a town of North Ame- 

 rica, in the province of New Navarre, 120 miles north of 

 Cinaloa. 



BATOS, in Ichthyology. See Batis. 



BATRACHA, in Ancient Geography, a town of ACa, 

 in Sarmatia. Ptolemy. 



BATRACHIAS Lapis, the frog Jlone, a name applied 

 by different writers to two very different fubflances ; fome 

 uuderftanding by it lumps of common flint, which have ac- 

 cidentally formed themfelves into this figure ; and others, 

 thofe pieces of amber, which contain either a whole frog, 

 or any part of one. 



BATRACHITES, among Ancient Naturali/ls, a kind 

 of gem found in Egypt, denominated from its refemblance 

 in colour to a frog. The word is formed from /£«Ip«;^;of, 

 rana, a frog. Pliny fpeaks of three flones under this deno- 

 mination ; unam raitce fimilem colore, alteram-ebori (or rather, 

 according to Hardouin's correftion, ebeni), tcrtiam rubentis 

 et nigro. The batrachites differed from the modern bufanites, 

 which does not appear to have been known to the ancit.nts. 



BATRACHOIDE, in Ichthyology, a genus of fiihes of 

 the JuGULAREs kind, ellablifhed by Laccpcde for two 

 fiflies ; the one belonging to the Cadus, and the other to 



the 



