BEL 



£706. After receiving a clafiical educalion at Eton, he 

 btcaine pupil to Mr. Chcleldcn, by whom he was much 

 cileemej. In 1756, he was eleflcJ lurgeon to Guy's hof- • 

 pitnl, aiid foon after fellow of the Royal Society. The 

 following year, he fent to the fociety the cafe of a woman 

 who died of a dropfy of the ovarium, attended with fome 

 Temavkable circumllances, and foon after, an account of the 

 cafe of a man whofe arm had been torn off at the fliouldcr, 

 by one of the ropes of a mill. The circumftance moft de- 

 riving attention in this cafe was, that only a Imall quantity 

 of blood was loll by the accident, which Belchicr very pro- 

 perly attributed to the great dillcnfion the arteries had fuf- 

 faincd before the limb was fcparated from the body. The 

 man recovered. His next, and lad communication to the 

 fociety, was the rcf\ilt of a feries of experiments and obfcr- 

 vations on the efieft produced on animals, by mixing mad- 

 der with their food. After continuing this diet for a few 

 days, on killing the animals the bones were found to be 

 tinged with the madder, but on fullering fome of them, that 

 had been fo fed, to live a few days longer, the colour indu- 

 ced by the madder became dilute and pale, and at length 

 totally difappeared ; a proof, it was obferved, that the bones 

 are well fupplied with abforbents, as well as with blood vef- 

 ftls. See Philofophical Tranfa£lions, Nos. 423, 442, and 

 449. Bclchier died in 1785, in the 80th year of his age, 

 liaviiig for feveral years previoufly retired from bulintls, and 

 was buried in the chapel of Guy's liofpital, to which he 

 had been a zealous friend and patron. Gen. Biog. Diil. 

 BELCHING. See Ructation. 



BELCHITE, in Geography, a fmall town of Spain, in 

 the country of Arragon, feated in a fruitful foil, on the 

 river Almonazir; 8 leagues fouth from Saragoffa. N. lat. 

 41" 19'. W. long. 0° 30'. 



BEIXIANA, in yiitcieni Geography, a town of Afia, in 

 AfTyria. Ptolemy. 



BELDEK, in Geography, a town of Hungary, 15 

 miles fouth of Zatmor. 



BELUIRAN, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the pro- 

 vince of Caraniania, 28 miles fouth of Cogni. 



BELEBEV, or Belebeief, a town of Ruflia, in the 

 government of Ufii,on the rivulet falling into the Diema, 60 

 miles fouth-wcll of Ufa. N. lat. 54^. E. long. 54° 14'. Tiiis 

 is alio the name of one of the nine dillricts, comprehended 

 by the province of Ufa, 



BELEKIS, a town of Sclavonia, loniiles north-well of 

 Belgrade. 



BELEM, a town of Portugal, in the province of Ellre- 

 madura, or in the vicinity of Lilhon, on the north fide of 

 the Tagus, in which are a confidcrable monatlery and a rov- 

 al palace. In its magnilicent church, which fuddtnly funk 

 in 1756, many kings and princes of the blood have been 

 interred. Below Belem is a fquare tower called " Torre de 

 Belem," fortified with cannon, which no vclfel mull pafs 

 till it has been vifited. Near this tow«r, which is near a 

 league well from the city of Lifbon, in N. lat. 38° 40'. W. 

 long. 9° 40'. are feveral batteries, and a fmall irregular fort, 

 commonly called San Giao, built on a rocky point, and cover- 

 ing the entrance of the harbour, and oppofite to it is another 

 tower called " tone vclha," or old tower, ftrcngthcned by 

 a few cannon and foldicrs. 



Belem, a town of North America, in the country of New 

 Navarre, 180 miles noilh-well of Cinaloa. 



Belem, Belli.m, or Belm, a town and dillricl of Ger- 

 many, in the circle of Wellphalia, bifliopric of Ofnabruck, 

 and prefedlurate of Iburg ; 3 miles eall of Ofnabruck. 



Belem, or P;^RA, a fea-poit town of South America, in 

 the country of Brazil, feated at th« north head of the river 



BEL 



Guama, which falls into the river of the Amazons. See 

 Para. 



Belem Cipe, a high deep point, on the coaft of Galhcia, 

 in Spain, about N.N.E. from cape Finiflerre, between which 

 \i the projeding point of cape de Torianc, bearing foiith- 

 vvcll four leagues from Belem. The principal rock of tliis 

 rugged point, appearing like a black tower, is called tiie 

 Monk, or Munich. 



BELEMNITA, in Natural H'iftory, a fpecies of Nau- 

 TiLus, in the tejiacea order of -vi^rnhs, with an uiiitorin, 

 fmootli, conic, and acute fhcU, frequent among the foffils of 

 Europe. .See the next article. 



BELEMNITE, or Tmunderstone, Pfe'dfe'in, Domier- 

 J!ei>i, Germ. Belemn'ite, Pierre de foiidre, Dadyle, Fr. />.-• 

 lemnlla. Lapis I.yncurius, Idaus DaClyhis, Lapis Cerautiitis, 

 Lat. 



The belemnlte is a foffil, which has obtained its name from 

 the Greek Bi?,^;, an arrow, on account of its rtfembiance to 

 an arrow-head. Its lengthened conical or fpindle (haped 

 figure fuggclled a likcnefs to the finger, hence the name 

 daftylus. The ignorant fuperftition of fome of the ancients 

 attributed the origin of this fubllaiice to tlie congealed urine 

 of the Lynx, on account of its lliong fmell when pounded or 

 fcraped; by others it was fuppofed to be one of the materials 

 of the thunderbolt, and it has derived names from both thcfe 

 circumllances. 



The form of the bclemnite is generally intermediate be- 

 tween a long cylinder and a very acute-angled cone ; the apex 

 is a plain rounded point ; the bale is fomewhat concave : at a 

 dillance between the bafe and apex, varying in length from 

 one-third to one-llxth of the whole, the diameter of this foffil 

 begins to increafe towards the bafe in a confiderably greater 

 ratio than it did from the apex: the moft correft idea, there- 

 fore, of its figure, will be formed by imagining a truncated 

 cone terminated by another much longer and more acute- 

 angled, rounded off at the extremity inllead of coming to a 

 {liarp point. It is by no means common, however, to tind 

 beleninites thus perfeft, being for the moft part broken off 

 at one extremity, and not untrequcntly at both. Confider- 

 able variations are cbftrved in the form of this foffil : it is 

 fometimcs expanded and fomewhat flattened at the extremity, 

 or is nearly cylindrical, orenlargcd and rounded off attheapex, 

 fo as to releiuble a club. In the flattened varieties a longitu- 

 dinal furrow ou each fide is occalionally obferved. The colour 

 of the belemnite is generally brownifh yellow, witli a tranf- 

 parency refembling alabafter. It ufually confiils of calcare- 

 ous fpar, mingled however with animal matter; for when ex- 

 pofcd to a red heat it gives out an odour like burnt horn : 

 fometinies it occurs converted into flint, at other times is 

 found filled with pyrites, or even, according to Volkmann, 

 (Silefia Siibterran. § 155-) with galena. 



If a longitudinal feftion is made of a perfedl belemnite, it 

 will appear to be compofed, like a cow's horn, of a number of 

 elongated conical lamellae inferted one into the other, covering 

 a core or alveolus, alio of a conical ihape, but extending 

 never more than a third of the length from the bafe towards 

 the apex. A crofs fraAure of this fofUl beyond the alveolus 

 exhibits a number of rays converging from the circumference 

 towards the centre, and as many concentric circles as there 

 are conical lamellte. 



The alveolus of the belemnite is a conical body, divided 

 tranfverfel) |iiito cells by bony parietes refembling watch glaffes ; 

 the centre of each ot which, according to Piatt, Rolliuis, 

 Sage, &c. is perforated to receive a tube or hphunculus, 

 which paffes from the apex to the bafe of the alveolus, and 

 thus communicates with all the cells, in the fame manner as 

 is obfervable in the nautilus, the ammonite, and orthocera- 



litc : 



