B E R 



B E R 



99.5 98.5 99.25 



In a comnion fire the bcrvll undergoes fcarcelv any chanrre 

 of colour, but it lofes its tranfpareiiry, and flies to pieces. 

 At a more intenle lie;it it becomes opaque and milk white, 

 but Oiows no figns of f'iilo:i ; by the iifll'lance. however, of 

 oxygen gas, it melts without much difficulty. Borax is a 

 pcrfcft Hux for it. 



The beryll is found i:i Dpouria, iinon the borders of China, 

 near Ncrtlciiinll;, -alio in the granitic ridge between the n- 

 vtrs Onon and Ononliorfa. It is found in rivers^ accompany- 

 ing rock-ci-ylhd, uidurated clay, m'e:i, fluov, wolfram, and 

 arienical pyrites. 



The beryll, when cut and polillied, has a ronfulerable 

 luftre ; but it» colour is for the moft part but indifiercnt. It 

 is ranked among the gtms, but its value is trifling when com- 

 pared with the ruby, fapphire, topa?, &c. H:'.\!y. Ejn- 

 merling. Widenmaun. 



Beryll, Orienlul. See Co r u n D u M - 



Beryll, Brnfilian. See Tourmalin. 



Beryll, Beryllus, is alio a name given to a kind of 

 cryftal looking-glafs^ fuperilitiouny conftcrated to the pur- 

 pofes of conjuring and divination. Hence alfo the term 

 h€)-yllij}ica, uled for the mylterioas art of feeing future or di- 

 ftant events in fuch glaffes. 



BERVLLINA, in Enlomologv, a fpecies of CwRVsrs, 

 found in Europe. The head is greenifli blue ; thorax blue, 

 greenilh in front, behind bidentated ; abdomen green, change- 

 p.ble to rufous and blue ; legs blue, v;ith tellaceous dots.. 

 Linniu"!, &c. 



BERYLLINUS, a fpeciea of Cimex (Splnofis) ; tho- 

 rax obtufcly Ipined,. and dentated on the fides ; tipi of the 

 fpines and bilid (hitld of the head greenifli blue. Linn. 



BERYLLUS, in Bw^r,7phy, a learned and pious bifhop- 

 of Bollra, or Bozrah,, in Arabia, flouriflied about the year 

 2.30, and taught that Clirill had no proper fubfillence or 

 divinity dillinil from that of llie fatlier, before his birth of 

 Mary ; or that Chrift did not exill before Mai-y, but that a 

 fpirit iffuing from God himlelf, and' therefi>re fnperior to all 

 human fouls, as being a portion of the divine nature, wa.s 

 united to him at the time of his birth. Many conferences 

 were held with I'eryllus on this opinion ; and at la!l it was 

 fo complttcly refuted by Origen, and fo much to the 

 fatisfatiion of Beryllus hinifelf, that he gave up the caule, 

 and returned into the bofom of the church. The afts of 

 thefe conferences, were long prefcrved, and the dialogue be- 

 tween Origen and Beryllus was extant in the time of Jerom. 

 Eufcbius alfo refers to them. Ecel. Hill. 1. vi. c. 33. 

 Cave's Hill. Lit. vol, i. p. 12;. Mofh. Eccl. Hift. vol.i. 

 p. 306. 



BiiRYLLus, m En.'omoiogy, a fpecies of Ciy. ex [Roliin- 

 ihttis), that inhabits India. It is of the middle (v/.i: ; pale; 

 Iiorder of the thorax orange ; wing-cafes with a ferruginous 

 Ipot, and marginal black lines. Fabricius. 



BERVTIS, in Amtatl Geography, a town of Afia Minor, 

 in the Troade. Steph. Byz. 



BERYTUS, B.-iiROUT, Berout, or Beirut, a town 

 of Phcenicia, fituaced about 24 miles fouth of Byhhis. 

 Stephanus Byz. fays, that it was fo called on accotint of its 

 waters. Others deduce its name from Beroe, as it was 

 £s,metimes called by the poets, who was a nymph of the 



ocean, and tl\e r.r.rfe of Semele. Bryant fupjjofei it to }u\e 

 been derived from Baris, Barit, or Barith, the ancient name 

 of the ark, but properly fignifving a covenant ; and that it 

 was the city of the ark, where the Canaanite or Phoenician 

 deity Baal-Berith hud a temple, and where the rites of his 

 worlhip were performed. This city is not much inferior to 

 Byblus in antiquity, fince it is laid to have exifted in the 

 t'nie of Cronus. The kings of E'j;vpt had pofleflTion of it ; 

 but when Antiochus the Great fubdued this province, it be- 

 came fubicft to the kings of Syria, and remainid under the 

 fuccelfors of this prince till the time of Diodotus, denomi- 

 nated "Tiyphor,," who entirely deltroyed it about 140 

 years before the Cliriftian asra. The Romans, after the con., 

 qucil of Syria, rebuilt it near the fpot where the ancient 

 city had ftood. Agrippa, the graudlon of Herod tlie Great, 

 decorat-ed it at an immtnfe expence with a theatre and amphi- 

 theatre, baths, and porticoes, and ctlablilhcd in it magnifi- 

 cent games, mentioned by JofcpKus in his '* Antiquities." 

 It was in this city that Herod the Great, by permiflion of 

 Augullus, held an aflemlil'v which condemnt-d to death his 

 fons Alexander and Ariflobuin?, under the falle accufation 

 of Antipater, their eldell brother, for having confpired 

 againil the life of their fiuher. Titus, the fon of Vefpafian, 

 came to Berytus, after the capture of Jerufalem, to cele- 

 brate the feafl of the birth of his fatlier ; according to Jo- 

 feplius " De Bello." Berytus enjoyed the privilege of the 

 •" jus Italicum," according to a law of the Oigell. Pliny 

 (H.- N. 1. V. c. 20.) and Jolephus (De Bell. Jud.) informs us, 

 tliat it was a Roman colony. Under tne Roman emperors, 

 Berytus was no lefs famous for the lludy of the law in the 

 eaft, than Rome was in the weft ; and hence it was ftyled by 

 the emperor Juftinian " the m.nther and nurfe of the laws." 

 The civil law was taught here in Greek, as it was at Rome 

 ill Latin. It is not certainly known by whom the academy 

 was founded ; but that it flourifhcd long before the reign of 

 the emperor Dioclefian, is manitell from a decree of that 

 prince. According to Htineccius (Jur. Rom. Hill. p. 351 

 — 356.), the fplendour of this fehool nwy be computed to 

 have lalled from the third to the middle of the fixth century ; ■ 

 and its inltltution has been afcribcd to Alexander Severus. 

 From this academy the two famous civilians Doiotheus and ' 

 Anatotius were called by Juftinian, that they, in concur- 

 rence with others, might be employed in comparing the Di- 

 gefts ; and that prince would allow of no other academies, 

 but tliofe of Rome, Berytus, and Conilantinople, to ex- 

 plain the I'aws. This city was overthrown by an earthquake 

 in the ?5th year of Juftinian, A. D. 551, July 9 ; and as 

 the fchools of Berytus were filled with the riling fpiriti of the 

 age,manv youths were probably loft on thisdilaftrousoccafion, 

 who might have hved to be the icourges or guardians of their 

 country. The metals of this city are bronze, gold, and 

 filver. After it became a Roman colony, its medals had a 

 legend. Col. Fel. Ber. i.e. " Colonia fclix Berytus,"' 

 and were ftruek in honour of Cxfar, Anguftus, Tibetius, ■ 

 Claudius, and other Rnmau emperors. For the prefeut Rate; 

 ofBei7lus, fee Bairout. The fubnrbs are ahnoft as large 

 as the city itfelf, confilliug of gardens, with a houfe for the 

 owner in each ; and theft, iuterl'perfed amang the numeroui 

 fruit-trees, particularly olives and figs, which this fertile foil 

 fupports, give the whole a picturelqiie and bcautifal appear- 

 ance. European veffels, in the fiimmer, anchor near a fmall 

 point of land, which runs into tlie fea before the city, and 

 is called " Beirut point ;" but in the winter, they call anchor 

 to the north, in a kind of gulf, which is fiieltered from 

 the north and eaft^wjnd by the mountain, and is faid to be 

 very ferene. The ftaple commodity of the country is raw 

 filk, which iscarriid to Cairo, Damafcus, and Aleppo, and 



part 



