B E Z 



B E Z 



bordure is charged with eight bczTiiits, that being the hmited 

 number, you need not cxprcfi the number, but fay, a b'jr- 

 durcfuble be^anUe. 



BEZANTLIER, fignifies thefecond branch of the horn 

 of an hart or back., that ftioots from the main beam, and is 

 the next above the brow-antlcr. 



BEZARA, in Ancient Geography-, a town of Gahlee near 

 the fea, fouth of Ptolcmais. 



BEZDELKINO, in Gtogiaphy, a town of Siberia, 80 

 miles north of Balaganfkoi. 



BEZDZIEZ, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of 

 Brzefc, 24 miles well of Pinfic. 



BEZE', a town of France, fituate near the the fource of 

 a river of the fame name, in tiie department cf the Cote 

 d'Or, and chief place of a canton, in the dillridl of Is-fur 

 Tille, z\ leagues E.S.E. of it. 



BEZEK, or Bezaka, in Ancient Geography, the place 

 where Saul reviewed his army, before he marched againit Ja- 

 bedi-Gilead. 1 Sam. xi. 8. Eufebius ir.entions two cities of 

 this name, near one another, 7 miles from Sichem, in the 

 way to Scythopolis. 



BEZENSTEIN, or Petzensteim, in Geography, a town 

 of Germany, in the circle of Bavari?, and territory of Nu- 

 remberg, ig milrs N. E. of Nuremberg. 



BEZER, \n Ancient Geography^ a citv beyond Jordan, over- 

 againft Jericho, in the wildernefs affigned by JVIofes to the 

 tribe of Reuben, intended by JoOiua to be a city of refuge, 

 and given to theLevites of Gerfhom's family. Dcut. iv. 43. 

 Jofh. XX. 8. The vulgate in Jjoth places denominates it BnJ'or. 

 Eufebius confounds it with Boftra of Arabia, which lay much 

 farther to the ealf. See Bostra, 



BEZETH, a city of Paleftine, on this fide Jordan, in 

 the vicinity of Jerufalem, which Bacchidts furpriftd, and 

 the inhabitants of which he threw into a pit ; probably the 

 fame with Bezecath. 1 Maccab. vii. 19. 



BEZETHA, or Betzet'a, a divilion or part of Jerufa- 

 lem, fituated on a mountain, and encompaffed with walls, 

 being, as Jofephus fays, a new city attached to the old one, 

 and called in Greek Kaij-xoXi,-, Cainopolis. It lay north of 

 Jeriifaltm and the temple. 



BEZETZ, in Geography'. See Besketsk. 



BEZHLEN, a town of Tranfylvania, 12 miles N.N.E. 

 of Biftriz. 



BEZIERS, a city of France, and principal place of a 

 diflrift, in the department of the Herault, feated on the left 

 bank of the Orbc, not farfromthc grand canal. Etfore the 

 revolution, it was the refidcnce of a governor, and the fee of a 

 bilhop, fuffragan of Narbonne; its cathedral was Inial!, but 

 beautiful ; it had befidts a collegiate church, feveral reiigi- 

 ous houfes, two hofpitals, a college founded by the inhabi- 

 tants in 1599, and an academy of fciences and belles lettres. 

 It is furro'jndcd by a wall, flanked with old towers, and de- 

 cayed ba!lions. The number of inhabitants in both its fcc- 

 tions is efli.mated at' 14,211, and the population is fmall in 

 proportion to its extent. The canton of the firft feAion has 

 11,308, and that of the fecond 13,147 perfons. The former 

 canton has 9, and the latter 7 communes. The territorial 

 extent of both comprehends 360 kiliometrcs. The fituation 

 is beautiful, and it commands a view of feveral fluiccs of the 

 grand canal of Languedoc. In the Not. Imp. it is called 

 *♦ Civitas Bitcrenfium, Bhterra Sept'manorum." In the 5th 

 centui-y it was ravaged by the Vandals ; by the Saracens, in 

 720; by Charles Marte!, in 737 ; and by Simon, count Mont- 

 fort, in 1209; who, in the crufadeagainil the Albigenfcs, took 

 it by affault, and put more than 50,000 of the inhabitants to 

 the fword. Since this time it has not recovered its ancient 

 lullre. It was re-united to the crown by S. Louis, in 1247. 



Its territory is fertile in corn, oil, and wine. It has alfo mi- 

 neral waters. N. lat. 43'"' 20' 41". E. long. 3^ 12' 35". 



BEZIRA. SeeBAziRA. 



BEZOAR, Bezoard, primarily denotes an antidote, or 

 countcr-poifon. Tiie word is formed from the Perfian/a- 

 aahar, which denotes the fame, /a fignifying /7ja;/7/?y and 

 zahar, poifon. 



Bezoar, Lapis Be%oardicus, is a term applied in a gene- 

 ral way to various fubllanccs found in the llomach, inteitines,. 

 and other internal cavities of the bodies of quadrupeds. 



The true bezoar, however, is a calculous concretion, 

 ufually formed in the ftomach of feme of thofe animals which 

 ruminate, or chew the cud. There are two forts of the be- 

 zoar ftone; one is brought from the Eall Indies, and Perfia, 

 and thence known under the name of 0;7c7j/:j/ bezoar. The 

 other kind comes from the Spanith Welt Indies, or South 

 America, and is called Occidental bezoar. The Oriental is 

 confidered by far the more valuable kind, and is exceedingly 

 fcarce, even in India. The larger the ilone the more highly 

 it is elleemed ; its price increafing, like that of the diamond, 

 in proportion to its fize. A ftone of one ounce has been 

 fold in India for 100 livres, and one of four ounces and a 

 quarter for 2coo livres. The price of the fmaller ftones, in 

 Germany, in the year 160c, was from 16 to 32 ducats the 

 ounce ; but it had then much declined. The larger bezoara 

 had no regular price, being often enormoufly dear. As 

 long as it retained its fancied reputation, as an antidote to 

 every kind of poiion, and as a cordial for the fupport of life 

 under the moft trying circumftances of difeafe, its price was 

 advanced beyond its weight in gold, and it found a high 

 place for many centuries among the moft coftly colledtions of 

 precious ftones. The lize varied from that of a pea to a 

 hen's egg, or even larger. Boetius relate?, that in his time 

 the emperor Rodolph II. poffelTtd one of the Cze of a 

 goofe's egg, which he ordered to be hollowed out into a 

 cup, whe« the nucleus was found to be a fmall mafs of herbs 

 ftiU ftrongly aromatic. The moll anciently known bezoar 

 ftones were procured from the ftomachs of goats feeding in 

 the mountains of Perila, and thofe from the mountain goat 

 were in fuch high requcft, that the emperor Shah-Abbas 

 (who died in 1628,) claimed all above a certain ftandard as- 

 a royalty, and appointed coUeClors for the purpofe. The 

 Oriental bezoars pafTcd th'^ough the hands of the Anr.eniaa 

 and Peifi:in merchant?, ar.d were formerly brought to Eu- 

 rope in conlidtrable quantities. In the eall, thr.fe were the 

 moft efteemed that were obtained from goats feeding in the 

 mountains, as the aromatic herbs found there were fuppoftd 

 to add much to the virtues of the calculus. 



Authors difagree with refpeA to the animal in which the 

 genuine oriental bezoar is tound ; fomc attribute it to a 

 fpecies of goat, others to the antilope genus. Moft natu- 

 raliils allow this fubftance to belong to the gazelle, {Antilops 

 Ga%e'la, Gmel.) Aldrovandus calls this fpecies of antilope, 

 hircus hezoardicus ; L.\r\nxuf , capra Lezoardica ; and Pennant, 

 the iezoar antilope. Pallas, however, in his Spicilegia Zoolo«. 

 gia, gives the fame name to the Egyptian antilope, {^Anti- 

 lope Oryx, Gmel.) Cuvier defcribes the oriental bezoar as 

 being found in the inteftines of the capra sgagrus of the 

 Linnean fyftem, and Gmelin afcribes it to the capricome 

 goat. By the account of Clufius, the animal furniftiing this 

 concretion would feem to be larger than the goat, and more 

 relembiing the Nylghau. There can be little queftion but 

 fimilar fubftances have been occaftonally met with in each of 

 thefe animal?, and in feveral other fpecies. 



The bezoar ftone, when genuine, varies much in its form ; 

 this depending upon the figure. of the nucleus, upon which 

 the calculous matter is depoliced, there being generally foine 



fbreiga 



