B I Z 



appellation Urucn, or Urucueira. In SpaniiTi it is Anato, 

 or Atolle. In the Mcicican language, Achiotl. Scaligjr 

 calls it aibor finiiim rtgiiiidorum, becaiifc tlic MfXicans made 

 plans, and marked tlic boundariea of their lands on tablets, 

 with tlu- colour prepared from the berries. Tournefort 

 named it Mitella, from the rtfemblance of the capfule, when 

 open, to a mitre. For the preparation of the drug, and its 

 ufes, fee Annotto. The bark of the bixa makes good 

 ropes for common ufe in the Weft Indies"; and pieces ot the 

 wood are uftd by the Indians to procure tire by friction. 



PropavMkn ami Cullurc. This plant is propagated by 

 feeds, m'ay be ealily cultivated, and is planted in many parts 

 of Jamaica, Bavb'adoes, Cayenne, &c. in rich foils, and 

 Ihady fituations, (liooting luxuriantly near rivulets. It is 

 alfo propagated with us by feeds, which are annually brought 

 ID great plenty from the Weft Indies. Thefe (hould be 

 fown in a fmail pot tilled with light rich earth, and plunged 

 into a hot-bed of tanner's bark, where, witii proper tempc 

 rature, the plants will appear in about a month ; when they 

 are about an inch high, they ftiould be taken out and fcpa- 

 rated without injuring their roots, and each planted in a pot 

 of light rich earth, and plunged into a freih hot-bed of tan- 

 ner's bark, iTiading them every day till they have taken 

 root ; afterwards they fhouM be treated like other plants of 

 the iame country, by admitting frefli air to them in propor- 

 tion to the warmtii of the feafon ; and when the heat of tiie 

 tan declines, it (liould be turned up to the bottom, and, if 

 neceflfary, frefh tan be added to renew the heat. The plants 

 mnft be refrelhed with water three times a week in fummer, 

 but not in great quantities, as with much wet their roots 

 would rot. Plants that are laifcd early in fpring, and pro- 

 perly managed, will be a foot and a half high in autumn, 

 when they (hould be removed into the bark ftove, and plunged 

 into the tan-bed. During tlie winter, they muft have but 

 little water, and while the plants are young, they fliould be 

 kept warm ; otherwife tliey will caft their leaves, lofe their 

 tops, and appear unlightly. They muft be kept con'.lantly 

 in the bark ftove ; fome of them rife feven or tight feet 

 high, with llrong ftems and large heads ; but feldom pro- 

 duce flowers in Europe. Martyn's Miller. 



BIX.i'E, in Entomology, a fpecies of Papilio {Pleh. Urb.), 

 with roundirti, brown wings, grcenifli at the bafe, and a 

 milky band on the under tide of the pofterior wings. Linn. 

 Fabr. &c. Inhabits America. 



BIZ.'^CIUM, in yincinil Geography. See Byzacium.^ 



BIZAM, CnAT-BiiAM, in Zoology, the French name 

 of the Linnxan viverra llgrina, which fee. 



BIZAMO, in GeogriiphyyTi. kingdom of Abyfllnia, fituate 

 between the branches of the Nile, called the White and the 

 Blue rivers, about N. lat. 10° 15'. and between 35° and 36° 

 Ji. long. 



BIZANTIA, a town of European Turkey, in the 

 province of Moldavia, 40 miles fouth-wcft of I'irlah. 



BIZARRE, Fr. AKixQlmg capricious, &c. a term ufed 

 among Florins for a particular kind of carnation, which has 

 its flowers ftriped or variegated with three or four colours. 



BIZE, in Geography, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Audc, and diftrifl of Narbonne, 10 miles N. W. 

 of Narbonne. 



BIZERTA. See Biserta. 



BIZES, in Aoc'teiit Geography, a river of Eithynia, be- 

 tween Pli'lis and Rhebas. Aminian. Marcell. 



BIZOCHI, orBisocHi, in Ecclefiajlkal Hl/iory, a feft 



Beguin 

 name is fwnied froni bifaccus, on account of a double bud 



B L A 



get, or wallet, wherewith they begged their living. See . 

 Beghardi, andTERTiARiES. 



BIZONE, in ylncietit Geography, a city of Lower Moe- 

 fia, 80 ftadia north of Dionyfopohs, mentioned by Pliny 

 (1. iv. c. 1 2 . ) as having been deftroyed by an earthqual»j. 



BIZONNES, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Ifere, and chief place of a canton, in 

 the diftridt of La Tour du Pin, 12 miles northweft of 

 Moirans. 



bIZU, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Morocco, 

 feated on a mountain in a fertile country, 25 leagues north 

 of Morocco. 



BIZYA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Thrace, and 

 capital of the country called Aftica, at fome diftance from 

 the fea, N.W. of Salmydeffus. 



BizvA, in Geograplyy, a town of European Turkey, ia 

 Romania, 50 miles eaft of Adrianople. 



BLACK, fomething opake and porous, that imbibes the 

 greateft part of the light that falls on it, reflefts little or 

 none, and therefore exhibits no colour. See Blackness. 



Bodies of a black colour are found more inflammable, be- 

 caufe the rays of light falling on them are not reflected out- 

 wards, but enter the body, and are often reflefted and re- 

 fracted within it, till they be llifled and loft. They are alfo 

 found lighter, creteris paribus, than white bodies, being more 

 porous. It may be added, that clothes dyed of this colour 

 wear out fafter than thofe of any other, becaufe their fub- 

 ftance is more penetrated and corroded by the vitriol necef- 

 fary to ftrike their dye, than other bodies are by the galls 

 and alum which fuffice for them. 



I'he inflammability of black bodies, and their dlfpofition 

 to acquire heat, beyond thofe of other colours, are eafily 

 evinced. Some appeal to the experiment of a white and 

 black glove worn in the fame fun ; the conlequence will be, 

 a very fenfibly greater degree of heat in the one hand than 

 the other. Others allege the phenomena of burning-glaflTcs, 

 by which black bodies are always found to kindle fooneft : 

 thus, a buniing-glafs, too weak to have any vifible effcft at 

 all upon white paper, will readily kindle the fame paper 

 rubbed over with ink. Mr. Boyle gives other proofs ftill 

 more obvious : he to- k a large tile, and having whited over 

 one half of its fuperiicies, and blacked the other, expofed 

 it to the fun ; where having let it lie a convenient time, he 

 found, that whilft the whited part remained ftill cool, the 

 black part was grown very hot. For farther fatisfadtion, 

 the fame author has fometimes left on the fuiface of the tik 

 a part retaining its native red, and expofing all to the fun, 

 has found the latter to have contrafted a heat in comparifon 

 of the white part, but inferior to that of the black. So alio 

 on his expofing two pieces of filk, one white, the other 

 black, in the fa.ne window to the fun, he often found the 

 latter confiderably heated, when the former has remained 

 coo!. It is obfervablc Ukewife, that rooms hung with 

 black are not only darker, but warmer than others. Boyle's 

 Works abridg. torn. i. p. 144. and torn. ii. p. 36. To all 

 which may be added, that a virtuofo of unfufpefted cre- 

 dit allured Mr. Boyle, that, in a hot climate, he had, by 

 carefully blackening the fliells of eggs, and expofing them 

 to the fun, ften thsir. thereby well roa<>ed in a fliort 

 time. 



Dr. Watfon, the prefent bifliop of LandafF, covered the 

 balb of a thermometer with a black coating of Indian ink, 

 in confcqucnce of which the mercui7 rofe ten degrees. Phil. 

 Tranf. vol. Ixiii. part i. p. 40. 



Black clotiies heat more, and dry fooner in the fun, 

 than white clothes. Black is therefore a bad colour for 

 clothes in hot climates ; but a fit colour for the linings 



of 



