B L A 



B L A 



Blanc 2450 loifes, or 15,673 Englifh feet, or nearly three imrrmnities as any other herald ; and his oHice is annexed, 

 EngliOl miles above the k-vcl of the fea. By M. de SaufTurc's ' ' ' " ^ •• - - •> ■' n- 



experimenls with the hvgromtter, the air on the trp of 

 Mont Blanc coiitaiiied fix times lefs iiumidity than that of Ge- 

 neva, and to tlie extreme drynefs of it he attributes the burn- 

 ing thirll which he and his comjjaiiiiins experienced. But 

 the refiilt of his experiments fcems very diOerent from the 

 fyftem of meteorology, publiHied by M. de I. vie. See Hv- 

 OROMKTER. It requires iialf an hour to boil water o-i the 

 top of thir, mountain ; whereas 15 or 16 minutes are fufH- 

 cient at Geneva, and 14 or 15 by the fea-fide. Water 

 •boiled at 6S.993 degrees of a thermometer, which riles to 

 So with the barometer 27 French inches high. By experi- 

 ments with the eleftrometcr, M. de tJauffure found, that the 

 eleftric'ty of the air on the fummit of the mountain was 

 polltive. The wind on tiie fummit was north, and very 



united, and perpetually confolidated with the office of genea* 

 logiil of the faid order. See Genealogist of the Bath. 



BLANCA, in Geography, a fmall illand in the Wcit In- 

 dies, north of Marsjanta, low and uninhabited ; having fa» 

 vannahs of long gral's, pknty of guanas, and fome trees of 

 lignum vitae ; but chiefly remarkable for its turtle fifhery. 

 N. lat. 11° 20'. \V. long. 64° 10'. 



Elanca, or Blanche, an idand in the gulf of Mexico, 

 near the ccait. N. lat. 25°. W. long. 62" 14'. — Alfo, a 

 river in the province of Chiapa, in the Audience of Mexico, 

 in New Spain. Its water, though clear, is laid to have a 

 petrifying quality. 



BLANCARD, Stephen, in Bioxrnphy, was fon of 

 Nicholas Blancard ofLevden,by whom he was initlatid into 

 lilt knowledge of philofophy and medicine. At a proper 



piercing ; but fouthward of the ridge, the temperature of age he went to Breda, and thence to Franeker, where he 

 the air was agreeable. The experiments with lime-water, took his degree of doctor in mtdicinc, about the year 1678. 

 and with the cauftic alkali, (Itewed tliat the nir was mixed Wc foon after find him fettled at Am.llerdam, where he dedi- 



vvith atmofpheric acid, or fixed air. 



Thedifficulty of refpiration, experienced by M.de Saulfuve 

 and his companions, has been afcribed by lome to fatigue, 

 and not to the rarefaftion of the air ; but his obfervations 



cated his time to the prafticc of his art, but principally to 

 writing or compUing a great variety of anatomical and me- 

 dical works, of wliicli the moft valuable, Haller fays, is his 

 " Anatomia praAica rationalis, f. variorum cadaverum morbis 



prove, that the latter was the caufe both of the difiiculty of denatoruin anatomica infpe£tio," publifhed 1688, i2mo, 



breathing, and the quicknefs of the pulfe. This, indeed. But he has, even in this work, introduced many otfervationa 



was fo confiderable, that the pulfe of one of the guides, taken from other wi iters, without acknowledging it. The 



after continuing four hours on the fummit, was 98, of the cafes here defcribed are 200 in number, and in general, cu- 



fei-vant, 112, and of M. de Sauffure himfelf, 100 in a minute ; rious and deferving notice. Geolicke, however, not only 



whereas at Chamouny they were 49, 60, and 72 refpeftively. 

 M. de Sauffure's obfervations confute an opinion, which is 

 very common, with refpeft to the change of the ienies of fmel- 

 ling and tafte fuppofed to take place on high mountains. He 

 tried the experiment on different mountains, and both the tafte 



accuies him of plagiarifm, and of mutilating and fpoiling the 

 obfervations taken from other anatomills, but he blames him 

 for publidiing fo many of his works in the Dutcli, his native 

 language, which cannot fail, in the end, he favs, of being 

 highly injurious to the profeflion of medicine, by enabling 



and fmell of bread, wine, meat, and fruit, appeared to him and perfons to pradtiie who have not previoufly received a liberal 



to his attendants not at all different. As to found becoming education. This is, however, now done pretty generally all 



■weaker, this circumllancc is not to be attributed to any im- over Europe, and neccffanly at the leaft in this country, where 



paired Hate of the organ of hearing, but to the rarefied air, there are fo many perfons prattifing in every branch of medi- 



which both refills Icfs and vibrates lefs. Belides, on an infu- cine who are incapable of reading any other language than 



lated fummit there are no echoes, nor iolidobjtcfs to repel the their own, the law here authorizing any perfons who may 



found. Thefc concurring caufes rendered the founds on the chuieit topractife medicine, without examination, excepting 



top of Mont Blanc remarkably feeble; the report of a dif- phyficians andiurgeons refidingin theneighbcurhood of Lon- 



charged pillol being equal in ftrength only to that of a fmall don, or of the two univerfities. We fiiall only mention one 



Chinefc cracker let off in a room. other of this writer's multifarious prodiidlicns, iiis " Lexicon 



Soon after M. de Sauffure's expedition, Mr. Beaufoy, an Medicum," containing explanations of all the terms iifed in 



Enghlh gentleman, fucceeded in an attempt to afcend Mont medicine, furgery, and anatomy, firll publifliedin 1679, 8vo. 



Blanc; but it was attended with peculiar difficulty, arifing Thishaspaffed throughnumerous editions, andlately, in 1777, 



from the enlargement of the chafms in the ice. An account by the care of Jac. Fred. Ifcnflam, is increafed to nearly 



of this enterprife was communicated to the Royal Society, in treble its original bulk, making two large volumes, Svo. 



Blancard's works were coUetled and publiihed at Lcyden, 

 under the title of ■' Opera omnia theorctica et pradica," in 

 1 vol. 4to. 1 70 1. Haller Bib. Med. Chirurg. Anat. Botan. 

 Eloy. Dia. Hift. 



BLANCARDS, a name given to certain linen cloths 

 thus called, becaufe the thread ufed to weave them, has been 

 half-blanched or bleached before it was ufed. They are 

 manufaftured in Normandy, particularly in the places which 



Blanc, Jlfant, gives denomination to a department 

 formed of Savoy. It is bounded on the north by the depart- 

 ments of Lemnn and of Ain ; on theeaft, by Piedmont ; on 

 the fontli, by Piedmont and the departments of Upper Alps 

 and of Ifere ; and on the weft, by thofeof Ifere and of Ain. 

 Its fupcrficies is about 1,254,796 fquare acres, or 640,427 

 heftares ; and its population about 283,106 individuals. 



It it divided into four communal diftrifts, viz. Chambery, are in the dillrift, or under the jurifdiiition of Pont-Audemer, 

 its capital, Annecy, Moutiers, and St. Jean de Mau- Bernay, and Lifieux. 

 rienne. BLANCAT, St. in Geography, a tov.'n of France, in the 



BL.A'i^C-eiiBeny, Le, a town of France, and principal department of the Upper Garonne, 4 leagues W. N. W. of 

 place of a diftrift, in the department of the Indre, contain- St. Gaudens. 



ing 3850 inhabitants. The population of the canton amounts BLANCH, a cape on the French coaft, N.W. of Calais, 

 to 10,602 ; and its territory comprehends 3075 kiliometres almoft oppofite to Dover, on the Englifh coalL 

 and 10 communes ; 6 leagues W. of Argenton. Blanch, or White IJland, one of the large iflands on the 



Y>i'K\iC-Courfier Herald, created by patent on the revival coaft of France, lying along the nior<: of the projefting 

 of the moft honourable military order of the Bath, 1725, coaft, to the N. E. of Morlaix. 



" to attend the firft and principal companion of the order Blanch yirw/, or Blank y^zrw, in Law, 2i'tuhite faring 

 for the time b;ing." He enjoys all rights, privileges, and that is, where the rent was to be paid in filver, not in cattle. 



In 



