B L I 



It is a common habit with farriers praflifing medicine, 

 to mix corrofive fiiblimate with their bhfter ; and, where it 

 may be defirable to dellroy the fliin, this niould be ufed, 

 biit not otherwife ; for it is no vclicatory, but a mod violent 

 caullic, foon dcftroying any hving matter with which it comes 

 in contacl ; and we have fecn, fn,m the ignorant ufe of it, the 

 moll deplorable efFefts.byitsbringing- ofTextenfive floughings 

 of the Ikin, and even penetrating to the parts bcjicath, and fo 

 injuring them, as ever after to render the horfc unfervice- 

 able. 



Tliere is an effeft produced by the cantharides on the 

 fliin of the liorfe, which, as far as we know, has not 

 met with much attention ; though it is very remarkable, 

 and not analogous to its efl'cfts on the human Ikin: it is that 

 prodigious thickening of the integuments, after tiie opera- 

 tion of the bliller, which fometimes does not fubfide for 

 many weeks, being a great defightment : a bliller, therefore, 

 if one could be devifed not producing thefe cffccls, would 

 be a defirable thing in the veterinary Pharmacopeia. This 

 effeft, we fhould, however, remark, is not conftant. 



BLITAS, IvAS, in Geography, a cluftcr of fmall iflands 

 in Nicaragua lake, in Spanifii North America. 



BLITH. See Blyth. 



BLITHE, a river of England, which runs into the 

 Trent, 4 miles N. E. of Litchfield. 



BLITUM, from BXviTov, abj'uienclum, ft only to he thronun 

 away, in Bolnny. Lin. Gen. n. 14. .Schreb. iS. JufT. 

 86. Chenopodio-Morus, Boerh. Morocarpus, Rupp. 

 Eng. Elite. Fr. Blete. Clafs and Order, Mov.andna di- 

 gymn. Nat. Ord. Hnloraceic. AtripUces, Juff. Gen. Char. 

 Cal. perianth three-parted, fpreading, permanent ; div^- 

 fions ovate, equal, two more gaping than the other. Cor, 

 rone. Stam. filaments ietaceous, longer than the calyx, 

 within the middle divifion, ereft ; anther twin. Pill, germ 

 ovate, acuminate ; ilyles two, ereft, gaping, the length 

 of the ftamen ; ftigmas fimplc. Pec. capi'ule very thin, ra- 

 ther the crull of the feed, ovate, a little compreffcd, con- 

 tained within the calyx now become a berry. Seed fingle, 

 globular, comprefied, the fize of a capfule. 



Elf. Char. Cal. trifiJ. Pet. none. Seed one, with a 

 berried calyx. 



Species I. B. capitatum, berry-headed draw-berry blite, 

 Lin. Spec. 6. Reich. 11. Hall. helv. n, 1571. Morocar- 

 pus capitatus. Scop. Carn. n. 3. Atriplex. Bauh. pin. 119. 

 n. 7. Prodr. 5S. n. 2. Ger. emac. 326. n. 8. Park. 748. 

 f. 1. Mor. hill. 3. 606. f. ^. t. J2. f. II. Rail hill. 197. 

 B. ^, 7. " Heads fpiked terminal." An annual plant, with 

 kaves refembling thofe of Spinach, and ftalk rifing, in gar- 

 dens, about 2^ feet high ; but in a wild ilate, upright and 

 only about a foot high ; flowers on the upper part ifluing in 

 fmall heads at every joint, and terminated by a duller of the 

 fame ; when the flowers are pall, thefe heads fwcll to the 

 fize of wood-flrawben-ies, and when ripe have the fame ap- 

 pearance, full of a purple juice, which llains the hands, and 

 formerly much ufed in cookery, for colouring puddings, &c. 

 feed black when ripe : commonly called llrawberry blite, 

 ftrawbeny fpinach, or bloody fpinach, and, by fome, berry- 

 bearing orach. A native of Swiflcrland, the Grifons, 

 Auftria, the Tyrol, Spain, and Portugal ; cultivated by Par- 

 kinl'on, in 1633. 2. B. •vtrgatum, flender-branched llraw- 

 berry blite. Lin. fpec. 7. Re'ich. 12. Gniel. fib. 3. 16. 

 Atriplex. Bauh. pin. 1 19. n. 6. Mor. t. 32. f. 10. Raii 

 hifl. 197. n. 6. " Heads fcattcred, lateral." Seldom grow- 

 ing more than one foot high, with fmaller ka\e3 than the 

 former ; flowers produced from the axils, almoft the whole 

 length of the llalk ; fmall, and collected into little heads, 

 fmaller than the firll, and not fo deeply coloured, but of the 

 fame fltape. A native of the fouth of France, Spain; Italy, 



BIO 



and Tartaiy. 3. B. tatarkum. Mill. Dlft. n.-^, B. fra- 

 giferum maximum polyfpermum. Amm. ruth.- " Leaves 

 triangular, (harply toothed ; heads fimplc, lateral." Rifing 

 near three feet liigh ; flowers axillary, in fmall heads ; fl-uits 

 of the fame fliape and colour with thofe of the firll, but 

 fmaller; differing from it in the fliape and indentures of the 

 leaves ; and in having leaves placed between the fruits the 

 whole lengtii of the iiallc, not terminated by heads, as the 

 firll, but having leaves above the heads. Probably a variety 

 of the fecond fort. The feeds were fent to Mr. Miller by 

 Dr. Amman, profcflor of botany at I'eterlburgh. 4. B. 

 chenopodio'ules. Linn. Syll. Reich. 12. M-iiit. 170. "Heads 

 in whorls, juicelefs." A low plant, refembling cheiiopodium. 

 A native of Tartary ; now in Sweden. Probably only a 

 variety ; and in reality the four forts feem to be but 

 one. 



Propagat'wn and ddlitrc. All are annual plants, which 

 drop tlieir feeds, that will produce plentifully the following 

 fpring ; or if the feeds of anyone of them be fown in March 

 or April, upon a bed of common earth, in an open fituation, 

 the plants will come up in a mouth or fix weeks, and re- 

 maining in the fame place, will require no other care befides 

 being" kept from weeds, and thinned out to the dillance of 

 fix or eight inches apart; and in July the plants will begiii 

 to fliew their berries, which will make a pretty appearance. 

 By many they are tranfplanted into the borders of the flower 

 garden, and by others planted in pots, fo as to be ready tor 

 removal into the court-yard, or for being placed upon low~ 

 walls for ornament. When thefe plants are defigned to be 

 removed, they fliould be tranfplanted before they fiioot up 

 their flower-ilems, for they will not bear tranfpiantiiig after- 

 wards ; and when planted in pots, they mull be v,-atercd ia 

 dry weather ; and, as the flower-ilems advance, they fliould 

 be fupported by flicks. Martyn. 



Blitum. See Achyranthes, Amaranthus, Che- 

 NopoDiuM, and Gunnera. 



BLOATED ^;?/X, or herring, in our Statutes, are thofe. 

 which are half dried. Vide Stat. ann. 18 Car. XL c. 2. 



Bloated herrings are made by ileeping them in a peculiar - 

 brine, and tlien hanging them in a chimney to dry. 



BLOATING, in Medicine. See Leucoph legmatia, 

 and CEdema. 



BLOCH, Mark Eleazar, in Biography, a Jewifh phy. 

 fician at Berlin, and a celebrated ichthyologill, was born at 

 Anfpach in Franconia. His parents were in a condition fo 

 obfcure and dellitute, that they were fcarcely able to main- 

 tain him during his infancy, and much lefs to procure for him. 

 any fuitable means of education. At the age of 19 he un- 

 derllood neither German nor Latin ; and as he had read only 

 a few Rabbinical books, he fpoks a kind of Franconiari 

 gibberilh, intermixed with the Jewifli jargon. About this 

 time, however, he was taken into the houfe of a furgeon atr> 

 Hamburgh, who was a Jew, and employed by him in the in- 

 flrudlion of his children ; and in this fitir-ition he acquired a 

 competent knowledge of the German language. The fav- 

 ings of his fcanty falary enabled him to procure affillance in 

 the lludy of Latin. Having alio gained fome knowledge of 

 furgery, he repaired to Berlin, where his relations live'd, with 

 a view of profecuting the rtudy of anatomy. After llruggling 

 with various difficulties, he was admitted as d^-ftor in the uni- 

 verfity of Franckfort, and returned to Berlin for the exercifc 

 of his profeflion. Here he became acquainted with M., 

 Martini, who recommended him to be clefted a member of 

 the Society of the Friends of Nature. In order to promote 

 theobjedls of this iiiftitution, he undertook a natural hillory 

 of the murxna, a fifli caught, as it was fuppofed, only in the 

 lakes of Pomerania. He alfo began to form a cabinet of 

 natural hiftory ; and having made a confiderable coUeftion 



of 



