B L O 



B L O 



difcovered upwards of an hiindi-eJ and twtnty plants, whicli 

 had not been before dcfcribed, and fcvcral others, which had 

 been fuppofed ptcuhar to America. In 1 70S, he was ad- 

 mitted dodlor in medicine at Rheims ; and, in 1712, he was 

 received into the Fr-nch academy, in quahty of eleve of 

 M. Reneaume, an honour he did not long enjoy, being cut off 

 in the following year, by an inflammation of the lungs. M. 

 Fontenelle, who fpoke his funeral eulcgium, attributed to 

 him afmall work, publiflied in his life-time, in which he h td 

 made fome corrections in Tournefort's arrangement of certain 

 fpecics of plants ; he alfo fays, he left fome curious memoirs 

 on the fub;ett of botany, intended for publication, and wh.ich 

 were prevented being printed by his premature death. But 

 his name does not appear in Haller's Bib. Botan. nor in the 

 catalogue of botraiic-il works contained in tlie fplendid library 

 of fir Jofcph Banks, lately publi(l;cd by Dr. Dryander. Eloy 



Dia. Hid. 



BLONDVAURY, in Geography, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Charente, 5 leagues ea!t of Con- 

 folens. 



BLONDU.S, or Biosni, Michael Angelo, in Bio- 

 graphy, was born at Venice, May 4th 1497. After ftudying 

 under Auguftin Niphus, a celebrated teacher of that time, he 

 fettled at Naples. He was a voluminous writer. The titles 

 of the moft; diftinguinied of his works follow. " Epitome ex 

 libris HippGcratis de nova et prifca arte medendi deque 

 diebus decretoriis," Romx, 15:8, 1545, 8vo. ; " Libellus 

 de morbis pucrorum," Venetiis, 1539, 8vo. ; " Dc partibus 

 iftu feftis citilTime fanandis, et medicamcnto aqui, nuper in- 

 vento. In phirimorum opinionem de origine morbi Gallici, 

 deque ligni Indici ancipiti proprictate," Venetiis, 1542, Svo. 

 For wounds made with a cutting inftrument, and recently in- 

 flitled, he recommends the application of fmiple water, as a 

 mod valuable and ufeful remedy. He does not admit that the 

 venereal difeafe was a new complaint, originating in the Weft 

 Indies, but believes it to have been known to Hippocrates, 

 and other ancient phyficians, and dcfbribed in their writings. 

 He had ufed the lignum fandtum in his attempts to cure the 

 difeafe, but incfteclually ; the difeafe returning, he fays, after 

 diicontinuing the medicine, with increafed violence. He 

 placed iiis prmcipal dependence on mercurv, but does not 

 give the rationale, or method of ufing it. This work is in- 

 Icrted by Conrad Gefuer in his " CoUedio fcriptorum opti- 

 moTum de chirurgia," 1555, fol. For the titles of the re- 

 mainder of his work?, fee Eloy's Dift. HiRor. Med. 

 Aftruc. de Morb. Vener. Haller. Bib. Med. Praft. tt 

 Botan. 



BLOXSK, in Gecgraphy, a diftrict of Poland, belonging 

 to the territory of Warfaw, in the palatinate of Czeril;, or 

 Mafovia. 



BLOOE>, is the nutritive fluid of animals. In the human 

 fnbjcCl it circulates through the arteries and veins (fee CiR- 

 cul.\tion), being of a fcarlet colour in the former, and of 

 a purple colour in the latter ; it is of confiderable confidence ; 

 of a (lightly faline taile, and peculiar fmell ; its fpecific 

 gravity is efiimated at 1.0527. When blood is drawn into 

 a bafon, it firft congeals into a tremulous, jelly-like mafs ; 

 and then fpontaneoufly feparates into a folid, heavier fub- 

 ftance termed the craltamentum, cruor, or the clot of the 

 blood, and a lupernatant pale liquor called the ferum. If 

 the craffaraentum of the blood be walhed with water, all the 

 red colour may be wafhed out of it, and a firm whitifh fub- 

 ftance will remain. This fubftance, which did exift in a 

 ftate of fubtile fluidity, fo as to be capable of permeating 

 the minute veffels of the body, and which thus fpontane- 

 oufly concretes, has been, therefore, called the coagulating 

 lymph of the blood. If the blood be ftirred with a wifp, 



this fubflance concretes in a fibrous form round about it, 

 and it was in confequence formerly termed the fibrous part 

 of the blood. By this latter denomination, it is alfo now 

 generally known and dtfcribed. Thus it appears, that there 

 are three parts readily diftinguifliable in the blood ; the 

 ferum; the fibrous part or bafis of the crsflainentum ; and 

 the colouring matter ; to the more particular confideration 

 of thefe we now proceed. 



Of the Serum. 

 The .Serum of the blood is of a light greenilh yellow 

 ':-lour, and its mean fpecific gravity is cftimated at 1.C287. 

 Ii,;:'1j« heritjd to about 160^ of Fahrenheit's thermometer, 

 the liuid ferura becomes converted into a tremulous folid 

 fubRa.,;^ ; V. hich being cut in pieces and comprefled, there 

 can be u, ■ -czid out .f it a muddy and lomcwhat gliainoui 

 fluid, which is termed the ferolity of the blood. If the re- 

 mainder be boiled, part of it will be found to be infohible ; 

 and this has ail tiie properties of albumen, or that infoluble 

 matter which i.i contained in the white of the egg: for an 

 account of which, fee the article Albumen. That part of 

 the ferum whicli is dilfolvcd in boiling water, becomes a 

 jelly, if the water b; evaporated to a certain degree, and it 

 be lnff"ered to become cold. It is again foluble, if more 

 water be added. This modification of animal matter is now 

 termed gelatine, and to that article the reader is referred for 

 a more full account of its properties. The fcrofity of the 

 blood appears to contain animal mucilage, but no accurate 

 chemical examination has as yet been made of it. The 

 ferum of the blood turns the fyrup of violets green ; which 

 efi^edl is owing to foda, that is contained in it. If coagu- 

 lated fenim be heated in a filver veflel, the filver becomes 

 blackened by being converted into a fulphuret ; in confe- 

 quence of the ferum containing fulphur. If the falts of the 

 ferum be dillolved in boiling water, and afterwards ciyf- 

 tallized, they are found to be carbonat of foda, muriat of 

 foda, phofphate of foda, and phofphate of lime. 

 Of the jibrous Mailer of the Blood. 

 This matter fpontaneoufly concretes in open and in clofe 

 veflcls, in the temperature of the animal, or in a much lower 

 degree of temperature, though with fome little variation as 

 to the time in which the coagulation happens. Dilution of 

 albumen by water prevents its coagulation, even by thofe 

 chemical agents which fuddenly and firmly coagulate it in 

 its natural llate, fuch as heat, fpirit, and acids. No dilution 

 of the blood by water has hitherto prevented even the fpon- 

 taneous coagulation of its fibrous part. The bafis of the 

 crafiamentum, or fibrous part of the blood, is found to be a 

 whitifh folid elaftic fubilancc, of greater fpecific gravity than 

 the ferum. This fubftance, which is infohible in water or 

 alcohol, and which refembles the mufcular fibres in its che- 

 mical properties, has been denominated by the French 

 chemifts fibrine or fibrina, to which article the reader is re- 

 feiTed for a more particular account of it. It is right how- 

 ever here to remark, that chemical analyfis ultimately con- 

 verts all animal fubftances into azot, hydrogen, and carbon ; 

 and that the proportion of the former is greater in the 

 fibrous part of the blood than in albumen, or perhaps in 

 any other animal compound. 



Of the colouring Matter of the Blood. 

 The colouring matter of the blood has an attraftion to 

 water and difTolves in it, formiing a tranfparent red liquor. 

 This attraction is perceived in macerating flelh in water ; for 

 the colouring part, which is 'fpecifically heavier than any- 

 other part of the blood, and readily finks in thj ferum, yet 

 lifes up and becomes diffolved in the water. The watery 

 folution of this part of the blood turns the fyrup of violets 

 green, and contains both foda and albumen. If the red 



part 



