B O T 



Bottom, Dominiqj'e, the fon of Nicholas Bottom, a 

 celebrated philoloplicr and phyfician of Lentini, in Sicily, 

 bom the 0th of October 1641! received liis education under 

 Peter Caftello. In ifi^S, he was admitted to the degree 

 of doctor in medicine, and was foon after made phyfician to 

 the marquis De Villa Frinca, viceroy of Sicily, phyljciaH 

 to the royal hofpital of Mcflina, and fiipcrintcndaiit of the 



?hyficians there, with a pcufion of 50 oi-jwiis per month. 

 ie afterwards enjoyed a liniilar fitualion under the viceroy 

 of Naples. In 1697, ^^ ^^^ made correfpondin^ or hono- 

 rary member of the Royal Society of London, to which 

 he had prcvioufly fent his " Idea hiilorico-phyfica dc magno 

 trinacrix terrx motu," which is publilhed in their tranlac- 

 tions. We have alfo by this writer " Pyroloftia topogra- 

 phica, id ell, dc igne diflertatio, juxta loca, cum corum def- 

 criptione," Neapoli, 1692, -vto. " Febrisrhcumaticx ma- 

 lignx, hiiloria medica," Mtfliiia, 1 71 2, Svo. " IVcferve 

 falutari contro il contagiofo malore," MtfTina, 1721, 4to. 

 He died about the year 173 i. Eloy. Dift. Hill. 



BOTTONO, in Geogniphy, a town of Italy, in the 

 duchy of Parma ; 9 miles S. S. E. of Parma. 



150TTRYS, in /y^Mnp. See Chesopodium. 



BOTRYTIS. See Byssus. 



BO'l'TS, in Zoology, bots and horfeworms. See Oes- 

 trus genus, and fpetics Et^'i, Boris, HitMORRHOiDALis, 

 Veterinus, Ovis. Theic are a peculiar kind of grub, 

 found not unfrequcntly in the iloraach of the horfe, of 

 a cylindrical figure, pointed at one extremity, and ob- 

 tufe at the otlur, and bcfct every where with numerous 

 rigid fpines. There are at lead two different kuids inha^ 

 biting the llomach of the liorle, which at length produce, 

 on their arriving at maturity, a two-winged iufeft ol the 

 fly kind. 



Befides thofe of the horfe, there are others of a diftinft 

 kind, but belonging to the fame family, which live in their 

 grub Hate under the ikin of the backs of oxen, the deer, and 

 the rein-deer ; and others, again, occupy for a dwelling the 

 frontal cavities of the head of the flieep, and cells at the bale 

 of the horns ; and others inhabit alfo tlie fame lituations in 

 the deer. They cxill on the pus and lymph they create on 

 thefe membranes by their irritation ; and when full fed, they 

 fall to the earth, and undergo the ulual transformations of 

 other infeds. 



The inaccefTible fituations of thefe animals in their lafva 

 ftate, and the impofTibility of raling them out of thofe fitua- 

 tions, has been the caufc, probably, of their hiftory having 

 fo long remained in the greateft obfcurity. 



They have been generally confidercd by the vulgar as true 

 worms of the inteftincs, and fmiilar in their origin to other 

 worms of the intcftinal canal, than which nothing can be 

 more untrue. 



The following is a concife detail of what is at prefent 

 known refpefting them ; the account purfumg nearly the 

 order in which the difcoveries have been made. The firft who 

 laboured to unveil the hidden and extraordinary economy of 

 thefe animals was Vallifnieri, an Italian of Padua, and t'.ic pupil 

 of Malpighi. Before his time, tlie moll abfurd notions pre- 

 vailed rcfpefting them. The Romans, who had fcen them 

 hanging to the extremity of the reclum of the horfe, be- 

 lieved them to be pieces of the iutepLine itfelf torn away 

 by the worms and animals er.illing within them ; and Ve- 

 gctius has thus deferibed them ; " Ht'iufir'.odi pafl'ionis fig- 

 num ell (morbus coriagii.ofus,) cum iuvenitur humor in ano 

 fabjE cocla: limihs : ell namque funics ex illis vulueribus quae 

 beftioli intiinfecus ftcerunt." Vallifnieri, in his full elTay, 

 defer. bed the changes of the ocflrus bcvis ; giving indifferent 

 jigures of them, and tracing them from the back of the ox 



EOT 



to the perfca ftate of a fly. This effay was publilhed foon 

 after the year 1700. Indeed, all that is known lelpeaing 

 them was difcovertd withii the limits of the lall century. 



'I'he next eflay devclopes the hillory of the ocjinis o-vis, or 

 of that infect which is found infelling the noftnls and cavi- 

 ties of the face of the (beep ; and in a fubfequent volume (cd. 

 Venecia, vol. ii. p. 163,3.), he publilhed his obfcrvations on 

 the botts of the horfe. He was emb'arraffed by the great 

 difference he found in the appearance of the botts of the fto. 

 macli ; and hardly knew whether to attribute it to a differ- 

 ence of fex, of feeding, or of their being two dillinft kinds, 

 which fubfequent difcoveries have fully confirmed to be the 

 cafe. His figures of them are very obfcure, and ill expreffed, 

 fo much fo that it requires an eye accuftomed to the appear- 

 ance of thefe infefts, at all to identify them. They ar?, 

 however, without doubt, defigned to reprefent the oc. equi 

 and oe. hitmorrhoidalis. 



The next labourer in this obfcure path of natural liifiory, 

 was the celebrated Reaumur, vol. iv. p. 503. of the " Me- 

 moires pour I'Hiftoire des Infedles." He repeated all -the 

 exjierimentc of Vallifnieri refpefting the above three fpecies, 

 and fully confirmed all he had faid refpi Cling them ; ac- 

 companying his account with ample details of their ap- 

 pearance and habits, and his defcriptions with much 

 better reprefentations of them than his predeccflbr. Ma- 

 dame de Breautc, an abbeis, in whofe praiics he fufficiently 

 enlarges, at length furniflied him with an opportunity of 

 getting the larva: of the oe. bovis from fome of the cows be- 

 longing to her convent ; and on them he made his obfcrva- 

 tions. Among other remarks, in this intcrelling memoir, 

 he mentions, that by a lingular chance he oblerved a line of 

 fmall air-bubbles arranged along the fide of the infeft, and 

 placed oppofite to the Ipiracula, being entangled in the pus, ' 

 which every where covered its fui face, and correfpoadiug in 

 nuiiiber and pofition to thefe openings ; which would feem 

 to prove that thefe fpiraculte are defigned, not for the ad- 

 miffion of air, as is generally conceived, but in reality for 

 its exit ; the air being received by a cartilaginous tube open- 

 ing at one end of the infecl, viz. that extremity which is 

 placed next the external opening of the fliin, and which be- 

 comes the tail part of the future infeft, the larva being, in 

 reality, inverted in the abfcefs. He very candidly obferves, 

 however, that he could not force any air through thefe aper- 

 tures, by holding the larva under water, and compreffing it 

 with the fingers. 



He alfo noticed, that the opening in the fkin, through which 

 the larva breathes and evacuates, is confiderably enlarged 

 about the pericd of its exit, by the animal raifing itfelf in 

 the abfcefs, and preffmg againft it ; .and after feme days of 

 this difcipline, the aperture being enlarged, he works hini- 

 felf through by fucceffive efforts, and falls to the ground. 

 This excellent obferver particularly mentions alfo their 

 launching themfelves from the back of the animal at au 

 early hour of the morning in preference to any other part 

 of the day. 



The perfeft infecl, he obfirvrs, could not be induced to 

 take any kind of food or uouriihment, though he prefented 

 it with a great variety ; a circumflance, indeed, that is not 

 fo much to be wondered at, fince a large (hare of the infeifl 

 world appear to pafs the lall ftage of their lives, not only 

 without food, but without organs for receiving it. Gene- 

 ration would appear to be the leading purpofe of this (hite 

 of their exiftence. 



It is particularly worthy of remark, as it may be the 

 means of exciting thofe who may be poffeffed of the oppor- 

 tunity to farther refearch, to make mention of the recitals 

 given by this celebrated obferver in ancither memoir (vol. v. 



p. 66.}. 



