B R Y 



fincc the ancient troatifcs which are come down tn us were 

 written, is orrtain from the ciiange and iucrtafe of its vota- 

 b'jlary. Brvcnniiis (lib, iii. fcft. J ) has given as names of 

 intervals, a Ml of barbarous terms nnt to bo found in any 

 prtceJiji" writer within our knowledge : and in the Greek 

 gloffary of l)u Cmi^e. and the Abate Maitini's papers on 

 the prefcnt mnfii: of Greece, a great number occurs that is 

 not to be found either in writers of hicrh antiquity, or in 

 Br)-ennius : as hb iii. (t.&, 4. the words "H^jo?, and ■xX^yio;, 

 appear for I'jnus and ohliqiius ; and T^^rr:;, ii-Xrifsc, Tfixo,-, Tf- 

 Ti^ro,-, are ufed to dillir.guilh the modes or tones; a proof 

 klnt he was a naodcrn Greek. Padre Martiyi is of opinion 

 that tliefe termi were fird introduced in church niufic, to 

 exehide the Taiwan title? of Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, &c. 



The technical language of the Greeks has always been 

 copiou--, and in mulic perhaps its feeming redundance is 

 more confpicuous than in any other art or icience. But in 

 other arts and fcienccs words are rcprefentatives of things 

 cxillini; ; whereas, in denominating the tones and inflexions 

 of voice, wliich, to reali/.e, require new creation, there tan 

 be no correfpondence between t!ie type and fubltance. The 

 colours, the fora-.s, and objefls wliich a painter wilhes to 

 reprefent, are in nature; and the poet, in all the ebullitions 

 of wild enth\ifiafm and fervid imagination, defcribes what he 

 has fcsn and felt, or what ;/ to be leen and felt, and for which 

 common language mull fupp'y him with fymbols. But it has 

 never entered the thoughts of man to give names to all the mi- 

 nute fhades of colour between black and white, or to the gra- 

 dations by which li/ht is propagated between the time of total 

 darknefs and the fun's meridian. And yer, in a fcale of founds, 

 from the lowcll mufical tone inthehuman voice to the highelt, 

 where oftaves are not reprefented by fimilar figns and ap- 

 pellatives, the names and charaflers mull be numerous. 

 The lines and clefs of the European mnfic have certainly 

 freed it from many perplexities with which it was embar- 

 raffed, even in the artlefs times of Canto Fermo. 



BRYGI, in ylnaciit Geography, inhabitants of Thrace, 

 who were fubdued by the Macedonians, and ferved under 

 Xerxes, when he invaded Greece. 



BRYGMUS, in Medicine, a grinding or gnalhing of the 

 t *eth ; a fymptom common in epilepfy, and fome other 

 convulfive diforders : from ^^vx^j to fnap, or guafh, with 

 the teeth. 



BRYONIA, in Botany, (iSjii-jia, Diofcorides ; from /Sj uu, 

 germino, puUulo, expreffive of the vigorous and rapid 

 growth of its annual Hems from the perennial root.) Lin. 

 gen. 1005. Reich. 1194. Schreb. 1480. Gxrtntr 551. 

 Jufiieu 594. VentenalS vol. iii. 51 1. Clafs, moncecia fyn- 

 genefta. Pentandrij, Smkh. Nat. Ord. ^wfartoacc.? Linn. Scjuff. 

 Gen. char. Male flowers. Cal. Perianth one leaf- 

 ed, campanulate, five-toothed ; teeth oval-(haped. Cor. five, 

 parted, campanulate, fallencd to the calyx ; divifions ovate. 

 Stam. Filaments three, very fhort, two bearing each two 

 anthers, and the third with only one. Female flowers. 

 Cj.'. Perianth as in the males, fuperior, deciduous. Cor. as 

 in the males. Pi^. Germ, inferior. Style trifid, the 

 length of the expanding corolla ; ftigmas emarginate, patu- 

 lous. Pcric. Berry fubglobular, fmooth. Seeds, nut nume- 

 rous, fixul to the coal, fiibovate. Sclireb. Not mure than 

 fix, inclofed in their proper cells. Ga;rt. 



Species, 1. B. a/ta. Linn. " with black berries, and the 

 inward fubllance of the root of a pale box colour ; leaves 

 palmate, callous-fcabrous on both fides." This fpecics, 

 though mentioned by many of the old botanills, does not 

 feem to be much known fince the time of Linnrcus. La 

 Marck obftrvcs that he knows nothing of it, and feems to 

 fp'.ak with fome degree of doubt with refpeft to its esill- 



B R Y 



ence. In this, however, he is certainly wroit^ ; it mud 

 have been known to Linnxus. Bofc fays that it is a truly 

 diiliiift fpccies, but gives no defeription. It appears to be 

 confined to the north of Europe, and not to be hiund in 

 England or r ranee, for though Plukenet fpeaks of it as 

 not unfrequent about Cambridge, he was probably millakcn; 

 it had not been obfervcd by Ray, nor has it been found 

 fince in that neighbourhood by I'l-ofelTor Martyn, nor in an^ 

 other part of Great Britain. 2. B. dioica. Jacq. Ault. t. 

 199. Hall. Hclv. 574. AIllou. Ped. 4.';j. PoUich. pal. 

 915. Ray hill. 659. Syn. 261. Huds. Ang. 437. 

 Smith Flor. Brit. .59S. Eng. Bot. 4^9. " Berries red ; 

 root ycllowifli white within ; leaves palmate, callous-lcabrous 

 on both fides ; flowers dioicous." Root large, flelhy, white. 

 Stems annual, fcandtnt, angular, rough, leafy, fomewhat 

 branched, very long. Leaves alternate, petioled, palmate, 

 five-lobed, angular, rough on both fides, with minute cal- 

 lous points. Stipules none. Tendrils folitary, fi nple, ac- 

 companying the petioles. Peduncles axillary, fomewhat 

 umbellate with few flowers. Corolla white, elegantly- 

 marked with green veins. Anthers connate by pairs with 

 an odd one. /V/awf«/j- all a little united at the bafe. Ber- 

 ries globular, fcarlet, fmooth. Seeds fix, elliptic, fpotted. 

 The leaves in autumn have the fmell of mu(k. Smith. The 

 roots have been artificially made to afl'ume a human fhape, 

 and lliewii to the common people as roots of the celebrated 

 mandrake, Atropa Mandragora, to which many fanciful 

 virtues have been attributed. For this purpofe the earth is 

 removed round the root of a thriving young plant, fo as not 

 to dillurb the lower fibres, and a mould, fuch as is ufed for 

 plaller figures, is made fall with wires to receive the growing 

 woody part of the root ; the earth is then replaced, and in 

 the courfe of a f.immer a root of the required fliape is pro- 

 duced. 3. B. palmcita, Linn. " Leaves palmate, fmooth, five- 

 parted, repand-ferrate." Root perennial. Berries yellowifh, 

 globular, rather large. Native of Ceylon. Introduced 

 into England in 1778, by Meflrs. Gordon and Grsfer. 

 4. B. lacininfa, Linn. Gasrt. tab. 88, fig. 2, copied by La 

 Marck. pi. 796, fig. 2. " Leaves palmate ; divifions lan- 

 ceolate, ferrated, petioles muricate." Root perennial. 

 Leaves cordate, palmate, rough above, roughilh beneath 

 on the rib and nerves. Petioles almoll prickly ; not pedun- 

 cles as it Hands in the Mantlffa, as copied by Reichard, and 

 tranfiated without a comment by La Marck. Corolla ycWow, 

 hairy, or tomentous within, fmooth without. Germ fmooth. 

 Fruit feflile, of the fizeof a cherry, marked with fix milk-white 

 lines. Berry flelhy, three-celled, the pulp in each cell cafily fe- 

 parable fromit,gelatinous-membranaceous, two-celled, green. 

 Seeds fix, one in each cell of the pulp. La Marck defcribes 

 a plant cultivated in the Royal garden at Paris, which he 

 fuppofss to be the NehoemeLa of the Hortus Malabaricus, 

 and not fpecifieally dillinct from the laciniofa of Linnrens, 

 though LiniiDEus has cancelled the reference to it as a fyno- 

 nym in the Mantiffa, after having admitted it in the Species. 

 Plantarum. Tlic plant in the French garden has deeply 

 pal mated _//TOo/Zi leaves, but the petioles, as well as the polle- 

 rior nerves, are armed with almolt thorny prickles. 5. B. Afri- 

 ciiria. Linn. Hcrm. Parad. 107. tab. loS. Gaertner, 2, tab. 

 R3, copied by La Marck, PI. 796. fig. j. " Leaves palmate, 

 five-parted, Imooth on both fides; divifions pinnatifid." 

 Upper leaves five-parted, [cabrous at the edge ; divifions 

 pinnatifid, almoll linear, acute. Berries^ folitary, roundilli, 

 beaked, obtufely angular, yellow. Linn. Rind of the berty 

 flelhy, rather thick, orange-coloured on the outfide ; pulp, 

 membranaceouii-rpongy, cafily feparablc from the rind, re- 

 gularly divided into fix, fometimes only four cells. Seeds 

 one in each cell, ovate-globular, compreffed at the fides, 



and 



