B U L 



B U L 



totf/lus, otiiers from the Greek ffaWm, to throw. Bullets 

 «rc of various kinds, viz. red-hot bullets, made hot in a forge; 

 intended to fct fire to places where combullible matters are 

 found. See Shot. 



UulL'jD bullets are fliells made cylindrical, with an aperture 

 and a fufee at one end, which );i»ing fire to the inlide, when 

 in the ground, burlls, and has the fame effects with a mine. 



Cliiiin-bullets, conlilling of two bulls, joined by a chain 

 three or four feet apart. 



Branch-bullet}, two balls joined by a bar of iron five or Ak 

 inclies apart. 



Two-headed bullets, called alfo angels, being two halves of 

 a bullet joined by a bar, or chain, are chiefly uftd at fea 

 for cutting of cords, cables, fails, &c. 



Quarter-bullets. See Quarter. 



The diameter of a leaden bullet, weighing one pound, is 

 1.60 inches, according to fir Jonas Moore ; or by a table in 

 Muller's " Treatife of Artillery" (p. 56), J.672 inches; 

 and the diameter of any other bullet is found by dividing 

 1.69 inches by the cube root of the number, which exprcfles 

 how many of tlum make a pound ; or by fubtracling con- 

 tinually the third part of the logarithm of the number of 

 bullets in the pound from the logarithm .2278S67 of 1.69, 

 and the difference will be the logarithm of the diameter 

 required. 



Thus the diameter of a bullet, of which 12 make a 

 pound, will be found by fubtrafting .3597270, a third part 

 of 1.0791S12 the logarithm of ] 2, from the given logarithm 

 .2278S67 ; or becaufe this logarithm is lefs than the former, 

 an unit muil be added, fo as to have 1. 1278867 ; and then 

 the difference .868 1597 will be the logarithm of the dia- 

 meter fought, whicli is .73S inches, obferving that the 

 number found will be always a decimal, becaufe the number 

 fubtrafted is greater than the other. 



We may alfo deduce the diameter of any bullet from its 

 given weight, provided that the fpecific gravity of lead is 

 known: for, fince a cubic foot of lead weighs il.}25 

 ounces, and 67S is to 355 as the cube of a foot or 12 inches, 

 i.e. 1728, to the content of a fphere, which is therefore 

 ^929.7 ounces ; and fince fpheres are as the cubes of their 

 diameters, the weight 5929-7 is to 16 ounces, or one pound, 

 as the cube 1728 is to the cube of the diameter of a fphere, 

 which weighs 16 oz. or lib. ; which cube is 4.66263, and 

 its root is 1.6706, the diameter fought. 



By the rule above laid down is calculated the following 

 table, {hewing the diameters of leaden bullets, from 1 to 39 

 in the pound. 



N. B. The upper horizontal column fhews the number of 

 bullets to a pound ; the fecond, their diameters ; the third, 

 tlie diameters of thole of 10, 11, 12, &c. and the fourth, 

 thofe of 20, 21, 22, &c. and the laft thofe of 30, 31, 32, 

 &c. 



The government allows eleven bullets in the pound for 

 the proof of mufl<ets, and 14.5 in the pound, or 29 in two 

 pounds forfervice; 17 for the proof of carabines, and 20 

 tor fervice ; ?.nd 28 in the pound for proof of pillols, and 

 34 for fervice. The diameter of muflvct bullets differs but 

 '-50th part from that of the mufliet-barrel ; for if the Ihot 

 but iufl rolls iuto the barrel, it is fufficient. Cannon-bullets 

 or balls are of different diameters and weights, according to 

 the nature of the piece.— See Caliber, and Shot. 



3 



The firft mention of iron-bullets in the " Fcedera," oc- 

 curs A.D. 1550, in an acquittance for delivery of the artillery 

 and ammunition of Boulogne ; and yet ilone-buUets re- 

 mained in ufe confiderably later than this time. 



According to Morfenne, a bullet, fhot out of a great 

 gun, flies 9a fathoms in a fecond of time, which is equal to 

 589^ Englifli feet ; and, according to Huygens, it would 

 be 2y years in paffing from the earth to the fun : but ac- 

 cording to fome very accurate experiments of Dr. Dtrlinrn, 

 it flies, at its firll difi.harge, 510 yards in five half-fcconds ; 

 or about 7 miles in a minute : allowing therefore the fun's 

 diftance 95000000 Englilh rriles, a bullet would be near 26 

 years in its paffage at the full fpeed. 



Bullets fhot into the water undergo a refraftion ; feveral 



experiments concerning which are given by Mr. Cane 



Vide Mem. Acad. Scienc. ann. 1705. p. 277. 



The extraftion of bullets from wounds is an operation 

 dcfcribed by chirurgical writers. Bullets fometimes remain 

 eafy in the body during many years. 



Swallowing of mu(l<et-bullets is fometimes praftifed to re- 

 move iliac and colic pains. Mr. Young gives a cafe wherein 

 this had a terrible effeft : the bullet happening to mifs its 

 way down, inftead of the afophngus, got into the trachea. 

 Mr. Chirac has a diffettation on the queftion, which of the 

 two is fafer in iliac cafes, to fwallow leaden bullets, or crude 

 mercury ? He gives the preference to the bullets. Phil. 

 Tranf. N° 26J- 



Bullet-ctouWj- coufift of two concave hemifpheres, with 

 a handle whereby to hold them ; and between the hemif- 

 pheres is a hole, called a gate, at which to pour in the 

 melted metal. The chaps or hemifpheres of bullet-moulds 

 are firft punched, being bloodred hot, with a round-ended 

 punch, of the fhape and fize of the intended bullets. To 

 cleanfe the infides, they make ufe of a bullet-bore. 



BuLLET-^orc, is a Heel (hank, having a globe at one end, 

 wherewith to bore the infide of a mould clean, of the fize 

 intended. 



Bullet iVon, a denomination given by fome to Spanilh 

 or Swedilh bars of iron. 



Bullet, John-Baptist, in Bidgraphy, a proftffor of 

 theology, and dean of the univerfity at Befangon, died in 

 that city in 1775, at the age of 76 years. He was a rr.em- 

 ber of feveral learned focieties, and efteemed as a valuable 

 writer. His principal works are, " His Hiftory of the 

 Eftablifhment of Chriftianity, taken folely from Jewilh and 

 Pagan Writers;" 1764, 410. " The Exillence of God, 

 demonftrated by Nature ;" 2 vols. Svo. " Reply to the 

 difficulties of unbelievers, refpefting various paffages in 

 the facred Writings ;" 3 vols. i2mo. " De Apoftolicoe 

 Ecclefias Gallicanse Origine ;" 1752, i2mo. " Memoirs on 

 the Celtic Language," 17^4-59, 3 vols, folio ; to which 

 work he is chiefly indebted for his reputation. " Hif- 

 torical Enquiries concerning Playing- Cards ;" 1757, Svo. 

 " Differtations on the Hiftory of France," 1759, 8vo ; 

 all written in French, except that with the Latin title. 

 Nouv. Dift. Hift. 



BULLEYN, William, of a relpeftable family of the 

 fame name, in Suffolk, was born in the Ifie of Ely, in the 

 early part of the reign of Henry the eighth. At a proper 

 age he was fent to Cambridge, which he quitted, probably 

 after taking his bachelor's degree, and went to Oxford, 

 where he applied himfelf to the ftudy of medicine, and read 

 the Greek and Arabian writers, in both which languages 

 he appears to have been tolerably fldlled. While refident 

 there, he made excurfions through the neighbouring coun- 

 tries, paying great attention to the plants that he had found 

 recommended in the cure of difcafes ; and after taking the 



degree 



