BUR 



BUR 



correft tlian can at all be accounttd foi' by liis opportunities ; 

 and the circumllancc mull be al'ciibed to the happy tempera- 

 ment of a mind, which could by fympatliy afTimilate itltlf to 

 that Itate of rclinemcnt and cultivation, ufually tlie rcfult of 

 icholaftic iiillruAion, or the elegant purluits of polite life. On 

 the whole, the charaiSler of Burns is equally interelling, as a 

 noble fpecinicn of untutored natiu'e, forcing itftlf to a level 

 with the iiiglier and more favoured clalTes of its fpecies ; and 

 inllrntlive as a warning, that the advantages of the conflict, 

 however fuccefsful, ?.re irretrievably loll, unlefs difcretion is 

 called in to fccure and perpetuate the trophies won by ge- 

 nius. Perfons of keen Itnfibility arc cxpofed to peculiar 

 dangers ; and poets are perhaps of all others the defcription 

 of men, \t'ho coiitribute moll to the refmed pleafurcs of 

 fociety, and are leall fuccefsftd in appropriating to themfelves 

 their own individual (hare ot perfonal happincfs or public 

 elleem. Their occupations are calculated to increafe the 

 pectdiarities, rather tlian to llreiigthen the governing powers 

 of their minds ; their feniibility is indulged at the expence of 

 their peace, and the pride of genius is foothed by a contempt 

 ■otthe ordinary rules, which reilrain the paffions of common 

 men. To cauies like cheie mull we attribute, and on fuch 

 grounds of palliation mull we excufe, the morbid melan- 

 choly, the fceptical propenfitits, and the intemperate habits 

 of Burns. When thefe are forgotten, or only remembered 

 through the favourable medium of candid biography, his 

 poems, with all the difadvantages of an obfcure dialetl, will 

 be recited by his rullic couritrymen, as long as the fim- 

 plicity of their feelings remains unfophillicated, and read 

 ■with admiration by the critic, as long as the laws of 

 poetry and criticifm are fuffered to accord with the diftates 

 -X)f nature. 



BURNT, in fpeaking of medicines, imports as much as 

 imperfeftly calcined. See Calcination. 



Burnt bodies are generally dry and aftringent. The 

 other medicinal qualities belonging to bodies are frequently 

 ■dtftroyed, at leall impaired, by the burning. 



BuRNT-CV<7v, in Airricuhure, fuch clay as has undergone 

 a procefs of calcination by means of fire. In this procefs, 

 it is fuppoftxl by Dr. Darwin that oxygen is combined in 

 large proportions either with tlie clay itfclf or the metallic 

 pnrticies which it may contain, and on this account probably 

 becomes nfctul as a manure. This bufinefs may be accom- 

 plilhed by means of clamps or kilns, or fimply by piling up 

 heaps of clay loofely together, with a littly dry brudi-wood, 

 or other fimilar combuflible materials in the middle of them 

 to which the fire may be applied. In this way much ma- 

 nure may be eafily procured, where the materials abound. 

 Calcined clay, as a manure, is probably moll proper for 

 clofe compadt foils, as it opens and renders them more 

 porous, and thereby difpofes fuch lands to part with their 

 vegetable nourilliinent more readily. 



It IS alio fuppofcd, by the author we have jufl mentioned, 

 that calcined clay, as itexills in foft bricks, has a power of 

 d'.'compofing marine fait, as he once obferved in a cellar, 

 whtre beef had been long falttd on one fide of a nine-inch 

 ".vail, the wooden falting-tub for' which was attached to it ; 

 a great cfflorelcence having appeared on the other fide of the 

 wall, which he believed to be foflile alkah, or natron. If 

 ^this idea bejull, fays he, the foft bricks from old buildings, 

 or clays fo far purpofcly burnt, may in this manner be 

 ftrviceable to vegetation, by feparating the fofiile alkali 

 from the fca-falt, wallied from decompofing animal and 

 •vegetable fubftances, which, by converting carbon into an 

 hcpar carbonis, as lime is fnppofed to do, might render it 

 Soluble in water, and capab.'e of being abforbed by the 

 lymphatic vcffels of the rot>ts of plants. And, continues he, 



if clay, calcined to a certain degree, and thus united witW 

 oxygen, poirelftd the power of decompofing niarme fait, 

 there is rcafon to believe, when it is more (lowly united 

 with oxygen by its expofure to the atmofphere by the fpadc 

 or plough, that it may polTcfs the fame property, and that 

 this may have given rife to the very contiadirtory reporli 

 concerning the ufe of fea-falt in agriculture, as it may pro- 

 bably be of great advantage to clayey foils, but perhaps not 

 fo to other foils. Sec Ci-ay. 



BuRNT-^/-«/n, a vegetable difeafe frequently met with in 

 the ears of grain, but which is probably not yet well under- 

 (lood ; the charafterillic marks of which, according to luine, 

 are, that the jilants which produce burnt cars are llrong and 

 vigorous; that the infefted ears are not at firll dilliuguini- 

 able from thofe that are healthy ; but, when they arc 

 pad their bloom, they appear of a deep green colour, ap. 

 proaching to blue ; they afterwards become whitilh, and arc 

 then eafily known. " As this change of colour is eflTtdled 

 by the iun, when a number of white cars have been fuddcnly 

 perceived in looking over a wheat field, the fun's heat has 

 been often thought to caufe tliis diilemper, or a fog pre- 

 ceding that heat. And though all the ears produced from 

 one grain are commonly infeded, yet found ears are met 

 with on plants that have produced others which were 

 infefted. Some ears l-.ave even been obferved, part of 

 which only were vitiated ; and, finally, fome grains enclofing 

 partly a white flour, the remainder black dull." 



It ha.s been farther remarked, that, in burnt ears, the 

 chair, or outward coat, is commonly found, with this fingle 

 difference, that, when the ears are nearly ripe, it appears 

 more withered and dry than in the healthy ears. The hulk, 

 which immediately enclofed the grain is not dellroyed, but 

 has confillcnce enough for the grain to preferve nearly its 

 natural form, with a whitifli look ; and the burnt grain* 

 are fhorter, rounder, and hghter, than fuch as are unin- 

 fefted ; they are fometimes larger and fometimes fmaller. 

 The furrow which runs the length of a grain of wheat is 

 fometimes totally effaced, at others vifible : the piftils at 

 the extremity of the grains arc dried up, but the bud of a 

 burnt grain is not vifible. Till the blooming feafon, there is 

 very little difference between the difeafed grains and thofe 

 which are healthy ; they are only a little more fwelled: but, 

 in the blooming feafon, the infeiSed ears affume a bluifh 

 colour ; the chaff is more or lefs fpeckled with fmall white 

 fpots : the grains are of a deeper green, and larger than 

 in the natural (late, and, as long as they preferve that 

 colour, they adhere (Irongly to the chaff. The diflemper, 

 it is faid, has often attacked very young ears, while yet 

 enclofed in the flieath. The (lamina on the fides of the 

 grain are then dried up and fickly ; the embryo in part 

 takes the deep green colour above-mentioned ; the infefted 

 ears have not the confidence of thofe that are healthy. In 

 the fame proportion as the diilemper advances, the chaff 

 becomes dry and whitifh. The grains have fome degree of 

 firmncfs. On opening them, which may eafily be done 

 with the nail, there appears an iinftuous, dark-brown, 

 (linking fubllance. The dull of burnt grain has alfo fome 

 cohcfion or tenacity. By others it is, however, fnppofed to 

 originate from infedls ; in which view we have the following 

 remedies propofed on the authoiity of experiment in the 

 feventh volume of the Bath papers. The trials were made 

 in the middle of a twenty-acre clofe, the refidue of which 

 was fown with the fame kind of wheat, and treated in 

 the fame mode as Nos. I. and II. and wns equally ^s clean, 

 and the crops have been fo ever fince. "^I'he writer's mode 

 of medicating his wheat was as in No. II. 



♦' No, I. Sowed five drills with Mr. Cooky's machine, 

 4D .i witk 



