*114 
E E I, 
BEN 
BEN 
and the parts fraud d towards k and/; whence 
it happens that the bell, at iirst of a circular 
form, really becomes alternately oval in two 
different directions; it follows then, that in 
those parts where the curvature is the greatest, 
their exterior points depart from each other. « 
BELLA-! JONNA. See Amaryllis and 
Atropa. 
BELLES- LETTKEI, a word absurdly 
introduced from the French, and noted here 
o-nly to reprobate the contemptible practice 
of debasing the simple majesty of our native 
language, by wretched gallicisms. The 
French writers themselves have no determi- 
nate idea affixed to this phrase; some ap- 
plying it to polite literature only, and some 
extending it to the whole scope of human 
learning, even to mathematics. 
BELL1S, in botany, the daisy, a genus of 
the syngenesia class, and polygamiasuperllua 
order of plants; and in the natural method 
ranking under the 49th order, compositai dis- 
coidx. The receptacle is naked and conic ; 
there is no pappus; the calyx is hemispheri- 
cal, with equal scales ; and the seeds are 
ovated. There are two species, and many 
varieties. 
1. Bel its annua; with leaves on the lower 
part of the stalk, is a low annual plant grow- 
ing naturally on the Alps and tire hilly parts 
of Italy, it seldom rises more than three 
inches high, and has an upright stalk, with 
leaves on the lower part ; but the upper part 
is naked, supporting a single flower, like that 
of tjae common daisy, but smaller. 
2. Beilis perennis, the common daisy, with 
a naked stalk, and one flower, grows natu- 
rally in pasture lands in most parts of Eu- 
rope. It is often a troublesome weed in the 
grass of gardens, so is never cultivated. Its 
leaves have a subtile subacid taste ; and are 
recommended as vulneraries, and in asthmas 
and hectic fevers, as well as in such disorders 
as are occasioned by drinking cold liquors 
when the body has been much heated. 
The Beilis hortensis, or garden daisy, is only 
a variety of this species. It has a large double 
flower. The varieties cultivated in gardens 
are ; 1. the red and white garden daisy: 2. the 
double variegated garden daisy : 3. the child- 
ing, or hen and chicken garden daisy : and 
4. the cock’s-comb daisy, with red and white 
dowers. 
BELLIUM, a genus of the syngenesia, poly- 
gamia supertlua class and order. The essen- 
tial character is ; cal. with equal leaflets ; 
seeds conic, with chaffy eight-leafed crown, 
and aimed down ; recept. naked. There are 
two species, natives of Italy and the Levant, 
in many respects resembling the daisy in ha- 
bit and appearance. , 
BELLON, a distemper common in coun- 
tries where they smelt lead ore. It is at- 
tended with languor, intolerable pains, and 
sensation of gripings in the belly, and gene- 
rally costiveness. Beasts, poultry, &c. as 
well as men, are subject to this disorder. 
Hence a certain space round the smelting- 
houses is called bellon-ground, because it is 
dangerous for an animal to feed upon it. 
BELLO NT A, in botany, a genus of the 
monogynia order, and pentandria class of 
plants. The characters are ; the liower is 
wheel-shaped; the germen is situated under 
the receptacle of the flower, which afterward 
becomes a turbinated seed-vessel, ending in 
a point, having one cell filled with small 
' round seeds. Of this genus there are two 
species known, viz. 
i. Bellonia aspera, or shrubby bollonia, 
has a rough balm leaf. It is very common in 
the warm islands of America. 
2- Bellonia spinosa, a native of Hispaniola. 
BELLOWS, a machine so contrived, as to 
agitate the air with great briskness, expiring 
and inspiring the air by turns, and that only 
from enlarging and contracting its capacity. 
This machine is of various constructions, but 
in general is composed of two fiat boards, 
sometimes of an oval, sometimes of a trian- 
gular figure : two or more hoops, bent ac- 
cording to the figure of the boards, are 
placed between them; a piece of leather, 
broad in the middle, and narrow at both 
ends, is nailed on the 'edges of the boards, 
which it thus unites together, as also on 
the hoops which separate the boards, that 
the leather may the easier open and fold 
again; a tube of iron, brass, or copper, is 
fastened to the undermost board ; and 
there is a valve within that covers the holes 
in the under board, to keep in the air. In 
foundries, and other great works, where a 
constant and vast heat is required, the bel- 
lows are made double, so that there is a con- 
stant blast proceeding by the upward and 
downward motion of the handle. 
The action of bellows, however wrought, 
whether by water, steam, or men, depends 
on this; that the air which enters them, and 
i which they contain when raised, is again 
compressed into a narrower space when they 
arc cio ed, and it flows out of the pipe with a 
velocity proportional to the force by which 
, it is compressed. The blast also will last in the 
proportion which the quantity of air drawn 
in through the valve bears to the pipe. The 
bellows of smiths and founders are worked 
by means of a rocker, with a string or chain 
fastened to it, and pulled by the workman. 
One of the boards is fixed, and by drawing 
down the handle of the rocker, the 'moveable 
board rises, and by means of a weight on the 
top of the upper board, sinks again. The 
bellows of an organ are wrought by a man 
called the blower; but in small organs, by 
the foot of the player. 
BELLY, the abdomen. See Anatomy. 
BELTS, in astronomy, two zones, or gir- 
dles, surrounding the body of the planet Ju- 
piter, more lucid than the rest, and of un- 
equal breadth. See Astronomy. 
Belts, in geography, certain streights be- 
tween the German ocean and the Baltic. The 
belts belong to the king of Denmark, who 
exacts a toll from all ships which pass through 
them, excepting those of Sweden, which are 
exempted. 
BEN GAPED, among sailors. A ship is 
said to be bencaped when the water does not 
flow high enough to bring her off the ground, 
out of the dock, or over the bar. 
BENCH, Jrtc, signifies that estate in 
copyhold lands, which the wife, being es- 
poused a virgin, lias after the decease of her 
husband, for her dower, according to the 
custom of the manor. As to this free-bench, se- 
veral manors have their own customs ; and in 
the manors of East and West Enbourne, in 
the county of Berks, and other parts of Eng- 
land, there is a custom, that w hen a. copy- 
hold tenant dies, the widow shall have tier 
free-bench in all the deceased husband’s 
lands, whilst she lives single and chaste; but 
if she commits incontinence, she shall forfeit 
her estate: neve: theless, upon her coming 
into the* court of the manor, riding on a black 
ram, and having his tail in her hand, and at 
the same time repeating a form of words pre- 
scribed, the steward is obliged, by the custom 
of t!ie manor, to re-admit her to her free 
bench. 
BEND, in heraldry, one of the nine ho- 
nourable ordinaries, containing a third part 
of the field when charged, and a lift h when 
plain. St is sometimes, like other ordinaries, 
indented, ingrailed, &c. and is either dexter 
or sinister. 
BENDING, in the sea language, the tying 
two ropes or cables together: thus they say, 
bend the cable ; that is, make it fast {o the 
ring of the anchor: bend the sail, make it 
fast to the yard. 
BEN DS, in a ship, the same with what is 
called wails, or wales; the Outmost timbers of 
a ship’s side, on which men set their feet in 
climbing up. They are reckoned from the 
water, and are called the iirst, second, or 
third bend-. They are the chief strength of a 
ship’s sides, and have the beams, knees, and 
foot-hooks, bolted to them. 
BENEDICTINES, in church-history, an 
order of monks, who profess to follow the 
rules of St. Benedict. The benedict ines being 
those only that are properly called monks, 
wear a loose black gown, with large wide 
sleeves, and a capuche, or cowl, on their 
heads, ending in a point behind. In the ca- 
nou kuv th,ey are styled black friars, from the 
colour of their habit. 
The rules of St. Benedict, as observed by 
the English monks before the dissolution of 
the monasteries, were as follows: they were 
obliged to perform their devotions, seven 
times in 24 hours, the whole circle of which 
devotions had respect to the passion and 
death of Christ : they were obliged always to 
go two and two together : every day in Lent 
they were obliged lo fast till six in the even- 
ing, and abated of their usual time of sleeping 
and eating; but they were not allowed to 
practise any voluntary austerity without 
leave of their superior ; they never convers- 
ed in their refectory at meals, but were 
obliged to attend to the reading of the scrip- 
tures : they all slept in the same dormitory, 
but not two in a bed ; they lay in their clothes. 
For small faults they were shut out from 
meals; for greater, they were debarred reli- 
gious commerce, and excluded from the 
chapel; and as to incorrigible offenders, they 
were excluded from tire monasteries. Every 
monk had two coats, two cowls, a table-book", 
a knife, a needle, and a handkerchief: and 
the furniture of their bed was a mat, a blanket, 
a rug, and a pillow. 
BENEFICE, a church endowed with a 
revenue, for the performance of divine ser- 
vice; or the revenue itself assigned to an ec- 
clesiastical person, by way of stipi nd, tor 
the service he is to do that church. 
All church preferments, except bishoprics, 
are called benelices; and all benelices are, by 
the canonists, sometimes styled dignities ; 
but we now ordinarily distinguish between 
benefice and dignity ; applying dignity to 
bishoprics, deaneries, archdeaconries, and 
prebends; and benefice to parsonages, vicar- 
ages, and donatives. 
The canonists distinguish three manners of 
vacating a benefice, viz. dejure, de facto, and 
