2S2 
c. 
C A A 
the action of the heat, is to be cleaned by 
means of diluted nitric acid. The next step in 
the business is the rough burnishing, which is 
done in a lathe with a hard black stone, from 
Derbyshire. After this comes the gilding; 
which is done by first covering the surface uni- 
formly with a thin stratum ot mercury, and 
upon this is to be laid an amalgam, made of 
mercury and gold ; five grains of gold will 
cover 1 44 buttons, each one inch in diame- 
ter. The mercury is now to be volatilized 
by means of heat. 
’ Glass buttons are composed of glass of 
various colours, in imitation of opal, lapis 
lazuli, and other stones. The glass is kept 
in fusion, and the button nipped out of it 
whilst in its plastic state, by a pair of iron 
moulds, like those for casting pistol-shot, 
adapted to the intended form of the button ; 
the shank having been inserted in the mould 
so that it may become imbedded in the glass 
when cool. 
Shell buttons are those which consist of a 
back, generally made of bone, without any 
shank, but corded with catgut, and covered 
in front with a thin plate of metal struck with 
a die. The backs are cut out with a brace, 
the bit of which is a circular saw, and the 
four holes through which the catgut passes 
are drilled by four drills moving parallel to 
each other, and acting at once. They are 
then corded by children, who tie the catgut 
on the inside; the cavity is filled with melted 
resin, and the metal shell applied warm. 
The button is then pressed between two 
centres in a lathe, which are forced together 
by a weight acting on a lever, and the edge 
of the shell turned down during its revolu- 
tion with a small burnisher. 
Button stone, in natural history, a figur- 
ed stone, so named from its resembling the 
button of a garment. There are three sorts, 
which Dr. Hook supposes to have been no- 
thing but the filling up of three several sorts 
of shells. They are very hard flints, and 
consist' of two bodies. 1 his name is also 
given to a peculiar species of slate, found 
in some parts of Germany, that runs with ease 
into glass, in the course of a few hours, with- 
out the addition of any salt, or other foreign 
substance, to promote its vitrification. It, 
in fact, contains in itself all the principles of 
glass, and from it the Swedes and Germans 
make glass buttons, the handles of knives, 
and other articles. 
BUTTS, or Backs, a name given to that 
sort of tanned leather which is prepared 
from the stoutest and heaviest ox hides, and 
is chiefly used for the soles of shoes. 
BUXBAUMIA, in botany, a genus of the 
order musci, belonging to the cryptogamia 
C A A 
class of plants ; ranking under the same or- , 
der, musci, or mosses, in the natural method. ; 
BUXUS, the box-tree ; a genus of the te- ; 
trandria order, and moncecia class of plants; 
and in the natural method ranking under 
the 38th order, tricocca*. The male 
I calyx is triphyllous ; the germen an em- 
! bryo, or imperfect rudiment. The female 
calyx is tetraphyllous : there are three pe- 
tals, and as many styles: the capsule is three- 
beaked and trilocular, with tw o seeds, lliere 
is one species, with three varieties. 
1. Buxus angustifolia, the narrow-leaved 
box. 2. Buxus arborescens, with oval leaves. 
These two varieties grow in great plenty upon 
Boxhill, near Dorking, in Surry. Here were 
formerly large trees of that kind, but now 
they are few in number. There are two or 
three varieties of the 2d sort, which are pro- 
pagated in gardens ; one with yellow, and 
the other with white-striped leaves. Another 
has the tips of the leaves only marked with 
yellow, and is called tipped box. Both these 
may be raised from seeds, or propagated by 
cuttings, planted in autumn in a shady 
border. The best season for removing these 
trees is in October; though if care is used 
to take them up with a ball of earth, they 
may be transplanted almost at any time, ex- 
cept the middle of summer. Box wood is 
extremely hard and smooth, and therefore 
well adapted to the use of the turner. Combs, 
mathematical instruments, knife-handles, and 
button-moulds, are made ot it. It may pro- 
perly' enough be substituted in default ot 
ebony, tire yellow alburnum of which it per- 
fectly resembles. Neither the wood nor tire 
leaves of the box-tree at present are used for 
any oth$r medicinal purpose than the distil- 
lation of an empyreumatie oil; and an oil of 
nearly the same quality is obtained from al- 
most every other wood. 
3. Buxus suffruticosa, dwarf or Dutch 
box, commonly used for bordering flower- 
beds. It is increased by r parting the roots, 
or planting the slips; but as it makes a great 
increase of itself, and easily parts, it is hardly 
worth while to plant the slips that have no 
roots. For borders to flower-plots, it far 
excels any other plant. It is of long dura- 
tion ; is easily kept handsome; and by the 
firmness of its rooting, keeps the mould in 
the borders from washing into the gravel 
walks more effectually than any plant what- 
eV BUZZAHD. SeeFALCo. 
BUYING and selling, a transferring of 
property from one person to another, in 
•consideration of some price or recompence. 
On an agreement for goods, the vendee can- 
not carry them away without payment, un- 
C. 
/"'t the third letter of the alphabet. C, in 
Vv music, is the highest part in the tho- 
" rou"h-base : again, a simple C, or rather 
a semicircle, placed after the cliff, intimates 
that the music is in common time, which is 
either quick or slow, as it is joined with alle- 
gro or adagio; if alone, it is usually adagio. 
K the C is crossed or turned, the first re- 
quires the air to be played quick, and the last 
very quick. 
CAABA, or Caabah, properly signifies a 
square building, but is particularly applied by 
the Mohammedans to the temple of Mecca, 
built, as they pretend, by Abraham, and 
Ismael his son. It is towards this temple 
they always turn their faces when they pray. 
less the vendor agrees to trust him. But if 
any part of the price is laid down, or any 
portion of the goods delivered by way of 
earnest, the vendee may recover the goods 
by action, as well as the vendor may the 
price of them. By 29 C. II. c. 3. no contract 
for the sale of goods, to the value cf 10/. or 
upwards, shall be valid, unless the payment 
or delivery be performed, or unless some 
note in writing be made and signed by the 
party, or his agent. But if a vendee, after a 
bargain is struck, tenders the money, and the 
vendor refuses it, the property ,is absolutely' 
vested in the vendee. 
BY-LAW, is a private law made by those 
who are duly authorised so to do by charter, 
prescription, or custom, for the preservation 
of order and good government, within some 
particular place or jurisdiction. Moor, 583. 
Every corporation, lawfully erected, has 
power to make by-laws, or private statutes, 
for the better government of the corpora- 
tion ; which are binding upon themselves, 
unless contrary to the laws of the land, and 
then they are void. 1 1 Black. 475. 
BYSSUS, in botany, a genus of mosses, 
belonging to the order algai, in the crypto- 
gamia class of plants: the characters are; 
that the mosses of it are composed of simple 
and uniform parts, and always appear in 
form of excrescences, either of a w oolly or 
of a dusty matter. It seems properly a genus 
of a middle kin<J, between the mushrooms 
and the mosses, but most approaching to the 
latter ; as the several spec ies of it are of longer 
duration, and want that fleshy texture which 
distinguishes the fungus class ; and as they 
never produce heads, nor have any thing of 
the figure or texture of fungi. There are 19 
species, natives of Britain, which grow upon 
old walls, rotten wood, &c. They are also 
found in many parts of Europe, covering the 
ground like a carpet. 
Byssus asbe.-tinus, a species of asbestos 
or combustible iiax, composed of flexible pa- 
rallel fibres. It is found plentifully in S >\ eden, 
either white, or of different shades of green. 
At a copper-mine in Westmannland, it forms 
the greatest part of the vein out of which the 
ore is dug; and by the heat of the furnace 
which melts the metal, is changed into a pure 
semitransparent glass. 
Byssus, in antiquity, that fine Egyptian 
linen of which the tunics of the Jewish 
priests were made. 
BYSTRO POGON,a genus of the didy narnia 
gymnospermia class and order. The essential 
character is; cal. five-subulated, bearded at 
the opening; cor. upper lip bifid, lower trifid ; 
stam. distant. There are seven species, but 
none deserving particular notice. 
in whatever part of the world they happen to 
be. This, temple enjoys the privilege of an 
asylum for all sorts of criminals; but it is 
most remarkable for the pilgrimages made to 
it by the devout Musselmen, who pay so 
great a veneration to it, that they believe a 
single sight of its sacred walls, without any 
particular act of devotion, is as meritorious 
