BEG 
and screwed to the piston, (as shewn at L, 
tig- 4,) holds it all fast. The body of the 
piston, as we have said before, fits the cy- 
linder as close as possible : the leathers are 
about half an inch bigger all round, so that 
when they are put into the cylinder, their 
edges will turn up all round, and form a 
dish, and its elasticity, pressing against the 
cylinder, prevents any of the liquor getting 
through ; the two outside plates must be the 
thickness of the leather less all round than 
the cylinder, and their use is to keep the. 
edges of the leather up against the cylinder, 
and to hold the four screws by which the lea- 
ther is fastened. The back of the spindle op- 
posite the piston must have a packing of hemp 
drove into the space a behind it, to make all 
tight, and the metal edges of the partition I, 
should fit it as closely as possible to work 
free : the valves are pieces of leather fastened 
at one side of the hole, and a piece of brass 
is rivetted to them to make them heavy 
enough to fall, and prevent the leather bend- 
ing by the pressure of the column of liquor : 
the top of the cylinder at N is filed flat, 
and the chamber, which is a square prism, 
placed on it with leather between, and the 
lid is put on the upper part, and all screwed 
together by four long screws going through 
the lid, and the corners of the chamber, and 
tapped into the cylinder below. When 
these valves want repairing, the four screws 
are taken out, and the lid can then be re- 
moved. To come at the valves b, d, the cy- 
linder lid G G can be removed, by taking 
out five screws : the lid has a hole turned in 
its centre, which fits the spindle H as close 
as possible: the hole afterwards enlarges, 
and has a piece of leather (represented by 
the dark part, fig. 4,) bent into a cup, so as 
to embrace the spindle: the leather is kept 
in his place by a perforated screw n, tapped 
into a projecting part of the lid, and press- 
ing on the leather, the suction pipe K of 
the pump is joined to the leaden pipes by 
a screw joint K, so that it can be separated 
occasionally to remove the pump from the 
frame. 
BEESTINGS, a term used by country- 
people for the first milk taken from a cow 
after calving. 
BEET. See Beta. 
BEETLE. See Scarab^eus. 
Beetle also denotes a wooden instrument 
for driving piles, &c. 
It is likewise called a stamper, and by pa- 
viors a rammer. 
BEGGAK, one who begs alms. 
Beggars pretending to be blind, lame, 
BEI 
&c. found begging in the streets, are to be 
removed by constables ; and if they refuse 
to be so removed, shall be publicly whipt. 
BEGONIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Monoecia Polyandria class and order. Na- 
tural order of Holoracae. Incertse, Jussieu. 
Essential character : male calyx none - f co- 
rolla many-petalled, stamens numerous. Fe- 
male calyx none ; corolla many-petalled, 
superior; capsule winged, many-seeded. 
There are 23 species. The whole plant in 
the Begonias is fleshy. The stem in most 
of the species is herbaceous ; but some of 
them are stemless. They are natives of 
Asia and America, within the Tropics. 
Three species have been found on the islands 
near the coast of Africa, but none on that 
continent. 
BEHMENISTS, in church history, a 
sect of Christians, who derive their name 
from Jacob Behmen, a German mystic and 
enthusiast, whose distinguishing tenets were, 
that man has the immortal spark of life 
which is common to angels and devils ; that 
divine life of the light and spirit of God 
makes the difference between an angel and 
devil, the latter having distinguished this 
divine life in himself; but that man can 
only attain to the heavenly life of the se- 
cond principle through the new birth of 
Jesus Christ : that the life of the third prin- 
ciple is of the external and visible world. 
Thus, the life of the first and third princi- 
ples is common to all men, but the life of 
the second principle only to a true Chris- 
tian oi v child of God. Behmen was a pious 
man, and his principles were adopted by 
our countryman William Law, a worthy 
divine of the church of England; but in 
general, to a by-stander, the Behmenites 
seem to try how they can talk on religion 
so as not to be intelligible. 
BEJARIA, in botany, so called in ho- 
nour of a Spanish botanist, a genus of the 
Dodecandria Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order of Bicornes ; Rhododendra, 
Jussieu. Essential character, calyx seven- 
cleft ; petals seven ; stamina fourteen ; berry 
seven-celled, many-seeded. There are two 
species found in New Granada. 
BEING, in metaphysics, includes not 
only whatsoever actually is, but whatsoever 
can be. The various kinds of beings have 
been referred into three distinct classes, 
and they have been considered as either 
substances or modes, finite or infinite, and 
natural, artificial, or moral. Natural be- 
ings are all those things that have a real and 
