BRU 
BUB 
not possess the power of abstraction ; and 
that the having of general ideas is that 
which puts a perfect distinction between 
men and brutes. Accordingly, he supposes 
that they have no use of words, or any gene- 
ral signs, by which to express their ideas. 
It has, however, been a subject of dispute, 
whether brute animals have any language 
intelligible to one another. Some haye pre- 
tended, that they have a kind of jargon, by 
which they can make a mutual communica- 
tion of their sentiments. There is at least 
a similitude of speech in brutes ; for they 
know each other by their voices, and have 
their signs whereby they express anger, joy, 
and other passions. Thus, a dog assaults in 
one strain, fawns in another, howls in an- 
other, and cries when beaten in another. 
Dr. Hartley has investigated the intellec- 
tual faculties of brutes, and applied his 
theory of vibrations and association in ac- 
counting for the inferiority of brutes to 
mankind, with regard to intellectual capa- 
cities. He ascribes the difference subsist- 
ing between them to the following circum- 
stances, which he has taken occasion to il- 
lustrate on the principles of this theory. 
The first of these is the small proportionate 
size of their brains, whence brutes have a 
far less variety of ideas and intellectual af- 
fections than men. The second cause of 
this difference is the imperfection of the 
matter of their brains, whereby it is less 
fitted for retaining a large number of mi- 
niatures, and combining them by associa- 
tion, than man’s. The third cause is their 
want of words, and such like symbols. 
Fourthly, the instinctive powers which they 
bring into the world with them, or which 
rise up from internal causes, as they ad- 
vance towards adult age, is another cause 
of this difference ; and, fifthly, it is partly 
owing to the difference between the exter- 
nal impressions made on the brute creation, 
and on mankind. This ingenious writer sup- 
poses, with Des Cartes, that all the motions 
of brutes are conducted by mere mechanism ; 
yet he does not suppose them to be destitute 
of perception ; but that they have this in a 
manner analagous to that which takes place in 
us ; and that it is subjected to the same me- 
chanical laws as the motions. He adds, that 
it ought always to be remembered, in 
speaking on this subject, that brutes have 
more reason than they can show, from their 
want of words, from our inattention, and 
from our ignorance of the import of those 
symbols, which they do use in giving inti- 
mations to one another, and to us. 
BRYONIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Monoecia Syngenesia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Cucurbitacere. Essential 
character; calyx five-toothed ; corolla five- 
parted : male, filaments three : female, style 
quadrifid. Berry subglobular, many seeded. 
There are nineteen species, of which B. 
alba, black berried white bryony, seems to 
differ from the red in little else besides the 
colour of the berries. Native of Sweden, 
Denmark, Cariola, and probably other 
parts of Europe, in hedges. B. dioica, red 
berried white bryony, is easily distinguished 
by its prodigious root, its stems climbing by 
tendrils, leaves resembling those of the vine 
in shape, not smooth as they are, but harsh 
and rugged, and of a paler colour, and by 
its bunches of small berries, which .are red 
when ripe, and produced on a different 
plant from the male flowers. B. palmata, 
palmated bryony, has heart-shaped leaves, 
the side divisions shortest; the upper surface 
is marked with dots, very close, but scarcely 
visible : there are callous tubercles on the 
veins and peduncles. The berries are 
round and large. It is a native of the Island 
of Ceylon. 
BRYUM, in botany, a genus of moss 
distinguished by a capsule covered with a 
lid, and over that a smooth veil. But these 
characters it has in common with Mnium 
and Hypnum, two other genera much re- 
sembling this. The peculiar mark of the 
bryum is, that the thread or little stem sup- 
porting the fructification, grows from a tu- 
bercle at the ends of the stem and branches. 
BUBALUS, the buffalo, in zoology. See 
Bos. 
BUBBLE, in philosophy, small drops or 
vesicles of any fluid filled with air, and ei- 
ther formed on its surface, by an addition 
of more of the fluid, as in raining, &c. or in 
its substance, by an intestine motion of its 
component particles. 
Bubbles are dilatable or compressible, 
i. e. they take up more or less room, as the 
included air is more or less heated, or more 
or less pressed from without, and are 
round, because the included aura acts equal- 
ly from within, all round ; their coat is 
formed of minute particles of the fluid, re- 
tained either by the velocity of the air, or 
by the brisk attraction between those mi- 
nute parts and the air. 
The little bubbles rising up from fluids, 
or hanging on their surface, form the white 
scum at top, and these same bubbles form 
the steam or vapour flying from liquors in 
boiling. 
