BUT 
ped off ; it is usually placed on a pedestal 
or console. The bust is the same with what 
the Latins called herma, from the Greek 
Hermes, Mercury, the image of that god be- 
ing frequently represented in that manner 
by the Athenians. 
Bust, communicative. See Accoustics. 
BUSTARD, in ornithology. See Otis. 
BUTCHER, a person who slaughters 
cattle for the use of the table, or who cuts 
up and retails the same. Among the an- 
cient Romans there were three kinds of es- 
tablished butchers, whose office was to fur- 
nish the city with the necessaiy cattle, and 
to take care of preparing and vending their 
fle.sh. The suarii provided hogs ; the pe- 
cuarii, or boarii, other cattle, especially 
oxen; and under these was a subordinate 
class, whose office was to kill, called lanii, 
and carnifices. 
To exercise the office of butcher among 
the Jews with dexterity, was of more repu- 
tation than to understand the liberal arts 
and sciences. They have a book concern- 
ing shamble-constitution; and in case of 
any difficulty, they apply to some learned 
rabbi for advice : nor was any allowed to 
practise this art without a licence in form ; 
which gave the man, upon evidence of his 
abilities, a power to kill meat, and others 
to eat what he killed ; provided he carefully 
read every week for one year, and every 
month the next year, and once a quarter 
during his life, the. constitution above-men- 
tioned. 
In London, the furnishing of butchefs 
meat is separated into different trades. We 
have carcass-butchers, who kill the meat in 
great quantities, and sell it to others, who 
retail it among their customers. Besides 
these, there are salesmen who attend the 
markets at Smithfield, and who act between 
the carcass butcher and the breeder and 
feeder of cattle in the country. The but- 
chers were incorporated into a company in 
the third year of James I. 
Butcher bird, in ornithology. See La- 
NIUS. 
Butcher’s broom, in botany. See Rus- 
cus. 
BUTEA, in botany, a genus of the Dia- 
delphia Decandria class and order. Calyx 
slightly two-lipped; corolla with a very long 
lanceolate banner; legume compressed, 
membranaceous; one-seeded at thetip.Two 
species ; viz. Frondosa and Superba, found 
on the coast of Coromandel. 
BUTLER, the name anciently given to 
an officer in the court of France, being the 
BUT 
same as the grand echanson, or great cup- 
bearer of the present times. 
Butler, in the common acceptation of 
the word, is an officer in the houses of 
princes and great men, whose principal bu- 
siness is to look after the wine, plate, &c. 
BUTLERAGE of wine, is a duty of two 
shillings for every ton of wine imported by 
merchants strangers; being a composition 
in lieu of the liberties and freedoms granted 
to them by King John and Edward I., by a 
charter called charta mercatoria. Butler- 
age was originally the only custom that was 
payable upon the importation of wines, and 
was taken and received by virtue of the re- 
gal prerogative, for the proper use of the 
crown. But for many years past, there 
having been granted by parliament subsi- 
dies to the kings of England, and the duty 
of butlerage not repealed, but confirmed, 
they have been pleased to grant away to 
some nobleman, who, by virtue of such 
grant, is to enjoy the full benefit and ad- 
vantage thereof, and may cause the same 
to be collected in the same manner that the 
kings themselves were formerly wont to do. 
The name was derived from the circum- 
stance of the duty being formerly paid to 
the king’s butler. 
BUTMENTS, in architecture, those sup- 
porters or props on or against which the 
feet of arches rest. 
BUTT, in commerce, a vessel or mea- 
sure of wine, containing four hogsheads, or 
two hundred and fifty-two gallons. 
Butt, or BuTT-e«ds, in the sea lan- 
guage, are the fore-ends of all planks un- 
der water, as they rise, and are joined 
one end to another. Butt-ends in great 
ships are most carefully bolted; for if any 
one of them should spring or give way, the 
leak would be very dangerous and difficult 
to stop. 
BUTTER, a fat unctuous substance, 
prepared from milk, by heating or churning 
it. It was late before the Greeks appear 
to have had any notion of butter ; their po- 
ets make no mention of it, and yet are fre- 
quently speaking of milk and cheese. The 
Romans used butter no otherwise than as a 
medicine, never as a food. The ancient 
Christians of Egypt burnt butter in their 
lamps instead of oil; and in the Roman 
churches it was anciently allowed, during 
Christmas time, to burn butter instead of 
oil, on account of the great consumption of 
it other ways. See Milk. 
Butter, is a name given in the old che- 
mistry to several metallic muriates, on 
