B I S 
(Hides fmootli •; leaves lanceolate ferrate. According to 
Jacquin, the fteins are upright, round, fmootli, orhirfute, 
commonly fimple at bottom and branched at top. Leaves 
oblong, attenuated at the bafe, blunt orlharpilh, thickilh, 
either quite entire or with few ferratures, rough on both 
(ides with white hairs, but fometimes fcarce obfervably 
hairy root-leaves many ; ftem-leaves (mailer, and more 
entire. Flowers at firfi in a kind of umbel, but afterwards 
in a raceme. The whole plant is acrid. The root is pe¬ 
rennial ; but according to others it is annual. It is a na¬ 
tive of Italy and Auftria. Being found at very different 
heights on the mountains, it varies much in flat tire, from 
half a foot to a foot and half. In lower lituations it dow¬ 
ers in April and May, in higher ones in July and Auguft; 
in our gardens in June and July. It was introduced here 
in 1777, by Monf. Thouin. 
6. Bifcutella fempervirens, or fhrubby buckler-muffard : 
fdicles fomewhat fcabrous, leaves lanceolate tomentofe. 
Native of Spain. Introduced in 1784, by Lee and Kennedy. 
Propagation and Culture. They are all annual plants, 
except the lall, which perifh foon after they have perfected 
their feeds. Thefe fliould be fown either in fpt'ing or 
autumn, upon a border of light earth, in an open litua- 
tion, where they are to remain. Thofe which are fown 
in autumn will come up in about three weeks, and the 
plants will live through the winter without any protection, 
and flower early the following fummer, whereby good feeds 
may always be obtained ; whereas thofe which are fown in 
the fpring, do, in bad feafons, decay before their feeds are 
ripe. The autumnal plants flower in June, and the fpring 
plants in July, and their feeds ripen about (ix weeks after; 
if thefe are permitted to leaner, there will be plenty of 
young plants produced without any care. They require 
no farther culture, but to keep them clean from weeds, 
and thin the plants where they are too clofe, leaving them 
eight or nine inches afunder. They are preferved in the 
gardens of thofe who are curious in botany, but they have 
no great beauty to recommend them. 
BIS'DORF, a town of Germany, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony, and principality of Anhalt Cothen: three miles 
north of Cothen. 
To BISE'CT, v. a. [from binus, and feco , Lat. to cut.] 
To divide into two parts.—The rational horifon bifeCteth 
the globe into two equal parts. Brown. 
BISEC'TION, f A geometrical term, fignifying the 
divifion of any quantity into two equal parts. 
BISE'GLIA, a town in Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, and country of Bari, the fee of a hilltop, futfragan 
of Trani; fituated on a hill, in a fertile country, near the 
coaff of the Adriatic : five miles eaft of Trani. 
BISER'RULA, f. [fo named from the fruit; biferrato 
J'ruclu. ] In botany, a genus of the clafs diadelphia, order 
decandria, natural order papilionaceae or leguminofe. The 
generic characters are—Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, 
tubular, erect, femiquinquefid; teetli fubulate, equal, the 
two upper ones more remote. Corolla: papilionaceous; 
banner larger, reflected on the fides, afeending, roundifh ; 
wings ovate-oblong, free, Ihorter than the banner; keel 
the length of the wings, obtufe, afeending. Stamina : 
filaments diadelphous (fimple and nine-cleft) afeending at 
their tips, inclofed within the keel. Anthers fmall. Pif- 
tillum : germ oblong, comprelfed. Style fubulate. Stig¬ 
ma fimple. Pericarpium : legume large, linear, flat, two- 
celled ; partition contrary to the valves. Seeds very many, 
kidney-form comprelfed.— EJjential CharaSlcr. Legume 
two-celled, flat; partition contrary. 
There is only one fpecies, called Biferrula pelecinus, or 
bafrard hatchet-vetch. It is an annual plant, and grows 
naturally in Italy, Sicily, Spain, and the fouth of France. 
It fends out many angular flalks, which trail on the ground, 
fnbdivided into many branches, with long winged leaves, 
compofed of many pairs of leaflets, terminated by an odd 
one ; thefe are heart-fhaped : towards the upper part of 
.the branches come out the peduncles, which fufiain feveral 
fmall purpliflt flowers. Cultivated here iii 1640. 
Vol. III. No. 117. 
BIS 6 S 
Propagation and Culture. It is propagated by feeds, 
which in this country Ihould be fown in the autumn, on a 
bed of light earth, where the plants will come up in about 
three weeks, and will live in the open air very well. Thefe 
fhould he fown where they are defigned to remain, or 
tranfplanted very young; for when they are large, they 
will not hear removing. When the plants are come up, 
they will require no other care, hut to keep them clean 
from weeds ; and, where they are too near, they fhould be 
thinned to about a foot difiance from each other. They 
flower in June, and the feeds ripen in September. The 
feeds may alfo be fown in the fpring, and treated in the 
fame manner as before directed ; but thefe will not flower 
till the middle or end of July, fo, unlefs the autumn proves 
warm, they will not ripen feeds; for which reafon they 
had better be fown in the autumn, as foon as they are ripe. 
Two or three of thefe plants may be allowed a place in 
gardens for the fake of variety, but they have not much 
beauty. 
BISERT', a town of Ruffia, fituated on a fmall river 
which runs into theUpha, in the province of Perm : eighty 
miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Perm. 
BISER'TA, a town of the kingdom of Tunis in Africa, 
feated on a gulf of the fame name. Lat. 37. 5. N. Ion. 
9. 46. E. Greenwich. This gulf is the Sinus Hipponenfi.$ 
of the ancients. It is formed by the capes Blanco and 
Ziebeb, and lias a beautiful inlet near four leagues wide, 
which once admitted the largefi veilels, but through the 
negligence of the Turks can now admit only thofe of the 
fmallelt fiz-e, and is in danger in a fliort time of being to¬ 
tally choaked up. Some remains of the great pier of 
Hippo are ft ill extant. On the fouth, this gulf hath a 
communication with a lake of the fame name, fo as to 
form a kind of canal between it and the Mediterranean 
fea. Through this canal a conftant dream is obferved al¬ 
ternately difeharging itfelf from the fea to the lake, and 
from the lake to the fea, in the fame manner as the At¬ 
lantic Ocean is obferved to do in the Mediterranean, and 
hack again ; fo that wJiat the lake lofes by exhalations is 
foon recruited by the fea, which in hot feafons runs into 
it with a very brifle current, to keep up the equilibrium. 
The town was formerly very confiderable, and is laid to 
have contained 6000 houfes ; whereas both it and the vil¬ 
lages under it now fcarce contain that number of inhabi¬ 
tants. It has (fill, however, fome ftrong catfles and bat¬ 
teries, efpecially towards the fea. There are alfo two 
very capacious prifons for Haves, a large magazine or ware- 
houfe for merchandize, and two towers with fome out¬ 
works to defend the entrance of the haven. The people 
here live very meanly, and go worfe clad. Their chief 
employment is that of (idling. The poorer fort have no¬ 
thing but a few (kins laid on the floor to deep upon ; but 
the rich have narrow couches fixed againfi: the wall, about 
five or fix feet high, to which they mount by a ladder. 
They are very expert horfemen, and ride without faddle 
or bridle ; nor do they ever (tide their horfes. The Bi- 
fertines, both of the city and country, are the mofi fuper- 
fiitious people in Barbary, fcarce going any where without 
hanging a quantity of amulets about their own and their 
horfes’ necks. Thefe amulets are only feraps of parch¬ 
ment, with fome ftrange characters written upon them, 
which they few up in a piece of leather, iilk, &c. and ima¬ 
gine them to be a prefervative againfi: all accidents. 
BI'SET (Charles Emanuel), a painter of confiderable 
eminence, born at Mechlin in 1633. He was remarkable 
for introducing a multitude of figures into his defigns, 
with an extraordinary variety of drapery peculiar to every 
nation. His general fubjeCts were converfations, balls, 
concerts, and aflemblies of gay and genteel perfons, which 
were correCtly defigned and well coloured ; though their 
aCtions and attitudes were fometimes very indelicate. His 
pictures had a firong effeCt, and when nearly infpeCted, 
they (hewed a neatnefs of pencil, a fpirited touch, and a 
good expreflion. 
BI'SHOP, \bifcop, Sax. of 'mor.97r& ) Gr, which was 
S afterwards 
