B L A 
nclies, o lines, and ■*-££ of a line, French meafnre, (i. e. 
i6tSi Englifh) ; and Reaumur’s thermometer was 2-3 
below the freezing point, M.. Sennebier, at the fame 
time, obferved at Geneva the barometer 27-2 (29,020 
inches Engli(h) ; and the thermometer zz '6 above freez¬ 
ing. From thefe data he makes the height of Mont- 
Blanc 22J8 toifes,or 14,180 Englilh feet (about 2§ miles), 
according to M. de Luc’s rule ; and 2272 toifes, or 14,325 
Englifh feet, according to M. Trembley’s. To thefe 
heights, thirteen toifes, or eighty-three feet, the height of 
M. Sennebier’s room above the lake of Geneva, muff be 
added, to give the height of the mountain above the level 
of the lake 14,263 feet, according to M. de Luc, and 
14,608 feet, according to M. Trembley. Sir George 
Shuckburgh made the height of Mont-Blanc, by trigono¬ 
metrical meafurement, 14,429 feet above the lake, which 
is almoft the mean between the other two. The rcfult of 
the obfervations made at Chamouni, contemporary with 
thofeon Mont-Blanc, agrees ftill nearer with Sir George’s 
meafurement. The general mean refult makes the fummit 
of Mont-Blanc 2450 toifes, 15,973 Englifh feet, or three 
miles nearly, above the level of the fea. M. de Sauffure 
found by his'electrometer, that the electricity of the air 
on the fummit of the mountain was pofitive. Water boiled 
at 68 ‘993 degrees of a thermometer, which rifes to 80 
with the barometer twenty-feven French inches high. The 
wind was north, and extremely piercing on the fummit ; 
but, fouthward of the ridge, the temperature of the air 
was agreeable. His experiments with lime-water, and 
with the cauffic alkali, fhew that the air was mixed with 
atmofpheric acid or fixed air. - 
It has been generally fuppofed that the Peak of Tene- 
riff and Etna are the highefl: points of the globe ; but, 
from the moft accurate obfervations, it will be found that 
Mont-Blanc is of much more confiderable elevation. 
Mont-Blanc, according to the preceding ftate- Feet. 
ment, is above the level of the fea, - - 15,973 
The Peak of Teneriff, according to Feuille, - 13,248 
.Etna, according to Sir George Shuckburgh, - 10,954 
Canigou, the highefl of the Pyrenees, - - 9,222 
Ben-nevis, the highefl mountain in Scotland, - 4,387 
Vefuvius, according to M. de Sauffure, - - 3,900 
Snowden in Wales, ------ 3,555 
Hence it will appear, that there are no mountains (ex¬ 
cept thofe in America, particularly Chimboraco, the high- 
eft point of the Cordelleras, the elevation of which, ac¬ 
cording to Condamine, furpaffes 3000 toifes, or 19,200 
feet, but, according to others, 20,608 feet), which are 
equal to the latitude of Mont-Blanc. Some philofophers, 
upon conftdering the great fuperiority of the Eaftern rivers 
■over the European, both in depth and breadth, have 
drawn a prefnmptive argument, that the Aliatic moun¬ 
tains are much more lofty than thofe of Europe. But 
.conjebfures are now banifhed from natural philofophy : 
and until it (hall be proved, from undoubted calculations, 
that the highefl part of the Caucafus rifes more than 
■25,000 feet above the level of the fea, Mont-Blanc may 
be fairly confidered as more elevated. 
BLAN'CA.y. \blanc, white, I«’r.] A purging mixture, 
fo called becaufe it was fuppofed to evacuate white phleg¬ 
matic humours. Alfo white lead. 
BLAN'C A, a fmall ifland in the Pacific Ocean, near the 
coaftof America. Lat. 16. 30. N. Ion. 79. 5. W. Ferro. 
BLAN'CA, a fmall ifland in the Gulf of Mexico, near 
the coaft : fix leagues fouth-fouth-eaft of Vera-Cruz. 
BLAN'C ARDS, f. Certain linen cloths, thus called, 
becaufe the thread ufed to weave them has been half 
blanched or bleached before it was ufed. They are ma¬ 
nufactured in Normandy. 
BLANC-EN-BERRY (Le), a town of France, and 
principal place of a diftridt, in the department of the ln- 
dre, containing about 4300 inhabitants : nine leagues well- 
fouth-vveft of Chatereauroux, and fix weft of Argenton. 
Yol. III. No. 118. 
B L A 8t) 
lo BLANCH,, v. n. [blanchir , Fr. ] To whiten; to 
change from fome other colour to white: 
You can behold fuch fights, 
And keep the natural ruby of your checks, 
When mine is blanch’d, with fear. Shakefpcare. 
To ftrip or peel fuch things as have hulks'.—Their fup- 
pers may be bifket, raifins of the fun, and a few blanched 
almonds. Wifeman. —To flur ; to balk ; to pafs over ; to 
fliift avvay. Not now in ufc. —The judges thought it dan-, 
gerous to admit ifs and ands, to qualify treafon ; whereby 
every one might expreis his malice, and blanch his danger. 
Bacon. 
To BLANCH, v. n. To evade ; to fliift ; to fpeak foft; 
— Optimi confiliarii mortui ; books will fpeak plain, when 
counfellors blanch. Bacon. 
BLANCH'ARD (James), an excellent painter, was 
born at Paris, and learnt the rudiments of his profeftioa 
under Nicholas Bolleri, his uncle ; but left him at twenty 
years of age, and travelled into Italy. He ftaid two years 
at Rome, and from thence went to Venice, where he was 
fo charmed with the works of Titian, Tintoret, and Paul 
Veronefe, that he refolved to follow their manner ; and 
in this he fucceeded fo far, that at his return to Paris he 
foon became efteemed for the novelty, beauty, and force, 
of his pencil. He painted two galleries at Paris, one be¬ 
longing to Perault, the firft prefident, and the other to 
Bullion, fuperintendant of the finances; but his capital 
piece is a picture of the defcent of the Holy Ghoft, in the 
church of Notre Dame. He died in 1683. Of all the 
French painters, Blanchard wasefteemed the bell colourift, 
having carefully ltudied this part of painting in the Ve¬ 
netian fchool. 
BLANCH'ER, f. A whitener. 
BLANCH'ERS, /. [in the Mint.] Workmen that an¬ 
neal, boil, and cleanfe, the money. 
BLANCH'ET (Abbe), the ingenious writer of Va- 
rietes Morales et Amufantes, had received from nature a 
conftitution fo feeble and fo delicate, that he remained 
throughout life opprefled with a melancholy, which ren¬ 
dered him difpirited, timid, and reftlefs. Yet, whatever 
influence the body may occafionally have over the mind, 
M. Blanchet had gained fo complete a pofleflion of him- 
felf, that neither his friends, nor any perfon with whom 
he lived, had ever the leaft reafon to complain of his ill 
humour, or his attention to his own feelings. At the age 
of twenty, he thus wrote to a friend : ** I am fo horridly 
melancholy, that my life is become a burthen to me. Such, 
however, as 1 am, I muft bear myfelf ; but are others obliged 
to bear with me ? I really think, if 1 had not thefupport 
and confolation of religion, I fliould lofe my fenfes.” A 
dramatic writer, whole tragedy had not fucceeded on the 
theatre, thought fit to pnblifli it, and defired M. Blanchet 
to give him a motto for it. He replied, from Lucan, in 
the words of Pompey, 
-- Ncc tan mea fata premuntur 
Ut nequeam relcvare caput. 
Of his writing, befides Varietes Morales et Amufantes, 
are, Apologues et Contes Orientaux, 1785, 8vo. alfo fe- 
veral little pieces of poetry, of the light and agreeable 
kind, of which the greater part were attributed to the 
beft poets of the time, who did not fhew any vehement 
difdain at the imputation ; which made the abbe Blanchet 
fay, I am delighted that the rich adopt my children. 
BLANCH'ET (Thomas), a painter, born at Paris in 
1617, the difciple and friend of Potiffin and Albano, was 
appointed profelfor of painting by the academy of Paris, 
though abfent, which is contrary to eftablifhed cuftotn ; 
but, Blanchet was deferving of this departure from the 
rules. Le Brun prefented his picture for reception, re- 
prefenting Cadmus killing a dragon. He fpent part of his 
life at Lyons, where he died, in 1689. A deling at the 
town-houfe of that place, in which Blanchet difplayed 
the whole force of his talents, was burnt by fire. 1 his 
A a painter 
