562 JB U X 
brew, has Written more judicioufly upon this argument, 
i hey add, that the (b ong fancy which a great part of the 
German and Geneva divines have for the Hebrew point's, 
proceeds in good uieafure from the regard they had for 
the two Buxtorfs, whofe opinions they-blindly followed, 
not being able to go to the bottom of lo difficult a difqui- 
fition. Father Simon has fpoken but (lightly of them. 
“ The two Buxtorfs,” fays he, “ who have got much re¬ 
putation-, efpecially among the proteftants, have in mod 
or their works only (hewn themfelves extremely prejudi¬ 
ced in favour of the rabbins, without having confulted 
any other authors.” But Buxtorf the father received the 
higheft encomiums from all the learned of his time; as 
did the foil afterwards. 
BUX’TORF (John), nephew of the foregoing, fuccef- 
for 10 his uncle in the chair of oriental languages, was the 
fourth profeffor of that family, who occupied that pod 
during' a whole century. Their Jewifh erudition gained 
them a great reputation, though there appears much va¬ 
nity in feveral of their works. The lad Buxtorf died in 
1732, leaving treatifes on the Hebrew language, differta- 
tions, verfes, fermons, and a fon who Oiewed himfelf wor¬ 
thy of his learned ancedors. 
BUX'US, f. \_vw.a, Gr. denfe, or clofe, the timber 
being very denfe and clofe.] The Box-trek; in botany, 
a genus of the clafs monoecia, order tetrandria, natural 
order tricoccre. The generic charaflers are—I. Male 
flowers prominent from the buds of the plant. Calyx : 
perianthium three-leaved ; leaflets roundidi, obtufe, con¬ 
cave, fpreading. Corolla: petals two, roundidi, concave, 
very like the calyx, but larger. Stamina: filaments four, 
fubulate, eretd, expanding, rather larger than the calyx ; 
antherse ered, twin. Pidillum: rudiment of a germ with- 
out dyle or dignia. 11 . Females in the fame bud with 
the males. Calyx: perianthium four-leaved; leadets 
roundidi, obtufe, concave, fpreading. Corolla : petals 
three, roundidi, concave, very like the calyx, but larger. 
Pidillum.: germ fuperior, roundidi, obtufely three-cor¬ 
nered, ending in three very (hort permanent dyles ; dig- 
mas obtufe, hifpid. Pericarpium : capfule coriaceous, 
roundidi, tiiree-beaked, three-celled, burding eladically 
into three parts. Seeds : twin, oblong, rounded on one 
fide, flat on the other .—EJfential CharaElzr. Male. Calyx, 
three-leaved; petals two ; the rudiment of a germ. Fe¬ 
male. Calyx, four-leaved; petals, three; dyles, three; 
capfule, three-beaked, three-celled ; feeds, two. 
There is but one fpecies, called buxus fempervirens, 
or evergreen box ; of which there are three varieties : 
i. Buxus arborefcens, or common box-tree; ii. Buxus an- 
gudifolia, or narrow-leaved box-tree; iii. Buxus fuftruti- 
cofa, or dwarf box. Box is well known in its dwarf date, 
and as a fhrub about three feet in height; it becomes, how¬ 
ever, when left to itfelf, a tree, twelve or fifteen feet high, 
with a trunk equalling the human thigh in thicknefs, cover¬ 
ed with a rugged, greyidi, bark, that of the branches yel- 
lowifii. The wood is of a yellow colour, of an even clofe 
grain, very hard and ponderous. It is the only one of the 
European woods which will (Ink in water. Theophraftus 
ranks it with the ebony for clofenefs of grain. The leaves 
are ovate or oval in The common fort, hard, fmooth, 
gtoffy, evergreen, very dark green above, pale green un¬ 
derneath, fomething re (embfing thofe of myrtle, but blunt 
and commonly emarginate at the end ; the edges are revo- 
lute, they are fet on very fliort petioles, and on the twigs 
they come out regularly in pairs, fo clofe as almod to con¬ 
ceal them. On thefe, from the axils of the leaves, come 
out the final 1 herbaceous flowers, in round bunches; a 
female flower occupying the middle of the bunch, and 
being fur rounded by feveral males. The female flower 
is fncceeded by a capfule of a globular form, very fmooth, 
fhining, tricoccous, and before it opens having three beaks, 
then refembling a tripod ; the rind is three-valved, and 
the valves are two-horned ; the coccnli or grains are of 
the confidence of paper, two-valved, and opening with an 
B U X 
elaflic fpring; receptacle central, three-fided, and fliort; 
in each cell is a pair of feeds, ovate, growing more (len¬ 
der upwards, triangular-compreffed, obliquely truncate at 
the end, blackiih brown or black, fmooth. Mr. Miller 
infills that the common box-tree, the narrow-leaved, and 
the dwarf or Dutch box, are certainly three diflind fpe¬ 
cies. The two forts of box-tree have been frequently 
railed from feeds, and conftantly produced plants of the 
tame kind from thofe the feeds were taken from ; and the 
dwarf box will never rife to any conliderable height with 
any culture, nor have we ever feen this fort flower, where 
the plants have been encouraged to grow many years in 
the greatefl luxuriancy. There are two or three varieties 
of the fil'd, which are propagated in the gardens, one with 
yellow, and another with white, ftriped leaves. The other 
has tite tops of the leaves only marked with yellow, which 
is called tipped-box. 
The box-tree is a native of mod parts of Europe, from 
Britain foutlnvards. There are whole mountains covered 
with it between Lyons and Geneva, in Savoy, &c, but 
not of any fixe. It is alfo very common in many parts of 
Burgundy, Dauphine, and Provence. It abounds in many 
countries of Alia, as about mount Caucafus, in Perda, 
China, Cochin-china, &c. alfo in America. In England 
it was formerly much more common titan it is at prefent, 
Gerarde fays, “ it groweth upon fundry wade and barren 
hi Is in Englande:” and Parkinfon, “that it is found with 
us in many woods, and wood-grounds; that it is alfo 
planted in divers orchards or houfe backtides, where it 
never groweth high, but ferveth as a bufh to dry linen 
on, &c.” Many of thefe buthes, however, have grown 
up to trees of a reafonable (ize, about old manfions and 
farm-houfes, but are now for the mod part dedroyed. 
“ Thefe trees rife naturally,” fays Evelyn, “ in Kent, at 
Boxley ; and in Surrey, giving name to Box-hill. He 
that in winter diould behold fome of our higheft hills in 
Surrey clad with whole woods of them, for divers miles 
in circuit; as in thofe delicious groves of them belonging 
to the late Sir Adam Brown, of Bechworth-caftle, might 
eafily fancy himfelf tranfported into fonte new or enchant¬ 
ed country.” The enchantment, alas! lias been long bro¬ 
ken. Mr. Miller, in 1759, lamented, that the trees on 
Box-hill had been then pretty much dedroyed ; though 
many remained of a confiderabTe bignefs. T he deftruCtion 
fince that time has been much greater. It has been con- 
jedured that Box-hill was planted with thefe trees by the 
Carl of Arundel: but there is the mod authentic proof 
that they were there before his time, and the ground on 
which they grow was not his property. Not only this hill 
near Darking in Surrey, and Boxley in Kent, but Boxwel 
in Cotefwold, Gloucederfhire, was named from this tree. 
Mr. Woodward remarks it as plentiful on the chalk-hills 
near Dunftable. It is fond of open dry fitnations, and a 
calcareous foil. In temperate climates and feafons it flow¬ 
ers in February and March. 
The wood of the box-tree fells at a high price, by 
weight. Being very hard and fmooth, and not apt to 
warp, it is well adapted to a variety of nicer works. “ It 
is of (pedal ufe,” fays Evelyn, “ for the turner, engraver, 
carver, inatbematical-inftrument maker; comb and pipe or 
flute maker; the roots for the inlayer and cabinet maker. 
Of box are made wheels and drivers, pins, pegs for mtifi- 
cal inftruments, nut-crackers, button-moulds, weavers’ 
fnuttles, hollar-dicks, bump-dicks, and drelfers for the 
(lioemaker, rulers, rolling-pins, pettles, mall-balls, beetles, 
tops, tables, chefs-men, (crews, bobbins for bone-lace, 
fpoons, kjtife-handles, nay the flouted: axle-trees, but efpe¬ 
cially combs.” The Englifh wood is edeemed inferior to 
that which comes from the Levant; and the American box 
is (aid to be preferable to ours. 
The ancients made combs of box, and mufical inflru- 
nients to-be played upon by the mouth. The Romans like- 
wife clipped it into form, for which nothing is more fir, 
fays Pliny; ut puce (arbor) cb denjc JubnaJ'cenUs furcuios & 
Jrondes, 
