BET 
BE'TOLA, a town of Italy, in the PI ai fan tin : fixteen 
jniles fouth of Piacenza. 
BE'TON, f. A kind of mortar nfed in France for rail¬ 
ing the foundations of mafonry under water. It confifts 
of twelve parts of pozzolans or Dutch tarras, fix of good 
fand, nine of unflaked lime, thirteen of (tone fplinters, 
and three of tile-dud or cinders, or fcales of iron out of a 
forge ; thefe being well worked together, the compoft is 
left°to (land for twenty-four hours. It becomes fo hard 
as not to be feparated without a pick-axe. 
BETO'NIC A,y. [Corrupted from Vettonica, which is 
derived from the Tettones, an ancient people of Spain.] 
Betony. In botany, a genus of tire clafs didynamia, or¬ 
der gymnofpermia, natural order verticillatae, or labiatse. 
The generic characters are—Calyx: perianthium one-leaf- 
ed, tubular, cylindric, five-toothed, awned, permanent. 
Corolla: monopetalous, ringent; tube bent in, cylindric; 
upper lip roundifh, entire, flat, ereft; lower trifid ; mid¬ 
dle divifion broader, roundifh, emarginate. Stamina : fi¬ 
laments four, fubulate, the length of the throat; two 
fiiorter, inclined to the upper lip; antherae roundifh. 
Piftillum: germ four-parted ; flyle form, fituation and 
fize of the ftamens; fligma bifid. Pericarpium : none; 
Calyx fofiering the (beds in its bofom. Seeds: four, ovate. 
— EJJ'oitial Char after. Calyx awned ; corolla upper lip 
afeending, flattifh ; tube cylindric. 
Species, i. Betonica officinalis, or wood betony : fpike 
interrupted; helmet of the corolla entire ; middle divifion 
of the lower lip emarginate; calyxes fmoothifh. Com¬ 
mon wood betony has an upright Item, a foot high or 
more, not branched or but very little in the wild Bate, 
hairy, channelled, the corners rounded. Native of woods, 
heaths, and paftures, among bufhes; flowering from the 
beginning of July to September. Betony, fays Linnaeus, 
was formerly much ufed in medicine, but it is difearded 
from modern praflice. When frefh it intoxicates. The 
leaves when dry excite fneezing. Sheep eat it, but goats 
refufe it. The leaves and flowers, according to Lewis, 
have an herbaceous, roughiffi, and fomewhat bitterifh, 
tafie, with a weak aromatic flavour. An infufion or light 
decoCtion of them may be drunk as tea; or a faturated 
tinfture in rectified fpirit may be given in laxity and debi¬ 
lity of the vifeera. The fneezing quality of the dried 
leaves feems to be owing only to the rough hairs on them. 
The roots are bitter and very naufeous : in a fmall dofe 
they vomit and purge violently. This plant dyes wool of 
a very fine dark yellow colour. It is not uncommon with 
a white flower, in fubalpine paftures. Gerard remarked it 
near Hampftead ; and Miller fays, he often found it in 
Kent. There is alfo a fmall mountainous variety not un¬ 
frequent, with a fpike nearly'globular; the leaves and 
flowers are fmaller ; but all thefe differences are owing to 
fituation. 
2. Betonica orientalis, or oriental betony : fpike entire, 
middle divifion of the lip of the corolla quite entire. 
Xeaves very long, narrow, hairy ; flowers in very clofe 
thick fpikes at the top of the ftalks, larger and of'a lighter 
purple than thofe of the common fort. It was firft difeo- 
vered by Tournefort in the Levant: and was cultivated by 
Miller in 1739. 
3. Betonica alopecuros, or fox-tail betony : fpike leafy 
at the bafe, helmet of the corolla bifid. This has the ap¬ 
pearance of common betony, but the leaves are heart- 
lhaped ; the Item is a foot high, and has two or three pairs 
of leaves ; thofe immediately under the whorls are entire, 
broad, with the ends’bent down. The flowers fmeli like 
elder. Scopoli will not allow this to be a betony, becaufe 
the germs are covered with a crown of villofe hairs. It 
is a native of the mountains of Savoy, Piedmont, Auflria, 
Carniola, Silefia, and Provence : and was cultivated in 
1759 by Miller. 
4. Betonica hirfuta, or hairy betony : fpike leafy at 
the bafe, helmet of the corolla entire. This refembles the 
foregoing, but is more flout, lufty, and hairy. Ray, who 
cultivated it fome years in his garden at Cambridge, fays 
VoL. II. No. 112. 
that it differs from the firfi fort, in having leaves twice of 
thrice as large ; a flronger fmeli approaching to a flink; 
a firmer and loftier ftem; thicker and longer fpikes of pur¬ 
ple flowers. Miller affirms,, that it feldom rifes more 
than four inches high in the wild fiate, and when cultivated 
in a garden not above feven or eight; that the leaves are 
much broader at the bafe than thofe of the common fort, 
and very different in fliape, being triangular, and blunt 
at the end ; the fpikes are very fliort and clofe, and thefe 
differences arp conftant. Native of the Alps, Apennines, 
and.Pyrenees; and cultivated by Miller in 1739. 
5. Betonica heraclea : fpike with woolly calyxes, teeth 
filiform ; leaves lanceolate, naked. Stem and leaves al- 
mofl fmooth. Native of the Levant. 
6. Betonica firifta, or Danifh betony : fpike oblong ; 
helmet of the corolla entire; middle divifion of the lower 
lip notch-waved; calyxes hairy. This differs greatly from 
our common fort, the lower leaves being much broader 
and heart-fliaped ; thofe upon the flalks are ipear-ffiaped, 
and rounded at the end ; the ftalks are larger, (land up¬ 
right, and are terminated by thicker fpikes of flowers. 
Native of Denmark. 
7. Betonica incana, or hoary betony : fpike interrupts 
ed ; helmet of the corolla bifid, middle divifion of the 
lower lip notched ; tube tomentofe ; bent in. The leaves 
of this fort are broader, and not fo long as thofe of the 
common fort, and are hoary ; the flalks are fhorter and 
much thicker, as are alfo the fpikes of flowers, than thofe 
of the common betony; the flowers are larger and flefli- 
coloured. Native of Italy. 
Propagation and Culture. All the forts may be propa¬ 
gated by feeds, or parting the roots. They require a fhady 
fituation and a moift ftiff foil, in which they will thrive 
better than in rich ground. The beft time to tranfplant 
and feparate the roots is in the autumn, but the feeds 
fhould be fown in the fpring upon a fhady border, and 
when the plants come up they will require no other care 
but to keep, them clean from weeds, and to thin them 
where they are too clofe. Thefe all of them flower in 
May and June, and the feeds ripen in Auguft. 
Betonica Aqj’Atica. See Scrophularia. 
Betonica Pauli. See Veronica. 
BETOOK', irreg. prep, from betake ; which fee. 
BE'TO-POU'LO, a fmall ifland in the Grecian Archi¬ 
pelago. Lat. 37. 2. N. Ion. 41. 19. E. Ferro. 
To BETOSS', v. a. [from to/s.] To difturb ; to agi¬ 
tate : to put into violent motion : 
What faid my man, when my betojfed foul 
Did not attend him as we rode ? Shakefpeare. 
BETOW'KY, a town of Poland, in Samogitia : fixteen 
miles weft of Rofienne. 
To BETRAY',®, a. [ trahir, Fr,] To give into the 
hands of enemies by treachery, or breach of truft : with 
to before the perfon, otherwife into. —If ye be come to be¬ 
tray me to mine enemies, feeing there is no wrong in mine 
hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke 
it. 1 Ckron. —Jefus faid unto them, The Son of man fhall 
be betrayed into the hands of man. Matt .—He was not to be 
won, either by promife or reward, to bdray the city. Knolles. 
■—To difeover that which has been entrufted to fecrecy. 
To expofe to evil by revealing fomething entrufted. To 
make known fomething that were better concealed. — Be 
fwift to hear, but be cautious of your tongue, left you 
betray your ignorance. Watts. —To make liable to fall into 
fomething inconvenient.—The bright genius is ready to 
be fo forward, as ohendtetrays itfelf into greater errors in¬ 
judgment. Watts. — To fhew ; to difeover : 
The Veian and the Gabian tow’rs fhall fall. 
And one promifeuous ruin cover all ; 
Nor, after length of years, a done betray 
The place where once the very ruins lay. Addifor.. 
BETRAY'ER,/! He that betrays ; a traitor. 
To BETRIM', v. a. [from trim, j To deck ; to drefs ; 
to grace; to adorn; toembellifh; to beautify; to decorate. 
11 E To 
