BAL
372
BAL
wool, contained in a leather cover, which is nailed to the wood,with which the ink is applied on the forms to be wrought off.
Ball, in antiquity, a species of game frequent among the an-cients. The Romans had four kinds of pda 1 , or halls. Galenhas an entire treatise on the exercise of the lesser hall.
Bali., in pyrotechnics, is a composition of various combustibleingredients, serving to burn, smoke, give light, Ac. In this sensewe read of tire-MUs, light balls, smoke-balls, stink-balls, &c. SeeByrotechny.
Ball and Socket is an instrument made of brass, with aperpetual screw, so as to move horizontally, vertically, andobliquely ; and is generally used for the managing of surveying-and astronomical instruments.
Ball, Hero's, I’ila IIkkonis, a kind of artificial fountain,wherein the water is made to spout out of a hollow ball or globe;so named from the inventor, Hero of Alexandria, who lias leftthe description of it in his Spiritalia.
Ball of a Pendulum , the weight at the bottom. In shorterpendulums, this is called the bob.
Ball-Puff, in botanv. See Lycoi'ERDON.
Ball Vein, in mineralogy, a name given by the miners ofSussex to a sort of iron ore, common there, and wrought to con-siderable advantage.
Balls, in heraldry. See Ballets .
Balls of Pike, m meteorology, a kind of luminous bodiescommonly appearing at a great height above the earth, with asplendour surpassing that of the moon ; and sometimes equallingher apparent size. They generally proceed in this hemispherefrom N. to S. with vast velocity, frequently breaking into severalsmaller ones, sometimes vanishing with a report, and sometimesnot. These luminous appearances no doubt constitute one branchof the ancient prodigies, or blazing stars. They sometimes re-semble comets, in being attendedWith a train: but frequentlythey appear with a round and well-deiined disk. The lirst ofthese ot which we have any accurate account, was observed byDr. Halley and others at different places in 1719. From theslight observations they could take of its course among the stars,its perpendicular height was computed at about 70 miles fromthe surface of the earth. The height of others has also beencomputed, and found to be various ; though in general it is sup-posed to be beyond the limits assigned to our atmosphere, orwhere it loses its refractive power. '1 he most remarkable of theseon record appeared on the 18th of August 1783, about 9 o’clockin the evening. It was seen to the northward of Shetland, andtook a southerly direction for an immense space, being observedas far as the southern provinces of France, and Rome . Duringits course it appears frequently to have changed its shape ; some-times appearing in the form of one ball, sometimes of two ormore ; sometimes with a train, sometimes without one. It passedover Edinburgh nearly in the zenith, and had then the appearanceof a well-deli tied round body, extremely luminous, and of agreenish colour; the light which it diffused on the gi ;und givinglikewise a greenish cast to objects. After passing the zenith, itwas attended by a train of considerable length, which continuallyaugmenting, at last obliterated the head entirely ; so that it lookedlike a wedge, Hying with the obtuse end foremost. The motionwas not apparently swift, by reason of its great height; though inreality it must have moved with great rapidity, on account of thevast space it travelled over in a short time. In other places itsappearance was very different. At Greenwich we are told, .that“ two bright halls parallel to each other led the way, the diame-ter of which appeared to be about two feet; anti were followedby an expulsion of eight others, not elliptical, seeming graduallyto mutilate, for the last was small. Between each two balls a lu-minous serrated body extended, and at the last a blaze issuedwhich terminated in a point. Minute particles dilated from thewhole. Tin; halls were tinted first by a pure bright light, thenfollowed a delicate yellow, mixed with azure, red, green, &c.which, with a coalition of bolder tints, and a reflection from theother balk, gave the most beautiful rotundity and variation of co-lours that the human eye could be charmed with. The suddenillumination ot the atmosphere, and the form and singular transi-tion of tins bright luminary, tended much to make it awtui:nevertheless the amazing vivid appearance of the different balls,and other rich connective parts not very easy to dtdincate, gaveat. effect equal to the rainbow in the full zenith of its glory.”
6
Dr. Blagdcn, in a paper on this subject in the 74th volume of thePhilosophical Transactions , has given a particular accountof this and other meteors of the kind, with several conjecture*relating to the _ ' cause of them.
BAI.l.AD, or BALLET, a popular song containing the reci-tal of some action, adventure, or intrigue. The Erench coniinetheir ballads to stricter terms. A ballad, according to Richelet,is a song consisting of three strophe ; the whole in rhyme, of two,three, or four verses, with a burthen repealed at the end of eachstrophe, as well as of the half strophe.
BAEEAGI1AN, or BAI.EAGI1Y, a town of Ireland , 20miles S. of Sligo .
BALLAST, in navigation, any heavy matter, as stones, gra-vel, iron, ike. thrown m the hold" of a siiip, in order to make hersink a proper depth in the water, that she may be capable of car-rying a sufficient quantity of sail without oversetting. There isoften great difference in the proportion of ballast required to pre-pare ships of equal burthen for a voyage: the quantity being al-ways more or less according to the sharpness or flatness of theship’s bottom, which seamen call the lloor. To ballast a ship, isthe art of disposing the materials so that she may be duly poised,and maintain a proper equilibrium on the water, The whole artof ballasting consists in placing the centre of gravity to corres-pond with the trim and shape of the vessel, so as neither to hetoo high nor too low ; neither loo far forward nor too far aft, andto lade the ship so deep, that the surface of the water maynearly rise to the extreme breadth amidships ; and thus she w ill beenabled to carry a good sail, incline but little, and ply well to thewindward.
The follow ing Table will exhibit in one view the quantity of bal-last allowed to ships of different sizes;
Ballast allowed to the following Ships:
Guns.
Tonnage.
Iron Tons.
Shingle Tons.
110
2290
180
370
too
2090
180
370
98
2110
160
350
90
1870
160
350
80
1620
140
300
74
1700
80
270
64
1370
70
260
50
1100
65
170
44
900
65
160
38
930
70
170
36
870
()5
160
32
700
()5
140
28
600
60
100
24
500
50
80
oo
450
50
70
20
400
50
60
Sloop
300
50
40
Brig
160
30
15
Cutter
—
20
( Seldom
Sloop
15
i any.
The iron ballast is first stored fore and aft, from bulk-head tobulk-head ; then the shingle ballast is spread and levelled over theiron. Ships are said to be in ballast when they have no otherloading. Masters of vessels are obliged to declare the quantity ofballast they hear, and to unload it at certain places. They areprohibited unloading their ballast in havens, roads, &c. inattentionto which has ruined many excellent ports.
BALLET, BALET , or BALETTO, a kind of dramaticpoem, representing some fabulous action or subject divided intoseveral entries ; wherein several persons appear, and recite thingsunder the name of some deity, or other illustrious character.
Bai.let is also used for a kind of comic, dance,- consisting of aseries of several airs of different kinds of movements, which, toge-ther represent some subject or action.
Ballets, or Balls, in heraldry, make a frequent hearing incoals of arms, though never sy culled ; for, according to their se-veral