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BASELLA, Climbing Nightshade, a genus of the trigyniaorder, anil pentaiidria class of plants; natural order, Holoraceas.]No calyx ; corolla seven-cleft, with the two opposite divisionsbroader, and at last berried; seed one. It has four species, nativesof the East Indies.
BASELLl or BASELS, in our old historians, a species of coinabolished by King Henry II . A. D. 1I5S.
BA8EM ENT, in architecture, a base continued a considerablelength, as round a house, room, &c.
Base Ring of a Cannon, is the. great ring next behind thetouch-hole.
Base-viol, [usually written bass-viol,'] an instrument which istiSed in concerts for the base sound.
BASH AN, or BASAN, a kingdom beyond Jordan, mentionedin Scripture. By Josephus, Eusebius , and Jerom, it is calledBalanara.
BASHAW, PASCHA, or PACHA, a Turkish governor of aprovince, city, or other district. All Egypt is, on the part of thegrand seignior, governed hv a bashaw, who has in reality but little•'Dower ; but seems principally to be meant lor communicating tohis divan of beys, and to the divans of the several military ogiaes,the orders of the grand seignior, and to see that they be executedbv the proper otlicers Bashaw, used absolutely, denotes the primevizier; the others of that denomination being distinguished by theaddition of the province, city, or the like, which they have thecommand of; as the bashaw of Egypt , of Palestine, &c. Thebashaws are the emperor’s sponges. We find loud complaintsamong the Christians who reside in Turkey, of their avarice andextortions. As they buy their governments, every thing is venalwith them. When glutted with wealth, the emperor frequentlymakes them a present of a bow-string, and becomes heir to all theirspoil. There are also sub-bashaws, or deputy-governors under thebashaws.
BASIL , in botany. See Ocymum.
Basil, or Basle, a canton of Switzerland , which joined theconfederacy in 1501. It is bounded on the S. by the canton ofSolothurn .
Basil, or Basle, its capital is the largest city in Switzerland ,having 220 streets, 6 market-places or squares, 6 suburbs;
5 gates, and 46 fountains. It is 175 miles N. by E. ofGeneva, and 250 E. by S. of Paris . Lon. 7. 34. E. Lat. 47.35. N.
Basil , in mechanics, the name among joiners, for the slopingedge of a chissel, or of the iron of a plane. To wor.k on soft woodthey'usually make the basis 12 degrees, and for hard wood 18;it being remarked, that the more acute the basil is, the better theinstrument cuts ; and the more obtuse, the stronger, and litter it isfor service.
Basil, the skin of a sheep tanned.
Basil, St. the Great, one of the most learned and eloquentdoctors of the church, was born at Citsarea, in Cappadocia , aboutA. D. 328 ; of which place lie was bishop. The emperor Valenspersecuted him, because he refused to embrace the Arian heresy.He used his utmost endeavours to bring about a reunion betwixtthe eastern and western churches, who were then much divided,not only about points of faith, but with regard to Meletius andPaulinus, two bishops of Antioch , a dispute which was not termi-nated till nine months after his death. Basil had a share in all thedisputes which happened in his time in the east, in regard to thedoctrine of the church; and died 1st Jan. 379. There have beenseveral editions of his works in Greek and Latin . The best isthat of Father Gamier, printed in Creek and Latin , in 3 volumesfolio. St. Basil ’s style is pure and elegant, his expressions aregrand and sublime, and his thoughts noble and majestic. Eras-mus places hull among the greatest orators of antiquity. The bestedition of his works is that of Gamier, the Benedictine, Gr. andLat. 3 vols. folio, Paris , 1721.
Basil, St. Order of, the most ancient of all the religiousorders. See Basilian. !
BASILEUS, [/SuTixsy;,] a title assumed by the emperors ofiConstantinople , exclusive of all other princes, to w hom they give Ithe title rex, king. The title basileus has been since assumed by |other kings, particularly the kings of England, “ Ego Edgar toiius jAnglhe basileus confirmavi.” Hence also the queen of Englandwas entitled Basiiea and Basilissa. • |
saint, having retired into a desert, in the province of Pontusiounded a monastery for the convenience of himself and his nu-merous followers: and for the better regulation of this new society,lie drew up in writing the orders and rules he would have themfollow. This new order soon spread all over the east; nor was itlong before it passed into the west.
BASILIC, or BASILICA , [Swii.ixv, a royal house,] in theancient architecture, denotes a kind of public hull or court ofjudicature, where the princes or magistrates sut to administerjustice,
Basilics, in literary history, a name supposed to have beenj given by the emperor Leo, to a collection of laws in honour ofliis father Basilius the Macedonian , who began it A. D. 867, andin the execution chietiy made use of Sabbathias Protospatharius,who carried the work as far as 40 books. Leo added 20 booksmore, and published the work in 880. The whole, 30 years after,was corrected and improved by Constantine Porphyrogenitus ,son of Leo; whence many have held him the author of the basi-lica. Six books of tlie basilica were translated into Latin in 1557,by Gentian Ilervetus. An edition of the Creek basilics, with aLatin version, has been since published at Paris , in 1647, by An-nibal Fabroltus, in seven volumes. There are still wanting'nine-tcen books, which are supposed to he lost. Eabrotlus has endea-voured to supply in some measure the defect from the synopsis ofthe basilica, and the glosses ; of which several had been madeunder the succeeding emperors, and contained the whole Justinian law, excepting the superfluities, in a new and more consistentorder, together with the later constitutions of the emperors pos-terior to Justinian .
BASILICA, [jScKTii.ixi),] in anatomy, the interior branch of theaxillary vein, running the whole length of the arm. It is one ofthe veins opened in bleeding.
Basilica, or Basilicus, a fixed star, the same with llegulus,or Cor Leon is.
BASILICATA, a territory of Italy, N. of Calabria . Theprincipal towns are Cirenza the capital, Mesi, Tursi, Rapollo,Muro, Lavello, Tracarico, Monte Pelose, and Venoso , which areall episcopal sees.
BASIL1CI, [/SuviXixoi,] in the Greek empire, was a denomi-nation given to the prince’s mandatories, or those who carried hisorders.
BASILICON, [BrtiriXixev,] in pharmacy, a name given to se-veral compositions to be found in ancient medicinal writers. Atpresent it is confined to three officinal ointments, distinguished bythe epithets black, yellow, ar.d green. See Pharmacy.
BASILIDES, an Egyptian , who lived near the beginning ofthe 2d century’. He was educated in the Gnostic school, overwhich Simon Magus presided ; with whom he agreed that Christwas a man in appearance, that his body was a phantom, and thathe gave his form to Simon the Cyrenian, who was crucified in hisstead. We learn from Eusebius , that this heresiarch wrote 24books upon the Gospel, and that he forged several prophets; totwo of which he gave the names Barcaha and Barcoph. We havestill the fragment of a Basilidian gospel.
BASILIDIANS, ancient heretics, the followers ofBasilides.They supposed there were particular virtues in names; and taught,with Pythagoras and Plato , that names were not formed by chance,but naturally- signified something.
BASILISK , [ basilicus , Lat. of ^Ktrixerx©-, of jSotiXiu;, a king,]a fabulous kind of serpent, said to be produced from a cock’s egg,hatched by a serpent, and supposed to kill by its breath or sightonly.
Basilisk, in military affairs, a large piece of ordnance, thusdenominated from its resemblance lo the supposed serpent of thatname. The basilisk throws an iron hall of 200 pound weight.Modern wiiters give the name basilisk to a much smaller and moresizeable piece of ordnance, which the Dutch make 15 feet long,and the French only 10. It carries 48 pounds.
BASINGSTOKE , a large and populous corporation-town, inthe North of Hampshire, and 46 miles from London . I.on. 1. 10.W. Lat. 51. 20. N.
BASIOGLOSSUS, a muscle arising from the base of the oehyoides.
BASKARIA, a country of Muscovite Tartary.
BASKET , as a measure, denotes an uncertain quantity ; as, abasket of medlars is two bushels, of asafuitida from 20 to 30 lbs.
weight.