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these waters are particularly adapted to the benefit of invalids,who find here a variety of establishments, contributing equallyto health, convenience, and amusement. There are three prin-cipal springs in the city of Rath, namely, those called the King’sBath, the Cross Rath, and the Hot "Rath; all within a shortdistance of each other, and emptying themselves into the riverAvon , after having passed through the several baths. Theirsupply is so copious, that all the large reservoirs used for bath-ing, are filled every evening with fresh water, from their respec-tive fountains. In their sensible and medicinal properties, thereis but a slight difference: according to Dr. Falconer, the formerare, 1. That the water, when newly drawn, appears clear andcolourless, remains perfectly inactive, without bubbles, or anysign of briskness or effervescence; 2. After being exposed tothe open air for some hours, it becomes rather turbid, by theseparation of a pale yellow ochery precipitate, which graduallysubsides; 3. No odour is perceptible from a glass of the freshwater, but a slight pungency to the taste from a large mass ofit, when fresh-drawn ; which, however, is neither foetid nor sul-phureous: 4. When hot front the pump, it affects the mouthwith a strong chalybeate impression, without being of a saline orpungent taste; and 5. On growing cold, the chalybeate taste isentirely lost, leaving only a very slight sensation on the tongue,by which it can scarcely be distinguished from common hardspring water. In specific gravity, the water of the King’s, orHot Rath, and that of the Cross Rath, exceed all other cold orwarm springs of that city; the former being one-tenth, and thelatter one-twelfth part of a thousand, heavier than the water inthe river Avon . The temperature of the King’s Bath water whichis usually preferred for drinking, is, when fresh drawn in theglass, above 116°; that of the Cross Bath 112°. But after flowinginto the spacious bathing-vessels, it is generally from 100 to 106°in the hotter baths, and from 92 to 94° in the Cross Bath ; atemperature which remains nearly stationary, and is greater thanthat of any other natural spring in Britain . Dr. Saunders, ofLondon , estimate; a gallon of the King’s Bath water to containabout eight cubic inches of carbonic acid, and a similar quantityof air, nearly azotic ; farther, about 80 grains of solid ingredients,one-halfof which probably consists of sulphate and muriate of soda;151 grains of siliceous earth, and the remainder is selenite, car-bonate of lime, and so small a portion of oxyd of iron, as to bescarcely calculable. Hence he concludes, that the King’s Bathwater is the strongest chalybeate; next in order, the Hot Bathwater; and, lastly, that of the Cross Bath, which contains thesmallest proportions of chalybeate, gaseous, and saline, butconsiderably more of the earthy particles ; while its water in thepump is also two degrees lower than that of the others. Accord-ing to Dr. Falconer, the Bath water, when drunk fresh from thespring, generally raises, or rather accelerates the pulse, increasesthe heat, and promotes the different secretions. These symp-toms, in most cases, become perceptible soon alter drinking it,and will sometimes continue fur a considerable time: it is, how-ever, remarkable, that they are only produced in invalids. Hencewe may conclude, that these waters not only possess heatingproperties, but their internal use is likewise attended with a pe-culiai stimulus, acting more immediately on the nerves. One ofthe most salutary effects of the Bath water consists in its action onthe urinary organs, even when taken in moderate doses. Its ope-sation on the bowels varies in different individuals, like that ofall other waters which do not contain any cathartic salt; but, ingeneral, it is productive of costiveness, an effect resulting fromthe want of an active stimulus to the intestines, and probably alsofrom the determination this water occasions to the skin, more thanfrom any astringency which it may possess. For, if perspirationbe suddenly checked during the use of it, a diarrhoea is sometimesthe consequence.
Baths, in ancient architecture, large pompous buildings,erected for the purpose of bathing. Baths made a part of the an-cient gymnasia, though they were frequented more for the sakeof pleasure than health. The most magnificent baths among theRomans, were those of Titus, Paulus, VEmilius, and Dioclesian ,of which there are some ruins still remaining.
BATHING-DAY, among the Cophts and ./Ethiopians , de-notes the day of Christ’s baptism, reputed thefilh of January;when from an opinion of an extraordinary sanctity iu the waters
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1 on that day T , they not only, by r ancient custom, baptized the cate-chumens, but were re-baptised themselves.
BATII-KOL, i. e. the daughter of a voice, an oracle amongthe Jews , (frequently mentioned in their books, especially theTalmud . Jt was a fantastical way of divination invented by theJews, though called by them a revelation from God ’s will, whichlie made to his chosen people, after all verbal prophecies hadceased in Israel . It was in fact a method of divination similar tothe sortes Yirgilianae of the Heathens. For as, with them, thefirst words they happened to dip into, in the works of that poet,were a kind of oracle whereby they predicted future events; so,with the Jews , when they appealed to tmth-kol, the lint wordsthey heard from any man’s mouth were looked upon as a voicefrom heaven, directing them in the matter they inquired about.The Christians were not quite free from a similar superstition,making the same use of the book of the Scriptures as the Pagans didof the works of Virgil. See Sortes.
BATI1MUS, from /2«ivm, I move,] in anatomy', such
cavities of bones as receivethe prominences of other bones into them.
BATHRUM, a kind of stool or bench proper for the reduc-tion of dislocated bones. This is called ’lara-axjrtTtiov, or theHippocratic stool.
BATHURST, Allen, Earl of Bathurst, one of the lastworthies of Queen Anne ’s reign, that shining period of triumphs,taste, genius, and elegance, was the son of Sir Benjamin Bathurst,of Paul’s Perry, Northamptonshire ; born in Westminster in 1684,and educated at Trinity college , Oxford. In 1705 he was chosen,member for Cirencester in Gloucestershire , which place he repre-sented the two next parliaments. He joined the tory party, bywhom he was brought into the house of Peers in 1711. He was azealous opposer of the measures of Sir Robert Walpole . In 1704he married a daughter of Sir Peter Apsley, by whom he had foursons and five daughters. In 1742 he was admitted of the privy-council : in 1757 he was appointed treasurer to the prince of Wales ;at his majesty’s accession he obtained a pension of 2.0001. a year,and in 1772 he was created Earl Bathurst. He added to his pub-lic virtues all the good breeding, politeness, and elegance, ofsocial intercourse. Friend, Congreve, Vanbrugh , Swift, Prior,Row, Addison, Pope, Arbuthnot, Gay, and most men of geniusin his own time, cultivated his friendship, and were proud of hiscorrespondence. Pope thus addresses him, in his Epistle on theUse of Riches:
" O teach us, Bathurst, yet unspoil’d by wealth !
That secret rare, between th’ extremes to move,
Of mad good nature, and of mean self-love.”
And Sterne, in his letters to Eliza, thus speaks of him r "Thisnobleman is an old friend of mine ; he was always the protector 1 -of men of wit and genius; and has had those of the last centuryalway s at his table. The manner in whicli his notice began of me,was as singular as it was polite. He came up to me one day as Iwas at the Princess of Wales ’s court; ‘I want to know you, Mr.Sterne: but it’s lit you should know also who it is that wishes thispleasure : you have heard,’continued he, ‘of an old Lord Bathurst,of whom your Popes and Swifts have sung and spoken so much :
1 have lived my life with geniuses of that cast, but have survivedthem ; and despairing ever to find their equals, it is some yearssince 1 have closed my accounts, and shut up my books, withthoughts of never opening them again : but yon have kindled a de-sire in me of opening them once more before 1 die, which 1 now doso go home and dine with me.’ This nobleman, I say, is a pro-digy : for at 85 be lias all the wit and promptness of a man of 30 :a disposition to be pleased, and a power to please others beyond,whatever I knew ! added to which, a man of learning, courtesy,and feeling.” In the latter part of his life, he preserved his cheer-fulness, always accessible, hospitable, and beneficent. He delight-ed in rural amusements; and enjoyed, with a philosophical satis-faction, the shade of the lofty trees he had planted himself. Hedied at his seat near Cirencester , on the 16th of September in 1775,aged 91.
BATILLUS, a musical instrument made of metal, in the formof a staff, furnished with metallic rings.
BATIS, a genus of the tetrandria order, and dicecia class ofplants. Male, amentum four ways imbricated ; calyx and co-rolla wanting: female, amentum ovate; involucrum diphyllous ;stigma bilobate and sessile ; berries conjoined, four-seeded,5 I There