BAT

BAT 398

There is but one species. B. Manliina, a shrub, native of Ja-maica .

BATISTE, in commerce, a line'white kind of linen cloth, ma-nufactured in Inlanders and lVurdy.

BAT LET, [irom but,'] a square piece of wood, with a handle,used in bearing linen when taken out of the buck.

BATMAN, in commerce a kind of weight used at Smyrna,consisting of six okes. Forty batmans make a camel’s load, andamount to about 7201b. English weight.

BATON, or BATOON, in heraldry. See B avion.

BATRACIIOM YOMACT1IA, [from /Sms-w^o;, a frog, ^-.r, amouse, and a battle,] the bat:le of the frogs and the

mice, the title of a line burlesque poem generally ascribed toHomer.

BATTrE, a people of ancient Germany , formerly inhabitants ofwhat is now called Hesse. Being dissatisfied with their situationthere, they settled on the island formed by the Yahabs and theRhine , which from them took the name of Batavia, or BatavorumInsula. Their government was a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy,and democracy.

BATTALIA, an army ranged in order of battle, or ready for |engagement. The word seems formed from the Latin butualia,sometimes also written bntulia, denoting a sort of military or gla-diatorial exercises, as fighting with foils, oi* tilling at a post. Inthis sense, we meet w ith a depth of a battalia ; to march in bat-talia, with the baggage in the middle ; to break the battalia, &c.In !he Roman battalia, lb vbastati made the front.

BA'ITALION, [ batailbm , Fr.] a division of an armv : atroop, a body of forces. It is now confined to tbe infantry, andthe number is unceitain, but generally from five to eight hundredmen. Some regiments consist of one batallion, and others aredivided into two, three, or more. They are armed with firelocks,swords, and bayonets ; and divided into 13 companies, one ofwhich is grenadiers.

Battalion, Round, is that in which the soldiers are ranged inconcentric circles.

Battalion, Suuare, is that where the number of men in fileis equal to the number of men in rank. To form any certain num-ber of men, e. g. 500, into a square battalion, extract the nearestsquare root of 500 ; which is in integers 23; and that will give thenumber of men for rank and file. There will be a remainder of 16men, who may be disposed of, as the commander thinks best. M.Folard shews at large, in his book “ De la Calonne,” the weaknessof the square battalion. Both the full and the hollow square, ac-cording to him, are equally bad.

Battalion, Triangular, is a body of troops disposed of inthe form of a triangle; in which the 'ranks form an arithmeticalprogression.

BATTATAS, the Indian name of the potatoe. See Convol-vulus.

BATTECOLA, a town of Ccvlon, subject to the Dutch . Lon.81. 3. E. Lat. 7.55. N.

BA'l TEL, a town of Sussex, six miles N.W. of Hastings. It wasformerly called Epiton ; and is the place where William the Con-queror vanquished Harold II . king of England, Oct. 14, 1066. Itis 57 miles S. E. of London . Lon. 0. 33. E. Lat. 59. 55. N.

Battel, in law, a species of trial of great antiquity, but now dis-used. It seems to have owed its original to the military spirit ofour ancestors, joined to a superstitious frame of mind ; as it is a kindof appeal to Providence, undera hope (however presumptuous andunwarrantable) that heaven would give the victory to him who hadthe right. The defendant, in an appeal of murder or felony, mightfight with the appellant, and make proof thereby, whether he wereculpable or innocent. This mode of trial was used also in onecivil case, namely, upon an issue joined in a writ of right; hut asthe writ of right itself is now disused, this course of trial is only mat-ter of speculation.

BATTEN, a name that workmen give to a scantling of woodenstuff, from two to four inches broad, and about one inch thick ; thelength is pretty considerable, but undetermined.

BATTEN BERG, or BATTEN BURG, a town of DutchGuelderland, 10 miles S. W. of Nimeguen .

BATTEUDEAUX. See Coffer.

BATTERING, in the military art, is the attacking a fortifiedplace or work with heavy artillery. To batter in breach, is to plavfuriously on a work, as the angle of a half-moon, to demolish and

make a gap in it. In doing this, they never fire a piece at the top,but all at the bottom, from three to six feet from the ground.

Battering-ram, in antiquity, a military engine used to batterand beat down the walls ot places besieged. It is said to havebeen invented by Artemanes of Clazomene , a Greek architect v.boflourished B. C. 441. Vitruvius says that they were sometimes 106, •and sometimes 120, feet in length ; and to this perhaps the forceand strength of the engine was in a great mea ttre owing. Theram was managed by 100 soldiers at a time, and when they wereexhausted, they were relieved by another centry : so that it "plavedcontinually without intermission. Fig. 1. Plate XIX. is a repre-sentation of tlie battering-ram suspended. No. 1. The run. 2.Its head, fastened to the beam by three or four bands of iron, fourfeet hi breadth. At the extremity of each of these bands was achain of the same metal, one end of which was fastened to a hook(3,) and at the other extremity of each of these chains was a cabletirmly bound to the last link. These cables ran the whole lengthof the beam to the end of tbe ram (4.) where they wore all boundtogether as f;wt as possible with small ropes. To the end of thesecables another was fixed, composed of several strong cords plaitedtogether to a certain length, and then running single (3). At eachot these, several men were placed to balance and work the ma-chine. 6. r l he chain or cable by which it hung to the cross-beam(7.) fixed on tbe lop of the Irame. 8. The base of (lie machine.The unsuspendtd ram differed from this only in the manner ofworking it: for instead of being slung by a thain or cable, it movedon small wheels on another large beam.

Battering-ram, in heraldry, a bearing or coat of arms resem-bling the military engine above described.

BATTERY, in electricity, is a combination of coated surfacesof glass, commonly jars so connected together, that they may becharged at once, and discharged by a common conductor. SeeElectricity 1 .

Battery, Galvanic , an apparatus for accumulating the elec-tricity of galvanism. See Galvanism.

Battery, in law, is the unlawful beating of another in breachof the peace. 1 he least touching of another’s person wilfully, or inanger, is a battery ; for the law cannot draw the line between dif-ferent degrees of violence, and therefore totally prohibits the firstand lowest stage of it: every man’s person being sacred, and noother having a right to meddle with it, in the slightest manner.But battery is in some cases justifiable or lawful; as, I. where onewho hath authority, as a parent or master, gives moderate correctionto his child, his scholar, or his apprentice: 2. In self defence; ifone strikes another, or only assaults him, lie may strike in his owndefence ; and, if sued for it, may plead son assault demesne, thatit was the plaintiff’s original assault that occasioned it ; 3. In de-fence of goods or possessions, if one endeavours to deprive anotherof them, lie may-lay hands upon him to prevent him ; and in casehe persists with violence, may beat him aw ay : 4. In the exerciseof an office, as that of church-warden or beadle, a man may layhands upon another to turn him out of church, and prevent hisdisturbing the congregation : and if sued for this or the like bat-tery, be may set forth the whole case, and plead that he laid handsupon him gently mollitcr mumts imposuit, for this purpose. Onaccount of these causes of justification, battery is defined to be theunlawful beating of another: for which the remedy is, as for assault,by action of trespass vi et armis : wherein the jury w ill give ade-quate satisfaction in damages.

Battery, in metalline manufactures, or battery works, includespots, sauce-pans, kettles, and the like vessels, which, though castat first, are to be afterwards hammered or beaten into form.

Battery, in the military art, is a parapet thrown up to coverthe gunners, and men employed about the guns, from tiie enemy’sshot. This parapet is cut into embrasures, for the guns to be firedthrough. The height of the embrasures on the inside is aboutthree feet: but they slope lower to the outside. T heir width istwo or three feet: but they open to six or seven on the outside.The mass of eartli betwixt two embrasures is called the merlon.The platform of a battery is a floor of planks and sleepers, to keeptlie wheels of the guns from sinking into the eartli; and is alwaysmade sloping towards the embrasures, both to hinder the reverse,and to lacilitale tlie bringing back of the gun. Batteries are ofvarious kinds, viz.

Batteries, Cross, are two batteries which play athwart oneanother upon the same object, forming there an angle, and beating

with