B ES
m
BET
called also the Merse; bounded by the river Tweed, on the S. byLothian, on the iS. by the German Ocean on the E. and by Ti-viotdale on the \V. The principal rivers are the Tweed, theWhitadder, Bieckadder, Eye, and Ednel. The chief town isDunse.
Berwick, a populous and well-built town, on the borders ofEngland and Scotland , and a county of itself. Mr. Bailey’ derivesthe naBe from AbervviiT, i.e. a town at the mouth of a river.It sends two members to parliament, and is situated 52 miles S. E.of Edinburgh . Lou. 1.4(5. W. Lat. 55. 45. N.
BERY, in the Norwegian language, signifies a place of obser-vation, for discovering the approach of an enemy by sea, at a greatdistance.
BERYL, [bert/llus, Lat.] a kind of precious stone.
Beryl, in natural history, a pellucid gem of a bluish greencolour. It is a species of the Hint genus, divided by Werner intotwo sub species, viz. precious and schorllous beryl.. Like mostother genu, it is met with both iu the peeble and columnar form,but in the latter most frequently'. In the peeble form it usuallyappears of a roundish but flatted figure, and commonly full ofsmall flat faces, irregularly disposed. In the columnar or crystal-line form, it always consists of hcxangular columns, termi-nated by' hexangular pyramids. It never receives any admix-ture of colour into it, nor loses the blue and green, but hasits genuine (inge in the degrees from a very deep and dusky,to the palest imaginable of sea-water Ime. The beryl, in its per-fect state, approaches to fhe hardness of garnet, but is often sober ;and its size is from that of a small tare to that of a horse-liean, oreven a walnut. Before the blow-pipe it is difficultly fusible with-out addition, but with borax it melts easily. The specific gravityof the precious beryl is 2,0 or 2,7, and is composed of
100,0
It becomes very electrical by rubbing: is found in primitiverocks, accompanied with quartz, felspar, garnet, mica, fluor spar,and topaz. The most beautiful specimens are brought fromChina and the Brazils. They are found also in the Uraliau moun-tains, in France, and in Saxony . When pure it is cut into stonesfor rings and necklaces. Its plenty renders it of no great value.The blue varieties were denominated by the ancients saphive; thegreen, aqua marine, and the yellow, topaz. The schorlous beryl,is of a straw-colour, passing to white, green, and yellow. Speci-fic gravity about 3,5. It is the link that unites the precious berylwki schorl, and consists of
100
BERYLLTSTICA, a term used for the mysterious art of see-ing future or distant events in glasses.
BERYTUS, in ancient geography, a sea-port town of Phoeni-cia on the Mediterranean. It is now called Beroot.
BES, or BESSIS, an ancient Roman weight, containing two-thirds of the as. It also denotes two-thirds of the jugerum, oracre.
BESANCON, an ancient, large, and populous city of France ,in the department of Doubs . Lon. 0. 8. E. Lat. 47. 14. N.
BESANT, BEZANT, BISANT, or BYZANT, a goldcoin, struck at Byzantium , in the time of the Christian emperors.It was of pure gold, but writers are not agreed with respect to itsvalue. lienee the gold offered by the king at the altar, on festi-vals, is still called besant or bisant.
Besants, or Bezants, in heraldry, are representations ofround, flat pieces of money, without stamp or impress, introducedinto coat armour by those who were at the holy war.
BESCA, in old records, a spade, or shovel.
BES1LL, a town in the county of Cornwall , four miles S..E. ofCamelford .
BESlSTAN, or BERSTEIN, a name given by the Turks'to those places at Constantinople , A drianople, &c. where themerchants have their shops, and expose their merchandizes to sale.
BES LERI A, a genus of the angiospermia order, and d idy ga-in ia class of plants. Petal single ; berry globose, one-celled ;seeds numerous, roundish, very small. It" has six species, SouthAmerican plants.
BESSARABIA, a territory of Turkey in Europe , lying be-tween Moldavia, the N. part of the Danube, the Black Sea , andLittle Tartary.
BESSE, a copper coin, current at the island Ormus, in thePersian Gulf , equal to 4 eosbegs, 1 L sterling.
BESSI, the ancient inhabitants ot B.issica, a district of Thrace ,a fierce and barbarous people noted for their robberies. Theirchief city IJseudama is now known by the name of Adrianople .
BESTAIL, or BESTIAL, in ancient statutes, all kinds ofbeasts or cattle, especially those purveyed for the king’s provi-sion.
BESTARCIIA, a dignity- in the courts of the emperors ofConstantinople , supposed to answer to that of tfle master of thewardrobe among us. The word seems to have been formed from’Cestarcha, by a change of the v into b.
BESTERTZE, or BESTR1CIA, a royal free town of Tran-sylvania .
BEST! A RI I, in Roman antiquity, those who fought againstbeasts, or who were exposed to them by the sentence of the law.There were four kinds of bestiarii; viz. 1. Those who made atrade of it, and fought for money. 2. Such young men as, toshow their strength and dexterity in managing their arms, foughtagainst beasts. 3. The third kind was, where several bestiariiwere let loose at once, well armed, against a number of beasts.4. The fourth kind were those condemned to the beasts, consist-ing either of prisoners taken in war, or slaves guilty of some enor-mous crime ; these were exposed naked, and without the meansof defence. •
BETA, in botany, the Beet; a genus of the digynia order, andpentandria class; and in the natural order, Iloloracese. Calyx,five-leaved ; no corolla; seeds kidney-shaped, and situated withinthe base of the calyx. There are four species.
B. IIortensis, the common white beet, is cultivated in gar-dens for the sake of its leaves which are frequently used in soups.The root of this sort seldom grows larger than a man’s thumb;the spikes of flowers come out from the wings of the leaves, whichare long, and have narrow leaves between the flowers. Thelower leaves of the plant are thick and succulent, and their foot-stalks broad. The varieties of this are, the wiiite beet, the green,beet, and the Swiss- or chard beet.
B. Vulgaris, the red beet , with a pyramidal root, hath large,thick, succulent, leaves, which are for the most part of a darkgreen or purple colour. The roots are large, and of a deep rc-d.I’he larger these roots grow, the tenderer they are ; and thedeeper their colour, the more they are esteemed. The varietiesof this species are the common red beet, the turnip-rooted beet,and the green-leaved red beet. • Decoctions of beets gently loosenthe belly; hence tliey have been ranked among the emollientherbs: the plants remaining after the boiling are supposed to haverather a contrary effect. They aflord little nourishment, and aresaid by some to be prejudicial to the stomach. The juice ex-pressed from the roots is a powerful errhine. The root of the redbeet is sometimes used to improve the colour of claret; and Mr.Margraff found that good sugar might be produced from theroots of the white kind by method;: practised abroad for procuringit from the sugar cane, and several philosophers on the Continententertain hopes of being able, to substitute the saccharine matterof the beet in lieu of sugar during the present stagnation of theirtrade with the West Indies , hut the produce is not sufficient tocompensate for the labour and expeuce. By some it is recom-mended to cultivate the white beet in large quantities as foodfor cattle.
BETANCOS, or BETANZOS, a town of Galicia in Spain ,20 miles S. of Ferrol . Eon. 7. 50. W. Lat. 43. 21. N.
BETELFAGDI, a town in Arabia Felix.
BETEEGEC EE, or BEDELGAEZE, a fixed star of thofirst magnitude in Orion’s hind shoulder.
BET11ABARA, a town ol North Carolina , 7 miles N. W. ofSalem.
BETIIANIA,