B L K

436

B LI

4

advantage of destroying ink-spots. T his liquid has no action uponspots of oil or animal grease ; but it has been long known that aweak solution of potash will effectually remove stains of that kind.Vi'hen 1 had to repair prints so torn tiat lh.ey exhibited only scrapspasted upon other paper, I was afraid of losing these fragments inthe liquid, because the paste became dissolved. In such cases 1inclosed the prints in a cylindric glass-vessel, which 1 inverted onthe water in which 1 had put the mixture proper for extricatingthe oxygenated muriatic acid gas. This vapour, by tilling thewhole inside of the jar, acted upon the print, extracted the grea-eas well as ink-spots, and the fragment* remained pasted to Urn pa-per.”—Easy method of preparing the oxygenated muriatic acid.,To oxygenate the muriatic acid, nothing is necessary but to diluteit, and mix it in a very strong glass-vessel with manganese, insnch a manner that the mixture may not occupy the whole con-tents of the glass. Air-bubbles are formed on the surface of theli pior; the empty space becomes filled with a greenish vapour;and at the end ot some hours tire acid may be farther diluted withwater, and then used. It has an acid taste, because the whole isnot saturated with oxygen, hut it possesses all the virtues of theoxygenated muriatic acid. This process may he followed whenthere is not time to set up an apparatus for distilling, in order toprocure the oxygenated acid.

BLECI1INGLEY, an ancient town of Surrey, which sendstwo members to parliament. Lon. 0 . 15. W. Eat. 51.20. N,

BLECIl NUM, in botany, a genus of plants of the class and' order cryptogauiia lilices ; the fructifications are disposed in pa-rallel lines on the sides of the leaves. There are eight species/

BLEEDING, a h&nnorrhage or flux of blootl from a wound,rupture of a vessel, or other accident. See Hemorrhage .

Bleeding, in farriery. See Farriery .

Bleeding, in surgery. See Surgery.

Bleeding, in therapeutics. See Medicine.

BUCKING, a province in the S. of Sweden, having the Bal-tic Sea on the S. Smaland on the N. and the province of Schonenon the VV. Its principal towns are Christianstadt, Elleholm,Aim vs, Roterbv, and Christianople, which last is the capital.

BLEMMYES, or BLEMT ES, a fabulous people of Ethio-pia , said to have had no heads; their eyes, mouth, Ac. beingsituated in their breasts. See Acepiiali. Boehart derives theword Jilt'ttDmjcs from ’S 3 , which implies negation, and me,brain : in which sense the Blemmyes should have been peopledwithout brains.

BLENCH, or BLANCH, a sort of tenure of land. To holdland in blench is by pax nu-nt of a sugar-loaf,'a couple of ca-pons, a heaver hat, or the _* , if demanded ; nt/mine atbic Jirnue,i. e. in name of blench.

BLEND, BLENDE, or BLACK-JACK, a mineral calledalso false galena. See Zinc.

BLENGO, a river in Cumberland, which falls into the Irt,near Irton.

BLENHEIM, a village in Germany , in the circle of Suabin,memorable for the defeat of the French and Bavarians in 1704, by1 he English and their confederates under Prince Eugene and theDuke of Marlborough; 25 miles N. W. of Augsburg. Lon. 10 .25. E. Lai. 4.3. 40. N.

BLENNA, or BLENA, [jSxivm, xs;i/§»,] in medicine,.thitk phlegm, mucus, any thin excreinenlitious discharge.

BLENNIl'S, the Bi.enny, in ichthyology, a genus of fishes,order jugulares. Head sloping from the eyes; hotly compressed,mucous; membrane six-rayed; ventral fins two, three, or four-rayed, unarmed; anal lin distinct. There are two divisions;viz. those with head crested ; and those with head not crested.There are eighteen species. B. galerita, or crested blenny, inlia-, hits the European ocean, is four or five inches long; bodv brownand spotted ; d jrsal lin extending from the head almost to the tail.This lish is frequently found about the rocky coasts of Great Bri-tain . B. salieiis is a very small species, observed about the coastsof seme of the southern islands, and particularly those of New1 Britain. B. superediosus has a small head, with large eyes, andsilvery irides, and immediately over each eye is situated a smallpalmated crest, or appendage, divided into three segments. B.viviparifs, is a viviparous fish, the ova hatching internally, and theyoung acquiring their perfect form before the lime of birth. Notless than two or even three hundred of these have been sometimesobserved in a single lish. It might he imagined that so gre..t a

"number, confined in so small a space, might injure each other bythe briskness of their motions.; hut this is prevented by the curi-ous disposition of the fibres and cellules among which they aredistributed, as well as by the fluid with which they are surrounded.\\ hen advanced far in its pregnancy, it is scarcely possible totouch the abdomen without causing’the immediate exclusion ofsome of the young, which are instantly capable of swimming withgreat alertness. This species is a littoral fish, and is found aboutthe coasts of the Mediterranean, anil the Baltic and Northern Seas,and sometimes it enters tin; mouths of livers. It feeds on thesmaller fishes, Sc c. It is taken by the line and net; but is notmuch used for food, as its hones acquire a greenish colour by boil-ing. See Plate IV.

BLEU A, in old records, peat or turf.

BLESS1NGTON, a town of Ireland , in Wicklow, 14 miles S.W. of Dublin . Lon. 6. 40. W. Lat. 53. 1,0. N.

BLES ITUM, an ancient town of Britain , how called Old-town,near Hereford.

BLESTR1SMUS, [from 0/uirgifw, to toss,] in the ancient phy-sic, a continual tossing and inquietude of the body, occasionedby a tumultuary effervescence of the blood, especially in acutefevers.

BLETA Alba, an epithet given by some to the milky urinevoided in some disorders of the kidneys, ranked by Paracelsus among the causes of the phthisis.

BLEY ME, an inflammation in the foot of ahorse, betweenthe sole and the hone. Bleymes are of three sorts ; the lirst, bredin spoiled wrinkled feet with narrow heels, are usually sealed inthe inward or weakest quarter ; the second infects the gristle, andmust he extirpated, as in the cure of a quitter-hone ; the third isoccasioned by small stones and gravel between the shoe and thesole. For a cure, pare the foot, let out the matter, if any, anddress the sore, like the prick of a nail.

BLIGHT, in husbandry. See Mildew and Uredo.

BUND, an epithet applied to a person or sensitive creaturedeprived of the use of his eyes ; or, in other words, to one fromwhom light, colours, and all the glorious variety of the visiblecreation, are intercepted by some natural or accidental disease.It is likewise used in a metaphorical sense, being applied to onew ho is ignorant <jr intellectually dark, and frequently implies, atthe same time, soiiie moral or spiritual depravity in the soul thusblinded, which is either the efficient or continuing cause of thisinternal malady. Yet, even in metaphor, tins epithet is some-times applied to a species of ignorance, which neither involves theidea of real guilt nor of voluntary error.

Blind, considered in its natural and primary sense, is an epi-thet w hich requires particular notice. There is not perhaps anysense or faculty, which affords so many sources of utility and en-tertainment as the power of vision ; nor is there any privationwhich can he productive, of disadvantages so various, and so bitter,as the want of sight. Homer and Milton have feelingly describedthe miseries of blindness which they laboured imdef. _ Homer,who, in the person of Demodocus the Phaiatiau hard, is said <0have described his own situation in this language:

Toy Trip Mao’ ipiXijiri, hid o’ nyrtQw Tf, Kaxov ri

O,uiv fritt 5'ijJrittV rtodijv. OcYS. 4.

Dear to the muse, who gave his days to flow"Willi mighty blessings mix’d with mighty woe,

In clouds and darkness quench’d his visual ray,.

Yet gave him power to raise the lofty lay. Pope.

And Milton thus bewails his sad condition:

.-“ "With the year

Seasons return ; hut not to me returnsDay, or the sweet approach of ev ’11 or mom,

Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose,

Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;

But cloud instead, and ever during dark,

Surround me, from the cheerful ways of menGut oil,” &c. Paradise Lost, b. iii.

And in his tragedy of Sampson Agonistes, in the person of hishero, he deplores the misfortune of blindness with great pathosand energy.

---1- But chief of all,

O loss of sight, of thee I most complain !

Blind •