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BON

BON

BONDAGE properly signifies the same with slavery, but inold law-books is usual for villenage. See Villenage. Tenantsin bondage paid kenots, and did fealty ; thev were not to fell treesin their own garden, without license of the ford. The widow of atenant in bondage held her husband’s estate quant dill vixerit sinetnarito, as long as she lived single.

BOND-MAN, in the English law, is used for a villain, or te-nant in villenage. See Villain , and Villenage.

Bond-men, in Roman antiquity, were of two kinds; the onecalled Servi, who were those either bought for money, taken inwar, left by succession, or purchased by some other lawful ac-quisition ; the others born of their bond-women, and called Ver-nas. We may add a third kind, mentioned by Justinian , calledadscriptitii glebai, or agricensiti; who were not bound to the per-son, but to the ground or place, and followed by him who had theland.

BONES , [ban, Sax.] are solid substances which support andform the stature of the body, defend its viscera, and give adhe-sion'to the muscles. Their number in the human frame is gene-rally 240; but in some individuals, who have two additional bonesin each thumb and great toe, they amount to 248. The regulardivision of them is as follows: 63 bones of the head, includingthe 32 teeth ; S3 of the trunk; 64 of the upper, and 60 of thelower extremities. Inman, in quadrupeds, and many other ani-mals, the bones are situated below the other parts, and scarcelyany of them are exposed to view : but shell fish and snails have ahard covering on the outside of their bodies, evidently intendedfor defence. The bones are the most solid part of animals.Their texture is sometimes dense, at other limes cellular and po-rous, according to the situation of the bone. They are white, ofa lamellar structure, and not flexible nor softened by heat. Theirspecific gravity differs in different parts. That of adults’ teethis 2,27: the specific gravitv of children’s teeth is 2,08. It musthave been always known that bones are combustible, and thatwhen sufficiently burnt, they leave behind them a white poroussubstance, which is tasteless, absorbs water, and has the form ofthe original bone. The nature of this substance embarrassed theearlier chemists. But in 1771, Scheele mentioned, in his dis-sertation on fluor spar, that the earthy part of bones is phosphateof lime. This discovery was the first and the great step towardsa chemical knowledge of the composition of bones. The com-ponent parts of bones are chiefly four; namely, the earthy salts,fat, gelatine, and cartilage. The earthy salts may be obtainedeither by calcining the bone to whiteness, or by steeping it forasufficient length of time in acids. In the first case the salts le-main in the state of a brittle white substance; in the second, theyare dissolved, and may be thrown down by the proper precipf-tants. These earthy salts are four in number: 1. Phosphate oflime, which constitutes by far the greatest part of the whole.2. Carbonate of lime. 3. Phosphate of magnesia, lately dis-covered by Fourcroy and Vauquelin . It occurs in the bones ofall the inferior animals examined by these indefatigable chemists,but could not be detected in human bones. 4. Sulphate of lime,detected by Mr. Hatchet in a very minute proportion. Theproportion of fat contained in bones is various. By breakingbones into small pieces, and boiling them for some lime in water,Mr. Proust obtained their tat swimming on the surface of theliquid. It weighed, he says, one-fourth of the weight of thebones employed. This proportion appears excessive, and canscarcely be accounted for without supposing that the fat still re-tained water. The gelatine is separated by the same means asthe fat, by breaking the hones in pieces and boiling them longenough in water. The water dissolves the gelatine, and gelati-nizes when sufficiently concentrated. Hence the importance ofbones in making portable soups, the. basis of which is concretegelatine, and likewise io. making glue. When bones are de-prived of their gelatine by boiling them in water, and of theirearthy salts by steeping them in diluted acids, there remains asoft white elastic substance, possessing the figure of the bones,and known by the name of cartilage. From the experiments ofHatchett, it appears that this substance has the properties of co-agulated albumen. This cartilaginous substance is the portion ofthe bone first formed. Hence the softness of these parts at first.The phosphate of lime is afterwards gradually deposited, andgives the bone the requisite firmness. The getaliue and fat,•specially the first, gave the bone the requisite degree of tough-

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! ness and strength : for when they are removed, the bone be-I comes brittle. The relative proportion of phosphate of lime andcartilage differ exceedingly in different bones and in differentanimals.

Bones, (Economical Uses of. Besides the various toys, andother articles of domestic (Economy, made of bones, they are ex-tensively useful in many of the chemical arts; for instance, to ab-sorb the sulphur of ferruginous ores for rendering cast-iron mallea-ble ; to form tests and cupels, or vessels for refining gold andsilver with lead ; to make glasses and porcelain of amilky colour;to rectify volatile salts, and empyreumalic oils; to produce glue,&c. But the most important and beneficial uses, to which bonesmay be rendered subservient, are. those in rural (economy. InEvelyn’s Philosophical Discourse ol the Earth , we meet with anote by Dr A. Hunter, the editor of a new edition of this treat.se,published in 1778, from which we shall extract the following ac-count: Bones are an excellent manure, though not generallyknown: they should, however, not be calcined, as their virtuewill be dissipated by the fire. A. St. Leger, Esq. had once laiddown to grass a large piece of very indifferent lime-stone land, witha crop of corn ; and from this uniformly well dressed piece he se-lected three rods of equal quality with the rest, and manured themwith bones broken very small, at the rate of sixty bushels per acre.Upon the land thus managed, the crop was infinitely superior to therest. r l’he next year’s grass was also more luxuriant, and has con-tinued to preserve the same superiority tor at least eight years, in-somuch that in spring it is green three weeks before the rest of thefield. For whatever soil it be intended, the bones should be wellbroken, before they can be equally spread upon the land. Nopieces should exceed the size of small marbles. To perform thisnecessary operation, lie recommends that they besufiiciently bruisedby putting them under a circular stone which, being moved roundupon its edge, by means ol a horse, in the manner tanners grindtheir bark, will very expeditiously effect the purpose, bornepeople break them with small hammers upon a piece of iron, butthat method is interior to grinding. Al .hough bones of all kindsmay be used with advantage, yet those of fat cattle are doubtlessthe best; but unground bones should never be employed, as thevare of little or no scivice to the soil. A. St. Leger has also foundit very beneficial to mix ashes with the bones, a cart-load ot theformer being put to thirty or forty bushels of the latter, and heatedfor twenty-four hours (which may be known by the smoking of theheap,) the whole should, be turned. After laying ten days longer,this excellent manure will be fit for use. Lastly, Dr. Hunter re-marks, that the best method of grinding bones, is that betweentwo cast-metal cylinders. And as mills are very rarely erectedpurposely lor this operation, the apparatus may be added to anycommon water-mill, at a very trilling expense.

BONESETTING, the art ol replacing dislocated bones, andof joining the parts of fractured ones. See Surgery.

BONE-SPAVIN, a disease incident to horses. See Farriery .

BONNET, 1 heophilus, an eminent physician horn at Gene-va, March 15, 1620. He took his degree of M. D. in 1643,after he had gone through most of the famous universities, andwas for some time physician to the duke of Longueville. Mean-while his skill in his profession got him considerable practice; Imtbeing seized with neatness, it obliged him to retire from businesswhich gave him leisure to collect all the observations he had madeduring a practice of 40 years, Ile wrote, 1. Polyalthes, sive; Thesaurus Medicopracticus, 3 vols. folio. 2. Labyrinth! Medici•■xtricati. 3. Medicinal Septentrionales Collalitia; and otherworks.

BONGRACE, in sea-language, a frame of old ropes, or junksof cables, laid along the bows, sterns, and sides of ships, sailing incold latitudes, to preserve them from damage by the flakes ofice.

BONIFACIO , a district of Corsica, at the S. extremity of theisland, from which the straight between Corsica and Sardinia hasits name.

BONING, in surveying and levelling, is the placing of threeor more rods or poles, all of the same length, in or upon the groundin such a manner that their tops may be all in one continued! straight line, whether it is horizontal or inclined, so that the eyei may look along the tops of them all, from one end of the line toI another.

I BONIS N ON AMOVENDIS, ill law, is a writ directed to th«

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