the embarkation. It will keep good a whole year The process of biscuit-baking for the British navy is as follows, and it is equally simple and ingenious. The meal, and every other article, being supplied with much certainty and simplicity, large lumps of dough, consisting merely of flour and water, are mixed up together; and as the quantity is so immense as to preclude, by any common process, a possibility of kneading it, a man manages, or, as it is termed, rides a machine, which is called a horse. This machine is a long roller, apparently about four or five inches in diameter, and about seven or eight feet in length. It has a play to a certain extension, by means of a staple in the wall, to which is inserted a kind of eye, making its action like the machine by which they cut chaff for horses. The lump of dough being placed exactly in the centre of a raised platform, the man sits upon the end of the machine, and literally rides up and down throughout its whole circular direction, till the dough is equally indented; and this is repeated, till it is sufficiently kneaded; at which times, by the different positions of the lines, large or small circles are described, according as they are near to or distant from the wall. The dough in this state, is handed over to a second workman, who slices it with a prodigious knife; and it is then in a proper state for the use of those bakers who attend the oven. These are five in number; and their different departments are as well calculated for expedition and cor. rectness, as the making of pins, or other mechanical employments. On each side of a large table, where the dough is laid, stands a workman; at a small table near the oven stands another; a fourth stands by the side of the oven to receive the bread; and a fifth to supply the peel. By this arrangement the oven is as regularly filled, and the whole exercise performed in as exact time, as a military evolution. The man on the further side of the large table moulds the dough, having previous ly formed it into small pieces, till it has the appearance of muffins, although ra ther thinner, and which he does two together, with each hand; and as fast as he accomplishes this task, he delivers his work over to the man on the other side of the table, who stamps them with a docker on both sides with a mark. As he rids himself of this work, he throws the biscuits on the smaller table next the oven, where stands the third workman, whose business is merely to separate the different pieces into two, and place them immediately under the hand of him who supplies the oven, whose work of throwing, or rather chucking, the bread upon the peel must be so exact, that if he looked round for a single moment, it is impossible he should perform it correctly. The fifth receives the biscuit on the peel, and arranges it in the oven; in which duty he is so very expert, that, though the different pieces are thrown at the rate of seventy in a minute, the peel is always disengaged in time to receive them separately. As the oven stands open during the whole time of filling it, the biscuits first thrown in would be first baked, were there not some counteraction to such an inconvenience. The remedy lies in the ingenuity of the man who forms the pieces of dough, and who, by imperceptible degrees, proportionably diminishes their size, till the loss of that time which is taken up during the filling of the oven has no more effect to the disadvantage of one of the biscuits than to another. So much critical exactness and neat activity occur in the exercise of this labour, that it is difficult to decide, whether the palm of excellence is due to the moulder, the marker, the splitter, the chucker, or the depositor; all of them, like the wheels of a machine, seeming to be actuated by the same principle. The business is, to deposit in the oven seventy biscuits in a minute; and this is accomplished with the regularity of a clock; the clack of the peel, during its motion in the oven, operating like the pendulum. The biscuits thus baked are kept in repositories, which receive warmth from being placed in drying lofts over the ovens, till they are sufficiently dry to be packed into bags, without danger of getting mouldy; and when in such a state, they are then packed into bags of a hundred weight each, and removed into storehouses for immediate use. The number of bake-houses belonging to the victualling-office at Plymouth are two, each of which contains four ovens. which are heated twenty times a day, and in the course of that time bake a sufficient quantity of bread for 16,000 men. The granaries are large, and well constructed; when the wheat is ground, the flour is conveyed into the upper stories of the bake-houses, whence it descends, through a trunk in each, immediately into the hands of the workman. The bake-house belonging to the victualling office at Deptford consists of two divisions, and has twelve ovens, each of which bakes twenty shoots daily (Sundays excepted;) the quantity of flour used for each shoot is two bushels, or 112 pounds, which baked produce 102 pounds of biscuit. Ten pounds are regularly allowed on each shoot for shrinkage, &c. The allowance of biscuit in the navy is one pound for each man per day, so that one of the ovens at Deptford furnishes bread daily for 2,040 men. BISCUTELLA, in botany, a genus of the Tetradynamia Siliculosa class and order. Natural order of Siliquosæ Cruciformes. Essential character: silicle compressed, flat, rounded above and below, two-lobed; calyx, leaflets gibbous at the base. There are six species; of which B. auriculata, in a wild state, rises about a foot in height, but, in a garden, grows nearly two feet high, dividing into several branches; the flowers are produced at the end of the branches, in loose panicles, and are of a pale yellow colour; the nectareous gland is very large, and, consequently, the calyx is bagged out very much at bottom. Native of the south of France and Italy. BISERRULA, in botany, a genus of the Diadelphia Decandria class and order. Natural order Papilionaceæ, or Leguminosæ, Essential character: legume two-celled, flat; partition contrary. There is but one species; viz. B. pelecinus, bastard hatchet vetch, an annual plant, which grows naturally in Italy, Sicily, Spain, and the South of France. BISHOP, a prelate, or person conseerated for the spiritual government of a diocese. Whether the distinction of bishops from mere priests or presbyters was settled in the apostolical age, or introduced since, is much controverted. It is certain, that in the New Testament the names of bishops and priests are used indiscriminately; but tradition, the fathers, and the apostolical constitutions, make a distinction. From this last consideration bishops are conceived as the highest ecclesiastical dignities, the chief officers in the hierarchy, or economy of church-government, as the fathers and pastors of the faithful, the successors of the apostles, and, as such, the superiors of the church of Christ. Upon the vacancy of a bishop's see in England, the king grants his conge d'elire to the dean and chapter, to elect the person, whom, by his letters missive, he hath appointed; and if they do not make the election in twenty days, they are to incur a premunire. The dean and chapter having made their election accordingly, the archbishop, by the king's direction, confirms the bishop, and afterwards conse crates him by imposition of hands, according to the form laid down in the Common Prayer Book. Hence we see that a bishop differs from an archbishop in this, that an archbishop with bishops consecrates a bishop, as a bishop with priests consecrates a priest; other distinctions are, that an archbishop visits a province, as a bishop a diocese; that an archbishop convocates a provincial synod, as a bishop a diocesan one; and that the archbishop has canonical authority over all the bishops of his province, as a bishop has over the priests of his diocese. The jurisdiction of a bishop of the church of England consists in collating benefices, granting institutions, commanding inductions, taking care of the profits of vacant benefices for the use of the successors, consecrating churches and chapels, ordaining priests and deacons, confirming after baptism, granting administrations, and taking probates of wills; these parts of his function depend upon the ecclesiastical law. By the common law, he is to certify to the judges concerning legitimate and illegitimate births and marriages; and to his jurisdiction, by the statute law, belongs the licensing of physicians, surgeons, and school masters, and the uniting of small parishes, which last privilege is now peculiar to the Bishop of Norwich. All bishops of England are peers of the realm, except the Bishop of Man, and as such sit and vote in the House of Lords; they are barons in a three-fold manner, viz. feudal, in regard to the temporalities annexed to their bishoprics; by writ, as being summoned by writ to parliament; and lastly, by patent and creation; accordingly, they have the precedence of all other barons, vote as barons and bishops, and claim all the privileges enjoyed by the temporal lords, excepting that they cannot be tried by their peers, because, in cases of blood, they themselves cannot pass upon the trial, for they are prohibited by the canons of the church to be judges of life and death. BISHOP's Court, an ecclesiastical court, held in the cathedral of each diocese, the judge whereof is the bishop's chancellor, who judges by the civil and canon law; and if the diocese be large, he has his commissaries in remote parts, who hold what they call consistory courts for matters limited to them by their commission. BISHOPRIC, the district over which a bishop's jurisdiction extends, otherwise called a diocese. In England there are twenty-four bishoprics, and two archbishoprics; in Scotland none at all; in Ireland eighteen bishoprics and four archbishoprics; and in Popish countries they are still more numerous. BISMUTH, one of the brittle and easily fused metals. The ores of this metal are very few in number, and occur chief ly in Germany. This, in some measure, accounts for the ignorance of the Greeks and Arabians, neither of whom appear to have been acquainted with bismuth. The German miners, however, seem to have distinguished it at a pretty early period, and to have given it the name of bismuth; for Agricola describes it under that name as well known in Germany, and considers it as a peculiar metal. The miners gave it also the name of tectum argenti; and appear to have considered it as silver be ginning to form, and not yet completed. Mr. Pott collected, in his dissertations on bismuth, every thing respecting it contained in the writings of the alchymists. Beccher seems to have been the first chemist who pointed out some of its most remarkable properties. Bismuth is of a reddish white colour, and almost destitute both of taste and smell. It is composed of broad brilliant plates, adhering to each other. The figure of its particles, according to Hauy, is an octahedron, or two four sided pyramids, applied base to base. Its specific gravity is 9.82. When hammered cautiously, its density, as Muschenbroeck ascertained, is considerably increased. It is not therefore very brittle: it breaks, however, when struck smartly by a hammer, and consequently is not malleable. Neither can it be drawn out into wire. Its tenacity, from the trials of Muschenbroeck, appears to be such, that a rod one eighteenth of an inch in diameter is capable of sustaining a weight of nearly 29lbs. When heated to the temperature of 476° it melts; and if the heat be much increased it evaporates, and may be distilled over in close vessels. When allow ed to cool slowly, and when the liquid metal is withdrawn as soon as the surface congeals, it crystallizes in parallelopipeds, which cross each other at right angles. When kept melted at a moderate heat, it becomes covered with an oxide of a greenish grey or brown colour. In a more violent heat it is volatile, and may be sublimed in close vessels; but with the access of air, it emits a blue flame, and its oxide exhales in a yellowish smoke, condensible by cold bodies. This oxide is very fusible; and is convertible by heat into a yellow transparent glass. SulVOL. II. phuric acid acts on bismuth, and sulphurous acid is disengaged. A part of the bismuth is dissolved, and the remainder is changed into an insoluble oxide. Nitric acid dissolves bismuth with great rapidity. To one part and a half of nitric acid, at 'distant intervals, add one of bismuth, broken into small pieces. The solution is crystallizable. It is decomposed when added to water; and a white substance is precipitated, called magistery of bismuth, or pearl-white. This pigment is defect. tive, inasmuch as it is liable to be changed by sulphuretted hydrogen, and by the vapours of putrifying substances in ge neral. Muriatic acid acts on bismuth. The compound, when deprived of water by evaporation, is capable of being su blimed, and affords a soft salt, which deliquesces into what has been improperly called butter of bismuth. Bismuth is capable of forming the basis of a sympathetic ink. The acid employed for this purpose must be one that does not act on paper, such as the acetic. Characters written with this solution become visible when exposed to sulphuretted hydrogen. BISSECTION, in geometry, the division of a line, angle, &c. into two equal parts. BISSEXTILE, or leap-year, a year consisting of 366 days, and happening every fourth year, by the addition of a day in the month of February, when that year consists of 29 days. And this is done, to recover the 6 hours which the sun takes up nearly in his course more than the 365 days commonly allowed for it in other years. The day thus added was by Julius Cæsar appointed to be the day before the 24th of February, which among the Romans was the 6th of the calends, and which on this occasion was reckoned twice; whence it was called the bissextile. By the statute De anno bissextile, 21 Hen. III. to prevent misunderstandings, the intercalary day and that next before it are to be accounted as one day. To find what year of the period any given year is, divide the given year by 4, then if 0 remains it is leap year; but if any thing remain, the given year is so many after leap year. But the astronomers concerned in reforming the calendar in 1582, by order of Pope Gregory XIII. observing that in four years the bissextile added 44 minutes more than the sun spent in returning to the same point of the ecliptic; and computing that in 133 years these supernumerary minutes would form a day; to prevent any changes being thus insensibly introduced into the Сс BIT seasons, directed, that in the course of 400 years there should be three sextiles retrenched; so that every centesimal year, which is leap year according to the Julian account, is a common year in the Gregorian account, unless the number of centuries can be divided by 4 without a remainder. So 1600 and 2000 are bissextile; but 1700, 1800, and 1900 are common years. The Gregorian computation has been received in most foreign countries ever since the reformation of the calendar in 1582, excepting some northern countries, as Russia, &c. And by act of parliament, passed in 1751, it commenced in all the dominions under the crown of Great Britain in the year following; it being ordered by that act, that the natural day next following the 2nd of September should be accounted the 14th; omitting the intermediate 11 days of the common calendar. The supernumerary day in leap years being added at the end of the month February, and called the 29th of that month. BISTOURY, in surgery, an instrument for making incisions, of which there are different kinds, some being of the form of a lancet, others straight and fixed in the handle like a knife, and others crooked with the sharp edge on the inside. BISTRE, or BISTER, among painters, denotes glossy soot, pulverised and made into a kind of cakes with gum-water. BIT, or BITTS, in ship-building, the name of two great timbers usually placed abaft the manger in the ship's loof, through which the cross-piece goes; the use of it is to belay the cable thereto while the ship is at anchor. BITCH, the female of the dog kind. See CANIS. BITTER, a sea term, signifying any turn of the cable about the bits, so as that the cable may be let out by little and little. And when a ship is stopped by a cable, she is said to be brought up by a bitter. Also that end of the cable which is wound about the bits is called the bitter end of the cables. BITTER principle. The bitter taste of certain vegetables appears to be owing to the presence of a peculiar substance, differing from every other in its chemical properties. It may be extracted from the wood of quassia, the root of gentian, the leaves of the hop, and several other plants, by infusing them for some time in cold water. The characters of this substance, originally described by Wether, have been attentively examined by Dr. Thompson, who enumerates them as fol BIT lows. 1. When water thus impregnated is evaporated to dryness by a very gentle heat, it leaves a brownish yellow substance, which retains a certain degree of transparency. For some time it continues ductile, but at last becomes brittle. Its taste is intensely bitter. 2. When heated it softens, swells, and blackens; then burns away without flaming much, It is very soluble in water and in alcohol. and leaves a small quantity of ashes. 3. 4. It does not affect blue vegetable colours. 5. It is not precipitated by the watery solution of lime, barytes, or strontites; nor is it changed by alkalies. 6. Tincture of galls, infusion of nut-galls, and gallic acid, produce no effect. 7. Of the metallic salts, nitrate of silver and acetate of lead are the only ones that throw it down. The precipitate by acetate of lead is very abundant; and that salt, therefore, affords the best test for discovering the bitter principle, when no other substances are present, by which also it is decomposed. From recent exthe bitter principle is formed, along with periments of Mr. Hatchett, it appears that tan, by the action of nitric acid on indigo. a greenish white, or smoke-grey colour. BITTER salt, native, in mineralogy, is of It occurs sometimes in earthy, sometimes When earthy it is without lustre, but when in mass, and often in capillary crystals. crystallized its lustre is between silky and nesia, more or less mixed with iron and vitreous. It consists of sulphate of magalumina, and probably some sulphate of alumina. It is found on the surface of decomposing argillaceous schistus, and sometimes of limestone. BITTERN. See ARDEA. BITTERN, in salt-works, the brine rethey ladle off, that the salt may be taken maining after the salt is concreted: this out of the pan, and afterwards put in again; when being farther boiled it yields more salt. greyish, or greenish white, passing into BITTERSPATH, in mineralogy, is asparagus green. It occurs: 1. dissemifect or truncated at the solid angles; 2. nated or crystallized in rhomboids, or pershort, somewhat oblique, tetrahedral prisms, often bevelled at the edges; 3. compressed hexaedrons. It is composed of Carbonate of lime BITUMEN, in chemistry. The term bitumen has often been applied by chemists to all the inflammable substances that occur in the earth; but this use of the word is now so far limited, that sulphur and millite are most commonly excluded. It would be proper to exclude amber likewise, and to apply the term to those fossil bodies only which have a certain resemblance to oily and resinous substances. Bituminous substances may be subdivided into two classes, namely, bituminous oils, and bitumens, properly so called. The first set possesses nearly the properties of volatile oils, and ought, in strict propriety, to be classed with these bodies; but as the chemical properties of bitumens have not yet been investigated with much precision, it is deemed rather premature to separate them from each other. The second set possess properties peculiar to themselves. Only two species of bituminous oils have been hitherto examined by chemists. Others indeed have been mentioned; but their existence has not been sufficiently authenticated. These two species are called petroleum, and maltha, or seawax; the first is liquid, the second solid. See PETROLEUM and MALTHA, The true bituminous substances may be distinguished by the following properties-They are either solid, or of the consistence of tar: their colour is usually brown or black: they have a peculiar smell, or at least acquire it when rubbed; this smell is known by the name of the bituminous odour; they become electric by friction, though not insulated; they melt when heated, and burn with a strong smell, a bright flame, and much smoke: they are insoluble in water and alcohol, but dissolve most commonly in ether, and in the fixed and volatile oils; they do not dissolve in alkaline leys, nor form soap; acids have little action on them; the sulphuric scarcely any; the nitric, by long and repeated digestion, dissolves them, and converts them into a yellow substance, soluble both in water and alcohol, and similar to the product formed by the action of nitrous acid on resins. The bitumens at present known may be reduced to three; namely, asphaltum, mineral tar, and mineral caoutchouc. Bitumen has been found also united to a resinous compound, in a curious substance first accurately examined by Mr. Hatchett, to which he has given the name of retinasphaltum. United to charcoal in various proportions, it constitutes the numerous varieties of pit-coal, so much employed in this country as fuel. The asphaltum found in Albania is supposed to have constituted the chief ingredient of the Greek fire. Asphaltum is seldom absolutely pure; for when alcohol is digested on it, the colour of the liquid becomes yellow, and by gentle evaporation a portion of petroleum is separated. Mineral tar seems to be nothing else than asphal tum containing a still greater proportion of petroleum. When alcohol is digested on it, a considerable quantity of that oil is taken up; but there remains a black fluid substance like melted pitch, not acted upon by alcohol, and which therefore appears to possess the properties of asphaltum, with the exception of not be ing solid. By exposure to the air, it is said gradually to assume the state of asphaltum. BIVALVES, one of the three general classes in Conchology, comprehending all those, the shells of which are composed of two pieces joined together by a hinge. The Linnæan genera of bivalve shells are the following fourteen: BIXA, in botany, a genus of Polyandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Columnifera Tiliaca, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla ten petalled; calyx five-toothed; capsule hispid, bivalve. B. anellana is a shrub with an upright stem, eight or ten feet high, sending out many branches at the top, forming a regular head; these are garnished with heart-shaped leaves, ending in a point; the flowers are produced in loose panicles, at the end of the branches, of a pale peach colour, having large petals. There is but one species, which is a native both of the East and West Indies. BLACK, something opake and porous, that imbibes the greatest part of the light that falls on it, reflects little or none, and therefore exhibits no colour. Bodies of a black colour are found more inflammable, because the rays of light falling on them are not reflected outwards, but enter the body, and are often reflected and refracted within it, till they are stifled and lost. They are also found lighter, cæteris paribus, than white bodies, being more porous. It may be added, that clothes dyed of this colour wear out faster than those of any other, because their substance is more penetrated and corroded by the vitriol necessary to strike |