the male part, they make a channel, or small groove in it, at a proper distance from the end; and, in the female part, bore a small hole to fit over this channel; they then bore through their poles, stick ing up great nails at each end, to guide them right; but they commonly bore a pole at both ends, so that if it be crooked one way, they can nevertheless bore it through, and not spoil it.

BORONIA, in botany, a genus of the Octandria Monogynia class and order. Calyx four-parted; petals four; antheræ pedicelled below the summits of the filaments; style, from the top of the germ, very short; stigma capitate; capsule four-united; seeds coated. There are four species, natives of New South Wales. BOROUGH, or BURGH, in a general sense, signifies a town, or a corporation, which is not a city. The word, in its original signification, is by some supposed to have meant a company, consisting of ten families, which were bound together at each other's pledge.. Afterwards, as Verstegan has it, borough came to signify a town, having a wall, or some kind of enclosure, around it. And all places that in old times had the name of borough, it is said, were fortified, or fenced in some shape or other. Borough is a place of safety and privilege; and some are called free burghs, and the tradesmen in them free burgesses, from a freedom they had granted to them originally, to buy and sell without disturbance, and exempt them from toll.

Borough is now particularly appropriated to such towns or villages as send burgesses or representatives to parlia ment, whether they may be incorporated

or not

They are distinguished into those by charter or statute, and those by prescription or custom; the number in England is one hundred and forty-nine, some of which send one, but the most of them two representatives.

BOROUGHS, royal, in Scotland, are corporations made for the advantage of trade, by charters granted by several of their kings, having the privilege of sending commissioners to represent them in parliament, besides other peculiar immunities. They form a body of themselves, and send commissioners each to an annual convention at Edinburgh, to consult for the benefit of trade, and their general interest.

BOROUGH, English, a customary descent of lands or tenements, in certain places, by which they descend to the youngest

instead of the eldest son; or, if the owner have no issue, to the younger instead of the elder brother. The custom goes with the land, although there be a devise or feoffment at the common law to the contrary. The reason of this custom, says Littleton, is, because the youngest is presumed, in law, to be least able to provide for himself.

BOROUGH-HEAD, or headborough, called also borough-holder, or bursholder, the chief man of the decenna, or hundred, chosen to speak and act in behalf of the

rest.

Headborough also signifies a kind of head constable, where there are several chosen as his assistants, to serve warrants, &c.

BORROWING, when money, corn, grain, gold, or other commodity, merely esteemed according to its price, is borrowed, it is repaid by returning an equal quantity of the same thing, or an equal value in money. If money is borrowed, it is always understood that interest is payable, and it is by law demandable; but when a house, or a horse, &c. is borrowed, the restoration of the identical property is always understood; or if a thing be used for any other or more purposes, than those for which it was borrowed, or be lost, the party may have his action on the case for it.

BOS, in zoology, the ox, a genus of quadrupeds of the order of Pecora. The generic character is, horns concave, turned outwards, lunated, smooth; front teeth eight in the lower jaw; canine teeth none. B. taurus, the bison, from which the several races of common cattle have been gradually derived, is found wild in many parts, both of the old and the new continent; inhabiting woody regions, and arriving at a size far larger than that of the domestic or cultivated animal. In this its native state of wildness, the bison is distinguished not only by his size, but by the superior depth and shagginess of his hair, which, about the head, neck, and shoulders, is sometimes of such a length as almost to touch the ground. His horns are rather short, sharp-pointed, extremely strong, and stand distant from each other at their bases, like those of the common bull. His colour is sometimes of a dark blackish brown, and sometimes rufous brown; his eyes large and fierce; his limbs extremely strong, and his whole aspect in a degree savage and gloomy. See Plate III. Mammalia, fig. 2.

The principal European regions where this animal is at present found are, the

marshy forests of Poland, the Carpathian mountains, and Lithuania. Its chief Asi atic residence is the neighbourhood of Mount Caucasus; but it is also found in other parts of the Asiatic world.

The common ox is, in reality, the bison reduced to a domestic state; in which, in different parts of the world, it runs into as many varieties as the sheep; differing widely in size, form, and colour, according to climate and other circumstances. Its importance in this its domes tic state needs not be mentioned. For merly the ox constituted the whole riches of mankind; and he is still the basis of the wealth of nations, which subsist and flourish in proportion to the cultivation of their lands and the number of their cattle.

B. Americanus.-Horns round, distant at the base, short, black, and pointing outwards; mane long, woolly; gibbosity of the back large and fleshy; neck thick; hind-parts slender; tail a foot long, tufted at the end; hair of the head and bunch long, woolly, waving, rusty brown. It grows to a vast size, and has been found to weigh sixteen hundred, and even two thousand four hundred pounds; the strongest man cannot lift one of the skins from the ground. These were the only animals which bore any affinity to the European cattle, on the first discovery of the American continent, and might have been made to answer every purpose of the European cow; but the natives being in a savage state, and living chiefly by chase, had never attempted the domestication of the animal.

The Urus, or wild bull, is a variety of the ox kind, and is chiefly to be met with in the extensive forests of Lithuania. It grows to a size almost equal to the elephant, and is quite black; the eyes are red and fiery, the horns thick and short, and the forehead covered with a quantity of curled hair; the neck is short and strong, and the skin has an odour of musk. The female, though not so big as the male, exceeds the largest of our bulls in size nevertheless her udder is extremely small. Upon the whole, however, this animal, which greatly resem bles those of the tame kind, probably owes its variety to its natural wildness, and the richness of the pastures where it is produced. Fig. 1.

The Zebu is another variety of the Bos Taurus. They are all equally docile and gentle when tamed, and are in general covered with fine glossy hair, softer and more beautiful than that of the common cow. Their humps are of different sizes,

in some weighing from forty to fifty pounds, but in others less. That part is in general considered as a great delicacy, and when dressed has much the appearance and taste of udder. Fig. 3.

The Bisons of Madagascar and Malabar are of the great kind; those of Arabia Petrea, and most parts of Africa, are of the Zebu or small kind. In America, es. pecially towards the north, the American ox is well known. They herd together in droves of from one or two hundred to eight or ten thousand, on the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri, where the inhabitants hunt them, their flesh being esteemet! good eating. They all breed with the tame cow.

The oxen of India are of different sizes, and are made use of in travelling, as substitutes for horses. Their common pace is soft. Instead of a bit, a sthall cord is passed through the cartilage of the nostrils, which is tied to a larger cord, and serves as a bridle. They are saddled like horses; and, when pushed, move very briskly they are likewise used in drawing chariots and carts. For the former purpose white oxen are in great esteem, and much admired. They will perform journies of sixty days, at the rate of from twelve to fifteen leagues a day, and their travelling pace is generally a trot. In Persia there are many oxen entirely white, with small blunt horns, and humps on their backs. They are very strong, and carry heavy burthens. When about to be loaded, they drop down on their knees like the camel, and rise when their burthens are properly fastened.

Bos babylus, or buffale, ox with horns lying backwards, turning inwards, and flat on the fore part. In its general appearance, the buffalo is so nearly allied to the common ox, that, without an attentive examination, it might pass for a variety of the same animal. It differs, however, in the form of its horns, and in some particulars relative to its internal structure. The buffalo is rather superior in size to the common ox; the head larger in proportion; the forehead higher; the muzzle of a longer form, but at the same time broad and square: but it is principally the form of the horns that distinguishes the buffalo. They are large, and of a compressed or depressed form, with the exterior edge sharp. The buffalo has an appearance of great strength, and a more ferocious or malignant aspect than the bull, owing to the convexity of his forehead, the smallness of his eyes, the flatness of his muzzle, and the flatter and more inclined position of his horns.

The general or prevailing colour of the buffalo is blackish, except the hair on the top of the forehead, and that at the tip of the tail, which is of a yellowish white; the skin itself is also of a black colour; and from this general cast it is but very seldom observed to vary. As the buffalo in his domesticated state is, in general, larger and stronger than the ox, he is employed with advantage in different kinds of labour. Buffaloes are made to draw heavy loads, and are commonly directed and restrained by means of a ring passed through the nose. Two buffaloes yoked, or rather chained, to a cart, are able to draw as much as four strong horses. As they carry their neck and head low, the whole weight of their body is employed in drawing; and their mass much surpass es that of a labouring horse. In its habits the buffalo is much less cleanly than the ox, delighting to wallow in the mud; and, next to the hog, may be considered as the dirtiest of domesticated quadru peds. His voice is deeper, more uncouth, and hideous, than that of the bull. The milk of the female buffalo is said, by some authors, to be not so good as that of the cow; but it is more plentiful, and is used for the purposes of the dairy in the warmer regions.

Italy is the country where buffaloes are at present most common, in a domes ticated state; being used, as in India, both for the dairy and for draught. The dist rict of the Pontine marshes is the spot which may be considered as their principal station. In India this animal is occasionally used for the saddle, as a substitute for the horse.

The buffalo, like other animals of this genus, admits of varieties as to size and figure. Of these the most remarkable is the small naked Indian buffalo of Mr. Pennant, which is the size of a runt, with a nearly naked body, thinly beset with bristly hair; the rump and thighs quite bare: the first being marked on each side with dusky stripes pointing downwards, the last with two transverse stripes; the horns compressed sideways, taper, and sharp at the point. It is a native of India. Another variety, still smaller, is said to occur in the mountains of the Celebes, which are full of caverns. This variety is of the size of a middling sheep, and is seen in small herds, very wild, and difficult to be taken; and even in confinement are so fierce, that Mr. Pennant records an instance of fourteen stags being destroyed in the space of a single night by one of these animals, which was kept in the same paddock, Fig. 4.

VOL. II.

Bos moschatus, or musk ox, having very long pendent hair, and horns (in the male approximated at the base) bending inwards and downwards, and outwards at the tips. It is a native of North America, where it appears to be a very local animal, being found first in the tract between Churchill river and that of the Seals, on the west side of Hudson's Bay, and is very numerous between the latitudes of 66° and 73° north, which is as far as any tribes of Indians go. This animal is but of small size, being rather lower than the deer, but larger or thicker in body. The hair in the male is of a dusky red colour, extremely fine, and so long as to trail on the ground, and render the animal a seemingly shapeless mass, without distinction of head or tail; the legs are very short; the shoulders rise into a lump, and the tail is short, being a kind of stump, of a few inches only, with very long hairs. Beneath the hair, on all parts of the animal, is a fine cinereous wool, which is said to be more beautiful than silk when manufactured into stockings and other articles. The horns are closely united at the base, bending inwards and down. wards; but turning outwards towards the tips, which are very sharp; near the base the horns are two feet in girth, but are only two feet long, when measured along the curvature; the weight of a pair, separated from the head, is sometimes sixty pounds.

Bos grunniens, or yak, (having, with cylindric horns curving outwards, very long pendent hair, and extremely villose, horse-like tail,) is about the size of an English bull, which he resembles in the general figure of the body, head, and legs; it is covered all over with a thick coat of long hair; the head is rather short, crowned with two smooth round horns, which, tapering from the root upwards, terminate in sharp points; they are arched inwards, bending towards each other, but near the extremities are a little turned back.

They are a very valuable property to the tribes of itinerant Tartars, called Duckba, who live in tents, and tend them from place to place: they at the same time afford their herdsmen an easy mode of conveyance, a good covering, and wholesome subsistence. They are never employed in agriculture, but are extremely useful as beasts of burthen; for they are strong, sure-footed, and carry a great weight. Tents and ropes are manufactured of their hair; and among the humbler ranks of herdsmen, caps and jackets Hh

are made of their skins. Their tails are esteemed throughout the East, as far as luxury and parade have any influence on the manners of the people. In India no man of fashion ever goes out, or sits in form at home, without two chowrabadars, or brushers, attending him, each furnished with one of these tails mounted on silver or ivory handles, to brush away the flies. The Chinese dye them of a beautiful red, and wear them as tufts to their summer bonnets. The yak is the most fearful of animals, and very swift; but when chased by men or dogs, and finding itself nearly overtaken, it will face its pursuers, and hide its hind parts in some bush, and wait for them; imagining that if it could conceal its tail, which was the object they were in search of, it would escape unhurt. Bos caffer, or Cape ox, (having the horns very broad at the base, then spreading downwards, next upwards, and at the tips curving inwards;) inhabits the interior parts of Africa, north of the Cape of Good Hope, and is greatly superior in size to the largest English ox. It is of a very strong and masculine form, with a fierce and malevolent aspect. Its colour is a deep cinereous brown; the hair on the body is rather short, but that on the head and breast very long, coarse, and black, hanging down the dew-lap, like that of a bison; from the hind part of the head to the midde of the back is also a loose black mane; the tail nearly naked at the base; the remainder being covered with long loose hair. These animals are found in large herds, in the desert parts beyond the Cape; and, if met in the narrow parts of woods, are extremely dangerous, rushing suddenly on the traveller, goring and trampling both man and horse under foot. It is also said, that they will often strip off the skin of such animals as they have killed, by licking them with their rough tongues, as recorded by some of the ancient authors of the

bison.

BOSCIA, in botany, a genus of the Tetrandria Trigynia class and order, Calyx four-toothed; corolla four petalled; capsule four-celled. One species, found at the Cape.

BOSEA, in botany, from Bose, a senator of Leipsic, a genus of the Pentandria Digynia class and order. Essential character: calyx five-leaved; corolla none; berry one-seeded. There is but one species, viz. B. yervamora, golden rod tree, is a strong woody shrub, with a stem as large as a man's leg, the branches come out very irregularly, and make considera

ble shoots in summer; these branches retain their leaves till spring, when they fall off, and new leaves are produced soon after. It is a native of the Canary islands, and is also found in some of the West India islands.

BOSSIEA, in botany, a genus of the Diadelphia Decandria: calyx two-lipped, the upper lip inversely heart shaped; banner with two glands at the base; keel of two petals: legume pedicelled, compressed, many-seeded. One species, a native of New Holland.

BOSTRICHUS, in natural history, a genus of insects of the order Coleoptera: antennæ clavate, the club solid; thorax convex, slightly margined; head inflected and hid under the thorax. There are about thirty species. They are a very fertile and voracious tribe, and destructive to woods, making those deep irregular channels, so often observable in the bark and wood of trees. They are found chiefly in Europe and America.

BOTANY, is that science which teaches a knowledge of the vegetable kingdom, as its name, derived from Boravn, an herb or grass, expresses. This word may be easily traced to its primative Bow, or Boone, to feed, and since plants have portion of animals, the aptness of its deriever been regarded as the food of a large most limited sense, includes the practical vation is apparent. This study, in its discrimination, methodical arrangement, and systematical nomenclature of vegetacomprises the anatomy and functions of bles: while, in a more enlarged view, it their several parts, together with the various qualities and uses which render them serviceable either to mankind or the brute creation. In this respect botany may be considered as a vast and almost tematical department of botany or natural boundless study; nor is the merely syshistory in general, when cultivated on philosophical principles, inferior to any other science, in extent or utility, as an exercise for the discriminative powers of the mind. The necessity of a regular method of classification, which is calculated to arrange and dispose the whole vegetable kingdom, cannot be doubted, since the most experienced and intelligent botanists of the present day have scarcely been able to reckon, within ten thousand, how many species of plants there may be in the world.

An attention to the vegetables, on all sides spread around him, must have been one of the earliest occupations of man in a state of nature; and this attention was

doubtless quickened to a further contemplation of their beauty and utility, when it was discovered, that, independently of affording gratification to the senses, some were provided as an aliment for the body, and that others contained a soothing balm for corporeal sufferings. Hence we may infer, that the study of plants has, through every age and in every clime, excited the attention of mankind; yet it is truly remarked by a late elegant writer, Dr. Pulteney, that "in the enlightened ages of Greece and Rome, and under the most flourishing state of Arabian literature, botany, as a science, had no existence. Nor was it till some time after the revival of learning, that those combinations and distinctions were effectually discovered, which in the end, by giving rise to system, have raised the study of plants to that rank it holds at present in the scale of knowledge."

us

In the early history of Britain, we find that herbs were cultivated and studied with considerable assiduity by the Druids, who applied this knowledge with much effect to the purposes of superstition as well as medicine, and thus appropriated to themselves the offices both of priests and physicians. Historians inform that the misletoe was held by our ancestors in such veneration, that it was only allowed to be cut by a priest, and with a golden knife: when thus prepared, it was dispensed as a charm to prevent sterility, and to overcome the fatal effects of poison. We learn from Pliny, that various superstitious rites with respect to many other plants were also carefully ob. served by the Druids. Vervain and savin were among the number; the former of these being used as a means to conciliate friendship, and the latter as an antidote to misfortunes. A small portion of the mountain-ash was believed to act as a charm against the powers of witchcraft, and this idea is still prevalent in the highlands of Scotland, where it is usual to drive cattle with a switch of this tree, in order that they may be preserved from the evils of enchantment.

The Saxons appear to have made but little proficiency in the investigation of plants, though some of the Saxon manuscript herbals shew that the study was not altogether disregarded by this people. Their chief aim was, to be acquainted with plants in a medicinal point of view. Botany indeed was involved in the utmost obscurity, being merely studied as an auxiliary to astrology, even to the middle of the 16th century; for at that period

was published "A Lyttel Herbal of the Properties of Herbs, newly amended and corrected, with certain additions at the end of the boke, declarying what herbs hath influence of certain starres and constellations, whereby may be chosen the best and most lucky times and days of their ministration, according to the Moon being in the signs of Heaven, the which is daily appointed in the almanack; made and gathered in the year M. D. L. xii. Feb. by Anthony Ascham, Physician." London, 1550, 12°.

But from these times of ignorance and barbarism, in which the fairest of sciences was converted to the most foolish of purposes, let us now turn to the contemplaplation of the first gleams of wisdom that darted through the clouds, when rent asunder by the inventors of systematical botany.

Conrad Gesner, at Zurich, and Cæsalpinus, at Rome, towards the end of the 16th century, entirely independent of each other, first conceived the idea of a regular classification of plants by their flowers and fruit, to which, as Dr. Smith has observed, "the very existence of botany, as a science, is owing." Upon this plan various systems have been framed by succeeding botanists. But before we enter upon this subject, it will be essential, in the first place, to understand the general anatomy of plants, and, lastly, the nature and functions of their particular organs.

It will readily be admitted, that the most convenient mode of coming to a knowledge of the anatomy of vegetables is, to begin from their external covering, the epidermis, or cuticle. Various theories have been formed respecting its uses to the vegetable body, but physiologists have mostly agreed, that it was designed as a guard against the injurious effects of the atmosphere upon the vital parts of plants, since this, as well as the human cuticle, is merely a dead substance. The infinite variety of appearances which the epidermis assumes in different plants is peculiarly striking. It is commonly transparent and smooth; sometimes it is hairy or downy; sometimes of so hard a substance, that even flint has been detected in its composition. Hence the Dutch rush, equisetum hyemale, serves as a file to polish wood, ivory, and even brass.

Under the cuticle is found a substance, which till very lately has been but slightly noticed by physiologists. This is the cellular integument, analogous to the rete mucosum of animals; it is, like that, of a