in zoology. See Bos.

Bull, in astronomy. See Astronomy, p. 486, 487.

Bull's-eye, among seamen, a small, obscure, sublime cloud, roddy in the middle, that sometimes appears to mariners, and is the immediate forerunner of a great storm at sea.

Bull-finch, in ornithology. See Loxia.

Bull-frog, in zoology, See Rana.

Bull-head, in ichthyology. See Cottus.

Bull, among ecclesiastics, a written letter, dispatched, by order of the pope, from the Roman chancery, and sealed with lead, being written on parchment, by which it is partly distinguished from a brief. See the article Brief.

It is a kind of apostolical rescript, or edict, and is chiefly in use in matters of justice or grace. If the former be the intention of the bull, the lead is hung by a hempen cord; if the latter, by a silk thread. It is this pendent lead, or seal, which is, properly speaking, the bull, and which is impressed, on one side, with the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, and on the other with the name of the pope and the year of his pontificate. The bull is written in an old, round, gothic letter, and is divided into five parts, the narrative of the fact, the conception, the clause, the date, and the salutation, in which the pope styles himself servus servorum, i.e. the servant of servants.

These instruments, besides the lead hanging to them, have a cross, with some text of scripture, or religious motto, about it. Bulls are granted for the consecration of bishops, the promotion to benefices, and the celebration of jubilees, &c.

Bull in cana Domini, a particular bull read every year, on the day of the Lord's supper, or Maundy Thursday, in the pope's presence, containing excommunications and anathemas against heretics, and all who disturb or oppose the jurisdiction of the holy see. After the reading of the bull, the pope throws a burning torch into the public place, to denote the thunder of this anathema.

Golden Bull, an edict, or imperial constitution, made by the emperor Charles IV., reputed to be the magna charta, or the fundamental law of the German empire.

It is called golden, because it has a golden seal, in the form of a pope's bull, tied with yellow and red cords of silk; upon one side is the emperor represented sitting on his throne, and on the other the capitol of Rome. It is also called Caroline, on Charles IV.'s account. Till the publication of the golden bull, the form and ceremony of the election of an emperor were dubious and undetermined, and the number of the electors not fixed. This solemn edict regulated the functions, rights, privileges, and pre-eminences of the electors. The original, which is in Latin, on vellum, is preserved at Frankfort: this ordonnance, containing thirty articles, or chapters, was approved of by all the princes of the empire, and remain still in force.

Bulla, in zoology, a genus belonging to the order of vermes testacea. It is an animal of the snail-kind: The shell consists of one valve, convoluted, and without any prickles; the aperture is narrowish, oblong, longitudinal, and entire at the base; the columella is smooth and oblique. There are twenty-three species, most of them natives of the Asiatic and Atlantic oceans.

Bullæ, in Roman antiquity, ornaments at first given only to the sons of noblemen; though afterwards they became of more common use. This ornament was first given by Tarquinius to the praetexta to his son, who had, with his own hand, at fourteen years of age, killed an enemy. Thus we find the bulla was a sign of triumph. Macrobius relates, that the children of freed men were allowed to wear the praetexta, and, instead of the golden bulla, a leathern one, about their necks: Those bullæ were made hollow within to inclose amulets against envy, &c. When the youth arrived at fifteen years of age, they hung up their bullæ about the necks of their gods lares. We are farther informed, that the bullæ were not only hung about the necks of young men, but of horses also.

Bullet, a term used by country people for hempstalks peeled.

Bullet, an iron or leaden ball, or shot, wherewith fire-arms are loaded. See Ball.

Bullingbroke, in geography. See Bolingbroke.

Bullion, uncoined gold or silver in the mass.

Those metals are called so, either when smelted from the native ore, and not perfectly refined; or when they are perfectly refined, but melted down in bars or ingots, or in any unwrought body, of any degree of fineness.

When gold and silver are in their purity, they are so soft and flexible, that they cannot well be brought into any fashion for use, without being first reduced and hardened with an alloy of some other base metal.

To prevent these abuses, which some might be tempted to commit in the making of such alloys, the legislators of civilized countries have ordained, that there shall be no more than a certain proportion of a base metal to a particular quantity of pure gold or silver, in order to make them of the fineness of what is called the standard gold or silver of such a country.

According to the laws of England, all sorts of wrought plate in general, ought to be made to the legal standard; and the price of our standard gold and silver is the common rule whereby to set a value on their bullion, whether the same be in ingots, bars, dust, or in foreign specie: whence it is easy to conceive that the value of bullion cannot be exactly known, without being first assayed, that the exact quantity of pure metal therein contained may be determined, and consequently whether it be above or below the standard.

Silver and gold, whether coined or uncoined, (tho' used for a common measure of other things), are no less a commodity, than wine, tobacco, or cloth; and may, in many cases, be exported as much to the national advantage as any other commodity.

Bullock, the same with an ox, or gilded bull. See Bos.

Bully-tree, in botany. See Chrysophyllum.

Bultel, a term used to denote the refuse of meal after dressing, or the cloth wherein it is dressed, otherwise called butter-cloth.

Bulwark, in the ancient fortification. See Rampart.

Bumicilli, a religious sect of Mahometans in Egypt and Barbary, who pretend to fight with devils, and commonly appear in a fright and covered with wounds and bruises. About the full moon they counterfeit a combat in the presence of all the people, which lasts for two or three hours, and is performed with affagaias, or javelins, till they fall down quite spent; in a little time, however, they recover their spirits, get up, and walk away.

Bungay, a market-town of Suffolk, situated on the river Waveney, about thirty-two miles north-east of Bury: E. lon. 1° 35', and N. lat. 52° 35'.

Bungo, or Bongo. See Bongo.

Bunias, in botany, a genus of the tetradyamia glaucosa clas. The pod is deciduous, quadrangular, and the angles are unequal and terminate in sharp points. There are four species, only one of which, viz. the cakile, or sea-rocket, is a native of Britain.

Bundle, a collection of things wrapped up together. Of baste-ropes, harness-plates, and glover's knives, ten make a bundle; of hamburg yarn, twenty skeins; of balser-rods, three feet about the band.

Bunium, in botany, a genus of the pentandria digynia clas. The corolla is uniform; the umbella is thick; and the fruit is oval. There is but one species, viz. the bulbocastanum, earth-nut, kipper-nut, pig-nut, or hawk-nut, a native of Britain.

Bunk, or Bunken, in the materia medica. See Leucanthia.

Bunt of a sail, the middle part of it, formed designedly into a bag or cavity, that the sail may gather more wind. It is used mostly in top-sails, because courses are generally cut square, or with but small allowance for bunt or compass. The bunt holds much leeward wind, that is, it hangs much to leeward.

BUNT-LINES are small lines made fast to the bottom of the sails, in the middle part of the bolt-rope, to a cringle, and so are reeved through a small block, seized to the yard. Their use is to trice up the bunt of the sail, for the better furling it up.