fabulous kind of serpent, said to kill by its breath or flight only. Galen says, that it is of a colour inclining to yellow; and that it has three little eminences upon its head, speckled with whitish spots, which have the appearance of a fort of crown. Aelian says, that its poison is so penetrating, as to kill the largest serpents with its vapour only; and that if it but bite the end of any man's stick, it kills him. It drives away all other serpents by the noise of its hissing; Pliny says, it kills those who look upon it.—The generation of the basilisk is not less marvellous, being said to be produced from a cock's egg, brooded on by a serpent. These, and other things equally ridiculous, are related by Matthiolus, Galen, Dioscorides, Pliny, and Erastratus. Hirschmayer and Vander Wiel have given the history of the basilisk, and detected the folly and imposture of the traditions concerning it.—In some apothecaries shops there are little dead serpents shown, which are said to be basilisks. But these seem rather to be a kind of small bird, almost like a cock, but without feathers: its head is lofty, its wings are almost like a bat's, its eyes large, and its neck is very short. As to those which are shown and sold at Venice, and in other places, they are nothing but little thornbacks artificially put into a form like that of a young cock, by stretching out their fins, and contriving them with a little head and hollow eyes: and this, Calmet says, he has in reality observed in a supposed basilisk, at an apothecary's shop at Paris, and in another at the Jesuits of Pont-a-Mousson.

military affairs, a large piece of ordnance, thus denominated from its resemblance to the supposed serpent of that name. The basilisk throws an iron ball of 200 pound weight. It was much talked of in the time of Solyman emperor of the Turks, in the wars of Hungary; but seems now out of use. Paulus Jovius relates the terrible slaughter made by a single ball from one of these basilisks in a Spanish ship; after penetrating the boards and planks in the ship's head, it killed above 30 men. Maffeus speaks of basilisks made of brafs, which were drawn each by 100 yoke of oxen.—Modern writers also give the name basilisk to a much smaller and lighter piece of ordnance, which the Dutch make 15 feet long, and the French only 10. It carries 48 pounds.

Basilius, surnamed the Macedonian, emperor of the Greeks. He was a common soldier, and of an obscure family in Macedonia, and yet raised himself to the throne; for having pleased the emperor Michael by his address in the management of his horses, he became his first equerry, and then his great chamberlain. He at length assassinated the famous Bardas, and was associated to the empire in 849. He held the eighth general council at Constantinople; deposed the patriarch Photius, but in 858 restored him to the patriarchate; and declared against the popes, who refused to admit him into their communion. He was dreaded by his enemies the Saracens, whom he frequently vanquished; and loved by his subjects, for his justice and clemency. He died in 866. Under his reign the Russians embraced Christianity, and the doctrine of the Greek church. He ought not to be confounded with Basilus the Young, who succeeded Zemifices in 975, and after a reign of 50 years died in 1025.

Basingtonstoke, a corporation-town of Hampshire in England, and a great thoroughfare on the western road. It is seated on a small brook, in W. Long. 10° 10'. N. Lat. 51° 20'.

BasioGLOSSUS, a muscle arising from the base of the os hyoides. See Anatomy, Table of the Muscles.