BEAD-Proof, a term formerly used by distillers to denote that the spirit manufactured by them was of the legal strength. This was ascertained by immersing in the spirit Wilson's or Lovi's beads, which consisted of hollow balls or beads of glass so graduated that each would only maintain its equilibrium in a fluid of a certain density. The beads being all fitted for certain different densities, were thrown into the fluid to be tested, and the bead which was of the exact density of the fluid remained suspended in the fluid, the others sinking or floating according as the fluid was too dense or too thin for them. These beads are now quite superseded by Sykes's hydrometer. See HYDRODYNAMICS.

Bezo-Roll, among Roman Catholics, a list of persons for the rest of whose souls a certain number of prayers is to be repeated, which are counted by telling the beads.