Vickipedia

FINDER OF GOODS. The finder acquires a special property in goods, which is available to him against all the world except the true owner; but before appropriating them to his own use, he must use every reasonable means to discover the owner. It has been decided that if the property had not been designedly abandoned, and the finder knew who the owner was, or knew that he could have discovered him, he was guilty of larceny in keeping and appropriating the articles to his own use. R. v. Thurborn, 1 Denison c.c. 393; Merry v. Green, 7 M. and W. 623. In the latter case, in which a person purchased, at a public auction, a bureau, in which he afterwards discovered, in a secret drawer, a purse containing money, which he appropriated to his own use, Mr. Baron Parke thus laid down the law. ‘The old rule, that “if one lose his goods, and another find them, though he convert them animo furandi to his own use, it is no larceny,” has undergone in more recent times some limitations. One is, that if the finder knows who the owner of the lost chattel is, or if, from any mark upon it, or the circumstances under which it is found, the owner could be reasonably ascertained, then the fraudulent conversion, animo furandi, constitutes a larceny.’ This law, however, although in most cases clear, is, in others, extremely difficult in application, and judges and juries often go wrong. The question for the jury is not whether they think the finder could have discovered the owner, but whether he believed that he could; and if not satisfied as to this, they cannot convict him of larceny. It is a mistake to suppose that the finder is bound to advertise, or use extraordinary means to discover the owner; indeed he cannot claim such expenses from the real owner, if he appear.

PRI’VILEGE (Lat. privilegium, from privata lex, a private law), a special ordinance or regulation, in virtue of which an individual or a class enjoys certain immunities or rights from or beyond the common provisions of the general law of the community. It differs from a dispensation inasmuch as the latter merely relaxes the existing law for a particular case or cases, while the privilege is a permanent and general right. Of ancient and medieval legislation, the law of privilege formed an important branch; and, in truth, the condition of the so-called ‘ privileged classes ‘ was in all respects different, socially, civilly, and even religiously, from that of the non-privileged. In canon law, there were two privileges enjoyed by the clergy, which deserve especial notice from the frequency of the historical allusions to them�the ‘ privilege of the canon’ (privilegium canonis) and the ‘privilege of the forum,’ privilegium fori). By the former, the person of the clergyman, of whatever degree, was protected from violence by the penalty of excommunication against the offender; by the latter�known in England as ‘benefit of clergy’(q. v.)�the clergyman was exempted from the ordinary civil tribunals, and could only be tried in the ecclesiastical court. Most of the purely civil privileges are abolished throughout Europe by modern legislation.

BLA’ZON, BLA’ZONRY (Ger. Blasen, to blow, as with a horn). These heraldic terms originated in the custom of blowing a trumpet to announce the arrival of a knight, or his entrance into the lists at a joust or tournament. The blast was answered by the heralds, who described aloud and explained the arms borne by the knight. B. and B. thus came to signify the art of describing, in technical terms, the objects (or charges, as they are called) borne in arms�their positions, gestures, tinctures, &c., and the manner of arranging them on the shield.

Rules of Blazoning.�As heraldry, though an entirely arbitrary, is a very accurate science, the rules of blazoning are observed on all occasions with the most rigid precision. The following are the most important: 1. In blazoning or describing a coat of arms, it is necessary to begin with the field, mentioning the lines by which it is divided�per pale, per fess, &c., if such there be�and noticing if they are indented, engrailed, or the like, it being taken for granted that they are straight, unless the contrary be mentioned. 2. There must be no unnecessary repetition in blazoning; thus, where the field is blue, and the charges yellow, we should say, azure, a crescent between three stars, or, thereby implying that both the crescent and the stars are or. 3. For the same reason, where a color has been already mentioned, and it is necessary, in order to avoid ambiguity, to repeat it in describing a subsequent charge, we say, of the first, or of the second, as the case may be. Thus, we should say, azure, on a saltire argent, three water bougets of the first, thus avoiding the repetition of the word azure. 4. Again, recurring to our first example, it would be an error to say, three stars with a crescent between them, because we must always begin with the charge which lies nearest the center of the shield. 5. Where the charges are of the natural color of the objects or animals represented, in place of describing the color, you simply say proper�i.e., of the proper or natural color. 6. Another general rule in blazoning, or rather in marshaling coat-armor, is, that metal shall never be placed upon metal, nor color upon color.

The rules for blazoning separate charges, whether animate or inanimate, are indicated in the descriptions which will be found of them under their respective heads. See ordinaries; also bar, bend, &c.

BLASTING. Before gunpowder was invented, the separation of masses of stone from their native rock could only be effected by means of the hammer and wedge, or by the still slower method of fire and water. In soft and stratified rock, wedges are still used for quarrying stones for building purposes; but in hard rock, or where regularity of fracture is no object, gunpowder is ordinarily employed. There are two kinds of B.�first, the small shot system; and second, that of large blasts or ‘mines.’

The small-shot system consists of boring holes into the rock, of from one to six inches in diameter, and of various depths, according to circumstances. In hard rock, this is done by a steel-pointed drill, struck by a hammer, and turned partly round after each blow, to make the hole cylindrical. The addition of a little water serves to preserve the temper of the boring tool, and makes the rock more easy to cut. In soft rock, whenever the hole is to be vertical, a ‘ jumper’ is used; this is a weighted drill, which acts, merely by its own weight, when let fall from about a foot in height. The powdered stone is removed at intervals by a ’scraper.’ The rate of progress varies, of course, with the hardness of the rock.

At Holyhead, the average work done by three men in hard: quartz rock, with 11/2 inch drills, is 14 inches in depth per hour; one man holding the drill, and two striking. After the hole is bored, it is cleaned out, and the powder poured down. A wad of dry turf or hay is put over the charge, and the rest of the hole ‘ tamped,’ or filled with broken stone, clay, or sand. The shot is fired by a length of Bickford’s patent fuse. When it is desirable to prevent the stones from flying about, when the shot is fired, a shield of boiler-plate, or of brushwood weighted, may be laid over the hole.

Small shots may be fired, even under water, by enclosing the charge in a tin case, with a tube of powder reaching to the surface; or in a canvas bag, well tarred, tied at the neck round a length of Bickford’s fuse, which burns under water. The charge is inserted in the drill-hole; and the weight of the superincumbent water acts as tamping.

In removing the wall between the old and new Shadwell basins of the London Docks, shots were fired under water within a few yards of vessels lying in the basin, by using moderate charges, and by keeping a raft of timber floating over the hole, as a shield to prevent anything flying upwards.

The voltaic battery has been used for firing shots, chiefly under water, since 1839, in which year it was employed at the wreck of the Royal George and at the Skerryvore Light-house.

When a large mass of rook has to be removed at once, or where a steady supply has to be daily furnished of irregularly broken stone, for breakwater or other purposes, recourse must be had to large blasts, or ‘mines.’ The greatest isolated example of this kind of blasting was the overthrow, in 1843, of the Rounddown cliff at Dover, by 18,500 lbs. of powder, in three separate charges, fired simultaneously by voltaic electricity. But by far the grandest system of B. by mines is to be seen at quarries for supplying stone to the Breakwater at Holyhead, where small shots having been found inadequate, large mines were introduced in 1850. These large blasts are of two kinds�’shafts’ sunk from the top of the rock; and ‘headings,’ or galleries driven in from the face.

The shaft-holes are 6 feet long by 4 feet wide, of various depths, according to the height of the rock, but seldom much exceeding 60 feet. The deal-box, with, the charge of powder, p, is placed in a chamber cut at one side of the shaft, so that the tamping may not be in the direct upward line of fire. The tamping consists of the stone and debris which have come out of the shaft; and the wires from the battery are protected from injury by being laid in a groove cut in a batten placed up one angle of the shaft.

It is evident that the same point, p, in the rock may be reached as well by a heading or gallery driven in from the face of the rock, as by a shaft from the top, and often by a shorter route. Headings are made 5 feet high by 3 feet 6 inches wide, and are driven, if possible, along a natural joint in the rock. The direction of the gallery is changed and sunk at parts, to prevent the tamping from being blown out. Four men can, on the average, drive 5 feet run of heading per week; but cannot sink above 3 or 4 feet of shaft, which has a greater sectional area, and is more inconvenient to work in.

The charge of powder may be divided and placed in two or more separate chambers, as p, and p; and� it is� better thus to spread a heavy charge over a length of face, than to have it in one spot, at a greater distance from the face than about 30 feet. The charges for these mines vary from 600 lbs. to 13,000, and even more, pounds of powder; and the produce is from 2 to 6 tons of stone to the pound of powder, according to the density of the rock and the position of the mine.

Besides the quarrying of stone, B. is used for military objects, or where total destruction is aimed at, and an excess of powder is little or no objection.

Of late years great improvements have been effected in the production and application of explosive agents other than gunpowder, which latter, until lately, may be said to have been exclusively used for the purpose of blasting. Nitroglycerine (q. v.) and gun cotton (q. v.) were discovered within two years of each other; but while gun cotton was immediately applied to industrial purposes, nitroglycerine was destined to remain a chemical curiosity for about 16 years.

Dynamite is a preparation of nitroglycerine and porous earth, in the form of a pasty mass, which, without materially impairing its explosive properties, has the effect of rendering it perfectly safe to handle.

One of the most celebrated applications of boring and blasting to modern engineering was the driving of the Mont Cenis tunnel. See tunnel.

BLAST FU’RNACE. Many costly experiments have been tried of late years in order to determine, along with other related questions, the best form of the blast furnace in which iron is smelted. Which is the most serviceable form is as yet a very much disputed point, but according to the published accounts, furnaces of the unusual height of 80 to 100 feet give, as a rule, the best results. There are two types of blast furnaces, irrespective of differences in their forms, as regards the way in which they are constructed. Some are built with thick walls, either entirely of brick or of brick and stone, hooped with iron, forming massive towers. Others, again, are formed of comparatively thin brick walls, and depend for their strength on an outer malleable iron casing, in which case they are called cupola furnaces. The furnace A, in fig. 1, article IRON, is an example of the former, and the annexed figure represents one of the latter kind.

The various parts of the furnace are distinguished as follow: A is the shaft or body, generally either in the form of a cone or cylinder, or somewhat barrel-shaped, in which ease, the portion marked B is not distinguishable from the shaft. B. is called the boshes, and is the part of the furnace which, from the high heat to which it is exposed, usually gives way first. H is the hearth, and C is the tunnel-head, which, however, is usually wanting, when the mouth is closed by a bell and cone to save the gases generated in the furnace. P is the charging platform, and Q,Q, the opening through which the ore, fuel, &c., are fed. These materials are brought to the platform by hoists, inclines, or level gangways, according to the situation of the furnace. Just below the boshes there are four or five openings in the circumference for the tuyeres t, and another for the arrangements required for tapping the furnace As respects the latter, a is called the tymp-arch, immediately below which is placed the tymp itself, consisting of a rectangular iron box containing water in a coiled pipe. The hearth is prolonged in the direction of the dam-plate d, and the space between it and the tymp is filled up with sand or clay, in which there is a channel for the escape of slag. In the damp-plate is placed the tapping-hole, i, through which the molten iron is run off. The pipe at p conveys the blast, produced by a powerful blowing-engine, and heated to between 600� and 1400� F. The B. F. may tee used with the Siemens Gas Furnace. See IRON and GLASS.

ABSTINENCE SOCIETIES, associations for the promotion of abstinence from all kinds of alcoholic liquors, and the members of which usually receive the designation of abstainers or teetotalers� this last phrase inferring an utter and uncompromising abstinence; or at least that the only exception shall be for sacramental and medical purposes. Abstainers usually take a pledge or vow to that effect; the ground of their abstinence from alcoholic liquors being that they are injurious to, or at least no way promotive of, health, and that from the great social evils of intemperance it is important to set an example of entire abstinence. A. S. exist in great numbers in North America and the United Kingdom. In the early growth of this remarkable social movement, A. S. were called Temperance Societies, and under that head the subject will be treated in its various forms of development.

BLA’SPHEMY is an offence against God and religion, by denying to the Almighty his being and providence; or by contumelious reproaches of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; also all profane scoffing at the Holy Scriptures, or exposing them to ridicule and contempt. Seditious words, moreover, in derogation of the established religion may be proved under a charge of blasphemy. These all are offences punishable at common law by fine and imprisonment, or other infamous corporal punishment; for Christianity is held to be part of the laws of England; and a blasphemous libel may be prosecuted as an offence at common law, and punished with fine and imprisonment. In Gathercole’s case, tried at York in 1838, where the defendant, a clergyman of the Church of England, was prosecuted for a libel on ‘a Roman Catholic nunnery, and in which he also made a violent attack on the tenets and the morality of the Roman Catholic Church, it was laid down by the judge who tried the case (the late Baron Alderson), that a person may, without being liable to prosecution for it, attack Judaism, or Mohammedanism, or even any sect of the Christian religion, save the established religion of the country; and the only reason why the latter is in a different situation from the others is, because it is the form established by law, and is therefore a part of the constitution of the country. But any general attack on Christianity is also the subject of criminal prosecution, because Christianity is the public religion of the country. Thus, as an offence against religion, B. may assume one of two forms : first, either as against the articles and creeds of the Established Church; or secondly, as against a dissenting community, in the libel against whom, a general attack on the Christian religion is involved. The B. must in some manner have been overtly and publicly declared, either by a speech on some public occasion, or by the act of publication in print.

The Scotch law regarding this offence is now very much the same. The old severe Scotch acts, one passed 1661, and in another in 1695, which provided capital punishment for offences of this description, were repealed by the 53 Geo. III. c. 160. The punishment is now arbitrary at common law; and by the 6 Geo. IV. c. 47, the punishment of B. is further restricted, and made the same as in England. It is also enacted by the second section of that act, that a person convicted of a second offence may be adjudged, at the discretion of the court, either to suffer the punishment of fine or imprisonment, or both, or to be banished the country; but the provision as to the punishment of banishment is repealed by the 7 Will. IV. c. 5. The latest and most remarkable illustration of the Scotch law regarding this offence, is a case that was tried before the High Court of Justiciary in 1843. The prisoner, who defended himself was accused, convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment for fifteen months, for publishing profane, impious, and blasphemous books, containing a denial of the truth and authority of the Holy Scriptures and of the Christian religion; and devised, contrived, and intended to ridicule and bring into contempt the same.

In the course of the trial, the prisoner endeavored to justify his conduct by quotations from the Bible, which, he maintained, warranted the language of the blasphemous works in question. But the court would not allow such a line of defence, and the Lord Justice-clerk (the late Right Honorable John Pope) in charging the jury, pointed out that the indictment charged, that the wicked mid felonious publication of such works is a crime, and that therefore the jury were not to consider themselves engaged in any theological discussion, but simply in trying whether a known and recognized offence against the law had been committed. His lordship proceeded further to expound the law as follows: ‘ Now, the law of Scotland, apart from all questions of church establishment or church government, has declared that the Holy Scriptures are of supreme authority. It gives every man the right of regulating his faith or not by the standard of the Holy Scriptures, and gives full scope to private judgment, regarding the doctrines contained therein; but it expressly provides, that all ‘blasphemies shall be suppressed,” and that they who publish opinions “contrary to the known principles of Christianity,” may be lawfully called to account, and proceeded against by the civil magistrate. This law does not impose upon individuals any obligations as to their belief. It leaves free and independent the right of private belief, but it carefully protects that which was established as part of the law, from being brought into contempt.’ The learned judge also observed : ‘ I think it also my duty to add�as a part of the [prisoner’s] address was directed against the policy and expediency of this prosecution�that I think it was a most proper and fit prosecution. I have no doubt of the effect that will result from this prosecution; because, though, in his advertisement and address, this individual declares that he addresses himself chiefly to the working-classes of Scotland, yet I am sure that he deceives himself if he imagines that that is a class which would easily part with their belief in those truths, which are perhaps more valuable to them in this life than to any other class in the community. There may, indeed, be a class of persons, like the prisoner at the bar, in situations above that of the working-classes, young men whose education is imperfect, and their reading misdirected; and it is to save them from the mischief of these opinions that it is necessary the law should take its course.’ See RELIGION, OFFENCES AGAINST.

BI’SCUITS (Fr. twice-baked), small, flat bread, rendered dry and hard by baking, in order to their long preservation. They are divided into two classes�the unfermented and the fermented. Unfermented or unleavened, B., generally known as common sea-biscuits or ship-tread, are made of wheaten-flour (retaining some of the bran) water, and common salt. The materials are kneaded together, either by manual labor�that is, by the hands and feet of the workmen�or by introducing the materials into a long trough, or box, with a central shaft, to which a series of knives is attached, and which is made to revolve rapidly by machinery. The mass of dough so obtained is then kneaded and thinned out into a sheet the proper thickness of the B., by being passed and repassed between heavy rollers. This sheet being placed below a roller with knife-edge shapes, is readily cut into hexagonal (six-sided) or round pieces of dough of the required size of the biscuits. The indentation of the slabs of dough, in the case of the hexagonal B., is not complete, so that all the B. cut out of each slab remain slightly adhering together. These slabs of B. are then introduced into an oven for about 15 minutes, and are placed in a warm room for 2 or 3 days, to become thoroughly dry. The more modern oven is open at both ends, and the B. being placed in a framework, are drawn by chains through the oven. So rapidly is this operation conducted, that about 2000 lbs. weight of B. are passed through one of these ovens every day of ten hours.

Captain�s B. are prepared from wheaten-flour, water, with common salt, and butter, with an occasional small dose of yeast to cause partial fermentation. Milk is also sometimes employed. Water or hard B. are made of flour, water, with variable quantities of butter, eggs, spices, and sugar. Soft B. contain increased quantities of butter and sugar. Yeast B. are those the dough of which is mixed with a small quantity of yeast, yielding more porous biscuits. Buttered B. are made with much butter and a little yeast. Other varieties of B. are named in the following table, which gives the materials added to the sack of flour, 280 lbs. in weight:

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Great care must be taken in the manipulative part of the process to incorporate the ingredients in a systematic manner. Thus, the butter is mixed with the flour in a dry condition, and then the water or milk added; and when eggs are used, they are thoroughly beaten up with water, and the sugar (if the latter is required) and the egg-paste added to the dough, which has been previously prepared with butter, or without butter. The various kinds of B. in the preparation of which yeast is employed, present a more spongy aspect than the unyeasted biscuits. Occasionally a little sesquicarbonate of ammonia (volatile salt) is added, to assist in raising the dough, and make a lighter biscuit. There are three principal varieties of the yeast or fermented B., and the following table gives the ingredients used in their manufacture from a sack of flour, or 280 lbs.:

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Soft or spiced B. are prepared from flour, with much sugar, a great many eggs, some butter, and a small quantity of spices and essences. The eggs tend to give a nice yellow cream-color to the B., which is occasionally imitated by the admixture of a chromate of lead (chrome yellow); but this is dangerous, and has given rise to several cases of poisoning. Several of the soft or spiced B. are referred to in the following table, a sack, or 280 lbs., being the amount of flour employed in each instance:

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The extent to which B. are now consumed may be learned from the fact, that several of the largest biscuit-manufactories each prepare and throw into market every week from 30,000 to 50,000 lbs. weight of B. of various kinds. One of the largest and most complete biscuit-manufactories in England is that of Can- at Carlisle, whose biscuits, sold in tin-boxes, are well known. Still more famous is that of Huntley and Palmer at Heading, employing over 3000 persons.

AME’RICANISMS are words and phrases current in the United States of America, and not current in England. These peculiarities are much more prominent in conversation than in writing; indeed, in the American writers that are usually considered classical, it is difficult to detect anything of the kind. The number of absolutely new words introduced into the English language in America is remarkably small. As an instance may be mentioned caucus, for a secret political assembly. This is a corruption of calk-home, a calker’s shed in Boston, where the patriots before the revolution had usually held their meetings. The term Yankee (an Indian corruption of the French Anglais) is another. The great body of A. consists in giving an unusual sense to existing words: as clever, in the sense of amiable, and smart for clever; wagon for a very light kind of carriage; book-store for bookseller’s shop; wilted for withered; creek for a small river, instead of a small arm of the sea.

The several divisions of the Union have their characteristic peculiarities. Thus, in the New England States�Yankeeland proper� ugly is used for ill-natured; friends for relations (so used also in Scotland); and guess for a great variety of things�to think, presume, suppose, &c. This use of guess is confined to New England; the inhabitants of New York and of the Middle States generally employ expect in the same way; while those of the Southern States reckon; and those of the Western States calculate. Several words current in the Middle States are of Dutch origin, as loafer for a vagabond, from the Dutch loopen, to run; and boss for a head workman or employer. The Southern States have fewer peculiarities than any of the other divisions. In the Western States, again, there is hardly any recognized standard of speech, and in some districts ‘ it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that every prominent person has his own private vocabulary.’ The verb to fix is made to do duty for expressing every conceivable kind of action. The vague use of this word is common all over the Union,, but in the West the abuse is carried to the extreme. Help, in the sense of servant, is common to the West and to New England, but is nearly unknown in the Middle States. The well-known phrase go a-head is a coinage of the West; it is sufficiently expressive of the leading characteristic of the American people. Posted-up in a subject, for ‘well informed,’ is one of a class of metaphors indicative of the prominence of mercantile pursuits.

The tendency to the use of slang is excessive in America, especially in the Western States. ‘Every State, every city has its own flash vocabulary; but it is in the political world that this tendency to cant phrases most develops itself. Every new party, every new modification of an old party, is bound to have at least one new name, either assumed by itself, or attached to it by its opponents.’

A variety of causes have been enumerated to account for the existence of those deviations from standard English, such as, the influence of the Indian languages; the various tongues spoken by settlers from Europe ether than English; the original provincial peculiarities of portions of the English settlers, &c. For instance, Dr. M. Shele de Vere, whose work, The English of the New World (1873), is the best on the subject,, states that the largest number of so-called Americanisms are good old English words which have become obsolete or provincial in the mother-country. But even supposing the language of the United States were at this moment in every respect identical with that of England, and to be henceforth unaffected by the importation of foreign elements, the complete identity could not be expected to continue long.

Not only do new circumstances and wants make new terms necessary, and modify the application of old, but those changes of structure which constitute the organic growth of every living tongue, are evolved more or less rapidly according to the industrial and political activity of those that speak it. To complain, then, that the English language in America, or in any of the British Colonies, should exhibit deviations from the standard of the mother-country is as unreasonable as to complain that an animal should exhibit changes in its coats or its habits when removed from one climate to another. Though it is certainly desirable that the language of the various sections of the Anglo-Saxon race should be substantially one, yet the general adoption of a new term or mode of expression by a great community may be presumed to have a cause deeper than any that can be controlled by criticism.

As the Americans of Anglo-Saxon origin do not exceed one-third of the whole population of the United States, it seems wonderful that the English language should have held its ground so well� that it should not have been completely corrupted, or even in some places extruded by other tongues. Yet there is apparently no danger of this. The original Dutch of New York has disappeared, with the exception of a very few stray words; and although French is still spoken in one-half of the city of New Orleans, it has been preserved at the expense of the speakers isolating themselves and losing their due influence. The proximity of the German-speaking population that still holds out in Pennsylvania, &c., has no sensible effect upon the language of their English-speaking neighbors; while, on. the other hand, the influence of the English is reducing the language of the Germans to a corrupt patois, swarming with English words.�See The English Language in America, in the Cambridge Essays for 1855; Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms (1858).

AME’NDMENT is a term used both in judicial and parliamentary proceedings. In the former, it is a power of correction ( any errors in actions, suits, or prosecutions, which has been greatly extended of late, and which has largely improved and simplified the administration of the law, both in England and in Scotland. In parliament, the word A. is used when it is intended to oppose vary, or qualify a question or resolution; and in the case of bills, it is employed as a courteous method of dismissing the bill from any further consideration, by moving that instead of ‘now,’ it be read at the end of three months, six months, or any other term beyond the probable duration of the session. It is also competent to a member to move as an A. to the question a resolution declaratory of some principle adverse to that of the bill, provided it is strictly relevant, as was done successfully, in 1859, by Lord John Russell, when he moved and carried, as an A. to the motion for the second reading of the Reform Bill of Lord Derby’s government, a resolution declaratory of a principle which the supporters of that measure considered to be subversive of it. See AMMENDMENT in AM. SUPP.