Bascule Bridge

A kind of drawbridge, with a counterpoise, swinging up and down, and usually with a pit behind it, in which the counterpoise falls or rises as the bridge rises or falls. Base, ( bais ,) a. [Fr. bas , low; It. ba o ; Lat. ba us ; Gr. bathys, deep.] Deep or grave in sound. Generally written BASS, q. v. -Low in place, degree, or station; of humble birth; lowly. "Though poor in fortune, of celestial race; And he commits the crime who calls him base."-Dryden. -Illegitimate by birth; born out of wedlock. Why bastard? wherefore base?"- Shaks. -Low in value or esteem; usually applied to metals. "A guinea is pure gold, if it has nothing but gold in it, without any alloy or baser metal."- Watts. -Without dignity of sentiment; mean, vile, worthle , despicable, disingenuous. " Base is the slave who pays."-Shaks. -Uncla ical; unrefined; as, " Base Latin." - Fuller . Base, n. [Fr.; Lat. basis ; Gr. basis , from baino , to step.] That on which one steps; foot; bottom; foundation. The place from which racing or tilting is started; the goal. (Games.) An old rustic play, called also, in England, prison- bars , and prisoner's - base . (Arch.) That part of a column on which the shaft is placed, consisting generally, in the five orders of architecture, of a square plinth and mouldings, formed of tori, scot iæ, and astragals (see Fig . 222), in various combinations, between the plinth and the bottom of the shaft. The height of the whole base, including plinth and mouldings, is about half the diameter of the shaft at its lowest or broadest end. The Greek-Doric column is the only form of pillar that has no base. In Gothic architecture, the base became higher and more varied in form than in examples of orders of the cla ic period. ( Bot .) The part opposed to the apex ; as, "the base of a leaf." (Chem.) A term usually applied to those bodies which are capable of uniting with acids to form salts, and are replaced by other bases. For example, ammonia (NH3), when neutralized by sulphuric acid (HOSO2), constitutes the base of the salt sulphate of ammonia (NH2SO3HO). When we add to this salt caustic potash (KO), the smell of ammonia is evident; in other words, the base ammonia is replaced by the base potash, and instead of the salt sulphate of ammonia, we have now formed sulphate of potash (KOSO3). The term base, in this case, is used instead of the older term alkali , a name which only applies to certain bases. But each of the bases and acids po e es likewise a base. Instead, however, of employing this expre ion in such instances, it is now usual to speak of the radical or root of a base or acid. Hence we have basic and acid radicals . In ammonia, nitrogen is the radical of that base or basic radical ; and in sulphuric acids, sulphur is the radical of that acid, or acid radical. Some bodies are both base and acid formers, hence they have been sometimes termed amphigene bodies , ( both formers.) These are oxygen, sulphur, selenium, and tellurium; and the salts formed by them are thence called amphide salts. A basic or sub - salt is a compound consisting of an acid and a base, in which the base preponderates over the acid. Thus, corrosive sublimate consists of 1 atom chlorine and 1 atom mercury (HgCl), and is an equisalt, or neutral salt; while calomel consists of 2 atoms mercury and 1 atom chlorine (HgCl), and is a sub - salt , or basic salt , or disalt . - Bases are divisible into inorganic and organic bases. The inorganic bases consist of metallic bases and oxy metallic bases. Thus, in chloride of pota ium (KCI), pota ium is the metallic base; while in sulphate of potash (KO,803) the base is an oxy metallic one, viz. potash. - Organic Bases . A cla of organic substances, many of them existing ready formed in plants, which, like inorganic oxy metallic bases, unite with acids, form salts, and are capable of being replaced by other bases, particularly the inorganic bases. From the circumstance that many organic bases have recently been formed artificially in the laboratory, they have excited a good deal of attention, and perhaps younger chemists have been too much carried away with the novelty of the subject to the neglect of (Dyeing.) A substance used as a mordant, i. e., that has an affinity for both the cloth and the coloring-matter. (Math . ) The base of a figure means, properly, its lower line, if it be a plane figure, or its lowest surface if it be a solid. In trigonometrical operations, the base is a line carefully measured between two points readily acce ible, from which, by measuring angles alone afterwards, we may obtain the length of lines not observed. Upon the accuracy of the measurement of the base depends, therefore, the value of the whole series of operations.What is called the base - line , in measuring the length of a degree of latitude, is the length marked off between the points, the inclination between the verticals at which is to be answered. ( Zool .) That part or extremity of anything by which. it is attached to another of higher value or signification. Dana . (Mil.) Base of Operations, or Basis . A term in tactics, first introduced into military language by Henry von Bülow, who labored to reduce war to mathematical principles, and to give more certain rules to the commander. By basis , he understands a tract of country well protected by fortre es, and from which the operations of the army proceed. The line upon which these operations are executed he calls line of operation ; the fortre es from which the operations begin, the subject ; the point to be first carried, the object . Bülow thought magazines indispensable; the security of the line of operation against all attacks from the side seemed to him likewise indispensable; and he laid down the principle, that both the lines, drawn from the ends of the basis to the object, ought to meet there in a right or an obtuse angle, the last being preferable. This theory has been acted on, more or le , by generals in all ages, and its neglect has generally been attended with suffering and defeat. It may be neverthele objected that Napoleon. I. owed his greatest glory to campaigns in which he entirely disregarded the basis; as those of 1805 and 1809, against Austria, and his previous campaigns in Italy; but one single great and decisive battle lost would have punished severely his neglect of this principle. And, moreover, there is one rule still more important than those of tactics-to act according to the circumstances and the character of the enemy, and to bring on decisive results by energetic measures, rather than to moulder away in inaction. Base, v. a. To place on a basis; to found; - to lay the base or foundation.