BASILISK

, in the older Artillery, was a large piece of ordnance so called from its resemblance to the supposed serpent of that name. It threw an iron ball of 200 pounds weight; and was in great repute in the time of Solyman emperor of the Turks, in the wars of Hungary; but it is now grown out of use in most parts of Europe. Paulus Jovius relates the terrible slaughter made in a Spanish ship by a single ball from one of these basilisks; after passing through the beams and planks in the ship's head, it killed upwards of 30 men. And Maffeus speaks of basilisks made of brass, each os which required 100 yoke of oxen to draw them.—More modern writers also give the name basilisk to a much smaller and sizeable piece of ordnance, made of 15 feet long by the Dutch, but of only 10 by the French, and carrying a ball of 48 pounds. The largest size of cannon now used by the English, are the 32 pounders.