tent of it: this induced them to endeavour to unravel the secret; which they did with such success, that Leibnitz declared that the invention belonged to them as much as to himself. In 1687, James Bernoulli succeeded to the professorship of mathematics at Basil; a trust which he discharged with great applause; and his reputation drew a great number of foreigners from all parts to attend his lectures. In 1699, he was admitted a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris; and in 1701, the same honour was conferred upon him by the Academy of Berlin: in both of which he published several ingenious compositions, about the years 1702, 3, and 4. He wrote also several pieces in the "Acta Eruditorum" of Leipsic, and in the "Journal des Sçavans." His intense application to study brought upon hin the gout, and by degrees a slow fever, which put a period to his life the 16th of August 1705, in the 51st year of his age. Archimedes having found out the proportion of a sphere and its circumscribing cylinder, ordered them to be engraven on his monument. In imitation of him, Bernoulli appointed that a logarithmic spiral curve should be inscribed on his tomb, with these words, "Eadem mutata resurgo;" in allnsion to the hopes of the resurrection, which are in some measure represented by the properties of that curve, which he had the honour of disco vering. James Bernoulli had an excellent genius for invention, and elegant simplicity, as well as a close application. He was eminently skilled in all the branches of the mathematics, and contributed much to the promoting the new analysis, infinite series, &c. He carried to a great height the theory of the quadrature of the parabola; the geometry of curve lines, of spirals, of cycloids, and epicycloids. His works, that had been pubfished, were collected, and printed in 2 volumes 4to. at Geneva in 1744. BERNOULLI (JOHN), the brother of James, last mentioned, and a celebrated mathematician, was born at Basil the 7th of August, 1667. His father intended him for trade; but his own inclination was at first for the Belles-Lettres, which however, like his brother, he left for mathematics. He laboured with his brother to discover the method used by Leibnitz, in his essays on the differential calculus, and gave the first principles of the integral calculus. Our author, with Messieurs Huygens and VOL I. Leibnitz, was the first who gave the solútion of the problem proposed by James Bernoulli, concerning the catenary, or curve formed by a chain suspended by its two extremities. John Bernoulli was a member of most of the academies of Europe, and received as a foreign associate of that of Paris in 1699. After a long life spent in constant study and improvement of all the branches of the mathematics, he died full of honours the 1st of January, 1748, in the 81st year of his age. Of five sons which he had, three pursued the same sciences with himself. One of these died before him; the two others, Nicolas and Daniel, he lived to see become eminent and inuch respected in the same sciences. The writings of this great man were dispersed through the periodical memoirs of several academies, as well as in many separate treatises. And the whole of them were carefully collected and published at Lausanne and Geneva, 1742, in 4 volumes, 4to. BERNOULLI (DANIEL), a celebrated phy. sician and philosopher, and son of John Bernoulli last mentioned, was born at Groningen, February the 9th, 1700, where his father was then professor of mathematics. He was intended by his father for trade, but his genius led him to other pursuits. He passed some time in Italy; and at 24 years of age he declined the honour offered him of becoming president of an academy intended to have been established at Genoa. He spent several years with great credit at Petersburgh; and in 1735 returned to Basil, where his father was then professor of mathematics; and here our author successively filled the chair of physic, of natural and of speculative philosophy. Daniel Bernoulli wrote a multitude of pieces, which have been published in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and in those of other acadèmies. He gained and divided ten prizes from the Academy of Sciences, which were contended for by the most illustrious mathematicians in Europe. The only person who has had similar success in the same line, is Euler, his countryman, disciple, rival, and friend. His first prize he gained at 24 years of age. In 1734 he divided one with his father; which hurt the family union; for the father considered the contest itself as a want of respect; and the son did not sufficiently conceal that he thought (what was really LI the case) his own piece better than his father's. And besides, he declared for Newton, against whom his father had contended all his life. In 1740 our author divided the prize, "On the Tides of the Sea," with Euler and Maclaurin. The Academy at the same time crowned a fourth piece, the chief merit of which was that of being a Cartesian; but this was the last public act of adoration paid by the Academy to the authority of the author of the Vortices, which it had obeyed but too long. In 1748, Daniel Bernoulli succeeded his father John in the Academy of Sciences, who had succeeded his brother James; this place, since its first erection in 1699, having never been without a Bernoulli to fill it. Our author was extremely respected at Basil; and to bow to Daniel Bernoulli, when they met him in the streets, was one of the first lessons which every father gave every child. He was a man of great simplicity and modesty of manners. He used to tell an anecdote which he said had given him more pleasure than all the other honours he had received Travelling with a learned stranger, who, being pleased with his conversation, asked his name; "I am Daniel Bernoulli;" answered he with great modesty; "And I," said the stranger (who thought he meant to laugh at him), "am Isaac Newton." After a long, useful, and honourable life, Daniel Bernoulli died the 17th of March, -1782, in the 83d year of his age. BERRY, a round fruit, for the most part soft, and covered with a thin skin, containing seeds in a pulpy substance; but if it be harder, or covered with a thicker skin, it is called pomum, apple. BERTIERA, in botany, so named from M. Bertier, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Contortæ, Linn. Bubiaceæ, Jussieu. Essen tial character: calyx turbinate, five-toothed; corol tube short with a villose mouth; berry globose, inferior, two-celled, many-seeded. There is but one species, viz. B. guianensis. This is a shrub six or seven feet in height, the thickness of the human arm; branches opposite, knotty, tomentose. Corolla white, found in the wood of Anonna in Guiana, flowering and fruiting in the month of June, BERYLL, in mineralogy, a species of the flint genus, divided by Werner into two sub-species. 1st, Precious beryll, which is green passing on the one side into blue, and on the other into yellow; it is commonly mountain green and seladon; from the former it passes through various shades to the wine yellow; from the latter it passes into smalt, sky, and, in rare instances, into azure blue. Its colours are generally pale, sometimes two at once. It is crystallized in long equiangular six-sided prisms, which are perfect or truncated on the edges and angles. The crystals approach to trihedral, and sometimes to the oblique tetrahedral prisms: they are sometimes heaped on each other, the smaller ones being almost uppermost, thus forming a shape like a tower: and in other cases they are perforated in the direction of their axes. It is commonly transparent, but passing to the translucent, and is slightly duplicating. It is hard; scratches quartz; nearly equal in hardness to topaz, with which the mountain green variety has often been confounded. Easily frangible: and the specific gravity is 2.6 or 2.7. Before the blow-pipe it is difficultly fusible without addition, but with borax it melts easily: it is composed of Silica......... .....68.0 ............................. Alumina. .........15.0 2.0 Oxide of iron......... 1.0 100.0 It becomes very electrical by rubbing: is found in primitive rocks, accompanied with quartz, felspar, garnet, mica, fluor spar, and topaz. The most beautiful spe Brazils. They are found also in the Uralian cimens are brought from China and the mountains, in France, and in Saxony. When pure it is cut into stones for rings and necklaces. Its plenty renders it of no great value. It was well known to the ancients, who procured it from several places where it is now found. It is mentioned by Pliny and others: the blue varieties were denoand the yellow, topaz. minated saphire; the green, aqua marine, The 2d variety is denominated schorious beryll, which is of a straw colour, passing to white, green and yellow. The crystals are large, middle sized, and hard, but yielding to the file; it is brittle, and very easily frangible; specific gravity about 3.5. It melts with borax into a pure transparent glass, and consists of Silica............ 50 Alumina............50 100 It is found embedded in quartz and mica, in many parts of Germany: it is the link that unites the precious beryll with schorl. BESANT, or BEZANT, a coin of pure gold, of an uncertain value, struck at Byzantium, in the time of the Christian Emperors; from hence the gold offered by the King at the altar, is called besant, or bisant. BESANTS, in heraldry, round pieces of gold, without any stamp, frequently borne in coats of arms. BESLERIA, in botany, a genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia class of plants. Its flower consists of a single ringent petal. Its fruit is a berry of a globose form, containing only one cell, in which are several seeds, very small, and of a roundish figure. There are six species. BESORCH, a coin of tin, or some alloyed metal, cnrrent at Ormus, at the rate of 7 parts of a farthing sterling. BETA, in botany, a genus of the Pentandria Digynia class and order. Natural order of Holoraceae; Atriplices, Jussieu. Essential character; calyx five-leaved; corolla none; seed kidney-form, within the substance of the base of the calyx. There are four species, of which B. vulgaris, red garden beet, has large thick succulent leaves, which are for the most part of a dark red, or purple colour. The roots are large and deep red, and on these circumstances their goodness depends; for the longer they grow the more tender they will be; and the deeper their colour, the more they are esteemed. Native of the sea coast of the Southern parts of Europe. B. cicla, white garden beet, seldom grows larger than a man's thumb; the stalks grow erect, and have oblong, spear-shaped leaves growing close to the stalk; the spikes of the flowers are axillary, long, and have narrow leaves placed between the flowers. The lower leaves are thick and succulent, and their foot-stalks are broad. For these it is cultivated; the leaves being boiled as spinach, or put into soups, and the stalks and midrib of the leaf being stewed and eaten as asparagus. A large variety of this has lately been introduced from abroad, under the title of root of scarcity. It is much cultivated in many parts of the continent, not only in gardens, but in the fields; being much more in esteem, and perhaps really better than with us, where it seems to degenerate. The leaf and root are said to be excellent food for man and beast; it is affirmed not to be liable to destruction by insects; nor to be affected by drought. The leaves are recommended as equal in quality to spi nach, and, being from thirty to forty inches long, and from twenty-two to twenty-five broad, exceed it greatly in quantity. They may also be gathered every twelve or fif teen days during the season. We are told in the Gentleman's Magazine, that three varieties appeared from seeds procured from Dr. Lettsom. 1. With leaves and stem dark green, which was the most common. 2. With stem and leaves of a lighter colour, which he takes to be the white beet. 3. With stem and veins of the leaves red, which he says is the red beet. All of them have flowers in clusters, from two to three; pistils from two to five; a leaf growing from the base of the flowers; the segments of the calyx equal, hunched, and membranaceous at the edge; few plants flowering the first year, he concludes it to be biennial; as indeed all the garden sorts are, if not the wild sea beet also, although Linnæus sets it down as annual, and Ray as perennial. Dr. Lettsom, who took much pains to introduce the mangel wurzel, informs us, that on his own land, which was not favourable to its growth, the roots, upon an average, weighed full ten pounds, and if the leaves were calculated at half that weight, the whole product would be fifteen pounds of nutritious aliment upon every square of eighteen inches. BETONY, betonica, in botany, a genus of the Didynamia Gymnospermia class of plants, whose flower, consisting of a single labiated petal, is of a bright red colour, and disposed in short spikes; the cup contains four ovated seeds. The species of this genus, of which there are seven, besides varieties, are herbaceous, fibrous-rooted,hardy, perennial plants, and the stems are simple, or but little branched. The flowers are in whorls, forming a terminating spike. B. officinalis,wood betony, is a native of woods, heaths, and pastures among bushes, flowering from the beginning of July to September. Betony, says Linnæus, was formerly much used in medicine, but it is discarded from modern practice. When fresh, it intoxicates. The leaves, when dry, excite sneezing. Sheep eat it, but goats refuse it. The leaves and flowers have an herbaceous, roughish, and somewhat bitterish taste, with a weak aromatic flavour. An infusion or light decoction of them may be drank as tea, or a saturated tincture in rectified spirit may be given in laxity and debility of viscera. The roots are bitter and very nauseous; in a small dose they vomit and purge violently. This plant dies wool of a used in processes of dying and in Scot very fine dark yellow colour. BETULA, the birch-tree, in botany, a genus of plants of the Monoecia Tetrandria class. The male flower is amentaceous, formed of a number of monopetalous flos cules, each of which is divided into four parts. In the female flower the calyx is lightly divided into three segments: the fruit is a cylindric cone, and the seeds are on each side edged with a membrane. The alder, B. alnus, as well as the B.alba, belongs to this genus; but of all the species we shall notice only the latter or common birch-tree, which is known at first sight by the silvery colour of its bark, the smallness of the leaves, and the lightness and airiness of the whole appearance. It is of rather an inferior size among the forest trees. The branches are alternate, subdivided, very pliant, and flexible, covered with a reddish brown or russet, smooth back, generally dotted with white. Leaves are alternate, bright green, smooth, shining beneath, with veins crossing like the meshes of a net; the petioles are half an inch or more in length, smooth, grooved above, and at the base are ovate green glands. The birch is a native of Europe, from Lapland to Italy, and of Asia, chiefly in mountainous situations, Lowering with us in April and May. The twigs are erect in young trees, but being slender and pliant, they are apt to become pendent in old ones: hence there is a variety B. pendula, as beautiful as the weeping willow. Another variety, named from Dalecarlia, where it is found, has leaves almost palmate, with segments toothed. The B. alba, though the worst of timber, is highly useful for articles of small manufactures, as ox-yokes, bowls, dishes, ladles, and divers other domestic utensils. In America they make their canoes, boxes, buckets, dishes, &c. from the birch from an excrescence or fungus they form excellent touch-wood, and being reduced to powder, it is reckoned a specific for the piles. It is used as fuel, and will bear being burnt into excellent charcoal. The inner silken bark, which strips off of itself almost annually, was formerly used for writing before the invention of paper. In Russia and Poland the coarser bark is used instead of tiles or slates for the covering of houses; and in almost all countries the twigs have been used by pedagogues to keep their pupils in order, and to maintain diligence and discipline in the schools: and also for brooms used in domestic economy. The bark is land for tanning leather and making ropes. In Kamtschatka they form the bark into hats and drinking-cups. The vernal sap of the birch-tree is made into wine. In the beginning of March, while the sap is rising, holes must be bored in the body of the tree, and fossets made of elder placed in them to convey away the liquid. If the tree be large, it may be tapped in several places at a time, and thus according to the number of trees, the quantity of liquid is obtained. The sap is to be boiled with sugar in the proportion of four pounds to a gallon, and treated in the same way as other made wines. One great advantage attaching to the birch is, that it will grow on almost any barren ground: upon ground, says Martyn, that produced nothing but moss, birch-trees have succeeded, so as to produce at least 20s. per acre per ann. The broom-makers are constant customers for birch, in all places within 20 miles of the metropolis, or where water carriage is convenient; in other parts the hoop-benders are the purchasers; but the larger trees are consumed by turners, and the manufacturers of instruments of husbandry. BEVEL, among masons, carpenters, joiners, and bricklayers, a kind of square, one leg whereof is frequently crooked, according to the sweep of an arch or vault. It is moveable on a centre, and may be set to any angle. The make and use of this instrument is pretty much the same as those of the common square and mitre, except that those are fixed, the first at an angle of ninety degrees, and the second at forty-five; whereas the bevel being moveable, it may in some measure supply the place of both, which it is chiefly intended for, serving to set off or transfer angles, either greater or less than ninety or forty-five degrees. BEVILE, in beraldry, a thing broken or opening like a carpenter's rale: thus we say, he beareth argent, a chief bevile, vert, by the name of beverlis. BIBLE, the book, a name given by Christians, by way of eminence, to a collection of the sacred writings. This collection of the sacred writings, containing those of the Old and New Testament, is justly looked upon as the foundation of the Jewish as well as the Christian religion. The Jews, it is true, acknowledge only the scriptures of the Old Testament, the correcting and publishing of which are unanimously ascribed, both by the Jews and the Christians, to Ezra. Some of the ancient fathers, on no other foundation than that fabulous and apocryphal book, the second book of Esdras, pretend that the scriptures were entirely lost in the Babylonish captivity, and that Ezra had restored them again by divine revelation. What is cer tain is, that in the reign of Josiah, there were no other books of the law extant, be sides that found in the temple by Hilkiah; from which original, that pious king ordered copies to be immediately written out, and search made for all the parts of the scriptures; by which means copies of the whole became pretty numerous among the people, who carried them with them into captivity. After the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, Ezra got together as many copies as he could of the sacred writ, ings, and out of them all prepared a correct edition, disposing the several books in their natural order, and settling the canon of the scripture for his time; having published them, according to the opinion of most learned men, in the Chaldee character, as the Jews, upon their return from the captivity, brought with them the Chaldaic language, which from that time became their mother tongue, and probably gave birth to the Chaldee translation of their scriptures. BIBLE, Chaldee, is only the glosses, or expositions made by the Jews, when they spoke the Chaldee tongue; whence it is called targumim, or paraphrases, as not be. ing a strict version of the scriptures. BIBLE, Hebrew. There is, in the church of St. Dominic, in Bononia, a copy of the Hebrew scriptures, which they pretend to be the original copy, written by Ezra him. self. It is written in a fair character, upon a sort of leather, and made up into a roll, after the ancient manner; but its having the vowel points annexed, and the writing being fresh and fair, without any decay, are circumstances which prove the novelty of the copy. BIBLE, Greek. It is a dispute among authors, whether there was a Greek version of the Old Testament, more ancient than that of the 72 Jews employed by Ptolemy Philadelphus to translate that book: before our Saviour's time, there was no other version of the Old Testament besides that which went under the name of the LXX. But, after the establishment of Chris tianity, some authors undertook new translations of the Bible, under pretence of making them more conformable to the Hebrew text. There have been about six of BIBLE, Latin. It is beyond dispute, that the Latin churches had, even in the first ages, a translation of the Bible in their lau guage; which being the vulgar language, and consequently understood by every body, occasioned a vast number of Latin versions. Among these there was one which was generally received, and called by St. Jerom, the vulgar or common translation. St. Austin gives this version the name of the Italic, and prefers it to all the rest. Sce VULGATE. There were several other translations of the Bible into Latin, the most remarkable of which are the versions of St. Jerom, Santes Pagninus, Cardinal Cajetan, and Isiodore Clarius, all from the Hebrew text. Besides these translations by Catholic authors, there are some made by Protestant translators of the Hebrew; the most eminent of their versions are those of Sebastian Munster, Leo Juda, Sebastian Castalio, Theodore Beza, Le Clerc, &c. BIBLE, Syriac. The Syrians have in their language a version of the Old Testament, which they pretend to be of great antiquity, most part of which they say was made in Solomon's time, and the rest in the time of Abgarns king of Edessa. BIBLE, Arabic. The Arabic versions of the Bible are of two sorts, the one done by Christians, the other by Jews. There are also several Arabic, versions of particular books of scripture, as a translation of the Pentateuch from the Syriac, and another of the same from the Septuagint, and two other versions of the Pentateuch, the ma nuscripts of which are in the Bodleian library. The Gospel being preached in all nations, the Bible, which is the foundation of the Christian religion, was translated into the respective languages of each nation; as the Egyptian or Coptic, the Indian, Persian, Armenian, Ethiopic, Scythian, Sarmatian, Sclavonian, Polish, Bohemian, German, English, &c. The books of the Bible are divided by the Jews into three classes, viz. the law, the prophets, and the hagiographers; a division which they are supposed to borrow from Ezra himself.. |