air causes the balloon to ascend, to-
gether with a car attached to it con-
taining several persons, and also some
bags of sand called ballast. By throw-
ing out the sand the balloon is render-
ed lighter, and consequently ascends
higher: by letting out some of the gas
the balloon becomes heavier, and there-
fore descends: but as the aeronaut
has no power of guiding his balloon in
a horizontal direction, there is but lit-
tle practical advantage to be gained
from its employment.

Baltic Sea, a large gulf or arm of the
German Ocean, which is about 600
miles in length, and separates the coasts
of Sweden, Denmark, Prussia and
Russia; Sweden lying on the north,
the rest south and east.
Bamboo. The common bamboo-cane
grows almost everywhere in the tro-
pical regions to the height of forty
feet. It is used for building houses
and bridges; for masts for boats, for
boxes, cups, baskets, mats, &c. It
is also used as pipes for conveying
water, and as a fence; its leaves are
wrapped round the tea of commerce;
the tops of the tender shoots are pick-
led by the West Indians, and a con-
crete white substance found within its
bollow stem is a favourite medicine in
the East.
Banks, Sir Joseph, a scientific gentle-
man who accompanied Captain Cook
in one of his voyages round the world.
He was born in 1743, was long Presi-
dent of the Royal Society, and died in
1820. 162.

Barbadoes, an island in the West In-
dies, belonging to the English. It is
the seat of a bishop. Its principal
products are cotton and sugar, 226.
Barbary. A vague name applied to the
northern part of Africa, extending
from Egypt to the Atlantic, and which
embraces the empire of Morocco, and
the regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and
Tripoli.

Barnacle, described, 204.
Barometer, an instrument by which the
weight of the atmosphere is ascertained.
Barometrical indications of changes
in the weather, 278.
Barrackpore, is a station of the India
Company's army, a few miles from
Calcutta, 140.

Barrow, Dr. Isaac, born 1630, died 1677.

As a learned and accomplished divine
Charles the Second called him "an
unfair preacher"-meaning that he
exhausted his subject and left nothing

for others to say. As a mathematician
he was excelled only by his pupil Sir
Isaac Newton. He applied himself
also to the general sciences, and was,
for that time of day, a considerable
traveller.

Anecdotes of his courage, 15.
Bartholinus, Thomas, was a physician
of Copenhagen. Born 1616, died
1680. 232.

Basaltic, formed of basalt, which is a
dark kind of stone, very hard and
heavy this stone is often found in
the shape of pillars.

Base. In chemistry any body which is
dissolved by another body which it
receives and fixes, is termed a base.
Thus any substance combining with
an acid, forms a salt, of which it is
the base.

Bath is an elegant city in Somersetshire,
105 miles from London. Together
with Wells, a small city in the same
county, it forms a bishopric called
Bath and Wells.

Bats. On the spectre bat, 155.

On the vampire bat, 154.
Bay of Biscay, is that part of the At-
lantic Ocean which washes the west-
ern coast of France and the northern
shores of Spain.

Beachy Head is a promontory on the

Sussex coast, where many disastrous
shipwrecks have occurred, 247.
Beasts. List of those described in this
volume, 129.

Beaver. Its social habits, 144.
Beccaria, Giovanni Battista. An ex-
perimental philosopher of Italy, who
died 1781.

Beechey, Captain, an officer of the
Royal Navy, who executed a voyage
of discovery along the north-west
coast of America, to co-operate with
Captains Parry and Franklin, in the
years 1825 to 1828. 155.

Bees. Affection of bees for their queen,
186.

Description of the common bee, 183.
Dr. Roget on the queen-bee, 185.
Mexican bees, 187.

Natural history of bees, 179.
Beglerbeg, the governor of a province
in the Turkish dominions, 27.
Belgium, the name of a recently-formed
kingdom, lying between France, Hol-
land, and Germany. Its capital is
Brussels.

Ben Nevis. A mountain of Scotland
in the county of Dumbarton, the high-
est in Great Britain, being 4370 feet
above the sea-level, 91.

Benevolence, example of, by a young
English nobleman, 24.

Bengal is the most eastern province of
Hindustan, lying on each side of the
Ganges. It is 400 miles long, and 300
in breadth.

Of Bengal cotton, 234.
Berkshire, an inland English county,
lying on the south side of the Thames,
with Wiltshire and Hampshire on the
south, Gloucestershire on the west,
Surrey and Buckinghamshire on the
east. Population 145,000.

Berlin, the capital of Prussia, a very
handsome city, comprising five dis-
tinct towns, inhabited by about
200,000 persons..

Betel-nut. A palm, called areca catechu,

produces a nut which is chewed in the
East as is tobacco in this country. It
is wrapped in the aromatic leaves of
the betel-pepper, and hence called
Betel-nut, 235.

Bewick's History of Birds. John Be-
wick was an eminent English artist,
who considerably improved the art of
engraving in wood. He died 1795.

On the food of sparrows, 123.
Bhurtpore, a strongly-fortified town in
the province of Agra, in Hindustan,
famous for having often resisted the
British arms. After a long siege it
surrendered in 1805, and upon an-
other occasion, in 1826, it was taken
by storm, 139.

Bible. Blind Alick and his Bible, 29.
Cowper's source of moral power
when a boy, 9.

The Hampshire widow and her Bi-
ble, 30.

The young collier boy and his Bi-
ble, 26.

Binnacle. In navigation, a wooden case
or box which contains the compasses,
log-glasses, watch-glasses, and lights
for the compasses, and placed at the
after part of the ship, facing the helms-
man. It was formerly called the bit-
tacle.

Bird of Paradise. This beautiful crea-
ture is found in the Indian Archi-
pelago; its plumage is most splendid,
and so abundant, that it is encumbered
by it, and when once on the ground
cannot easily rise. Hence it seldom
alights on the earth; which gave rise
to the fable, that it belongs only to
the skies, whence its name is de-
rived, 35.

Birds. Beauty of the feathers of birds,
120.

Bird-catching at St. Kilda, 115.

Birds clustering for warmth, 119.
Bishop Stanley's Familiar History
of Birds. See STANLEY.
Fondness of certain birds for wal-
nuts, 102.

Gizzards of birds, 96.

List of birds described in this vo-
lume, 90.

Mode of ensnaring small birds, 147.
Perilous leap of a bird-catcher, 117.
Quantity of their food calculated,
122.

Quills and pens, 112.

Sense of smell of birds of prey, 93.
The Hampshire fowler, 118.

Use of the smaller species in de-
stroying insects, 122.

Bishop. This word is derived from the
Greek episcopus, an overseer or in-
spector; and is most properly applied
to the superior clergy, who have the
charge of their clergy, as these have
of their respective congregations, 19.
Blackbird. Justice done to its habits
of feeding, 126.

Black Sea, a large inland sea, surround-
ed by the southern part of Russia.
and the east and north of Turkey, and
forming part of the boundary between
Europe and Asia. The Danube and
other large rivers flow into it; and it
communicates with the Mediterranean
by the channel of Constantinople, the
sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles.
Blackwood's Magazine. A monthly jour-
nal of great talent, edited by John
Wilson, professor of moral philosophy
in the University of Edinburgh, and
a poet of very considerable powers.

Anecdote of the Duke of Welling-
ton, from, 10.

Block. A German Jew, who was a

learned naturalist and a physician,
died 1779. On mackerel spawn, 198.
Blumenbach, an eminent German phy
siologist of the present day.

Bocas, Spanish for mouth, 26. See TRI-

NIDAD.

Bombay, an island on the western side
of India, once belonging to the Por-
tuguese, but now in possession of the
English. The city of Bombay is a
place of very great trade, with 160,000
inhabitants, 259.

Bonner, Edmund, the merciless Bishop
of London, in the Roman Catholic
reign of Mary. So relentless a per-
secutor was he of the Protestants, that
he is said to have committed to the
flames 200 persons, whose only crime
was an avowed and firm adherence to
the Protestant religion, and refusal to

embrace the gross superstitions of the
Romish church. He imprisoned and
tortured many more, and was in the
highest degree cruel and ferocious.
Superstitious bigotry engrafted upon a
temper naturally savage, rendered him
a dreadful instrument in the hands of
a fanatical and cruel queen. He died
in prison in 1569, after the accession
of Elizabeth, 3.

Bonaparte, Napoleon, was born in
Corsica, an island in the Mediterra-
nean belonging to France, in the year
1769, and received his education at
the military school of Brienne. Hav-
ing entered the army he greatly dis-
tinguished himself, and was at last
enabled to usurp the sovereignty of
France, which, with the title of Em-
peror, he retained for several years.
At length he was expelled, mainly by
the exertions of England, and had a
small island called Elba, on the coast
of Italy, assigned to him for his resi-
dence, but making his escape he again
appeared in France, and resumed the
imperial power. He was shortly after
encountered at Waterloo by the British
army, led by the illustrious Welling-
ton, and totally defeated; upon which
he endeavoured to escape to America,
but being foiled in this, he surren-
dered himself to an English squadron,
and was brought to Plymouth, whence
in a few days he was removed to St.
Helena, a barren island in the At-
lantic Ocean, where he ended his
eventful life on the 5th May 1821.

It was during the campaign which
led to his first expulsion from France,
that the incident related in the text
occurred.

Of early associations, 72.
Borromean Isles. Four small islands
in the middle of Lago Maggiore in
the north of Italy, 25.
Boscobel Cottage, its history, 219.
Boswell, James, was born at Edinburgh
1740. He was the biographer of the
celebrated Dr. Johnson, whose inti-
mate companion he was for many
years, and whose conversation, and
opinions, and habits, he carefully re-
corded in his memoirs of his illustrious
friend.

Good result of resolution and pre-
sence of mind, 23.

Botany, the branch of Natural History
which treats of vegetables. See NA-
TURAL HISTORY.

Bouquetin or Ibex, described, 149.
Boyle, the Hon. Robert, born 1627 in

the province of Munster in Ireland,
died 1691. An eminent philosopher
and good man,"preferring truth above
all; in a word, a person of that sin
gular candour and worth that to draw
a just character of him, one must run
through all the virtues, as well as
through all the sciences." He print-
ed at Oxford 500 copies of the Gos-
pels and Acts of the Apostles in the
Malay language for the East India
Company. He promoted the propa-
gation of the Bible amongst the North
American Indians, and distributed
1,000l. a year in various charities.

His reverential expression of the
name of God, 5.
Brahmin. The first, or sacerdotal, caste
among the Hindoos.
Brahminee bulls, 145.
Brazil, 234. (See AMERICA).
Bread-fruit is the produce of an ever-
green tree thirty feet high, native of
the South Sea Islands. The fruit is
the size and shape of a child's head.
The part that is eaten is that between
the skin and the core; it is as white
as snow, and somewhat of the con-
sistence of new bread. It is roasted
to be eaten, and its taste is rather
sweet and insipid, 235.

Bree, the Rev. W. T. Passages select-
ed from the writings of this instructive
naturalist. On the blackbird, 126.

On the rook, 101.
Breslaw, formerly a principality, but
now one of the grand circles of Prussia.
It contains 970,000 inhabitants and
comprises 22 minor circles, one of
which is also called Breslau, and
contains 130,000 inhabitants, 6.
Brewster, Sir David, an eminent philo-
sopher of Scotland, still living. He
was the inventor of that optical toy,
the Kaleidoscope, and also edited the
Encyclopædia Edinensis.

Briançon. A town of France in the

department of the Higher Alps, and
situated upon the river Durance, 73.
Bridgewater, a town in Somersetshire,
137 miles from London.
Bridgewater Treatises. The Right Hon.
and Rev. Francis Henry, Earl of
Bridgewater, who died in 1829, by his
will bequeathed 8000l. for the purpose
of procuring to be written a series of
works On the Power, Wisdom, and
Goodness of God, as manifested in the
Creation. The treatises written were
eight in number, and by the following
eminent authors:

The Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D.D.

Born 1612.

of Hudibras, a poem.
Died 1680. 244.
Byron, Lord, a nobleman of great but
misapplied talents. He was born in
the year 1788, and died in Greece in
1824. 107.
Cabbage-tree, the areca oleracea of bo-
tanists, is the highest of the American
palms. The sheath of the leaves is
very close, and these form a green
top, the white heart of which is eaten,
either raw with pepper and salt, or
fried with butter, 235.

Cabul, a kingdom of Asia, lying between
Persia and India. It is also called
Afghanistan. The city called Cabul,
is the capital, 153.

Cadiz, a large seaport of Spain, on the
Atlantic; formerly a place of great
trade with India, but now much re-
duced, 271.

Calabash trees. Two species of the ge-
nus crescentia, natives of the West
India Islands; evergreen trees ten
feet in height.

Calais, a seaport of France, opposite to
Dover. It was taken by Edward III.
after a long siege in 1347, and belong-
ed to England for two hundred and
eleven years, until the reign of Queen
Mary, when it was recovered by the
French by surprise.

Calcutta, the capital of British India,
as the territories of the East India
Company are called, is one of the
largest and finest cities in the world.
It is situated on one of the branches
of the river Ganges, about one hun-
dred miles from the sea. The city is
a bishop's see, which (as mentioned
in the text) was once held by Regi-
nald Heber, 45.

Caloric, from the Latin noun calor,
heat. Heat, like electricity, is only
known to us by its effects; we cannot
see it, or feel it, for we are only sen-
sible of its effects; but philosophers
have supposed, both in the case of
heat and electricity that they consist
each of them of a subtile fluid-in-
finitely more subtile than the air we
breathe, as this air is more so than the
water we drink. There is no evidence
that these fluids do exist, but when
certain and invariable effects are ob-
served to follow certain conditions,
the mind of man instinctively refers
them to the same cause; and this
cause, in the case of electricity is
fancied to be an electrical fluid, and
in the case of heat is called caloric,
or the calorific fluid.

Cambridge is 48 miles in a direct line
from London. In 1831, its popula-
tion together with the University, was
20,917.

The industrious bricklayer of, 21.
Camel described, 130.

Distressed by flies, 176.
Camphor. This well-known substance
is not only produced by a variety of
trees, as the dryobalanops aromatica
of Sumatra, the camphor-laurel, and,
in smaller quantities, by a number of
wild plants in our own country, but it
may be made artificially by driving a
stream of a yellow acrid gas, called
chlorine gas, through oil of turpentine.
Canaries, a group of islands on the
coast of Africa, belonging to the Span-
iards. Upon one of the islands is the
lofty mountain called the Peak of
Taneriffe, 94.

Canary-bird, description of, 93.
Canon, a clergyman who bears a part
in the divine service in cathedrals.
Canova, born 1757, died 1822. The first
modern Italian sculptor, and one of
the principal revivers of the art since
the ancients produced those master-
pieces which have hitherto been un-
equalled, 89.

Canterbury, a city of Kent, whose arch-
bishop is Primate of all England.
The cathedral is a very splendid edi-
fice; and another church in the city
(St. Martin) is said to be the first
church erected in this country, and
now existing.

Cantharides. The blistering, or Spanish
fly, common in parts of France and
in Italy, on the privet, ash, elder, lilac,
&c. These insects are about two-
thirds of an inch in length, and a
fourth in breadth, of a rich green and
golden colour. They are a violent
poison to most animals when taken
internally, and their effects when ap-
plied externally to our skin are well
known. A Frenchman has lately suc-
ceeded in preparing thin paper with
the active principle of the fly, that
the blister plaster still in common use
may be entirely dispensed with, this
medicated paper producing a blister
in the usual time.

Eaten by hedgehogs with impunity,
165.

Cape of Good Hope. This cape, the
most southern point of Africa, was
discovered by the Portuguese in 1486,
and named by them the Cape of
Storms, from the bad weather they
experienced, but the king command-