Chapter 20

See T.F. Coates,The Life Story of General Booth(2nd ed., London, 1906), and bibliography underSalvation Army.

BOOTH(connected with a Teutonic root meaning to dwell, whence also “bower”), primarily a temporary dwelling of boughs or other slight materials. Later the word gained the special meaning of a market stall or any non-permanent erection, such as a tent at a fair, where goods were on sale. Later still it was applied to the temporary structure where votes were registered, viz. polling-booth. Temporary booths erected for the weekly markets naturally tended to become permanent shops. Thus Stow states that the houses in Old Fish Street, London, “were at first but movable boards set out on market days to show their fish there to be sold; but procuring licence to set up sheds, they grew to shops, and by little and little, to tall houses.” Asbothyorbothie, in Scotland, meaning generally a hut or cottage, the word was specially applied to a barrack-like room on large farms where the unmarried labourers were lodged. This, known as theBothy system, was formerly common in Aberdeenshire and other parts of northern Scotland.

BOOTHIA(Boothia Felix), a peninsula of British North America, belonging to Franklin district, and having an area of 13,100 sq. m., between 69° 30′ and 71° 50′ N. and 91° 30′ and 97° W. Its northernmost promontory, Murchison Point, is also the northernmost point of the American mainland. It was discovered by Captain (afterwards Sir James) Ross, during his expedition of 1829-1833, and was named after Sir Felix Booth, who had been chiefly instrumental in fitting out the expedition. Boothia forms the western side of Boothia Gulf. From the main mass of the continent the peninsula is almost separated by lakes and inlets; and a narrow channel known as Bellot Strait intervenes between it and North Somerset Island, which was discovered by Sir E. Parry in 1819. The peninsula is not only interesting for its connexion with the Franklin expedition and the Franklin search, but is of scientific importance from the north magnetic pole having been first distinctly localized here by Ross, on the western side, in 70° 5′ N., 96° 47′ W.

Boothia Gulf separates the north-western portion of Baffin Land and Melville Peninsula from Boothia Peninsula. It is connected with Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound by Prince Regent Inlet, with Franklin Strait by Bellot Strait, and with Fox Channel by Fury and Hecla Strait. The principal bays are Committee and Pelly in the southern portion, and Lord Mayor in the western.

BOOTLE,a municipal and county borough in the Bootle parliamentary division of Lancashire, England; at the mouth of the Mersey, forming a northern suburb of Liverpool. Pop. (1901) 58,566; an increase by nearly nine times in forty years. The great docks on this, the east bank of the Mersey, extend into the borough, but are considered as a whole underLiverpool(q.v.). Such features, moreover, as communications, water-supply, &c., may be considered as part of the greater systems of the same city. The chief buildings and institutions are a handsome town hall, a museum, free libraries, technical schools, and several public pleasure grounds. Bootle was incorporated in 1868 and was created a county borough in 1888; the corporation consists of a mayor, 10 aldermen and 30 councillors. A proposal to include it within the city of Liverpool was rejected in parliament in July 1903. Area, 1576 acres.

BOOTY(apparently influenced by “boot,” 0. Eng.bot, advantage or profit, through an adaptation from an earlier form cognate with Ger.Beuteand Fr.butin), plunder or gain. The phrase “to play booty,” dating from the 16th century, means to play into a confederate’s hands, or to play intentionally badly at first in order to deceive an opponent.

BOPP, FRANZ(1791-1867), German philologist, was born at Mainz on the 14th of September 1791. In consequence of the political troubles of that time, his parents removed to Aschaffenburg, in Bavaria, where he received a liberal education at the Lyceum. It was here that his attention was drawn to the languages and literature of the East by the eloquent lectures of Karl J. Windischmann, who, with G.F. Creuzer, J.J. Görres, and the brothers Schlegel, was full of enthusiasm for Indian wisdom and philosophy. And further, Fr. Schlegel’s book,Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier(Heidelberg, 1808), which was just then exerting a powerful influence on the minds of German philosophers and historians, could not fail to stimulate also Bopp’s interest in the sacred language of the Hindus. In 1812 he went to Paris at the expense of the Bavarian government, with a view to devote himself vigorously to the study of Sanskrit. There he enjoyed the society of such eminent men as A.L. Chézy, S. de Sacy, L.M. Langlès, and, above all, of Alexander Hamilton (1762-1824), who had acquired, when in India, an acquaintance with Sanskrit, and had brought out, conjointly with Langlès, a descriptive catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts of the Imperial library. At that library Bopp had access not only to the rich collection of Sanskrit manuscripts, most of which had been brought from India by Father Pons early in the 18th century, but also to the Sanskrit books which had up to that time issued from the Calcutta and Serampore presses. The first fruit of his four years’ study in Paris appeared at Frankfort-On-Main in 1816, under the titleÜber das Conjugationssystem der Sanskritsprache in Vergleichung mit jenem der griechischen, lateinischen, persischen und germanischen Sprache, and it was accompanied with a preface from the pen of Windischmann. In this first book Bopp entered at once on the path on which the philological researches of his whole subsequent life were concentrated. It was not that he wished to prove the common parentage of Sanskrit with Persian, Greek, Latin and German, for that had long been established; but his object was to trace the common origin of their grammatical forms, of their inflections from composition,—a task which had never been attempted. By a historical analysis of those forms, as applied to the verb, he furnished the first trustworthy materials for a history of the languages compared.

After a brief sojourn in Germany, Bopp came to London, where he made the acquaintance of Sir Charles Wilkins and H.T. Colebrooke, and became the friend of Wilhelm von Humboldt, then Prussian ambassador at the court of St James’s, to whom he gave instruction in Sanskrit. He brought out, in theAnnals of Oriental Literature(London, 1820), an essay entitled, “Analytical Comparison of the Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Teutonic Languages,” in which he extended to all parts of the grammar what he had done in his first book for the verb alone. He had previously published a critical edition, with a Latin translation and notes, of the story ofNala and Damayantī(London, 1819), the most beautiful episode of the Mahābhārata. Other episodes of the Mahābhārata—Indralokāgamanam, and three others (Berlin, 1824);Diluvium, and three others (Berlin, 1829); and a new edition ofNala(Berlin, 1832)—followed in due course, all of which, with A.W. Schlegel’s edition of theBhagavadgītā(1823), proved excellent aids in initiating the early student into the reading of Sanskrit texts. On the publication, in Calcutta, of the whole Mahābhārata, Bopp discontinued editing Sanskrit texts, and confined himself thenceforth exclusively to grammatical investigations.

After a short residence at Göttingen, Bopp was, on the recommendation of Humboldt, appointed to the chair of Sanskrit and comparative grammar at Berlin in 1821, and was elected member of the Royal Prussian Academy in the following year. He brought out, in 1827, hisAusführliches Lehrgebäude der Sanskrita-Sprache, on which he had been engaged since 1821. A new edition, in Latin, was commenced in the following year, and completed in 1832; and a shorter grammar appeared in 1834. At the same time he compiled a Sanskrit and Latin glossary (1830) in which, more especially in the second and third editions (1847 and 1867), account was also taken of the cognate languages. His chief activity, however, centred on the elaboration of hisComparative Grammar, which appeared in six parts at considerable intervals (Berlin, 1833, 1835, 1842, 1847, 1849, 1852), under the titleVergleichende Grammatik des Sanskrit, Zend, Griechischen, Lateinischen, Litthauischen, Altslavischen, Gothischen, und Deutschen. How carefully this work was matured may be gathered from the series of monographs printed in theTransactions of the Berlin Academy(1824 to 1831), by which it was preceded. They bear the general title,Vergleichende Zergliederung des Sanskrits und der mit ihm verwandten Sprachen. Two other essays (on the “Numerals,” 1835) followed the publication of the first part of theComparative Grammar. The Old-Slavonian began to take its stand among the languages compared from the second part onwards. The work was translated into English by E.B. Eastwick in 1845. A second German edition, thoroughly revised (1856-1861), comprised also the Old-Armenian. From this edition an excellent French translation was made by Professor Michel Bréal in 1866. The task which Bopp endeavoured to carry out in hisComparative Grammarwas threefold,—to give a description of the original grammatical structure of the languages as deduced from their intercomparison, to trace their phonetic laws, and to investigate the origin of their grammatical forms. The first and second points were subservient to the third. As Bopp’s researches were based on the best available sources, and incorporated every new item of information that came to light, so they continued to widen and deepen in their progress. Witness his monographs on the vowel system in the Teutonic languages (1836), on the Celtic languages (1839), on the Old-Prussian (1853) and Albanian languages (1854), on the accent in Sanskrit and Greek (1854), on the relationship of the Malayo-Polynesian with the Indo-European languages (1840), and on the Caucasian languages (1846). In the two last mentioned the impetus of his genius led him on a wrong track. Bopp has been charged with neglecting the study of the native Sanskrit grammars, but in those early days of Sanskrit studies the requisite materials were not accessible in the great libraries of Europe; and if they had been, they would have absorbed his exclusive attention for years, while such grammars as those of Wilkins and Colebrooke, from which his grammatical knowledge was derived, were all based on native grammars. The further charge that Bopp, in hisComparative Grammar, gave undue prominence to Sanskrit may be disproved by his own words; for, as early as the year 1820, he gave it as his opinion that frequently the cognate languages serve to elucidate grammatical forms lost in Sanskrit (Annals of Or. Lit.i. 3),—an opinion which he further developed in all his subsequent writings.

Bopp’s researches, carried with wonderful penetration into the most minute and almost microscopical details of linguistic phenomena, have led to the opening up of a wide and distant view into the original seats, the closer or more distant affinity, and the tenets, practices and domestic usages of the ancient Indo-European nations, and the science of comparative grammar may truly be said to date from his earliest publication. In grateful recognition of that fact, on the fiftieth anniversary (May 16, 1866) of the date of Windischmann’s preface to that work, a fund calledDie Bopp-Stiftung, for the promotion of the study of Sanskrit and comparative grammar, was established at Berlin, to which liberal contributions were made by his numerous pupils and admirers in all parts of the globe. Bopp lived to see the results of his labours everywhere accepted, and his name justly celebrated. But he died, on the 23rd of October 1867, a poor man,—though his genuine kindliness and unselfishness, his devotion to his family and friends, and his rare modesty, endeared him to all who knew him.

See M. Bréal’s translation of Bopp’sVergl. Gramm.(1866) introduction; Th. Benfey,Gesch. der Sprachwissenschaft(1869); A. Kuhn inUnsere Zeit, Neue Folge, iv. i (1868); Lefmann,Franz Bopp(Berlin, 1891-1897).

BOPPARD,a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the left bank of the Rhine, 12 m. S. of Coblenz on the mainline to Cologne. Pop. (1900) 5806. It is an old town still partly surrounded by medieval walls, and its most noteworthy buildings are the Roman Catholic parish church (12th and 13th centuries); the Carmelite church (1318), the former castle, now used for administrative offices; the Evangelical church (1851, enlarged in 1887); and the former Benedictine motnastery of the Marienberg, founded 1123 and since 1839 a hydropathic establishment, crowning a hill 100 ft. above the Rhine. Boppard is a favourite tourist centre, and being less pent in by hills than many other places in this part of the picturesque gorge of the Rhine, has in modern times become a residential town. It has some comparatively insignificant industries, such as tanning and tobacco manufacture; its direct trade is in wine and fruit.

Boppard (Baudobriga) was founded by the Romans; under the Merovingian dynasty it became a royal residence. During the middle ages it was a considerable centre of commerce and shipping, and under the Hohenstaufen emperors was raised to the rank of a free imperial city. In 1312, however, the emperor Henry VII. pledged the town to his brother Baldwin, archbishop-elector of Trier, and it remained in the possession of the electors until it was absorbed by France during the Revolutionary epoch. It was assigned by the congress of Vienna in 1815 to Prussia.

BORA,an Italian name for a violent cold northerly and northeasterly wind, common in the Adriatic, especially on the Istrian and Dalmatian coasts. There is always a northern tendency in the winds on the north Mediterranean shores in winter owing to the cold air of the mountains sliding down to the sea where the pressure is less. When, therefore, a cyclone is formed over the Mediterranean, the currents in its north-western area draw the air from the cold northern regions, and during the passage of the cyclone the bora prevails. The bora also occurs at Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. It is precisely similar in character to the mistral which prevails in Provence and along the French Mediterranean littoral.

BORACITE,a mineral of special interest on account of its optical anomalies. Small crystals bounded on all sides by sharply defined faces are found in considerable numbers embedded in gypsum and anhydrite in the salt deposits at Lüneburg in Hanover, where it was first observed in 1787. In external form these crystals are cubic with inclined hemihedrism, the symmetry being the same as in blende and tetrahedrite. Their habit varies according to whether the tetrahedron (fig. 1), the cube (fig. 2). or the rhombic dodecahedron (fig. 3) predominates. Penetration twins with a tetrahedron face as twin-plane are sometimes observed. The crystals vary from translucent to transparent, are possessed of a vitreous lustre, and are colourless or white, though often tinged with grey, yellow or green. The hardness is as high as 7 on Mohs’ scale; specific gravity 3.0. As first observed by R.J. Haüy in 1791, the crystals are markedly pyroelectric; a cube when heated becomes positively electrified on four of its corners and negatively on the four opposite corners. In acrystal such as represented in fig. 3, the smaller and dull tetrahedral facessare situated at the analogous poles (which become positively electrified when the crystal is heated), and the larger and bright tetrahedral facess’at the antilogous poles.

The characters so far enumerated are strictly in accordance with cubic symmetry, but when a crystal is examined in polarized light, it will be seen to be doubly refracting, as was first observed by Sir David Brewster in 1821. Thin sections show twin-lamellae, and a division into definite areas which are optically biaxial. By cutting sections in suitable directions, it may be proved that a rhombic dodecahedral crystal is really built up of twelve orthorhombic pyramids, the apices of which meet in the centre and the bases coincide with the dodecahedral faces of the compound (pseudo-cubic) crystal. Crystals of other forms show other types of internal structure. When the crystals are heated these optical characters change, and at a temperature of 265° the crystals suddenly become optically isotropic; on cooling, however, the complexity of internal structure reappears. Various explanations have been offered to account for these “optical anomalies” of boracite. Some observers have attributed them to alteration, others to internal strains in the crystals, which originally grew as truly cubic at a temperature above 265°. It would, however, appear that there are really two crystalline modifications of the boracite substance, a cubic modification stable above 265° and an orthorhombic (or monoclinic) one stable at a lower temperature. This is strictly analogous to the case of silver iodide, of which cubic and rhombohedral modifications exist at different temperatures; but whereas rhombohedral as well as pseudo-cubic crystals of silver iodide (iodyrite) are known in nature, only pseudo-cubic crystals of boracite have as yet been met with.

Chemically, boracite is a magnesium borate and chloride with the formula Mg7Cl2B16O30—A small amount of iron is sometimes present, and an iron-boracite with half the magnesium replaced by ferrous iron has been called huyssenite. The mineral is insoluble in water, but soluble in hydrochloric acid. On exposure it is liable to slow alteration, owing to the absorption of water by the magnesium chloride: an altered form is known as parasite.

In addition to embedded crystals, a massive variety, known as stassfurtite, occurs as nodules in the salt deposits at Stassfurt in Prussia: that from the carnallite layer is compact, resembling fine-grained marble, and white or greenish in colour, whilst that from the kainite layer is soft and earthy, and yellowish or reddish in colour.

(L. J. S.)

BORAGE(pronounced like “courage”; possibly from Lat.borra, rough hair), a herb (Borago officinalis) with bright blue flowers and hairy leaves and stem, considered to have some virtue as a cordial and a febrifuge; used as an ingredient in salads or in making claret-cup, &c.

BORAGINACEAE,an order of plants belonging to the sympetalous section of dicotyledons, and a member of the series Tubiflorae. It is represented in Britain by bugloss (Echium) (fig. 1), comfrey (Symphytum),Myosotis, hounds-tongue (Cynoglossum) (fig. 2), and other genera, while borage (Borago officinalis) (fig. 3) occurs as a garden escape in waste ground. The plants are rough-haired annual or perennial herbs, more rarely shrubby or arborescent, as inCordiaandEhretia, which are tropical or sub-tropical. The leaves, which are generally alternate, are usually entire and narrow: the radical leaves in some genera, asPulmonaria(lungwort) andCynoglossum, differ in form from the stem-leaves, being generally broader and sometimes heart-shaped. A characteristic feature is the one-sided (dorsiventral) inflorescence, well illustrated in forget-me-not and other species ofMyosotis; the cyme is at first closely coiled, becoming uncoiled as the flowers open. At the same time there is often a change in colour in the flowers, which are red in bud, becoming blue as they expand, as inMyosotis, Echium, Symphytumand others. The flowers are generally regular; the form of the corolla varies widely. Thus in borage it is rotate, tubular in comfrey, funnel-shaped in hounds-tongue, and salver-shaped in alkanet (Anchusa); the throat is often closed by scale-like outgrowths from the corolla, forming the so-called corona. A departure from the usual regular corolla occurs inEchiumand a few allied genera, where it is oblique; inLycopsisit is also bent.

1. Single flower, about nat. size.

2. Corolla split open.

3. Calyx.

4. Pistil.

5. One stamen.

6. Calyx surrounding nutlets.

7. Same part of calyx cut away.

8. Two nutlets.

9. Same enlarged.

The five stamens alternate in position with the lobes of the corolla. The ovary, of two carpels, is seated on a ring-like disk which secretes honey. Each carpel becomes divided by a median constriction in four portions, each containing one ovule; the style springs from the centre of the group of four divisions.

The flowers show well-marked adaptation to insect-visits. Their colour and tendency to arrangement on one surface, with the presence of honey, serve to attract insects. The scales around the throat of the corolla protect the pollen and honey from wet or undesirable visitors, and by their difference in colour from the corolla-lobes, as in the yellow eye of forget-me-not, may serve to indicate the position of the honey. In most genera the fruit consists of one-seeded nutlets, generally four, but one or more may be undeveloped. The shape of the nutlet and the character of its coat are very varied. Thus inLithospermumthe nutlets are hard like a stone, inMyosotisusually polished, inCynoglossumcovered with bristles, &c.

The order is widely spread in temperate and tropical regions, and contains 85 genera with about 1200 species. Its chief centre is the Mediterranean region, whence it extends over centralEurope and Asia, becoming less frequent northwards. A smaller centre occurs on the Pacific side of North America. The order is less developed in the south temperate zone.

The order is of little economic value. Several genera, such as borage andPulmonaria, were formerly used in medicine, and the roots yield purple or brown dyes, as inAlkanna tinctoria(alkanet). Heliotrope or cherry-pie (Heliotropium peruvianum) is a well-known garden plant.

BORÅS,a town of Sweden, in the district (län) of Elfsborg, 45 m. E. of Gothenburg by rail, on the river Viske. Pop. (1880) 4723; (1900) 15,837. It ranks among the first twelve towns in Sweden both in population and in the value of its manufacturing industries. These are principally textile, as there are numerous cotton spinning and weaving mills, together with a technical weaving school. The town was founded in 1632 by King Gustavus Adolphus.

BORAX(sodium pyroborate or sodium biborate), Na2B4O7, a substance which appears in commerce under two forms, namely “common” or prismatic borax, Na2B4O7·10H2O, and “jewellers’” or octahedral borax, Na2B4O7·5H2O. It is to be noted that the term “borax” was used by the alchemists in a very vague manner, and is therefore not to be taken as meaning the substance now specifically known by the name. Prismatic borax is found widely distributed as a natural product (see below,Mineralogy) in Tibet, and in Canada, Peru and Transylvania, while the bed of Borax Lake, near Clear Lake in California, is occupied by a large mass of crystallized borax, which is fit for use by the assayer without undergoing any preliminary purification. The supply of borax is, however, mainly derived from the boric acid of Tuscany, which is fused in a reverberatory furnace with half its weight of sodium carbonate, and the mass after cooling is extracted with warm water. An alternative method is to dissolve sodium carbonate in lead-lined steam-heated pans, and add the boric acid gradually; the solution then being concentrated until the borax crystallizes. Borax is also prepared from the naturally occurring calcium borate, which is mixed in a finely divided condition with the requisite quantity of soda ash; the mixture is fused, extracted with water and concentrated until the solution commences to crystallize.

From a supersaturated aqueous solution of borax, the pentahydrate, Na2B4O7·5H2O, is deposited when evaporation takes place at somewhat high temperatures. The same hydrate can be prepared by dissolving borax in water until the solution has a specific gravity of 1.246 and then allowing the solution to cool. The pentahydrate is deposited between 79° C. and 56° C.; below this temperature the decahydrate or ordinary borax, Na2B4O7·10H2O, is deposited. Crystals of ordinary borax swell up to a very great extent on heating, losing their water of crystallization and melting to a clear white glass. The crystals of octahedral borax fuse more easily than those of the prismatic form and are less liable to split when heated, so that they are preferable for soldering or fluxing. Fused borax dissolves many metallic oxides, forming complex borates which in many cases show characteristic colours. Its use in soldering depends on the fact that solder only adheres to the surface of an untarnished metal, and consequently a little borax is placed on the surface of the metal and heated by the soldering iron in order to remove any superficial film of oxide. It is also used for glazing pottery, in glass-making and the glazing of linen.Boric acid (q.v.) being only a weak acid, its salts readily undergo hydrolytic dissociation in aqueous solution, and this property can be readily shown with a concentrated aqueous solution of borax, for by adding litmus and then just sufficient acetic acid to turn the litmus red, the addition of a large volume of water to the solution changes the colour back to blue again. The boric acid being scarcely ionized gives only a very small quantity of hydrogen ions, whilst the base (sodium hydroxide) produced by the hydrolysis occasioned by the dilution of the solution, being a “strong base,” is highly ionized and gives a comparatively large amount of hydroxyl ions. In the solution, therefore, there is now an excess of hydroxyl ions; consequently it has an alkaline reaction and the litmus turns blue.

Boric acid (q.v.) being only a weak acid, its salts readily undergo hydrolytic dissociation in aqueous solution, and this property can be readily shown with a concentrated aqueous solution of borax, for by adding litmus and then just sufficient acetic acid to turn the litmus red, the addition of a large volume of water to the solution changes the colour back to blue again. The boric acid being scarcely ionized gives only a very small quantity of hydrogen ions, whilst the base (sodium hydroxide) produced by the hydrolysis occasioned by the dilution of the solution, being a “strong base,” is highly ionized and gives a comparatively large amount of hydroxyl ions. In the solution, therefore, there is now an excess of hydroxyl ions; consequently it has an alkaline reaction and the litmus turns blue.

Mineralogy.—The Tibetan mineral deposits have been known since very early times, and formerly the crude material was exported to Europe, under the name oftincal, for the preparation of pure borax and other boron salts. The most westerly of the Tibetan deposits are in the lake-plain of Pugha on the Rulangchu, a tributary of the Indus, at an elevation of 15,000 ft.: here the impure borax (sohaga) occurs over an area of about 2 sq. m., and is covered by a saline efflorescence; successive crops are obtained by the action of rain and snow and subsequent evaporation. Deposits of purer material (chú tsaléor water borax) occur at the lakes of Rudok, situated to the east of the Pugha district; also still farther to the east at the great lakes Tengri Nor, north of Lhasa, and several other places. More recently, the extensive deposits of borates (chiefly, however, of calcium; seeColemanite) in the Mohave desert on the borders of California and Nevada, and in the Atacama desert in South America, have been the chief commercial sources of boron compounds. The boron contained in solution in the salt lakes has very probably been supplied by hot springs and solfataras of volcanic origin, such as those which at the present day charge the waters of the lagoons in Tuscany with boric acid. The deposits formed by evaporation from these lakes and marshes or salines, are mixtures of borates, various alkaline salts (sodium carbonate, sulphate, chloride), gypsum, &c. In the mud of the lakes and in the surrounding marshy soil fine isolated crystals of borax are frequently found. For example, crystals up to 7 in. in length and weighing a pound each have been found in large numbers at Borax Lake in Lake county, and at Borax Lake in San Bernardino county, both in California.

Borax crystallizes with ten molecules of water, the composition of the crystals being Na2B4O7+ 10H2O. The crystals belong to the monoclinic system, and it is a curious fact that in habit and angles they closely resemble pyroxene (a silicate of calcium, magnesium and iron). There is a perfect cleavage parallel to the orthopinacoid and less perfect cleavages parallel to the faces of the prism. The mineral is transparent to opaque and white, sometimes greyish, bluish or greenish in colour. Hardness 2-2½; sp. gr. 1.69-1.72.The optical characters are interesting, because of the striking crossed dispersion of the optic axes, of which phenomenon borax affords the best example. The optic figure seen in convergent polarized light through a section cut parallel to the plane of symmetry of a borax crystal is symmetrical only with respect to the central point. The plane of the optic axes for red light is inclined at 2° to that for blue light, and the angle between the optic axes themselves is 3° greater for red than for blue light.

The optical characters are interesting, because of the striking crossed dispersion of the optic axes, of which phenomenon borax affords the best example. The optic figure seen in convergent polarized light through a section cut parallel to the plane of symmetry of a borax crystal is symmetrical only with respect to the central point. The plane of the optic axes for red light is inclined at 2° to that for blue light, and the angle between the optic axes themselves is 3° greater for red than for blue light.

BORDA, JEAN CHARLES(1733-1799), French mathematician and nautical astronomer, was born at Dax on the 4th of May 1733. He studied at La Flèche, and at an early age obtained a commission in the cavalry. In 1756 he presented aMémoire sur le mouvement des projectilesto the Academy of Sciences, who elected him a member. He was present at the battle of Hastembeck, and soon afterwards joined the naval service. He visited the Azores and the Canary Islands, of which he constructed an admirable map. In 1782 his frigate was taken by a British squadron; he himself was carried to England, but was almost immediately released on parole and returned to France. He died at Paris on the 20th of February 1799. Borda contributed a long series of valuable memoirs to the Academy of Sciences. His researches in hydrodynamics were highly useful for marine engineering, while the reflecting and repeating circles, as improved by him, were of great service in nautical astronomy. He was associated with J.B.J. Delambre and P.F.A. Méchain in the attempt to determine an arc of the meridian, and the greater number of the instruments employed in the task were invented by him.

See J.B. Biot, “Notice sur Borda” in theMém. de l’Acad. des Sciences, iv.

BORDAGE.(i) A nautical term (from Fr.bord, side) for the planking on a ship’s side. (2) A feudal term (from Lat.borda, a cottage) for the tenure by which a certain class of villein heldtheir cottages; also the services due from these villeins or “bordars.” A “bordar” (Med. Lat.bardarius) was a villein who obtained a cottage from his lord in return for menial services (seeVillenage).

BORDEAUX,a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Gironde, 359 m. S.S.W. of Paris by a main line of the Orléans railway and 159 m. N.W. of Toulouse on the main line of the Southern railway. Pop. (1906) 237,707. Bordeaux, one of the finest and most extensive cities in France, is situated on the left or west bank of the Garonne about 60 m. from the sea, in a plain which comprises the wine-growing district of Médoc. The Garonne at this point describes a semicircle, separating the city proper on the left bank from the important suburb of La Bastide on the right bank. The river is crossed by the Pont de Bordeaux, a fine stone structure of the early 19th century, measuring 1534 ft. in length, and by a railway bridge connecting the station of the Orléans railway company in La Bastide with that of the Southern company on the left bank. Looking west from the Pont de Bordeaux, the view embraces a crescent of wide and busy quays with a background of lofty warehouses, factories and mansions, behind which rise towers and steeples. Almost at the centre of the line of quays is the Place des Quinconces, round which lie the narrow, winding streets in which the life of the city is concentrated. Outside this quarter, which contains most of the important buildings, the streets are narrow and quiet and bordered by the low white houses which at Bordeaux take the place of the high tenements characteristic of other large French towns. The whole city is surrounded by a semicircle of boulevards, beyond which lie the suburbs of Le Bouscat, Caudéran, Mérignac, Talence and Bégles. The principal promenades are situated close together near the centre of the city. They comprise the beautiful public garden, the allées de Tourny and the Place des Quinconces. The latter is planted with plane trees, among which stand two huge statues of Montaigne and Montesquieu, and terminates upon the quays with two rostral columns which serve as lighthouses. On its west side there is a monument to the Girondin deputies proscribed under the convention in 1793. At its south-west corner the Place des Quinconces opens into the Place de la Comédie, which contains the Grand Théâtre (18th century), the masterpiece of the architect Victor Louis. The Place de la Comédie, the centre of business in Bordeaux, is traversed by a street which, under the names of Cours du Chapeau-Rouge, rue de l’Intendance and rue Judaïque, runs from the Place de la Bourse and the quai de la Douane on the east to the outer boulevards on the west. Another important thoroughfare, the rue Sainte Cathérine, runs at right angles to the rue de l’Intendance and enters the Place de la Comédie on the south. The Pont de Bordeaux is continued by the Cours Victor Hugo, a curved street crossing the rue Sainte Cathérine and leading to the cathedral of St André. This church, dating from the 11th to the 14th centuries, is a building in the Gothic style with certain Romanesque features, chief among which are the arches in the nave. It consists of a large nave without aisles, a transept at the extremities of which are the main entrances, and a choir, flanked by double aisles and chapels and containing many works of art. Both the north and south façades are richly decorated with sculpture and statuary. Of the four towers flanking the principal portals, only those to the north are surmounted by spires. Near the choir stands an isolated tower. It contains the great bell of the cathedral and is known as the Clocher Pey-Berland, after the archbishop of Bordeaux who erected it in the 15th century. Of the numerous other churches of Bordeaux the most notable are St Seurin (11th to the 15th centuries), with a finely sculptured southern portal; Ste Croix (12th and 13th centuries), remarkable for its Romanesque façade; and St Michel, a fine Gothic building of the 15th and 16th centuries. The bell tower of St Michel, which has the highest spire (354 ft.) in the south of France, dates from the end of the 15th century, and, like that of the cathedral, stands apart from its church. The palace of the Faculties of Science and of Letters (1881-1886) contains the tomb of Michel de Montaigne. The prefecture, the hôtel de ville, the bourse and the custom-house belong to the 15th century. The law-courts and the hospital of St André (the foundation of which dates from 1390) belong to the first half of the 19th century. Of greater antiquarian interest is the Palais Gallien, situated near the public garden, consisting of remains of lofty arcades, vaulting and fragments of wall, which once formed part of a Roman amphitheatre. Bordeaux lost its fortifications in the 18th century, but four of the old gateways or triumphal arches belonging to that period still remain. Still older are the Porte de Cailhau, once the entrance to the Palais de l’Ombrière, which before its destruction was the residence of the duke of Aquitaine, and the Porte de l’Hôtel de Ville, the former of the 15th, the latter of the 13th and 16th centuries.

Bordeaux is the seat of an archbishop, the headquarters of the XVIII. army corps, the centre of anacadémie(educational division) and the seat of a court of appeal. A court of assizes is held there, and there are tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a council of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. Its educational institutions include faculties of law, of science, of letters and of medicine and pharmacy, a faculty of Catholic theology, lycées, training colleges, a higher school of commerce, a chair of agriculture, a school of fine art and a naval school of medicine. There are several museums, including one with a large collection of pictures and sculptures, a library with over 200,000 volumes and numerous learned societies.

The trade of Bordeaux, the fourth port in France, is chiefly carried on by sea. Its port, 5½ m. long and on the average 550 yds. wide, is formed by the basin of the Garonne and is divided into two portions by the Pont de Bordeaux. That to the south is used only by small craft; that to the north is accessible to vessels drawing from 21 to 26 ft. according to the state of the tide. From 1000 to 1200 vessels can be accommodated in the harbour, which is lined on both sides by quays and sloping wharves served by railway lines. At the northen extremity of the harbour, on the left bank, there is a floating basin of 25 acres in extent, capable of receiving the largest vessels; it has over 1900 yds. of quays and is furnished with a repairing dock and with elaborate machinery for the loading and unloading of goods. In 1907 the construction of new docks behind this basin was begun. The city maintains commercial relations with nearly all countries, but chiefly with Great Britain, Spain, Argentina, Portugal and the United States. The most important line of steamers using the port is the South American service of the Messageries Maritimes. The total value of the exports and imports of Bordeaux averages between 25 and 26 millions sterling yearly. Of this amount exports make up 13½ millions, of which the sales of wine bring in about one quarter. The city is the centre of the trade in “Bordeaux” wines, and the wine-cellars of the quays are one of its principal sights. Other principal exports are brandy, hides and skins, sugar, rice, woollen and cotton goods, salt-fish, chemicals, oil-cake, pitwood, fruit, potatoes and other vegetables. The chief imports are wool, fish, timber, rice, wine, rubber, coal, oil-grains, hardware, agricultural and other machinery and chemicals. A large fleet is annually despatched to the cod-fisheries of Newfoundland and Iceland. The most important industry is ship-building and refitting. Ironclads and torpedo-boats as well as merchant vessels are constructed. Railway carriages are also built. The industries subsidiary to the wine-trade, such as wine-mixing, cooperage and the making of bottles, corks, capsules, straw envelopes and wooden cases, occupy many hands. There are also flour-mills, sugar-refineries, breweries, distilleries, oil-works, cod-drying works, manufactories of canned and preserved fruits, vegetables and meat, and of chocolate. Chemicals, leather, iron-ware, machinery and pottery are manufactured, and a tobacco factory employs 1500 hands.

Bordeaux (Burdigala) was originally the chief town of the Bituriges Vivisci. Under the Roman empire it became a flourishing commercial city, and in the 4th century it was made the capital of Aquitania Secunda. Ausonius, a writer of the 4th century, who was a native of the place, describes it as four-squareand surrounded with walls and lofty towers, and celebrates its importance as one of the greatest educational centres of Gaul. In the evils that resulted from the disintegration of the empire Bordeaux had its full share, and did not recover its prosperity till the beginning of the 10th century. Along with Guienne it belonged to the English kings for nearly three hundred years (1154-1453), and was for a time the seat of the brilliant court of Edward the Black Prince, whose son Richard was born in the city. An extensive commerce was gradually developed between the Bordeaux merchants and their fellow-subjects in England,—London, Hull, Exeter, Dartmouth, Bristol and Chester being the principal ports with which they traded. The English administration was favourable to the liberties as well as to the trade of the city. In 1235 it received the right of electing its mayors, who were assisted in the administration by a “jurade” or municipal council. The influence of Bordeaux was still further increased when several important towns of the region, among them St Emilion and Libourne, united in a federation under its leadership. The defeat of the English at the battle of Castillon in 1453 was followed, after a siege of three months, by the submission of Bordeaux to Charles VII. The privileges of the city were at once curtailed, and were only partially restored under Louis XI., who established there the parlement of Guienne. In 1548 the inhabitants resisted the imposition of the salt-tax by force of arms, a rebellion for which they were punished by the constable Anne de Montmorency with merciless severity.

The reformed religion found numerous adherents at Bordeaux, and after the massacre of St Bartholomew nearly three hundred of its inhabitants lost their lives. The 17th century was a period of disturbance. The city was for a time the chief support of the Fronde, and on two occasions, in 1653 and 1675, troops were sent to repress insurrections against royal measures. In the middle of the 18th century, a period of commercial and architectural activity for Bordeaux, the marquis de Tourny,intendantof Guienne, did much to improve the city by widening the streets and laying out public squares. It was the headquarters of the Girondists at the Revolution, and during the Reign of Terror suffered almost as severely as Lyons and Marseilles. Its commerce was greatly reduced under Napoleon I. In 1814 it declared for the house of Bourbon; and Louis XVIII. afterwards gave the title of duc de Bordeaux to his grand-nephew, better known as the comte de Chambord. In 1870 the French government was transferred to Bordeaux from Tours on the approach of the Germans to the latter city.

See Camille Jullian,Hist. de Bordeaux, depuis les origines jusqu’en 1895(Bordeaux, 1895); T. Malvezin,Hist. du commerce de Bordeaux(Bordeaux, 1892);Bordeaux, aperçu historique, sol, population, industrie, commerce, administration(Bordeaux, 1892).

BORDEN, SIR FREDERICK WILLIAM(1847- ), Canadian statesman, was born at Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, on the 14th of May 1847. He was educated at King’s College, Windsor, and at Harvard University, and for some years practised medicine at Canning, Nova Scotia. In 1874 he was elected to the Canadian parliament as Liberal member for King’s county. In 1896 he became minister of militia and defence in the Liberal ministry.

BORDEN, ROBERT LAIRD(1854- ), Canadian statesman, was born at Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, on the 26th of June 1854. In 1878 he was called to the bar, and became a leading lawyer in his native province. In 1896 he was elected to the Canadian parliament for the city of Halifax, but later lost his seat there and was elected for Carlton. In February 1901, on the resignation of Sir Charles Tupper, he became leader of the Conservative opposition. At the general election of 1908 he was returned again for Halifax.

BORDENTOWN,a city of Burlington county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the E. bank of the Delaware river, 6 m. S. of Trenton and 28 m. N.E. of Philadelphia. Pop. (1890) 4232; (1900) 4110; (1905) 4073; (1910) 4250. It is served by the Pennsylvania railway, the Camden & Trenton railway (an electric line, forming part of the line between Philadelphia and New York) and by freight and passenger steamboat lines on the Delaware. Bordentown is attractively situated on a broad, level plain, 65 ft. above the river, with wide, beautifully shaded streets. The city is the seat of the Bordentown Military Institute (with the Woodward memorial library), of the state manual training and industrial school for coloured youth, of the St Joseph’s convent and mother-house of the Sisters of Mercy, and of St Joseph’s academy for girls. There are ship-yards, iron foundries and forges, machine shops, shirt factories, a pottery for the manufacture of sanitary earthenware, a woollen mill and canning factories. The first settlers on the site of the city were several Quaker families who came in the 18th century. Bordentown was laid out by Joseph Borden, in whose honour it was named; was incorporated as a borough in 1825; was re-incorporated in 1849, and was chartered as a city in 1867. It was the home for some years of Francis Hopkinson and of his son Joseph Hopkinson (whose residences are still standing), and from 1817 to 1832 and in 1837-1839 was the home of Joseph Bonaparte, ex-king of Spain, who lived on a handsome estate known as “Bonaparte’s Park,” which he laid out with considerable magnificence. Here he entertained many distinguished visitors, including Lafayette. The legislature of New Jersey passed a special law, enabling him, as an alien, to own real property, and it is said to have been in reference to this that the state received its nickname “Spain.” Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat, the second son of Joachim Murat, also lived here for many years; and the estate known as “Ironsides” was long the home of Rear-Admiral Charles Stewart. The Camden & Amboy railway, begun in 1831 and completed from Bordentown to South Amboy (34 m.) in 1832, was one of the first railways in the United States; in September 1831 the famous engine “Johnny Bull,” built in England and imported for this railway, had its first trial at Bordentown, and a monument now marks the site where the first rails were laid.

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