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tice of this great man. In 1758, he became doctor of philosophy and professor of physics at Upsal. Upon the resignation of the celebrated Wallerius, B. was a candidate for the professorship of chemistry and mineralogy. His competitors charged him with ignorance of the subject, because he had never written on it. To refute them, he shut himself up for some time in a laboratory, and prepared a treatise on the manufacture of alum, which is still considered as a standard work. In 1767, he became professor of chemistry, and devoted himself with ardor to this science. He invented the preparation of artificial mineral-waters, and discovered the sulphuretted hydrogen gas of mineral springs. We are indebted to him for a knowledge of the characters which distinguish nickel from other metals. On a number of minerals he made chemical experiments, with an accuracy before uncommon. He published a classification of minerals, in which the chief divisions are based on their chemical character, and the subdivisions on their external form. In preparing this work, he was much aided by his former discovery of the geometrical relations between different crystals of the same substance, which may be deduced from one primitive form, and are produced by the aggregation of similar particles, according to fixed and obvious laws. His theory of the chemical relations is still esteemed, and, if it has received some new developements from the further researches of Berthollet, it has not been overthrown. The order of Gustavus Vasa was bestowed on B. He declined the invitation of Frederic the Great to remove to Berlin. He died, exhausted by his exertions, in 1784, in the 49th year of his age. Among his works, the first place is due to Opuscula Phys. et Chem. (Stockholm, 1779, 3 vols.), and Physical Description of the Globe.

BERGSTRASSE (Germ., mountain road); a fertile tract of land on the right of the Rhine, lying west of the Odenwald and Melibous, and forming a beautiful road about 30 miles in length, planted with walnut and chestnut-trees and vines. It extends from Darmstadt to the convent of Neuburg, about a mile distant from Heidelberg. All travellers on the Rhine are delighted with this road.

BERKELEY, doctor George; bishop of Cloyne, in Ireland; celebrated for his ideal theory. He maintains that the belief in the existence of an exterior material world is false and inconsistent with

itself; that those things which are called sensible material objects are not external, but exist in the mind, and are merely impressions made on our minds by the immediate act of God, according to certain rules termed laws of nature, from which he never deviates; and that the steady adherence of the Supreme Spirit to these rules is what constitutes the reality of things to his creatures; and so effectually distinguishes the ideas perceived by sense from such as are the work of the mind itself or of dreams, that there is no more danger of confounding them together on this hypothesis than on that of the existence of matter. He was born at Kilcrin, Ireland, in 1684; became fellow of Trinity college, Dublin, in 1707; travelled in Italy as far as Leghorn, in 1713 and 1714, and, at a later period, accompanied Mr. Ashe, son of the bishop of Clogher, on a tour through Italy, Sicily and France. In 1721, he was appointed chaplain to the lord lieutenant of Ireland, the duke of Grafton. He appeared with much applause as an author before he was 20 years old. His works on philosophy and mathematics (among which his Theory of Vision, published in 1709, is the most brilliant proof of the author's acuteness) procured him a wide-spread fame. By a legacy of Mrs. Vanhomrigh, the celebrated Vanessa, who has become so generally known through her love to Swift, his fortune was considerably increased. In 1724, he was promoted to the deanery of Derry, and resigned his fellowship He now published his Proposals for the Conversion of the American Savages to Christianity by the Establishment of a College in the Bermuda Islands. The project was very favorably received, and persons of the first rank raised considerable sums by subscription to aid it; and B., having resigned his preferment, set sail for Rhode Island, with several other persons of similar views, to make arrangements for carrying on his college. The assistance of parliament, which had been promised, not being afforded, his undertaking miscarried, after he had spent seven years and a considerable part of his fortune in his efforts. to accomplish it. He afterward wrote numerous philosophical, religious and politico-economical works. Towards his 60th year, he was attacked by a nervous colic, which he attempted to cure by the use of tar-water, whereby he was induced to publish two treatises on the utility of this water. He died suddenly at Oxford, in 1753. B. is said to have been acquainted with almost all branches of human

knowledge. His character commanded the respect and love of all who knew him. Pope, his constant friend, describes him as possessed of “every virtue under heaven." His most celebrated philosophical works are, a Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge (London, 1710); Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (London, 1713); Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher (London, 1732). His Works appeared in London, 1784, 2 vols. 4to., preceded by a biography written by Arbuthnot. BERLICHINGEN, Götz, or Godfrey, von, with the iron hand; born at Jaxthausen, in Suabia; a bold, restless, warlike and honorable German knight, of the middle ages. He placed himself at the head of the rebellious peasants, in the war which they waged against their oppressors (see Peasant War, in Germany), but was soon made prisoner. Before that time, he had lost his right hand, and therefore wore one made of iron. He died July 23, 1562. His biography, written by himself, was printed at Nuremberg, in 1731 and 1775, and, for the third time, at Breslau, in 1813. This book contains an excellent picture of the social life and customs of the middle ages, and has furnished Göthe with the subject for his beautiful drama, G. von Berlichingen.

BERLIN; the capital of the Prussian dominions; principal residence of the king, and seat of the highest councils of the kingdom; situated in the province of Brandenburg, on the Spree, 127 feet above the level of the sea; lon. 13° 22′ E.; lat. 52° 31′ N.; one of the largest and handsomest cities of Europe. It is about 12 miles in circumference, and consists of 5 towns-Berlin Proper, Köln, or Cologne, on the Spree, Friedrichswerder, Neu- or Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichsstadt; and 5 suburbs-Louisenstadt, the King's suburb, those of Spandau and Stralau, and, outside of the walls, Oranienburg suburb. B. has 22 squares and market-places, 15 gates, 27 parish churches, 37 bridges, &c. In the year 1817, there were 7133 houses, including the churches, the other public buildings (174), the manufactories (61), the stables and barns (483). At the close of the year 1825, B. contained (the military included) 220,000 inhabitants, among whom were about 3700 Jews, 4000 Catholics, and more than 10,000 Calvinists.-1. Berlin Proper, consisting of 39 streets, was built, in 1163, by margrave Albert the Bear. It received its name from the wildness of the country, and was settled by emigrants from Holland It contains the royal post-office,

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the town-house, the general military acad emy, the academy for cadets, the royal school of the gray convent, that of Joachimsthal, the Lutheran parish church of St. Nicholas (the oldest church in B.), the Frederic orphan asylum (established in 1818, for 1009 orphans), with a church, and a royal institution for vaccination (where, since 1802, 25,332 children, beside adults, have been vaccinated gratuitously), the synagogue of the Jews, the new market, and many other public buildings. The suburbs of B., taking the name in its most limited sense, are, the King's suburb (Kőnigsvorstadt), containing the new theatre, where the famous Mlle. Sontag performed before she went to Paris; the suburb of Spandau, where are the royal palace Monbijou, the veterinary college, the great hospital La Charité, with which a clinical institution is connected (numbering, in 1816, 5144 patients, among whom were 419 with mental disorders), the new royal mint, &c. and, finally, Stralau. Outside of the walls, the Rosenthal-suburb, or Neuvoigtland, is situated. Before the Oranienburg gate are the iron foundery, where cast-iron ware, of every description, is made; the royal hospital of invalids, which receives upwards of 1000 inmates, officers, soldiers, women and children.2. Köln, or Cologne, on the Spree, which received this name when it was built from the Kollnen (piles), on which the Vandals (Wenden), driven out by Albert the Bear, had built their huts in the midst of bogs and morasses, contains 25 streets, enclosed by two branches of the Spree; a bridge 100 feet long, of stone, resting upon 5 arches, and adorned with a colossal equestrian statue of the great elector Frederic William, in bronze, planned by Schlüter, and cast by Jacobi; the royal palace, 460 feet in length, 276 in breadth, and 1013 in height, containing the gallery. of paintings, the cabinet of artificial and natural curiosities, the collection of medals, &c.; the museum of art, a most magnificent building, newly erected by Schinkel; the royal riding academy. A part of Köln is called Neu-Köln, and consists of 4 streets, built along the Spree.— 3. Friedrichswerder, including 19 streets, was founded by the elector Frederic William the Great. Here are situated the palace, inhabited by the present king, originally intended for the crownprince; the splendid arsenal, in the yard of which the 365 famous heads of dying warriors, in relief, by Schlüter, serve as key-stones in the arches of the windows; the royal foundery; the new guard-house

built by Schinkel, near which are the statues of Scharnhorst and Bülow, by Rauch, and three pieces of ordnance of the largest caliber, two of which were taken from the French; opposite to it stands the colossal statue of Blücher, in bronze, a work of Rauch.-4. Neu- or Dorotheenstadt, likewise built by the elect or Frederic William the Great, and named after his second wife, has but 5 regular streets, among which is the stately street "beneath the limes," 2088 feet in length, and 170 in breadth, affording the most beautiful walk in the city, and a part of Frederic-street, which is 4250 paces in length. The principal buildings in this quarter are, the university edifice; the Catholic church, built on the plan of the Pantheon in Rome; the fine opera-house; the royal library, the style of which is bad; the academy building, destined for a museum, with an observatory whose platform rises 84 feet from the pavement of the street; the great singing-academy, erected by Schinkel, and devoted only to church music; the Paris-place, &c. The Brandenburg gate, which is 195 feet in width, was built, in 1789, by Langhans, in imitation of the Propylæum at Athens, but on a much larger scale. Above it is the famous Victoria in a quadriga, which was carried away by the French, in 1807, and, in 1814, brought back from Paris by the Prussians: before it lies the park, 880 acres in extent, containing, besides various walks, the royal palace Bellevue, and several country-seats, belonging to wealthy individuals.-5. Friedrichsstadt, founded, in 1688, by the elector Frederic III (king Frederic I), surpasses the four other divisions of the city in extent, and consists of 23 wide streets, among which the above-mentioned Frederic-street is distinguished. Worthy of notice are, the Gendarmes market; also William-place, a quadrangle 190 paces in length and 90 in breadth, containing the marble statues of the generals Schwerin, Winterfeld, Seydlitz, Keith and Ziethen, who, in the grotesque taste of the last century, are represented in Roman costume and periwigs; the Leipsic-place; the place of Belle-Alliance; the Bohemian church; the Trinity church; the French and the new church, with two famous steeples; the royal porcelain manufactory; the academy of Frederic William, with the Realschule (which belongs to the class of high schools, and contained, in the year 1816, 650 scholars); the Collegien or council-house, where the legislative committee, the chief court of justice, also the Kammergericht,and council for

minors,hold their sessions, and the archives of the Brandenburg fiefs are kept; the bank; the house of the society for foreign commerce; the theatre, which, in 1817, was consumed by fire, and was afterwards rebuilt under the direction of Schinkel; several handsome buildings belonging to private persons, &c.-Louisenstadt, for the greater part, consists of fields and gardens. Before the Cottbus gate, upon a rising ground covered with wood, called Hasenhaide, was the first spot devoted to the new gymnastic exercises in Germany, invented by doctor Jahn. On the top of the mountain of the cross, formerly Tempelhof mountain, before the Halle gate, is a monument of iron, erected, in 1820, in commemoration of the wars against France.-B. contains upwards of 100 public and 50 private elementary schools: of burgher or intermediate schools, 10 public, 60 private, and 13 special schools (schools in which youth are educated for particular employments): 5 gymnasia or classical schools, 7 higher special schools or colleges, and the university: also several academies and literary societies, as the royal academy of science (see Academy); the academy of fine arts, mechanical sciences and architecture, with the schools of art appertaining to this academy; the society for natural history and natural philosophy; the medico-chirurgical, the pharmaceutic, the philomathic, the physico-medical societies; the society for cultivating the German language; the association of artists. There are also, in this city, a museum of antiquities, established in 1820; the royal medico-chirurgical academy, for the military; two royal medico-chirurgical seminaries, intended to educate surgeons for the army royal veterinary school; two seminaries for the education of town and country school-masters; the seminary for missionaries, destined to convert the heathens in the western parts of Africa; several institutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind; a free school for Jewish children; an academy for foresters (an institution in which the knowledge relating to the cultivation of woods and forests is acquired); a singing academy; a military swimmingschool; a Bible society; a society for the advancement of Christianity among the Jews; an association for the cultivation of gardens; an institution for preparing artificial mineral waters, &c. There are many charitable institutions in B., the poor, who cannot subsist without help, being about 12,000. Among them, the female charitable association, under 32

the

directresses, provided, December, 1816, for 1200 poor persons, dispersed in 180 families. The most benevolent institution is that established, in 1794, by Kranz, counsellor of war, for relieving impoverished citizens, and which has since numbered some of its former beneficiaries among its members. B. has a considerable commerce and some important manufactories; a royal bank; a royal society for foreign commerce; a wool-market; upwards of 300 machines for spinning wool and cotton, with 29,000 spindles, 4834 looms for weaving cloths, silk, woollen, cotton and linen, carpets, &c.; numerous manufactories of silk, woollen or cotton ribands, 326 lace-makers, 44 manufactories for coloring and printing stuffs, 66 dye-houses, 5 sugar refineries, 4 manufactories of ornamental tin-ware, porcelain and stone-ware factories, the royal bronze manufactories, important manufactories of gold and silver ware, of fine cabinet work, of petinet, straw hats, artificial flowers and feathers; about 25 printing houses, 8 powder mills, &c.; also Mr. Jacobi's valuable collection of works of art. The pavement of B. is extremely bad; the illumination of the streets imperfect. Though some parts of this city are beautiful, yet, on the other hand, its flat and sandy environs are extremely unpleasant. The university of B. was founded in 1809, when Prussia was groaning beneath the heavy yoke of the French. It proceeded from the noble efforts of those men who, at that time, conducted the public concerns of the kingdom (Stein was one of the most distinguished among them), and were convinced that the only effectual preparation for a future deliverance from the French was a moral regeneration of the people; at the same time thinking all that diffuses knowledge and intellectual light an excellent means of producing this moral change-an idea which was realized by the result. Although the university of B. is so young an establishment, yet it ranks among the first in the world, and is, in one branch of science-in philology--the very first. By means of this and many other scientific institutions, a literary spirit has been awakened among the citizens, by which they are very advantageously distinguished from the inhabitants of other cities; but, on the other hand, the society of B. has neither the refined manners of a royal residence, nor the easy manners of many other cities. To the university belong the botanical garden without the city, near Schönberg, the anatomical theatre, the anatomical and

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zoological museum, the theological and philological seminary, the cabinet of minerals, the clinical institution, the lying-in hospital, &c. In the year 1826, there were 1640 students in the university of B., among whom were 400 foreigners. More than 90 professors are employed in the university. In the year 1828, the annual meeting of German naturalists, for the promotion of natural science, was held at B., under the direction of Álexander von Humboldt. It furnished a splendid array of talent, and many discourses of great interest were delivered.

BERMUDAS' ISLANDS, or SOMERS' ISLANDS; a cluster of small islands in the Atlantic ocean. They are in number about 400, but for the most part so small and so barren, that they have neither inhabitants nor name. They were first discovered by Juan Bermudas, a Spaniard, in 1522; in 1609, sir George Somers, an Englishman, was wrecked here, and, after his shipwreck, formed the first settlement. The most considerable of these islands are St. George, St. David, Cooper, Ireland, Somerset, Long island, Bird island, and Nonesuch. The first contains a town (St. George's Town); the two following, some villages; the others, only farms dispersed.-The air is so healthy, that sick people, from the continent of America, frequently go thither for the recovery of their health. The winter is hardly perceptible; it may be said to be perpetually spring: the trees never lose their verdure, and the leaves only fall when new ones begin to appear. Birds sing and breed without intermission.But these advantages are counterbalanced by frightful storms, accompanied by formidable thunder, which are announced by a circle round the moon. Some fertile plains are seen, but, in general, the country is mountainous. The soil is of divers colors, brown, white and red, of which the first is the best; although light and stony, it is, in general, rich and fertile. The water is, in general, salt; there is but little fresh, except rain water, preserved in cisterns. The inhabitants gather two harvests of Indian corn in a year, one in July, and the other in December: this forms their principal food. They likewise cultivate tobacco, legumes, and fruit sufficient for their wants. Their trees are principally the cedar and palmetto. Besides these, they have orange-trees, olive, laurel, pear-trees, &c. The red-wood is peculiar to these islands: its colored fruit feeds worms, which become flies, a little larger than the cochineal bug, instead

of which they are used. There are no venomous reptiles. Building of vessels is the principal trade of the inhabitants. These islands extend from N. E. to S. W., about 45 miles. The whole shore is surrounded with rocks, most of which are dry at low water, but covered at flood. They are 230 leagues S. E. cape Fear, in North Carolina. The north point of these islands lies in lon. 64°28′ W.; lat. 32° 22′ N. Pop. a few years since, 10,381; whites, 5,462 ; slaves, 4,919.

BERN; the largest canton of Switzerland (3667 square miles, 338,000 inhabitants, among whom are 40,000 Catholics, and 250,300 Calvinists), with a capital of the same name. Cuno von Bubenberg, in the 12th century, enclosed the small place Bern, in the vicinity of the fortress of Nydeck, with a moat and walls, and the duke of Zähringen, to whom Nydeck belonged, gave the new city laws. Its population was much increased in the 13th century. The lower nobility of the adjacent country fled to it for protection against the oppressions of the higher, and were joined by the country people, and particularly by the citizens of Friburg and Zurich. The emperor Frederic II declared it a free city of the empire, in 1218, and confirmed its privileges by a charter, which is still preserved in the archives. In 1288, B. was besieged by Rodolph of Hapsburg, but not taken; and, in 1291, the citizens of B., under Ulrich von Bubenberg, made war against their own nobility, commanded by Ulrich von Erlach. B. now became an asylum for all those who suffered under the oppression of the nobles of Austria, and rose to a height of power that excited the envy of other cities, as well as of its own nobility. The latter, therefore, entered into an alliance with the hostile cities, for the purpose of destroying it. Their army, consisting of 18,000 men, headed by 700 of the higher nobility, with 1200 knights, was totally vanquished at Laupen, June 21, 1339, by the citizens of B., led by Rodolph von Erlach, though these were only one third of their number. After this victory, the city continued to increase, and, in 1353, entered into the perpetual league of the Helvetic confederacy, in which it held a rank inferior only to Zurich. Until the close of that century, B. enlarged its dominions, partly by purchase, and partly by conquest. In 1405, the greater part of the city was destroyed by fire, but was afterwards reguarly rebuilt. The long wars with Austria, Milan Burgundy and Savoy soon after

broke out, from all which the confederacy came off victorious, and in which B. conquered Aargau. In 1528, the citizens of B. embraced the cause of the Reformation. In the subsequent war with the duke of Savoy, they conquered the Pays de Vaud. The countries gained by conquest were governed by bailiffs, who resided in mountain castles. From that time to March 5, 1798, the prosperity and wealth of B. was constantly increasing, as may be clearly perceived from the large sums spent for the public administration. At that time, the canton contained over 5000 square miles, and about 380,000 inhabit ants. Upon the day above-mentioned, 30,000 French troops marched against B. It was again an Erlach who led 18,000 citizens of B., together with 8000 auxiliary troops of the confederate cantons, into the field; but the memory of Morgarten, of Laupen and Murten, no longer inspired them to victory: the troops of the confederates, on their retreat, slew their own commander. B., for the first time, opened its gates to an enemy, and lost about half of its possessions. The northern part was united with the present canton of Aargau, and out of the south-western (Pays de Vaud) the present canton of Vaud was formed. By the decrees of the congress at Vienna, however, the greater part of the bishopric of Bâle was joined to the canton of B. According to the new aristocratic constitution of the canton, the sovereign power is exercised by a bailiff, and the great and lesser councils of the city and republic of B., consisting of 200 members chosen from the city of B., and 99 from the towns and the country. The former are chosen from the citizens, over 29 years old, by an elective assembly composed of the members of the lesser council, and a committee of the great. The 99 members from the towns and country are chosen partly from the towns, by the municipal authorities; partly from each of the 22 districts, into which the country is divided, by elective assemblies and partly by the great council. Two bailiffs preside in turn, each for the space of a year, in the great and lesser councils. The former has the legislative, the latter the executive power. The latter consists of the two bailiffs, 23 members, and 2 secretaries, and is chosen by the former from among its own members.-The northern part of the canton is hilly, with beautiful plains and valleys, and has a fertile and highly cultivated soil, producing corn, wine and fruits. Here is situated Emmenthal, one of the richest and most