BIHCK, JACOB. 



niOT. JEAN-BAPTISTE. 



no 



long, fork* dW at Haarlem in the following year, December 18, at 

 the age of seventy-five. Among tl> numerous manuscript* he left 

 behind him was a history of Holland, which has linoe been edited by 

 Tjdi-n ami 



r-INCK. JACOB, a celebrated old German engraver and painter, 

 an.! ne uf Uie ao-called little master*, wu born about 1 

 Cologne; tome authorities make him, incorrectly, a native of Nuru- 

 berg. He however lived acme time in Nurnberg, and waa probably 

 the pupil of Albert Diirrr. Sacdrart says he studied with .Marian- 

 tcnta at Rome ; but all the accoanta of him are little better than con- 

 jecture*. In 1548 Binck appears to have been living at Copenhagen 

 a* portrait painter to Chrbtian VIII. of Denmark. Later he waa 

 living at Konigsberg in the service of Duke Albert of Prussia, who 

 Mat him in 1.119 on a comminiou to the Netherlands. In 1550 he 

 WAS employed again by ChrUtian VIII., to select a fit spot for the 

 erection of a fortress in Holiitein. He died probably at Konigsberg, 

 in the service of Albert of Prusnia, about 1560. 



I'arUch deacribea ninety-eight print* by Binck, including one wood- 

 cut There are many other prints attributed to him, which are 

 marked J. B , bnt tbeae according to BarUch belong to some other 

 artist, who probably ia the same who studied, according to Saudi-art's 

 account, at Rome. Binck's monogram is made of J. C. and B. inter- 

 mingled, the C. signifying Coloniensi, ' of Cologne ; ' in one print the 

 word Colouienais w written in full. Many of his prints have been 

 copied with a view to profit by the deception, as is the case with the 

 works of other celebrated masters. Binck's drawing is superior to 

 that of the little masters generally, but his style is very similar to 

 that of Barthel B' ham. 



(Heineken, lUclionnairt da Artutel, Ac. ; Huber, Manuel da Ama- 

 teun, Ac. ; Meusel, Neue HiKctlantt* Artittiichen Inhalti, No. 8 ; 

 Bartsch, Peintre-Grattur ; Brulliot, IKetionnairt (let ilonogramma, ic.) 



BION, a name common to many Greek authors, more or less known 

 to the moderns. They are usually distinguished by their ethnical 

 names. Clemens Alezandrinus (' Strom.,' vi p. 629, A.) mentions a 

 BIOS PROCONKISICS, who wrote an abridgment of the work of Cadmus 

 the historian, and be is probably the person cited by Athenccus (II., 

 p. 16) : according to Diug. Lacrt (iv. 58) he must have lived about the 

 middle of the 6th century B.C., being a contemporary of Pherecydes 

 of Syros. 



Bio* BoRYSTUlNiTEs was a philosopher, who seems to have belonged 

 to nearly all the different sects in succession. He was born some time 

 near the 120th Olympiad, and is supposed to have died about B.C. 241, 

 Olymp. 1S4. 4. He is mentioned by Strabo (i. 15) as a contemporary 

 of Eratosthenes, who was born B.C. 275, and of Zeno the Stoic, who 

 dii-cl ii < . 2t>3 (Comp. Athemcus, iv. 162, D.). His father wu a freed- 

 man, bis mother a l.acedipmonlan harlot, named Olympia. On account 

 of some malpractices in his capacity of tax-gatherer, his father was 

 sold with his whole family. Bion, who was then a child, was pur- 

 chased by a rhetorician, who made him his heir, and after his patron's 

 death he went to Athens, where he set up as a philosopher. He was 

 flrst an auditor of Crates; then he turned Cynic; afterwards he 

 attended the lectures of Theodoras, and finally became a disciple of 

 Theopbrastns. He was a great jester, and remarkable more for the 

 point than for the good-humour of his witticisms. (Horat, ' Epist.' it 

 2, 00, and fit, TuncuL, 1 ii. 26.) He died at Cbnlois in Eubcea, (Diog. 

 Laert, iv. 46-58.) 



But the most celebrated person of this name is BION SMTBX.WS, 

 the Bucolic poet ; of whom however we know little more than that 

 he lived at the same time with Theocritus and Moschus, of whom the 

 former mentions him in his poems, and the latter has written an elegy 

 on his death. He died by poison. An attempt was made many years 

 ago by Giovanni Ylntimiglia to deprive Smyrna of the honour of his 

 birth, and to prove that he was born in Sicily, where he undoubtedly 

 spent a great part of his life (Lorenzo Crasso, < Historia de Poeti 

 Oreci,' p. 90) ; but not only is his name mentioned by Hoschus in 

 connection with the Smyrnican river Males, but we have also the 

 sitii'ssa testimony of Suidas (voc. Bttxptrot) that he was born at a 

 vitiate called Phlosso, near that city. His longest Idyll is a lament 

 over Adonis. Bion's poems are generally published along with Theo- 

 critos and MoMbos. The best edition is that of L. F. Heindorf, 

 Berlin, 1810. We are not acquainted with any good English version 

 of Bion. Tberf ii a German translation by J. H. Voss, Tubingen, 

 1808. Several other Bions are mentioned by Diogenes Laertius, but 

 nothing is known about tin 



UloT. JKAN-BAPTI8TE. was born at Paris in 1774. From a 

 term of study at the college Louile-Gnnd, he passed into the artil- 

 lery ; bat soon abandoning the military service for scientific pursuits, 

 b. mured the EcoU Polytechnlque, and won such distinction by bis 

 diligence and ability as to bo appointed professor of mathematics in 

 U* Central School at Beauvais. The way in which he fulfilled his 

 *, * an age wben there is comir.only more need to receive than 

 akility to give lessons, the interest which be imparted to his lectures, 

 d MssMU in discovering new results and simplifying difficult quos- 



lan, sss|4i<l gnat hopes of his future career. Nor have they been 

 OssffMtBtod. WWU ben, as he relates, "being full of ardour for 

 jsocMtr^Md many things, I thought only of following with delight 

 ** * U ""*'? > * * y "d towards all sorts of scientific studies, I 

 bd an inordinate ambition to penetrate into the highest regions of 



mathematics." Unable to procure the scattered works of the great 

 mathematicians, he wrote to Laplace, who was then publishing (he 

 first volume of his ' Mecanlqne Celeste.' requesting permission to read 

 the proof sheets, in which he knew nil the important result* would 

 be brought together. The request, at first refused, was granted on a 

 second application; and the youthful professor thereby gained not 

 only the advantage of reviling the calculations for his own instruction, 

 but the friendship of the illustrious geometer, whose house from that 

 time became open to him, and whose counsels, patiently and even 

 affectionately bestowed, were always ready in cases of difficulty. 



Blot bad taken up one of Eulers problems, which had never been 

 directly solved ; and one day he submitted to Laplace a method for 

 its solution, and by his advice presented it to the Academy. At the 

 next meeting the young man was permitted to draw his diagrams on 

 the black board, and to read his paper to the assembled savants, who 

 at its close felicitated him on its originality. Monge was delighted at 

 the success of his former pupil. After the meeting Laplace invited 

 Biot home, praising him on the way fur the clearness of his demon- 

 strations; and on arrival he took a paper from a closet in M* study, 

 and placed it in the young man's hands. It was already yellow with 

 age ; and what was his surprise on opening it to find the solutions 

 for which he had just gaimd so much applause all worked out, and 

 by the process of which he thought himself the inventor. Laplace 

 had years before gone through the work, but checked by the same 

 difficulties that stopped Euler, it was laid aside for future study ; and 

 with rare magnanimity he kept all knowledge of it from Biot until 

 the latter had initiated his reputation before the Academy. He enjoined 

 him moreover to silence; and the incident would have remained a 

 secret, had not Biot himself revealed it fifty years afterwards. 



The paper here in question, ' Sur lea Equation* aux Differences 

 Melees,' is printed in the first volume of ' Meinoires ' of the Institute 

 (' Divei s Savant',' vol. i, 1806). The report thereon, signed by Laplace, 

 Lacroix, and Bonaparte, was presented at the meeting on the 21st 

 Brumaire, only three days after the eventful 18th, which decided the 

 fortune of Bonaparte. The consul waa present at the meeting, as 

 collected and tranquil as if occupied by nothing but mathematics. 



In 1800 Biot was recalled from Beauvais, and appointed to the chair 

 of natural philosophy in the College de France ; a remarkable promo- 

 tion for one only in his twenty-sixth year. He was now more favour- 

 ably situated for scientific intercourse. One of his papers, written 

 shortly after he left the Polytechnic School, appears in the ' Memoircs ' 

 (torn. iii. an. 9), entitled ' Considerations sur lea Integrate!) des Equa- 

 tions aux Differences fiuies,' by 'citoyen' Biot the first of a long 

 and valuable scries of contributions. The succeeding volume contains 

 his 'Rapport sur lea Experiences du Citoyen Volta,' which recom- 

 mends the award of the gold medal of the Institute to the discoverer 

 of voltaic electricity. 



Biot was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences La Classe, 

 as it was then called in 1803. Soon afterwards he and Arago com- 

 menced an experimental inquiry ' Sur les Affinite* des corps pour 

 la lumicre, et particulifcrement sur les forces rcTringentes des difli ! rens 

 Gaz,' which was published in the ' Memoires ' for 1 806. The same 

 volume contains Biot's account of his journey to Aigle in the depart- 

 ment of L'Orne, to verify a fall of meteorites. The facts have since 

 remained data for the investigation of similar phenomena; and by 

 their able elucidation many persons were first convinced that meteoric 

 stones fall from the atmosphere. 



In 1801 Biot accompanied Gay-Lussac in his first memorable balloon 

 ascent In 1806 he was chosen a member of the Bureau dea Longi- 

 tudes, and took part in the extension of the French arc of the tneri< li.ui 

 across Spain and to the island of Formentera. [ARACO.] In 1814 lie 

 was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour ; and in the following 

 year the Royal Society of London elected him one of their fifty foreign 

 members. 



The completion of the triangulation in the peninsula led to a wish 

 for its extension to the north. The English arc, begun by General 

 Hoy, had been carried to the extremity of Scotland by Colonel Mudge ; 

 and the Bureau des Longitudes wished to have observations made 

 along its line by Biot " To desire a thing useful to science," says the 

 latter, "was to anticipate the assent of the savants of England, and of 

 the government of that enlightened country." On Biot's arrival in 

 England, in May 1817, he was received with abundant cordiality by 

 Sir Joseph Banks and other eminent philosophers. His instruments 

 were passed at Dover under the seal of the Customs without search or 

 delay, and conveyed without charge to Banks's residence. Every 

 facility in short was rendered to liiot towards the accomplishment of 

 his task. Colonel Mudge accompanied him to Scotland; and on the 

 first station being chosen, at the fort of Leith, the comniu 

 Colonel Elphinstone, had a portable observatory built, and a base of 

 heavy blocks of stone laid for the support of the instruments. "If 

 my observations wera bad," said Biot, grateful for the r<:iuly aid, 

 " I had no excuse ; It "was entirely my own fault" While these 

 observations were in progress, the opportunity waa thought to be 

 favourable for an extension of the arc to the Shetland Isles, 2 degrees 

 more to the north than it had yet been carried. Biot was ready to 

 assist; and all the materials and instruments having been shipped on 

 board the ' Investigator,' brig of war, he sailed with Captain JiicbnrJ 

 Mudge for Lerwick on the 9lh of July. 



