701 



BIOT, JEAN-BAPTISTE. 



BIRD, EDWARD, R.A. 



702 



The little island of Unst was ultimately chosen as the station, from 

 its being situated not only farther north, but also farther east, and 

 consequently nearer to the line of Formeutera. By the beginning of 

 August the pendulum apparatus was set up within the solid protecting 

 walla of a vacant sheep-fold, and the observatory, with its repeating- 

 circle, in the garden of a resident proprietor, Mr. Edmonston, whose 

 warm hospitalities made up for a chilly climate. What a change from 

 the sunny islands of the Mediterranean ! No trees ; little vegetation 

 besides grass and mosses ; seldom free from fogs, hoarse winds, and 

 angry seas. Captain Mudge had to leave in consequence of the ill- 

 effects of the climate on his health, and Biot remained to carry on the 

 work. A young native carpenter was trained into a competent 

 assistant ; and for two months such a series of observations was made 

 as fully satisfied all requirements. The results were found to agree 

 with theory; and when it is remembered that the.ie results were 

 obtained by a difference of less than three fourths of a line in the 

 length of the pendulum between Formentera and Unst, some notion 

 may bo formed of the singular delicacy of the observations, and the 

 consequent mental and bodily labour which they involved. 



After Biot's return to Edinburgh he visited the manufacturing 

 dintricta of England, the two universities, and met Arago in London. 

 With him he repeated the observations on the measure of the seconds- 

 pendulum at the Greenwich Observatory. Humboldt, who was then 

 in England, took part in the work, "forgetting," to use Biot's words, 

 " the multitude of his other talents to be only an excellent observer." 



An account by Biot of his journeyings ami labours while engaged 

 in the triangulation, is given in the ' Me'moires de 1'Academie Royale 

 des Sciences, Anuix 1818,' tome 3. The same volume contains one of 

 his papers on polarisation in crystalline bodies. To give a list of all 

 his papers would fill whole pages; but there is on iu the 13th volume 

 of the Me'moires ' (1835) deserving of especial notice ' Stir la Polari- 

 sation circulaire, et sur ses applications h la Chimie Organique.' In 

 this he makes known his discov ry of circular polarisation in a great 

 cumber of solid and fluid substances never before examined ; and, 

 while adding largely to our knowledge of optical science, he points 

 out a direct useful application of the remarkable phenomena namely, 

 of testing the quality of saccharine fluids. Instruments are now made 

 which, when immersed in a liquid, indicate the quantity of sugar held 

 in solution by the amount of rotation of the ray. They are used suc- 

 cessfully in pharmacy to detect adulteration, and may be employed to 

 denote the sugar in diabetic urine : an interesting example of a refined 

 philosophical experiment being turned to practical uses in commerce 

 and the arts. 



In 1840 the Royal Society awarded their Rumford medal to Biot for 

 his " re'earches in and connected with the circular polarisation of 

 light." He ig a member of three of the five academies which com- 

 pose the Institute of France. He is a foreign member of the Itoyal 

 Society of Edinburgh, of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and of 

 most of the academies and learned societies on the continent of 

 Europe. Any list of his works would necessarily be incomplete, as 

 the veteran still adds to their number; for he retains all the vigour 

 ncl fertility of his intellect, and at meetings of the Academy he speaks 

 with not less clearness and force than he write-. 



On the establishment of the empire in ISOt, Biot opposed any 

 expre-sion of opinion by the Academy, on the ground that the mem- 

 bers constituted a scientific and not a political body ; and in 1815, at 

 the return of Napoleon I. from Elba, he voted against the ' acte 

 additional ' to the constitutions of the empire. He married, when in 

 his 22nd year, the daughter of Brisson, the professor of natural 

 philosophy and contemporary of Reaumur and Nollet They had 

 two children, a son and a daughter. The latter is now a grandmother; 

 the son died in 1850, at the age of forty-seven, a member of the 

 Academic dcs Inscriptions, and distinguished for his knowledge of 

 Chinese. 



Among traits of Biot's character may bo mentioned his fondness 

 for flowers. His study is always adorned with them ; and it is said 

 that when his wife, who was noted for her conversational powers, used 

 to cuter to talk with him, ho would playfully form a barricade of 

 flowers between her and himself. 



Papers by Biot are to be found in the ' llemoires de la Socidto 

 d'Arcueil ; ' the ' Annales de Chimie et de Physique ; ' the ' Journal 

 dee Savants,' of which he is one of the directors ; ' Me'moires de 

 1'Institut ; ' and the 'Biographie Universelle,' articles Descartes, 

 Franklin, GaliMe, Liebnitz, and others. He has thrown great light on 

 the history and practice of ancient astronomy ; and as a reviewer, is 

 remarkably able and apt in illustration. Among his other works are 

 'Analyse du Trait<5 de Mecanique celeste,' 8vo, 1801; 'Essai sur 

 1'Histoire des Sciences depuis la Revolution Fran9aise,' 8vo, 1803; 

 ' Traitd dldmentaire d'Astronomie Physique," 2 vols. 8vo, 1805 ; 

 1 Recherches sur leg Refractions ordinaires qui ont lieu pros de 

 1'Horizon,' 4to, 1810; 'Trait<5 de Physique expdrimentale et mathd- 

 matique," 4 vols. 8vo, 181(5; ' RechiTches eur plusieurs Points de 

 1 A tronomie Egypticnne, &c.,' 8vo, 1823; 'Recueil d'Observatious 

 geodesiques,' &c., 4to, 1821 (the history of the measurement of the 

 arc aforementioned); 'llecherches sur la Polaritd de la Lumiere; 

 Sur 1'Astronomie chez los Anciens; Sur quelques Determinations 

 d'Astronomie ancienne, dtudies comparativement chez los Cgyptieus, 

 lei Chalddenn, et leg Chinois ; ' and very many more. 



BIRCH, THOMAS, an historical and biographical writer, was born 

 in London, November 23rd, 170.5. His parents were members of the 

 Society of Friends, and his father carried on the trade of a coffee-mill 

 maker, for which business the son was designed, but the strong 

 desire which he displayed for reading and study overruled this inten- 

 tion. For several years he acted as teacher in different schools, and in 

 all of them he sedulously applied to the pursuit of knowledge, stealing 

 many hours from sleep for this purpose. His efforts were not without 

 success, and in his twenty-fourth year being qualified to take orders, 

 he was ordained iu the Established Church without having attended 

 either of the universities, a circumstance at that time much less 

 frequent than at present. 



He owed all his advancement in the church to the patronage of 

 lord-chancellor Hardwicke, to whom he had been recommended early 

 in life, and who never afterwards lost sight of him. In 1734 Birch 

 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1752 he became one 

 of its secretaries. In 1753 the university of Aberdeen conferred upon 

 him the distinction of Doctor in Divinity; and he received a similar 

 honour in the same year from Herring, archbishop of Canterbury. 

 Dr. Birch was most active and indefatigable in his literary pursuits. 

 Distinguished by unwearied industry, rather than by acuteness and 

 discrimination, he accumulated in the course of his life a vast mass 

 of materials of great value to those who possess a superior under- 

 standing without the doctor's spirit of laborious research. The first 

 work of importance in which he was engaged was the ' General 

 Dictionary, Historical and Critical.' It consisted of ten volumes iu 

 folio, and included a new translation of Bayle, besides a vast quantity 

 of new matter. The first volume appeared in 1734, and the last in 

 1741. In 1742 he published ' Thurloe's State Papers,' in seven vols. 

 folio. He published ' Lives of Archbishop Tillotson, and the Hon. 

 Robert Boyle,' in a separate form, and edited new editions of their 

 works ; also a new edition of Milton's Prose Works, and the Miscella- 

 neous Works of Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1744 he commenced a series 

 of biographical memoirs of illustrious persons of Great Britain, for a 

 work published in folio by Mr. Hawbraken and Mr. Vertue, two artists. 

 Each memoir was accompanied by an engraving of the individual to 

 whom it related. The work was published in numbers; the first 

 volume was completed iu 1747, and the second in 1752. In the list 

 of his historical rt'orks are, ' An Inquiry into the share which King 

 Charles I. had in the transactions of the Earl of Glamorgan ; ' 'A 

 View of the Negociatious between the Courts of England, France, and 

 Brussels, from 1592 to 1617, from original documents.' The same 

 volume contained a ' Relation of the State of France, with the cha- 

 racter of Henry IV.' In 1753 he published ' Memoirs of the Reign 

 of Queen Elizabeth, from 1581 to her death." In 1760, a ' Lifo of 

 Henry Prince of Wales, eldest son of King James I." His last bio- 

 graphical work was ' Lettt-rs, Speeches, Charges, and Advices of Lord 

 Chancellor Bacon.' A Sermon which was preached before the College 

 of Physicians, in 1749, appears to be the only one of his discourses 

 which has been printed. Besides his multifarious labours for the 

 press, he transcribed a great number of volumes in the Lambeth 

 library. He aleo maintained an extensive correspondence. His bio- 

 grapher remarks, that Dr. Birch's habit of early rising aloue enabled 

 him to get through so much work. He found time in addition for 

 the enjoyments of society. Dr. Birch was killed by a fall from his 

 horse, between London and Hampstead, January 9th, 1766. He 

 bequeathed his library and manuscripts to the British Museum, of 

 which he was a trustee. The remainder of his property, amounting 

 only to about 5001., ho left to be invested in Government Securities, 

 the interest to be applied in increasing the stipends of the three 

 assistant librarians at the British Museum. 



BIRD, EDWARD, K.A., an excellent English 'genre' painter, was 

 born at Wolverhampton in 1772. As he evinced a strong inclination 

 for drawing, his father, who was a clothier, apprenticed him to a tea- 

 board manufacturer of Birmingham, with whom it was Bird's business 

 to paint the boards. At the expiration of the term of his indentures 

 Bird resolved to try his fortunes in the world as an artist, and ho 

 accordingly set up as a drawing-master at Bristol. In 1807, when he 

 was in his thirty-fifth year, he exhibited some paintings at Bath, which 

 were much admired, and sold for thirty guineas e.ich. These were 

 succeeded by a piece called 'Good News,' which established his repu- 

 tation. Other good works succeeded, as the ' Choristers Rehearsing," 

 and the ' Will ; ' the first was purchased by William IV., the second by 

 the Marquis of Hastings, and the Royal Academy elected Bird an 

 Academician. He now exhibited his masterpiece, the ' Field of Uuevy 

 Chase the Day after the Battle,' which was purchased by the Marquis 

 of Stafford for 300 guineas. The same nobleman purchased his next 

 picture, the ' Death t>f Eli,' for 500 guineas, and he obtained by it also 

 a prize of 300 guineas awarded by tne British Institution. The picture 

 however was not the artist's : it was the joint-stock property of threo 

 gentlemen of Bristol, who had commissioned Bird to paiut it for 

 300 guineas, and the 500 for which the picture sold at the exhibition 

 was divided among them. The profitable result of their speculation 

 led them to give Bird a second commission, but the paiuter declined 

 their further patronage. 



In 1813 Bird was iu London, and was introduced to the Princess 

 Charlotte, who appointed him her painter; and he presented the 

 princess with tho ' Surrender of Calais," one of his favourite pictures. 



