B E R 



271 



B E R 



of a hill, commanding an extensive view of the Milanes 

 plain towards the south, while on the northern side the Alp: 

 of Valtelina and the Grisons are seen rising one above the 

 other. Bergamo lies between and at a short distance from 

 the Brembo and the Serio, two affluents of the Adda. Th( 

 province of Bergamo is bounded on the east by that o 

 Brescia, on the north by Valtelina, on the north-west by th< 

 province of Como, and on the south and south-west by tha 

 of Milan. The greater part of the ground is very moun- 

 tainous, consisting chiefly of the valleys of the Brembo anc 

 the Serio, and the upper valley of the Oglio above its en- 

 trance into the Lakeoflseo. The principal productions o: 

 the soil are wine, oil, and fruits ; vast plantations of mul- 

 berry-trees supply the silk worms, which constitute the chiel 

 wealth of the country. The mountains afford pasture to 

 numerous Hocks of sheep ; and many canals serve for the 

 purpose of irrigation. Iron-mines and iron-works, and 

 manufactures of woollens, are also branches of industry in 

 this province. The population is about 330,000. The 

 people are hardy, laborious, and intelligent. 



The town of Bergamo and its extensive suburbs contain 

 30,000 inhabitants. The town is surrounded by walls and 

 ditches, and has a castle on the summit of the hill. Among 

 the churches of Bergamo, the most remarkable are the ca- 

 thedral ; the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which has 

 several good paintings, and a fine monument to the memory 

 of Bartolomeo Colleone, a celebrated captain of the four- 

 teenth century ; the church of the monastery of St. Grata, 

 which is almost entirely covered with gilding and gold orna- 

 ments ; that of St. Alessandro, which is rich in paintings ; 

 and the church of St. Augustine, in which is the tomb of 

 Ambrogio Calepino, the lexicographer, who was a native of 

 Calepio, near the lake of Iseo. The Academy of Painting, 

 founded by Count Giacomo Carrara, has several paintings of 

 Titian, Tintoretto, Giorgione, Paul Veronese, and other great 

 masters. There are also private galleries, belonging to the 

 families Scotti, Rosa, Terzi, &c. Bergamo has given birth 

 to several painters of note, such as the elder Palma, Moroni, 

 Lotto, Cavagna, &s. (See Tassi, Vile del Pittori, Scultori, 

 ed Arehitetti Bergamanchi, 2 vols. 4 to. 1793: and Bartoli, 

 Pitture, Sr-n/turf, ed Architettitre delle Chifse ed altri 

 Lur>%hi pubblici di Bergamo, 1 774.) Bernardo Tasso, a poet 

 of some merit, and father of the celebrated Torquato Tasso, 

 and the learned Tiraboschi, the historian of Italian litera- 

 ture, were natives of Bergamo. One of the most remarkable 

 buildings of Bergamo is the Fiera, in which the annual fair is 

 held, in the month of August. It is a vast quadrangle, 

 with three gates on each side, and courts and streets within : 

 it contains 600 shops, in which all the various manufactures 

 of Lombardy, and other provinces of the Austrian empire, 

 are exposed for sale. During the fair of 1833, goods were 

 sold to the amount of between twenty-five and twenty-six 

 millions of livres, or above one million sterling : one-third of 

 the whole consisted of silk. (Bollettino Statistico di Milano.) 

 Bergamo is a bishop's see ; it has a public library, with 

 45,000 volumes ; a lyceum, and a gymnasium for public 

 instruction, besides the seminary for the diocese, a college 

 for boarders, and several private establishments for educa- 

 tion. The whole province had, in 1832, 487 elementary 

 schools for b>ys, and 4V2 for girls which were attended 

 during that year by 20,898 of the former, and 18,668 of the 

 latter, which, compared with the population, is the greatest 

 number of pupils among all the provinces of Lombardy. 

 (Serristori, Saggio Statistico delf Italia.) There is also a 

 house of industry, an asylum for youthful vagrants, insti- 

 tuted in 1815, by a private ecclesiastic, Carlo Botta, for the 

 purpose of reclaiming boys from bad practices and enabling 

 them to earn their bread ; several hospitals, dispensaries, &c. 

 It is observed, however, that beggars are more numerous in 

 Bergamo than in almost any town of North Italy. 



The foundation of Bergamo, or Bergomum, is attributed 

 by some to the Onbii, who are said to have been a colony of 

 the Etruscans. The Cenomani Gauls invaded the country, 

 mi'l the building, or at least the restoration of Bergomum, 

 ii ascribed to them. Bergomum was afterwards made a 

 Roman municipium. On the fall of the western empire, 

 Berfrommu was burnt by Alaric. It was afterwards rebuilt 

 by the Longpbtirds, and again destroyed about the year 

 900 by the Hungarians. In the tenth century Arnulph 

 kin<j; of Germany, and afterwards emperor, made it a 

 county, of which he tfave the investiture to the bishop. 

 It hcrame one of the towns of the Lombard league against 

 Frederic Barbarossa, and, by the peace of Constance, 



secured its own independence. It suffered afterwards 

 during the factions of the Guelphs and Guibelines, and in 

 the thirteenth century it became subject to the dominion 

 of a chief called Filippo Torriani, was taken by the 

 Visconti of Milan at the beginning of the fourteenth 

 century, passed successively under the tyranny of several 

 native and foreign chiefs, until at last, in 1427, its citizens 

 gave themselves up voluntarily to the Republic of Venice, 

 to which Bergamo remained firmly attached till the destruc- 

 tion of that republic by Bonaparte in 1797. .The country 

 people of the province of Bergamo have a peculiar dialect, 

 in which the Harlequin of the Italian stage is made to ex- 

 press himself. This character is said to have been con- 

 ceived as an imitation, or rather caricature, of the manners 

 and language of the people of the Val Brembana, or valley 

 of the river Brembo, in the same manner as the Pantaloon 

 was the representative of the people of Venice, Policiuella 

 of those of Aeerra and Campania in general, &c. 



BERGAMOT, the fragrant fruit of a species of CITRUS. 



BERGAMOT, ESSENCE OF, an essential oil, ob- 

 tained both by pressure and distillation from the rind of 

 the bergamot, the ripe fruit of the citrus bergamium : it is 

 limpid, yellowish, and fluid ; that procured by pressure is 

 not so fluid as that yielded by distillation, but its odour is 

 more agreeable. 



The specific gravity of essence of bergamot is 0-888, its 

 smell resembles that of oranges, and it is used as perfume ; 

 at a little below 32 Fahr. it becomes solid. 



Vauquelin made a set of experiments to discover the 

 effects that were produced by the mixture of alcohol and 

 this oil, in order that the fraud which is commonly practised 

 of mixing them might be detected. He found that 100 

 measures of alcohol dissolved 50 measures of oil, but that 

 there were several anomalies in the proportions in which 

 smaller quantities of alcohol dissolved the oil. The general 

 results are : 1. That the oil of bergamot may contain eight 

 [>ercent. of alcohol, of the specific gravity 0'8I7, without its 

 teing perceptible when mixed with water. 2. That when 

 t contains a greater quantity of it, the surplus separates, 

 dissolving about one-third of its volume of oil. 3. That a 

 small quantity of water mixed with the alcohol diminishes 

 remarkably its action upon the oil ; since alcohol of specific 

 *ravity 0'880 dissolves only l-28th of its volume, while pure 

 alcohol dissolves almost half its volume. 4. That when we 

 nix alcohol with a volatile oil, a mutual exchange takes 

 ilace between the two fluids, the relation of which must 

 ary with the purity of the alcohol; this last dissolves the 

 oil, whilst the oil absorbs the alcohol. 5. That when we 

 mix alcohol of specific gravity 0'847, for example, with oil of 

 jergaraot, which is 0'856, the alcohol sinks to the bottom, 

 and the oil swims upon it : this depends upon the oil ab- 

 sorbing a part of the pure alcohol, and thus rendering the 

 remainder more dense, while it becomes itself more light. 

 . That there takes place a kind of decomposition of the 

 water and alcohol by the oil ; from which it may be sus- 

 >ected that, if we were to mix a small quantity of diluted 

 ilcohol with a large quantity of volatile oil, the water would 

 >e separated, anil be precipitated alone to the lower part of 

 he vessel. Hence we learn that the dealers in perfumes 

 may introduce eight per cent, of alcohol into them without 

 our being able to detect the fraud by the ordinary means ; 

 iut it may be discovered by the assistance of the spirit hy- 

 Irometer, as the density will be diminished by about 

 l-100th part. Sulphuric aether does not act on the oil of 

 >ergamot like alcohol ; it unites with it in all proportions, 

 nd the fluids do not afterwards separate. 



BERGEN, in the kingdom of Norway, and the province 



of S6ndre Bergenhuus, is situated in 6i 23' 24" N. lat., and 



5 20' E. long, from Greenwich. At an early period, attracted 



>y the prolific fisheries on the coast, and particularly by the 



lerring-fishery, a number of fishermen were induced to 



settle round a gulf of the North Sea, on a part of which 



he town is now built. Its convenient situation for trade 



nduced one of the antient kings of Norway, Olaf Kyrre, 



o enlarge the place, and to build a regular town there in 



069 or 1070. 



The island, called Askoen, situated about three English 

 miles from the town, forms a bulwark against the sea, and en- 

 closes the large bay Byefjorden, which forming two branches, 

 called Vaagen and Puddefjorden, encircles the town. The 

 own is built on a promontory, and extends round that part of 

 he bay called Vaagen, which constitutes the real Imrbour. 

 On the east side of the town are two lakes, Lille and Store 



