BENWYVIS BERBERS. 



503 



titled in the doctor's favour, about twenty years after. 

 In 1711, lie published an edition of Horace, at Cam- 

 bridge, in 4to, which was reprinted at Amsterdam ; 

 and, in 1713, appeared his remarks on Collins's Dis- 

 course on Free-thinking, under the form of a Letter 

 to F. H. [Francis Hare] D. D., by Phileleutherus 

 Lipsiensis. He was appointed regius professor of di- 

 vinity in 1716, and, in the same year, issued proposals 

 for a new edition of the Greek Testament an under- 

 taking for which he was admirably qualified, but 

 which he was prevented from executing, in con- 

 sequence of the animadversions of his determined 

 adversary, Middleton. In 1717, George 1., visiting 

 the university, nominated by mandate, as is usual on 

 such occasions, several persons for the doctor's degree 

 in divinity. It was the duty of B., as professor, to 

 perform the ceremony called creation ; previous to 

 which he made a demand of four guineas from each 

 candidate beyond the usual fees, absolutely refusing 

 to create any doctor without payment. Some sub- 

 mitted ; but others, among whom was Middleton, 

 withstood the demand, and commenced a prosecution 

 ao-ainst the professor before the vice-chancellor, who, 

 deciding in favour of the complainants, first suspend- 

 ed B., and subsequently degraded him from his ho- 

 nours, rights, and offices in the university. These 

 proceedings were, after considerable litigation, an- 

 nulled by the court of king's bench ; and the doctor, 

 in 1728, was restored to all his former honours and 

 emoluments. In 1726, he published an edition of 

 Terence and Phaedrus ; and his notes on the comedies 

 of the former involved him in a dispute with bishop 

 Hare, on the metres of Terence, which prov oked the 

 sarcastic observation of Sir Isaac Newton, that " two 

 dignified clergymen, instead of minding their duty, 

 had fallen out about a play-book." The last work of 

 doctor B. was an edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, 

 with conjectural emendations, which appeared in 

 1732. This added nothing to his reputation, and 

 may, in one word, be characterized as a failure. He 

 died at the master's lodge at Trinity, July 14, 1742, 

 and was interred in the college chapel. As a scholar 

 and a critic, B. was very distinguished. The best 

 informed of his opponents respected his talents, while 

 they were loading him with classical abuse, which he 

 did not fail to return with interest. Now that the 

 prejudices, excited apparently by his personal con- 

 duct, have subsided, his pre-eminence in that species 

 of literature which he cultivated, is universally ac- 

 knowledged The celebrated German philologist 

 J. A. Wolf wrote an excellent biography of B. in the 

 Analecta, vol. 1, Berlin. 



BENWYVIS or BEN UAISH, a mountain in the parish 

 of Kiltearn, Ross-shire, hitherto understood to be the 

 second, as to height, in Britain. This hill, from its 

 lying in the midst of a mountainous region, and being 

 rather bulky than conical in shape, does not seem 

 nearly so much elevated as Ben Nevis, which has the 

 advantage of starting straight up from a plain by the 

 sea shore. Such, nevertheless, is the great height of 

 Benwyvis, that it is quite conspicuous, even from the 

 distance of Inverness, where it looks like a large 

 hay-sow, placed amidst a multitude of corn-stacks in 

 a barn-yard. The top of Benwyvis was never known 

 to be free of snow till the singularly hot summer of 

 1826, when at length the ancient ice, that had been 

 crusting upon it from time immemorial, was all clear- 

 ed away. 



BENZOIC ACID is obtained by the application of a 

 moderate heat to the balsam of Peru : it rises in va- 

 pour, and condenses in slender prisms, which are 

 white and brilliant. It has a peculiar aromatic odour. 

 When heated on burning fuel, it inflames and burns 

 with a clear yellow light. It unites with alkalies ami 

 earths, forming salts called bcnzoates, which are un- 



important, except the benzoate of iron, which, from 

 its insolubility, affords a convenient means of separ- 

 ating iron from its solutions, so as to ascertain its 

 quantity, and also of obtaining it free from manganese, 

 which forms with the acid a soluble salt. See Benzoin. 



BENZOIN is a solid, fragile, vegetable substance, of 

 a reddish-brown colour. In commerce, two varieties 

 are distinguished, viz. the common and the amygda- 

 loidal ; the latter containing whitish tears, of an al- 

 mond shape, diffused through its substance. It is 

 imported from Sumatra, Siam, and Java, and is found, 

 also, in South America. Benzoin is obtained from 

 the tree called styrax benzoin, and perhaps from some 

 others. On making incisions into the bark, it flows 

 out in the form of a balsamic juice, having a pungent 

 taste, and an agreeable odour. The pure balsam 

 consists of two principal substances, viz. a resin, and 

 a peculiar acid termed benzoic, (q. v.), which is pro- 

 cured from the mass by sublimation. It is soluble in 

 water. This acid is found, also, as a constituent prin- 

 ciple in storax and the balsams of Tolu and Peru : 

 it exists in the urine of cows, camels, and even of 

 young children. It is sometimes found in a crystalline 

 form on the pods of the vanilla. Benzoin is not so- 

 luble in water, but is readily dissolved in alcohol, by 

 the aid of a gentle heat. The tincture thus made is 

 used in pharmacy. A small quantity of this tincture, 

 dropped into water, forms a white, milky fluid, which 

 is used in France as a cosmetic, under the name of 

 lait virginal. The gum is a principal ingredient of 

 the common court plaster. The acid, as well as the 

 gum, is employed in medicine : they are stimulating, 

 and act more particularly upon the pulmonary system ; 

 whence they are used in asthma and chronic catarrh. 



BERBERS ; the name of a people spread over near- 

 ly the whole of Northern Africa. From their nan e 

 the appellation of Barbary is derived. (See Bai-bary 

 States.) They are considered the most ancient inha- 

 bitants of that country. Their different tribes are 

 scattered over the whole space intervening between 

 the shores of the Atlantic and the confines of Egypt , 

 but the different branches of mount Atlas are their 

 principal abode ; while to the south they are bound- 

 ed by the Negro states on the edge of the great Sa- 

 hara, or Desert. M. Rozet, in his Voyage dans la 

 Regence d'Alger, (Paris. 1833), thus describes them. 

 The Berbers are about the middle height; their 

 complexion is brown, and sometimes almost black, 

 with brown and glossy hair. They are thin, but 

 extremely strong and robust. Their bodies are 

 beautifully formed, and there is an elegance in their 

 attitudes only to be found in antique statues. The 

 head of the Berber is rounder than that of the Arab, 

 and the features shorter, but of an equally marked 

 character, although the fine aquiline nose, so common 

 among the latter, is not often seen among the Ber- 

 bers. There is in their countenances an expression 

 of savageness, and even of cruelty ; but they are 

 active, and extremely intelligent ; and Schoeller, who 

 had several in his service during his stay at Algiers, 

 states, that they are of a sociable temper, and en- 

 dowed with good natural capacity. The language ot 

 the Berbers nas no connexion with any other known 

 tongue ; such of these people as inhabit the northern 

 side of the little Atlas, and often mingle with the 

 Arabs, speak or understand Arabic; but those who 

 dwell in the interior of the mountains understand no 

 other language than their own. Many of them are 

 often seen at Algiers, who do not speak a word of 

 Arabic. In this city they are termed Bedouins, a 

 name given to all the tribes who dwell in tents or 

 temporary huts. 



The Berbers often leave their mountains to plun- 

 der travelers on the plain ; and when they know a 

 caravan is to pass, they assemble in great numbers 



