BLUCHER. 



571 



burdensome, and the current of air is, in that case, 

 tupplied by bellows, the apparatus assuming the form 

 represented in fig. li>. This is the blowpipe com- 

 monly used by glassblowers. The Eolipile is a very 

 convenient form of the blowpipe. It consists of a 



hollow globe of brass, mounted on a stand, as shown 

 in the accompanying cut. The globe contains alco- 

 hol, which is made to boil by the action of the lamp 

 below it, the flame of which is also acted upon by the 

 blowpipe led from the globe. In order to prevent 

 the vapour from becoming too strong, there is furnish- 

 ed at the top a safety valve, loaded with the neces- 

 sary pressure. This form of the blowpipe is, however, 

 found not to be very effective. The gas blowpipe, 

 commonly called Clarke's blowpipe, is represented, 

 fig. 14. The structure of the instrument is due to 

 Mr Newman of London. Sir H. Davy suggested 

 the employment of gases instead of common air, and 

 Dr Clarke, of Cambridge, subjected it to extensive 

 application. Dr C. found that a mixture of two 

 volumes of hydrogen and one of oxygen, produced 

 the greatest effect. These gases are contained in a 

 bladder A, attached to the end of a pipe B, which 

 leads into the cylinder C, in which is fitted a piston, 

 working through a collar at the top. By the action of 

 this piston, the gas from the bladder is compressed 

 into the copper chamber D, and thence issues to the 

 flame through the blowpipe E. In the using of this 

 blowpipe, it should be observed, that the opening of 

 the pipe should be very small, otherwise there is 

 great danger of explosion, which might be produc- 

 tive of serious consequences. There are various other 

 species of blowpipe, and many uses to which they 

 may be applied, to discuss which would be inconsis- 

 tent with the nature of this work ; but, for ample 

 information on the subject, see Griffin on 1he Blowpipe. 

 BUJCHER, Lebrecht von, of the family of Grosen- 

 Rensow, in Mecklenburg, prince of Wahlstadt, field- 

 marshal of the king of Prussia, and knight of almost 

 all the distinguished military orders of Europe, was 

 born at Rostock, December 16, 1742. When he was 

 fourteen years of age, his father, a captain of horse 

 in the service, of Hesse-Cassel, sent him to the island 

 of Rugen. Here the sight of some Swedish hussars 

 excited in him the desire of becoming a soldier. His 

 parents and relations in vain attempted to dissuade 

 him from this step ; he took service in a Swedish re- 



fiment of hussars in the capacity of a comet. His 

 rst campaign was against the Prussians, and he was 

 taken prisoner by the same regiment of hussars which 

 he afterwards commanded with so much honour. 

 The. commander of this regiment, colonel von Belling, 

 induced him to enter into the Prussian service. An 

 exchange was agreed upon with the Swedes, and B. 

 was made lieutenant in Bel ling's regiment. Discon- 

 tented at the promotion of other officers over his head, 

 lie left the army, devoted himself to agriculture, and, 

 hy industry and prudence, acquired an estate. After 

 4 c u a 



the death of Frederic II., he became a major in his 

 former regiment, which he commanded with distinc- 

 tion on the Rhine, in 1793 and 1794. Orchies, 

 Luxemburg, Frankenstein, Oppenheim (Jan. 16, 

 1794), Kirweiler and Edisheim in the Palatinate, 

 bear witness to his achievements. After the battle of 

 Leystadt, September 18, 1794, which added greatly 

 to his reputation, he was appointed major-general of 

 the army of observation stationed on the Lower 

 Rhine. In 1802, in the name of the king of Prus- 

 sia, he took possession of Erfurt and Muhlhau- 

 sen. Oct. 14, 1806, he fought at the battle of Auer- 

 stadt. He then, with the greater part of the cavalry, 

 followed the retreat of the prince of Hohenlohe to 

 Pomerania. His squadron, moving on the left of the 

 main army, became separated from it so far that a 

 junction was possible only by means of forced march- 

 es, both in the day time and at night. The latter, 

 B. thought himself not authorized to venture upon, 

 and the prince of Hohenlohe was forced to surrender 

 at Prenzlau. B., cut off from Stettin by this accident, 

 threw himself into Mecklenburg, where he joined, at 

 Dambeck, the corps of the duke of Weimar, com- 

 manded by prince William of Brunswick-Oels. All 

 the troops, however, were too much fatigued to un- 

 dertake any enterprise. Having the grand-duke of 

 Berg on his left flank, the prince of Ponte-corvo in 

 his front, and marshal Soult on his right, B. was 

 obliged to take post behind the Trave, in order to 

 draw off the three great divisions of the French forces 

 from the Oder as long as possible. With this view, 

 he entered into the territory of the free city of Lu- 

 beck. This city was soon stormed by the overwhelm- 

 ing power of the French. Although B., with some 

 troops, escaped out of the city, yet, being deprived of 

 all means of defending himself, or continuing his 

 flight, he was obliged to surrender at Ratkau, on the 

 6th of November. This, however, he. would not do, 

 until permission had been granted him to add the 

 following clause to the instrument, that " the capitu- 

 lation was offered to him by the prince of Ponte-corvo, 

 and that he accepted it only from want of ammuni- 

 tion, provisions, and forage." B. was now a prisoner 

 of war ; but he was soon exchanged for the French 

 general Victor, and, immediately after his arrival at 

 Konigsberg, placed at the head of a corps, and sent 

 by water to Swedish Pomerania, to share in the de- 

 fence of Stralsund, and to assist the efforts of the 

 Swedes. After the peace of Tilsit, he laboured in 

 the department of war at Konigsberg and Berlin. 

 He then received the chief military command in 

 Pomerania, but, at the instigation of Napoleon, was 

 afterwards, with several other distinguished men, 

 dismissed from the service. In the campaign of 

 1812, when the Prussians assisted the French, he 

 took no part ; but no sooner did Prussia rise against 

 her oppressors, than B., already seventy years old, 

 engaged in the cause with all his former activity. 

 He was appointed Commander-in-chief of the Prus- 

 sians and the Russian corps under general Winzinge- 

 rode, which, at a later period, was separated from 

 him. His heroism in the battle of Lutzen (May 2, 

 1813) was rewarded by the emperor Alexander with 

 the order of St George. The battles of Bautzen and 

 Haynau, those on the Katzbach (see fFahlstadt) and 

 Leipsic, added to his glory. On the Katzbach, B. 

 defeated the army of marshal Macdonald, and deli- 

 vered all Silesia. His army now received the name 

 of the Silesian. Napoleon himself endeavoured in 

 vain to check the old general of hussars, as he called 

 him. Oct. 3, B. crossed the Elbe at Wartenburg. 

 This bold step compelled the great Bohemian army 

 under Schwartzenberg, and the northern army under 

 the crown-prince of Sweden, to act with more spirit. 

 The great battle of Leipsic approached. Oct. 1 6, he 



