BAY 



3.08 



BAY 



Bycr. and entrusted him with the direction of his labora- 

 1 tory. From the skill which he had acquired in 



pharmaceutical operations, he was appointed chief 

 apothecary to the army in Germany, during the 

 seven years war, before he had reached his 30th year. 

 Upon his return to Paris, at the conclusion of the 

 war, he was employed by government to analyse 

 all the mineral waters in France. This labour, at 

 first performed in conjunction with Venel, afterwards 

 devolved upon Bayen alone, who published several 

 works upon this important subject. His analysis of 

 the waters of Bareges and Bagneres de Luchon, is 

 particularly valuable, and is an admirable model for 

 all similar researches. 



The funds which were destined for these interest- 

 ing investigations having been diverted to other pur- 

 poses, Bayen abandoned the Pyrenees, and employ- 

 ed himself in the analysis of various specimens of 

 minerals which he had collected in his travels. The 

 results of these analyses were published in the Me- 

 moires des Sfavans tirangeres, in numerous memoirs 

 on marbles, granites, serpentines, porphyries, jaspers, 

 schists, and iron spar. 



Bayen had the high honour of being the first who 

 doubted the existence of the phlogistic principle of 

 Stahl. He at first communicated his doubts to seve- 

 ral of his friends, but particularly to the celebrated 

 Macquer, who did not approve of them. Without 

 being discouraged at the opinion of Macquer, Bayen 

 continued his researches, and proved, that the excess 

 of weight, the colour, &c. of all metallic oxides, 

 were owing to the absorption of one of the consti- 

 tuent parts of atmospheric air. 



The illustrious Lavoisier, who was then occupied 

 with the subject of metallic oxides, happened to be 

 present when the memoir of Bayen was read in the 

 academy ; and, struck with the importance of the 

 discovery, he repeated all the experiments, and was 

 thus led to those great views by which he effected 

 a revolution in the science of chemistry. 



Bayen discovered the singular property of fulmi- 

 nating, which several metallic oxides possess, when 

 mixed with a small quantity of sulphur. He also 

 found, after long and difficult investigations, that 

 tin, in its pure state, contained a very small portion 

 t>f arsenic ; which, however, did not render it unfit 

 for the purposes of civil life. He found also, that 

 the tin of commerce, which was wrought by pew- 

 terers, contained copper and antimony, by which it 

 was hardened j zinc, by which it was whitened ; bis- 

 muth, which rendered it sonorous ; and lead, which 

 diminished its value. 



Exhausted with these labours, and worn out with 

 domestic misfortunes, Bayen died in the beginning 

 of 1798, in the 72d year of his age. See Lassus 

 Notice sur la vie el li:s Outrages du M. Bayen, in the 

 Mem. Nat. Inslit. (a-) 



BAYER, John, a German astronomer and law- 

 yer, wh flourished about the end of the 16th and 

 beginning of the 17th centuries, and who is celebra- 

 ted as the author of the first celestial atlas of any 

 importance, and of a valuable improvement in the 

 nomenclature of the stars, which has been adopted 

 by the astronomers of all nations. This improve- 

 ment, which consisted in denoting the stars of each 



constellation by the letters of the Greek alphabet, was 

 published in 1603, in his Vranometria, sive omnium 

 aslerismorum schemata qyinquaginta ct unmn in 

 totidem iabulit nova methodo dclineata. August. 

 Vindelic. Fol. 1603. The second edition of this 

 work was published at Ulm in 1648 ; the third in 

 1654 ; and the fourth in 1661. 



The atlas of Bayer was published in a new form in 

 1627, under the title of Cwlum SteUatum Christian* 

 Jim, by Julius Schiller of Augsburg, who removed 

 the names of the constellation that were drawn from 

 the fables of the Greeks, with the pious intention of 

 promoting to that high distinction, the figures and 

 the names of the sacred scriptures. He placed the 

 twelve apostles in the twelve signs of the zodiac, the 

 New Testament in the northern hemisphere, and the 

 Old Testament in the southern hemisphere. 



This new scheme, however, did not succeed ac- 

 cording to the pious wishes of its author, and the 

 heathen names of the constellations were accordingly 

 retained in all the subsequent editions of the Vrano- 

 metria. 



About thirty-five years afterwards, in the year 

 1602, Philip Coesius, a Dutchman, proposed a si- 

 milar innovation. He made the constellation of the 

 Ram, that which Abraham sacrificed for his son 

 Isaac. He made the Bull, that which was sacrificed 

 by Adam : The Twins were Jacob and Esau, the 

 children of Rebecca, &c. See Astronomy, part i. 

 book iii. chap. i. See also Weidler's Historia As- 

 tronomies, pp. 458, 506. Montucla's Hist, des Ma- 

 themat. torn. ii. p. 251. Bailly, Hist, de I'Astron. 

 Moderne, torn. ii. p. 150. (o) 



BAYEUX, the Beducussum and Baiocas of the 

 ancients, is a town of France, in the department of 

 Calvados, situated on the river Aure. It contains a 

 magnificent cathedral with three towers ; seventeen 

 parishes ; seven convents ; two priories ; two hospitals ; 

 and a castle. Bayeux was long celebrated for the 

 famous piece of tapestry executed by Matilda, the 

 wife of William the Conqueror, and representing the 

 history of the conquest of England. It was a linen 

 web, about 442 feet long, and two feet broad. En- 

 gravings of this curious piece of workmanship, which 

 has been lately transported to Paris, may be seen in 

 Montfaucon's Aritiq. Expitq. torn. i. and ii., and Du- 

 card's Anglo-Norman Antiquities. Bayeux carries 

 on a considerable trade in leather. Population 9970. 

 West Long. 42' 51", North Lat. 49 16' 30". (q) 

 BAYJAH, Baia, or Beja, the Vacca, Vagense, 

 and Baga of the ancients, is a town of Africa, of 

 great trade, in the kingdom of Tunis, situated on 

 the declivity of a hill on the small river Wedel Boule. 

 All the grain from the fertile plains of Busdera it 

 brought to this town, from which it is carried to 

 the different parts of the kingdom. A public fair it 

 held here, to which the wandering Arabs resort with 

 their flocks and manufactures. A citadel of no 

 strength is situated on the summit of the hill ; and 

 the ancient walls, with a few inscriptions, are still to 

 be seen. East Long. 9 25', North Lat. 36 42'. 

 See Shaw's Travels, p. 92. (_;') 



BAYLE, Peter, was born at Carla, in the 

 county of Foix, in the year 1617. He discovered, 

 from his infancy, great intellectual talents, an ipsa- 



