BEZ 



491 



Be*im published at Paris in 1597, under the title of Theod. 

 II Bezic Pocmala Varia. See Anton. Fayus De Vila 



" ct Obitu Theod. Bezic ; and Bayle's Did. (*) 



BEZ1ERS, the Biterrce of the ancients, a city of 

 France, in the department of Heranlt, beautifully 

 situated on a declivity near the junction of the great 

 south canal and the river Oibe. The objects chiefly 

 deserving of notice are its cathedral ; its college, 

 founded in 1599; its academy of sciences and belles 

 lettrcs ; its ancient wall, flanked with old towers and 

 bastions ; and the remains of a Roman amphitheatre. 

 Its principal manufactures are cloth, fustians, silk 

 stuffs, brandy, and distilled spirit of wine. Beziers 

 was once a populous and flourishing city ; but in 

 1209, during the crusade against the Albigenses, no 

 fewer than 50,000 of its inhabitants were put to the 

 sword. Within sight of Beziers there are eight sluices 

 of the superb canal already mentioned, which form a 

 cascade 1 56 toises long, with a declivity of 1 1 toises. 

 The soil around Beziers is the best in the depart- 

 ment. Population 11,211. E. Long. 3 12' X',", 

 N. Lat. 43 20' 41". () 



BEZOAR, the name of a calcareous concretion 

 found in the stomach of a species of goat, or, accord- 

 ing to others, in individuals of the antelope genus. 

 It derives its name from the Persian pazar, a goat, 

 or from the Persian pazachar, from pa, against, and 

 zachar, a poison, the bezoar stone having long been 

 regarded as an antidote against poison, and, in short, 

 as an universal medicine. Dignified with such ines- 

 timable virtues, bezoar stones, when only an ounce 

 in weight, have sometimes been sold in India for 100 

 livres ; and their value increased with their magnitude, 

 according to a very rapid progression. In the centre 

 of the oriental bezoar, which is composed of smooth 

 concentric lamina, of an olive colour, is generally 

 found, in a nucleus, pieces of straw or hay, small 

 stones, hard seeds, &c. but most commonly the pod 

 of a particular kind of fruit. 



The occidental bezoar is more rough in its surface 

 than the oriental, and has sometimes been found in 

 the camel tribe. The specific gravity of the oriental 

 bezoar is 1.666, and that of the occidental 2.233. (h) 



BEZOUT, Stephen, a celebrated French ma- 

 thematician, was born at Nemours, in the department 

 of the Seine and Marne, on the 19th of March 1730. 

 His attention was accidentally directed to the study 

 of mathematics, by some elementary works on geo- 

 metry which fell into his hands, and by the perusal of 

 Fontenelle's Lives of the Academicians, from which 

 he saw, that tranquillity and glory were the high re- 

 wards of a successful study of the sciences. The 

 youthful ardour which was thus inspired was at first 

 checked by the opposition of his father ; but every 

 restraint was found to oe unavailing, and Bezout was 

 at length permitted to give his undivided attention to 

 the study of geometry. 



Before he had reached his 28th year, he presented 

 to the Academy of Sciences two memoirs on the in- 

 tegral calculus, in consequence of which he was ap- 

 pointed adjunct mechanic on the 8th of April 1758. 

 In the first of these memoirs he determined the form 

 of similar functions, in which the variable quantities 

 are connected by an equation, and which, multiplied 

 by constant factors, and added together, become al- 



BEZ 



gebraically rcctifiable ; and in the second memoir he Bezout. 

 gave the general equation of rcctifiable curves. By 

 these memoirs the fame of Bezout was so much ex- 

 tended, that in the year 1763, the Duke de Choiseul 

 appointed him examiner to the marine, and requested 

 him to draw up a course of mathematics for the use 

 of those destined for the navy. In 1768, he was 

 chosen associate to the Academy of Sciences, and 

 member of the Marine Academy ; and upon the 

 death of Camus, he succeeded him as examiner to the 

 royal corps of artillery. In 1779, he published his 

 General Theory of Equations ; a work on which he 

 had laboured with unremitting assiduity since the 

 year 1762. During these researches, Bezout ob- 

 tained a solution of a particular class of equations of 

 all degrees. This method, which was entirely new, 

 was general for equations of the third and fourth or- 

 der, and became particular in equations of the fifth 

 degree. By means of several new theorems on the 

 calculus of finite differences, he discovered a general 

 method for the extermination of unknown quantities, 

 by which he was enabled to avoid the tedious and 

 complicated calculations which would otherwise have 

 been necessary, and to determine beforehand the form 

 and degree of the final equation. His Course of Ma- 

 thematics for the Marine was completed in 6 vols 

 8vo in 1761 ; and in 1770, he finished his Course for 

 the Corps of Artillery, in 4- vols 8vo. These ele- 

 mentary works have passed through several editions, 

 and have been used in a great number of seminaries 

 as peculiarly adapted for initiating the young in the 

 elements of mathematics. The private studies of 

 Bezout were greatly interrupted by the nature of his 

 public duties. The examination of the marine and 

 artillery schools, and the frequent journies which he 

 was on this account compelled to take, occupied 

 much of his time ; but harassing as these duties must 

 have been to a man of genius, they were discharged 

 by Bezout with the most unremitting assiduity, and 

 with the utmost tenderness and affection for his pu- 

 pils. During an examination at Toulon, two of his 

 pupils were prevented by the small-pox from attend- 

 ing it publicly. In' consequence of this misfortune, 

 their progress would have been retarded a whole year, 

 had not Bezout, at the risk of catching the infection, 

 examined them in their own apartments. Though 

 the attention of this able writer was chiefly directed 

 to geometry, he found leisure to study mineralogy 

 and several branches of physics. He was the first 

 who gave any account of the crystallized stones of 

 Fontainbleau, of which more full and recent accounts 

 have been given by M. de Lasonne. 



Bezout married when he was very young, and was 

 the father of a family whom he rendered happy by 

 his domestic virtues. Fond of retirement and stu- 

 dy, his manners were reserved and cold, and his con- 

 versation marked by no uncommon qualities j but the 

 warmth and sensibility of his heart were apparent to 

 those who knew him well, and the natural sagacity 

 and extensive knowledge which he possessed were 

 displayed only to his particular friends. The regu- 

 lar and abstemious life which he led, held out to 

 him the prospect of a long life ; but the fatigues of 

 his public duties, the severity of his private studies, 

 and the bitterness of personal chagrins, triumphed 



