BOR 



71S 



BOR 



The town and territory of Bopal are occupied 

 by a colony of Patans, to whom tlicy were assigned 

 by Aureng-Zebe. The present Nawab, Mohammed 

 Hyat, a man about sixty years of age, had, from in- 

 dolence, love of pleasure, want of capacity, or devo- 

 tion, resigned the whole administration into the hands 

 of his dewan, who was born a Bramin, but purchased, 

 when a child, by the Nawab, and educated in the 

 Mussulman faith. 



The revenue of Bopal is estimated at ten or 

 twelve lacks of rupees. It does not pay any regular 

 tribute to the Mahrattas ; but, from time to time, a 

 handsome present is given to conciliate their friend- 

 ship. The people seem to be happy under the pre- 

 sent government ; and the dewan, by his hospitality, 

 and the protection afforded to strangers, had induced 

 the caravans, and travellers in general, to take this 

 road between the Deccan and Hindostan." East 

 Long. 77 28', North Lat. 25 W. See Asiatic 

 Researches, vol. i. p. 31, 32. (j) 



BORACIC Acid. See Chemistry. 



BORACITE. See Oryctognosy. 



BORAGO, a genus of plants of the class Pentan- 

 dria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (hj) 



BORASSUS, a genus of plants of the class Dioe- 

 cia, and order Hcxandria. See Botany, (u>) 



BORAX. See Chemistry. 



BORBONIA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Diadelphia, and order Decandria. See Botany, 

 (id) 



BORDA, John Charles, a celebrated French 

 mathematician and natural philosopher, was born at 

 Dax, in the department of the Landes, on the 4th 

 of May 1733. His mother was Maria Theresa de 

 Lacroix, and his father was John Anthony Borda, 

 whose ancestors had acquired considerable distinction 

 in the French army. 



The subject of the following article began his stu- 

 dies in the college of the Barnabites at Dax, where 

 he gave early indications of his future genius. Ha- 

 ving remained a considerable time at this seminary, 

 he was put under the charge of the Jesuits of La 

 Fleche ; and such was his ardour for study, and his 

 superiority of talents, that he very frequently carried 

 off the prizes which were held out as the reward of 

 youthful genius. The Jesuits were not blind to the 

 greatness of his talents, and exerted their utmost 

 endeavours to press him into their order ; but his at- 

 tachment to geometry was too powerful to be weak- 

 ened by any allurements which the Jesuits could hold 

 out. 



The ardour for mathematical research which Bor- 

 da so early displayed, received an unfortunate check 

 from his father, who was hostile to the prosecution 

 of such unprofitable studies. Borda saw the oppo- 

 sition with which he was to be assailed, and endea- 

 voured to soften it by proposing to enter into the en- 

 gineer service of the army, where the objects of his 

 profession would necessarily require a knowledge of 

 geometry and physics. His father, however, having 

 eleven children, and being obliged to support two of 

 his sons who were already in the army, was anxious 

 that Charles should look forward to some situation 

 in the magistracy, which might be obtained without 

 much expense and trouble. To these views of 'hw 



father Borda reluctantly submitted ; but, after ha- 

 ving thus lost some of the most precious years of his 

 youth, a friar, who was a particular friend of his fa- 

 ther, obtained, by earnest solicitation, the repeal of a 

 sentence which had condemned to perpetual inactivity 

 the genius and talents of his son. 



When every restraint was removed, Borda devoted 

 himself to his favourite science ; and, in the year 

 1753, when he was only twenty years of age, he was 

 thought worthy of being introduced to the celebra- 

 ted D'Alembert. Borda was at this time about to 

 enter into the engineer service, which would have 

 carried him to a distance from Paris; but D'Alem- 

 bert, who felt an interest in his future progress, wrote 

 to his friends, dissuading them from such a step, and 

 advising him to remain in the capital, and look for. 

 ward to a situation in the academy. Influenced by 

 this advice, Borda entered the light horse, and con- 

 tinuing his mathematical studies, he became professor 

 to his comrades. 



In 1756, he laid before the academy a memoir on 

 the motion of projectiles, which was particularly 

 mentioned in the history of its proceedings ; and in 

 the same year he was appointed an associate of the 

 academy. 



In the following year he was called into active ser- 

 vice, and was present at the battle of Hastembeck, 

 on the 26th July 1757, as aid-de-camp to M. de 

 Manllebois. He willingly returned, however, from a 

 species of duty which interrupted the progress of his 

 studies ; and upon his arrival at Paris, he became a 

 candidate for a situation in the engineer service ; and 

 such was the estimation in which his talents were 

 held, that he was received without examination, and 

 immediately employed as an inspector of the dock- 

 yards. 



This new appointment was particularly favourable 

 for calling into action the peculiar talents of Borda. 

 It inspired him with a fondness for every thing that 

 related to the naval service ; and, what seldom hap- 

 pens to the man of genius, he found himself in a si- 

 tuation in which he was led both by his profession 

 and by his inclination to the same line of study. 



The first subject of his research was an exami- 

 nation of the theories of the resistance of fluids, a 

 subject intimately connected with the advancement 

 and perfection of naval architecture. The experi- 

 ments upon this subject made by the Academy of 

 Sciences, were by no means fitted to determine the 

 resistance of bodies that were wholly immersed in the 

 fluid. Borda, however, employed a method which 

 was susceptible of great accuracy, and had also the 

 advantage of ascertaining accurately the velocity of 

 the motion. The surfaces upon which his experi- 

 ments were made were of various forms, and the expe- 

 riments were made both in air and water. The results 

 of these experiments are extremely interesting, and 

 are given at great length in the Memoirs of the Aca- 

 demy for 1763 and 1767. We are compelled, how- 

 ever, to bay, that the apparatus employed by Borda 

 was not of his invention. A machine of the same 

 kind had been used some time before by our inge- 

 nious countryman, Benjamin Robins, in his admira- 

 ble experiments on the resistance of air. 



We are indebted to Borda likewise for many inge. 



Borda. 



