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gcrrow- industry arc carried on in Borrowstoness. Of these, 



ttoue> the making of salt deserves first to be mentioned. 



' . This useful manufacture is carried on to a great cx- 



v _]^'^ i _, tent here and in the neighbouring village of Gvange- 



pans. It is a lucrative concern to the proprietors, and 



produces a considerable revenue to the crown. 



A pottery for manufacturing stone and earthen 

 ware was begun in the year 1784s and is still con- 

 tinued upon a pretty extensive plan. This branch 

 of business, however, is at present suffering, in com- 

 mon with others, under the pressure of the times. 

 In the year 1803 an English gentleman, who has de- 

 voted his attention to chemical studies, settled in 

 Borrowstoness, and carries on with considerable suc- 

 cess, the making of sal ammonaic. 



The manufacturing of soap is likewise a branch of 

 industry in the place. There is also, in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood, a distillery newly erected, upon 

 a pretty large scale, and at considerable expence. 



And at present, two capacious lime kilns are build- 

 ing at the west end of the town, for supplying the 

 farmers in the neighbourhood with lime for their land. 

 The stones are brought by sea from Dunbar ; and 

 the coal for burning them is got, at a reasonable rate, 

 from the Duke of Hamilton's coal works. 



Many of the women in the town and country 

 around, are employed in tambouring, and in the spin- 

 ning of silk sent from London to agents here, who 

 return the yarn to be manufactured into stockings. 



Two of the Lcith whale ships have fitted out here 

 for some years past, and return with their blubber, 

 which is manufactured into oil at a boiling house a 

 little above the town. 



As a natural consequence of the decay of trade, a 

 number of families have from time to time left the 

 place ; and, at present, there are several good houses, 

 besides some of an inferior sort, without inhabitants. 

 In these circumstances, it is not surprising that 

 the population since the year 1794, should have di- 

 > minished above 400. 



At that time it was 2613 



But at present ( 181 1 ) it does not exceed 2200 

 From the facts which have been mentioned, it ap- 

 pears that this place is in a very declining state. It 

 * is indeed hardly possible to conceive that the foreign 



trade and shipping can be less than they are. It is 

 more probable, were peace restored and a communi- 

 cation opened with the great canal, (as formerly un- 

 successfully attempted), Borrowstoness, from its ad- 

 vantageous situation and excellent harbour, might 

 still revive, and even surpass what it was at the time 

 of its greatest prosperity, (l. B.) 

 BORYSTHENES. See Dnieper. 

 BOSCAWEN'S Island, or Kootahe, the name 

 of an island in the Somh Pacific ocean, discovered by 

 Schouten and Le Maire in 1616. It is about three 

 miles in diameter, and is lofty and of a conical form. 

 It is populous and productive, and is situated in 

 W. Long. 173 48', S. Lat. 15 55'. See Intro- 

 duction to the Missionary Voyage, p. 67. ( ;') 



BOSCIA, a genus of plants of the class Tetran- 

 dria, and order Tngynia. See Botany. The same 

 name has been given by La Marck to another genus 

 of the class Dodecandria, and order Monogynia. (w) 



BOSCOVICH, Roger Joseph, a celebrated ma- Boicovitlv 

 thematirian and natural philosophir, was born at v' 

 Ragusa, a city of Dalmatia, and capital of the little 

 republic of the same name, on the 11th of May, 

 1711. His father, who was a respectable citizen of 

 Rag 10 fewer than nine children, of whom 



Joseph was the youngest. At an early age he was 

 sent to learn grammar and philosophy at the schools 

 of the Jesuits in Ragusa. The temper and abilities 

 which he displayed in the course of his education, 

 pointed him out as a young man who might one day 

 do honour to that able and enterprising association. 

 Influenced, perhaps, by the example of his brother, 

 who had entered the church, Boscovich applied for 

 admission into the order of the Jesuits ; and in the fif- 

 teenth year of his age, he went to Rome and took 

 the habit of the noviciate. In this new situation, his 

 attention was principally directed to the constitution 

 of the order, to the study of rhetoric and belles let- 

 tres, but particularly to the composition of Latin 

 poetry, in which he afterwards obtained such distin- 

 guished eminence. Having completed these prelimi- 

 nary studies, Boscovich was sent to the Jesuits col- 

 lege at Rome to study mathematics and philosophy. 

 These new branches of knowledge gradually gained 

 upon his affections, till he found himself completely 

 absorbed in the study of the sciences. With a ra- 

 pidity, unusual even in the history of genius, he made 

 himself master of all the branches of elementary geo- 

 metry ; and when his preceptors were no longer able 

 to assist him in his daring flight, he prosecuted with- 

 out any help, the higher geometry, till he was en- 

 abled to read the Principia of Newton. In conse- 

 quence of the reputation for mathematical knowledge 

 which he thus acquired, he was employed to give 

 private lessons in that science, and was exempted from 

 the drudgery of teaching grammar and the classics, 

 which all the noviciates of the order were obliged to 

 undergo for five years before they were admitted to 

 the study of theology. From the humble station 

 of a private teacher, Boscovich was promoted to the 

 professorship of mathematics at Rome, a situation 

 for which he was eminently qualified, from his ac- 

 quaintance with the works of the ancient geometers, 

 as well as from the happy talent which he possessed 

 for communicating his ideas to others. He was now 

 led, by the nature of his duties, to compose elemen- 

 tary treatises on arithmetic, algebra, geometry, tri- 

 gonometry, and conic sections, a task which he exe- 

 cuted with an ability and success which men of genius 

 seldom display in elementary compositions. His sys- 

 tem of geometry contained the leading truths of that 

 science in fourteen propositions ; and his treatise on 

 conic sections, which appeared in 1755, has been 

 much admired for the simplicity and elegance of its i 

 demonstrations. 



In the public disputations, the genius of Bosco- 

 vich was principally called into action. His love of 

 glory was highly inflamed by every accession to his 

 fame ; and he omitted no opportunity to gratify this 

 favourite propensity, in the only way in which it 

 ought to be gratified, by a zealous prosecution of 

 philosophical discovery, and|by an unremittisg assidui- 

 ty in promoting the happiness of his fellow creatures, 



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