BER 



BER 



is perceptible in all ages ; in flowers only 

 so far expanded as to admit a bristle ; and 

 in old flowers ready to fall off. If the 

 germ be cut off, the filaments will still 

 contract, and nothing 1 being in their way, 

 will bend over quite to the opposite side 

 of the flower. After irritation, the sta- 

 mens will return to their original place. 

 On being touched,they will contract with 

 the same facility as before; and this may 

 be repeated three or four times. The 

 purpose which this contrivance of nature 

 answers is evident. In the original posi- 

 tion of the stamens, the anthers are shel- 

 tered from rain by the concavity of the 

 petals. Thus probably they remain, till 

 some insect coming to extract honey from 

 the base of the flower, thrusts itself be- 

 tween the filaments, and almost unavoid- 

 ably touches them in the most irritable 

 part : thus the impregnation of the germ 

 is performed ; and as it is chiefly in fine 

 sunny weather that insects are on the 

 wing, the pollen is also in such weather 

 most fit for the purpose of impregnation. 



BERCKHEYA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Syngenesia Frustranea class and or- 

 der. Receptacle chaffy ; seeds hairy, 

 crowned with chaff; calyx imbricate ; 

 florets of the ray hermaphrodite, with the 

 stamina castrate. There are more than 

 20 species, natives of the Cape. 



BEREANS, in church history, a sect of 

 Christians who profess to follow the ex- 

 ample of the ancient Bereans, in building 

 their faith and practice upon the scrip- 

 tures alone, without regard to any human 

 authority whatever. The founder of this 

 sect was Mr. Barclay, a Scotch clergy- 

 man. 



BERGAMOT, the name of a fragrant 

 essence, extracted from a fruit which is 

 produced by ingrafting a branch of a le- 

 mon-tree upon the stock of a bergamot 

 pear. 



BERGERA, in botany, so named from 

 Berger, professor of Kiel, a genus of the 

 Decandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Essential character : calyx five-parted ; 

 petals five ; berry sub-globular, one-cell- 

 ed, with two seeds. There is but one 

 species, viz. B koenigii. This is a very 

 leafy tree, with the bark of alder. It is a 

 native of the East Indies. 



BERGIA, in botany, from Peter Jonas 

 Bergius, professor of natural history at 

 Stockholm, a genus of the Decandria Pen- 

 tagynia class and order. Natural order 

 of Succulents. CuryophyHeae, Juss. Es- 

 sential character ; calyx five-parted ; pe- 

 '-'ve; capsule one, globular with swelj- 





ings, five-celled, five-valved ; valves re- 

 sembling petals; seeds very many. There 

 are two species; viz. B. capensis, and B. 

 glomerata: the stem of the former is ex- 

 tremely simple, half a foot high, the thick- 

 ness of a pigeon's quill, erect, smooth, 

 rather succulent. It is a native of Tran- 

 quebar, in the East Indies, and therefore 

 is misnamed capensis. The valves of the 

 capsule, continuing after it is ripe, forma 

 kind of fine petalled wheel-shaped flower. 

 The other spec'esis found at the Cape. 



BERGSE1FE, in mineralogy, mountain 

 soap, is of a brownish colour, and is found 

 in mass, and disseminated. It is dull in- 

 ternally, and its fracture is fine-earthy, 

 passing into flat conchoidal. It is opa- 

 que, does not stain the fingers, gives a re- 

 sinous streak, is very soft, adheres pow- 

 erfully to the tongue, and is light. It is 

 found in rocks in Poland and Bohemia, 

 where it is used for washing linen, and in 

 the Isle of Skye in Scotland. 



BERKELEY (GEORGE) the virtuous 

 and learned bishop of Cloyne in Ireland, 

 was born in that kingdom, at Kilcrin, the 

 12th of March, 1684'. After receiving t:-e 

 first part of his education at Kilkenny 

 school, he was admitted a pensioner of 

 Trinity College, Dublin, at 15 years old ; 

 and chosen fellow of that college in 

 1707. 



The first public proof he gave of his li- 

 terary abilities was, " Arithmeticaabsque 

 Algebra aut Euclide demonstrata;" which, 

 from the preface, it appears he wrote be- 

 fore he was 20 years old, though he did 

 not publish it till 1707. It is followed by 

 a mathematical miscellany, containing- ob- 

 servations and theorems inscribed to his 

 pupil Samuel Molineux. 



In 1709 came out the " Theory of Vi- 

 sion;" which, of all his works, it seems, 

 does the greatest honour to his sagacity ; 

 be*ing, it has been observed, the first at- 

 tempt that ever was made, to distinguish 

 the immediate and natural objects of sight 

 from the conclusions we have been ac- 

 customed from infancy to draw from 

 them. The boundary is here traced out 

 between the ideas of sight and touch ; 

 and it is shewn, that though habit hath so 

 connected these two classes of ideas in 

 the mind, that they are not without a 

 strong effort to be separated from each 

 other, yet originally they have no such 

 connection; insomuch, that a person born 

 blind, and suddenly made to see, would 

 at first be utterly unable to tell how any 

 object that affected his sight would affect 

 his touch ; and particularly would not 

 from sight receive any idea of distance, 



