BOU 



BOW 



lines or two long ranges of parallel trees 

 appear: his experiments on the famous 

 reciprocation of the pendulum; and those 

 upon the manner of measuring the force 

 of the light, &c. &c. 



The close application which Bouguer 

 gave to study undermined his health, and 

 terminated his life the 15th of August, 

 1758, at 60 years of age. His chief works, 

 that have been published, are,l. " The Fi- 

 gure of the Earth, determined by the Ob- 

 servations made in South America ;" 

 1749, in 4to. 2. " Treatise on Naviga- 

 tion and Pilotage ;" Paris, 1752, in 4to. 

 This work has been abridged by M. La 

 Caille, in one volume, 8vo. 1768. 3. " A 

 Treatise on Ships, their Construction and 

 Motions ;" in 4to. 1756. 4. " An Opt cal 

 Treatise on the Gradation of Light;" first 

 in 1729 ; then a new edition in 1760, in 

 4to. and a great number of papers insert- 

 ed in the Memoirs of the Academy. 



BOUNTY, a bounty in political econo- 

 my, is a sum of money paid by the state 

 for the raising or the exporting of some 

 species of rude produce or manufacture. 

 In this country every person who raises 

 a certain quantity of flax is entitled to a 

 bounty ; and when corn is below a cer- 

 tain price, a bounty of so much per bushel 

 is paid on its exportation. 



The intention of bounties is to encou- 

 rage the production of those articles on 

 which they are paid,by securing a profit- 

 able return to the producer. 



The effect of a bounty on the produc- 

 tion of any article is, to render it cheaper 

 in the home market Thus, if the fair or 

 customary profit on the capital employed 

 be 10 per cent, and the bounty amount 

 to 5 per cent, on the capital, it is evident 

 the grower can afford to sell the article 

 5 per cent cheaper than he otherwise 

 could. 



The effect of a bounty on the exporta- 

 tion of any article is, to render it clearer 

 in the home market for by means of it 

 the surplus of the home market can be 

 removed on easier terms than could other- 

 wise be possible to the foreign market, 

 and thus a reduction of price is prevent- 

 ed. 



But if the redundance of the home mar- 

 ket coidd not be exported, and the price 

 consequently was reduced, production 

 would be discouraged, and the supply 

 being more scanty, the price might be as 

 high or higher than it is rendered by the 

 bounty. For a more particular inquiry 

 into the effects of a bounty on exporta- 

 tion, see CORN LAWS. 



The objection to all bounties is the fol- 



ine c 



lowing: "that every branch of trade in 

 which the merchant can sell his goods 

 for a price wnich replaces to him, with, 

 the ordinary profits of stock, the whole 

 capital employed in preparing and send- 

 ing them to market, can be carried on 

 without a bounty. Every such branch is 

 evidently upon a level with all the other 

 branches of trade which are carried on 

 without bounties, and cannot therefore 

 require one more than they. Those trades 

 only require bounties, in which the mer- 

 chant is obliged to sell his goods for a 

 price which does not replace to him his 

 capital, together with the ordinary profit, 

 or in which he is obliged to sell them for 

 less than it really costs him to send them 

 to market. The bounty is given in order 

 to make up this loss, and to encourage 

 him to continue, or perhaps to begin a 

 trade, of which the expense is supposed 

 to be greater than the returns, of which 

 every operation eats up a part of the ca- 

 pital employed in it, and which is ot such 

 a nature, that, if all other trades resem- 

 bled it, there would soon be no capital 

 left in the country. See DRAWBACK, 

 PREMIUM. 



BOW, a weapon of offence made of 

 steel, wood, horn, or other elastic mat- 

 ter, which, after being bent by means of 

 a string fastened to its two ends, in re- 

 turning to its natural state, throws out 

 an arrow with prodigious force. 



The use of the bow is, without all 

 doubt, of the earliest antiquity. It has 

 likewise been the most universal of all 

 weapons, having obtained among the most 

 barbarous and remote people, who had 

 the least communication with the rest of 

 mankind. 



The figure of the bow is pretty much 

 the same in all countries where it has 

 been used ; for it has generally two in- 

 flexions or bendings, between'which, in 

 the place where the arrow is drawn, is a 

 right line. The Grecian bow was in the 

 shape of a s, of which form we meet with 

 many, and generally adorned with gold 

 or silver. The Scythian bow was distin- 

 guished from the "bows of Greece and 

 other nations by its incurvation, which 

 was so great, as to form an half-moon or 

 semicircle. 



The matter of which bows were made, 

 as well as their size, differed in different 

 countries. The Persians had very great 

 bows made of reeds ; and the Indians had 

 also, not only arrows, but bows made of 

 the reeds or canes of that country ; the 

 Lycian bows were made of the cornel 

 tree ; and those of the ^Ethiopians, which 





