B E C 



EEC 



■which runs into the Severn, 3 nniks W. S.W. of Mont- 

 gomery. 



BECHER, John Joachim, in B'logMphy, an indiiRrioiis 

 and fuccefsfiil cultivator and improver of chcmiflry, and an 

 ingenious mechanift, was bom at Spires in 1645. After p.^ifi- 

 ing through the ufual prehminary Ihidies, he was made profef- 

 for of medicine at Mentz, and foon alter phyficiau to the elec- 

 tor there, and to the eledor of Bavaria. Acquiring confider' 

 yble repiitati()n in thefe honourable polls, he was called to Vieii- 

 ra by the emperor Leopold, where, befides attending to his 

 medical duties, he was inftrum.ental in forming a chamber of 

 commsrce, and in improving their manufaftures. He isalfo 

 fr.td to have projected the plan of an Eaft India company 

 there. But getting into difputes with fome of the officers 

 about the court, he loft his influence, and was obliged to 

 !?ave \'ienna. He then went to Mayenne, Munich, and 

 \\'urt7,burg. From Wurtzburg he was driven away, Hailer 

 fays, on being detected d\(l'ccting an human body, Vv'ith the 

 view piobably of profecuting fome chemical experiments on 

 fome of the humours, as he did not cuUivate anatomy. At 

 Haerlem, where he now went, he invented a machine for 

 throwing filk ; and, as he tells us in his " La folic fage, et 

 la folie fagtrfle," printed at Francfort 1682, made fome im- 

 crovementin the ait of printing ; in what it confilled, is net 

 however known. In the mean while he was not unmindful 

 of the principal objeft of his ihidies, the advancement of the 

 knowledge of chtmiftry, as appears bv a rapid fucceflion of 

 publications on that fubjeft. Getting again involved in dif- 

 putes with fome princ'pal perfons at Haerlem, and compelled 

 to quit that place, he came to Loudon, where he died in 

 1683. That he was of a turbulent and reftlefs difpofition is 

 evident by his frequent migrations, and by his conilantly 

 lofinT the favour and proteftion of his patrons, whom he had 

 made his debtors by his abilities and fervices. Bccher gave 

 a new turn to chemiftry, which he employed in analyfing 

 and finding o'jt the principles of natural bodies, and thence 

 laid the foundation of the great improvements that have been 

 made in that art. But he was fond of mylteries, and em- 

 ployed no fmall part of his time and labour in his attempts 

 to trarfmute metals. That he thought this practicable, ap- 

 pears by his " Expcrlmeiitum chymicum novum, quo arti- 

 ticialis ct inllantanea metallorum genei-atio et tranfmutatio 

 ad oculum demonltratur ;" and his " Thefes chymica;, 

 veritatem et poffibihtatem traufmutationis metallorum in 

 aurum evincentes :" but he was confcious of having done 

 more in the art than had ever been done before, and therefore 

 probably thought hardly any thing impoflible. He had 

 a projeci for an ir.iiverial language, by which all men might 

 make themfelves intelligible to each other : " Cliarafter pro 

 iiotitia linguarum univerfali." On this fi.hjecl he publiflied, 

 in 166 1, a Latin folio ; and as he was the lirll pcrfon who 

 gave a complete treatife on this art, fir.ce known under the 

 name of pafigraphv, he may therelore be confidercd as the 

 ■inventor. [St:e l/niver/tii Ch ar acter, and Pasigraph v.) 

 His principal works are his " Phyfica fubterranea," wliieli 

 has palftd through fevcral editions; " Inilitutiones chy- 

 ■micK," Mogunt. 4to. 1662 ; " Pariiaffus mcdicinahs," Ulm. 

 1663, fill. For the titles of the reft of his works, fee Eloy's 

 Diet. Hift. 



BRCHERF, Got,, in Geo^raphv, a lake of Caramania in 

 ■ Afif.tic Turkey, 40 miles W. of Co^iii. 



£ EC'HERELE, a town of France, Vi the department of 

 the Illc and Villaine, and chief place of a canton in the 

 dillrift of ^Tontfol•t, 3 Icacrues N. of Montfort. 



BECHHOFEN, a fmail market town of Germany, m 

 the principality of Onolzbacli, fcaud on tiie iiver Wicict, 

 and having s fmail caftlc. 



Vol, IV. 



BECHICS, formed of the Greek ^y"-, Qry^-, a covih, i« 

 the MitUria lilcuica, medicines proper for relieving cougln. 

 but thcfe being of various kinds, the general term may mif- 

 Icad, and is therefore improper. 



Ekchic Pills. See Pills. 



BECHIN, in Geography, a town of Bohemia, and capital 

 of a circle of the fame name. It is feated on tlie river Luir- 

 nice, and its citadel lies on a fteep rock. The circle was 

 mifcrably ravaged and laid wafte in the 30 years' war, and the 

 town was taken and burnt by general Bcquoi iu i6iy. 

 N.lat. 49'^ 14'. E. long. 15° 12'. 



BECHTOLSHEIM, a market town of Swabia, in the 

 Rhcnifh circle of nobility, belonging to four co-heirs, two of 

 whom are Roman Catholics, and two Lutherans. 



BECK, a little river or brook, called alfo rivulet or rill. 



According to Verftegan, the original word is behe, which 

 properly imports a fmall ftream of water ilfuiiig from fome 

 bourn or Ipring. 



Hence, hell-bechs , little brooks fo called, on account of 

 their ghafthncfs and depth, or rather from their being co- 

 vered, or much concealed. See Hell. 



Bech is chiefly uftd among us in the compofition of names 

 of places originally iituate on rivultts ; hence W elbeck, 

 Bournbeck, &c. 



The Germans ufe heck in the fame manner. 



Beck, David, in Bin^niphy, an eminent portrait painter, 

 was born at Amheim in Guelderland in 162 1, and became 

 a difciple of Vandyck, from whom he acqifired a fine man- 

 ner of pencilling, and that fweet ftyle of colouring in which. 

 this mailer excelled, together with that rapidity of execution 

 for which he was fo famou?. He was appointed portrait 

 painter to Chrittina queen of Sweden ; and by her recom- 

 mendation, moft of the iUuftrious perfons in Europe fat to 

 him for their pictures. In his perfon and behaviour he was 

 handfome, agreeable, and pohte ; and though he was much 

 favoured by his royal miftrefs, he wiftted to vifit his friend* 

 in Holland, veiy .'nuch againft the queen's inclination ; but 

 as ho foon after died in Holland, at the early age of 35, it 

 was fufpeiSted that he was poifoned. As he travelled through- 

 Germany, he was hiddenly taken ill at an inn, where lie 

 lodo-ed, and the iilnefs terminated in his apparent death, fu 

 that he was laid out as a corpfe. His valets, who attended, 

 regretted the event, and as they fat by his bed-!ide, relieved 

 their forrow by drinking freely. One of them, in a ftate of 

 intoxication, fuggefted, that their mafterwas fond of a glafs 

 while he was alive, and propofed to teftify their gratitude by 

 giving him a glafs, though he were dead. Accordingly, they 

 raifed his head, and endeavoured to put fome liquor into his 

 mouth. Upon tliis B-ck opened his eyes, and the fervant 

 compelled him to fwallow what remained in the glafs. The 

 painter revived, and, by due attention, not only efcaped inter. 

 ment, but perfectly recovered. In teftimony of his nurit as 

 an arlift, he received from different princes nine gold chains, 

 and fcveral medals of gold of a large fize. Pilkington. 



BECKEM, or Bkckum. in Geography, a fmall town of 

 Germany, in the circle of Wtftphali^ and biihopric of Mun- 

 fter, feated on the Werfe, 17 miles S. S. E. of j.Iunfter. In 

 1734 it was almoft wholly confumed by iire. 



BECKER, Daniel, in Bio^^r.jphy, was born atDantzicla, 

 in December 1594. He took his degree of doctor in medi- 

 cine at Konigfj. rg, and « as made profelTor of medicine there, 

 and rtttor of" the uiiverfity Becker was author of various 

 medical wcrks, but that which principaliv contributed to pi c- 

 fcrve his name, is his " Dc cultrivoro PrufTiaco, obfervati/> 

 et curatio lingularis," or the ey.traordinary cure of the Pnif- 

 fian knifc-fwallo.vtr ; firil pablilhcd in 163?!, and fi nee fre- 

 quently reprinted. Thii lubj-'cl of the liiflory u a young 

 M m.an. 



