B E R 



fonta'ns a few fmall places, as Benflieim, Oppenhcim, and 

 Wciulieim. It has in it a highway, commanding profpecls 

 of wide extent. The bed part of this continued chain of 

 hills, is from Heidelberg to BenOieim, where it is about 8 

 leagues long and 4 broad. On the right hand it is covered 

 with woods near the top, and nearer the plain with vineyards. 

 The level road is planted with rows of walnut trees, and on 

 each fide are fields and meadows that are very fertile. The 

 walnut trees of Bcrgllrafs and the Odemwald, yield a con- 

 derable profit to the country by the wood and the fruit ; and 

 the wine produced there h an inexhaudible fource of fupply to 

 the inhabitants. In one year they have exported 40,000 rough 

 made walnut tree mulket ftocks, from thefe parts to Saxony. 

 From the nuts they mike an excellent oil, which ferves the 

 common people inltead of butter, and the inferior fort is ufed 

 for lamps. The almond trade, of which great quantities grow 

 along the Bergilrafs, is very confidcrable. The warmth of 

 the climate, and goodnefs of the foil in the Bergilrafs, are 

 fuch, that after rye-liarveft the land may be fown a fecond 

 time with fpelt, buck-wheat, or oats, which are always 

 reaped the fame year. 



BERGUES, or Berg, orBERouEs St. Finox, 3. town of 

 France, and principal place ef a diftrift, in the department of 

 the North ; fo called from St. Vinox, a Flemilh lord, who 

 lived here. It is feated on the river Colme, at the union of 

 feveral canals, which pafsto Dunkirk, Gravelines, St. Omer, 

 Furnes, fee, and contains tv.-o parifhes. Berg was the lad 

 town of Weil Flanders which held out for the Dutch in the 

 l6th century. It was taken by the French in 1658, and 

 confirmed to them by the peace of the Pyrenees, in the fol- 

 lowing year. Since that time it has been fortified by new 

 works, and the country round it may be laid under water by 

 means of flulces ; I { league fouth of Dunkirk. It contains 

 5085 inhabitants, and in the canton are 14,026. The ter- 

 ritorial extent comprehends 130 kiliometres, and 13 com- 

 munes. N. lat. 50" 57'. E. long. 2° 35'. 



BERGUN, a fmall town of SwilTerland, in the country of 

 the Grifons, near a river which flows from a lake of the 

 fame name, and difcharges itfelf into the Albula. It lies be- 

 tween the Albula and the Inn, about 6 miles from the latter, 

 and 1 2 miles from the former. N.lat. 46°3 1'. E.long. 3"^ 55'. 



BERGWERBEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of 

 Upper Saxony, 2 miles north of Weiflenftls. 



BERGWERK, a town of Hungary, 13 miles weil of 

 Stcinam. 



BERG-2ABERN, a town of Germany, in the circle of 

 the Upper Rhine, and duchy of Deux Fonts, feated on the 

 Erlbach, 30 miles fouth-eaft of Deux Fonts. By the new 

 arrangement of the French, it is the chief place of a canton 

 in the department of the Lower R-hine, containing 1947 in- 

 habitants. The canton has 9,005 ; its extent is 150 kilio- 

 metres, and the number of communes is 15. N. lat. 49° 7'. 

 E. Wg. 7- 54'. 



BtRIA, Berie, Berry, in Mlddk j^ge JVntcrs, denotes 

 a large open field ; and the cities and towns of England, 

 which end with that word, are built in plain and open places, 

 and do not derive their names from boroughs, as fir Henry 

 Spelman imagines. That the word " berie," which has been 

 confounded with " bury,'' and " borough," is a flat wide 

 campaign, is proved from fufiicient authorities, by the learned 

 Du Frtlne, who obfervcs, that *' Beria Sti. Edmundi," men- 

 tioned by Matt. Paris, fub ann. 1 1 74, is not to be taken for 

 the town, but for the adjoining plain. Befides, many flat 

 wide meads, and other open grounds, are called by the 

 names of " beries," and " berry-fields ;" thus the fpacious 

 meadow between Oxford and liley was in the reign of king 

 Athelflan called " Eery ;" and the largeft. pafiure ground in 

 Qiiarendnn in the county of Buckingham is known by the 



Vol. IV. 



B E R 



name of " Beryfield." And though thefe meads hare been 

 interpreted demefne, or manor meadows, yet they were in 

 reality any fiat or open meadows, that lay adjoining to any 

 vill or farm. (Cowcl.) Hence alfo " berras alTariare" Cg- 

 nifies to dry or plough up heaths and downs ; and hence our 

 warrens are called " coney-berries." 



BERIBERIA, or Beriberi, in Medicine, a barbarous 

 name, employed to denote a fpecies of palfy, frequent in the 

 Eafl Indies. It is tailed by fome Britirti authors, v.ho have 

 written on the difeafcs of hot climates, the barbiers. Accord- 

 ing to Bontiua, it comes on with great wearinefs, trembling, 

 numbnefs, and peculiar tingling feni'ation of the limbs, fo that 

 the patient is rendered incapable of walking, orotherwife ufing 

 them. The upper as well as lower limbs are often alfcfted. 

 Sometimes it is accompanied vsith a faultering of fpeech. It» 

 attack is generally fudden. Thofe whom it afflidls are chiefly 

 the lower clafs of people, who imprudently get chilled after 

 being heated, by drinking cold water ; but more efpecially 

 by fleeping in the night air, after great fatigue or intoxication. 

 The remedies againfl this obftinate complaint are ftrong 

 friftions, aromatic fomentations, warm-bathing, and fudorific 

 decoftions. According to Bontius, the mod efiicaciouj 

 topical application is a fpecie: of naphtha, or petroleum, 

 from Sumatra, ufed as a liniment. The natives of India 

 (fays Dr. Lind) have a method of putting the patient into 

 a hole dug into the ground, and covering him with fand up 

 to his neck ; tliis is done in the middle of the day, and he re- 

 mains there as long as he can bear the heat of the fand, which 

 is confiderable. Camphire, and a dccoftion of Guaic wood, 

 have fometimcs produced a good efftCt ; alfo the exprefied 

 bitter oil of the mergoofe, an Indian plant. But notwith- 

 ftanding the ufeoflhe mod powerful nervous medicines, the 

 patient generally continues paralytic for fome months, unlef« 

 he is removed into another air. 



On the Malabar coafi (continues the lad mentioned author) 

 this dileafe is mod violent and frequent, and attacks both 

 natives and drangers, cfpecially in the months of December, 

 January, February, and March. During thefe month?, the 

 land winds blow every morning about fun-rife, from the 

 neighbouring mountains, with remarkable coolnefs ; and fuch 

 as, being tempted by the ferenity of the feafon, fltep txpofcd 

 to thefe winds, are often fuddenly feized with a very painful 

 fenfation in the periodeum of the arms and legs. In perfonj 

 of a good conditution, this pain abates as the day advances, 

 and as the air becomes warmer ; but in others it continues for 

 a confiderable time, attended with a weaknefs of the knees, 

 and uneafy fenfations in the calves of the legs and foles of tl.c 

 feet, efpecially on any attempt to walk. This is fcnrcely ever 

 cured by medicine, till after the Ikifting of the monfoon, un- 

 lefs the patients can be moved to the coad of Coromandel, or 

 to any place to the eaftward of the Balagat mountains, where, 

 by the change of air, they quickly recover. See B 'ntius de 

 Med.Indorum ; and Lind on Difeafes incidental to Europeaas 

 in Hot Climates. 



BERICARIA. SeeBERCARiA. 



BERIEZEN, in Geography. Sec BeresinA. 



BERIGAN, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Algiers, 

 and capital of the country of Beni-Mezzab. N. lat. 32° 15'' 

 E.long. z° 59'. 



BERINBAL, a town of Egypt, on the well branch of the 

 Nile, 7 miles S.E. of Rofetta. 



BERING, in Biography and Geography. See Beerinc. 



BERINGEN, in Geography, a town of Germany, in the 

 circle of Wedphaha, and bifhopric of Liege, 1 8 miles N. W. 

 of Maedricht. 



BERINGOU. SeeBEERiNG'j^a/i</. 



BERINSCHUL, a rocky ifland in the Mcdiftrranean, 

 near the coad of Algiers. 



Ff BERI3A. 



