B I E 



■fcenes." " Roulteau occupied an apartment in the farm- 

 houfe, the only dwelling in the ifland. He lived with the 

 ileward and his family, who are the prefeiit inhabitants 

 (1785). The woman informed me, that he paid for his 

 board and lodgings 40 (hillings a month ; that he ufually 

 rofe at iix, dined with the family at twelve, and after a 

 ■flight flipper retired to rell at nine. She added, he was ex- 

 tremely cheaifiil and agrei-able ; converfed with the family 

 with the greateit eafe and complacency, and conformed to 

 ■ their hours and manner of living ; he amufed himfelf entirely 

 in wai'.ilering about the woods, and fearching for plants, 

 ■which he iifed to explain to them with lingular fatisfadion. 

 RonfTcau mentions his refidence in this delightful illand with 

 the highell terms of rapture, and with his ufual pronenefs to 

 exaggeration." " I was permitted," fays he, " to remain 

 onlv two months in this delightful idand ; but 1 could have 

 puffed there two years, two centuries, ail eternity, without 

 futfcrlng a moment's ennui, althoiiirh my whole fociety con- 

 iilltd of the lleward and family, good, but phiin people. I 

 eilecm thofe two montlis the molt happy period of my life; 

 and fo happy, that I could have pafled my whole exillence 

 without even a momentary wilh tor another litu^ion." 

 Coxe's Travels in Switzerland, &c. vol. ii. p. 152, Sic. 



BIENNIAL Plants, in Botany, denote inch, as the 

 epithet imports, that are of two years' duration. Of this 

 tribe there are numerous plants, which, being railed one 

 year from feed, generally attain perfeflion in the fame year, 

 or within about twelve months, (hooting up rtalks, pro- 

 ducing flower.^, and perfecting feeds in t!ie following fpring 

 or fummer; and foon after commonly pcriih, or apparently 

 decay and dwindle, fo that they foon die off. Biennials 

 are, therefore, always in their prime the iirft or fecond fum- 

 mer. They conlill both of efculent and flower plants. 

 Thofe of the former fort are the cabbage, favoy, carrot, 

 parfnip, beet, onion, leek, &c. ; and thofe of the latter are 

 the Canterbury bell, French honey-fuckle, wall-flower, Itock- 

 jnly-flower, fweet-william, Chinapink, common-pink, matted- 

 pink, carnation, fcabions, holly-hock, tree-mallow, vervain- 

 mallow, tree-primrofe, honefty, or moon-wort, &c. 



BIENTINA, in Geography, 3 town of Italy, in the 

 duchy of Tufcany, on the ilde of a lake, called the " lake 

 of Bientina," or the " lake of SefFo ;" which lake is ahoiit 

 6 miles long, and 5 wide ; 12 miles eaft of Pifa, and 28 

 well of Florence. The territory of Bientina lies in the 

 middle of a marlh, in the centre of a valley, not very fpa- 

 ciou.'-, bounded by the high mountains of Pifa, and by 

 thofe of Lucca and Valdniievole, which interrupt the wind, 

 and prevent a renewal of air ; and it is, therefore, as one 

 would imagine by its fituation, peculiarly unwliolefome 

 and unfavourable for inhabitants. It is neverthclefs very po- 

 pulous, and fufliciently healthful even in fummer. The 

 principal canfes of this ialubrity are faid to be, the numer- 

 ous population, the extenfive commerce, and the extreme 

 attention tliat is paid to the continual difcharge of the rain- 

 waters, but, above all, the advantage of an abundant fpring, 

 which dcfcends from the hills of St. Colonibe, by means of 

 long aquedufts, and fupplies the inhabitants with excellent 

 water. 'The fituation of Bientina, therefore, dul'V examined, 

 Jhews how far the art of man is capable of rendering habita- 

 ble, and even falnbrious, places naturally pellilential. 



BIENVILLE, D. T. De, M.D. in Biography, born 

 in France, praftifed medicine many years at the Hague, and is 

 only known by the following works, which bear liis name : 

 *' La Nymphomanie, ou Traite de la fureur uterine," Amli. 

 1771, 8vo. ; " Rechcrchts theoriques tt pratiques fur la 

 Petite verole," 1772, 8vo. " Traite des errcurs populaires, 

 fur la fante," La Hague, 1775, 8vo. 



BIER, a kind of wooden carriage, on which the bodies 



B I E 



of the dead are borne to their grave. The word comes from 

 the French bicre, which fignities the fame. It is called in 

 Latin feretrum, a firendo. Among the Romans the com- 

 mon bier, upon which the poorer foit were carried, was 

 caXliA jfandapiia; that ufed for the richer fort, leclica, leciica 

 funthrh, fom.etimes kclus. The former was only a fort of 

 wooden chtll, •utl'ts area, which was burnt with the body : 

 the latter was enriched and gilded for pomp. It was car- 

 ried bare, or uncovered, when the perfon died a natural and 

 eafy death ; when he was much disfigured or diftorted, it 

 was veiled or covered over. 



BiEB, is more particularly ufed for that on which the 

 bodies of faints are placed in the church to reft, and expofed 

 to the veneration of the devout. This was often enriched 

 with gold, filver, and precious (lones ; and furni(hed temp- 

 tations, in many mftanccs, to pillage. 



Bl E RG, in Gengraphy, a herred, or diftricl, of the diocefe 

 of Funen in Denmark, including 12 churches, and feveral 

 noblemen's feats. 



BIERLING, G.\SPAN Theophilus, in Biography, 

 took his degree of doftor in medicine at Padua, about the 

 middle of the 17th century, whence he returned to Ma«rde- 

 bu'ig, his native tity, where he was in confiderable eftima- 

 tion. He publilhed " Adverfariorum curioforum Centuria 

 prima," June, 1^79, 4to. He delcribes the efifefts of eat- 

 ing the hyofcyamus (henbane,) drowfinefs, and delirium, 

 which are cured, he fays, by taking the extracl of caftor, 

 and the effefts from the bite of a viper, cured by eating the 

 flcfh of one of thofe reptiles. He had the merit of recom- 

 mending the cool treatment, and even bleeding, in the fmall- 

 pox, contrary to the then generally received opinion. For 

 the remainder of his works, which are numerous, but in 

 httle eftimation ; fee Haller's Bib. Med. Elog. Did. Hill. 

 BIERVLIET, in Geography, a fmall town of Flanders, 

 on the. well fide of the Scheldt, which has been much re- 

 duced by frequent inundations, and the fortifications of 

 which were deftroyed in 1688. William Beukeljzoon, or 

 as others have written his name, Beukelings, who taught 

 the Dutch the art of curing herrings, was a native of this 

 place, and died here in 1397. The town is 7 leagues north 

 of Ghent, and 4 E. N. E. of Sluys. N. lat. 51° 25'. E. 

 long, f 42'. 



BIESBOS, a large lake in the Merwe, between Dort 

 and Gertrudenburg, formed by the irruption of the bank* 

 or dikes. 



r>lESE, a river of Germany, which rifes 8 miles fouth- 

 wefl from Stendal, in the Old Mark of Brandenburg, and 

 purfning its courfe to Seehaufen, changes its name to Aland. 

 BIESENTHAL, a town of Germany, in the circle of 

 Upper Saxony, and middle Mark of Brandenburg, 20 miles 

 N. E. of Berhn. 



BIESIUS, Nicholas, \n Biography, born at Ghent in 

 Flanderp, March 27, 1516, (ludieel medicine at Louvain ; 

 thence he went to Valencia in Spain, and afterward to Si- 

 enna, in Italy, where he took his degree of doclor. Re- 

 turning to Louvain he was advanced to the chair of profef- 

 for iu medicine, which he filled with credit feveral years, 

 expounding to his pupils, as the cullom then was, the works 

 of Galen. He was thence called by the emperor Maximi- 

 lian 1 1, to Vienna, and appointed his phyfician, which poll 

 he held until April 1572, ■.\hen he was fuddenly cut off by 

 a fit of apoplexy. His works are, " Tlieoreticie Medicina;, 

 libri fex," Ant. 1558, 4to. ; " In Artem medicam Ga- 

 leni Commentarii," 1560, Svo. ; " De Methodo Mcdi- 

 cinae," 1564. Svo.; " De Natura hbri quinque," 1573, 

 8vo. ; the two lall works have been feveral times reprinted. 



BIESMES, iu Geography, a place of France, where is a 

 pafs acrofs the Aine, from the department of the Meufe to 



Y y 2 that 



