B O R 



eeived a ta!le for poctr)-, and for antiquarian reftarches, 

 profccuteH his medical ihidits at Montpcllier, where he was 

 admitted doctor in medicine, in 1641. Rcturninf; to CkT- 

 tres, he acquired fo much lepiitation by his pradlice there, 

 that in 1C53 he was invited to Paris, and made phylician in 

 ordinary to the king; and, in 167-!, member of the royal 

 academy of fciences. Borel was a diligent rolleftnr of natu- 

 ral and aitificiiil rarities, of which he left a cabinet well 

 ftortd. His publications are, " Les Antiquites, raretcs, 

 plantes, mineranx. Sec. de la vilie et comte Cadres, tt un 

 recueil des irifcriptions Romaiiies du I^angucdoc et de Pro- 

 vence, avec la lille de priucipaux cabinets et aiitres raretes 

 de I'Enrope." Caftres, 1649, Kvo. The titles of the ar- 

 ticles in his own cabinet arc here given. " Hillorinrum et 

 obfcrvationum mcdico-phyficarum, centuria; quatnor," Caf- 

 tres, 1653, i2mo. A few of the cafes are curious and in- 

 terelling, but far the greater number of them are too ii.ligni- 

 ficant to deferve notice, or tco extravagant to be cre- 

 dited by perfons who arc only moderately inllrufled in the 

 principles of medicine. To thin volume are ufually joined 

 the obfcrvatio'.is of Cattier, of Rhodius, of Arnold Boot, 

 and the confultations of Roffius. " Bibliotheca chymica, 

 feu cataii)j;Ui librorum philolophicorum hermeticorum," 

 Parlllis, 1654, i2mo. " Dc vero inventore telefcopii, cum 

 brevi omnium ccitpicillorum hilloria," Hagae Comitiij, 165 "J, 

 4to. " Trcfor des recherches et antiquites Gauloifes.'' 

 " A diftiouary of words and phrafcs, which had become ob- 

 folete," 1655, 4to. " Difcours prouvant la pluralite des 

 mondes," Geneve, 1657, Svo. " Hortus, feu armaufen- 

 tarium iimplicium plantarum et animalium, ad artem meui- 

 cam fpeftantium," Parifiis, 1666, Svo. To each of the 

 articles, which are arranged alphabetically, the author has 

 given a (hort account of its medical properties. Borel died 

 at Paris in 1678. Haller Bib. Anat. Med. Botan. Eloy 

 Didt. Hid. 



BORELLT, John Alphonsus, diftinguifhtd for his 

 profound fldll in mathematics, and in medicine, was born at 

 Callehuiovo in Naples, the 2 Sth of January' 1608. Under 

 the tuition of Cartelli, at Rome, where he was fent to com- 

 plete his education, he made fuch progrefs, that he was, at 

 an early age, invited to MeiTina to teach the mathematics. 

 As he had made medicine, as well as philofophy, his ftudy, 

 he there publiflied an account of a malignant fever which had 

 raged in Sicily, in the years 1647 and 164S. " Delle ra- 

 gioni delle fcbri maiigni di Sicilia," Cofenza, 1649, l2mo. 

 Difgufted, at knj^th, with his employers, he accepted the 

 offer of the profcfllir's chair at Pifa, in 1656, where he lec- 

 tured with great applaufe and fuccefs. The fame of his abi- 

 lities had now conciliated to him the favour of the grand 

 duke Ferdinand, and prince Leopold, who procured him 

 to be elefted member of the academy del cimento. It was 

 here probably he firll conceived the defigu of employing ma- 

 thematical principles, in explaining the fundlions ot animal 

 bodies. He now applied himfelf diligently to the difTeClion 

 .of animals. Several of his letters, on the fubjeftof anatomy, 

 are published in Malpighi's pofthumous works, written be- 

 tween the years 1659 and 1664. In 1658 he publilJied, at 

 Pifa, a fecond traft on the nature and treatment of malig- 

 nant fevers. " Delia caufe, delle febri mahgne," 4to. His 

 firft phyfiological work, " De rerum ufu judicium," ap- 

 peared in 1664, with the treatife of Bellini, " De ilruflura 

 verum," printed at Strafbourg, Svo. In 1669, he gave a 

 dilTertation, (hewing that in mod men the eyes have un- 

 equal powers, the one (liewing objefts more diftinftly than 

 the other. " Obfervazioni interne alia virtu incquale dcgli 

 occhi," Giorxic de Lit. In 1667 he pnblifhed, " Tradta- 

 tus de vi percuflionis," Bonon. 4to.; and in 1669, " Obfer- 



B O R 



rations on a remarkable eruption of mount JEtna," at which 

 he had been prtfent, having the preceding year quitted Pifa, 

 and returned again to MefTina. This account was written 

 at the defile of the royal fociety of London, with whicii he 

 correfponded, and was printed in their tranfaftion?. In 

 1770, he gave his treatife •' De motionibus naturalibus a 

 gr.avitate pendentibns" a prelude to his great work, " De 

 motu animalium," wliich did not appear until after liis death. 

 At the revolt of Medina, being fuppofed to have favoured 

 the infurgeiits, he was obliged to quit that place. Chrillina, 

 queen of Sweden, who re'.ided, at that time, at Rome, in- 

 vited him thither, and he continued to enjov her patronage 

 to the time of his death. That he was not, however, much 

 enriched by her favour, nor had acquired much by his lec- 

 tures, and by the works he had publiflied, appears by his 

 being obliged, dnring the two lad years of iiis liie, to undergo 

 the diudgery of indrudling youth in mathematics, at the con- 

 vent of St. Pantakon, called the pious fchools, where He 

 died of a pleurify, Dcctniber 31, 1679, in the 72d year of 

 his age. The fird volume of his work, " De motu anima- 

 lium," appeared in 1680, Rom. 4to. It is dedicated to 

 Chridina, and was printed at her expence ; and the fecond, 

 which completed his dcfign, in the following year. Borelli's 

 principal intention in this work, was to explain thefunflions 

 of animal bodies, on mechanical principles. He dcfcnbes the 

 fibrts of the mufcles, which he fuppofes to be veficular; and 

 that thefe veficles become inflated by a portion of the nervous 

 juice falling into them, and mixing and fermenting with the 

 blood they contain, whence the mufclc becomes fwelled, and 

 its fibres fhortened. He meaiures the degree of force or power 

 each of the fibres poflrtifes, andthe power of them colleftively, 

 which, according to his edimate, is immenfe. He fliews 

 how that power is increafed or diminiflied, by the manner in 

 which the fiediy fibres arc joined to the tendons. He cal- 

 culated the power of the heart, in propelling the blood, 

 which he fuppofed was equal to 180,0 jo pounds in weight. 

 Though Borelli in this and other of his calculations was 

 fliewn to have erred confiderably, yet his general principles 

 were for a long time after acknowledged and adopted, and 

 even the operations or efFefls of medicines, on the iiuman 

 body, were fuppofed to be exphcable on mechanical princi- 

 ples. He alfo invented an apparatus by which perfons might 

 go down a confiderable depth under water, remain there, 

 move from place to place, and fiiik or raife themfclves at 

 their dilcretion ; alfo a boat in which two or more perfons 

 might row themfelves under water. Haller Bib. Anat. 

 Gen. Biog. Philof. Tranfaftioiis abridged, vol. ii. 



BORER, in Rurjl Economy, an implement invented for 

 the purpofe of fearching or exploring the nature of foi!». 

 This indrnment is compofed of two rods of iron, each fix 

 feet long, and an inch in diameter. The end a vi fig. 1. 

 in Plate on draining implements, fcrews into the end b, of 

 jf^. 2. after taking out tne dopperr, the nfe of which is to 

 hinder dirt or dult from getting into the fcrcw. The fcrevsr 

 is an inch and a half long, and three quarters of an inch in 

 diameter: d-.J!-^. i. is a deel point fomewhat blunt, to pierce 

 the earth or any fubdance it may meet with. It fliould be 

 nbout three inches long, and made with three, four, or more, 

 fides, as may be thought mod convenient. It is fcrcwed 

 into the rod a in the fame manner, and with a fcrew of the 

 fame fize as a is fcrewed into the rod b. It has a groove fix 

 inches long, a third of an inch wide, and three quarters of 

 an inch deep, rounded in the bottom, and intended to bring 

 up part of each different layer of materials through which it 

 paffes. When fprings are fought for, a bit of fponge is put 

 into the groove. At the end of the rod. Jig. 2. is a fcrcw 

 to fi.\ iiuy another rod of the fame kind, if it be found nccef- 



farjr 



