BED 



I'liligent application, he was deftined for a learned profcfTioii, 

 With this view, after the requiiite previous education, he 

 was entered, in the year 1776, at Pembroke college, Ox- 

 ford, and in the progrefs of his ftudies acquired the reputa- 

 tion of a claffical fcholar ; conneAing with his other purfuits 

 the ftudy of the French, Italian, and German languages, as 

 weU as of pneumatics, chemiftry, mineralogy, and botany. 

 After having taken his firft degree of arts, he repaired to 

 London, where he profecuted the ftudy of anatomy and 

 phyliology, and publi(hed tranflations of Spallanzani's Dif- 

 fertations, of Bergman's EfTay on Eleftive Attraftiorre, and 

 of Scheele's Chemical EflTays. At Edinburgh, where at 

 this time he had commenced his ftudies, he obtained high 

 reputation among his fellow -ftudents. In 1786 he gradu- 

 ated M.D. at Oxford, and in the following year vifited the 

 continent. Upon his return, he was appointed to occupy 

 the chemical chair at Oxford. At this period he formed an 

 acquaintance with Dr. Darwin, which gradually ripened into 

 the intimacy and confidence of friendQiip. In 1790 he pre- 

 fented to the pubhc an analytical account of the writings of 

 Mayow, well known for his early difcoveries in the depart- 

 ment of pneumatic chemiftry. (See his article in the Cyclo- 

 pxdia. ) And he alfo communicated feveral papers to the 

 Royal Society. As a chemical profeftbr at Oxford, he was 

 a popular lefturer ; and he was much refpefted in the uni- 

 verfity on account of the rank he occupied in general litera- 

 ture and fcience : but interefting himfelf in the party politics 

 of that period, and avowing his oppofition to fyftems which 

 then prevailed v/ith regard both to church and ftate, he 

 found it expedient to refign his profeflbrftiip in 1792. He 

 was adverfe, however, to that deteftable fpirit which blended 

 itfelf in France with their ftruggles for liberty. Among 

 other publications which ifTued from the prefs about this 

 time, our limits vdll only allow tlie mention of his " Obferv- 

 atious on the Nature of Demonftrative Evidence, with Re- 

 fleftions on Language," intended to facilitate the ftudy of 

 geometry to youthful minds, by fhewing, in oppofition to 

 the doctrine of the author of Hermes, that geometry is 

 founded in experiment, and that its elements may be ren- 

 dered palpable to the fenfes. The moft popular of his pub- 

 lications was a fmall work, which appeared under the title 

 of the " Hiftory of Ifaac Jenkins," a fiftitious narrative, 

 exhibiting the charafter of a labourer immerfed in the evils 

 of habitual drunkennefs, but reformed to fobriety and in- 

 duftry ; of which his biographer [ubi infra) fays, that if the 

 author had left no other monument of his ingenuity and 

 benevolence, he would not have lived in vain. Without 

 adverting to his other writings, we fhall proceed to mention 

 his pneumatic eftabliftiment in the vicinity of the Briftol 

 hot -wells, undertaken and for fome time liberally fupported 

 for the purpofe of curing difeafes by the judicious appHea- 

 tion of different kinds of faftitious air. For the con- 

 venience of fuperintending this inftitution he refided at 

 Clifton, and in 1794. formed a matrimonial conneftion with 

 a lady of the juftly celebrated Edgeworth family. From 

 this time his medicaJ pubhcations became numerous, and as a 

 phyfician his advice was in high eftimation ; and he was con- 

 fulted by perfons in diftant parts, who are faid to have 

 derived great benefit from his prefcriptions. Although his 

 pneumatic inftitution failed with refpeft to the degree of 

 fuccefs which he might augur, and proved of temporary 

 duration, it ferved to bring into notice the prefent fir Hum- 

 phry Davy, one of the moft eminent philofophers of our 

 time, whofe talents, reftrifted in their exercife to a remote 

 town in Cornwall, caufed him to be engaged as its manager. 

 In the year 1806, Dr. Beddoes was attacked with fome 

 affetlion of the liver, which,, after fubfiding for a time. 



BEE 



returned with a difeafe in the cheft in 1808, and rapidly in- 

 creafing terminated in his death on the 24th of December 

 before he had completed his 49th year. Although fiis' 

 manner, fays his biographer, was cold and repulfive, he 

 poft'efted kind and tender feelings ; and in the relation's of 

 domeftic and private life his conduct was unexceptionable. 

 Stock's Memoirs of the Life of Thomas Beddoes, M.D. 



BEDFORD, col. 3, 1. 4, ?•. In 181 1, the borough con- 

 tained 940 houfcs, and 4605 perfons ; 2057 being males, and 

 2548 females. 



Bedford, a townftup of America, &c. 1. 2, for 898 r. 

 1296." 



Bedford, in Middlefex county, &c. 1. 2, for 523 r. 592. 



Bedford, New, 1. 2, for 3313 r. 5651. 



Bedford, in New York, 1. 2, for 2470 r, 2374, with 

 241 eledors, in 18 10. Add — Near the centre of this 

 town is the village of Bedford, where the courts for the 

 county are held one half of the time, and the other half at 

 White Plains. Here are, a court-houfe and prifon, a Prcf- 

 byterian church, an academy, and a fmall number of houfes. 



Bedford, a county of Pennfylvania, 1. 4, for 13,124, 

 including 46 flaves, r. 15,746; fubjoin after 1795 — it con- 

 tains 547 inhabitants. 



Bedford, a townftiip in the fame county, includes 1352 

 inhabitants. 



Bedford, a county of Virginia, &c. 1. 5 and 6, for 

 10,531 r. 16,148, and for 2754 r. 6147. 



Bedford, a county of Weft Tenneffee, having 8242 in- 

 habitants, including 1180 flaves. 



BEDFORDSHIRE, col. 2, 1. 8 and 9, r. The coimly, 

 in 1811, contained 13,286 houfes, and 70,2 1 3 perfons ; 

 33,171 being males, and 37,042 females ; 9431 families em- 

 ployed in agriculture, and 4155 in trade and manufaftares. 



BEDLIS, or Betlis, a large town, fituated at the 

 opening of the ftrongeft of the pafles in the road from Diar- 

 bekir to van and Tabriz. The river of Bedlis (the On- 

 trites of Xenophon) is conducted by Hajy Kalifa through 

 the plain to the fouthward of Sahert, Sard or Sared (the 

 ancient Tigranocerta). Betlis is one of the moft ancient 

 cities of that part of the kingdom called Kurdiftan : the 

 caftle is on the top of a high mountain, which bounds the 

 plain to the weft : the inhabitants of the town and neigh- 

 bouring villages amount to about 26,000 Kurds, Turks, 

 Armenians, and Syrians. The Armenians, who enjoy a 

 confiderable portion of liberty, have four churches and four 

 monafteries. The kinds around Betlis are highly cultivated, 

 and produce grain of feveral kinds, cotton, hemp, rice, 

 ohves, honey, truiBes, and mufhrooms. The neighbour- 

 hood abounds with game, and the mountains are infefted by 

 lions, wolves, and bears. In the vicinity are quarries of red 

 and white marble. See Betlis. 



BEDMINSTER, a townftiip of Bucks county, in 

 Pennfylvania, having 1199 inhabitants. 



BEDRI, a town of the Perfian empire, in the pachalic 

 of Bagdad, 13 leagues from Mendeh, and four from the 

 foot of the mountains ; is the frontier town, in this quarter, 

 of the Turkifti empire. It is furrounded with a number of 

 fine gardens ; but its diftrifts are damp and marihy, inter- 

 fperfed with pools of water, the receptacles of the torrents, 

 which, in the fpring, are continually ruftuag from the 

 mountains. 



BEER, col. 2, 1. 4, from the bottom, add— For the 

 excife duty on beer, fee Ale. 



BEE RING'S Straits, 1. 7. aft" Cook, infert— He 

 aftenvards afcertained, that Cape Prince of Wales was the 

 weftern extremity of the whole continent of America ; and 

 another cape was obfcrved to the northward of this, !)^ng 



