Berigard of Pisa
Alchemist. (1578 ? - 1664). Owing to his residing for many years at Pisa, this alchemist is commonly known by the appellation given above; but in reality he was not an Italian but a Frenchman, and his name was Claude Guillermet de Bérigard, or, as it is sometimes spelt, Beauregard. The date of his birth is uncertain, some authorities assigning it to 1578, and others placing it considerably later; but they are agreed in saying that Moulins was his native town, and that, while a young man, he evinced a keen love for science in its various branches, and began to dabble in alchemy. He appears to have studied for a while at the Sorbonne, at Paris; and, having acquired some fame there on account of his erudition, he was appointed professor of natural philosophy at the University of Pisa. This post he held until the year 1640, whereupon he was assigned an analogous position at Padua, and it was probably in the latter town that his death occurred in 1664. His most important contribution to scientific literature is Dubitationes in Dialogum Ealilæi pro Terræ immobilitate, a quarto published at Florence in 1632; but he was likewise author of Circulus Pisanus, issued at Udine in 1643, wherein he concerns himself chiefly with commenting on Aristotle's ideas on physics. Bérigarde's writings are virtually forgotten nowadays, but they are interesting as documents illustrating the progress of scientific knowledge throughout the seventeenth century.
Berkeley, Old Woman of: (See England.)