Buff Leather
a strong oil leather, prepared from the hide of the buffalo, elk or ox. Formerly it was largely used for armor. It was said to be pistol-shot proof, and capable of turning the edge of a sword. It was tanned soft and white. Its place is now filled by the leather of cow skins for a common, and of the buffalo or bison of this country for a superior, article. It is still, however, much used in the saber, knapsack, ASIATIC WATER BUFFALO and cartridge box belts of armies, as well as occasionally to cover the buffers and buff wheels of the cutler, lapidary, and polisher.
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Buffalo Bill. See CODY
WILLIAM FREDERICK.
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Buffer
a cushion or mechanical apparatus formed with a strong spring, to deaden the concussion between a body in motion and one at rest. Buffers are chiefly applied to railroad carriages, there being two at each end.
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Buffon
GEORGE LOUIS LECLERC, COUNT DE, a French naturalist, born in Montbard, Burgundy, Sept. 7, 1707. In 1739 he was appointed Superintendent of the Royal Garden at Paris (now the Jardin des Plantes) and devoted himself to the great work on "Natural History." It is now obsolete and of small scientific value, but it for long had an extraordinary popularity. After an assiduous labor of 10 years the three first volumes were published, and between 1749 and 1767 twelve others, which comprehended the theory of the earth, the nature of animals, and the history of man and the mammalia. The nine following volumes, which appeared from 1770 to 1783, contain the history of birds. The five volumes on minerals were published from 1783 to 1788. Of the seven supplementary volumes, of which the last did not appear until after his death in 1788, the fifth formed an independent whole, the most celebrated of all his works. ks. It contains his "Epochs of Nature," in which the author gives a second theory of the earth, very different from that which he had traced in the first volumes, though he assumes at the commencement the air of merely defending and developing the former. His works were translated into almost every European language. He died in Paris, April 16, 1788.
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Buffon, George Louis Leclerc
George Louis Leclerc (1707-1788), a celebrated French naturalist. Educated at Dijon for the law, but permitted by an intelligent father to follow his inclination for natural history. After traveling in England and Italy, Buffon was admitted to membership in the Academy, a French learned society, and, later, was appointed to a position in the royal garden and museum. Buffon conceived the project of a Natural History in French which should popularize the science. In this he succeeded. His history passed through several editions and was translated into foreign languages. Many condensed editions were sold. Buffon's Natural History in a single volume, with extended accounts of the cat, dog, and other domestic animals, was a household favorite in England and America fifty years ago. Scientific men have found fault with Buffon for inaccuracy, claiming that he preferred to write brilliantly rather than accurately, and certainly he was an entertaining writer. A complete edition of the history in French, 1749-1788, filled thirty-six volumes. His History of Quadrupeds is considered the best single part of the work.
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Bugbane
a name given in this country to cimicifuga, a plant of the order ranunculacea (crowfoots). It is called in England bugwort.
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Bugenhagen
JOHANN (bö'Genhä'Gen), a German reformer, friend and helper of Luther in preparing his translation of the Bible, born in 1485. He fled from his Catholic superiors to Wittenberg, in 1521, where he was made, in 1522, Professor of Theology. He effected the union of the Protestant free cities with the Saxons and introduced into Brunswick, Hamburg, Lübeck, Pomerania, Denmark, and many other places, the Lutheran service and church discipline. He translated the Bible into Low German (Lübeck, 1533); wrote an "Exposition of the Book of Psalms" and a "History of Pomerania." He died in 1558.
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Bugle
a treble instrument of brass or copper, differing from the trumpet in having a shorter and more conical tube, with a less expanded bell. It is played with a cupped mouthpiece. In the original form it is the signal horn for the infantry, as the trumpet is for the cavalry.
a palæarctic genus of labiatæ. The common bugle (A. reptans) is abundant in moist pastures and woods of Europe. Its flowers are generally blue, but white and purplish varieties are sometimes grown in flower borders. A. alpina is one of the beautiful flowers of the Swiss Alps.
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Bugloss
a popular name applied to a number of plants of the natural order boragineæ, and in particular to the alkanet. BÜHL, or BOULLE, unburnished gold, brass, or mother of pearl, worked into patterns for ornamenting furniture. Set as an ornament into surfaces of ebony or dark wood, or tortoise shell.
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Buguet
A French photographer who came to London in 1874 and there produced spirit photographs with considerable skill. Many persons claimed to recognise their friends in the spirit pictures, and even after Buguet had been arrested, and had confessed that he had resorted to trickery, there were yet a number of persons who refused to believe that he was a fraud, and thought that he had been bribed to confess trickery of which he was innocent. (See Spirit Photography .)
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Buhl
bul, a sort of inlaid work named for the famous French cabinetmaker of that name, 1642-1732. The term was applied originally to a pattern of highly polished brass, set with care in a surface of some other metal or of wood. It is now applied chiefly to inlaid work in veneer. Two sheets of wood of contrasting colors, as maple and black walnut, are glued together with an intermediate sheet of paper. A pattern, as of an ivy vine, is traced on one surface and cut out with a fine scroll saw running through both woods. The two woods are then split apart through the paper cleavage. If the sawing is true, the two ivy vines may exchange places. The light ivy vine fits in to the dark border, and the dark ivy fits into the light border. By gluing the two veneers to wooden backs and finishing, two pieces of inlaid wood, or buhl work are produced. This method is employed by makers of furniture and ornamental wood-work. See Furniture
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