Biot
JEAN BAPTISTE, a French physicist and astronomer, born in Paris, April 21, 1774. He entered the artillery, but forsook the service for science, and, in 1880, became Professor of Physics in the Collège de France. Along with Arago he was (1806) sent to Spain to carry out the measuring of a degree of the meridian, and, in 1817, he visited England, and went as far N. as the Shetland Islands, in order to make observations along the line of the British arc of meridian. His most valuable contributions to science are on the polarization of light, at, for which he received the Rumford gold medal in 1840. On astronomy he wrote: "Researches into Ancient nese_Astronomy" (1840), and "Studies in Indian Astronomy" (1862). His works on physics are "Elementary Treatise on Physical Astronomy" (1841- 1857). In 1849 Biot was made a commander of the Legion of Honor; he was also a member of the French Academy. He died in Paris, Feb. 3, 1862.
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Biotite
a hexagonal and an optically uniaxial mineral, formerly called magnesia mica, hexagonal mica, and uniaxial mica; named after Jean Baptiste Biot. It exists in tabular prisms, in disseminated scales, or in massive aggregations of cleavable scales. Color: silvery-white, rarely bottle green, and by transmitted light often fiery red.
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Biped
a descriptive term, sometimes applied to man, but more frequently to birds. It may be used in two ways- (a) in reference to habit only (physiological), when animals use only their two hind limbs for moving along the ground-e. g., man, kangaroo, bird; (b) in reference to anatomy (morphology), when the typical number of four limbs is reduced to two. Thus among mammals the order of whales (cetacea) is marked by the absence of hind limbs; among birds the fore limbs are considerably reduced in the running birds of the ostrich sub-class, and especially in the New Zealand kiwi (apteryx); among reptiles, some serpents (e. g., pythons), retain traces of hind legs, while all the others have lost both pairs, and a few lizards have either only hind feet (pseudopus, ophiodes), or only fore feet (chirotes); among amphibians, a few (e. g., siren) have only fore feet; and the same is true of numerous fishes (e. g., among siluridæ), and especially of those which live to a large extent in mud.
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Biquadratic Equation
in algebra, an equation raised to the fourth power, or where the unknown quantity of one of the terms has four dimensions. An equation of this kind, when complete, is of the form x²+Ax³ + Bx²+Cx+D=0, where A, B, C and D denote any known quantities whatever.
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Biragues, Flaminio de
Author of an infernal-facetious work Black Magic entitled l'Enfer de la mere Cardine, which treats of the dreadful battle in Hell on the occasion of the marriage of Cerberus with Cardine (Paris, 1585 and 1597.) It is a satire on the demonography of the times. Didot reprinted the work in 1793. The author was a nephew of a Chancellor of France , Rene de Biragues.
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Birch (English name of the trees)
the English name of the trees and shrubs belonging to the botanical genus betula. The common birch (betula alba) has ovate-deltoid, acute, doubly ser. rate leaves. Its flowers are in catkins, come forth in which April and May. It grows best in healthy soils and in Alpine . districts The drooping or weeping birch (B. pendula) is a variety of this tree. It grows wild on the European continent and in Asia. The wood of the birch is tough and white. It is used for making brooms; it is often burned into charcoal. The oil obtained from the white rind is used in tanning Russia leather. The Russians turn it to account also as a vermifuge and as a balsam in the cure of wounds. In some countries the bark of the birch is made into hats and drinking cups. The B. nana, or dwarf birch, grows in the Highlands of Scotland, in Lapland, etc. It is a small shrub, one or two feet high. The Laplander uses the wood for fuel, and the leaves, spread over with a reindeer's skin, for a bed. B. lenta is the mahogany birch, mountain mahogany, sweet birch, or cherry birch of North America. Its leaves are fragrant, and have been used as a substitute for tea. The canoe birch, of which the North American Indians constructed their portable canoes, is the B. papyracea.
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Birch (SAMUEL an English Orientalist)
SAMUEL, an English Orientalist, born in London, Nov. 3, 1813. He entered the British Museum as Assistant Keeper of Antiquities, in 1836, and ultimately became Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities. He was especially famed for his capacity and skill in Egyptology, and was associated with Baron Bunsen in his work on Egypt. His principal works include "Gallery of Antiquities" es", (1842); "Catalogue alogue of Greek Vases" (1851); "Ancient Pottery" (1858); "Egypt from the Earliest Times" (1875). He edited "Records of the Past," from 1873 to 1880. He died Dec. 27, 1885.
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Bird (CHARLES an American military)
CHARLES, an American military officer, born in Delaware, June 17, 1838. He entered the volunteer service in 1861, as First Lieutenant, 1st Delaware Infantry; was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, 9th Delaware Infantry, in 1864; and was commissioned Colonel of the 1st United States Veteran Infantry, Dec. 24, 1865. On March 2, 1867, he was brevetted First Lieutenant and Captain in the United States army for gallantry in the battle of Fredericksburg, Major for Spottsylvania, and Lieutenant-Colonel for Petersburg, Va. He was appointed a Second Lieutenant, 14th United States Infantry, in 1866; promoted to Major and Quartermaster in 1895; and commissioned a Colonel of United States Volunteers for the war with Spain, in 1898. He became Brigadier-General in the regular army in 1902, and retired in this year.
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Bird Cherry
a small tree (the prunus padus, etc.). It has pendulous racemes of white flowers, which appear in May, and are succeeded by small, black, drupaceous, cherry-like fruits.
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Bird Lice
the common name given to the small parasites so frequently seen infesting birds. Naturalists place them in the insect order mallophaga, in immediate proximity to the anoplura, which contains the human pediculi.
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