BERT-BERTHELOT.

BERT, ber, PAUL: French statesman and physiologist: 1833, Oct. 19-1886, Nov. 11; b. Auxerre, France. He studied in Paris, abandoned the pursuit of law for that of medicine, and was prof. of physiology in the Faculty of Sciences at Paris. He entered political life as a republican, after Sedan, and filled important offices in the dept. of the North. He became a member of the chamber of deputies 1874, June 9, and took special interest in education. He introduced laws removing primary instruction from control by the religious orders, and making it compulsory. Under Gambetta as premier, B. was minister of public instruction and worship 1881. Notwithstanding his arduous political and educational work, B. continued to apply himself to experiments in physiology, and with the greatest success, drawing world-wide attention by his experiments in vivisection. His works were numerous on scientific subjects, and he wrote much on educational and political themes. In 1886 he was appointed gov. of Tonquin and Anam, but died there the same year.

BERTH, n. berth [AS. beorgan, to protect, to shelter: OE. barth, a shelter for cattle; barthless, houseless]: a place of shelter; a place to sleep in; a space boarded off in a ship to lie or live in; the clear space or position of a ship at anchor, including a small breadth of sea all round her. TO GIVE A WIDE BERTH, to leave considerable room for; to keep at a distance.

BERTHA: name of several famous women in the middle ages, half-historical, half-fabulous (see BERCHTA).

ST. BERTHA, whose day is kept July 4, the beautiful and pious dau. of Charibert, King of the Franks, married (560) Æthelbert, King of Kent, and became the means of his conversion, and of the spread of Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons.

In the romances of the Charlemagne cycle, there figures a BERTHA, called also Berthrada with the Big Foot, dau. of Count Charibert of Laon, wife of Pepin the Little, and mother of Charlemagne.

In the romances of the Round Table, BERTHA is the name of a sister of Charlemagne, who makes Milo d'Anglesis the father of Roland.

Better known is BERTHA, daughter of Burkhard, Duke of the Alemanni, and wife of Rudolf II., King of Bur gundy beyond Jura, who, after Rudolf's death (937), acted as regent for her infant son, Konrad; afterwards married Hugo, King of Italy; and died towards the close of the 10th c. This queen had the character of an excellent housekeeper, and is represented on seals and other monuments of the time as sitting on her throne spinning.

BERTHELOT, běrt-lò', PIERRE EUGENE MARCELLIN: French chemist: 1827, Oct. 25: b. Paris. After passing through the ordinary studies, he made a specialty of chemical science, with such success that he was appointed (1859) prof. of organic chemistry in the École de Pharmacie, Paris; and 1865 received a professorship in the Collége de France. In 1876 B. was made inspector-general of higher education, and minister of

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public instruction 1886. He is noted for his investigations in regard to alcohols, explosives, and the less-known phenomena of heat, in particular having made himself an authority in regard to the action of carbon under different conditions. His work in discovering how to produce organic substances artificially has been quite unrivalled. B. made important discoveries also in regard to the illuminating power of gas, and one of his inventions was a gas thermometer designed for reading high temperatures with great accuracy. He has published La Synthèse Chimique, and other works.

BERTHIER, bèr'te-a, ALEXANDRE, Prince of Neuchâtel and Wagram, and Marshal of the French Empire: 1753, Nov. 20-1815, July 1; b. Versailles. His father, a military engineer, trained him for the army, which he entered 1770, and fought with Lafayette in the American War of Independence. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, he was appointed maj.gen. of the National Guard of Ver sailles, and rose to be a gen. of division, and chief of the staff in the army of Italy, 1795; and in 1798, in the absence of Bonaparte, entered the papal territory, and proclaimed the republic in Rome. He accompanied Napoleon to Egypt in the same year as chief of the staff, a post which he held in all the subsequent campaigns. At the revolution of 18th Brumaire (1799), he became war-minister, and (till 1808) as such signed many important treaties and truces. He always accompanied the emperor, and often rendered important services; for the part he took in the battle of Wagram, he received one of his many distinctions. B. was Napoleon's proxy in the marriage of Maria Louisa, at Vienna, 1810. In the campaigns of 1812, 1813, 1814, he was constantly by the emperor's [side, and acted both as chief of the staff and as quartermaster-general. It was only B.'s love of order, quick insight, and activity that could have superintended the movements of so many armies. Napoleon did him full justice on this score, asserting at the same time that he was incapable of leading the smallest corps d'armée alone.

On the fall of Napoleon, B. hardly showed due gratitude for the favors heaped upon him. He had to surrender the principality of Neuchatel; and not to lose more, he submitted to Louis XVIII., who made him a peer and marshal, with the title of Captain of the Guards. Napoleon, who never doubted his secret attachment, made overtures to him from Elba; these he neither answered nor yet revealed to Louis, which made him suspected by both. On the return of Napoleon from Elba, in a fit of irresolution B. retired to Bamberg, in Bavaria, to his father-in-law, Duke William, where his mind became unhinged with the conflict. While looking from the balcony of the palace at a division of Russian troops marching towards the French frontier, the bitter sight was too much-he threw himself down into the street, and thus ended his life. His Mémoires appeared 1826. He had two brothers, Victor Leopold, and Cæsar, who both served with distinction, and rose to be generals.

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BERTHOLLET, bĕr-to-la', COUNT CLAUDE LOUIS: 1748, Dec. 9-1822, Nov. 7; b. Talloire, a village of Savoy, near Annecy. He studied at the Univ. of Turin, and obtained a medical degree, 1768. He afterwards went to Paris, where he was appointed physician to the Duke of Orleans, He applied himself with great assiduity to chemistry; in 1781, he was elected a member of the Acad. of Sciences, and, later, the government made him supt. of dyeing processes. In this situation he published a very valuable work on dyeing. In 1785, he announced his adherence to the antiphlogistic doctrines of Lavoisier, with the exception that he did not admit oxygen to be the acidifying principle, and herein he has proved to be right. In the same year, he published a paper on dephlogisticated marine acid'now called chlorine--pointing out its use for bleaching purposes; and following up the experiments of Priestley, he showed ammonia to be a compound of three volumes of hydrogen gas and one volume of azotic gas. During the early part of the French Revolution, B travelled through the country, giving instruction as to the best means of extracting and purifying saltpetre to be used in the manufacture of gunpowder, and also as to the process of smelting and converting iron into steel. His joining the expedition of Napoleon to Egypt led to the formation of the Institute of Cairo. On his return from Egypt, he was made a senator by Bonaparte, who also conferred on him several marks of honor, and made him a count. Notwithstanding, he voted for the deposition of Napoleon, 1814. On the restoration of the Bourbons, he was made a peer; but all his honors never made him other than a simple and unassuming gentleman. Besides the additions to chemical knowledge already mentioned, he, in conjunction with Lavoisiei, and two other chemists, promulgated a new chemical nomenclature which has proved valuable to science. He died at Paris.

BERTHOLLET'IA: see BRAZIL NUTS.

BERTIN, LOUIS FRANÇOIS, called Bertin l'Ainé: 1766 -1841, Sep. 13; b. Paris: French journalist. He began writing for the press, 1793, and, 1799, set on foot the Journal des Débats (q.v.). B's royalist principles offended the government of Napoleon, and cost him imprisonment and banishment to Elba; whence, however, he escaped to Rome, where he formed a friendship with Châteaubriand. In 1804, he returned to Paris, and resumed the editorship of the Débats, but was much hampered by Napoleon, who imposed on the paper the title of Journal de l'Empire, and by subjecting it to police revision gave it almost an official character. When B., in 1814, became free to follow his own bent, the journal reverted to its royalist principles. During the Hundred Days, it fell into other hands, till the return of the Bourbons restored it once more to B., who, in the mean time, had taken part in the Moniteur de Gand. Throughout the restoration, B. gave almost constant support to the ministerial party. Though he did not join in the protest of the liberal journals against the ordon

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nances, he gave his adhesion to the July monarchy, and continued faithfully to support it. He continued to edit the Débats till his death.

BERTIN, běr-tăng, Louis MARIE ARMAND: 1801-1854, Jan. 11; son of Louis François; b. and d. Paris. After the restoration he was sec. to Châteaubriand during his embassy in England. In 1820, he joined the editorial staff of the Journal des Débats, and at his father's death assumed the chief direction. As a journalist, he contrived, as well as his father, to maintain a certain independence of the government.

BERTINORO, běr-ti-no'ro: town of Italy, province of Forli, formerly belonging to the Papal States, six m. s. e. from Forli, pleasantly situated on a hill, the slopes of which are famous for their wines. At the foot of the hill, to the w., flows the Ronco. B. is the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral, three other churches, and five convents. It was one of the ancient fiefs of the Malatesta, by whom it was given to the churoh. Pop. of town, 2,000; of commune, 6,000.

BERTRAND, HENRY GRATIEN, Count: 1773-1844, Jan. 31; b. and d. Châteauroux: one of Napoleon's generals, known for his faithful attachment to the emperor through all his fortunes. He early entered the armies of the Revolution as engineer. He accompanied the expedition to Egypt, and directed the fortification of Alexandria. Returning with the rank of gen. of brigade, he distinguished himself at Austerlitz, and became the emperor's adjutant; and, after the battle of Aspern, 1809, for establishing bridges over the Danube, he was created count and gov. of Illyria. After sharing with credit in the subsequent campaigns, he retired with the emperor to Elba, was his confidant in carrying out his return to France, and finally shared his banishment to St. Helena. On Napoleon's death, B. returned to France, where, though sentence of death had been pronounced upon him—a sentence which Louis XVIII. had wisely recalled-he was restored to all his dignities, and, 1830, appointed commandant of the Polytechnic School. He formed part of the expedition which, 1840, brought back the remains of Napoleon to France.

BERVIC, ber-vēk', CHARLES CLEMENT BALVAY: 1756, May-1822, Mar. 23; b. Paris. In 1790 he made himself famous by a full-length engraving of Louis XVI., from the picture by Callet, one of the finest works of the kind ever produced. The engravings of the Laocoon, Regnault's Education of Achilles, and Guido's Rape of Deianira, also from B's graver, show equal beauty of manipulation, with a higher power.

BERWICK, běr'rik or bér' wik, JAMES FITZ-JAMES, Duke of: 1670-1734: the natural son of James II., by Arabella Churchill, sister of the Duke of Marlborough. He was born in France, where he was educated, and entered the army. After serving in Hungary under Charles of Lorraine, he returned to England shortly before the revolution of 1688,

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which he exerted himself to prevent. In 1689, he accom panied his father in his Irish expedition, and after the death of St. Ruth had the nominal chief command. He next served in Flanders, under Marshal Luxembourg, afterwards under the Duke of Burgundy and Marshal Villeroi. In 1706, he was created a marshal of France, and sent at the head of an army to Spain, where he established the throne of Philip V. by the decisive victory of Almanza. For this important service, he was made & grandee of Spain, under the title of Duke of Liria and Xerica. After several years of inactivity, he received the command, 1734, of an army intended to cross the Rhine. While besieging Philipsburg, he was killed by a cannonball. Contemporary testimony, confirmed by his military conduct, shows B. to have possessed some of the best qualities of a great commander. His defensive campaign in 1709, in Provence and Dauphiné, against the superior force of the Duke of Savoy, has always been regarded as a triumph of strategic skill. He was twice married. His son by the first marriage suceeded to the dukedom of Liria; his dukedom (De Fitz-James) and estates in France passed to his children by the second marriage.

BERWICK, NORTH: seaport town in Haddingtonshire, Scot., at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, 19 m. e.n.e. of Edinburgh. Formerly a mere fishing-village, it is now a fashionable watering-place, famous for its golfing links. The parish includes the Bass Rock, North Berwick Law, and the ruins of Tantallon Castle. The castle is graphically described in Scott's Marmion. It is an irregular pile, two m. e. of the town, on a high rock, surrounded by the sea on three sides, with a ditch on the land-side, where there was formerly a drawbridge. It was a stronghold of the Douglas family. N. Berwick Law is a conical hill of an elevation of 612 ft., on the s., close to the town. Pop. of town (1881) 1,698; (1891) 2,376.

BERWICK-ON-TWEED, -twed: seaport town at the mouth of the Tweed, 58 m, s.s.e. from Edinburgh, on the frontiers of England and Scotland. The liberties of the borough, called Berwick Bounds,' have an area of 8 sq. m., and with Spittal and Tweedmouth form the county of the borough of B.' Though long boasting to be neither in England nor Scotland, and still possessing separate quarter-sessions and commission of the peace, it is to all intents and purposes part of the county of Northumberland (the adjoining parts of which formed till 1844 a detached portion of Durham); especially since by the Seats Act of 1885 B. ceased to send two members of its own to parliament, and was for election purposes merged in the county of Northumberland. The history of B. is full of interest, especially in regard to the Border wars, and the struggles of English and Scots to possess the town. The siege by Edward I., 1296, was especially terrible and memorable. The authentic records of B. begin in the reign of Alexander I., 12th c., when it was one of the principal seaports in the kingdom. B. finally passed into the pos