finest examples of ancient Greek and Roman gem engraving are found executed in beryl. " The grandest intaglio extant of the Roman period is upon an aquamarine of the extraordinary magnitude of 2 by 2 inches : the bust of Julia Titi signed by the artist [ Greek ]. For nearly a thousand years it formed the knosp of a golden reliquiary presented by Charlemagne to the abbey of Sfc Denys, in which it was set with the convex back uppermost, being regarded as an invaluable emerald" (King s Precious Stones, Gems, and Precious Metals). The great abundance of aquamarine and other forms of beryl in modern times has very much depreciated its value for use in jewellery, but it is still set in bracelets, necklaces, <fcc., and used for seals. The finest aquamarine known is a large stone, in size and shape somewhat like a small calf s head, weighing 18 Ib, the property of the emperor of Brazil. A beryl weighing 2900 Ib and another of 1076 Ib weight have been found at Grafton, New Hampshire, in the United States ; but these gigantic stones are opaque, and of no value for jewellery. Beryl is found widely disseminated, occurring, among other localities, in Siberia, Canjargum in Hindustan, Rio San Matteo in Brazil, Ehrenfriedersdorf in Saxony, and Schlackenwald in Bohemia. In the United Kingdom it occurs in the Mourne Mountains, county Down ] in the neighbourhood of Killiney, county Dublin ; in county Wicklow ; in several places in Cornwall ; and in Abcrdeenshire in the granite of Rubislaw (Davidsonite) ; besides occurring in the alluvium of the upper reaches of the Dee and Don. In the United States it is found in the
states of New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.BERZELIUS, Jöns Jakob, one of the most illustrious of modern chemists, was born on the 20th of August 1779, at a farm near Wafversunda, in Ostergb tland, Sweden. At the age of nine he was left an orphan in the charge of his stepfather, A. Elmark of Ekeby, a learned and amiable man, gifted, too, it would seem, with some prophetic insight, for one day he said to the child, "Jakob, I think you will tread in the footsteps of Linnaeus, or be another Cartouche ! " From that day a desire for distinction as a man of science awoke in the child s breast. In 1793 Berzelius entered the gymnasium school at Linkoping, where he made rapid progress. During his holidays, spent in the country, he met a man who instructed him in the elements of entomology, and thus gave a fresh impetus to his scientific proclivities. The latter soon developed into a passion, and under Hornstedt at Linkoping progressed rapidly till he left the college in 179 G, and proceeded to the University of Upsala. In 1798 he began to study chemistry under Professor Afzelius; and although in those days the lectures were without practical experiments and extremely uninteresting, he became more and more absorbed in the study, fn 1800 he was called to Stockholm as assistant to the royal physician, Dr Hedin, and his success as a practical chemist began. The Italian, Volta, had in 1800 invented the galvanic battery which bears his name ; and Berzelius was one of the first persons in Europe to observe the greatness of this discovery. In 1802 he published a treatise on the subject. In 1803 he became professor of physics, and by his lectures rapidly founded a new, a rational school of physiology, and threw new light on many difficult points connected with the chemical and physical characteristics of animal life. In the same year ho published his Essay on the Division of Salts through Galvanism, in which he propounds the electro-chemical theory, the honour of first laying down which is divided between Berzelius and Davy. In conjunction with Hisinger, Berzelius then published in numbers Treatises on Physics, Chemistry, and Mineralogy, a work of the greatest value for science. Honour after honour was heaped upon mm ; in 1810 he was called to Lc a member of the Medical College of Sweden ; in 1808 he was elected president of the Academy of Sciences. Two years later he brought out his famous treatise On the Fixed Proportions and Weights of Atoms. He then took up mineralogy with special ardour, and published his Treatise on the Blowpipe , he set up for himself a regularly graduated chemical system of minerals, and the value of this was felt to be so great that the Royal Society of London voted him its gold medal for it. After incessant labour he retired, in 1832, from his professorship at Stock holm, having never been connected as teacher with any <.;l the universities. In 1842, while he was engaged in a chemical experiment, an explosion took place and he was much injured, but recovered and continued to Avork on till the close of his days. He died August 7, 1848. After Linnaeus, his is considered to be the greatest name in science of which Sweden can beast.
BES, the name of an Egyptian god, apparently the samo as that of the city Bcssa. He is stated to have been worshipped and to have had an oracle at Abyclos accord ing to Ammianus Marcellinus,[1] and according to others at Antiuoe or Antinoopolis. The name.Zfcs is found in Egyptian monuments attached to a god clad in a lion s skin, the head and skull of the animal covering his head and con cealing his features ; his legs are bowed like Ptah, and his whole appearance is grotesque, resembling in other respects the Greek Hercules. This god is represented at a later period in various attitudes and actions, in adoration to Harpocrates, styled his lord or master, playing on the tambourine, the triangular harp, and other musical instru ments, brandishing swords, and at the Roman period armed in the paludamentum and holding a sword and buckler. Although supposed to be a form of Typhon he is quite distinct from Set, the ass or gryphon-headed god. For head attire Bes often wears a kind of cornice surmounted by four or five feathers of the hawk. He does not appear among the deities of Egypt till about the 19th or 20th dynasty, and is apparently of foreign origin, being found on the coins of Gaulos, with Phosnician legends, as if belonging to that people and a form of Baal. He appears in the Ritual as the guardian of the 20th Pylon or doorway of the Aahlu or Elysian fields, with his mystical names. His head generally surmounts the little cippi of Harpocrates, and some texts ally him with the god Amen. A temple in Nubia, built by Tirhakah about 690 B.C., has its columns in shape of this god. His figures and busts are common in Egyptian art of a later age, and individuals were called after him both in earlier and later times.[2]
of Doubs, 45 miles E. of Dijon, on ihe River Doubs, which flows round it on three sides. It is well protected by strong fortifications and a citadel on an almost impreg nable rock, 410 feet above the river. The town is in general well built, and has three main streets running from N. to S. The principal buildings are the Gothic cathedral of St Jean, a court-house, a town-hall, the Granvelle palace, the royal college, an arsenal, a large hospital, barracks, a theatre, a library of 300,000 volumes, a museum and picture gallery, and several handsome fountains. Among the numerous Roman remains are a triumphal arch erected in honour of Crispus Caesar, son of Constantino, a theatre, and an amphitheatre. Besangon is the see of an arch bishop, has tribunals of primary jurisdiction and commerce, and is the head court for the departments of Doubs, Jura, and Haute Saone. It possesses also a university-academy,
a diocesan seminary, a royal academy of science and