Encyclopaedia Americana: a popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, brought down to the present time : including a copious collection of original articles in American biography : on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon (Volume 2).

Date:
1830-33
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Encyclopaedia Americana: a popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, brought down to the present time : including a copious collection of original articles in American biography : on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon (Volume 2). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    his income to 6000 livres. Not succeeding however, in attaining this moderate for- tune, he resolved to aim at a larger one. He went as ambassador to Venice, and obtained great respect in this difficult post. After his return, he enjoyed the highest favor at court, and soon became minister of foreign affairs. The political system of Europe was changed at that time. France and Austria, hitherto ene- mies, united in an offensive and defensive alliance, which was succeeded by the sev- en years' war, so unfortunate for France. B. has been designated, by several writers, as the chief author of this alliance. Du- clos, however, asserts, that it was the in- tention of B. to maintain the old system, which, since the time of Henry IV, and especially since the time of Richelieu, had made France the protectress of the less powerful states of Germany, and the rival of Austria. Oppressed by the mis- fortuues of his country, which, in part, at least, were ascribed to him, B. surren- dered his post, and was soon after ban- ished from court. His disgrace lasted till the year 1764, when the king appointed him archbishop of Alby, and, five years later, ambassador to Rome. Here he re- mained till his death. In the name of his court, and against his own opinion, he labored to effect the abolition of the order of the Jesuits. When the aunts of Louis XVI left France, in 1791, they fled to him for refuge, and lived in his house. The revolution deprived him of his for- tune, and the means of indulging his generous disposition. He was reduced to a state of poverty, from which he was relieved by a pension from the Spanish court. B. died in Rome, Nov. 2, 1794, nearly 80 years old. The easy poetiy of his youth had procured him a place in the French academy. He himself is its severest critic. His verses have been re- proached with affectation, negligence, and an excess of ornament and mythological images. Voltaire called him Babet-la- Bouquetiere, from a fat floAver-woman, who sold her nosegays before the opera house. Nevertheless, Voltaire had a great esteem for his talents, his judgment, his criticisms, and his character, as is evident from their correspondence (published, in 1799, by Bourgoing), which, in every respect, is very honorable to B. Another corre- spondence, between B. and Paris du Ver- ney, appeared in print in 1790. After his death, Azara published his poem La Religion vengee (Religion avenged), which, though it contains many beautiful verses and sublime ideas, is deficient in fire and animation. A collection of B.'s works was published m 1797, by Didot. Bernouilli ; a family which has pro- duced eight distinguished men, who ha\ e all cultivated the mathematical sciences with success. The fan lily, emigrating from Antwerp on account of religious persecu- tions, under the administration of the duke of Alva, fled first to Frankfort, and after- wards removed to Bale, where it was elevated to the highest dignities of the republic—1. James B., born at Bale, 1654, became professor of mathematics there 1687, and died 1705. The differential calculus, discovered by Leibnitz and New- ton, was applied by him to the most dif- ficult questions of geometry and mechan- ics: he calculated the loxodromic and catenary curve, the logarithmic spirals, the evolutes of several curved lines, and discovered the numbers of Bernouilli, as they are called.—2. John B., born at Bale, 1667, was one of the greatest mathe- maticians of his time, and the worthy rival of Newton and Leibnitz. He was destined for commerce, but his inclina- tion led him to the sciences, and, from the year 1683, he principally devoted himself to medicine and mathematics. To him, and his brother James, we are indebted for an excellent treatise on the differential calculus. He also developed the method of proceeding from infinitely small num- bers to the finite, of which the former are the elements or differences, and called this method the integral calculus. In 1690—92, he made a journey to France, where he instructed the marquis de l'Hopital in mathematics. At this time, he discovered the exponential calculus, before Leibnitz had made any communi- cations respecting it, and made it known in 1697. In 1694, he became doctor of medicine at Bale, and, in 1695, went, as professor of mathematics, to Groningcn, where he discovered the mercurial phos- phorus or luminous barometer, for which he received, from king Frederic I of Prussia, a gold medal, and was made a member of the academy in Berlin, after- wards of that in Paris, &c. After the death of his brother, in 1705, he received the professorship of mathematics at Bale, which he held until his death, January 1, 1748.—3. Nicholas B., nephew of the former, born at Bale, in 1687, studied law, but more particularly devoted himself to mathematics; in 1705, went to Gronin- gen, to John B.; returned, however, with him to Bale towards the close of the year, and became there professor of