pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
BORACK, among Mahommedans, a fabulous animal, of the middle kind between an ass and a mule, on which their prophet was supposed to have been carried in his nocturnal flight from Jerusalem to the heavens. This animal the Arabians call Al Borah, that is, shining. The night on which the journey was performed is called Lailat al Meeraga, or the night of ascension; and the flight itself Al Mesra, or Hejira, concerning which there is a multitude of traditions.
BORAX, in Mineralogy; borate of soda, tinhal, soude boratée. This salt is usually of a white or gray colour, translucent, feebly alkaline to the taste, soluble in water, and consists, according to Klaproth, of soda 14∙5, boracic acid 37Ό, and water 47Ό. It intumesces before the blow-pipe, and then melts into a transparent globule; when in solution it changes the blue colour of litmus into green. Its chief locality is Thibet, where it is found on the surface of the soil, in the vicinity and at the bottom of certain lakes. It is there collected and sent to Europe in the form of a brownish-gray, impure salt, from which the artificial borax is obtained by the addition of a greater quantity of soda. It is made use of as a flux, in forming imitation gems, and in the process of soldering. It is also of great utility in analysis by the blow-pipe, and in some cases in glass manufactories. See Chemistry and Mineralogy.
BORBORITES, in Ecclesiastical History, a sect of gnostics, in the second century, who, besides embracing the errors of these heretics, denied the last judgment. They were so called from the Greek word βogβogος, filth; on account of a custom they had of bedaubing their faces and bodies with ordure.
BOREAS, a Greek name for the north wind. The Greeks erected an altar to Boreas; and he is represented on the temple at Athens with his robe at his mouth, as if he felt the cold of the climate over which he presides, agreeably to the description of Ovid, who calls him gelidus tyrannus, the shivering tyrant. But he is usually described by the Roman poets as violent and impetuous; and in painting he is represented as an old man with a horrible look, having his hair and beard covered with snow or hoarfrost, while the feet and tail of a dragon terminate the figure.
BOREL, Peter, a learned physician, was the son of James Borel who published several poems, and was born at Castres about 1620. He applied himself to the study of physic, of which he was created doctor, and practised with great success in the town of Castres. Towards the end of the year 1653 he went to Paris, where he was soon after named counsellor and physician in ordinary to the king. In 1674 he was received into the Academy of Sciences, and distinguished himself by writing a great number of works. The principal are, I. Historiarum et Observationum medicophysicarum Centuriae quinque, Castres, 1653, 12mo; 2. Bibliotheca Chimica, Paris, 1654, 12mo; 3. De vero Telescopii inventore, cum brevi omnium conspiscillorιιm historia, Hague, 1655, 4to; 4. Hortus, seu Armamentarum Simplicium, plantarum, et animalium ad Artem medicam spectantium, Castres, 1666, 8vo; 5. Observationum JMicroscopicarum Centuria; Hague, 1656, 4to. He was also the author of several works in French, particularly two treatises on Antiquities, and a discourse on the Plurality of Worlds.
BORELLI, John Alphonso, the head of what has been called the iatro-mathematical sect,—or that which, misled by the great progress that the application of the mathematics had produced in the physical sciences, attempted to secure the same advantage for medicine, by subjecting to calculation the phenomena of the living economy,—was born at Naples on the 28th of January 1608. He professed his system of iatro-mathematical philosophy in some of the most celebrated universities of Italy, particularly at Florence and Pisa, where he rose into high favour with the princes of the house of Medicis; but having been engaged in the revolt of Messina, he was obliged to retire to Rome, where he spent the remainder of his life under the protection of Christina queen of Sweden, who honoured him with her friendship, and by her liberality softened the rigour of his fortune. He died of a pleurisy on the 31st of December 1679, in the seventy-second year of his age. Borelli, more judicious than Bellini, restricted the application of his system chiefly to muscular motions, or to those phenomena of the animal economy which are in certain points subject to the laws of mechanics; and it cannot be denied that it conducted him to the discovery of some principles new in themselves, and directly opposed to the received belief of his time. But his followers, less cautious, wished to generalize the application he had made; and in framing hypotheses, on which time and the return to a sound medical philosophy have done justice, they greatly retarded the restoration of the science. The works of Borelli are, 1. Della Causa delle Eebri maligne, Pisa, 1658, 4to; 2. De Penum usu judicium, Strasburg, 1664, 8vo; 3. Euclides Pestitutus, 1628,4to; 4. Apollonii Pergcei Conicoum libri [7:4:800]V. vi. et vii. Florence, 1661; 5. Theories Mediccorum Planetarum ex causis Physicis deductae, Florence, 1666, 4to; 6. Tractatus di vi Percussionis, Bologna, 1667, 4to; 7. Historia et Meteor olog ia incendii Aethnei, Reggio, 1669, 4to; 8. De Motionibus naturalibus a gravitate pendentibus, Bologna, 1670, 4to; and, 9. De Motu Animalium, opus posthumum, Rome, 1680, 1681, 4to.
BORGA, a circle in Russian Finland, taking its name from a city which is its capital. It is the seat of a bishop, contains 2138 inhabitants, and carries on trade in linen and in timber. The circle extends over 4284 square miles, and comprehends three cities and 1354 hamlets, with 124,600 inhabitants.
BORGEN, a town in the bailiwick of Rombals, in Norway, with a considerable fishery, and, including the island of the same name, containing 4864 inhabitants.
BORGOO, a large kingdom in the interior of Africa, bounded on the east by the Niger, on the south by Eyeo or Yarriba, on the west by Dahomey, and on the south by Gourma. It is about thirty days’ journey in length and eleven in breadth. It has generally a level surface, though crossed by a considerable range of mountains. The soil is mostly fertile, and tolerably cultivated, producing in abundance corn, yams, plantains, and limes. The cattle are not numerous, but there is a copious supply of all the species of game that prevail in Africa. A considerable inland trade between Houssa and the coast passes through this territory. When Clapperton entered it from Eyeo, he was warned to be on his guard, as the people were the greatest robbers and plunderers in all Africa, and he would run the risk of being stripped of every thing he possessed. He found this bad report altogether unjust, and declares, on quitting it, that the people had always behaved honestly, and never robbed him of the slightest article. They were cheerful, obliging, good-humoured, and communicative. The acts of robbery, too frequent in this country, were perpetrated by slaves of the chiefs and governors, who were natives, not of Borgoo, but of Houssa. These persons, in virtue of the service in which they are employed, think themselves entitled to pilfer whatever comes within their reach. The kingdom of Borgoo is divided into the four states of Boussa, Wawa, Kiama, and Niki, the three last of which were visited by Clapperton in his journey through interior Africa. Boussa, remarkable as the scene of the disastrous fate of Mr Park, holds the first rank, and all the others are considered as in a degree of dependence upon it.
BORISSOGLEBSK, a circle of the Russian government of Tambow, extending over 2412 square miles, with a population of 65,400 persons. The chief place, a city of the same name, on the river Khoper, contains about 500 houses and 3300 souls. Long. 42. 1. E. Lat. 51. 23. N.
BORISTHENES, or Borysthenes, in Ancient Geography, the largest river of Sarmatia Europaea, and described by Mela, after Herodotus, as running through â cognominal people,; as the pleasantest of all the rivers in Scythia, calmer than any of them in its course, and very agreeable to drink; as producing rich pastures, and large fish, of the best flavour, without bones; as flowing a great distance,-and rising from springs unknown; and as being navigable for a course of about forty days. It is now called the Dnieper or Nieper.
BORKEN, a circle in the Prussian government of Munster, and province of the Rhine. It is on the frontiers of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and extends over 307 square miles, or 196,480 acres. .It contains four small cities, nine villages, and forty-four hamlets, with 5703 houses and 36,170 inhabitants. It is an undulating but heathy and moorish district, yielding chiefly buck-wheat and flax. Some little iron, much wood, and some coarse wool, are the chief productions. The capital, of the same name, situated on the river Aa,»contains 450 houses and 2437 inhabitants. The whole district belonged formerly to the family of Solm Solm, now mediatised.
BORKUM, an island of Hanover, on the coast of East Friesland, situated between the mouths of the East and West Ems, and included in the bailiwick of Grutsiel. It [7:5:7]is about twelve miles in circumference, and so low in the middle that it is separated into two parts at high water. A considerable proportion of the inhabitants consists of seafaring people, and the remainder draw their support from the rearing of cattle, or in picking up the fragments of vessels wrecked on their coast. It has a governor, a minister of the Calvinistic faith, and a schoolmaster.
BORMIO, a town of the Austrian kingdom of Lombardy, in the delegation of Como. It is situated at the foot of a lofty hill of the same name, is well built, and contains about 2000 inhabitants. Long. 9. 51. E. Lat. 46. 28. N.
BORODINO, a village in Russia, near the river Moskwa, about ninety miles west of Moscow, remarkable for the terrible battle fought there on the 7th of September 1812, between the French and Russians, in which the latter were defeated.
BOROMAEUS. See Borromeus.
BOROUGH, Burrough, Borow, or Burgh, is a term frequently used for a town or corporation which is not a city.

Borough, in the original Saxon borge or borgh, is by some supposed to have primarily meant a tithing or company consisting of ten families, who were bound and combined together as sureties for one another. Afterwards, as Verstegan informs us, borough came to signify a town that had something of a wall or inclosure about it; so that all places which amongst our ancestors had the denomination of borough, were one way or other fenced or fortified, being, as it were, ougxo∕. But in latter times this appellation was also bestowed on several of the villce insigniores, or country towns of more than ordinary note, though not walled.

The ancient Saxons, according to Spelman, gave the name of burghs to what in other countries were called cities. But different canons being made for removing the episcopal sees from villages and small towns to the chief cities, the term city came to be attributed to episcopal towns, whilst that of borough included all the rest, even although they had the appearance of cities, as being governed by mayors, having bye-laws of their own making, sending representatives to parliament, and being fortified with a wall and castle, and the like.

Royal Boroughs or Burghs, in Scotland, are corporations originally created for the advantage of trade, in virtue of charters granted by several of their kings, and having the privilege of sending commissioners to represent them in parliament, besides other peculiar privileges. The royal burghs are not only so many distinct corporations, but also constitute one entire body, governed by, and accountable to, a general court, anciently called the court of four boroughs, which was held yearly, to treat and determine concerning matters relating to the common interest. The four burghs which composed this court were, Edinburgh, Stirling, Roxburgh, and Berwick; but the two last falling into the hands of the English, Linlithgow and Lanark were substituted in their room, with a saving to the former whenever they should return to their allegiance. But this court not being sufficient to answer the necessities of the royal burghs, they were all empowered under James III., in 1487, to send commissioners to a yearly convention' of their own, which was then appointed to be held at Inverkeithing, but is now held at Edinburgh, under the denomination of the Convention of Royal Burghs, which was vested with great powers, and had for its object the benefit of trade, and the interest of the burghs generally.

Borough- English, a customary descent of lands or tenements, in some ancient boroughs and copyhold manors, by which the youngest son, and not the eldest, succeeded to the burgage tenement on the death of his father.
BOROUGHBRIDGE, a borough and market-town in the parish of Aldborough and west-riding of Yorkshire, 208 miles from London, on the river Eyne, which is navigable to this place. The market is held on a Saturday. The number of inhabitants in 1801 amounted to 680, in 1811 to 745, and in 1821 to 860.
BOROWITSCHI, a circle of the Russian government of Novogorod, extending over 18,796 square miles, containing one city and fifty-four parishes, with 91,720 inhabitants. The chief place is a city of the same name, on the river Msta, containing two churches, 860 houses, and 3500 inhabitants, amongst whom are many pilots employed in interior navigation. Long. 33. 5. E. Lat. 58. 16. N.
BOROWSK, a circle in the Russian government of Kaluga, 614 square miles in extent, with 78,400 inhabitants. The chief place is the city of the same name on the river Protwa, a manufacturing place for linen goods, with a population of about 7000 persons. Long. 36. 5. E. Lat. 55. 14. N.
BORRELISTS, in Ecclesiastical History, a Christian sect in Holland, so denominated from their founder Borrel, a person of much learning in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues. They rejected the use of the sacraments, public prayer, and other external acts of worship; affirming that all the Christian churches of the world have degenerated from the pure apostolical doctrines, because they have suffered the word of God, which is infallible, to be expounded, or rather corrupted, by doctors, who are not infallible.
BORRICHIUS, Olaus, one of the most learned men of his age, the son of a Lutheran minister, was born in 1626, at Borchen in Denmark. He was sent to study physic in the university of Copenhagen in 1644, and he began to practise during a terrible plague which made great havoc in that city. In 1660, although appointed professor of botany and chemistry, he visited Holland, England, and France; was received as doctor at Angers; and visited Rome in 1665. In the course of his travels he attended the most celebrated schools, and was selected by Queen Christina as her master in chemistry. He returned to Copenhagen in 1666, and discharged the duties of his office with great assiduity, as his works abundantly testify. He was raised to the office of member of the supreme council of justice in 1686, and to that of counsellor of the royal chancery in 1689; and he died of the operation of lithotomy in 1690. The following is a list of his works: 1. Bohimasia Metallica, Copenhagen, 1660, 8vo; 2. Be Ortu et Progressu Chemiae Bisscrtatio, ibid. 1668, 4to; 3. Hermetis, Aegyptìorum, et Chemicoum Sapientia, ibid.

1674, 4to; 4. Lingua Pharmacopceorum, ibid. 1670, 4to; 5. Cogitationes de variis Linguae Latinae Aetatibus, ibid.

1675, 8vo; 6. Be Causis diversitatis Linguarum, ibid. 1675, 4to; 7. Be Somno et Somniferis, Francfort, 1680, 1683, 4to; 8. Be Usu Plantarum Indigenarum in Medicina, Copenhagen, 1688, 1690, 8vo; 9. Bissertationcs V. de Poetis Graecis et Latinis, ibid. 1676; 10. Conspectus Chemicorum Scriptorum Illustriorum, ibid. 1696, 4to; 11. Be An- [7:5:16]∖tiqua Urbis Pomeε Facie, ibid. 1697, 8vo; 12. De Urbis Romoe Primordiis, ibid. 1687, 4to; with some trifles not worth particularizing.
BORROWSTOUNNESS (generally abbreviated to Bo’ness), a sea-port town of Scotland, in the county of Linlithgow, is situated on the southern shore of the Frith of Forth, where that arm of the sea is between three and four miles broad. This is one of the most ancient sea-port towns of Scotland, and many of the houses appear to be of very ancient date. The town is irregularly built; the streets are narrow and incommodious; and, from the number of public works, vrhenċc smoke is profusely emitted, the houses are for the most part coated with soot. There is an excellent harbour here, where a patent slip is erected for the'use of shipping. The trade of this port was at one time considerable; but of late years it has much declined, in consequence of the navigable canal between the rivers Forth and Clydé having gradually transferred the trade to Grangemouth, which stands at the junction of this canal with the Forth. At present it possesses'three vessels employed in the whale-fishery. The parish contains extensive coal-works. There are also two distilleries, a pottery, à soap-work,' and a vitriol and sal-ammoniac work.’ Besides the established church, there is a dissenting meeting-house. There are two weekly markets, and an annüal fair. The population in 1831 amounted to 2809.

Borrowstounness is distant eighteen miles west of Edinburgh, and three north of Linlithgow.
BORSEHOLDER, among the Anglo-Saxons, one of the lowest magistrates, whose authority extended only over one free burgh, tithing, or decennary, consisting of ten families. Every freeman who wished to enjoy the protection of the laws, and not to be treated as a vagabond, was under the necessity of being admitted a member of the tithing where he and his family resided; and in order to obtain this admission, it was necessary for him to maintain a good reputation, because all the members of each tithing being pledges and securities for one another, and the whole tithing sureties to the king for the good behaviour of all its members, they were very cautious in admitting any into their society who were of bad, or doubtful characters. Each tithing formed a little state or commonwealth within itself, and chose one of its most respectable members for its head, who was sometimes called the alderman of such tithing or free burgh, on account of his age and experience, but most commonly borseholder i from the Saxon words bor*∖ a security, and alder i a head or chief. This magistrate had authority to call together the members of his tithing, to preside in their meetings, and to put their sentences in execution. The members of each tithing, with their tithing-man or borseholder at their head, constituted a court of justice, in which all the little controversies arising within the tithing were determined. If any dispute of great difficulty or importance happened, or if either of the parties was not willing to submit to a sentence given in the tithing-court, the cause was referred or appealed to the next superior court, which was that of the hundred.
BORSET, or Borsett, celebrated for its baths, a place about half a league from Aix-la-Chapelle in Germany. The abbey is a very magnificent structure. It was formerly a monastery, but now serves as a nunnery, the abbess of which is usually a princess of the empire, and lady of Borset. The waters are warm, and of the same nature as those of Aix-la-Chapelle; and they are only used for diseases in which those last mentioned are recommended, and also in dropsical and oedematous cases. The waters are distinguished into the upper and lower springs. The former were found by Dr Simmons to raise the thermometer to 186°, the latter to only 127°.
BORSOD, a circle in the Austrian kingdom of Hungary, the frontiers of which are washed by the rivers Samlior and Torna. It extends over 1332 square miles, or 852,480 acres, comprehends 12 towns, 167 villages, and 19,650 houses, and contains a population of 156,050 souls. Nearly half the land is covered with woods; but the remainder is moderately fertile, and produces good corn, wine, hemp, flax, and some tobacco. The manufactures are chiefly of a domestic kind.
BORYSTHENES. Sec Boristhenes.
BOS, John Baptist du, a celebrated author and member of the French academy, was born at Beauvais in 1670, and finished his studies at the Sorbonne. In 1695 he was named one of the committee for foreign affairs under Μ. Torez; and he was afterwards charged with some important transactions in England, Germany, Holland, and Italy. On his return to Paris he met with rapid preferment, having been made an abbé, and chosen perpetual secretary of the French academy. He was the author of several excellent works, the principal of which are, 1. Critical Reflections upon Poetry and Painting, 3 vols. 12mo; 2. The History of the four Gordians, confirmed and illustrated by medals; and 3. A critical History of the establishment of the French Monarchy among the Gauls, 2 vols. 4to, and 4 vols. 12mo. He died at Paris on the 23tl of March 1742.
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Bos. See Mammalia, Index.

Bos, in Antiquity, was the name of an ancient Greek silver coin or didrachmus, equivalent to two drachms: it was sometimes also struck of gold. This coin was so called from having on it the impression of an ox. It obtained chiefly among the Athenians and Delians. Hence arose the phrase Bos in lingua, applied to those who had taken bribes to hold their tongue.
BOSA, a city on the western coast of the island of Sardinia, in a fine valley on the northern bank of the Termo. It is the see of a bishop, and is somewhat subject to malaria, but contains about 4000 inhabitants. Long. 8. 25. 31. E. Lat. 40. 16. 40. N.
BOSCAGE, the same with a grove or thicket.

Boseage, among painters, denotes a landscape representing much wood and trees.
BOSCAN, Almogaver, Juan, a Spanish poet of the sixteenth century, born at Barcelona about the year 1500. He was the intimate friend of Garcilasso de Vega, and with him contributed essentially to the improvement of Spanish poetry. He was the first who introduced ende-casyllabic verse, and transported into the Castilian tongue the sonnets and other poetical forms consecrated by the usage of the best Italian authors. His poetry is divided into three books, the first of which contains only redon-dillas, while the two others are filled with the pieces which he composed after he adopted his new method, namely, canciones, sonnets, tercetts, compositions in the ottava rima, and some writings in blank verse. Boscan was tutor to the celebrated Ferdinand de Toledo, duke of Alba, and appears to have died before the year 1543. His works were printed in conjunction with those of his friend Garcilasso, at Medina in 1544, 4to, at Leon in 1549 in 16to, and afterwards at Venice in 1553, 12mo.
BOSCOI, or Boscι, in Ecclesiastical History, denotes a class or tribe of monks in Palestine, who fed on grass like the beasts of the field. The word is Greek, ∕3otfκω, graziers, formed from βοδκω, pasco. The Boscoi are ranked amongst the number of Adamites, not so much on account of their habit as their food. They took no care about provision; but when eating time came, they went into the fields, each with his knife in his hand, and gathered and ate what they could find.