338 BURNEY-BURNING-GLASS. at Lynn, in Norfolk, in 1757, and received his education at the charter-house school, and the universities of Cambridge and Aberdeen; distinguished himself as a writer in the Monthly Review, to which he contributed many articles on classical literature; subsequently entered into holy orders, and obtained some preferment in the church. He died in December, 1817; and his valuable collection of books, many of them enriched with manuscript notes, was purchased by parliament for the British museum. B. published an appendix to Scapula's Greek Lexicon from the MSS. of doctor Askew; a valuable edition of the choral odes of Eschylus, the Greek tragedian; the Greek Lexicon of Philemon; remarks on the Greek verses of Milton; an abridgement of Pearson's exposition of the creed; and a sermon preached at St. Paul's: besides which he printed, for private distribution, a small impression of the Latin epistles of doctor Bentley and other learned scholars. BURNING-GLASS; a lens which unites the rays of light that fall upon it in so narrow a space as to cause them to kindle any combustible matter coming in their way, like fire. The same name has been sometimes given, though improperly, to the burning-mirror. (See the next article.) The lenses commonly used as burning-glasses are convex on both sides; these bring the rays upon a point with the greatest force, because of the shortness of their focal distance. The effects of a burning-glass are more powerful in proportion as its surface is greater, and its focus smaller. That such a glass may produce its greatest effect, it is necessary that the rays of the sun should fall upon it in a perpendicular direction, which is the case when the image of the sun, that appears at the moment of burning, is circular. If a second leus, of a smaller focal distance, is placed between the first and its focus, so as to intercept the rays which pass through the first, they are still more condensed, and united in a still narrower compass, so that the effect is greatly augmented. The Greeks and Romans seem to have been acquainted with burningglasses, or, at least, with a kind of transparent stones similar to them. They became more known in the 13th century. At the close of the 17th, von Tschirnhausen caused the largest burning-glasses, consisting of one piece, that are known, to be polished with incredible pains. Two of them, still in Paris, are 33 inches in diameter, and the weight of one amounts to 160 pounds. Both glasses produce an effect equal to that of the most intense fire. They kindle wood which is both hard and wet in a moment, and make cold water, in small vessels, boil in an instant; metals, placed upon a plate of china, are melted and vitrified by them; tiles, slates, and similar objects, become instantly red-hot, and vitrified. As Tschirnhausen's glasses, however, are not perfectly clear, and the effect is thus considerably lessened, Brisson and Lavoisier undertook, in 1774, to put together two lenses, resembling those used for watch glasses, filling up the space between them with a transparent fluid. In this manner, veins and impurities may be avoided, at less expense. They succeeded in making a burningglass of 4 feet in diameter, the greatest thickness of which, in the centre, amounted to 8 inches, and which, of itself, had a much greater power than the glasses of Tschirnhausen, in connexion with a smaller lens, or collective glass, but produced an extraordinary effect if joined to a collective glass.-The experiments made by means of large burning-glasses are important in chemistry and physics. The power of a burning-glass, however, is almost four times less than that of a burning mirror, or reflector (q. v.), of equal extent and equal curvature. This reflects more light than the glass allows to pass through it; has a smaller focal distance, and is free from the dissipation of the rays, which takes place in the burningglass, since it reflects them all nearly to one point, while the burning-glass refracts them to different points. On the other hand, the burning-glass is much more convenient, on account of the place of its focus, which is behind the glass. The burning point (focus) is an image of the sun; its diameter is equal to the 108th part of the focal distance, and its centre is the focus, properly so called. In the higher branches of geometry and conic sections, the foci are points in the parabola, ellipsis, and hyperbola, where the rays, reflected from all parts of these curves, meet. Several accidents in modern times have shown, that conflagrations may be caused by convex window-glasses or water-bottles, &c., which have the form of burning-glasses, if the rays of the sun are concentrated by them upon combustible substances lying within their reach. Since the casting and polishing of large lenses are attended with great difficulties, Buffon's plan of casting them in pieces, or zones, and afterwards putting BURNING-GLASS-BURNS. 339 them together, has lately been practised. the distance of 60 feet. During the last Lenses of this last kind have been inge- century, several large mirrors were made niously applied, by Becquey, for augment- in Italy, two of which are still in Paris ing the light on light-houses, according and Cassel. Von Tschirnhausen also to the suggestion of Fresnel. (See Pha- manufactured one in 1687, 3 Leipsic ells ros.) For the history of burning instru- (about 5 English feet) in diameter, and ments, see the article Burning Mirrors. the focal distance of which was 2 ells (3% English feet).* It consists of a thin plate of copper, highly polished, and is now in the mathematical hall in Dresden, This mirror sets wood on fire, makes water boil, melts tin three inches thick, as well as lead, vitrifies bricks, bones, &c. Besides metals, wood, pasteboard, glass, and other materials, serve for burning mirrors, if their surface be polished. Burning mirrors have of late been used as reflectors (q. v.), to throw light at a great distance, and may be very usefully employed in light-houses. If, for instance, a lamp is placed in the focus of a parabolic mirror, the rays of light which fall on it are all reflected in a direction parallel to the axis; thus the reflectors of Lenoir appear like stars of the first magnitude at the distance of 80,000 feet. (For further information on burningglasses and burning mirrors, see Priestley's History and present State of Optics; and the 5th vol. of the new edition of Gehler's Physikalisches Lexicon, Leips. 1825). BURNING MIRRORS, or REFLECTORS; mirrors, the smoothly polished surface of which reflects the rays of the sun that fall upon it in such a direction, that they unite at some distance from the mirror, in a more limited space, and act upon substances within this space like the most powerful fire. Concave mirrors cause the rays that fall upon them in a direction parallel to their axes to converge. Spherical mirrors of this kind are the most common; but parabolic ones are also used; and even plane mirrors may be employed like concave or es, if several of them are combined in a proper manner. In order that a burning mirror should produce its whole effect, its axis must be directed exactly towards the centre of the sun's disk. This is the case if the light, intercepted by a plane, perpendicular to the axis of the mirror, at its focal distance, forms a circle. The focus then lies in a straight line between the sun and the mirror. The ancients were acquainted with such mirrors, as is manifest from several of their writings still extant. It is impossible, from the nature of things, that Archimedes, during the siege of Syracuse by Marcellus, should have set on fire the fleet of the latter by means of concave mirrors: it would be more credible, that it had been effected by a combination of plane mirrors. Various experiments have shown, that great effects may be produced, at a considerable distance, by the latter instrument. Kircher placed five plane mirrors, of an equal size, in such a position as to reflect the rays upon a spot one hundred feet distant, and thereby produced a great heat. Buffon, in 1747, effected a combination of 168 plane mirrors, each of which was 6 inches broad, and 8 long. With 40 of these mirrors, he set on fire, almost instantaneously, a board of beech wood, covered with tar, at a distance of 66 feet; and, with 128 mirrors, a board of pine wood, likewise covered with tar, at a distance of 150 feet. With 45 mirrors, he melted a tin bottle, at a distance of 20 feet, and, with 117 mirrors, small pieces of money. He afterwards burned wood with this machine, at the distance of 200 feet, melted tin at the distance of 150, lead at the distance of 130, and silver at BURNING of houses. (See Arson.) BURNISHER is a blunt, smooth tool, used for smoothing and polishing a rough surface by pressure, and not by removing any part of the body. Other processes of polishing detach the little asperities. Agates, tempered steel, and dogs'-teeth, are used for burnishing. It is one of the most expeditious methods of polishing, and one which gives the highest lustre. The burnishers used by engravers are formed to burnish with one end, and to erase blemishes with the other. BURNS, Robert; a celebrated Scottish poet, whose history affords a memorable example of the miseries arising from the possession of extraordinary talents, unaccompanied by habits of prudence and self-control. He was the son of William Burnes or Burns, a gardener and small farmer, near the town of Ayr, and was born January 25, 1759. He was brought up to rustic labor; but his education was not neglected, as he was, at an early age, instructed in English grammar, by Mr. Murdoch, (who died not long since in London), to which he added an acquaintance with the French language and practical mathematics. Smitten with a passion for * Another account gives diameter, 4 French feet, focal distance, 12 feet. reading, he devoted every moment he could spare to the perusal of such books as fell in his way, and, among them, meeting with the works of some of the best English poets, he was enabled to cultivate and improve a taste for poetry and romantic fiction; which was, perhaps, first inspired by the chimney-corner tales of an old woman in his father's family, whose memory was plentifully stored with adventures of fairies, witches, warlocks, ghosts and goblins, which she religiously believed, and therefore detailed with the most impressive effect to her admiring auditors. Burns's first poetical effusions were prompted by love, a passion of which he was peculiarly susceptible. Having begun, he continued to make verses, which attracted the notice of his neighbors, and gained him considerable reputation. His company was consequently much sought-a circumstance which led him to an indulgence in habits of dissipation, and a disgust at the plebeian occupation to which he seemed destined by fortune. He then engaged in business as a flax-dresser, in the town of Irvine; but his premises were destroyed by fire, and he was obliged to relinquish the undertaking. His father dying, he took a small farm in conjunction with a younger brother; and this scheme also proved unsuccessful. In the mean time, he had formed a connexion with a young woman, whom, on her becoming pregnant, he would have married; but his ruined circumstances induced her friends to object to it. Thus unsuccessful at home, he engaged himself as assistant overseer to a plantation in Jamaica. To obtain the funds necessary for the voyage, he was induced to publish, by subscription, a volume of his poetical effusions. It was accordingly printed at Kilmarnock in 1786, and Burns, having derived from the publication the assistance he expected, was about to set sail from his native land, when his purpose was prevented by the communication of a letter from doctor Blacklock to a friend of the Ayrshire poet, recommending that he should visit Edinburgh, in order to take advantage of the general admiration his poems had excited, and publish a new edition of them. This advice was eagerly adopted, and the result exceeded his most sanguine expectations. After remaining more than a year in the Scottish metropolis, admired, flattered and caressed by persons of eminence for their rank, for tune or talents, he retired to the country with the sum of £500, which he had re alized by the second publication of his poems. A part of this sum he advanced to his brother, and, with the remainder, took a considerable farm near Dumfries, and at the same time procured the office of an exciseman. He also now completed his matrimonial engagement with the female to whom he had been contracted. His convivial habits ere long prevented him from paying a proper attention to his farm; and, after a trial of three years and a half, he found himself obliged to resign his lease, and remove to the town of Dumfries, to follow his employment as an exciseman. He continued to exercise his pen, particularly in the composition of a number of beautiful songs, adapted to old Scottish tunes, for a periodical work, published at Edinburgh. His disposition to intemperate indulgence was too deeply rooted to be overcome; and, in spite of the remonstrances of his friends, and his own acknowledged conviction of the folly of his conduct, he persisted in the use of inebriating liquors till he had ruined his constitution, and brought on a disease, which occasioned his death, July 21, 1796. The poems of B. are none of them of any great length, nor do they appertain to the higher kinds of poetical composition. It appears, indeed, from his correspondence, that he at one time meditated an epic or dramatic effort, but the mode of spending his time, to which he had become habituated, utterly prevented the necessary application. Whatever he has done, however, he has done well. His songs, his tales, and his poetical epistles, display pathos, humor, a vigor of sentiment, and a purity and elegance of style, which, in spite of their being clothed in what may be termed a provincial dialect, will not only ensure a permanent fame to their author, but advance him high in the records of native genius. His prose compositions, which consist entirely of private letters, never intended for the press, are altogether as extraordinary productions as his poems; and those literary men who were acquainted with him have asserted, that his conversation was not less calculated to leave a powerful impression of the extent and accuracy of his knowledge and observation, and the strength and vivacity of his genius. He left a wife and four children unprovided for; but his friends raised a subscription for their support; and an edition of the works of Burns, in 4 vols. 8vo., was published for their benefit, in 1800, with a life of the author, by doctor Currie, of Liverpool. BURRAMPOOTER-BURTON-UPON-TRENT. BURRAMPOOTER, or BRAMAPOOTRA, is the largest river in India. Its sources, not yet explored, seem to be situated near lake Manasarovara, in Thibet, near those of the Indus. In Thibet, it is called the Sanpoo, flows by Lassa, the residence of the Grand Lama, and, after being lost to European knowledge, re-appears in Assam. In its rise and fall, its periods coincide nearly with those of the Ganges. Its navigation is rendered difficult by shifting sand-banks, and trunks of trees sticking in its bed. After entering Bengal, it joins the Ganges, at Luckipoor, where the united rivers form a wide gulf, communicating with the sea of Bengal. The course of the B. is estimated at about 1650 miles. Rising from opposite sides of the same mountains, and separating to a distance of 1200 miles, the B. and the Ganges are destined to mingle their waters again in the same channel. 341 enclosed by the ridges of Olympus, and BURSCHEN; the name given to one another by the students at the German universities. It is derived from bursales or bursarii, the name which the students bore in the middle ages, from the buildings (burse) in which they lived in common. (See Universities.) BURTON, Robert; a writer of the 17th Paucis notus, paucioribus ignotus, BURRILL, James, a distinguished senator of the U. States, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, April 25, 1772. He reHe received his education at the college in Providence, now Brown university, and was graduated in Sept. 1788. He then pursued the study of the law, and was admitted to practise in the supreme court of the state before he reached his majority. In a few years, he stood at the head of his profession in Rhode Island. In October, 1797, he was elected, by the general assembly, attorney-general of the state, and annually after, by the people, for seventeen successive elections. The decay of his health, and other causes, induced him He was a man of integrity and benevo to resign that office in May, 1813. In lence, but subject to strange fits of hypo1816, he was appointed, by the general chondriac melancholy, which rendered assembly, chief justice of the supreme his conduct flighty and inconsistent. court, having been, for several years pre- Sometimes he was an agreeable and vious, speaker of the house of represen- lively companion, delighting those around tatives of Rhode Island. In the next him with perpetual sallies of wit and huyear, he was placed in the senate of the mor; while, at other times, devoured with U. States, of which he remained a highly spleen and ennui, he sought relief by esteemed member until the period of his listening to the jests of the bargemen on decease, December 25, 1820. the river near Oxford. He is reported also to have undertaken the composition of his Anatomy of Melancholy with a view to the dissipation of his morbid feelings. Among those who have been most deeply indebted to B. is the facetious author of Tristram Shandy; who has, however, been perhaps too harshly censured for a fault which every man of general and extensive reading knows to be common to almost all great writers. BURSA, a city of Natolia, in Asiatic Turkey, with a population of about 60,000 Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, engaged in commerce, and the manufacture of satins, silk stuffs, carpets, gauze, &c. The bazars are filled with merchandise, and the caravans, passing from Aleppo and Smyrna to Constantinople, promote its commerce. It contains 140 mosques, two of which are magnificent, and is adorned with an immense number of fountains. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the empire, situated in a fertile and finely-wooded plain, which is BURTON-UPON-TRENT; a town of England, on the north bank of the Trent, which is here crossed by a fine old bridge 342 BURTON-UPON-TRENT-BURYING-PLACES. of 36 arches. B. is a borough, and the inhabitants have the privilege of exemption from county juries. It is mentioned early in Saxon history, and suffered much in the civil wars. It is chiefly celebrated for its excellent ale, of which vast quantities are made, both for home consumption and exportation. Contrary to common usage, the brewers, in preparing it, employ hard instead of soft water. (See Brewing.) Population, in 1821, 6700. Lon. 1° 36′ W.; lat. 5° 50′ N. tom was preserved by the Christians. The sepulchres in churches originate from an inclination, common to men of all times and nations, to honor their relations, even in the grave. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans erected over the graves of men of rank, or persons otherwise remarkable, pyramids, mausolea or temples. After the introduction of Christianity, little churches, called chapels, were erected over the dead. The early Christian martyrs were buried in caverns, which, by degrees, were enlarged to spacious subterranean vaults, and called chambers of repose. In the sequel, others considered themselves happy if their bones were allowed to repose near the ashes of a martyr. The sepulchres of the martyrs were, on this account, distinguished by a white altar over them. When the Christians were allowed the public exercise of their religion, they erected churches, and the heathen temples became places of Christian worship. As early as the 4th century, they built churches over the sepulchres of the holy martyrs; and, in the belief that a place was sanctified by their ashes, they anxiously sought out, on the erection of new churches in cities, or the transformation of heathen temples into Christian churches, the remains (relics) of the martyrs, and buried them under the altar of the new church, to communicate to it a character of greater sanctity. It gradually came to be universally con BURY ST. EDMUND's; a town in Suffolk, England, formerly surrounded with walls. It contains two fine churches, with numerous monuments, and, before the reformation, had five hospitals. Of many benevolent institutions, the principal is a free school founded by Edward VI. It is one of the greatest corn markets in the kingdom, and its great fair, in October, which lasts three weeks, is attended by the nobility and gentry of the neighborhood. The town is a borough, returning two representatives. It is an ancient place, and is supposed to have derived its name from St. Edmund, a king of the East Angles, who was buried here. The barons, in John's reign, met here, and formed a league against him. B. has been the seat of two parliaments, and contains the remains of an abbey, the most wealthy and magnificent in Britain, "with gates of brass, towers and high walls, so that one might think the monastery alone a city." Barren women, desirous of off-sidered, among the Christians, a privilege spring, offered a white bull at the shrine of St. Edmund's. 72 miles N. N. E. of London. Lat. 52° 50′ N. BURYING-PLACES. The custom of burying the dead in public places prevailed among the most ancient nations. The Romans had this custom in the earliest times. Afterwards, in the flourishing periods of the republic, they burnt their dead, and only buried the ashes, collected in urns (urna). The ancient Germans buried their dead in the groves consecrated by their priests. With the introduction of the Christian religion, consecrated places were appropriated for the purpose of general burial; and it was regarded as ignominious not to be buried in consecrated earth. The deprivation of the rites of burial was, therefore, part of the punishment of excommunication. The Romans were accustomed to provide their sepulchres at least with a stone, upon which was inscribed the name of the deceased, and the wish, May he rest in peace (Sit illi terra levis, that is, May the earth rest lightly upon him). This cus to be buried in the neighborhood of a saint. The emperor Constantine, who died in 337, was the first person that we know of, who ordered his sepulchre to be erected in a church. This was done in the church of the apostles at Constantinople, of which he was the founder, and therefore, probably, considered himself as peculiarly entitled to this privilege. He was soon imitated by the bishops, and, in the sequel, all those who had enriched the church were distinguished by this honor. The emperors Theodosius and Justinian, indeed, forbade the erection of sepulchres in churches, but in vain. Leo the Philosopher again permitted them to every body. It is only in later times that men have become convinced how injurious it is to the health of the living to remain, for a long time, in the vicinity of the dead; particularly if the corpses re main standing in simple coffins, and are not placed deep in the earth, as is commonly the case in the sepulchral vaults of churches. From these the effluvia of putrefaction escape easily, and diffuse |