The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and Transubstantiation. 2. The sufficiency of communion in one kind only. 3. The unlawfulness of the marriage of priests. 4. The obligation of vows of chastity. 5. The propriety of retaining private masses. G. The expediency and necessity of auricular confession. The penalties attached to the act exceeded in severity almost every precedent, at least in England, and were particularly severe against impugners of the first article, death being the prescribed penalty.

Bluebeard, Story of, was written during the reign of Louis XIV by a Frenchman named Perrault, and was probably suggested by the deeds of Giles de Laval, better known as Marshal de Retz. This bloodthirsty character was born in 1396, and subsequently served under the Duke of Bretagne and Charles VII with distinction, and was one of the trusted captains of Joan of Arc. In 1432 he was reputed the richest man in France, but quickly squandered his fortune. It is said that soon after this event, through the influence of an alchemist named Prelati, Giles pledged all but his soul to the devil in exchange for wealth equal to that which he had spent. At all events, his career from that time became that of a demon. Young women, girls of tender age, and even 1 children were invcigled into his strongly-guarded castles and never seen alive again. It is related that the children were dangled at ropes' ends, pricked with needles, and otherwise tortured until dead, and their heads were afterward used as ornaments for his mantels and bed-posts. After he had carried on this career of crime for about eight years he was arrested, confessed, and burned at the stake about December 22, 1440. The remains of fifty-four of his victims were identified.

Blue-Books, a name popularly applied to the reports and other papers printed by the English Parliament, because they are usually covered with bluc covers. The practice of printing, and to some extent publishing, the proceedings of the House of Commons began in the year 1681, when dispute ran high on the question of excluding the Duke of York from the succession to the throne.

Blue Laws on Smoking.-The Massachusetts laws against the use of tobacco were at one time exceeding stringent. In October, 1632, a law was passed to the effect that "It is ordered, that noe person shall take any tobacco publiquely, under paine of punishment; also that every one shall pay 1d. for every time hee is convicted of taking tobacco in any place, and that any Assistant shall hav power to receive evidence and give order for levyeing of it, as also to give order for the levyeing of the officer's charge. This order begin the 10th of November next." In September, 1634, another 'aw on the same article was passed. It read: "Victualers, or keepers of an Ordinary, shall not suffer any tobacco to be taken in their howses, under the penalty of 5s. for every offence, to be payde by the victuler, and 12d. by the party

that takes it. Further it is ordered, that noe person shall take tobacco publiquely, under penalty of 2s. 6d., nor privately, in his own house, or in the howse of another, before strangers, and that two or more shall not take it together, anywhere, under the aforesaid penalty for every offence." In November, 1637, the record reads: "All former laws against tobacco are repealed, and tobacco is sett at liberty;" but in September, 1638, "the (General) Court, finding that since the repealing of the former laws against tobacco, the same is more abused than before, it hath therefore ordered, that no man shall take any tobacco in the fields, except in his journey, or at meale times, under paine of 12d. for every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in (or so near) any dwelling house, barne, corne or hay rick as may likely indanger the fireing thereof, upon paine of 10s. for every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in any inne or common victualing house except in a private roome thereat, which if they do, then such person is fourthwith to forbeare, upon paine of 12s. 6d. for every offence. Noe man shall kindle fyre by gunpouder, for takeing tobacco, except in his journey, upon paine of 12d. for every offence."

Blue Stockings.-The term " blue stocking" originated in England about a century ago. Its invention is traced to the days of Doctor Johnson and was applied then as now to ladies who cultivated learned conversation, and found enjoyment in the discussion of questions which had been monopolized by men. It is said by Dr. John Doran, who in his work, A Lady of the Last Century," gave an account of Mrs. Montague and the "blue stockings" of her time, that in 1757 it was quite the thing for ladies to form evening assemblies, when they might participate in talk with literary and ingenious men. One of the best known and most popular members of one of these societies was said to have been a Mr. Stillingfleet, who always wore blue stockings, and when at any time he happened to be absent from these gatherings it was usually remarked that we can do nothing without blue stockings;" and by degrees the term "blue stockings was applied to all clubs of the kind described, and eventually to the ladies who attended their meetings.

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Boiling-Point.-By the boiling-point is meant that temperature at which any particular liquid will boil, boiling being a passing into vapor with ebullition. It varies for different substances, but is always the same for a given substance if the pressure and other conditions are unchanged. The ordinary pressure is that of the atmosphere at the sea-level, viz., about fifteen pounds to the square inch. If the pressure is reduced, as by going up on a high mountain, or by experimenting in a partial vacuum, the boilingpoint will be much lowered; and, on the other hand, increased pressure will raise it. In every case it indicates that amount of heat-energy which is necessary in order to overcome the cohesive force of the liquid and the pressure on its surface in order that the molecules may pass off as vapor. While a liquid is boiling

the temperature remains constant, the heat which is continually supplied being used up in converting new particles of the liquid into vapor, doing internal work by overcoming the cohesion of the molecules. The presence of salt in water raises its boiling-point, and when it passes off in vapor the salt is left behind. The material of the containing-vessel also has an effect upon the boilingpoint. Under fixed conditions, sulphurous acid boils at 13.10 degrees, Fahr.; ether, 96.3; carbon bisulphide, 118.5; wood-spirit, 151.3; ethylic (ordinary) alcohol, 173; water, 212; sulphuric acid, 620; mercury, 662.

Bonnet. The English bonnet, which was superseded in the early part of the sixteenth century by the hat, was made of cloth, silk or velvet, less or more ornamented, according to the taste or means of the wearer. In Scotland, however, bonnets were universally worn for a century or two later, and they still are, to a certain extent, a national characteristic. The bonnet worn by the Lowland Scottish peasantry was of a broad, round, and flat shape, overshadowing the face and neck, and of a dark-blue color, excepting a red tuft like a cherry on the top. It was made of thick milled woolen, and with reasonable care would last a man his whole life. From having been worn, till comparatively late times, by small rural proprietors—such as owners of a cottage and an acre or two of land-it gave to these local notabilities the distinctive appellation of Bonnet Lairds. The bonnets worn by the Highlanders were made of the same fabric, but rise to a point in front and are without any rim. From time immemorial these various kinds of Scots bonnets have been manufactured at Stewarton, a small town in Ayrshire. Formerly the Stewarton bonnet-makers formed a corporation, which, like other old guilds, was governed by regulations conceived in a narrow and often amusingly absurd spirit; one of the rules of the fraternity, however, can be spoken of only with commendation, for it enforced a certain weight of material in each bonnet, as well as durability in the color.

Boomerang is an instrument of war or of the chase used by the aborigines of Australia. It is of hard wood, of a bent form; the shape is parabolic. It is about two and a half inches broad, a third of an inch thick, and two feet long, the extremities being rounded. The method of using this remarkable weapon is very peculiar. It is taken by one end, with the bulged side downward, and thrown forward as if to hit some object twenty-five yards in advance. Instead of continuing to go directly forward, as would naturally be expected, it slowly ascends in the air, whirling round and round, and describing a curved line till it reaches a considerable height, when it begins to retrograde, and finally sweeps over the head of the projector and falls behind him. This surprising motion is produced by the reaction of the air upon a missile of this peculiar shape. The boomerang is one of the ancient instruments of war of the natives of Australia. They are said to be very dexterous in hitting birds with it-the birds being, of course,

behind them, and perhaps not aware that they are objects of

attack.

Bore. When a river expands gradually toward a very wide mouth, and is subject to high tides, the spring flood-tide drives an immense volume of water from the sea into the river, the water accumulates in the estuary more rapidly than it can flow up into the river, and thus there is gradually formed a kind of watery ridge stretching across the estuary, and rushing up toward the river with great violence. This is called a bore. It is many feet in height in some cases, and contends against the descending river with frightful noise. The most celebrated bores are those of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus, and the phenomenon is also observable in several rivers of Great Britain.

Boreas, the North wind, regarded in the Grecian mythology as a deity. According to the poets he was the son of Astræus and Aurora. He loved Orithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens, and carried her off to Thrace, where she bore him the winged youths, Zetes and Calais, and two daughters, Chione and Cleopatra. The Athenians ascribed the destruction of the fleet of Xerxes by a storm to the partiality of Boreas for the country of Orithyia, and built a temple to him after that event. Boreas is also said by Homer to have turned himself into a horse, out of love for the mares of Erichthonius, and to have begotten on them twelve foals remarkable for their fleetness. The rape of Orithyia was represented on the ark of Cypselos, where Boreas, instead of feet, has the tails of serpents.

Boston Mob.-A mob of several thousand people endeavored on October 21, 1835, to break up a meeting of the Female AntiSlavery Society in Boston. The cause of this hostile demonstration was primarily owing to the fact that it was expected that an address would be delivered by a Mr. George Thompson, who was very unpopular-first, because he was an Abolitionist; second, because he was an Englishman; and third, because he was said to use very strong language, even advocating the rising of the slaves against their masters. Thompson, however, had left Boston the day previous to the meeting in order to prevent just what occurred. Notwithstanding the fact that the rioters were informed by the mayor that Thompson was not in the hall, the excitement continued so great that the ladies were forced to retire. The mob then turned their attention to William Lloyd Garrison, who had intended to address the meeting, but who had, by the solicitation of the ladies who feared for his personal safety, retired to the office of the Liberator, next door. When the excitement was at its height Garrison escaped from his office through a rear window and made his way into the upper part of a carpenter shop near by, where an effort was made to conceal him. He had, however, been seen by the mob, and soon several ruffians broke into the room and seized him, with the evident intention of hurling him from the window, but abandoned that idea in favor of dragging him

through the streets by a rope. Before this could be put in practice, fortunately he was rescued by two powerful men, and eventually reached the mayor's office in the City Hall uninjured, but with his clothing literally torn into shreds. From there he was removed for safety to a jail, and the following day left Boston for a time.

Botanic Gardens.-In 1309, A. D., the first approach to a Botanic Garden was made in the garden of Matthæus Sylvaticus, at Salerno; botanic science, however, being merely subservient to medicine, and it was not until 1533 that the first true botanic garden was formed. This was made for Gaspar de Gabrieli, a wealthy Tuscan noble at Padua, and was followed by similar gardens at Pisa, Florence, Bologna and Rome, the first public garden being that at Pisa. In 1545 a public garden was established at Padua by decree of the Republic of Venice. In 1580 the Elector of Saxony established a public botanic garden at Leipsic, which was soon followed by others. There was no botanic garden in France till Louis XIII established the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, which was completed in 1634. The first public botanic garden was established in England at Oxford by the Earl of Danby, although numerous private gardens had existed in England for the greater part of a century. The botanic garden at Edinburgh, the first in Scotland, was founded about 1680. The botanic garden at Kew occupies a high place among British national institutions, and possesses one of the richest collections of plants in the world. The gardens connected with the imperial palace at Schonbrunn, in Austria, and that of Berlin, are the greatest in Germany. The Jardin des Plantes in Paris undoubtedly may be regarded as holding the first place on the continent of Europe, both with reference to the strictly scientific study of botany and to the care bestowed upon the introduction and diffusion of useful or beautiful plants from all parts of the world. In the United States the botanic gardens of New York and Philadelphia are the most worthy of notice.

Bottle Chart.-In 1843 a chart of bottle-voyages in the Atlantic was constructed by Lieutenant Beecher, an English naval officer, with the idea that by such means the determination of currents might be illustrated. The time which elapses between the launching of the bottle from the ship and the finding of it on shore or the picking of it up by some other ship has varied from a few days to sixteen years, while the straight-line distance between the two points has varied from a few miles to 5,000 miles. The chart is marked by several hundred straight lines, each drawn from the latitude and longitude of immersion to the latitude and longitude of the finding.

Boy Bishop.-In most Catholic countries the custom of electing a boy bishop on St. Nicholas' Day prevailed from an early period. He was chosen from the children of the church or cathedral choir, or from the pupils of the grammar-school, and his