BONUM — BRAHMA 
wrote on insects and plants, and became 
correspondent of the French Academy before 
he was thirty. Having weakened his eyes 
with the microscope, he devoted himself to 
more general subjects : to psychology and 
philosophy. He was one of the pioneers of 
physiological psychology (cf. Külpe, Einl. 
in die Philos., 63). 
Bonum [Lat.] : see Good. 
Boole, George. (1815-64.) An Eng¬ 
lish mathematician and logician, professor 
of mathematics in Queen’s College, Cork. 
His work, An Investigation into the Laws of 
Thought, was the first elaborate treatise in 
mathematical or symbolic logic. 
Botany. The special division of the Bio¬ 
logical Sciences (q.v.) which deals with 
plants. (j.m.b.) 
Literature : Ch. Darwin, Variations in 
Plants and Animals under Domestication ; 
Sachs, Lehrb. d. Botanik (1873), aud 
Hist, of Botany (1890); A. P. de Candolle, 
Physiol. Végétale (1832); A. de Candolle, 
Origin of Cultivated Plants (1884); G. Hen- 
slow, Origin of Floral Structures (1888); 
Bailey, The Survival of the Unlike (1896); 
S. Vines, Textbook of Botany (1895). (e.s.g.) 
Bounty [Lat. bonitas, goodness] : Ger. 
Prämie; Fr. prime] Ital. premio. A sum 
paid by the Government to the producers of 
some particular commodity or service ; pre¬ 
sumably one which they would not be pre¬ 
pared to undertake for the sake of its probable 
commercial results, in the absence of some 
special inducement of this kind. 
In England, the line of industry most 
systematically encouraged by bounties has 
been the production of wheat. For the effects 
of this policy, see Smith, Wealth of Nations, 
Bk. IV. chap. y. In most other countries, 
and especially in recent years, the sugar 
bounties have formed the most conspicuous 
application of this method of encouraging 
industry. For bounties to shipping, see Sub¬ 
sidy. There is no sharp line of distinction 
between the terms Bounty and Subsidy. The 
former is the more general; the latter is 
mainly applied to bounties in aid of trans¬ 
portation enterprises of various kinds. (A.t.h.) 
Bourignon, Antoinette. (1616-80.) A 
Flemish mystical missionary who professed 
to receive divine revelations, and exerted a 
marked influence over fhe French mystics, 
especially over Pierre Poiret. 
Bouterwek, Friedrich. (1766-1828.) A 
German philosopher. Educated as jurist and 
littérateur in Göttingen, he began lecturing 
12 
there in 1791 upon the Kantian philosophy. 
He was made assistant professor in Göttingen 
in 1797, and full professor in 1802. Besides 
philosophical works he wrote poetry and a 
much-praised History of Poetry and Elo¬ 
quence. 
Bowen, Francis. (iSh-qo.) An 
American writer in philosophy, history, and 
economics. Born in Charlestown, Mass., he 
was educated at Harvard University. Editor 
of The North American Review, 1843-54. 
Became Alford professor of natural religion, 
moral philosophy, and civil polity in Harvard 
University in 1853. 
Boyle, Bobert. (1627-91.) A cele¬ 
brated Irish chemist and natural philosopher ; 
son of Richard, the first earl of Cork. He 
was educated as an investigator in natural 
philosophy at Eton and Geneva. He later 
mastered Hebrew and Greek in order the 
better to defend Christianity. He was one 
of the founders of the Royal Society ; improved 
the air-pump, and made important discoveries 
in pneumatics. He repeatedly declined a 
peerage. Through his liberality and effort 
Eliot’s Indian Bible was published, and the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
New England established. He endowed the 
Boyle Lectures. 
Brachy- [Gr. ßpaxvs, short] : Ger. kurz- ; 
Fr. hr achy- ; Ital. brachi-. A prefix used in 
combination with various terms to indicate 
shortness or smallness of the part denoted ; 
thus a brachycephalic skull is a relatively 
broad and short one ; brachydactilia indicates 
shortness in the fingers ; brachyrrhinia, a 
short nose. &c. 
For illustration see Index (cephalic), and 
Craniometry. The opposite of Brachy- is 
Dolicho-, as in Dolichocephalic (q. v.). 
Used first by G. Retzius. (e.m., j.j.) 
Brahma and Brahmanism. The prin¬ 
cipal deity of the Hindu pantheon. As 
originally conceived, Brahma may be com¬ 
pared to Spinoza’s Substance. He was the 
one self-created and self-subsisting being. 
This conception being, in its purity, too 
remote and abstract for the people, the older 
gods of the Vedic pantheon, especially Vishnu 
and Siva, tcok their places alongside of 
Brahma, thereby constituting a triad of deities 
relatively coequal; cf. Oriental Philosophy 
(India). 
Literature : Monier Williams, Hinduism 
and Indian Wisdom; Barth, Religions of 
India ; Max Müller, Hibbert Lectures ; and 
art. Brahmanism in Encyc. Brit., 9thed. (r.m.w.) 
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