[Berlin`] (1,579), capital of Prussia and of the German empire; stands on the Spree, in a flat sandy plain, 177 m. by rail SE. of Hamburg. The royal and imperial palaces, the great library, the university, national gallery and museums, and the arsenal are all near the centre of the city. There are schools of science, art, agriculture, and mining; technical and military academies; a cathedral and some old churches; zoological and botanical gardens. Its position between the Baltic and North Seas, the Spree, the numerous canals and railways which converge on it, render it a most important commercial centre; its staple trade is in grain, cattle, spirits, and wool. Manufactures are extensive and very varied; the chief are woollens, machinery, bronze ware, drapery goods, and beer.
[Berlin Decree], a decree of Napoleon of Nov. 21, 1806, declaring Britain in a state of blockade, and vessels trading with it liable to capture.
[Berlioz, Hector], a celebrated musical composer and critic, born near Grenoble, in the dep. of Isère, France; sent to study medicine in Paris; abandoned it for music, to which he devoted his life. His best known works are the "Symphonie Fantastique," "Romeo and Juliet," and the "Damnation of Faust"; with the "Symphonie," which he produced while he was yet but a student at the Conservatoire in Paris, Paganini was so struck that he presented him with 20,000 francs (1803-1869).
[Ber`mondsey], a busy SE. suburb of London, on the S. bank of the Thames.
[Bermoo`thes], the Bermudas.
[Bermu`das] (15), a group of 400 coral islands (five inhabited) in mid-Atlantic, 677 m. SE. of New York; have a delightful, temperate climate, and are a popular health resort for Americans. They produce a fine arrowroot, and export onions. They are held by Britain as a valuable naval station, and are provided with docks and fortifications.
[Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste Jules], a marshal of France, born at Pau; rose from the ranks; distinguished himself in the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, though between him and Napoleon there was constant distrust; adopted by Charles XIII., king of Sweden; joined the Allies as a naturalised Swede in the war against France in alliance with Russia; became king of Sweden himself under the title of Charles XIV., to the material welfare, as it proved, of his adopted country (1764-1844).
[Bernard, Claude], a distinguished French physiologist, born at St. Julien; he studied at Paris; was Majendie's assistant and successor in the College of France; discovered that the function of the pancreas is the digestion of ingested fats, that of the liver the transformation into sugar of certain elements in the blood, and that there are nervous centres in the body which act independently of the great cerebro-spinal centre (1813-1878).
[Bernard, St.], abbot of Clairvaux, born at Fontaines, in Burgundy; pronounced one of the grandest figures in the church militant; studied in Paris, entered the monastery of Citeaux, founded in 1115 a monastery at Clairvaux, in Champagne; drew around him disciples who rose to eminence as soldiers of the cross; prepared the statutes for the Knights-Templar; defeated Abelard in public debate, and procured his condemnation; founded 160 monasteries; awoke Europe to a second crusade; dealt death-blows all round to no end of heretics, and declined all honours to himself, content if he could only awake some divine passion in other men; represented in art as accompanied by a white dog, or as contemplating an apparition of the Virgin and the Child, or as bearing the implements of Christ's passion (1091-1174). Festival, Aug. 20.
[Bernard, Simon], a French engineer, born at Dôle; distinguished as such in the service of Napoleon, and for vast engineering works executed in the United States, in the construction of canals and forts (1779-1839).