BIOT
576
BIRDS
of all subsequent dictionaries of Roman archaeology
and antiquities. His works, which were edited after
his death by his sons, include: "Romx Instauratae
Libri Tres" (1482), dedicated to Pope Eugenius IV,
a valuable study of the ancient monuments of Rome,
the first attempt at a topographical description of
the city, giving also a complete list of the principal
Christian churches and chapels, when and by whom
built, etc.; "Rom» Triumphantis Libri Decem"
(1482), dedicated to Pius II, a study of the institu-
tions and customs of the ancient Romans; "Italia
lUustrata" (1474), a description of Italy in fourteen
regions, with an accurate list of the cities, etc.
Biondo's historical researches bore fruit in a great
work entitled "Historiarum ab Inclinatione Roman-
orum Imperii, Decades III, Libri XXXI" (Venice,
1483), covering the period from the fall of the Roman
Empire to the author's own time (1440). The
work was divided into decades, but Biondo's death
prevented him from completing the vast undertaking
after he had written three decades and the first
book of the fourth.
Grkoorovius, Rome in the Middle Ages, tr. Hamilton (London, 1900). VII, Pt. II, 603 sqq.; Pastor. The History of the Popes, tr. and ed. Antrobus (London, 1S91 ); Masius, Flavio Bwiido, sein Leben und seine Werke (Leipzig. 1S79).
Edmund Burke.
Biot, Jeaj^-Baptistb, physicist and mathemati- cian, b. at Paris, France, 21 April, 1774; d. there, 3 February, 1862. He studied at first at the College of Louis-le-Grand; in 1793 he joined the artillery of the Army of the North, but soon left the service to enter the Ecole Polytechnique. After going to Beau- vais as a professor in the central school of that city, he returned to Paris, in 1800, to occupy, at the age of 26, the chair of mathematical physics in the College de France. He had the distinction of ultimately belonging to three of the classes of the Institute; in 1803 he was admitted to the Academy of Sciences; in 1841, to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles- Lettres; and in 1856, to the French Academy. After beginning his career as a mathematician and astrono- mer, he was assigned to the section of geometry in the Academy of Sciences. Among the interesting incidents in his career may be cited his ascension in a balloon with Gay-Lussac in 1804. They rose to a height of 13,000 feet for the purpose of studying the magnetic, electrical, and chemical condition of the atmosphere at various elevations.
Biot was actively engaged in the various branches of the geodetic work involved in the famous measure- ment of the quadrant of a meridian, for the purpose of standardizing the length of the new unit, the meter. As a member of the Bureau of Longitudes he went, in 1806, with young Arago, to Formentera, in the Balearic Islands, to resume the measurement of a degree of the meridian, interrupted by the death of Mechian. In 1808 he determined, with Mathieu, the length of the seconds pendulum at Bordeaux and Dunkirk. In 1817 he went to Scotland and the Shetland Islands to verify the geodetic operations of the English under Colonel Mudge. In 1824 he returned to Italy, Sicily, and Spain, in order to correct some of the observations of the year ISOS. He contributed more than 250 memoirs to various socie- ties and periodicals. This enormous work covers the entire field of experimental and mathematical physics, as well as ancient and modern astronomy. He was the champion of the corpuscular theory of light which he extended to some most ingenious explanations of the very complex phenomena of polarization. Biot discovered the laws of rotary polarization by crystalline bodies and applied these laws to the analysis of saccharine solutions. His fame rests ciiicfly on his work in polarization and double refraction of light.
Regular habits of study and recreation kept him
in good health and led to a ripe old age. His mental
attitude may be indicated by his opposition to the
open meetings of the Academy; he feared the in-
fluence of the vulgar public upon the scientific tone
of the Institute. Since he was brought up in the
turbulent times of the Revolution, it is not surprising
to find him among the insurgents, in 1795, attempt-
ing to overthrow the Convention. Again, in 1804,
he succeeded at first in prevailing on the Institute
not to vote for Bonaparte's elevation to the throne.
He protested against the introduction of purely
political matters into the deliberations of a scientific
body. His religious views became more pronounced
towards the end of his life. He is said to have re-
ceived the Sacrament of Confirmation at the hands
of his own grandson.
The more elaborate works of Biot are: "Traite de geometric analytique", 1802 (8th ed., 1834); "Traite de physique experimentale et math^matique", 4 vols., 1816; "Precis de physique", 2 vols., 1817; "Traits d'astronoraie physique", 6 vols, with atlas, 1850; "Melanges scientifiques et litteraires ", 3 vols., 1858. The last is a compilation of a great many of his critiques, biographies, and accounts of voyages.
Proc, Am. Ass'n of Arts and Sciences. 1862, VI; Sai.vte- Beuve, Nouveaux Lundis (Paris, 1879), II.
WlLLI.^M Fox.
Birds (in Symbolism). — Many kinds of birds are used in Christian symboUsm. The first to be so employed was the Dove; it stood for the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, for when Jesus was baptized the Holy Ghost descended in bodily shape as a dove upon Him (Luke, iii, 22). It was also used as a symbol of peace, because a dove brought to Noe a bough of an olive-tree as a sign that the deluge of wrath was at an end. In early Christian art the Apostles and the faithful were generally represented as doves, the first because they were the instruments of the Holy Ghost, carrying peace to the world; the second because in their baptism they received the gift of reconciliation, entering with the dove (tlie Holy Ghost) into the Ark of God, the Church. Some- times in symbohcal writing it stands for rest: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will be at rest? — (Ps., hv, 7); often for simplicity, innocence, and love. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves (Matt., X, 16); Open to me. my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; One is my dove, my perfect one. (Cant., v, 2; vi, 8.) The Eagle is a symbol of Christ and His Divine nature, of regeneration by baptism; it is also an emblem of St. John the Evange- list. As the eagle can gaze upon the shining orb of the sun with steadfast eyes, so can Christ gaze un- dazzled upon the refulgent glory of God the Father. Dante refers to the strong eye of the eagle (Parad., i, 47, 48):—
I saw Beatrice tum'd, and on the sun Gazing, as never eagle fix'd his ken. — It was a popular delusion among the ancients that the eagle could renew its youth by plunging three times into a spring of pure water, a belief alluded to by David: Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's (Ps., cii, 5), hence the primitive Christians, and later the medieval sjTnboUzers, used the eagle as a sign of baptism, the well-spring of salvation, in whose water the neophyte was dipped three times, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in order to wash from his soul the old man of sin and put on the youth of a child of light. This bird was used as the emblem of St. John, because in his Gospel St. John dwells particularly upon the Divinity of the Redeemer and contemplates with the unflinching eye of an eagle the highest truths.
The Pelican is a symbol of the atonement and the Redeemer. It was supposed to wound itself in order to feed its young with its blood and to bring to life those who were dead — the "peUcane who stricketh
