change of residence. About 1770 he removed to Milan, where he continued to teach and to hold the directorship of the observatory of Brera; but being deprived of his post by the intrigues of his associates he was about to retire to his native place, when the news reached him (1773) of the suppression of his order in Italy. Uncertainty as to his future led him to accept an invitation from the king of France to Paris, where he was naturalized and was appointed director of optics for the marine, an office instituted for him, with a pension of 8000 livres. He remained there ten years, but his position became irksome, and at length intolerable. He continued, however, to devote himself diligently to the pursuits of science, and published many remarkable memoirs. Among them were an elegant solution of the problem to determine the orbit of a comet from three observations, and memoirs on the micrometer and achromatic telescopes. In 1783 he returned to Italy, and spent two years at Bassano, where he occupied himself with the publication of his Opera pertinentia ad opticam et astronomiam, &c., which appeared in 1785 in five volumes quarto. After a visit of some months to the convent of Vallombrosa, he went to Milan and resumed his literary labours. But his health was failing, his reputation was on the wane, his works did not sell, and he gradually sank a prey to illness and disappointment. He fell into melancholy, imbecility, and at last madness, with lucid intervals, and died at Milan on the 15th (13th) of February 1787. In addition to the works already mentioned Boscovich published Elementa universae matheseos (1754), the substance of the course of study prepared for his pupils; and a narrative of his travels, entitled Giornale di un viaggio da Constantinopoli in Polonia, of which several editions and a French translation appeared. His latest labour was the editing of the Latin poems of his friend Benedict Stay on the philosophy of Descartes, with scientific annotations and supplements. (W. L. R. C.)
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, or Bosnia-Herzegovina,
two provinces formerly included in European Turkey, which
now, together with Dalmatia, form the southernmost territories
of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The name Herzegovina is
also written Hertzegovina, Hertsegovina or, in Croatian,
Hercegovina. In shape roughly resembling an equilateral
triangle, with base uppermost, Bosnia and Herzegovina cover an
area of 19,696 sq. m., in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula.
They are bounded N. and N.W. by Croatia-Slavonia; W. and S.W. by
Dalmatia; S.E. by Montenegro and the Sanjak of Novibazar;
and N.E. by Servia. Opposite to the promontory of Sabbioncello,
and at the entrance to the Bocche di Cattaro, the frontier of
Herzegovina comes down to the Adriatic; but these two strips of
coast do not contain any good harbour, and extend only for a
total distance of 1412 m. Bosnia is altogether an inland territory.
1. Physical Features.—Along the Dalmatian border, and through the centre of Bosnia, runs the backbone of the Dinaric Alps, which attain their greatest altitudes (6000–7500 ft.) near Travnik, Serajevo and Mostar. There are numerous high valleys shut in among the mountains of this range; the most noteworthy being the plain of Livno, which lies parallel to the Dalmatian border, at a height of 500 ft. above the sea. The zone of highlands throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina reaches a mean altitude of 1500 ft., while summits of more than 4000 ft. occur frequently. To the north-east of the Dinaric Alps extends a region of mountain, moor and forest, with deeply sunk alluvial basins, which finally expand into the lowlands of the Posavina, or Vale of the Save, forming the southernmost fringe of the Hungarian Alföld. Bosnia belongs wholly to the watershed of the Save, and its rivers to the Danubian system, no large stream finding a way to the Adriatic. The Save flows eastward along the northern frontier for 237 m. It is joined by four main tributaries, the Drina, Bosna, Vrbas and Una. The Drina is formed on the Montenegrin frontier by the united streams of the Tara and Piva; curving north-eastwards past Visegrad, it marches for 102 m. with Servian territory, and falls into the Save at Racha, after a total course of 155 m. The Bosna issues from many springs near Serajevo, and winds for 107 m. northward, through a succession of fertile glens, reaching the Save 1 m. west of Samac. Farther west, the Vrbas cuts a channel through the Dinaric Alps, and, after passing Jajce and Banjaluka, meets the Save 94 m. from its own headwaters. The Una rises on the Croatian border, and, after skirting the Plješevica Planina, in Croatia, turns sharply to the north-east; serving as a frontier stream for 37 m. before entering the Save at Jasenovac. Its length is 98 m. At Novi it is joined by the Sana, a considerable affluent.
Herzegovina, which lies south of Bosnia, in a parallelogram defined by Montenegro, Dalmatia, the Dinaric Alps, and an irregular line drawn from a point 25 m. west-north-west of Mostar to the bend of the river Narenta, differs in many respects from the larger territory. Its mountains, which belong to the Adriatic watershed, and form a continuation of the Montenegrin highlands, are less rounded and more dolomitic in character. They descend in parallel ridges of grey Karst limestone, south-westwards to the sea; their last summits reappear in the multitude of rocky islands along the Dalmatian littoral. As in the peaks of Orjen, Orobac, Samotica and Veliki Kap, their height often exceeds 6000 ft. West of the Narenta, their flanks are in places covered with forests of beech and pine, but north-east of that river they present for the most part a scene of barren desolation. Their monotony is varied only by the fruitful river-valleys and poljes, or upland hollows, where the smaller towns and villages are grouped; the districts or cantons thus formed are walled round by a natural rampart of limestone. These poljes may be described as oases in what is otherwise a desert expanse of mountains. The surface of some, as notably the Mostarsko Blato, lying west of Mostar, is marshy, and in spring forms a lake; others are watered by streams which disappear in swallow-holes of the rock, and make their way by underground channels either to the sea or the Narenta. The most conspicuous example of these is the Trebinjcica, which disappears in two swallow-holes in Popovopolye, and after making its way by a subterranean passage through a range of mountains, wells up in the mighty source of Ombla near Ragusa, and hurries in undiminished volume to the Adriatic. The Narenta, or Neretva, is the one large river of Herzegovina which flows above ground throughout its length. Rising on the Montenegrin border, under the Lebrsnik mountains, it flows north-westwards at the foot of the Dinaric Alps; and, near Konjica, sweeps round suddenly to the south, and falls into the Adriatic near Metkovic, after traversing 125 m. North of Mostar, it cleaves a passage through the celebrated Narenta defile, a narrow gorge, 12 m. long, overshadowed by mountains which rise on either side and culminate in Lupoglav (6796 ft.) on the east, and Cvrstnica (7205 ft.) on the west.
2. Geology and Minerals.—Geologically, the highlands of Bosnia and Herzegovina are to be regarded, in both their orographic and tectonic character, as a continuation of the South Alpine calcareous belt. Along the west frontier there appear broad and strongly marked zones of Cretaceous limestone, alternating with Jurassic and Triassic, joined by a strip of Palaeozoic formations running from the north-west corner of Bosnia. Next, proceeding from this region in an easterly direction, are the Neogene freshwater formations, filling up the greatest part of the north-east of Bosnia, as also a zone of flysch intermingled with several strips of eruptive rock. In the south-east of Bosnia the predominant formations are Triassic and Palaeozoic strata with red sandstone and quartzite. Along the whole northern rim of Bosnia, as also in the fluvial and Karst valleys (poljes), are found diluvial and alluvial formations, interrupted at one place by an isolated granite layer. Bosnia is rich in minerals, including coal, iron, copper, chrome, manganese, cinnabar, zinc and mercury, besides marble and much excellent building stone. Among the mountains, gold and silver were worked by the Romans, and, in the middle ages, by the Ragusans. After 1881 the Mining Company of Bosnia began to develop the coal and iron fields; and from 1886 its operations were continued by the government. Valuable salt is obtained from the pits at Dolnja Tuzla, and the southern part of Herzegovina yields asphalt and lignite. Mineral springs also abound, and those of Ilidže, near Serajevo, have been utilized since the
