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BOVINES BOWDITOH 163 ery and prevarication. After his release he acted with the revolutionists on the outbreak of the war of independence in Venezuela, but subsequently joined the royalists and served as captain under Oagigal, after whose defeat he took up an independent position at Calabozo, and with 500 men, many of whom were slaves, defeated Marifio, dictator of the eastern prov- inces. His band being increased by vagabonds and fugitives from justice, he worsted the in- dependents twice, slaughtered all his prisoners, and gained for his force the name of the infer- nal division. He was defeated by Rivas, when many of his men were captured and put to death ; but in 1814 he beat Bolivar and Marifio at La Puerta, and captured Valencia after a blockade, a^id, in violation of a solemn pledge, ordered the republican officers and many of the soldiers to be shot. Boves, cooperating with Morales, was again victorious at Anguita, ob- liged Bolivar to retreat to Cartagena, and en- tered Caracas. He fell in the battle of Urica, and was buried while his victorious troops were massacring their captives. BOVINES, or Bonvlnes, a village of French Flanders, on the Marcq, 7 m. S. E. of Lille, celebrated for the victory gained by Philip Au- fustus of France over Otho IV. of Germany, uly 27, 1214. In 1340 Philip of Valois de- feated here 10,000 English troops ; and on May 17 and 18, 1794, the French here defeated the Austrians. BOVBfO (anc. Bovinum or Vibinum), a forti- fied town of Italy, in the province of Capitanata, 18 m. S. S. W. of Foggia ; pop. about 6,000. It is memorable for a defeat of the imperialists by the Spaniards in 1734. BOW. See ABOHEBT. BOWDICH, Thomas Edward, an English travel- ler, born in Bristol in 1790, died in Africa, Jan. 10, 1824. He went to Cape Coast Castle, where his uncle was governor, in 1816, as writer in the service of the English African company; and in 1817 he was second in command of a mission to Ashantee. Becoming chief of this mission, he concluded an advantageous treaty with the Ashantee ruler. He afterward went to Paris and studied under Cuvier and other eminent men, with a view of preparing him- self for a second African expedition ; but he succumbed to the climate soon after reaching the mouth of the Gambia. He published works on African travel and geography, the most important of which is " Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee" (London, 1819). BOWDITCH, Nathaniel, an American mathe- matician, born in Salem, Mass., March 26, 1773, died in Boston, March 16, 1838. The son of a cooper, he was sent to school till 10 years of age, and was then taken into his father's shop. He was soon transferred to a ship chandlery, and remained in this business till he made his first voyage in 1795. His education and all his labors in mathematics were accomplished by improving his leisure while pursuing other avo- cations. An English sailor taught him the ele- ments of navigation. He began the study of Latin alone, that he might read the Prin- cipia of Newton ; and later in life he taught himself Spanish, Italian, and German. Be- tween 1795 and 1803 he made five long voy- ages, successively as clerk, supercargo, and master, to the East Indies, Portugal, and the Mediterranean. On his return from his last voyage he arrived off Salem by night in a vio- lent snow storm, and with no other guide than his reckoning, confirmed by a single glimpse of the light on Baker's island, found his way safe- ly into the harbor. In 1802 he published his " New American Practical Navigator," which passed through many editions, and was esteem- ed the best work of the sort ever published (English ed. by Kirby, London, 1802). On the close of his seafaring life, he was elected pres- ident of the Essex fire and marine insurance company, which situation he held till 1823. His attachment to his native place made him de- cline the chair of mathematics in Harvard uni- versity in 1808, in the university of Virginia in 1818, and at West Point in 1820. Among his productions were a chart of remarkable beau- ty and exactness of the harbors of Salem, Mar- blehead, Beverly, and Manchester ; many con- tributions, chiefly on astronomical subjects, to the " Transactions " of the American academy of arts and sciences ; the article on modern astronomy in vol. xx. of the " North American Review ;" and many articles in the American edition of "Rees's Cyclopaedia." He complet- ed between 1814 and 1817 the great undertak- ing on which his fame chiefly rests, a transla- tion of the Mecanique celeste of Laplace (4 vols., 1829-'38) ; the 5th volume, which Laplace had added to his work many years after the other, was subsequently issued under the editorial care of Prof. B. Peirce, accompanied by an elabo- rate commentary. It was estimated that there were at that time but two or perhaps three persons in America, and not more than 12 in Great Britain, who were able to read the origi- nal work critically. The French astronomer, thoroughly master of the mighty subject, very often omitted intermediate steps in his demon- strations, and grasped the conclusion without showing the process. It was the design of Dr. Bowditch to supply these deficiencies. Anoth- er object was to record subsequent discoveries, to continue the original work to the latest date, and to subjoin parallel passages from geometers who had treated of the same subjects. A third object was to show the sources from which La- place had derived assistance. The elucidations and commentaries form more than half the work as produced by Dr. Bowditch. In 1823 he be- came actuary of the Massachusetts hospital life insurance company in Boston. During the lat- ter years of his life he was a trustee of the Boston Athenceum, president of the American academy of arts and sciences, and a member of the corporation of Harvard college. See " Memoir of Nathaniel Bowditch," by his son, N. I. Bowditch (Boston, 1839).