BERSIER, bar'syu', Eugene Arthur Francois (1831-89). A pulpit orator of the Reformed Church of France. He was born at Jlorges, near Geneva ; studied at Geneva, Gottingen, and Halle; and became a preacher in Paris in 1855. He died there November 19, 1889. He vas much admired as a preacher, and many of his sermons were published and translated into different languages. Besides these his publica- tions embrace Histoire du liynode de 1S~2 ( 1872 2 vols.) ; CoUgny avant les guerres de religion (1884, Eng. trans. 1885) ; La revocation; Projet de revision de la liturgie des eglises reformees de France (1888); Histoire d'une petite fille heureiise (1890) ; in English, Sertnons (London, 1881-1901, with personal sketch of the author 1885-91). Consult J. F. B. Tinling. Bersier's Pulpit: An Analysis of the Published Sermons of Pastor Eugene Bcrsier ( 1901 ) .
BEESOT, bar'sci'. Pierre Ernest (1816-80).
A French philosopher and publicist. He was
born at Swegeres ( Charente-lnferieure ) , studied
,at the Normal School, Paris, and later taught
philosophy at Rennes, Paris, Bordeaux, Dijon,
and Versailles. He refused to take the oath
after the coup d'etat of 1851, and was dismissed
from his post. In 1806 he entered the Academy
of Jloral and Political Sciences, and in 1871 was
appointed director of the Normal School. His
works are profound, and are written in an ele-
vated style. They include Essai stir la providence
(1853), considered his most important work;
Litterature et morale ( 1861 ) , and Libre philoso-
phic (1858). His educational reports are also
of interest. Consult E. Seherer, Un moraliste ;
etudes et pensces d'Ernest Bersot (1859).
BERT, bar, Paul (1833-86). A French scientist and politician, born at Auxerre. He was professor of physiology in Bordeaux and afterwards
in Paris, and was a member of the Academy of
Sciences; was elected to the National Assembly
in 1874, and was reelected in 1877, and became
noted for extremely radical opinions. He advo-
cated compulsory education, and endeavored to
exclude all religious teachings from the schools.
In the short-li%"ed Gambetta Cabinet (1881-82),
he was Minister of Public Instruction. Bert car-
ried out many broad and interesting investiga-
tions in physiology, including researches on skin-
grafting; oh the effects of increase and of dim-
inution of atmospheric pressure upon the living
organism : on respiration and asphyxia ; on the
action of ansesthetics, and on the toxic properties
of ox,ygen. He published numerous scientific
works, among which may be noticed De la greffe
onimale (1863) and La pression barometrique
(1878). His Discours parlementaires were pub-
lished in 1881. Consult Berillon, L'oeuvre sei-
entifique de Paul Bert (Paris, 1887).
BERTEAUX, bar't6', H£l£na Hubert,
Madame Leon (1828 — ). A French sculptor,
born in Paris. She was the pupil of her father,
the painter and engraver Pierre Hubert, and of
Dumont, and exhibited first at the Salon of 1849,
with a portrait statuette in plaster. She is the
founder and president of the "Society de I'Union
des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs," which since
1881 has held an annual exhibition in Paris.
She received medals in 1864 and 1867, a second
class in 1873, and a gold medal at the Exposition
of 1989. Her most important works are: "Jeune
fille au bain" (1873 — reexhibited 1876), statues
for the fiu;ades of the New Tuileries, a public
fountain at Amiens (1864); "Le Baptisme du
Christ," at Notre Dame de Vineennes; "Saint
Jlathieu et saint Laurent," at the Church of
Saint Laurent in Paris ; and a number of portrait
busts, including one of Francois Boucher, for
the National Academy of Music.
BER'THA. The name of several women, real
and legendary, of the Middle Ages. Saint Ber-
tha, whose day is observed on July 4, was the
beautiful and pious daughter of Charibert, King
of the Franks. She married (a.d. 560) .^thel-
bert. King of Kent, and became the means of his
conversion and of the spread of Christianit.v
among the Anglo-Saxons. In the romances of
the Charlemagne cycle, a Bertha with the Big
Foot figui-es as the daughter of Count Charibert
of Laon, ^ife of Pepin the Short, and mother of
Charlemagne. In the romances of the Round
Table, another Bertha is a sister of Charlemagne
and mother of the renowned Roland. Bertha,
daughter of Burkhard. Duke of the Alemanni,
and wife of Rudolph 11., King of T^ans-.Jurane
Burgimdy, after her husband's death, in 937,
acted as regent for her infant son, Conrad. Sub-
sequently she married Hugo, King of Italy, and
died toward the close of the Tenth Century. She
enjoved the reputation of being an excellent
housekeeper, and is represented on monuments
of the times seated upon her throne with her
spinnin>;-wheel b,y her side.
BERTHA. A character in the comedy The
Beggar's Bush, by Fletcher, Massinger, and' Row-
ley. She is stolen by the usurper Wolfert. but
finally rescued by Vandunke, her supposed fa-
ther, and restored to her possessions and lover.
She disguises her identity under the name of
Gertrude.
BERTHELOT, b.ar'tlo', Pierre Eugène Marcellin (1827 — ). A French chemist. He was
born in Paris. He received his education at
the College Henri IV. and devoted himself to
research in organic chemistrv. In 1854 he re-
ceived his doctor's degree in science, on present-
ing a remarkable thesis giving au account of
his artificial repi'oduction of natural fats. The
fact that fats are mixtures of glycerides, i.e.
compounds of gl,ycerin with the so-called fatty
acids, had been known since 1823, when Chev-
reul effected the decomposition of fats into their
chemical constituents. Berthelot, however, was
the first to produce those important organic
products s,vntheticall,y. In the same thesis he
showed that glycerin, which is capable of com-
bining with three equivalents of a monobasic
acid, is an alcohol; and thus the idea of pol.v-
atomic alcohols was first introduced into chem-
istr,y. A large number of diatomic, triatomic —
in general, polyatomic alcohols, have since been
prepared, and form an important class of organic
compounds. (See Alcohols.) In 1851 Berthe-
lot became assistant to Balard at the Coll&ge de
France ; in 1860 he was made professor of or-
ganic chemistrv at the Ecole de Pharmacie, and
in 1865 a new chair of chemistry was founded
for him at the Coll6ge de France, where he has
since lectured on theoretical chemistry. In 1873
he was elected member of the Institute, and in
1889 perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sci-
ences. In 1876 he was made inspector-general of
higher education: in 1881 a lifelong member of
the Senate; in 1886-87 he was Minister of Public
