Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/387

Rh there seems to remain only a treatise Oil Fate, a portion of which was preserved by Eusebius (Prep. Evan., vi. 10), while the whole has been printed from a Syriac MS. with English translation by Cnreton (Spicilegium Syriacum, Lond. 1855). The system of Bardesanes, so far as it can be gathered from the scanty notices of other writers, had many points in common with that of Valentinus, but shows to an almost greater extent the influence of Oriental mysti cism and imagery. He begins, as do all the other Gnostics, with postulating the existence of the Unknown God or Father, the ground of all the forms of being. Alongside of God, and co-existing with Him, in fact, His necessary shadow, is vague, unformed, eternal, and uncreated Matter. From this dualism springs the possibility of evil in the universe. Evil is not, indeed, correlative and equally necessary with God, but arises from matter. The Eternal Father, through union with His everlastingly produced, but shadowy companion, brings forth the Son, from whose union with the Holy Spirit (Sophia) spring the elements. The combinations of the productive and receptive agents are called syzygies, and of them there are seven. Bardesanes, who had deeply studied the Chaldean astrology, seems to have discussed at great length the influence of the stars on human action. He vindicated for man, what may, with some stretch of language, be termed a transcendental freedom. His followers were distinguished by the strange opinion they entertained with regard to the body of Christ, which they held to be only phenomenal, not real. Besides the notices of Bardesanes to be found in general works on Gnosticism, as those of Baur, Matter, Lipsius, and Man- sel, the following may be consulted : Hahn, Bardesanes Gnosticus Syrorum primus hymnologus, 1819; Hilgenfeld, Bardesanes, der letzte Gnostiker, 1864.  BARDILI,, a German metaphysician, distinguished by his opposition to the system of Kant, was born at Blaubeuren in Wiirtemberg, in 17G1, and died at Stuttgart in 1808. Of his numerous works the principal is his Elements of Log&amp;gt;c (Grundriss der ersten Logik, Stuttgart, 1800). His system has had but little influence in Germany, the celebrated Reinhold being the only adherent of any importance. Yet in some respects his ideas opened the way for the later speculations of Schelling and Hegel. He dissented strongly from the Kantian dis tinction between matter and form of thought, and urged that philosophy should consider only thought in itself, pure thought, which is the ground or possibility of being. The fundamental principle of thought and criterion of certitude was, according to him, the law of identity; logical thinking was real thinking. The matter upon which thought operated was in itself indefinite and unformed, a mere airupov, which was rendered definite or took deter minate forms through the action upon it of thought. Bardili, however, worked out his fundamental idea in an abstract, one-sided manner. Thought, as conceived by him, had no power of development in it, and ultimately reduced itself to a species of arithmetical computation. (See on his system the notices in Michelet, Geschichte der letztcn Systeme, Bd. i., and Erdmann, Versuch einer Geschichte d. neu. Phil., Bd. iii. pt. i.)  BARDSEY (i.e., Bard s Island), or in Welsh, the Island of the Current, is situated at the northern ex tremity of Cardigan Bay. It is 2½ miles long by 1 broad, with an area of about 370 acres, of which one-third is hilly. The island produces both barley and oats. On the S.E. side there is a harbour which admits vessels of 40 tons. On the north side are the ruins of St Mary s Abbey, said to have been founded by Cadfan in 516, which afforded refuge to great numbers of fugitives during the 7th century. The lighthouse has a fixed light 129 feet above high water, in lat. 52 45 K, long. 4 47 W.  BARDWÁN (sometimes spelled Burdwan), a division or commissionership in India under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, comprising the districts of Bardwdn, Hugli with Howrah, Midnapur, Bdnkurd or West Bardwdn, and Bir- bhum, lies between 23 and 25 N. lat. and between 86 and 89 E. long. It is bounded on the K by the district of the Santal Pargands in the Bhdgalpur division, and Murshiddbdd in the Kdjshdhi division ; on the E. by the Presidency districts of Nadiyd, and the 24 Pargands ; on the S. by the Bay of Bengal, and on the W. by the native tributary state of Morbhanj, and the district of Mdnbhum in the Chhotd Ndgpur division. In 1872 Bardwdn divi sion contained an area of 12,719 square miles, with a popu lation of 7,286,957, inhabiting 25,842 towns and villages, and 1,468,791 houses; persons per square mile, 573; villages or townships per square mile, 2 03 ; houses per j square mile, 115 ; persons per village, 282 ; and persons per house, 5. The census of 1872 classifies the population j of the Bardwdn division as follow : Hindus males, 3,051,967; females, 3,164,093; total, 6,216,060, or 85 3 per cent. : Mahometans males, 450,103 ; females,. 479,288; total, 929,391, or 12-8 per cent: Christians. males, 2352; females, 2053; total, 4405, or - 1 per cent. : total males, 3,572,108, or 49 per cent. ; females, 3,714,849, or 51 per cent. ; grand total, 7,286,957.

, an important district in the division of the same name, under the Lieutenant-Governor of Ben gal, situated between 23 53 and 22 46 JS&quot;. lat., and between 88 3 39 and 86 52 E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the districts of Birbhum and Murshiddbdd, from which it is separated by the River Ajai ; on the E. by the districts of Nadiya and Hugli, the River Bhdgirathi separating it from the former ; on the S. by the districts of Hugli and Midnapur ; and on the W. by the districts of Bankura and Maubhum. For fiscal purposes the Board of Revenue returns its area at 3150 square miles : cultivated, 2810 ; cultivable, but not cultivated, 190; and uncultivable, 150. The census of 1872 gives the police area at 3523 square miles, with a population of 2,034,745 souls, inhabiting 5191 villages, and residing in 435,416 I houses. Persons per square mile, 578; per village, 392; j per house, 4 7. Hindus number 1,679,363, or 82 5 per cent; Mahometans, 348,024, or 17 1 per cent. ; Chris tians, 890, or -1 per cent. ; and persons of unspecified reli gion, 6468, or 3 per cent.

