Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/605

Rh wooded country. Its width increases from 40 or GO feet near Bobruisk to 100 feet at the mouth of the Svesloch, one of its western tributaries. As a navigable river, and forming a portion of the great canal system which unites the Black Sea with the Baltic, it is of great importance for the commerce of the country, but unfortunately it is sub- iecfc to severe floods. The principal ports along its course are Boresoff, Berczino, Yakshetzee, Bobruisk, and Parichi. In history the river has been rendered famous by the cross ing of the army of Napoleon in 1812. See Stucken- berg s ffydrograpkie, iii., and Candle; Giildenstadt s fieise.  BEREZOFF, a town of Asiatic Russia, capital of a circle in Tobolsk, 700 miles N. of that city, situated on three hills on the left bank of the Sosna, 13 miles above its mouth, and on the Bogul, a tributary of the Sosna, in 63 55 N. lat. and 64 7 E. long., at a height of 297 feet above the sea-level. Berezoff was founded in 1593 for the collection of taxes near the Ostyak settlement of Sumgut-Bozh, which means in Russian Berezovi-Gorod, or Birch-town. Berezoff was more than once exposed to destructive conflagrations, as, for example, in 1719. In the second quarter of the 18th century Berezoff was appointed a place of banishment for certain important royal families. In 1727 Prince Men- schikoff was sent thither with his sons and two daughters, of whom the eldest, Mary, was the first bride of Peter II.; and in 1730 he was followed by Prince Ivan Dolgoruki, with his wife, father, mother, three brothers and three sisters, of whom Catherine was the second bride of Peter II. In 1742 General Osterman was sent to Berezoff with his wife, and died there in 1747. In 1782 the town was raised to the rank of chief town of a district of the Tobolsk government. In 1808 it was again burned down. In 1860 it had two stone churches, a cathedral called the Resurrection of the Lord, near which lie buried Mary Menschikoff and some of the Dolgorukis, and the church of Our Lady s Conception, built on the site of the Menschikoff building. There are in the town a departmental school, a lazaretto, and a stranger s hospital. The trade, which is of considerable importance, consists of furs, mammoth bones, dried and salted fish, &c. There is a yearly market, in which the transactions amount to 9000. Population in 1SGO, 14G2.  BERG (Ducatus Montensis), a former duchy of Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine, bounded on the N. by the duchy of Cleves, E. by the countship of Mark and duchy of Westphalia, and on the S. and W. by the bishopric of Cologne. Its area was about 1188 square miles. The district was raised in 1108 to the rank of a countship, but did not become a duchy till the 14th century, after it had passed into the possession of the Jiilich family. On the extinc tion of this house in 1609, Austria laid claim to the duchy as an imperial fief ; but, in keeping with the wishes of the inhabitants, it was administered conjointly by the electors of -Saxony and Brandenburg and the Elector Palatine till 1624, when by the Diisseldorf treaty the last of the three obtained the sole authority. In 1806 it was bestowed by Napoleon, along with the duchy of Cleves and other pos sessions, on Murat, who bore the title of grand duke of Berg ; and after Mural s elevation to the throne of Naples, it was transferred to Louis, the son of the king of Holland. By the Congress of Vienna in 1815 it was made over to Prussia, and now forms a flourishing part of her territory.  BERGAMA, a of, with 2500 inhabitants. See.  {{ti|1em|{{larger|BERGAMO}}, a northern province of Italy, bounded on the N. by Sondrio, E. by Tyrol and Brescia, S. by Cremona, and W. by Milan and Como. The northern portion is mountainous and well wooded, while the southern belongs to the alluvial plain of Lombard}*. To the N. and W. of Lake Iseo there are numerous mineral wells, the most important of which are those of Trescoro. Marble is abundant in the mountains, and there are valuable iron mines. At an early period the wealth of the capital appears to have been increased by the working of copper mines in the district. (See Finazzi, Sidle antiche miniere di Ber gamo, Milan, I860.) The vine and flax are largely grown, and the culture of the silk-worm is extensively carried on. The people speak a rough dialect, and are liable to be laughed at by the other Italians. The two stock characters of popular Italian comedy, Harlequin or Truffaldino and the sly Brighella, were both at one time represented as natives of the Bergamo district.}}

, the capital of the above province, is situated between the Brembo and Serio, two tributaries of the Adda, 39 miles N.E. of Milan, on the railway that runs from Venice to the Lake of Como. It consists of a new and an old town, the latter known as the Citta, or city, being built on a hill, while the former, or Borgo S. Leonardo, occupies the level ground below. On the eastern side there are also two important suburbs, S. Caterina and Palazzo. Bergamo is the seat of a bishop and a prefect, and pos sesses a school of art known as the Accademia Carrara, a museum, a lyceum, a library contained in the Palazzo Vecchio or Broletto, a musical institute, two theatres, and various scientific societies. There are also a lunatic asylum, a hospital, and other charitable institutions. . Among its numerous churches may be mentioned S. Maria Maggiore, which dates from 1173, and the neighbouring Colleoni chapel, the old Arian church of San Alessandro della Croce, S. Bartolommeo, and S. Grata. The principal objects of industry in the city are silk, cotton, and woollen goods, iron-wares, waxcloth and wax candles, and playing cards. A large fair, called the Fiera di S. Alessandro, is annually held in the new town. It dates from the 10th century, and is of great importance, especially for the silk trade. Bergamo, or Bergomum, was a municipal town during the Roman empire, and, after being destroyed by Attila, became one of the most flourishing cities of the Lombard kings, who made it the capital of a duchy. In the 15th century it was appropriated and fortified by the Venetians. In 1509 it was occupied by Louis XII. of France, who retained it for seven years, and then restored it to Venice. In 1796 the French again made themselves masters of the city, and constituted it the capital of their department of Serio. Bergamo was the birthplace of Tiraboschi, Rubini, and Donizetti. Population, 37,363.  BERGAMOT,, an essential oil obtained from the rind of the fruit of a species of Citrus, regarded by Risso as C. lergamia, but not generally believed to constitute a distinct species. The bergamot is a small tree with leaves and flowers like the bitter orange, and a round fruit nearly 3 inches in diameter, with a thin lemon-yellow smooth rind. The tree is cultivated in the neighbourhood of Reggio, in Calabria, whence the entire supply of bergamot oil is drawn. The oil is contained in small vesicles in the rind, from which it can be expressed by simple pressure in the hand. An old method of obtaining the oil, now almost superseded, is by skinning the fruit, and pressing the outside of the rind against a sponge. The rind being turned over so that the outside becomes concave, the vesicles are easily ruptured by hand pressure against the sponge, which absorbs the oil as it escapes. The oil is now obtained by placing several fruits in a saucer shaped apparatus, the surface of which is cut into radiating sharp-edged grooves. Against the sharp edges of this dish the fruits are rapidly revolved by means of a heavy cover placed above it, which is moved by a cog wheel. The oil vessels are ruptured by pressure against the knife edges, and the oil which exudes falls through small perforations in the bottom into a vessel 