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 568 BERLIOZ ments for performing the operations of cystot- omy and cesophagotomy, and for the treatment of trichiasis, the lachrymal fistula, and the fracture of the femur bone. He made improve- ments in many other surgical instruments and processes, and was the author of numerous treatises on professional topics. BERLIOZ, Hector, a French composer, born at C6te Saint Andre, in the department of Isere, Dec. 11, 1803, died in Paris, March 8, 1869. His father, a physician, sent him in early life to study medicine ; but his love of music soon led him to abandon that profession and to enter the conservatoire de musique. His father now cast him off, and he supported himself as a chorus singer at the gymnase dramatique, and studied composition. In 1830, with his cantata Sardanapale, he took the first prize at the con- servatoire, entitling him to pursue his studies in Italy for 18 months at the public expense. Returning to Paris, he produced rapidly a number of orchestral works intended to illus- trate his proposition that every musical com- position should bo the expression of some defi- nite thought and have a distinctly marked ob- ject. To this kind of composition the name of. programme music was given. Berlioz found enemies to his system on every hand, and de- fended himself against their attacks through the Journal des Debate, by which he was for many years employed as musical critic. He composed several operas, but they were one after another condemned almost at the first hearing. His talents, however, were not with- out recognition, for he was not only a member of the academy of fine arts, but also librarian of the conservatoire, officer of the legion of honor, and the recipient of a number of for- eign orders. He sought to promulgate his views of composition not only in his own but also in other countries, and for that purpose at various times visited England, Germany, Aus- tria, and Russia, but without any other than a transient effect. He published a treatise on instrumentation which is held in esteem. His principal instrumental works are the overtures to " Waverley," " King Lear," Le Carnival romain, and Les francs juges, and the sympho- nies entitled Episode de la fie d'un artiste, Harold en Italic, and Symphonic fune'bre et triompJiale. Among his operas, those most worthy of mention are Henvenuto Cellini and Les Troy ens. In 1833 he married Miss Harriet Smithson, an English actress, who died in Paris in 1854. His life was passed in a constant struggle, through his musical compositions and his writings, to impress his theories upon the world. BERMEJO, or Vermejo, a large river of Sonth America, rises in the Tarija mountains in Bo- livia, flows S. E. through the Argentine prov- inces of Ju.juy and Salta, meandering through the dense forests and sandy plains of the Gran Chaco, where it receives the waters of some lakes and forms a large number of others, and falls into the Paraguay near the fortress of BERMUDAS Humaita, 30 m.. above the confluence of that river with the Parana. Its chief affluents are the Tarija and the Labayen or Rio Grande de Jujuy. It is extremely tortuous, and its entire length is 1,200 m., although less than 600 m. in a straight line. Its course generally varies five or six times in a league. Jose Maria Arce, who descended it in 1863 in vessels drawing but 27 inches of water, and with 150 tons of cargo, from Oran in Jujuy to Corrientes, found the river nowhere less than five feet deep ; but sunken trees frequently obstructed navigation. BERJIONDSEY, a suburban parish of London, on the Surrey side of the Thames, situated be- tween Southwark and Rotherhithe, and form- ing part of the former borough ; pop. in 1871, 80,413, an increase of 22,058 since 1861. It is the great seat of tanning. (See LONDON.) BERMUDAS, or Soniers Islands, a group of small islands belonging to Great Britain, said to be 365 in number, in the Atlantic ocean, 580 m. 8. S. E. of Cape Hatteras, between lat. 32 14' and 32 25' K, and Ion. 64 38' and 64 52' W. The group is formed upon a coral reef, and is 18 m. in length and 6 in greatest breadth ; area, 24 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 12,121, including about 5,000 whites. The land is low, the greatest elevation being that of Gibbs Hill, 180 feet high, on which there is a light- house. Most of the islands are mere rocks, and only 12 or 15 are inhabited. Bermuda, or Long Island, is 16 m. long and about m. wide. The other principal islands are St. George's, Ireland, Somerset, and St. David's. Dangerous and extensive coral reefs, mostly under water, enclose them on the north, west, and south, and the channels of approach are very intricate. They have some excellent har- bors, however, that of St. George's, the east- ernmost island, having been formed at great cost by blasting away the reefs and construct- ing a breakwater on the point of the adjacent island of Ireland. St. George is now an im- portant naval station, and is strongly fortified. The climate is damp, but mild. Violent gales are frequent during the winter. Vegetation is green throughout the year, and the islands yield abundance of garden vegetables, pota- toes, fruit, and excellent arrowroot. Grain, flour, rice, and live stock are imported from the United States. The soil, a thin layer of mould upon a rocky foundation, is still fertile, though much overworked. A good quality of cedar grows on the islands, and is extensively used for building small and swift vessels. There are no fresh-water streams nor good wells ; rain water is collected in tanks. The fisheries are valuable. Limestone and sandstone are abundant. The only towns are Hamilton, the capital, on Bermuda island, and St. George, on the island of that name, the latter being the larger of the two. The government consists of a governor and council appointed by the crown, and an assembly of 36 members elect- ed by the people. The revenue in 1869 was 30,040; expenditure, 32,040; public debt,