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 BOERHAAVE BOERS 775 Persian wars they sided for the most part with the Persians. Plateea, however, was demo- cratic in its government, and a faithful ally of Athens. (See PLAT^EA.) During the Pelopon- nesian war the Boeotians were allies of Sparta and assisted in the overthrow of Athens. In 395 B. 0., however, they joined the league against Sparta, which was overcome in the fol- lowing year by Agesilaus at Coronea. In 382 another war between Boeotia and Sparta began, in which the Theban Epaminondas gained the battles of Leuctra and Mantinea, and broke the power of Sparta. At this time Boeotia was the leading state and Thebes the ruling city of Greece. This supremacy was taken away by the Macedonians under Philip at Chasronea in 338, and three years later Thebes was razed to the ground by Alexander, but was restored by Cassander and the Athenians in 316. (See THEBES.) From this epoch dates the utter decline of Boeotia, which was finally ruined by the rapacity of Sylla, who defeated at Ch- ronea the army of Mithridates. Insignificant under the Romans, daring the middle ages, and under the Turks, it became the scene of some of the sharpest fighting in the war of Greek liberation. In the present kingdom of Greece, it forms two eparchies, Thebes and Livadia, in the nomarchy of Attica and Boeotia. (See ATTICA.) Boeotia is still famous for its heavy atmosphere, to which the Athenians attributed the proverbial dulness of its people. BOERHAAVE, Hermann, a Dutch physician, born at Voorhout, near Leyden, Dec. 81, 1668, died in Leyden, Sept. 23, 1738. His father was a clergyman, and he was des- tined for the same calling. He studied at Ley- den under Gronovius, Ryckius, and Trigland, and obtained the highest academical honors. In 1689 he received his degree in philosophy, the subject of his thesis being the distinction between mind and matter, in which he con- demned the doctrines of Epicurus, Hobbes, and Spinoza, and maintained that the doctrines of Epicurus had been completely analyzed and refuted by Cicero. For this dissertation a gold medal was given to him by the city. After the death of his father Boerhaave supported himself for a while by teaching mathematics, and then engaged in the study of medicine. In 1 693 he obtained his degree of doctor of medi- cine at Harderwyck, and immediately entered on the duties of his profession. In 1T01 he was appointed by the university of Leyden to supply the place of Drelincourt as lecturer on the institutes of medicine. His inaugural dis- course was entitled De commendando Hippocra- tii Studio, in which he recommended to his pupils the study of the works of that writer as the best source of instruction. He was fond of chemistry, botany, and mathematics, and these sciences were much consulted in his med- ical investigations. In 1708 he published at Leyden the Institutiones Medica in Usus An- num Exercitationis Domesticos, a comprehensive work on the study and practice of medicine, the functions of the body, health, disease, and the means of prolonging life. The next year appeared his Aphorismi de Cognoseendis et Curandu Mortis, a classification of diseases, with explanations of their causes, symptoms, and treatment. These two works, which show immense learning and are models of style, passed through numerous editions, were co- piously annotated, and translated into many languages. In 1709 he was appointed succes- sor to Hotton in the chair of botany and medi- cine. Under his influence additions were made to the botanical garden of Leyden, and he pub- lished numerous works descriptive of new spe- cies of plants. In 1714 he was appointed rec- tor of the university, and in the same year suc- ceeded Bidloo in the chair of practical medicine. In this position he had the merit of reviving the ancient system of clinical instruction. In 1718 he was appointed to the chair of chem- istry, and the fruit of his labors in this position appeared some years later in his Elementa OhemicB (best ed., 4to, Leyden, 1732). In 1729 declining health induced him to resign the chairs of chemistry and botany, and in 1731 he resigned the rectorship of the university, deliv- ering a discourse De Honore Medici Semitute. Besides attending to his active duties as rector of the university and professor of chemistry, botany, and medicine, Boerhaave was always much consulted as a practical physician. He was simple and economical in his habits, and when he died he left a fortune of 2,000,000 florins to his only surviving daughter. The genius of Boerhaave attracted students to the university of Leyden from all parts of Europe ; and when Peter the Great revisited Holland in 1716, he had recourse to him for instruction. From the time of Hippocrates, no physician had excited so much admiration as Boerhaave. His personal appearance was simple and venerable ; to uncommon intellectual powers he united gen- tleness, benevolence, and amiable manners. In lecturing, his style was eloquent and graceful, his ideas clear, and his delivery perfect. He possessed an excellent memory, and was an accomplished linguist and fond of music. He was of a religious turn of mind, and usually devoted an hour early in the morning to read- ing the Scriptures and pious meditations, to which habit he attributed his faculty of endur- ing with cheerfulness his immense labors. The city of Leyden raised a monument to his mem- ory in the church of St. Peter, inscribed " To the health-giving skill of Boerhaave " {Salutifero Boerhaavii genio sacrum), and on which was engraved his motto, Simplex sigillum veri. BOERS (Dutch, boer, a peasant), the Dutch colonists of southern Africa. The first Dutch settlements there were established in the begin- ning of the 17th century, and grew rapidly while the Netherlands were a ruling maritime power; but during the 18th century the ad- venturous spirit of the Dutch died away, and as the influx of fresh elements from Europe di- minished, the original settlers of Cape Colony