Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/175

 BOWMAN BOX 169 proach to Nashville. After the capture of Fort Henry by the federal troops (Feb. 6, 1862), the confederates found themselves outflanked, and were obliged to evacuate the town. BOWMAN, Thomas, D. D., an American clergy- man, born near Berwick, Columbia co., Penn., July 15, 1817. He was educated at Wilbraham academy, Mass., at Cazenovia seminary, N. Y., and at Dickinson college, Carlisle, Penn., where he graduated in 1837. After studying law at Carlisle for one year, he entered the ministry in the Baltimore conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1839. From 1840 to 1843 he taught in the grammar school of Dickinson college. In 1848 he was appointed to organize the Dickinson seminary at Williamsport, Penn. Over this institution he presided for ten years, and during this period became distinguished as a pulpit orator. In 1858 he was elected presi- dent of Indiana Asbury university at Green- castle. He was elected delegate to the British conference in 1864, and was chaplain of the United States senate in 1864 and 1865. He continued to preside over the Indiana Asbury university till May, 1872, when he became- a bishop. His residence is St. Louis, Mo. BOWRING, Sir John, an English statesman and author, born at Exeter, Oct. 17, 1792, died Nov. 22, 1872. He early applied himself to the study of modern languages, and between 1821 and 1824 published metrical translations of the popular poetry of Russia, Holland, and Spain, and afterward of Poland, Servia, Hungary, Portugal, Iceland, and Bohemia. About 1822 he made the acquaintance of Jeremy Bentham, became his disciple, executor, and biographer, and edited his works (11 vols. 8vo, 1843). In 1825 he was made first editor of the "West- minster Review," and continued in this position for several years, writing copiously in support of parliamentary reform and free trade. He travelled in Holland in 1828, and received the honorary degree of LL. D. from the university of Groningen. In 1833 he published "Matins and Vespers, with Hymns," a volume of original poetry, chiefly devotional. He wrote with Vil- liers " On the Commercial Relations between France and Great Britain " (2 vols., 1834-'5), the result of official investigation, and was em- ployed in similar labors relating to Switzer- land, Italy, the Levant, and the German cus- toms union. As a member of parliament from 1835 to 1837, and again from 1841 to 1849 he invariably advocated extreme liberal opinions, and was one of the counsel of the anti-corn law league. In January, 1849, he was appointed British consul at Canton, and subsequently he became acting plenipotentiary. He returned to England for a short time in 1853, and published two volumes in support of a decimal system of coinage. In 1854 he was knighted and ap- pointed governor of Hong Kong. Parliament censured his course in the bombardment of the Chinese forts in 1856, and he was recalled in 1857. His " Kingdom of Siam and its People " (2 vols., London, 1857) embodies his observa- tions while on a mission in that country for the conclusion of a commercial treaty. "A Visit to the Philippine Islands in 1858-'9 " appeared from his pen in 1859. He was a zealous Uni- tarian, and in 1872 was prominent in the inter- national social reform convention in London. BOWYER, William, an English printer and scholar, born Dec. 19, 1699, died Nov. 18, 1777. He studied at Cambridge, and became printer to the house of commons and various learned societies. He published several learned works, the most celebrated of which was a Greek edi- tion of the New Testament, with critical and emendatory notes (2 vols., 1763; 2d ed., 1812). His memoirs are included in "Nichols's Liter- ary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century" (9 vols., 1812-'15^ continued as "Illustrations of Literary History," 18l7-'48). BOX (buxus), a shrubby evergreen tree, which affords a very valuable close-grained wood. The Romans cultivated the box tree as an orna- mental shrub in their gardens, and consecrated it to Ceres. The Greeks called it n-tfof, whence the Latin name ; and as the same Greek word signifies goblet or vase, it is probable that they named it from its use in the manufacture of small cups and ornaments. B. sempervirens, the best known species, is the most northern arbo- rescent plant of the natural order euphorbiacece, the other trees of that order being found only in mild or tropical climates. It is a native of most parts of Europe, is common from England to Persia, and attains in favorable localities the height of 15 or 20 ft., but in some rocky re- gions never rises above 3 ft. It has small oval and opposite leaves, male and female flowers upon the same individual, and a 3 or 4-parted calyx. Among the garden varieties is the dwarf box, much used for the edgings of walks. The wood is of a yellowish color, hard, heavy, durable, close-grained, and susceptible of a high polish. It has a specific gravity of