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 BURIATS BURKE 455 anciery, by C. Feydeau (3 vols., Paris, 1858) ; Die heidnische Todtenbestattung in Deutseh- land, by Weinhold (Vienna, 1859) ; DcnkscTirift zur Leichenverlrennung (Namslau, 1860) ; and especially Traiti des signet de la mart, et des moyens deprevenir les enterrements prematures, by Eugene Bouchat (Paris, 1849), a work which gained an academical prize. Madame Necker (1790), Dr. Vign6 (1841), and others have also written on premature interments. IHRIATS, the collective name of nomadic Mongolian tribes scattered over the S. part of the province of Irkutsk, Siberia, from the Chinese boundary northward toward the up- per Lena region, and westward from the Onon to the Oka, a tributary of the Angara. In Transbaikalia they number nearly 200,000, and in other parts about 20,000, and are chiefly agricultural. They have been under Russian domination since the middle of the 17th cen- tury, though retaining their local administra- tion under princes and elders of their own se- lection. They live in yurts or huts, covered with leather in summer and with felt in winter. They are Buddhists, and their idols are made of wood and other materials. Women are re- garded as unclean, and are not allowed to ap- proach the altar where the images are placed. The men resemble the Oalmucks, and are good horsemen and archers. Agriculture and the chase are the chief means of subsistence ; but several trades, especially that of forging iron, are carried on. Their language is a branch of the Mongolian, and though there is no distinct literature, several native Burials, as Dorji Bansaroff and Galsang Gomboyeff, have re- cently acquired eminence in science. Schiefner has prepared from the literary remains of Cas- tren a grammar and a dictionary of the Buriat language (St. Petersburg, 1857). Ul KID t V Jean, a French philosopher of the 14th century, born at Bethune, in Artois. He studied at the university of Paris, of which he became rector in 1347. He was a disciple of Occam, and his best works relate to the phi- losophy of Aristotle. He was prominent in the school of nominalistic philosophy, and several contradictory stories are told of the incidents of his life. His celebrity in modern times arises from a popular illustration, attributed to him, of the determining reasons in reference to the action of the will. According to it, an ass, placed midway between two bundles of hay, equally attractive, would maintain his position, and die of starvation, from want of a reason determining him to turn to one side or the other for the purpose of satisfying his appetite. This illustration of the theory opposed to the doc- trine of free will, popularly known as " Buri- dan's ass," is not to be found in Buridan's wri- tings, nor is it of his invention. It is found, in a somewhat different form, in Aristotle, and is fully stated in the opening verses of the fourth canto of Dante's " Paradise." BIRIOXY, Jean Levesqne de, a French author, born at Rheims in 1692, died in Paris, Oct. 8, 1785. In 1713 he removed to Paris, where, in conjunction with his two brothers, he engaged in the compilation of a manuscript encyclo- paedia, which when completed formed 12 large folio volumes, whence he drew the materials for many of his subsequent publications. His treatise on the papal power (4 vols. 12mo) is not much esteemed ; but his lives of Erasmus, Grotius, Bossuet, and Du Perron are valuable. BURKE. I. A W. county of North Carolina, intersected by the Catawba river; area, 450 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 9,777, of whom 2,314 were colored. It abounds in beautiful moun- tain scenery, and is traversed by the Blue Ridge near its N. W. border. The soil is gen- erally fertile, and affords excellent pasturage. The Wilmington and North Carolina railroad passes through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 26,528 bushels of wheat, 217,049 of Indian corn, 31,010 of oats, 10,093 of Irish and 12,342 of sweet potatoes, 68,076 Ibs. of butter, and 25,204 of tobacco. There were 800 horses, 719 milch cows, 2,681 other cattle, 4,728 sheep, and 10,000 swine. Capital, Morgantown. II. An E. county of Georgia, separated from South Carolina by the Savannah river, bounded S. by the Ogeechee, and intersected by Brier and Buckshead creeks ; area, 1,040 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 17,679, of whom 13,436 were colored. It is somewhat hilly, but the soil is fertile. The Central Georgia railroad and the Augusta and Savannah branch pass through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 203,735 bushels of Indian corn, 18,347 of sweet potatoes, and 14,290 bales of cotton. There were 1,097 horses, 1,650 mules and asses, 4,277 milch cows, 1,643 other cattle, and 11,157 swine. Capital, Waynesborough. BURKE, JJdanns, an American jurist, born in Gal way, Ireland, in 1743, died in Charleston, S. C., in March, 1802. He was educated for the church, but became a lawyer, and after a visit to the West Indies went to South Carolina and served as a volunteer in the revolutionary army. In 1778 he was appointed judge of the supreme court of the newly organized state. When Charleston was captured in 1780, he again joined the army, and in 1782 returned to the bench. He opposed the adoption of the federal constitution because he feared consoli- dated power, and wrote a pamphlet against the aristocratic features of the society of the Cincinnati, which was translated into French by Mirabeau. He was a member of congress in 1789-'91, of the state legislature for a num- ber of years, and eventually became chancellor of South Carolina. He was witty, accomplish- ed, upright, and eccentric. BURKE, Edmund, an English statesman, born in Dublin, Jan. 1, 1730, died at Beaconsfield, England, July 9, 1797. He was one of 14 or 15 children of Richard Burke, an attorney, de- scended from the Norman De Burghs who early settled in Ireland. His mother was of the ancient Irish family of Nagle, of Castletown Roche, county of Cork, and a grand-niece of