Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/510

 504 BUTTONWOOD The point which he touched was in lat. 62, and was named by him Carey's Swan's Nest. Being obliged to winter in this region, he se- lected a position near the mouth of a river, first named by him Nelson's, after the master of his ship, and gave his own name to a neigh- boring bay. Every precaution was taken against cold and icebergs, yet the severity of the climate occasioned much suffering to his crew, and was fatal to some of them. During the next summer he explored and named sev- eral places on the coast of Hudson bay, and advancing to lat. 65, became convinced of the possibility of the northwest passage. He re- turned to England in the autumn of 1613, and was made a knight. He never published an account of his voyage ; but an extract from his journal is given by Purchas. BUTTONWOOD. See PLANE TREE. BUTTS, a central county of Georgia, bounded E. by the Ockmulgee river, and watered by several creeks ; area, 240 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 6,941, of whom 3,445 were colored. The sur- face is somewhat uneven, and the soil fertile. The chief productions in 1870 were 23,425 bushels of wheat, 126,339 of Indian corn, 19,- 380 of sweet potatoes, and 2,926 bales of cot- ton. There were 661 horses, 1,819 milch cows, 2,366 other cattle, 1,568 sheep, and 6,223 swine. Capital, Jackson. Ill 1 1 UN V Dmitri Petrorltcb, a Russian mili- tary writer, born in St. Petersburg in 1790, died near there, Oct. 21, 1850. He partici- pated as an officer in the campaign of 1809 against Austria, and that of 1812 against Na- poleon, and attended as Russian military agent that of the duke of Angouleme in Spain in 1823. He afterward became major general, and in the war of 1828-'9 against Turkey he was quartermaster general. He is especially known by his works on the campaign in Italy in 1799 (1810), that of 1813 in Germany (anony- mous, 1815), the peninsular war (1817), the Russian campaigns in the 18th century (4 vols., 1820), the campaign of 1812 in Russia (2 vols., 1824), and on Russia in the beginning of the 17th century (3 vols., 1839-'46). He published his earlier works in French, and the later in Russian. BUTYRIC ACID, a volatile fatty acid dis- covered by Chevreul among the products of the decomposition of butter. Its formula is now written CJIsOa. Butyric acid has been found ready formed in human perspiration, in flesh juice, guano, excrements, putrid yeast, bad cider, dung heaps, accumulations of de- composing organic matter, in cod liver oil, and in beetles ; and it is the substance which gives the disagreeable smell to rancid butter. It combines with bases to form salts, and also ex- ists as butyric anhydride. It is a colorless, mobile liquid, of a peculiar offensive odor, having an acid taste and highly caustic proper- ty, and a specific gravity of 0-96. It can be pre- pared in a great variety of ways ; among oth- ers, from butter, sugar, and by the action of BUXTON hydriodic acid on succinic acid. Bromo-buty- ric acid, butyric aldehyde, and butyric chloride have been prepared, but they possess little practical importance. BUTZOW, a walled town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 26 m. N. E. of Schwerin, at the confluence of the Warnow and the Nebel ; pop. about 5,000. It contains a'Gothic church of the 13th century, a new town hall, an old episcopal palace now used as a prison, many breweries, an iron foundery, and manufactories of brandy, oil, playing cards, straw hats, and machinery. lil IlihVKK V 1 1 iMli ii-li  illiclm, count von, a Russian general, born at Magnusdal, on Moen, Sept. 14, 1750, died at his estate of Lohde in Esthonia in 1811. He served for many years against the Turks, in 1789 was made general, and in the next year conducted with success the campaign against the Swedes. He com- manded a division of the army in the wars against Poland, was governor of Warsaw from 1794 to 1796, and afterward military governor of St. Petersburg. Tinder Paul he was for a short time in disgrace and retired to Germany, but was restored to his offices upon the death of that czar. At Austerlitz he commanded the left wing of the Russians, and in 1808 led a successful expedition against the Swedes. BUXTON, a market town and watering place of Derbyshire, England, 30 m. W. N. W. of Derby, and 20 m. S. E. of Manchester ; pop. in 1871, 6,229. It has long been famous for its mineral waters. The principal group of build- ings is the crescent, erected by the duke of Devonshire in 1780-'84; it is 270 ft. long, three stories high, the lower forming a colon- nade, and is chiefly occupied by two hotels, in one of which is the public ball room. Op- posite this is St. Ann's well, of which the water is pure and tasteless, but has a stimu- lating property ; the temperature is 82 F. The waters, which are saline, sulphurous, and charged with nitrogen, are valuable chiefly in cases of chronic gout, rheumatism, and diseases of the digestive organs. There are eight hotels, five public walks, several chapels, schools, and charitable institutions. From June to October there is a large influx of visitors. Near by are many natural curiosities, among which, a mile distant, is Pool's Hole, a remarkable stalactite cavern. Two miles from Buxton is the Dia- mond hill, so called from the crystals found there, known as Buxton diamonds. In the neighborhood is Chee Tor, a huge mass of limestone more than 300 ft. high. BUXTON, Jedidiah, an English calculator, born at Elmton, Derbyshire, in 1705, died about 1775. He could not write, but possessed great facility in performing mental arithmetical cal- culations. He seemed unable to consider any- thing save with respect to the number of its constituent parts. After hearing a sermon, he remembered nothing of it except the exact number of words it contained ; and if the size of an object were named, he would instantly