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* BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. 340 BOSWELL. manent orchestra, which was to give a series of 24 subscription concerts on Saturday nights throujrhout the season. Each concert is pre- ceded bv a public rehearsal on Friday afternoon. Orifjinally, the orchestra consisted of 67 pieces. The first "conductor was Georg Henschel. He was succeeded by Wilhelm Gericke, who soon made his orchestra the equal of any body of per- formers in Europe. Arthur Xikisch kept the orchestra at its high degree of technical excel- lence, and infused his wonderful personality into interpretation of the works of the great clas- sical masters. His successor, Emil Paur, was a conductor of wonderful temperament, with strong leaning toward the Xeo-German School, whose works figured extensively on his pro- grannues. He, in turn, was again succeeded by Wilhelm Gericke, the present conductor, who is of the academic type. After 1890 the Boston Symphony Orchestra regularly visited New York, where they gave five concerts on Thursday nights. A new' feature was the establishment, in°1900. of afternoon concerts on Wednesdays in New York. These were not public rehearsals, in so much as different progvamraes with different soloists were performed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. At present the orchestra numbers about 80 performers. Rehearsals are held daily during the season. This, and the fact that theor- ganization plavs only at concert performances, are the principal reasons of the high perfection that marks the playing of this orchestra. The conductor is now always apjrainted for five years Franz Kneisel. the concert-master, organized from among the members of this orchestra his famous quartet, which is not surpassed by any kindred organization in the world. BOSTON TEA-PARTY, The. A popular designation of tlie summary action of a party of Bostonians, on December 16, 1773. After an unavailing protest against the importation of tea as part of the policy of taxing the Colonies without representation in Parliament, a number of citizens, in Indian disguise, proceeded to three ships carrvin" cargoes of tea. and threw about 350 chests' of tea into the harbor. In retaliation for tliis action, the iiort was declared closed. BOSTON UNIVERSITY. A system of allied schools and colleges. The university is -situated in Boston, Mass., and was chartered bv the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, the original corporators being Isaac Rich, LeeCiat- lin, and Jacob Sleeper. The university is di- vided educationally into ( 1 ) a College of Liberal Arts ( 1873), and "a College of Agriculture (Mas- sachusetts Agricultural College, situated at Am- herst. Mass.,' 1875). neither of which requires a coUegiate training for matriculation; (2) a School of Theology (1871). a School of Law (1872), and a School of Medicine (1873), aa- mission to all of which is conditional upon a col- Ic'iate education: and (3) a general post-gradu- ate <lcpartment, conferring the higher degrees m the various branches of the arts and sciences, and known as the School of All Sciences. By special arrangement with the National Univer- sitv of Athens and the Royal University of Rome, students in the School of All Sciences may study without exi)cnse in those universities, the work done there being counted toward a degree from Boston University. The adminis- tration of the university is vested m a iini- versitv council, consisting of the president of the university and the deans of the constituent schools: a university senate, consisting of the council and the professors of the several facul- ties ; and a corporation, composed of trustees, not less than 10 in number nor more than 30, elected for a term of five years each. The chief benefactor of the university is Isaac Rich, in whose lionor the institution founded 64 free scholarships; since then the university has founded over 200 other scholarships as well as two fellowships. The property held by the in- stitution is valued at $1,500,000. The number of instructors in 1900 was 114, and the number of students, 1430. BOS'TRA. See Bozrah. BOSTROM, Ijos'trem, Christoffer Jacob (1797-186G). A Swedish philosopher. He was born at Pitea and studied at the University of Upsala. In 1838 he was appointed an ad- iunct professor of philosophy at the university, and from 1842 to 1863 held the chair of prac- tical philosophv. He wrote little, but his system has been very' influential in Sweden, where it is still the most prominent in centres of higher education. He has been termed by Falckenberg {Bistory of Modern Philosophy, Armstrongs trans.) "the most important systematic thinker of his countrv." His teaching, defined by him- self as 'ratio'nal idealism,' presents reality as spiritual only, and God as an absolute, self-con- scious unify,' in which all living beings, aecord- inc to degree, are forever immutably contained. Each living being is a thouglit of God, and as such potentially emancipated from space and time. Yet man belongs also to a sensible world, which exists for him until he rises beyond the limited to the real, and becomes for himself that which he is in God. Bostromian etliles, recalling that of Krause, makes society, as well as the individual, a thought of God; holds constitu- tional monarchy to be the sole reasonable form of state: and regards an all-eomprehcnsive system of states as the ultimate ideal of political de^- velopment. Bostrrmi's writings have been edited bv Edfeldt (UpsaUi. 1883). Consult Hoffding, '^"Die Philosophic in Schweden," in the Philosoph- ischc Monaishefte, Vol. XV. (Berlin, 1879). BOSWELL, boz'wel, James (1740-95). An Englisli lawyer and writer celebrated as the biog- laplier of Dr. Samuel .Johnson. He was born October 20, 1740, in Edinburgh, where his father, who had the title of Lord Auchinleck, from the name of his property in Ayrshire, was one of the judges of tlie Court of Session. He was in- tended by his father for the law. He studied first in lidinburgh and Glasgow, and afterwards at the University of inrecht, where he went m 1703 When in London in that year. May 16, he made the acquaintance of Jolinson, an event of decisive imp.ntance for his whole sub- sequent life. The acquaintance was earnestlj sought bv himself, and originated m his ar- dent adniiration of Johnson's writings. He spent one winter in Utrecht, and then pro- ceeded on a tour through Germany, Switzer- land, and Italy, and visited Corsica %nth a letter of introduction from Rousseau to Paoli witji whom he contracted a warm and lasting friend- sliip He enthusiastically adopted the cause of Corsican independence ; and after his returr to Scotland, published his Account of Corsica (1768), which was speedily translated into sev-