Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/427

* BOVINO. 377 BOWDITCH. duct. lU chief trade is in vine and oil. Popu- lation, in 1881 (commune), 7784: in 1901, 7013. BOW, bo. See Arrow. BOW (AS. boga, a bow to shoot with, because it is bent or bowed; of. Oer. liogcti, bow, from beiUHti, to bend). A slender piece of elastic wood, with slight lateral projections at the ends be- tween which is stretched a quantity of horse- hair, used to set into vibration the" strings of instruments of the violin class. The oldest in- strument played with the bow is the rebec (q.v.). The stick forming the bow was at first greatly curved, and a string, or cord, was tied from one end to the other. As the earliest fig- ure of the bow is found in the Anglo-Saxon man- uscripts, it is thought to be of British origin, and may have been used in the Sixth Century with the cncth. but this is not certain. The bow has been subject to various changes, the most significant of which were effected by Co- relli (q.v.). until Francois Tourte (1747-1835) brought the art of bow-making to perfection, and created a model which has given him the name of the 'Stradivarius of the bow.' This combines all qualities to follow every degree of tone and expression — lightness, firmness, power, and elas- ticity. Tourte fi.xes the length of the violin-how at 29-29% inches: that of the viola at 29 inches, and that of a "cello at 2812-28% inches. The stick is usually of Brazilian lancewood. or snake- wood, cut to follow the grain, and slightly bent inward by exposure to heat. The nut is of ebony, or tortoise-shell, and contains a screw by which the hair may be tightened or loosened. From 80 to 250 hairs from the tails of horses are used, white for the violin, viola, and violoncello, and black for the double bass. The friction is in- creased by application of rosin to the hair. For a brief but interesting account of the history and construction of the bow consult Heron-Allen, Tiolin-Makinq as It Was and Is (London and New York, 1884). BOW, bou (same word as bough, AS. bog, bough, shoulder. Icel. bogr, shoulder) of a Snn*. A general name for the fore part, or that which breasts the waves. Very often the word is used in the plural, the ship being considered to have starboard and port, or right and left, bows, meeting at the prow or figure-head. A narroio or lean bow, and a broad or bluff bow, are sea- men's phrases for dilferent shapes of bow, each of which has its own peculiar advantage at sea; the narrow bow will cut more smoothly through the water, but a broad bow bears up more firmly in a high sea. Other forms are the overhanging bow, receding or ram bow, clipper bow, flaring bow, etc. "On the bow," in sea language, is the position of a distant object when seen over the bow ; it implies a sweep of one-quarter of the horizon, embracing about 45 degrees on each side of the prow or head. See Beabing ; also SniPmiLDING. BOW (bo) CHINA. A peculiar kind of por- celain, manufactured originally in England, at Stratford-le-Bow, whence the name. It is of a fine, milky-white color, and is decorated with imitations of Chinese figures. Many pieces are colored in the style of Dresden china, and a characteristic decoration is a sprig of hawthorn in high relief. There were also reproduced a number of statuettes or small groups of figures modeled more or less upon German designs. The marks on Bow porcelain are usually an arrow, an anchor, a dagger, or a bow and arrow. Bow china dates from 1744, when Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye obtained a patent for the manu- facture of ])orceIain at Bow. They used an American clay called vnaLrr, "the produce of the Cherokee Nation," which seems to have been a kind of kaolin. After grinding and washing to separate the sand and mica, powdered glass was added to the clay in proportions varying from equal parts of clay and glass to one-fifth of glass. The later Bow porcelain sometimes con- tained as much as 40 per cent, of bone-ash. For the glaze, which was a similar mixture, less of the clay was used. In 1748 Heylra and Frye obtained another patent for a softer kind of porcelain, which was characterized by a more fusible lead glaze in which iinaker was not used at all, but a pipe-clay instead. In 1750 Messrs. Weatherby and Crowther obtained possession of the Bow works, and gave them the name of New- Canton. The works succeeded for a time, em- ploying 300 operators; m 17C3 Crowther, the sole surviving partner, became bankrupt, but he continued to carry on the business till 1775. In that year William Duesbuiy bought the Bow works and transferred them to Derby. Con- sult: Bemrose, Bow. Chelsea, and Derby Por- celain (London, 1S9S) ; Wallis, Potterij Porce- lain of Derbyshire (London, 1870) ; Nightingale, Contributio)ts Toirnrd the History of Early Eng- lish Porcelain (Salisbury, 1881); Church, Eng- lish Porcelain: A Handbook (London, 1885). See Pottery. BOWDICH, bou'dich, Thomas Edward ( 1791- 1824 1. An African traveler, born in Bristol, England. He was for some time a writer in the service of tlie African Company, but was selected in 1815 to conduct a mission to the King of Ashantee, of which he published an account in 1819, under the title, .1 Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee. On his return to Europe he published the African Committee (1819), which by its exposures forced the Government to take its African possessions into its own hands. He then proceeded to Paris, where he spent several years perfecting himself in mathematics and natural history. To obtain funds for a new expedition into the interior of Africa, he pub- lished a translation of MoUicn's Travels to the Source of the l^enegal and Gambia (1820); Taxidermy (1820) ; British and Foreign Expedi- tions to Teembo (1820); and several other works; and in August, 1822, .sailed from Havre. Stopping at Lisbon, he made a careful study of all the Portuguese discoveries, and i)ublished a work entitled. An .Account of the Discoveries of the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique (1824). He died of fever, on the Isle of .Saint Mary, West Africa. BOWDITCH, bou'dich, He.nry Ingersoll (1808-92). .An .American physician, a son of Nathaniel Bowditch. He was born in Salem, Mass.. and in 1828 graduated at Harvard. After receiving his medical degree at that university in 1832, he spent several years in study in Pari.s. He was professor of clinical medicine at Harvard from 1859 to 1807; chairman of the Massachu- setts State Board of Health from 1809 to 1879; physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston City Hospital from 1868 to 1872; and i)rpsident of the American Medical Associa-