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* BOWDITCH. 378 BOWDOIN COLLEGE. tion in 1877. He announced a law of soil-mois- ture as one of the principal causes of consump- tion in New England, and was the first to practice the operation of thoracentesis, or puncturing of the chest cavity, in the case of pleural efl'usions. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. The following are some of his principal publications: Life of Nathaniel Bowditch {ISQo) ; The Youny Stctlwscopist (184S) ; Public Hi/fliene in America (Centennial address, Philadelphia, 1876) ; and translations of f^ouis on Typhoid (1836). Ijoitin ou Phthisis (1836) and Maunoir on. Cntnroct (1837). BOWDITCH, Henry Pickering (1840 — ). An American jihysieian, born in Boston. He gradu- ated at Harvard in 1861, and served throughout the Civil War. during which he attained the rank of niaior of volunteers. He graduated at the Har-ard .Medical School in 1868, and afterwards studied medicine in Germany and France. In 1876 he liecame professor of physiology- at the Harvard IMcdical School. BOWDITCH, Nathaniel (1773-1838). An American astronomer and mathematician, born in Salem, JIass. He showed at a very early age an inclination for mathematics, though he was bred to his father's trade of a cooper, and was afterwards apjirenticed to a .ship-chandler. He acquired Latin that he might study Newton's Principiii. He particularly devoted himself to the study of the practical applications of sci- ence. He went as supercargo of a merchant ship in several long voyages, and added a thor- ough practical acquaintance with navigation to a theoretical knowledge of it. His work, The Ifeiv American Practical Navigator (1802), was received with great favor. He published also an admii-able translation of Laplace's Mecanique celeste (2 vols., Boston, 1820), to which he add- ed vahiaide annotations. These works obtained for him marks of honor from scientific societies in Great Britain, and led to his being called to the professorship of mathematics and astronomy in Harvard College, which position, however, he declined, in order to enter the executive council of the State. He afterwards became manager of a life insurance association, president of the Mechanics' Institute, and president of the Acad- emy of Arts and Sciences in Boston. Consult H. I, Bowditch, Memoir of Nathaniel Bowditch (Boston, 1830). BOWDITCH'S PRACTICAL NAVIGA- TOR. A iciiupcndium of infciriiiation for navi- gators. It contains explanations of all the ordi- nary methods of determining the ship's position at sea, together with all the tables necessary for using them : also descriptions of instruments used in navigation, methods of making hydro- graphic surveys, eliarts, etc. The copyriglit of this work was purchased by the United States Government, and it is now published and issued by the Hydrographic Office, United States Navy. It has been several times revised, and a consid- erable amount of matter has been added. BOWDLERISM, boud'ler-Iz'm. A term used to deniitc literary prudery, or over-nice expurga- tion. It is so named from Tliomas Bowdler (17r)4-182.5), who, in 1818, published The Fam- ily Shakespeare in 10 volumes, "in which nothing is added to the original text : but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family," The work had a large sale. Bowdler also 'purified' Gibbon. BOWDOIN, bo'd'n, James (1727-90). An American politician. He was born in Boston, of French Huguenot descent; graduated at Har- vard in 1745, and was subsequently a representa- tive in the General Court, a State senator, and a councilor. He was an early opponent of Eng- lish oppression, and in 1775 was chosen presi- dent of the Colonial Council. In 1778 he pre- sided over the Massachusetts Constitutional Con- vention, and in 1785 succeeded John Hancock as Governor. In this capacity he proved his excoitive ability by his energetic measures in the suppression of 'Shays's Rebellion' (q.v.). In 1780 he was a member of the convention that ratified the Federal Constitution. Bowdoin was one of the founders, and the first president, of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, to which he gave his library. He also left a legacy to Harvard College, and was a liberal patron of the Massachusetts Humane Society. The oldest college in Maine has been named after him. BOWDOIN, James (1752-1811). An Ameri- can public man and philanthropist, born in Boston, the son of Governor Bowdoin. He grad- uated at Harvard, studied also at Oxford, and traveled in Europe, returning to America soon after the battle of Lexington. In 1805 he was United States Minister to Spain. He left to Bowdoin College 6000 acres of land and fUOO, the reversion of the island of Naushon, where he bad his summer home, a large librai-y and an extensive collection of philosophical apparatus. BOWDOIN COLLEGE, The oldest seat of learning in Maine. It was chartered in 1794 bj' Massachusetts, and was named after James Bowdoin, Governor of Massachusetts, of which State Maine was formerly a district. The col- lege o])ened at Brunswick, Cumberland County, in 1802, with Joseph McKeen, D.D., a Dart- mouth graduate, as its first president. From the Hon. James Bowdoin, the son of Governor Bowdoin, the college received valuable gifts of land, monej', books, and paintings. The present buildings of the college, representing a value of $600,000, include King Chapel, the Walker Art Building, the Searles Science Building, Memorial Hall, the Hubbard Library, and a gjmmasium, observatory, and dormitories. The course of study leading to the degree of A.B. is based on a knowledge of the ancient and modern languages and mathematics, and in- cludes such other courses as are usually given in smaller colleges of the first class. Connected with Bowdoin College is the Medical School of Maine, organized in 1820. The govenunent of Bowdoin is administered by thirteen trustees, of whom the president and treasurer of the in- stitution are ex-officio members, and l)y fortj' overseers. Among noted graduates of Bowdoin, who have lent prestige to its name, may be mentioned Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry W. Longfellow, William Pitt Fessenden, Franklin Pierce, Sergeant S. Prentiss, John P, Hale, Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, Thomas B. Kccd, and Gen. O, O. Howard. Among the benefactors of the college may be mentioned Jlrs. Valeria G. Stone, Mr. Henry Winklcy, ]lr. E. F. Searles, Mr. Daniel B. Faverweathcr, Gen. Thomas H. Hubh.nrd. Hon. W". W. Rice, Miss Sophia Walker, and Harriet S. Walker.