Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not inserted.
(5) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE BOMB: "It is probable that here the acid magma was expelled in a very viscous condition, and the crust which formed on cooling was burst by the steam from the occluded water." 'magma' amended from 'magna'.
ARTICLE BONE: "If the surgeon is prompt in operating he may find the disease limited to that spot." 'If' amended from 'It'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME IV, SLICE II
Bohemia to Borgia, Francis
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
BOHEMIA BONER, ULRICH BOHEMUND BO'NESS BOHMER, JOHANN FRIEDRICH BONFIGLI, BENEDETTO BOHN, HENRY GEORGE BONFIRE BOHTLINGK, OTTO VON BONGARS, JACQUES BOHUN BONGHI, RUGGERO BOIARDO, MATTEO MARIA BONGO (tribe of Sudan) BOIE, HEINRICH CHRISTIAN BONGO (West African bushbuck) BOIELDIEU, FRANCOIS ADRIEN BONHAM BOIGNE, BENOIT DE BONHEUR, ROSA BOII BONHEUR DU JOUR BOIL BONI BOILEAU-DESPREAUX, NICOLAS BONIFACE, SAINT BOILER BONIFACE BOILING TO DEATH BONIFACE OF SAVOY BOIS BRULES BONIFACIO BOISE BONIFACIUS BOISGOBEY, FORTUNE DU BONIN ISLANDS BOISGUILBERT, PIERRE LE PESANT BONITZ, HERMANN BOISROBERT, FRANCOIS DE BONIVARD, FRANCOIS BOISSARD, JEAN JACQUES BONN BOISSIER, MARIE LOUIS GASTON BONNAT, LEON JOSEPH FLORENTIN BOISSONADE DE FONTARABIE BONNE-CARRERE, GUILLAUME DE BOISSY D'ANGLAS, FRANCOIS DE BONNER, EDMUND BOITO, ARRIGO BONNET, CHARLES BOIVIN, FRANCOIS DE BONNET BOKENAM, OSBERN BONNEVAL, CLAUDE ALEXANDRE BOKHARA (state) BONNEVILLE, BENJAMIN L. E. BOKHARA (capital of Bokhara) BONNEY, THOMAS GEORGE BOKSBURG BONNIER, ANGE ELISABETH LOUIS ANTOINE BOLAN PASS BONNIVET, GUILLAUME GOUFFIER BOLAS BONOMI, GIUSEPPI BOLBEC BONONCINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA BOLE BONONIA BOLESLAUS I. BONPLAND, AIME JACQUES ALEXANDRE BOLESLAUS II. BONSTETTEN, CHARLES VICTOR DE BOLESLAUS III. BONUS BOLETUS BONZE BOLEYN, ANNE BOOK BOLGARI BOOKBINDING BOLI BOOKCASE BOLINGBROKE, HENRY ST JOHN BOOK-COLLECTING BOLIVAR, SIMON BOOK-KEEPING BOLIVAR (Colombia) BOOK-PLATES BOLIVAR (state of Venezuela) BOOK-SCORPION BOLIVIA BOOKSELLING BOLKHOV BOOLE, GEORGE BOLL BOOM BOLLANDISTS BOOMERANG BOLOGNA, GIOVANNI DA BOONE, DANIEL BOLOGNA BOONE BOLSENA BOONVILLE BOLSOVER BOORDE, ANDREW BOLSWARD BOOS, MARTIN BOLT BOOT BOLTON, DUKES OF BOOTES BOLTON, EDMUND BOOTH, BARTON BOLTON (county of England) BOOTH, CHARLES BOLTON ABBEY BOOTH, EDWIN [THOMAS] BOLZANO, BERNHARD BOOTH, WILLIAM BOMA BOOTH BOMB BOOTHIA BOMBARD BOOTLE BOMBARDIER BOOTY BOMBARDMENT BOPP, FRANZ BOMBARDON BOPPARD BOMBAY CITY BORA BOMBAY FURNITURE BORACITE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY BORAGE BOMBAZINE BORAGINACEAE BOMBELLES, MARC MARIE BORAS BOMBERG, DANIEL BORAX BONA, JOHN BORDA, JEAN CHARLES BONA BORDAGE BONA DEA BORDEAUX BONA FIDE BORDEN, SIR FREDERICK WILLIAM BONALD, LOUIS GABRIEL AMBROISE BORDEN, ROBERT LAIRD BONAPARTE BORDENTOWN BONAR, HORATIUS BORDERS, THE BONAVENTURA, SAINT BORDIGHERA BONCHAMPS, CHARLES ARTUS BORDONE, PARIS BOND, SIR EDWARD AUGUSTUS BORE BOND BOREAS BONDAGER BOREL, PETRUS BONDE, GUSTAF BORELLI, GIOVANNI ALFONSO BONDED WAREHOUSE BORGA BONDU BORGHESE BONE, HENRY BORGHESI, BARTOLOMMEO BONE BORGIA, CESARE BONE BED BORGIA, FRANCIS BONE-LACE
BOHEMIA[1] (Ger. Bohmen, Czech Cechy, Lat. Bohemia), a kingdom and crownland of Austria, bounded N.E. by Prussian Silesia, S.E. by Moravia and Lower Austria, S. by Upper Austria, S.W. by Bavaria and N.W. by Saxony. It has an area of 20,060 sq. m., or about two-thirds the size of Scotland, and forms the principal province of the Austrian empire. Situated in the geographical centre of the European continent, at about equal distance from all the European seas, enclosed by high mountains, and nevertheless easily accessible through Moravia from the Danubian plain and opened by the valley of the Elbe to the German plain, Bohemia was bound to play a leading part in the cultural development of Europe. It became early the scene of important historical events, the avenue and junction of the migration of peoples; and it forms the borderland between the German and Slavonic worlds.
Geography.--Bohemia has the form of an irregular rhomb, of which the northernmost place, Buchberg, just above Hainspach, is at the same time the farthest north in the whole Austro-Hungarian monarchy. From an orographic point of view, Bohemia constitutes amongst the Austrian provinces a separate massif, bordered on three sides by mountain ranges: on the S.W. by the Bohmerwald or Bohemian Forest; on the N.W. by the Erzgebirge or Ore Mountains; and on the N.E. by the Riesengebirge or Giant Mountains and other ranges of the Sudetes. The Bohmerwald, which, like its parallel range, the Sudetes, has a general direction from S.E. to N.W., is divided by the pass of Neumark into two parts. The northern part (Czech Cesky Les) attains in the massif of Czerkov an altitude of 3300 ft., but the southern part (Czech Sumava) is at the same time the highest and the most picturesque part of the range, including on the Bohemian side the Osser (4053 ft.) and the Plockenstein (4513 ft.), although the highest peak, the Arber (4872), is in Bavaria. The beauty of this range of mountains consists in its pure crystalline torrents, in the numerous blue lakes of its valleys, and above all in the magnificent forests of oak and pine with which its sides are covered. The pass of Neumark, called also the pass of Neugedein, has always been the principal approach to Bohemia from Germany. It stretches towards the east, above the small town of Taus (Czech Domazlice, once called Tuhost, i.e. the Fortress), and is the place where some of the bloodiest battles in the history of Bohemia were fought. Here in the first half of the 7th century Samo repulsed the invading hordes of the Avars, which threatened the independence of the newly-settled Slavonic inhabitants; here also Wratislas II. defeated the German emperor Henry III. in a two-days' battle (August 22 and 23, 1040). It was in the same place that the Hussites gained in 1431 one of their greatest victories against a German army of crusaders, and another similar German army was vanquished here by George of Podebrad.
The Erzgebirge (Czech Rudo Hori), which form the north-west frontier, have an average altitude of 2600 ft., and as their highest point, the Keilberg (4080 ft.). The numerous mining villages, the great number of cultivated areas and the easy passes, traversed by good roads, give those mountains in many places the aspect of a hilly undulating plain. Several of the villages are built very near the summit of the mountains, and one of them, Gottesgab (pop. about 1500), lies at an altitude of 3345 ft., the highest place in Bohemia and central Germany. To the west the Erzgebirge combine through the Elstergebirge with the Fichtelgebirge, which in their turn are united with the Bohmerwald through the plateau of Waldsassen. To the east the Erzgebirge are separated from the Elbsandsteingebirge by the Nollendorf pass, traversed by the ancient military route to Saxony; it was the route followed by Napoleon I. after the battle of Dresden (1813). To the south stretches the "Thermopylae of Bohemia," the scene of the battle of Kulm and Arbesau. A little farther to the east the Elbe escapes into Saxony at the lowest point in Bohemia (alt. 367 ft.). The north-east frontier is formed by the Sudetes, which comprise the Lausitzergebirge (2500 ft.), the Isergebirge (with the highest peak, the Tafelfichte, 3683 ft.), the Jeschkengebirge (3322 ft.), and the Riesengebirge. The Riesengebirge (Czech Kroknose) are, after the Alps, among the highest mountains of central Europe, and attain in the Schneekoppe an altitude of 5264 ft. The last groups of the Sudetes in Bohemia are the Heuscheuergebirge (2532 ft.) and the Adlergebirge (3664 ft.). The fourth side of the rhomb is formed by the so-called Bohemian-Moravian Hills, a plateau or broad series of low hills, composed of primitive rocks, and attaining in some places an altitude of 2500 ft.