DICTIONARY OF
PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY

Blackstone, Sir William. (1723-80.) An eminent English jurist, best known for his commentaries on law. Admitted to the bar 1746; became Vinerian professor of law in 1758 at Oxford, where he had been educated. He was elected to Parliament in 1761, made solicitor-general in 1763, and became justice of the court of common pleas 1770.

Blank Experiment: see PUZZLE EXPERIMENT.

Blasphemy [Gr. blasfhmein, to speak impiously]: Ger. Gotteslästerung; Fr. blasphème; Ital. bestemmia. Blasphemy in the restricted sense means speaking irreverently of God or of divine things; in the more general sense it is applied to profane swearing of any sort.

In Scripture, the loci classici are Matt. xii. 31, Mark iii. 29, and Luke xii. 10; the widest divergence of opinion exists as to interpretation of these passages. In the early and mediaeval Church the term was employed to denote definite ecclesiastical offences. Blasphematici, in the early days of Christianity, were those who recanted under stress of persecution. The term was also applied to those who spoke slightingly of God, Christ, and the Virgin; and to those guilty of heresy. During the ages when the Church was supreme, torture and other forms of punishment, including death, were inflicted. In modern times, heresy and blasphemy have been viewed as essentially distinct offences. Formerly both were ecclesiastical, and punishable by ecclesiastical courts. Now the latter is, in some places, an offence at common law; it is a misdemeanour to speak, write, or publish any profane words vilifying or ridiculing God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, the Old or New Testament, or Christianity in general, if done with intent to corrupt public morals, to mock and insult believers, or to bring religion into hatred or contempt. See The Mod. Rev. (1883), 586 ff., and Blackstone, Comm., iv. 59. (R.M.W.)

Blastocoele [Gr. blastoV, germ, + koiloV, hollow]: Ger. Dotterhöhle, Furchungshöhle; Fr. blastocèle; Ital. blastocele. A cavity which, in the development of many animals, forms in the midst of the group of cells produced by the cleavage of the ovum.

A term suggested by Huxley for the segmentation cavity of von Baer. It gives origin, in some cases, to the enteron or digestive cavity of the coelenterates, and is regarded on the PLANULA THEORY (q.v.) as the primitive gut. Where the enteron arises by invagination it must be carefully distinguished from the blastocoele. See EMBRYO (with figure). (C.LL.M.)

Blastoderm [Gr. blastoV, germ, + derma, skin]: Ger. Keimhaut, Blastoderm; Fr. blastoderme; Ital. blastoderma. The layer of cells overlying the yolk, forming the germinal membrane from which the embryo animal is developed. (C.LL.M.- E.S.G.)

The term is due to Pander (1817), who observed the blastoderm of the fowl, and traced its differentiation into an outer or serous layer, a middle or vascular layer, and an inner or mucous layer. Remak (1850-5) showed that the middle layer splits or cleaves into two. Thus four layers result, the relations of which have been in the light of more recent inquiry tabulated by Allen Thomson as follows: --

In holoblastic or complete segmentation the primitive blastoderm forms a continuous vesicle; in meroblastic or incomplete segmentation it forms a layer resting upon the uncleaved or unsegmented yolk-mass. See OVUM, and CLEAVAGE.

Literature: F. M. BALFOUR, Compar. Embryol. (1880-81); ALLEN THOMSON, art. Embryology, Encyc. Brit. (9th ed.). (C.LL.M.)

Blastomere [Gr. blastoV, germ, + meroV, part]: Ger. Furchungskugel; Fr. blastomère; Ital. blastomero. Any one of the cells produced by the cleavage of the animal ovum. See EMBRYO. (C.LL.M.)

Blastopore [Gr. blastoV, germ + poroV, passage]: Ger. Urmund; Fr. blastopore; Ital. blastoporo. The orifice of the two-layered invaginate embryo or gastrula of many animals.

The term was introduced by Lankester in 1875. Regarded by Haeckel as the primitive mouth, and yet considered by many as the homologue of the anus of Rusconi in the frog, this opening has been the subject of much discussion by zoologists. The term blastopore, as descriptive, avoids theoretical implications as to its ultimate fate. It seems, in some cases, to mark the position of the future mouth; in others of the future anus; and in some, by becoming slit-like and closing along the middle line, of both. See EMBRYO (with figure).

Literature: E. R. LANKESTER, Quart. J. Microsc. Sci., xv. (1875) 163; MINOT, Embryology. For its relations to the primitive streak in vertebrates, see BALFOUR, Compar. Embryol.; also HERTWIG, Embryol. of Vertebrates (Man and Mammals). (C.LL.M.)

Blastosphere [Gr. blastoV, germ, + sfaira, sphere]: Ger. Blastula; Fr. blastosphère; Ital. blastosfero. The spherical mass of cells enclosing the blastocoele, the product of the holoblastic segmentation or cleavage of the ovum. See EMBRYO. (C.LL.M.)

Blastula [Gr. blastoV, germ]: Ger. Blastula; Fr. blastula; Ital. blastula. A term applied to the (blastula) stage at which the segmented ovum consists of the BLASTOSPHERE (q.v.). (C.LL.M.)

Blending [M. E. blenden, to mix]: Ger. Verschmelzung; Fr. fusion; Ital. fusione. An alternative rendering of the German Verschmelzung. See FUSION, which is preferred. (E.B.T., J.M.B.)

Blind Spot [Lat. punctum caecum]: Ger. blinder Fleck; Fr. tache aveugle; Ital. punto cieco. A spot in each retina insensitive to light.

It is situated at the place of entry of the optic nerve. It is figured, e.g., by Helmholtz (right eye: Physiol. Optik, 2nd ed., 252). (See Fig. 1.)

The question of its filling out -- so that the field of vision of the single eye seems continuous -- is of some importance for the theory of visual space. The facts are: (1) that at the blind spot we see nothing; (2) that in binocular vision, the blind spot of each retina is covered by a sensitive portion of the other; (3) that the blind spot may easily be filled out by association (central processes), whose nature is determined by the stimulus of the surrounding retinal region. Whether or not this supplementing is materially assisted by (4) eye movements or motor tendencies, which serve as local signs for the insensitive region, may also be discussed.

The existence of the blind spot was first demonstrated by Mariotte, 1668. It is easily demonstrated by Figs. 2, 3.

Literature: HELMHOLTZ, Physiol. Optik (2nd ed.), 717; WUNDT, Physiol. Psychol. (4th ed.), ii. 103; SANFORD, Course in Exper. Psychol., expts. 113, 114. The general works on physiological psychology. (E.B.T.- C.L.F.)

Blindness (and the blind): Ger. Blindheit; Fr. cécité; Ital. cecità. The term blindness is a most general one designating any distinct lack of the power to respond to the stimuli which give rise to vision. It may be partial or total, and may be due to injuries or deficiencies in any part of the optical mechanism accessory to the retina, in the retina itself, in the optic nerves, in the cortical or subcortical centres for vision, or in the connections between these. Cf. VISION (defects of). The blind as a class form a considerable element in the community, for whose education and occupation special provisions have been made in all civilized communities. The literature concerning the blind is mainly educational in character, and gives an account of the treatment of the blind in past times, of statistics of the frequency, causes, and kinds of blindness, of the methods and appliances used in their education, of the management of institutions for the blind, of noteworthy blind persons, and the like. A much more limited, but in this connection more pertinent, series of studies relates to the psychology of the blind as a class (Heller, two arts. in Philos. Stud., 1895, 130, &c.). The problems include the effect of the deprivation of sight upon the use and training of the other senses; the precise directions in which the hearing and touch of the blind excel those of the seeing; the mental peculiarities of imagination and association, memory and attention; the influence of blindness upon emotional temperaments, and the like. Persons who have been both blind and deaf (and dumb) have naturally attracted considerable attention, and the methods used in their education have furnished valuable illustrations of psychological principles (see BRIDGMAN, LAURA, AND KELLER, HELEN). Some special studies have also been made on the dreams of the blind (Jastrow, Princeton Rev., Jan. 1888). (J.J.)

Literature (general): W. H. LEVY, Blindness and the Blind (1872); KITTO, The Lost Senses (1860); DE LA SIZERANE, Les Aveugles; NORRIS and OLIVER, Syst. of Dis of the Eye (1897), ii; H. S. PEARCE, A Study of the Blind, Int. Med. Mag., vii. 167-79 (1898); J. SOURY, Cécité corticale: Vision des Couleurs, Mémoire des Lieux, Idée d'Espace, Rev. Philos. (1896). (J.J.- L.M.)

Blindness (mental, or psychic): Ger. Seelenblindheit; Fr. cécité mentale or psychique); Ital. cecità psichica. This condition, known also as mind- or object-blindness, involves a failure to recognize objects by their visual properties, although the objects themselves are seen.

It appears to depend upon a loss or disintegration of the cluster of associations and memory images which group themselves about an object or idea and constitute for each individual his apperceptive content of such object or idea. Briefly, knowledge of things, though conditioned by sense impressions, proceeds by more or less elaborate perceptive interpretation. In mental blindness the object is seen, but it is not recognized by the seer, and fails to arouse its cluster of associations. The classic case described by Charcot, of a gentleman who was normally possessed of an unusually vivid power of visual imagination -- picturing clearly the physiognomies of absent friends, the scenes of travel, &c. -- and who through mental anxiety almost entirely lost his visual memory, so that he failed to recognize his own image in a mirror, illustrates one form of mental blindness. The condition produced by Munk in dogs, by extirpating portions of the occipital cortex, is analogous. Such dogs see, for they avoid obstacles; but they fail to recognize the individual character of objects, save through other senses. Such dogs if deprived of smell are unable to distinguish meat from anything else. If they had been taught to perform certain movements in response to visual signals, these signals would no longer be correctly interpreted, e.g. the sight of a whip inspires no terror; just as in human cases familiar objects are not recognized (Elder, Aphasia, 170). Word blindness is a specific defect of similar nature, but limited to the recognition of the conventional written and printed symbols called words (see SPEECH AND ITS DEFECTS); while mental deafness is the name for a similar defect regarding auditory recognition. The relations of mental blindness to other cerebral and optical disturbances have been minutely studied, but no simple formulation of these is possible; the tendency of this defect to be associated with HEMIANOPSIA (q.v.), as well as other evidence, indicates its connection with a region in the occipital cortex, mainly on the left side, which extends also into the angular and supramarginal gyri of the parietal lobe. (J.J.)

Literature: WILBRAND, Die Seelenblindhei (1881); detailed references cited in article 'Mind Blindness' in Tuke's Dict. of Psychol. Med.; BASTIAN, Aphasia, 210-13; ELDER. Aphasia, 175; WYLLIE, Disorders of Speech, 274; COLLINS, The Faculty of Speech, 302; HUYS, in Norris and Oliver's Syst. of Dis. of the Eye; LUCIANI and SEPPILLI, Localizzazioni cerebrali (1885); SEPPILLI, in Riv. di Freniat, passim. See also under SPEECH AND ITS DEFECTS. (J.J.- E.M.)

Blood [AS. blod]: Ger. Blut; Fr. sang; Ital. sangue. The circulating medium of the body, exclusive of lymph. It is contained within the system of tubes -- the blood-vessels -- consisting of the heart, arteries, capillaries, and veins.

Blood is composed of a fluid portion, the plasma, and a formed portion, the corpuscules, which are of three kinds, the red and white corpuscles or leucocytes, and the blood-plates or blood-platelets. Cf. LYMPH. (C.F.H.)

Blues: Ger. Niedergeschlagenheit; Fr. dépression; Ital. umor nero. A popular name for moods or periods of mental depression. See MELANCHOLIA. (J.J.)

Bluntschli, Johann Kaspar. (1808-81.) An eminent Swiss jurist, born and educated at Zurich. Educated also at Berlin under Savigny. In 1833 he was appointed professor of law at Zurich, and at Heidelberg in 1859. He took an active part in politics in both Switzerland and Baden, and enjoyed a world-wide reputation for his historical and juristic writings.

Blush [AS. blysa, a glow]: Ger. Erröthen; Fr. rougeur; Ital. rossore. The reddening appearance, due to vaso-motor changes, which appears on the skin, especially of the face and neck, during emotions of SHYNESS (q.v.) and SHAME (q.v.).

Literature: DARWIN, Expression of the Emotions, 331 ff.; MANTAGAZZA, Physiognomy and Expression; MOSSO, Fear; BALDWIN, Social and  Eth. Interpret., 203 ff. (J.M.B.)

Bocardo: see MOOD (in logic).

Bodin, Jean. (1530-96.) A French political philosopher. He was a teacher of law at Toulouse, an advocate in Paris, and royal officer at Laon. In his great political work, the State is defined as a group of families regulated by authority and reason, and the relation of the natural differences of nations to differences in their forms of government is discussed.

Body [AS. bodig, a body]: Ger. Körper; Fr. corps; Ital. corpo. The being which has its existence as an individual in space and time; the material thing.

In physics, a body is a space-occupying being exercising certain forces. In mathematics, a body is simply filled space. In physiology and psychology the word is used to mark the contrast between mind and matter; Locke (e.g.) opposes 'spirit' to 'body' (in general), and we commonly speak of mind and body (the physical person). (R.H.S.)

Body and Flesh (in theology). (1) The 'psychological' or 'natural' body (swma yncikon). Sensation, passion, and impulse are the leading features of this body. (2) The 'spiritual' body (swma pneumatikon). This body is the organization of the spirit, and is only less corporeal; many have identified it with the 'resurrection body.' (3) The social or mystical body of the Church, inspired with life by faith in Jesus Christ. This sense of the term is referable specially to the Pauline theology. Cf. 1 Cor. xii. 27; Eph. i. 23; ii. 16; iv. 4, 12, 16; v. 23, 30; Col. i. 18, 24; ii. 19; iii. 15.

Closely connected with body is the term Flesh (sarx). Flesh, which is the material element of body, is characteristically human, and as such is the subject of corruption, contingency, and weakness which leads to sin. It is the matter of which body is the form.

Literature: see under BIBLICAL PSYCHOLOGY; also HOLSTEN, Die Bedeutung d. Wortes sarx im Lehrbegriff d. Paulus; WENDT, Die Begriffe Fleisch u. Geist; MÜLLER, Die christl. Lehre d. Sünde (Eng. trans.); DICKSON, St. Paul's Use of the Terms Flesh and Spirit; THOLUCK, in Stud. u. Krit. (1855). (R.M.W.)

Boethius (or Boetius), Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus. (cir. 475-525 A.D.) A Roman philosopher and statesman. Born in Rome, he received a liberal education, becoming a good Greek scholar. He was chosen consul in 510, and appointed magister officiorum by Theodoric, king of the Goths, who reigned at Rome. His probity brought upon him the enmity of courtiers whose corrupt practices he opposed. He was finally imprisoned and executed. During his imprisonment he wrote his famous Consolations of Philosophy. A passage from his commentary on the Isagoge of Porphyry gave rise to the prolonged discussion between the Realists and Nominalists of later Scholasticism.

Bohme, Jakob, also Böhm and Behmen. (1575-1624.) A German mystic, who was born, lived and died near Görlitz, in Upper Lusatia. He was a shoemaker by trade, and a member of the Lutheran Church. Cf. MYSTICISM.

Bolzano, Bernhard. (1781-1848.) A German Catholic who sought to represent the doctrines of the Church as a complete system. Educated in philosophy and theology in Prague, he took holy orders, and in 1805 was appointed to the chair of philosophy of religion in the University of Prague. He stood in philosophical connection with Kant and Zimmermann. He was deposed in 1820, and suspended from priestly functions on account of his views.

Bona fides [Lat.]. Good faith; absence of unfair intent. Bona-fide purchaser: one who acquires title, without notice of any claim adverse to his vendor's right of transfer, and upon the faith that no such claims exist, and who has therefore parted with some valuable consideration, or otherwise altered his legal condition for the worse.

Roman law first marked out definitely the effect of an unexpressed but unfair intention upon contractual acts (cf. Sohm's Instit. of Roman Law, § 15). It came largely as part of their law of procedure (cf. Instit. of Just., iv. 6, de Actionibus, 28 ff.). Good faith was of little importance in legal proceedings, as distinguished from equitable ones. English law developed in the same way. The chancellor was the first judge to decide causes according to the conscientious duty of the party, and so condemn all departures from honesty and uprightness to the injury of another (cf. Pomeroy on Equity Jurisprudence, i. § 56). In its application to prescriptive titles, good faith on the part of the possessor is of less importance in Anglo-American than in Roman law. (S.E.B.)

Bonaventura, Saint Giovanni Fidanza. (1221-74.) An eminent scholastic theologian called the Seraphic Doctor. Born in Bagnorea, States of the Church, he became a Franciscan monk, was educated in theology in Paris, was made general of the Franciscan Order in 1256, and cardinal in 1273. He died at Lyons, was canonized 1482, and made sixth Doctor of the Church 1587. Cf. SCHOLASTICISM.

Bonnet, Charles. (1720-93.) A Swiss naturalist and philosopher. He very early wrote on insects and plants, and became correspondent of the French Academy before he was thirty. Having weakened his eyes with the microscope, he devoted himself to more general subjects: to psychology and philosophy. He was one of the pioneers of physiological psychology cf. Külpe, Einl. in die Philos., 63).

Bonum [Lat.]: see GOOD.

Boole, George. (1815-64.) An English mathematician and logician, professor of mathematics in Queen's College, Cork. His work, An Investigation into the Laws of Thought, was the first elaborate treatise in mathematical or symbolic logic.

Botany. The special division of the BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES (q.v.) which deals with plants. (J.M.B.)

Literature: CH. DARWIN, Variations in Plants and Animals under Domestication; SACHS, Lehrb. d. Botanik (1873), and Hist. of Botany (1890); A. P. DE CANDOLLE, Physiol. Végétale (1832); A. DE CANDOLLE, Origin of Cultivated Plants (1884); G. HENSLOW, Origin of Floral Structures (1888); BAILEY, The Survival of the Unlike (1896); S. VINES, Textbook of Botany (1895). (E.S.G.)

Bounty [Lat. bonitas, goodness]: Ger. Prämie; Fr. prime; Ital. premio. A sum paid by the Government to the producers of some particular commodity or service; presumably one which they would not be prepared to undertake for the sake of its probable commercial results, in the absence of some special inducement of this kind.

In England, the line of industry most systematically encouraged by bounties has been the production of wheat. For the effects of this policy, see Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. IV. chap. v. In most other countries, and especially in recent years, the sugar bounties have formed the most conspicuous application of this method of encouraging industry. For bounties to shipping, see SUBSIDY. There is no sharp line of distinction between the terms Bounty and Subsidy. The former is the more general; the latter is mainly applied to bounties in aid of transportation enterprises of various kinds. (A.T.H.)

Bourignon, Antoinette. (1616-80.) A Flemish mystical missionary who professed to receive divine revelations, and exerted a marked influence over the French mystics, especially over Pierre Poiret.

Bouterwek, Friedrich. (1766-1828.) A German philosopher. Educated as jurist and littérateur in Göttingen, he began lecturing there in 1791 upon the Kantian philosophy. He was made assistant professor in Göttingen in 1797, and full professor in 1802. Besides philosophical works he wrote poetry and a much-praised History of Poetry and Eloquence.

Bowen, Francis. (1811-90.) An American writer in philosophy, history, and economics. Born in Charlestown, Mass., he was educated at Harvard University. Editor of The North American Review, 1843-54. Became Alford professor of natural religion, moral philosophy, and civil polity in Harvard University in 1853.

Boyle, Robert. (1627-91.) A celebrated Irish chemist and natural philosopher; son of Richard, the first earl of Cork. He was educated as an investigator in natural philosophy at Eton and Geneva. He later mastered Hebrew and Greek in order the better to defend Christianity. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society; improved the air-pump, and made important discoveries in pneumatics. He repeatedly declined a peerage. Through his liberality and effort Eliot's Indian Bible was published, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England established. He endowed the Boyle Lectures.

Brachy- [Gr. bracuV, short]: Ger. kurz-; Fr. brachy-; Ital. brachi-. A prefix used in combination with various terms to indicate shortness or smallness of the part denoted; thus a brachycephalic skull is a relatively broad and short one; brachydactilia indicates shortness in the fingers; brachyrrhinia, a short nose, &c.

For illustration see INDEX (cephalic), and CRANIOMETRY. The opposite of Brachy- is Dolicho-, as in DOLICHOCEPHALIC (q.v.). Used first by G. Retzius. (E.M., J.J.)

Brahma and Brahmanism. The principal deity of the Hindu pantheon. As originally conceived, Brahma may be compared to Spinoza's Substance. He was the one self-created and self-subsisting being.

This conception being, in its purity, too remote and abstract for the people, the older gods of the Vedic pantheon, especially Vishnu and Siva, took their places alongside of Brahma, thereby constituting a triad of deities relatively coequal; cf. ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY (India).

Literature: MONIER WILLIAMS, Hinduism and Indian Wisdom; BARTH, Religions of India; MAX MÜLLER, Hibbert Lectures; and art. Brahmanism in Encyc. Brit., 9th ed. (R.M.W.)

Braidism: see HYPNOTISM.

Brain

Bramantip: see MOOD (in logic).

Brandis, Christian August. (1790-1867.) German philosophical historian and author. The son of a celebrated physician of the same name, he was born in Hanover, and died at Bonn; co-operated with Emmanuel Bekker in editing a critical edition of Aristotle's works; was secretary to King Otho in Greece. He was made professor of philosophy in Bonn University. His chief contributions to philosophy were historical works on Greek and Roman philosophy.

Bravery: see COURAGE.

Breathing [ME. brethen, to blow]: see RESPIRATION.

Bridgewater Treatises. A series of eight monographs in Natural Theology, published between 1833 and 1840.

Francis Henry, eighth earl of Bridgewater, who died in 1829, bequeathed £ 8,000 to the President of the Royal Society of London, which was to be paid to authors, selected by him, who should produce treatises on the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God as manifested in creation. The works appended, though now of comparatively slight value, are of great interest as revealing the scope of Natural Theology before the enunciation of the doctrine of Evolution.

The treatises are: Thomas Chalmers, The Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Condition of Man; John Kidd, The Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man; William Whewell, Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference to Natural Theology; Charles Bell, The Hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as evincing Design; P. M. Roget, Animal and Vegetable Physiology considered with reference to Natural Theology; William Buckland, Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology; William Kirby, The Habits and Instincts of Animals with reference to Natural Theology; William Prout, Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion considered with reference to Natural Theology; Babbage's so-called Ninth Bridgewater Treatise is associated with these. (R.M.W.)

Bridgman, Laura, and Keller, Helen. Two blind deaf-mutes born and educated in the United States.

A psychological study of the blind deaf-mute may contribute largely to an understanding of the relations of the senses to one another, and of the relation of sense endowment to intellectual achievement and general mental development. For all such development language is of fundamental importance, serving as it does as the most effective channel of communication, and as an aid to and medium of rational operations and of human sympathy. For the blind the oral forms of communication and the direct appreciation of sounds, supplemented by the significant experiences of touch and movement, furnish the materials for the elaboration of a psychic life differentiated from that of the seeing only by limitations of experience, the effects of which are not easy to describe or detect. For the deaf, even if dumb, the same service is as successfully, though very differently, performed by the world of letters and of art and by the visual interpretation of expression and conduct. In both, imitation, though restricted, is still a potent and comprehensive instructor. When both defects concur in the same individual the psychological status is decidedly altered. Such persons are dependent for all possibilities of communication and education upon the tactual-motor group of sensibilities and modes of expression; for it is legitimate in this connection to ignore, not wholly, but nearly so, the sense avenues of taste and smell. That the tactual-motor sense may successfully and adequately serve as avenues of approach to a rich intellectual life is proven by what has been accomplished in the instruction of blind deaf-mutes. Of such Laura Bridgman and Helen Keller form the most notable instances.

The significant facts regarding Laura Bridgman are as follows. She was born in possession of the full quota of senses on December 21, 1829, into a farmer's family at Hanover, New Hampshire. She is described as a precocious child who had acquired a considerable stock of words, when just after her second birthday she was stricken by a serious attack of scarlet fever. She remained for two years in a feeble condition; her hearing was totally gone, and though slight traces of vision remained for a time, these had disappeared when her education was begun by S. G. Howe in 1837. Taste and smell were also markedly blunted. During the years preceding her education she had used a very limited number of rudimentary natural signs to indicate her most pressing wants, and had been taught to knit and to sew, and to perform simple household duties. Howe began her instruction by pasting raised letters upon simple objects, such as a key, a spoon, a fork, a mug, and establishing by repeated feeling of the letters and the objects an association between them; from the word symbol he passed to letter symbols, using the raised letters on a movable board. Words could thus be formed, e.g. p-i-n for pin, and p-e-n for pen, and the objects corresponding to the name be produced and felt, the shapes and uses of the object being already familiar. It was only after weeks of persistent practice at this puzzle or game-like performance that his pupil grasped the idea that the letters could be used as the names or symbols to stand for and in place of the objects. Then followed more easily, but still slowly, the signs of the manual alphabet (the signs being made in the child's palm, and followed and repeated by her fingers), then writing, and reading raised print and ordinary writing; and the path of education thus opened, though necessarily a slow one, was limited only by the general mental endowment and persistency of the pupil. At first nouns, then simple verbs and adjectives, were acquired, until a considerable vocabulary had been formed; each addition at first requiring to be illustrated or interpreted directly or indirectly into tactual-motor terms. 'Door open' and 'door shut,' 'light' and 'heavy,' 'large' and 'small,' 'rough' and 'smooth,' 'cold' and 'warm,' 'stand' and 'sit,' 'walk' and 'run,' 'in' and 'out,' 'above' and 'below,' and so on, were taught by associating the action or position or contrast of sensible qualities in the objects with the words as formed by the shapes of the component letters. When once reading was begun, the possibilities of information were extensively widened, and her mental processes participated more largely in the steps of normal acquisition.

Miss Bridgman lived to be sixty years old, passing her days uneventfully, but in the enjoyment of a moderately full intellectual, emotional, and moral life. Her tastes were simple and domestic, and needlework occupation filled much of her time. Quite naturally, for one largely dependent upon literature for language forms, her language, both spoken and written, reflected its book origin, and was rarely of a conversational type; her early stages of language acquisition were particularly significant as illustrations of thought processes in blind deaf-mutes and of their development. Neither brilliant nor markedly original, she acquired a fair acquaintance with literature, and aspired to some attempts at authorship; these are dominated in the main by a conventional religious sentiment. She conducted an extensive correspondence and prepared autobiographical accounts of her experiences before instruction, and an interesting diary. She was never taught to speak, although she constantly made noises and attempted to develop her power of utterance. Her brain was made the subject of a detailed examination (see the paper by Donaldson, as cited below).

Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880, at Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her ancestry on both sides is not without distinction; her father, Major A. H. Keller, held responsible political offices. Born with all her senses intact, she was deprived of sight and hearing, and totally so, by a serious illness which befell her at the age of eighteen months. Her other senses remained unimpaired. She has the enjoyment and advantage of a keen sense of taste and smell, and her physical health has always been excellent. Her education was begun in February, 1887; during her first seven years she had acquired a considerable knowledge of objects and their uses, but the only means of influencing her or interpreting her wants was by a limited group of natural signs and gestures. The precocity, persistency, and general mental alertness which she has continued to exhibit to a remarkable degree were probably influential throughout her early childhood. The first steps in language taken by her able teacher, Miss Sullivan, were similar to those used with Laura Bridgman, but the alacrity of her pupil, the readiness with which she grasped the notion that all things had names, and that these names could be indicated by movements of the fingers, rendered unnecessary many intermediate stages. Progress which in the case of Laura Bridgman was measured by days and weeks, was made by Helen Keller after hours, or at most within a few days. Thus she had soon acquired a considerable vocabulary, and was able to form simple sentences and to receive and transmit communications. In 1890, in response to her repeated requests, she was taught to speak orally, the method consisting in allowing her to feel the lips and throat of the speaker, and in directing her to place her own organs in the same position and to utter the sounds. By the guidance of this muscular sense she has acquired a facility and clearness of utterance that compares favourably with that of the seeing deaf. Within three weeks after her first lesson in oral speech (March 26, 1890), she gave clearly, in an audible voice, an account of her visit to the poet Holmes. Since then she has evidenced an unusual linguistic and literary ability; she reads raised print fluently, writes and reads the Braille point for the blind; has a creditable knowledge of French and German, as well as of Latin and Greek. Besides writing in ordinary script, she uses a typewriter skilfully, and even one fitted with Greek characters. Her knowledge of literature is extensive, and her memory for what she has read unusually retentive. She is quick in apprehending, most tenacious in remembering, and assimilates with ease and insight; her imagination is active, and expresses itself with aptness and originality. An acquaintance with her extensive correspondence, with the accounts of her doings and studies, and her original stories is necessary to appreciate the significance of these characterizations. Her studies at the present time include the full curriculum required for entrance to Radcliffe College (Cambridge, Mass.); and in a portion of these studies (elementary and advanced German, elementary French, Latin, Ancient History, English) she passed the examinations in 1897, and took honours in English and German. While her talents are largely in the direction of language and literature, and while she confesses to a considerable difficulty with mathematics, her ability estimated without regard to the inherent difficulties of her acquisition is more than credible to her years, and gives promise of an unusual intellectual career.

It would be premature to attempt any general or final deductions from the facts thus outlined; but it may be of value to illustrate the nature of the psychological principles which they suggest. The most comprehensive principle is that the mental training and culture resulting from the assimilation and elaboration of ideas is measurably independent of the sensory means by which the materials for these are furnished: the edifice does not reveal the nature of the scaffolding. The processes of gaining information may be slow, circuitous, and awkward, but the acquisition once formed is normally complete and correct. And yet this is but moderately true; our senses are more than a scaffolding to knowledge, and the edifice manifests all the characteristics of a continuous organic growth. The mental canvas, though conveying a similar impression, is not suffused with the glow of vivid life-likeness, with the warm and rich reality of experience. The normality of the intellectual life of a gifted blind-deaf person is largely the resultant of the community of expression with that of the seeing and hearing. The same language is used, but the richness of the verbal associations, their colour and flavour, must inevitably be paler and more meagre, and in certain directions defective or false. The community of language conceals the differences of psychological processes, for which, however, we have no other adequate expression. This 'literary' tone of thought and memory, of imagination and application, is unmistakably reflected in the writings and conversation of Helen Keller.

One great advantage of sight in intellectual acquisitions is the relatively large horizon which it encompasses. Quite a numerous group of impressions are grasped at a glance, and in so far as necessary may be focussed for a longer period, and may be reseen and reread ad libitum. Appeals to the ear are momentary, and their renewal, though easy, requires a repetition of the entire process. This disadvantage is very much more emphasized for the tactual-motor senses. If one considers the difficulties of studying geometrical problems when the outlines of the figures can only be felt point by point, or of solving algebraic problems without constant recourse to the portion of the problem already worked, the significance of this distinction will be sufficiently manifest. For those with a full quota of senses the scope of 'mental arithmetic' is ordinarily ludicrously small as compared with their powers to manipulate with written symbols. The 'mental' nature of the processes in Helen Keller may in part account for the remarkable retentiveness and scope of her memory. In these and many other respects the study of the blind deaf contains possible contributions to our understanding of psychological processes both in the normal and in the defective.

Literature: on Laura Bridgman: LAMSON, Life and Educ. of Laura Bridgman (1881); S. G. HOWE, in the successive Reports of the Perkins Institute, Boston; Laura Bridgman (Boston, 1890); HALL, in Mind (1879), also in Aspects of German Culture (1881), 237-77; SANFORD, Writings of Laura Bridgman, Overland Mo. (1887); DONALDSON, Amer. J. of Psychol., iv; JERUSALEM, Laura Bridgman, Eine psychol. Stud. (1891). On Helen Keller: Helen Keller, a Souvenir, published by the Volta Bureau, Washington, 1892; second Souvenir, 1900; ANAGNOS, in Reports of the Perkins Institute, Boston, 1888, 78-107; 1889, 67-138; 1892, 52, 302; ANAGNOS, Helen Keller (Boston, 1889); GLENA, Helen Keller (Genève, 1894). Among the large number of brief accounts the most noteworthy are: McFARLAND, Helen Keller, a Psychological Study, in Proc. of the Amer. Assoc. to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (1894); SULLIVAN, The Instruction of Helen Keller, ibid. (1894); JASTROW, Psychological Notes on Helen Keller, Psychol. Rev. (1894), 356; CHAMBERLAIN, Helen Keller as she really is, Ladies' Home J. (1899), also in Ann. of the Deaf; FULLER, How Helen Keller learned to speak, Amer. Ann. of the Deaf (January, 1892); DANGER, Dreisinnige, in Die Kinderfehler (1899). (J.J.)

Brightness: Ger. (1) Helligkeit Intensität der Lichtempfindung; Fr. (1) intensité d'éclairage (or lumineuse); Ital. (1) chiarezza, intensità luminosa. (1) The intensity of any visual impression, whether of brightness in the sense below, or of colour, or of the two together. This is the common meaning. Cf. SATURATION.

(2) The quality or component of visual sensation correlated, on the physical side, with light mixed in the proportion in which it comes to us from the sun, or with mixtures of homogeneous lights that are psychologically equivalent to this; the quality of black, grey, or white; the colourless quality. (E.B.T. - C.L.F.)

By a slight extension of the meaning of grey (so as to take in, in accordance with custom in the exact sciences, the end-members of the series, black and white) this quality may be called greyness, and thus confusion with the usual meaning of brightness may be avoided. (C.L.F., J.M.B.)

For 'brightness' in the qualitative sense the word 'light' is sometimes used. But light is the physical correlate of all visual sensations that are normally aroused; and, as the term 'intensity' is current in psychophysics, it is possible to employ 'brightness' for the black-white qualitative series (Ger. (2) Helligkeit and Helligkeitsunterschiede, Schwarzweiss-Reihe, neutrale Farbe; Fr. (2) sensation de la lumière, or sensation lumineuse (incolorée or achromatique; opp. to sensations des couleurs); Ital. sensazione di luce (or luminosa acromatica), and 'intensity' for the strength of brightness and of colours alike. See Visual Sensation under VISION. (E.B.T.)

Brown, Thomas. (1778-1820.) A Scotch metaphysician and physician. Educated at Edinburgh, he was a pupil of Dugald Stewart, and published a refutation of Erasmus Darwin's Zoönomia before receiving the degree of M.D. He practised medicine seven years. In 1810 he was made professor of moral philosophy in Edinburgh University.

Browne, Peter. Died 1735. Provost of Trinity College, and afterwards bishop of Cork. He made a reputation as an orthodox theologian by a treatise against Toland. Later he opposed Locke in two anonymous works.

Bruno, Giordano. (cir. 1548-1600). An Italian philosopher. He was born at Nola, in Naples, educated for the Church, and taken into the Dominican Order (1563). Of independent and speculative habit in mind, he found himself at variance with the orthodox doctrine. In 1576 he was forced to leave his monastery, and fled first to Geneva, then to Paris, and finally to England. He returned about 1592, to live in Venice. Accused of heresy, he was first imprisoned in Rome for seven years, and then burned as a heretic. In 1889 a monument to him was erected on the spot of his execution. He accepted the Copernican theory of the movements of the heavenly bodies.

Büchner, Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig. (1824-99.) A German physiologist, physician, and philosopher, born at Darmstadt. He maintained materialistic, atheistic, and 'humanitarian' views. His best known work is entitled Force and Matter (Kraft und Stoff).

Buckle, Henry Thomas. (1821-62.) An English writer on the philosophy of history. His father, who was a merchant, bequeathed to him an ample fortune, enabling him to gather together a fine private library. He is best known for his History of Civilization in Europe, which attempts to establish a new and scientific method of studying history.

Buddeus (or Budde), Johann Franz. (1667-1729.) A Lutheran theologian and philosopher, born at Anclam, Pomerania, and died in Gotha. In 1692 he became professor of the Greek language in Coburg; in 1693, professor of moral philosophy in Halle; and in 1705, professor of theology in Jena.

Buddha: Ger. Buddha; Fr. Bouddha; Ital. Budda. Buddha (the knower, the enlightened one, the awakened) is not a person, as is so often supposed, but a name applied to a person who has achieved a certain spiritual and intellectual state. One who is delivered entirely from desire, who is a Jina, or conqueror of the needs arising in the sense-world, and who has overcome through knowledge of the 'eightfold path,' attains Buddhahood. A Buddha is also marked by his missionary activity in spreading the knowledge; this in contradistinction to such as possess the knowledge yet retain it for themselves (Pacceke buddhas).

According to the Buddhist teaching, there were Buddhas in the past and there will be Buddhas in the future; but so far as present knowledge goes, the Buddha was Siddhattha, of the family or tribe of the Sakyas (the powerful), who lived in the 6th century B.C. He is known also as Gotama Buddha, Gotama being a Vedic surname of the Sakya family; and as Sakya Muni, or the Sakya sage.

Literature: OLDENBERG, Buddha, s. Leben, s. Lehre, s. Gemeinde (Eng. trans.); SAINT-HILLAIRE, Le Bouddha et sa Religion (Eng. trans.); T. W. RHYS DAVIDS, Buddhism (1880), Hibbert Lectures (1881), and Buddhism (American Lectures, 1896). Cf. ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY (India). (R.M.W.)

Buddhism. See BUDDHA, and ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY (India).

Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc. (1707-88.) Philosopher and naturalist; born in Montbard, Burgundy, and liberally educated in France by his father. He travelled in Italy and England in company with Lord Kingston. In 1835 he translated Newton's Treatise on Fuxions. In 1839 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences and intendant of the royal garden in Paris. In 1753 he was admitted to the French Academy. In 1776 he received from the king the title Count de Buffon.

Bulb [Lat. bulbus, root]: Ger. Bulbus; Fr. bulbe; Ital. bulbo. A synonym for medulla oblongata. See BRAIN. Also used in combination, as bulbar paralysis, &c. (H.H.)

Butler, Joseph. (1692-1752.) An English prelate and philosophical writer. Born at Wantage in Berkshire, he entered the grammar school there, then attended an academy at Gloucestershire, and entered Oriel College, Oxford. He was admitted into holy orders in 1716 or 1717, and became rector of Haughton. In 1725 he obtained the living at Stanhope. In 1733 he became chaplain to Lord Chancellor Talbot, and in 1736, clerk of the closet to the queen. In 1738 he was promoted to the see of Bristol, and two years after was made dean of St. Paul's. In 1750 he was translated to the bishopric of Durham. He died at Bath, and was buried at Bristol. His reputation rests chiefly on his Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature.

Butler, William Archer. (1814-48.) An Irish writer and teacher of philosophy. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he became professor of moral philosophy there in 1837. He was ordained in 1837, and in 1842 became rector of Raymoghy in addition to being professor. He is best known for his Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy.

Byzantine: Ger. Byzantin; Fr. Byzantin; Ital. Bizantino. From Byzantium, the name of the older city on the site of which Constantine founded Constantinople; the name applied to the Roman Empire of the East (330 or 395-1453 A.D.)

Notable in the early history of Christian doctrine, in connection with the Arian controversy. Thereafter, Julian 'the Apostate,' Chrysostom, and Justinian are among its most prominent names in the history of religion and thought. It is also important, as concerns aesthetics, for its influence upon Roman art. Thanks mainly to Gibbon, the Byzantine Empire has long been misprized, but more recent researches have revealed its true importance.

Literature: GIBBON, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (in Bury's ed.); G. Finlay, Hist. of Greece (ii and iii); J. B. BURY, Later Roman Empire; C. W. C. OMAN, Byzantine Empire; BAYET, L'Art Byzantin. (R.M.W.)