BERSERKERS BERTHIER 583 fovernment during the civil war in the United tates, denounced the invasion of Mexico, and affirmed the authority of the French courts to fine and imprison all who were concerned in the construction of confederate cruisers in France. His opinion exerted some influence in preventing the emperor from taking the re- sponsibility of letting the steamers be delivered to the confederates, and his last professional argument was as leading counsel in the suit instituted against Arman, the principal con- tractor for confederate vessels. The semi-cen- tennial anniversary of his practice at the bar was celebrated in France in 1863, and a great ovation was given to him in England in 1804, Sir Roundell Palmer presiding on the occasion. He spoke in 1867 in favor of French interven- tion in Rome, and in 1868 addressed from his deathbed a letter to the editor of the Electeur justifying Baudin's proceedings in 1851. See CEuvres de Berryer (2 vols., Paris, 1872 et seq.), the first volume containing his parliamentary speeches, with a notice by De Noailles. BERSERKERS (Xorse, ber, bare, and serkr, coat of mail), giants and warriors of Scandina- vian mythology, and especially the descendants of Stoerkodder, a hero of immense size and great valor, who fought without coat of mail, and whose exploits have been celebrated in the sagas. The name Berserkers was also applied to Scandinavian warriors who were liable to fits of frenzy, arising from the use of intoxicating liquors or from an excited imagi- nation. During these fits they performed ex- traordinary feats and attacked indiscriminately friends and foes. BERTHELOT, Pierre Engine Mareellin, a French chemist, born in Paris, Oct. 25, 1827. He was an assistant of Balard in the college de France, and afterward professor of organic chemistry in the school of pharmacy ; and in 1864 a chair of organic chemistry in the college de France was created for him. M. Berthelot was espe- cially instructed to advance his own ideas and treat at length of his own discoveries in his lectures. In 1854 he introduced the theory of polyatomic alcohols. This theory conducted him to the synthesis of natural fatty bodies, and thereby to a knowledge of their true con- stitution. By it he defined also the constitu- tion of the sugars, and was able to understand that also of the fixed principles of vegetable tissues, although he has not yet produced these latter by synthesis. He has published La chimie organique fondu sur la synthese (1860) and Lefon* sur lea methodea generalet de syn- theae en chimie organique (1864). Perhaps his most celebrated researches are those connected with the discovery of acetylene and the syn- thesis of alcohol. His chief glory is that by his own experiments he has successfully over- thrown the famous dogma of Berzelius and Gerhardt, "that chemical forces alone are not able to effect organic synthesis, and that when such metamorphoses occur they are due to the agency of vital force." BERTUELSDORF, a village of Saxony, about 1 m. from Herrnhut ; pop. about 2,000. The central conference of the Moravians is held here in the castle formerly inhabited by Count Zinzendorf. BERTHIER, a county of Canada, in the pro- vince of Quebec, bounded S. E. by the St. Lawrence, just above Lake St. Peter; area, about 1,900 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 19,804. It is about 10 m. wide, and runs in a N. W. di- rection to the undetermined northern frontier of the province, a distance that may be esti- mated at 190 m. It is drained by Maskinonge lake and river, Assumption river, and other streams and ponds. Chief town, Berthier, on the St. Lawrence, 46 m. N. N. E. of Montreal. BERTHIER, Jean Ferdinand, a French deaf mute, born near Macon about 1805. He at- tended the national institution for deaf mutes at Paris, was while still young appointed an instructor there, and is now (1873) the dean of the institution, and one of the most eminent teachers of the deaf and dumb in Europe. He has greatly contributed to diffuse the methods of the abbe de 1'Epee and of the abb6 Sicard. Among his principal works is UAbbe de VtSpee, so* vie, son apostolat, sea travaux, so, lutte et es proces (Paris, 1852). BERTUIER, Louis Alexandra, prince and duke of Neufchatel and Valengin, and prince of Wagram, a French soldier, born in Versailles, Nov. 20, 1753, died in Bamberg, June 1, 1815. His father was chief of the corps of topograph- ical engineers. After studying in the topo- graphical bureau he became lieutenant in the general staff and afterward captain of dra- goons, and served in the American war under Lafayette. As general of the national guard of Versailles he rendered good service to the royal family in October, 1789. Afterward he was chief of the general staff, under Lafayette, Lnck- ner, and Custine. He participated in the unsuc- cessful defence of Saumurin June, 1793. After the 9th Thermidor he was appointed chief of the general staff of Kellermann, and by causing the French army to take up the lines of Bor- ghetti contributed to arrest the advance of the enemy. He also proved himself a good general of division in the battles of 1796-'7 in Italy, and excelled as a staff officer by his grasp of all the details of the service, though he had not the genius required for supreme command. De- spite his remonstrances, Bonaparte placed him in 1798 at the head of the army of occupation in Rome ; but he resigned his command to Massena, and went to Milan, where he fell in love with the beautiful Madame Visconti, his eccentric and lasting passion for whom caused him during the expedition to Egypt to be nick- named the chief of the faction des amoureux, and absorbed the greater part of the vast sums bestowed upon him by his master. After his return from Egypt he seconded Bonaparte on the 18th and 19th Brumaire, and was minister of war till April 2, 1800. He was chief of the general staff at the battle of Ma-
