he became professor of mathematics at Mézières, and in 1768 was received into the Academy of Sciences. The Revolution deprived him of his situation and his income, and he lived in the greatest seclusion till under the Empire he was appointed a professor in the Polytechnic School. His works are very numerous. The following may be mentioned as particularly valuable: Recherches sur la construction la plus avantageuse des digues (1764); Recherches sur les altérations que la résistance de l'éther peut produire dans le mouvement des planetes (1776); Nouvelle expérience sur la résistance des fluides par d'Alembert, Condorcet, et Bossut (1777); Traité élémentaire de mécanique et de dynamique (1763); Cours complet des mathématiques, 7 vols. (1795-1801); Cours de mathématiques à l'usage des écoles militaires (1782); Essai sur l'histoire générale des mathématiques (2d ed., 1810); and Traité du calcul différentiel et intégral (1798). He was a great admirer of Pascal, and edited his works (15 vols., Paris, 1779), to which he prefixed an introductory Discours sur la vie et les ouvrages de Pascal, in 5 vols. Bossut is especially entitled to fame for his researches in experimental hydrodynamics, which have formed contributions of great importance to that science. He is best known, however, for his history of mathematics mentioned above, a work which, while open to serious criticism, awakened much interest in the subject.
BOSTAN′GI (from Turk. bostan, Pers. bustān, garden). A class of men in Turkey who, originally the Sultan's gardeners, now perform a variety of duties, such as mounting guard at the seraglio and rowing the Sultan's barge. Their chief, called Bostangi Bashi, holds the rank of pasha, is governor of the Sultan's residences, and chief of police of the capital. The bostangi at one time numbered 3000, and were united with the janissaries in military duty. In war time their strength was 12,000. Their present number is about 600.
BOSTON, bôs′ton or bŏs′- (‘Saint Botolph's town’). An ancient English borough and seaport in Lincolnshire, on both sides of the Witham. 28 miles southeast of Lincoln (Map: England, V 4) . Boston is supposed to be the ancient Icanhoe, the site of the abbey founded by Saint Botolph in 654. After the Conquest it became an important trading town and the home of a Hanseatic guild. Henry VIII. granted it a charter of incorporation. The ancient Guildhall is interesting historically as the place of trial of Brewster and his companions. The parish church of Saint Botolph (1309), 290 × 98 feet, is one of the largest without cross-aisles in England, and has a fine tower 290 feet high, surmounted by a lantern visible 40 miles out at sea. The church was partially restored in 1857, at the expense of the inhabitants of the town's American namesake. Boston returns one member to Parliament. The town owns extensive docks. The clearing of the river of silt and the closing of the adjacent fens have greatly promoted the trade of Boston. Population, in 1891, 14,570; in 1901, 15,700.
BOSTON. The capital of Massachusetts, and the county-seat of Suffolk County, the commercial metropolis of New England, and the fifth city of the United States in in population (Map: Massachusetts, E 3). It is in latitude 42° 21′ 27″ N., longitude 71° 3′ 30″ W., 232 miles by rail northeast of New York City, on Boston Harbor, an arm of Massachusetts Bay, at the mouths of the Mystic and Charles rivers.
Description. The original site of Boston, including Beacon, Copp's, and Fort hills, all of which have been considerably cut down, though the first still rises to a height of 110 feet, was a peninsula of less than 800 acres in extent, connected with the mainland by an exceedingly narrow neck, one mile in length and so low that it was not infrequently submerged. The shore, deeply indented, was surrounded by tidal marshes, which have been filled in at great expense, adding over 1000 acres to the original area, a part of which, on the Charles River, is now the location of the well-known Back Bay district of the modern city. The limits of the old town have been extended to include East Boston, on Noddle's Island, added in Colonial times; South Boston, originally Dorchester Neck, annexed in 1804; Roxbury, in 1868; Dorchester, in 1870: and Charlestown, West Roxbury, and Brighton, in 1874—the modern Boston occupying a total area of about 43 square miles.
The appearance of the old town is still retained in the narrow and irregular streets of the North End, now one of the most squalid parts of the city. As historical relics remain three old burying-grounds—Copp's Hill Burial Ground, containing the graves of the Mathers; Central Burying-Ground, dating from 1756; and Old Granary Burial Ground, in which are buried several persons noted in history. A few old buildings are still standing—Christ Church (Old North Church) (1723), from the spire of which were hung the lanterns for Paul Revere; Faneuil Hall (q.v.); the old State House (1748), restored in 1882 as nearly as possible to its provincial appearance, one of the most noteworthy historic buildings in the United States and the repository of an interesting collection of relics and paintings; King's Chapel (1754), occupying the site of the first Episcopal church, of 1688, with the oldest cemetery in Boston; the Old Corner Bookstore, long known as a rendezvous of literary persons; and the Old South Meeting House (1729), with which are connected many notable events in the history of the city, and which now contains historic relics and in winter is used as a hall for lectures on American history.
The modern city has about 590 miles of streets, of which all but 95 miles are paved—the greater part with macadam, granite, Belgian blocks, and gravel. In the new sections they are handsomelv laid out. Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue, the latter 240 feet wide and one of the finest boulevards in America, with other streets of the Back Bay region, are representative of the beauty of Boston's residential avenues. Washington and Tremont streets are the headquarters of the retail trade, and State Street is the important financial centre—the Wall Street of Boston. Intercommunication between the various districts of the city is afforded by an efficient street-railway system which operates about 200 miles of track, and by a number of bridges, East Boston alone being connected by ferry.
Buildings. Boston is replete with objects of architectural interest. The State House, on Beacon Hill, built in 1795 after designs by Charles Bulfinch, and subsequently enlarged at various
