BOEHMER, a German historian, born at Frankfort; author of works on the Carlovingian period of history (1795-1863).

BOEO`TIA, a country of ancient Greece, N. of the Gulf of Corinth; the natives, though brave, were mere tillers of the soil under a heavy atmosphere, innocent of culture, and regarded as boors and dullards by the educated classes of Greece, and particularly of Athens, and yet Hesiod, Pindar, and Plutarch were natives of Boeotia.

BOERHAAVE, a great physician, born near Leyden, and son of a pastor; ultimately professor of Medicine and Botany there, as well as of Chemistry; chairs of which he filled and adorned with the greatest distinction; his reputation spread over Europe, and even as far as China—­a letter from which bore the simple address, “To M. Boerhaave, Europe,” and found him; his system was adopted by the profession, and patients from far and wide came to consult him—­among others, Pope Benedict VIII. and Peter the Great; his character was as noble as his abilities were great; his principal works were “Institutiones Medicae,” “Aphorismi de Cognoscendis et Curandis Morbis,” “Libellus de Materia Medica,” and “Institutiones Chemicae” (1668-1738).

BOERS (i. e. peasants engaged in tillage), Dutch colonists of an independent republican temper, who in the 17th century squatted in S. Africa; gave themselves to agriculture and cattle-rearing; settled at length in the Transvaal in a self-governed community by themselves.

BOETHIUS, ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS, a Roman statesman, born at Rome, of Consular rank, a profoundly learned man, held the highest offices, Consul among others, under Theodoric the Goth; his integrity and opposition to injustice procured him enemies, who accused him of treason; he was cast into prison, and finally put to death; wrote in prison his “De Consolatione Philosophiae,” in five parts, employing verse and prose alternately, which King Alfred translated into Anglo-Saxon; he was canonised as a martyr, and his influence was great during the Middle Ages (470-524).

BOEUF, FRONT DE, a character in “Ivanhoe.”

BOGATZKY, KARL HEINRICH VON, religious writer; wrote hymns and an autobiography; is best known as the author of the “Golden Treasury” (1690-1744).

BOGDANOVITCH, a Russian poet, called by his countrymen the “Russian Anacreon”; his best-known poem “Psyche” (1743-1803).

BOGERMANN, JOHANN, Dutch divine, translated the Bible into Dutch, and was President of the Synod of Dort (1576-1633).

BOGOTA` (100), capital of the United State of Colombia, situated on a remarkable, almost mountain-encircled, plateau, on the river Bogota, 65 m.  SE. of its port, Honda, the highest navigable point of the Magdalena, is 8600 ft. above sea-level, and has a spring-like climate.  It is regularly built, with innumerable churches, a mint, university, library, and observatory, and several schools.  Though the country is fertile and the mountains rich in coal, iron, salt, and precious metals, its situation and the want of a railway hinder trade.