Biot, Jean

BAPTISTE, ( be'o,) a very eminent French mathematician and chemist. B. at Paris, 1774. After a brilliant course of study, he was called to the chair of Mathematics at the Central School of Beauvais, whence he removed, in 1800, to the College of France, to hold the profe orship of Natural Philosophy. He was chosen by the Board of Longitudes to make observations along the English arc of the meridian, and for that purpose visited England in 1817. It was during that visit that Humboldt, Arago, and B. met at Green wich Observatory. В. had previously a isted in measuring the arc of the meridian extended through Spain. He was a member of the French Academy of Sciences, of the Institute, and a foreign member of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and of many other scientific societies. He is especially celebrated as the discoverer of the circular tributed to the Academy and to scientific journals, B. wrote Traité Elémentaire d' Astronomie Physique; Traité de Physique Experiment ale et Mathématique; Recueil d'Observations géodésiques, ., . D. 1862. Biotin a, Biotine, (be-o-te'na.) [Named from M. Biot, q. v.] ( Min .) A volcanic product, found on Mount Vesuvius, chiefly compounded of silica, alumina, and lime.