BOUCHER DE CREVECCEUR DE PERTHES, Jacques, French anthropologist: b. Bethel, 10 Sept. 1788; d. Abbeville, 5 Aug. 1868. Through his father, an active botanist, he came under the notice of Napoleon and was employed in numerous missions to Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary. After the Restoration he lived at Abbeville, where he was most active as president of the Society of Emulation. He wrote travels, poems and an early apology for free trade, but only his works on the archwology of man are of con sequence now. The first, 'De la Creation' (5 vols., 1839-41), already brought him some rep utation, but his long investigations on stone weapons and other remains of early human civilization in the Tertiary and older Quater nary Diluvial strata made him famous. His most striking discovery was that of a fossil human jawbone in the quarries of Moulin Quignon, near Abbeville, in 1863. Other works of great value are (Antiquites celtiques et antediluviennes' (3 vols., 1846-65) ' • Thomme antediluvien et ses oeuvres' (1860). Consult (Recollections of M. Boucher de Perthes) in Lady Prestwich's 'Essays Descrip tive and Biographical' (London 1901).
boosh du ran ("Mouths of the Rhone)"), France, department in the south, in the ancient government of Provence, bounded north by Vaucluse, west by Gard, east by Var and south by the Mediter ranean. Chief town, Marseilles. Area, 2,025 square miles, of which about half is under cul tivation, the remainder being occupied by for ests, heaths, wastes, water, etc. Between the Rhone and the lagoon of Berre is the great plain of La Crau. Its borders are tolerably well cultivated and support a number of cat tle, but the centre is little better than a desert of stones and pebbles, affording, however, win ter pasture for sheep. The Rhone is the prin
cipal river; near Arles it divides into two branches which enclose an island called La Camargue. Several canals facilitate transport and are especially useful for irrigation. The climate is generally very warm, with little rain during the summer. A cold and generally vio lent wind, called mistral, always blows from the Cevennes after rain. It lasts from 3 to 9, sometimes, though rarely, even 12 days, and dries up the ground with astonishing rapidity. The soil of the department is for the most part arid and unproductive without irrigation. Vines, however, thrive and almonds, figs, capers, nuts, cereals, grapes, vegetables, mulberry trees, silkworms, and particularly olives, are exten sively cultivated. The minerals are of little commercial importance; lignite, iron, lime, building stone, cement and marble are obtained. Salt is extensively manufactured from the lagoons, and the saltworks of Berre are cele brated both for the quality and quantity of their product. The articles manufactured, besides salt, are principally soap, brandy, olive oil (the best in France), soda, chemicals, vinegar, scents, leather, glass, etc. The fisheries are productive. Shipbuilding, metal-founding and distilling of oil are also important industries. The depart ment includes the three arrondissements of Marseilles, Aix and Arles. Pop. 805,532.