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it was constantly garrisoned, constantly captured and recaptured, by the two contending parties, sometimes changing owners several times in the course of a year or two. During the furious conflicts between Robert Bruce on one side and Edward I. and Edward II. on the other, the town of Berwick suffered severely. On one occasion, when the English had been driven out, and the town strongly garrisoned with Scots, a large squadron of English ships, which had been ordered to cooperate with the royal army on its advance, but which had preceded the land forces too hastily, and entered the river unsupported, was either taken or burnt; and the indignation of Edward was excessive. He at first attempted to take the town by assault, as soon as he came before it, at a coup de main; but, being repulsed with some loss, sat down before it and commenced regular approaches. Here historians differ; the English writers affirming that, on a second assault being delivered, it was taken by storm; while the Scots insist that Edward had raised the siege, and was apparently in full retreat, when he gained possession of the gates by a stratagem, disguising his men with St. Andrew's crosses, and sending them forward under Scottish banners, as if they were reënforcements, in which belief they were admitted. In this instance, the dispute is a matter of some consequence, as on it turns, in some degree, the question of the character of Edward; since the bloody sack which followed the capture of the place, and which in one case would be merely one of the terrible and painful consequences of war, would be, on the contrary, in the other, as it is charged to have been by the Scottish writers, a savage atrocity on the part of Edward. Those writers are, however, obviously, though perhaps naturally, unfair to Edward, as any one must perceive who reads history impartially. It was to put an end to these cruel collisions that, by the convention between Mary and Edward, the town was declared independent; so that, as being too weak to resist either kingdom, it could not be held guilty by either for permitting the passage through its territories of the armies of the other. It is now a fine and flourishing seaport, driving a considerable carrying trade, especially in eggs and salmon, between north and south Britain; and having a considerable capital employed, and many boats and men engaged, in the salmon fisheries.

BERWICKSHIRE, a county on the Tweed, in the S. E. extremity of Scotland; area 446 sq. m.; pop. in 1851, 36,297. The Lammermoor is in this county. The chief employment of the county is agricultural pursuits. The land, being in the hands of large farmers on long leases, is cultivated with great skill. It abounds in places of historical interest, among which are the remains of Coldingham priory and of Dryburgh abbey, in which Sir Walter Scott was buried.

BERYL (Lat. beryllus. Gr, Bnpuos). The

beryl, emerald, and aquamarine, are all the same mineral species, and only distinguished from each other by their blue and yellow shades of green or by the delicacy of the crystals. The beryl is sometimes also white. The emerald is more transparent and of finer colors than the beryl, and makes a handsomer gem. In some of the rich green specimens the color is derived from oxide of chrome. In the beryl oxide of iron appears to be the coloring matter. Aquamarine is a beautiful sea-green variety known to the ancients, and spoken of by Pliny, as already quoted under the article Aqua. The composition of the species beryl is that of a double silicate of alumina and glucina, consisting of silica 66 to 68 parts in 100; alumina 15 to 17; and glucina 12 to 15. It crystallizes in regular 6-sided prisms, which are often striated with longitudinal channels. Its hardness, rated as 7.5 to 8 on the mineralogical scale, is less than that of topaz and greater than that of quartz. Its specific gravity is 2.7. The crystals are found in quartz veins in granitic rocks, and also in the metamorphic limestones. There are many celebrated localities of gigantic beryls and beautiful emeralds in various parts of the world. Upper Egypt produced the mineral in ancient times, and it is still found in the mica slate of Mount Zabarah. Siberia, Hindostan, Limoges in France, Peru and New Granada, in South America, have all furnished splendid emeralds. The finest in the world are probably from the Muzo mine near Santa Fé de Bogota in New Granada; these are in a vein of dolomite in hornblende rock. A specimen from this locality is in the possession of the duke of Devonshire, which measures 2 inches in length, and weighs 8 ounces and 18 dwts., and is regarded as the finest emerald in Great Britain. Mr. Hope of London possesses one supposed to be from Coimbatoor, which has been cut. It weighs 6 ounces, and is perfect in color and transparency. It cost £500. In the royal collection at Madrid are some splendid specimens of great size. The largest beryls known have been found in Acworth and Grafton, New Hampshire, and in Royalston, Massachusetts. One from Grafton measures 4 feet and 3 inches in length, 32 inches through in one direction, and 22 in another transverse, and weighs 2,900 pounds. Another is estimated to weigh nearly 2 tons, measuring 45 inches through it in one direction and 24 inches in another. A crystal in the museum at Stockholm, found in Sweden, is considered to be the largest in Europe; it weighs 80 pounds. The value of the specimens is not at all dependent on their size. The large crystals are of coarse texture and feeble lustre, and possess no beauty. Em- . eralds are very successfully imitated by the French lapidaries, who use oxide of chrome for giving the rich green color.

BERZELIUS, JOHAN JAKOB, M. D., baron, a Swedish chemist, born Aug. 20, 1779, at the village of Wafversunda, near Linköping, in East Gothland, died at Stockholm, Aug. 7, 1848. His father filled the office of government school

master at the village of Wafversunda; an office which is usually more highly appreciated in Sweden than in other European nations, with the exception perhaps of Scotland. Berzelius received his early education at home, under the care of his father, and in 1796 commenced the study of medicine in the university of Upsal. The chemical chair was then filled by Afzelius, with Ekeberg for his assistant. The lectures at Upsal, in those days, says Berzelius, were read without any experimental illustrations, and the instructions in the laboratory were of a superficial and unsatisfactory kind. After passing his examinations in philosophy, Berzelius quitted the university in 1798, and became assistant to a medical practitioner at Medevi, where he soon became known by an excellent chemical analysis of the mineral waters of that place. This analysis was published in 1804, when he took his degree of doctor of medicine at Upsal. Soon afterward he published his "Physical Researches on the effects of Galvanism on organized Bodies," which established his reputation as an experimental philosopher, and obtained for him the appointment of assistant professor of medicine, botany, and chemical pharmacy at Stockholm. In 1807 he succeeded Sparrmann, in the senior professorship of this department. He followed for some time the mode of teaching which was practised at Upsal, but afterward, on the suggestion of Dr. Marcet, who visited Stockholm, he adopted the method of illustrating his lectures by experiments, which gave great satisfaction to the students, and rendered him popular as a teacher of chemical science. As early as the year 1806, in conjunction with Hisinger, he commenced the "Memoirs relative to Physics, Chemistry, and Mineralogy," and his numerous contributions to those sciences have obtained for him that high rank which he holds as an accurate observer and experimental analyst. He was one of the chief founders of the medical society of Sweden, and in 1808 he became a member of the royal Swedish academy, of which he was chosen president in 1810. In the intervals of his public duties he paid several visits to Paris, and in 1812 he spent some time in London. In 1815 the king of Sweden named Berzelius a knight of the order of Vasa; and in 1818 he was appointed perpetual secretary of the Stockholm academy of sciences. On the coronation of the king in the same year, Berzelius was ennobled; and, contrary to the custom of the country, was allowed to retain his own name, the title of Baron Berzelius being ennobled in the lists of Swedish nobility. In 1821 he was named commander of the order of Vasa, and the sovereigns of France and Austria named him member of the legion of honor, and of the order of Leopold. These marks of distinction did not draw his attention in the least from his laborious and successful investigations; his important and experimental researches were never interrupted by worldly success and popularity; and even when he resigned his professorship in favor of Mosander,

in 1832, he still continued to pursue with ardent perseverance, his favorite investigations and experiments. In 1833, Berzelius married; and on that occasion, the king of Sweden wrote him a letter, in which he observed that "Sweden and the whole world were debtors to the man whose entire life had been devoted to pursuits as useful to all as they were glorious to his native country."-The works of Berzelius are both numerous and important. He contributed to the "Physical Memoirs," during a period of 12 years, some 47 original papers of great merit. His treatise on chemistry went through 5 large editions, and was partly re-written each time. It is most complete and best known in the edition translated into French under his own inspection, by Esslinger, and published in 8 vols. at Brussels in 1835. The last volume contains his very remarkable dissertation on chemical apparatus, with essays on qualitative and quantitative analysis, and the use of the blow-pipe. His mineralogical system is very highly val ued. He considered mineral species as depending on the atomic proportions of their principal ingredients, and arranged and designated them accordingly. At the request of the academy of sciences, in 1822, he undertook those very remarkable "Annual Reports on the Progress of Physical Chemistry and Mineralogy" which have been so useful to the scientific world. As early as the year 1807, when the atomic theory of Dalton was hardly well known in Britain, Berzelius commenced his accurate researches on definite proportions, in which he extended and systematized the experiments of Wenzel and Richter; applying them not only to salts, earths, and metals, but to gases and organic compounds; assisting greatly to establish the truth of definite proportions. To him belongs the merit of proving that the proportion of oxygen is constant in all the neutral salts of the same acid; and his researches gave the first impulse to modern organic chemistry. Those who knew him personally bear testimony to the noble frankness and the manly simplicity of his character; and state that he was ever ready to impart to others, without ostentation, his vast stores of knowledge, and to assist the researches of those engaged in kindred pursuits, by his advice, the use of his laboratory, and the unreserved communication of his accurate methods of investigation. Soon after his marriage in 1833, the directors of the Swedish iron works, in grateful acknowledgment of the light his researches had thrown on their art, and as a testimony to his important services to the useful arts of his country, conferred on him a pension for life; and we may here observe, that all the studies and investigations of Berzelius were made with a view to their practical application in the useful arts, as much as to the discovery of new truths of science. In the latter part of his life, Berzelius was afflicted with paraplegia, depriving him of the use of his lower limbs; but his mind was always clear, and he bore the affliction with calmness and resignation. Decay

was slow and gradual, without acute suffering and he died in the 69th year of his age.

BESANÇON (Vesontio), a fortified place of great strength, the chief town of the French department of Doubs, on the river Doubs; pop. in 1856, 43,544. The lower town on the other side of the river, formerly called Baltaus, is connected with Besançon proper by a stone bridge, the foundations of which are Roman. The town has an antique appearance. It has several fountains, one of which represents the apotheosis of Charles V. Its public buildings and institutions are numerous, namely, the cathedral of St. John (possessing as a relic the winding-sheet of Christ, which was formerly exhibited and attracted thousands of pilgrims, and some fine paintings), 2 Gothic churches, 8 hospitals, a deaf and dumb asylum, an academy of mathematics and belles-lettres, a lyceum, a public library containing 63,000 volumes and many MSS., a museum, and a museum of natural history, an academy of sciences, a society of agriculture and the arts, a theological seminary, a school of medicine, surgery, and pharmacy, a school of drawing ar1 sculptare, of artillery, and of watch-making. It has extensive manufactories of watches, thread, cotton and silk stockings, paper hangings, fire-arms, leather, hardware, and linen. Besançon appears in history first, as Vesontio, in Caesar's Bellum Gallicum. In the days of the Roman empire Vesontio was the capital of the province of Maxima Sequanorum. The Alemanni destroyed it in the time of Julian the Apostate, and it was again ravaged by Attila and the Huns. In 386 it defended itself successfully against the Vandals. It was rebuilt by the Burgundians. It became the chief city of the county of Burgundy, more commonly called Franche Comté, and was made by the emperor Frederick I. a free and imperial city, 1162. Between the 9th and 13th centuries, it was called Chrysopolis, the golden city. Granvelle, the minister of the emperor Charles V., was born here, and became its archbishop. While Franche Comté was under Spanish dominion, Besançon preserved its rights as a German city, but lost them and became French when Franche Comté was ceded to France by the treaty of Nimeguen, 1678. In 1814, Besançon was besieged but not captared by an Austrian army under Prince Lichtenstein. Among the eminent natives of Besançon, beside Granvelle, are Abel Rémusat, Marshal Moncey, Victor Hugo, Charles Nodier, Charles Fourier, and P. J. Prudhon.

BESBORODKO, ALEXANDER ANDRYEWITCH, a Russian statesman, born at Stolnoje, in Little Russia, in 1742, died August 9, 1799. He was minister of foreign affairs under Catherine II. and Paul I.; concluded the treaty of peace at Jassy, and other memorable treaties, and organized the coalition between Russia and Great Britain against France. He was made an Austrian count by Joseph II., and a Russian prince by Paul I. He left the reputation of an able statesman, and of a zealous patron of the fine arts.

BESIKA BAY, in Asiatic Turkey, in the province of Kudavenkiar, and the district of Karassi, near the promontory of Sigeum, is famous in contemporary history as the station of the British and French fleets in 1839 and 1840, and again on June 13 and 14, 1853, until Oct. 22. The fleets were sent to Besika bay as a counter-demonstration to the Russian occupation of the principalities, and were ordered to leave it and advance near to Constantinople, in consequence of the destruction of the Turkish squadron at Sinope.

BESITTOON, or BEHISTUN, an escarped precipice which bounds the plain of Kermanshah in that part of modern Persia which was anciently called Media. On the lower part of this precipice is a huge tablet planed smooth by art. Below there is a rocky terrace strown with blocks of hewn stone. To these the name Besittoon is given, meaning "without pillars." About 50 yards above this platform there are the remains of a piece of sculpture with an inscription in Greek on it nearly obliterated by one in modern Persian, relating to the grant of lands. On the authority of Diodorus and Ctesias, this work is attributed to Queen Semiramis. Further to the east is another pile of sculpture, exhibiting a line of 12 figures, of whom 1 is a king, another a prostrate suppliant, and 9 others captives in his rear. Under each is a short inscription in the arrow-headed character; under these again are 8 deep and closely written columns in the same character. (See CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS.)

BESKOW, BERNHARD, a Swedish dramatist, born in Stockholm, April 19, 1796, was ennobled in 1826, and appointed marshal of the royal household in 1833. He officiated for some time as director of the royal theatre, and is the author of several excellent tragedies, which were translated into Danish and German by Oehlenschläger, and of which Torkel Knutsson is considered the best acting play on the Swedish stage. He wrote an opera, Trubaduren, for which Oscar, the present king of Sweden, composed the music. His literary reputation was increased by his books of travel, by his poetical works, and by his contributions to the press. The great prize of the academy was awarded in 1824 to his poem Sveriges anor. He became one of the 18 directors of this institution, and in 1834 perpetual secretary. The rare honor of receiving a diploma as doctor of philosophy from the university of Upsal, was vouchsafed to him in 1842.

BESSARABIA, the most S. W. province of the Russian empire, between Moldavia, Transylvania, and the Black Sea, consists of those portions of Turkey lying between the Dniester and the Pruth, which were wrested from the Turks by the treaty of Bucharest in 1812, and formed previously the N. E. part of Moldavia and the Budjak or Bessarabia proper. By the late treaty of Paris (March 31, 1856), a portion of Bessarabia was given back to Turkey, in order to give that power a safer frontier than

the Pruth. Article 20 declares, "The new frontier shall begin from the Black Sea 1 kilometre to the E. of the lake Bourna Sola, shall run perpendicularly to the Akerman road, shall follow that road to the Val de Trajan, pass to the S. of Bolgrad, ascend the course of the river Yalpuck to the height of Saratsika, and terminate at Katamori on the Pruth. Delegates of the contracting powers shall fix in its details the line of the new frontier." By article 21, the territory ceded by Russia shall be annexed to the principality of Moldavia under the suzerainty of the Sublime Porte. A difference between the Russian commissioners on the one hand and the Turkish, British, and Austrian commissioners on the other, as to which of 2 Bolgrads was meant, necessitated the meeting of a new European conference at Paris early in 1857, which settled that question substantially in favor of Turkey. Before its recent dismemberment, Bessarabia contained an area of about 18,900 sq. m., and 792,000 inhabitants, in 8 towns, 16 villages with markets, and 1,030 hamlets. These towns and villages contain 134 churches of stone, and 719 of wood, 16 chapels, 22 monasteries and convents, 1 ecclesiastical seminary, 9 district schools, and 2 hospitals. The commerce is mostly in the hands of the Jews and the Greeks. The Russo-Greek bishop resides at Kishenev. The peasantry are subject to feudal imposts. The soil of Bessarabia is very fruitful, but poorly cultivated, producing madder and saffron which grow wild, flax, hemp, tobacco, maize, millet, wheat, melons, pumpkins, apricots, and peaches. The mulberry thrives. The rearing of horned cattle, horses, and sheep is the great resource of the inhabitants. The culture of wine is also prosecuted. The northern portion of Bessarabia is traversed by a branch of the Carpathian mountains, here sinking into the plain. They are well wooded, and abound in wild animals. The southern part of the province is prairieland. The chief or only mineral product is salt, which is obtained in great quantities from the lakes. The fisheries are plentiful. The principal rivers are the Danube, the Pruth, Yalpuck, and Dniester. These rivers form large lakes or marshes. The province is divided into 6 districts: Akerman, Bender, Choczim, Bielzi, Ismail, and Kishenev. Kishenev is the seat of government.

BESSARION, JOHN or BASIL, a Greek monk, born probably at Trebizond, in the year 1889, died at Ravenna, Nov. 19, 1472. He was titular patriarch of Constantinople, archbishop of Nicæa, afterward cardinal and legate to France, in the time of Louis XI. After having spent 21 years in a monastery of Greece, devoted to theology and literature, he left it to follow the emperor John Palæologus to Italy, who had gone there with the intention of being present at the council of Ferrara, in the hope of uniting the Greek and Latin churches. They were accompanied by many Greeks, distinguished by their talents and dignity. Bessarion seconded

with so much zeal the projects of Palæologus that he became odious to the Greek church, while Pope Eugenius IV. rewarded him for his devotion to that of Rome, by the dignity of cardinal-priest. He had the confidence of many popes, and was near becoming one himself, but was prevented by the dissenting voice of one of the cardinals, who esteemed it an indignity to the Latin church, to choose a Greek pope. He was sent to France by Sixtus IV., to reconcile Louis XI. with the duke of Burgundy, and obtain aid against the Turks. He did not succeed, and it is pretended that he received a personal insult from the king, which humiliation some suppose to have been the cause of his death.

BESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM, a German astronomer, born at Minden, July 22, 1784, died March 17, 1846. Having shown in early life a taste for astronomy, and some skill as a computer, he was appointed assistant to Schrōter, at the observatory of Lilienthal. In 1810 he was appointed director of the observatory building at Königsberg, and held that post to the day of his death. In 1818 he published Fundamenta Astronomia, a discussion of the observations made upon the fixed stars, by Bradley, at Greenwich, 60 years before, and including dissertations of inestimable value, on the method of stellar astronomy. He afterward published, regularly, his own observations, measured the distance of the star 61 Cygni from the earth, and took a distinguished part in all the astronomical discoveries and geodetic discussions of his day, and was justly considered, while living, the leading astronomer of the world, blending theory and practice with a master hand.

BESSIÈRES, JEAN BAPTISTE, marshal of the French empire, born at Praissac, in the department of Lot, Aug. 6, 1768, killed at Lutzen, March 1, 1813. He entered the constitutional guard of Louis XVI., in 1791, served as a non-commissioned officer in the mounted chasseurs of the Pyrénées, and soon after became a captain of chasseurs. After the victory of Roveredo, Sept. 4, 1796, Bonaparte promoted him on the battle-field to the rank of colonel. Commander of the guides of the general-inchief during the Italian campaign of 1796–197, colonel of the same corps in Egypt, he remained attached to it for the greater part of his life. In 1802, the rank of general of division was conferred upon him, and, in 1804, that of marshal of the empire. He fought at the battles of Roveredo, Rivoli, St. Jean d'Acre, Aboukir, Marengo-where he commanded the last decisive cavalry charge-Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, and Friedland. Despatched in 1808 to assume the command of a division of 18,000 men stationed in the Spanish province of Salamanca, he found on his arrival that Gen. Cuesta had taken up a position between Valladolid and Burgos, thus threatening to intersect the line of communication of Madrid with France. Bessières attacked him and won the victory of Medina

del Rio Secco. After the failure of the English Walcheren expedition, Napoleon substituted Bessières for Bernadotte, in command of the Belgian army. In the same year (1809), he was created duke of Istria. At the head of a cavalry division he routed the Austrian general, Hohenzollern, at the battle of Essling. During the Russian expedition he acted as chief commander of the mounted guard, and on the opening of the German campaign of 1813, as the commander of the French cavalry. He died on the battle-field while attacking the defile of Rippach, in Saxony, on the eve of the battle of Lutzen. His popularity with the common soldiers may be inferred from the circumstance that it was thought prudent to withhold the news of his death for some time from the army.

BESTOUJEFF, ALEXANDER, & Russian poet, patriot, and martyr, born in 1793, at the country seat of his father in the government of Voroneszh, killed in battle in the Caucasus in 1837. He was educated in one of the imperial military establishments, and as an officer of the guards was an aide-de-camp of Prince Alexander of Würtemberg in 1825. Bestoujeff, with Rylejeff, with whom, in 1823, he edited the first literary periodical published in Russia, under the title of the "Northern Star," was among the foremost leaders in the conspiracy and insurrection of 1825. For this he was condemned to lose his military rank and to be sent to Yakootsk, in Siberia, as a common soldier, without any claim to be advanced. In the snows and in the frozen atmosphere of this place of exile, his fiery imagination acquired new vigor. Under the name of the Cossack Marlinsky he wrote small novels and sketches for the "Telegraph," a periodical of Moscow, and for some others. By a special order of the emperor Nicholas, after passing 2 or 3 years there, he was transferred to the army of the Caucasus. There his adventurous and dangerous life had its effect on his style, and he now showed a great talent for description and for analysis of human character and passions. The more considerable of his writings during this period are 2 novels, Mullah Nur and Ammaleth Beg. His fate might have been rendered more supportable, but for the blind hatred of the grand duke Michael, the younger brother of the emperor Nicholas. Toward the year 1836, Nicholas relented, permitted the advancement of Bestoujeff from the ranks, and opened to him a prospect of again becoming an officer, and thus recovering his lost social condition. But it was too late, as shortly after he was killed along with a considerable detachment of Russian soldiers, by the mountaineers, in an ambush near Ekaterinodar. Bestoujeff, like Rylejeff, Lermontejeff, and Pushkin, all stars of Russian literature, is one of the many victims who, for different reasons and in various ways, were devoured by the reign of the emperor Nicholas. Two of his brothers, Nicholas and Michael, who were involved in the conspirVOL. III.-14

acy and outbreak of 1825, suffered capital pun ishment in 1826.

BESTOUJEFF-RIUMINE, MICHEL ALEXE: PETROWITCH, count, a Russian statesman, born in Moscow, in 1693, of a family of English origin, and of the second class of nobles in Russia, died in St. Petersburg, April 24, 1766. He was educated in Germany, entered the civil service under Peter the Great, and became a diplomatist. Under the empress Anne he was made a member of the cabinet, and the empress Elizabeth, whose fullest confidence he possessed, created him count, great chancellor of the empire, and his influence in the government was almost boundless. He was strongly opposed to the Prussian and French diplomatic influence, and was disliked on this account by Peter III., nephew and presumptive heir of Elizabeth. He concluded several treaties with England, Sweden, and Denmark, which were favorable to English policy. By a treaty concluded in 1747, he paved the way for the union of Schleswig and Holstein with the kingdom of Denmark, and thus planted the first germs of the confusion and dissensions which prevailed in 1848 between that kingdom and Germany, and have not yet been entirely pacified. By his influence, the Russian troops supported Austria against Frederic the Great in the 7 years' war. But their commander, Apraxin, retired to Russia, and this occasioned the fall of Bestoujeff. He was imprisoned and degraded, but Catharine II., in 1762, restored him to liberty and to his previous social position, creating him a fieldmarshal, but not calling him to active service. He is regarded as the inventor of a chemical preparation known in medicine under the name of tinctura tonica Bestucheffi.

BETANÇOS, DOMINGO DE, a Spanish missionary, born at Leon about the end of the 15th century, died in 1549. He emigrated to Hispaniola in 1514; he learned the Indian tongue, instructed the natives in the doctrines of Catholic Christianity, and endeavored to save them from Spanish cruelty. In 1526 he passed over into Mexico. Here he founded a convent, and was the Indian's friend. From Mexico he visited Guatemala, and founded another convent there. It was owing to his representations to the holy see that Paul III. promulgated his bull (1537) reminding all Christians that pagan Indians were their brethren, and should not be hunted down like wild beasts. Betanços refused the bishopric of Guatemala, and preferred to remain the simple provincial of his order. He died 1 month after his return to Spain, in the convent of St. Paul, at Valladolid.

BETEL NUT. The leaf of the betel pepper, piper betle, and the nut of the areca palm, areca catechu, together constitute this article, which is improperly called betel nut. But as an article of commerce it is sold separately under the name of betel nut, because as a masticating article it is always used with the leaf of the betel pepper. The habit of chewing this compound has extended from the islands of the

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