nal of the
_salon_, which dealt largely in scandals and contained accounts of books
suppressed by the censor. Bachaumont's name is commonly connected with the
first volumes of this register, which was published anonymously under the
title _Memoires secrets pour servir a l'histoire de la Republique des
Lettres_, but his exact share in the authorship is a matter of controversy.
It was continued by Pidansat de Mairobert (1707-1779) and others, until it
reached 36 volumes (1774-1779). It is of some value as a historical source,
especially for prohibited literature. Extracts were published by P. Lacroix
in one volume, 1859. An incomplete edition (4 vols.) was undertaken in 1830
by Ravenal.

See, in addition to the memoirs of the time, especially the _Correspondance
litteraire_ of Grimm, Diderot, d'Alembert and others (new ed., Paris, 1878,
17 vols.); Ch. Aubertin, _L'Esprit public au XVIII^e siecle_ (Paris, 1872).

BACHE, ALEXANDER DALLAS (1806-1867), American physicist, great-grandson of
Benjamin Franklin, was born at Philadelphia on the 19th of July 1806. After
graduating at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1825, he
acted as assistant professor there for some time, and as a lieutenant in
the corps of engineers he was engaged for a year or two in the erection of
coast fortifications. He occupied the post of professor of natural
philosophy and chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania in 1828-1841 and
in 1842-1843. For the trustees of what in 1848 was to become Girard
College, but had not yet been opened, he spent the years 1836-1838 in
Europe, examining European systems of education, and on his return
published a very valuable report. In 1843, on the death of Professor F. R.
Hassler (1770-1843), he was appointed [v.03 p.0132] superintendent of the
United States coast survey. He succeeded in impressing Congress with a
sense of the great value of this work, and by means of the liberal aid it
granted, he carried out a singularly comprehensive plan with great ability
and most satisfactory results. By a skilful division of labour, and by the
erection of numerous observing stations, the mapping out of the whole coast
proceeded simultaneously under the eye of the general director, and in
addition a vast mass of magnetic and meteorological observations was
collected. He died at Newport, Rhode Island, on the 17th of February 1867.

BACHE, FRANCIS EDWARD (1833-1858), English musical composer, was born in
Birming