B (part 1)

B is the second letter and the first consonant in the English and most other alphabets. It is a mute and labial, pronounced solely by the lips, and is distinguished from p by being sonant, that is, produced by the utterance of voice as distinguished from breath.

B, in music, the seventh note of the model diatonic scale or scale of C. It is called the leading note, as there is always a feeling of suspense when it is sounded until the keynote is heard.

Baader, Franz Xaver von (fra˙nts-zä'fer fon bä'der), German philosopher and theologian, born in Munich, 1765, died 1841. He studied engineering, became superintendent of mines, and was ennobled for services. He was deeply interested in the religious speculations of Eckhart, St. Martin, and Böhme, and in 1826 was appointed professor of philosophy and speculative theology in the University of Munich. During the last three years of his life he was interdicted from lecturing for opposing the interference in civil matters of the Roman Catholic Church.

Ba´al, or Bel, a Semitic word, which primarily signified lord or proprietor, and was afterwards applied to many different divinities, or, with qualifying epithets, to the same divinity regarded in different aspects, describing him as an occupier of some physical object or locality, or as a possessor of some attribute. Thus in Hos. ii, 16 it is applied to Jehovah himself, while Baal-berith (the Covenant-lord) was the god of the Shechemites, and Baal-zebub (the Fly-god) the idol of the Philistines at Ekron. Baal was the sacred title applied to the Sun as the principal male deity of the Phœnicians and their descendants, the Carthaginians, as well as of the ancient Canaanitish nations, and was worshipped as the supreme ruler and vivifier of nature. The word enters into the composition of many Hebrew, Phœnician, and Carthaginian names of persons and places; thus, Jerubaal, Hasdrubal (help of Baal), Hannibal (grace of Baal), and Baal-Hammon, Baal-Thamar, &c.

Baalbek´ (ancient, Heliopŏlis, 'city of the sun'), a place in Syria, in a fertile valley at the foot of Antilibanus, 40 miles from Damascus, famous for its magnificent ruins. Of these the chief is the Temple of the Sun, built either by Antoninus Pius or by Septimius Severus. Some of the blocks used in its construction are 60 feet long by 12 thick; and its fifty-four columns, of which six are still standing, were 72 feet high and 22 in circumference. Near it is a temple of Jupiter, of smaller size though larger than the Parthenon at Athens, and there are other structures of an elaborately ornate type. Originally a centre of Sun-worship, it became a Roman colony under Julius Cæsar, was garrisoned by Augustus, and acquired increasing renown under Trajan as the seat of an oracle. Under Constantine its temples became churches, but after being sacked by the Arabs in 748, and more completely pillaged by Tamerlane in 1401, it sank into hopeless decay. The work of destruction was completed by an earthquake in 1759.

Baal-zebub. See Beelzebub.

Baba, a cape near the north-west point of Asia Minor.

Babadagh (ba˙-ba˙-däg'), a town of Roumania, capital of the Dobrudsha, carrying on a considerable Black Sea trade; it was bombarded by the Russians in 1854. Pop. 10,000.

Bab´bage, Charles, English mathematician and inventor of the calculating-machine, born 1792, died 1871. He graduated at Cambridge in 1814, and occupied the Lucasian chair of mathematics at Cambridge for eleven years, but delivered no lectures. As early as 1812 he conceived the idea of calculating numerical tables by machinery, and in 1823 he received a grant from Government for the construction of such a machine. After a series of experiments lasting eight years, and an expenditure of £17,000 (£6000 of which was sunk by himself, the balance voted by Government), Babbage abandoned the undertaking in favour of a much more enlarged work, an analytical engine, worked with cards like the jacquard-loom; but the project was never completed. The incompleted machine is now in the South Kensington Museum. Among the many treatises he published on subjects connected with mathematics and mechanics few can be regarded as finished performances. Babbage was instrumental in founding the Astronomical and Statistical Societies (1820 and 1834).

Babbit-metal, a soft metal resulting from alloying together certain proportions of copper, tin, and zinc or antimony, used with the view of as far as possible obviating friction in the bearings of journals, cranks, axles, &c., invented by Isaac Babbit (1799-1862), a goldsmith of Taunton, Massachusetts.

Ba´bel. See Babylon.

Ba´bel, Tower of, according to the 11th chapter of Genesis, a structure in the Plain of Shinar, Mesopotamia, commenced by the descendants of Noah subsequent to the deluge, but which was not allowed to proceed to completion. It has commonly been identified with the great temple of Belus, or Bel, that was one of the chief edifices in Babylon, and the huge mound called Birs Nimrud is generally regarded as its site, though another mound, which to this day bears the name of Babil, has been assigned by some as its site. Babel means literally 'gate of God'. The meaning 'confusion' assigned to it in the Bible really belongs to a word of similar form. See Babylon.

Bab-el-Mandeb ('gate of tears', from being dangerous to small craft), a strait, 15 miles wide, between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, formed by projecting points of Arabia in Asia, and Abyssinia in Africa. The Island of Perim is here.

Ba´ber, first Grand Mogul, the founder of the Mogul dynasty in Hindustan, born in 1483, died 1530. He was a grandson of the great Tartar prince, Timur or Tamerlane, and was sovereign of Cabul. He invaded Hindustan, and in 1525 overthrew and killed Sultan Ibrahim, the last Hindu emperor of the Pathan or Afghan race. He made many improvements, social and political, in his empire, and left a valuable autobiography (English translation, 1826).

Babeuf (ba˙-beuf), François Noel, a French political agitator, born in 1764; started a democratic journal in Paris, called Le Tribun du Peuple, par 'Gracchus' Babeuf, and wrote with great severity against the Jacobins. After the fall of Robespierre, to which he powerfully contributed, he openly attacked the terrorists, and advocated the most democratic principles. He was accused of a conspiracy against the directorial Government, condemned to death, and guillotined in 1797. He was one of the pioneers of Socialism in France.

Bab´ington, Anthony, a Catholic gentleman of Derbyshire, born 1561. He associated with others of his own persuasion to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, and deliver Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot being discovered, the conspirators were executed in 1586.

Babiroussa. See Babyroussa.

Bab´ism, the doctrines of a Mohammedan sect whose head-quarters is Persia, founded by Seyd Ali Mohammed in 1844. He took the name of Bab-ed-din, 'the gate of the faith', and afterwards that of Nokteh, 'the point', as not merely the recipient of a new divine revelation, but the focus in which all preceding dispensations would converge. One of his most successful disciples was a highly-gifted woman, Gurred-ul-Ayn, 'consolation of the eyes', who perished with many others during a persecution in 1852. The Bab himself had been executed about two years before this, and was succeeded by a noble youth, Mirza Yahya. The sect holds that all individual existence is an emanation from the supreme deity, by whom it will be ultimately reabsorbed. The morality of the sect is pure and cheerful, and it shows great advancement in the treatment of woman. Moses, Christ, and Mohammed are acknowledged as prophets, though only mere precursors of the Bab. A schism divided the followers of Babism into two sects, Bahais and Ezelis. The former have carried on an active propaganda in America.

Ba´boo, or Babu, a Hindu title of respect equivalent to sir or master, usually given to wealthy and educated native gentlemen, especially when of the mercantile class.

Baboon´, a common name applied to a division of old-world quadrumana (apes and monkeys), comprehending the genera Cynocephălus and Papio. They have elongated abrupt muzzles like a dog, strong tusks or canine teeth, usually short tails, cheek-pouches, small deep eyes with large eyebrows, and naked callosities on the buttocks. Their hind and fore feet are well proportioned, so that they run easily on all fours, but they do not maintain themselves in an upright posture with facility. They are generally of the size of a moderately large dog, but the largest, the mandrill, is, when erect, nearly of the height of a man. They are almost all African, ugly, sullen, fierce, lascivious, and gregarious, defending themselves by throwing stones, dirt, &c. They live on fruits and roots, eggs and insects. They include the chacma, drill, common baboon, and mandrill. The chacma or pig-tailed baboon (Cynocephălus porcarius) is found in considerable numbers in parts of the S. African colonies, where the inhabitants wage war against them on account of the ravages they commit in the fields and gardens. The common baboon (C. babouin) inhabits a large part of Africa farther to the north. It is of a brownish-yellow colour, while the chacma is greyish-black, or in parts black. The hamadryas (C. hamadryas) of Abyssinia is characterized by long hair, forming a sort of shoulder-cape. The black baboon (C. niger) is found in Celebes.

Babour (bä´bu¨r). See Baber.

Bab´rius, a Greek poet who flourished during the second or third century of the Christian era, and wrote a number of Æsopian fables. Several versions of these made during the Middle Ages have come down to us as Æsop's Fables. In 1840 a manuscript containing 120 fables by Babrius, previously unknown, was discovered on Mount Athos.

Babuya´nes Islands, a group in the Pacific Ocean, between Luzon and Formosa, belonging to United States. Pop. 12,000.

Baby-farming. The law relating to the protection of children and young persons has been subjected to amendment and consolidation by the Children Act of 1908, which wholly repealed the Infant Life Protection Act of 1897 dealing with baby-farming and infant life protection.

The Act of 1908 (Part I) deals with baby-farming, and requires that notice shall be given to the Local Authority (in Scotland the Parish Council) by the person undertaking for reward the nursing and maintenance of any infant or infants under seven years of age apart from their parents, within forty-eight hours after reception, unless the period for which it is received be only forty-eight hours or less. The notice requires the name, sex, date and place of birth of the child to be stated, where it is to be kept, and from whom it is received. The Act also provides that such a person shall notify any change in his residence or the removal or death of the infant to the Local Authority within forty-eight hours. In regard to all these matters the Act is retrospective, and necessitates persons who had undertaken nursing and maintenance of such infants before its coming into operation to comply with its provisions within a month after the commencement thereof. But it exempts any person who may have given the similar notice required by the Infant Life Protection Act of 1897, although it does not exempt any person whose duty it was to have given notice thereunder from any liability which such a person may have incurred thereunder.

A duty is imposed upon Local Authorities to inquire regarding persons willing to undertake the nursing and maintenance of infants, to appoint infant-protection visitors of either sex in so far as it provides for infant life protection and gives powers to such Local Authorities and visitors for fulfilling the requirements of the Act. It is an offence for the person undertaking the nursing to refuse to allow such visitors access to the infant or the premises in which it is kept; and, if need be, application may be made to the court for a warrant to enter the house in which an infant is farmed out, and where there is reason to believe that the Act is being contravened. It is an offence for any infant to be kept (1) by any person from whose care an infant has been removed under the Act or the Infant Life Protection Act, or (2) by any person convicted of any offence under Part II of the Children Act of 1908 or the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1904.

The Local Authority may fix the number of infants under the age of seven years which may be kept in any dwelling, and it is an offence to keep more. Provision is also made for the removal of an infant from overcrowded, dangerous, or insanitary premises, or from the custody of a person unfit to take charge of the child; and an application may be made by a visitor to a magistrate for a removal order enforceable by the visitor or a constable. Should the infant die, notice of the fact must be given by the person with whom it is farmed out to the Procurator-fiscal of the district, if in Scotland, and, if in England, to the Coroner of the district, within twenty-four hours. He shall hold an inquest unless a certificate by a medical practitioner specifying the cause of death shall be forwarded. Failure to give such notice is punishable under the Act.

A person nursing an infant for reward shall have no interest in the life of the child for the purposes of life assurance. It is not permissible for such a person or insurance company to insure the life of such a child. To do so renders both the person and the insurance company liable to prosecution.

Any person knowingly or wilfully making any false statement in any notice required to be given under the Act commits an offence under the Act.

Imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding £25, may be imposed upon any person found guilty upon summary conviction of an offence against Part I of the Children Act, 1908; in addition the court may order the removal of the infant to a place of safety. All fines are payable to the Local Authority for the purposes of the Act.

Legal guardians of an infant, as well as institutions established for the protection and care of infants, are exempted from the provisions of Part I of the Children Act, 1908.

Bab´ylon, the capital of Babylonia, on the left of the Euphrates, one of the largest and most splendid cities of the ancient world, now a scene of ruins, and earth-mounds containing them. Babylon was a royal city sixteen hundred years before the Christian era; but the old city was almost entirely destroyed in 683 B.C. A new city was built by Nebuchadnezzar nearly a century later. This was in the form of a square, each side 15 miles long, with walls of such immense height and thickness as to constitute one of the wonders of the world. It contained splendid edifices, large gardens and pleasure-grounds, especially the 'hanging-gardens', a sort of lofty terraced structure supporting earth enough for trees to grow, and the celebrated Tower of Babel or Temple of Belus, rising by stages to the height of 625 feet. (See Babel, Tower of.) After the city was taken by Cyrus in 538 B.C., and Babylonia made a Persian province, it began to decline, and had suffered severely by the time of Alexander the Great. He intended to restore it, but was prevented by his death, which took place here in 323 B.C., from which time its decay was rapid. Interesting discoveries have been made on its site, more especially of numerous and valuable inscriptions in the cuneiform or arrow-head character. The modern town of Hillah is believed to represent the ancient city, and the plain here for miles round is studded with vast mounds of earth and brick and imposing ruins. The greatest mound is Birs Nimrud, about 6 miles from Hillah. It rises nearly 200 feet, is crowned by a ruined tower, and is commonly believed to be the remains of the ancient Temple of Belus. Another great ruin-mound, called Mujellibeh, has also been assigned as its site.

Babylonia and Assyria. These ancient seats of Mesopotamian civilization lay across the western Asian trade-routes, Babylonia being in the south and Assyria in the north. The area, in which they flourished is embraced by the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and extends from the head of the Persian Gulf to the frontiers of Armenia and Northern Syria, is bordered on the east by Persia and on the west by the Syro-Arabian desert. 'Mesopotamia' is a term borrowed by the ancient Greeks from the Semites, and was first applied to the north-western region. There was a Roman province of that name. The northern area of the Tigro-Euphrates valley is partly mountainous and partly steppe land, with wide stretches of elevated grazing-lands and fertile districts on the banks of rivers. Assyria, derived from A-usar ('the river-bank region'), had origin in north-eastern Mesopotamia. Its most ancient capital, Asshur (modern Kal'at Sherkat), was situated on the western bank of the River Tigris, between the tributaries the Upper Zab and the Lower Zab. Nineveh, the last capital of all, lay farther north on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and right opposite modern Mosul. The Assyrians called themselves Asshurai, and their national god was Ashur (earlier Ashir), written A-Shur, but confused in time with Ash-Shur, the name of the capital. The southern area of Mesopotamia, below Bagdad, where the Tigris and Euphrates come within 35 miles of one another, is a flat alluvial plain. Babylonia proper is that fish-shaped region between the rivers, which broadens out to about 100 miles and gradually narrows to the point at Kurnah where the rivers meet and form the Shatt-el-Arab. From Kurnah to the head of the Persian Gulf is the ancient area of Chaldea, which means 'Sea-land'. The inhabitants called themselves Kaldu (Sea-landers) and were known to the Hebrews as the Kasdim, and to the Greeks as the Chaldaioi. Babylonia, and the rest of the alluvial plain, is the 'gift' of the rivers which rise in flood each year when the snow melts on the Armenian mountains. Both the Tigris and the Euphrates bring down enormous quantities of sediment—indeed five times as much as does the Egyptian Nile—and they have withal more destructive tendencies. The accumulating silt tends to divert the flow of the rivers in the south, and a process of land-making which began at the close of the Ice Age is still in progress, thrusting back the head of the Persian Gulf. At one time the Tigris and Euphrates entered the gulf by separate mouths, and Chaldea was then a narrow fringe of steppe land, plain, and marshes. The River Tigris is about 1146 miles long, and begins to rise early in March, reaching its height in May, and subsiding before the end of June. The Euphrates is a slower river, about 1780 miles in length. It begins to rise a fortnight later than the Tigris, is longer in flood, and does not reach its lowest level until September. As there is a drop of only 120 feet between Bagdad and the sea, a distance, as the crow flies, of about 300 miles, the ancient Babylonians did their utmost to conserve the water which came down in such abundance and was rapidly drained away, after doing much damage. Near Bagdad the Tigris is on a higher level than the Euphrates, and could be run into it through a canal; farther south the Euphrates, being on the higher level, could be run by canal into the Tigris. The ancient engineers cut these and other canals; indeed, they covered the whole valley with a network of them. To store the Euphrates water for the season of drought and great heat, they formed canals which carried the roaring flood into two depressions in the western desert between the modern towns of Kerbela and Rama˙di. These depressions are utilized for the British irrigation scheme. The Babylonians did their utmost to control the Tigris by erecting earthen dams so as to hold up as much of the water as possible. Earthen dykes were also erected to raise its banks. The right bank protected the farms from disastrous flooding. These ancient irrigation works made Babylonia the greatest grain-yielding area in the ancient world. Its vast surplus of food stimulated trade and brought Babylonia immense wealth, while its strategic situation made it very powerful. Its cultural influence flowed along the trade routes, eastward across Persia and the Iranian plateau, northward through Assyria to Armenia (ancient Urartu) and beyond, and north-westward along the Euphrates banks into Syria and Palestine, and into Asia Minor, the land of the Hittites, and then along the highway to Europe, called later by the Persians 'the royal road'. The road to Egypt ran southward from North Syria through Palestine, skirting the maritime valley by 'the way of the Philistines'. The merchants of many nations met in the city of Babylon, the London of the ancient western Asian world, and in the trading centres of North Syria, including Carchemish.

The earliest agriculturists and traders of Babylonia were the Sumerians, a non-Semitic people, who built a number of cities in the irrigated valley and founded colonies in Assyria. No trace has been found of a Neolithic Age in Babylonia. Its civilization, so far as our knowledge goes, began after copper was introduced. At an early period Semites filtered into the valley. They absorbed Sumerian civilization, and ultimately became politically predominant in the northern part of the valley, which was called Akkad (the biblical Accad). The southern part was then known as Sumer or Sumeria (the biblical 'Plain of Shinar'). Akkad embraced the city States of Agade, Babylon, Borsippa, Sippar, Kish, Opis, and Kutha. The Sumerian city States included Eridu, Ur (later 'of the Chaldees' and the birthplace of Abraham), Lagash, Shuruppak, Erech, Umma, and Adab. Inter-state wars resulted time and again in the formation of confederacies which were more of political than racial character, and the predominance of one city or another. Religious ideas were fused, and local pantheons appear to have reflected local politics. The chief seat of early Sumerian civilization was the city of Eridu, a name signifying 'on the seashore'. Its site is marked by modern Abu-Shahrein on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, and south-east of Ur, modern Mukayyar. Eridu was originally a seaport on the Persian Gulf, from which it is now separated by about 125 miles of land formed by river silt. The chief god of Eridu was Ea, a name also rendered Ae and Aa, and apparently meaning 'waters' or 'house (region) of waters'. That the term 'waters' had a special significance for the inhabitants of a water-formed land is evident by the fact that the Semitic equivalent of Ea is Enki, which means 'lord of earth'. Other titles of the god were 'lord of Heaven and Earth', 'ruler of the land', 'the deep', 'god of the abyss', and 'king of the river'. He was withal the 'Creator', water having created Sumeria, and Nadimmud, 'lord of everything', as the Egyptian Osiris in his character of god of the Nile was 'Neb-er-Zer', also 'lord of everything'. Ea had a ship with a crew including his son Marduk (Merodach or Marad, the Ni-marad or Nimrod of legend) and In-ab, 'the pilot of Eridu'. The ship was hailed, in religious literature, as the bringer of fertility and joy. Evidently the beginning of Sumerian civilization had some connection with ancient seafarers. Of special interest in this connection are the references made by the Greek writer Berosus to Oannes, a sea-dweller who came daily from the Persian Gulf to instruct the early Babylonians how to irrigate the land, grow crops, erect houses, make laws, write, calculate and measure, and engage in trade. Texts have been discovered which tend to identify Oannes with the god Ea. As the early Sumerians bore a strong physical resemblance to the ancient Egyptians, and there were links between the early religious beliefs and customs of the two peoples, it is suspected that they represented two branches of the same ancient stock. Some think Sumerian civilization was founded by colonists from Egypt, while others believe that Egyptian civilization was stimulated by settlers from Sumeria. The question as to who first invented ships has an important bearing in this connection. When we turn to Sumero-Babylonian religious myths we find that some reflect local natural phenomena. In one the Euphrates is hailed as the River (god) "who didst create all things". Another, referring to the creation of man, says that Marduk (earlier the god Gilimma) "tied reeds on the face of the waters, he formed dust and poured it out beside the reeds ... he formed mankind". Another version is that man was created from the god's blood and bone, or, as Berosus has it, from the god's blood and earth. The oldest Sumerian creation myth states that all things came from primeval water. Then many deities were created by the pre-existing triad of gods, Anu (the sky-god), Enlil ('the elder Bel', the earth-god, and 'lord of grain'), and Ea, who was associated with the goddess Ninkharsagga. Ea had several other wives, including Ninshar or Ninkurra, Ninella, Nintu, and Damkina. These goddesses were ultimately all absorbed by Ishtar, the Semitic name of the love and mother goddess. In the later Babylonian 'Seven Tablets' version of the creation myth a conflict is introduced. The female chaos-dragon Tiamat is slain by Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, 'the later Bel', who cuts up her body and uses part to form the sky and part to keep the waters in their place. After a time a deluge took place. In the Sumerian myth a priest-king called Ziusudu (earlier named Tatug or Uttu) corresponds both to Adam and to Noah, and builds a large vessel, having been warned by Ea of the approaching disaster. The Gilgamesh Epic refers to the hero as Ut-na-pishtim (or Pir-na-pishtim). He and his wife afterwards become immortal, and they are visited on their island by Gilgamesh (the Babylonian Hercules), when, smitten by disease, he searches for the Plant of Life, which he finds and afterwards loses. Ishtar, the goddess who plays a part in this epic, is also the heroine of the poetic legend which tells of her descent to Hades in quest of Tammuz, whose story resembles somewhat that of Adonis and has Osirian characteristics. The Babylonian Persephone was Eresh-ki-gal with whom Tammuz dwelt in her underworld for part of the year. Associated with her was Nergal, chief god of Kutha, whose planet was Mars. He conquered Hades. He and other city gods appear to have been developed from attributes vaguely shared by the earlier triad Anu, Bel-Enlil, and Ea. The moon-god of Ur was Sin (Sumerian Nannara), whose name clings to the desert of Sinai. Shamash was the Semitic name of the sun-god of Sippar, the Sumerian being Utu; Gishnu, the Light, and Ma-banda-anna, 'the boat of heaven' (like the Egyptian Ra), and Mitra were among his other non-Semitic names. Dagan, the god of the Euphrates, is regarded as a form of Ea, and as probably the same deity as Dagon of the Philistines. In later times the astrologers coloured with their doctrines the religious beliefs of Babylonia.

Among the early empire-builders of Babylonia were Lugal-zaggisi of Sumerian Erech, who claimed to have subdued all lands from the Lower Sea (Persian Gulf) to the Upper Sea (the Mediterranean). He flourished about 2800 B.C. Another was Sargon of Akkad, who lived about a century and a half later. He must not be confused with the much later biblical Sargon of Assyria. His son or grandson, Naram-Sin, recorded his great trading activities and victories over his enemies, including the Elamites, whose chief stronghold was Susa in south-western Persia. Elam was a rival power of considerable strength. About 2200 B.C. it had overrun a great part of Sumeria, and Akkad fell to the invading bands of Amorites. These Amorites founded the Hammurabi Dynasty, of which the king of that name was sixth in succession; Hammurabi extinguished the last sparks of Elamite power in Sumeria, which, with Akkad, was united to form the kingdom of Babylonia, named after Babylon, the capital. It was during this period that Abraham migrated from Ur to Palestine. Hammurabi (c. 2123-2081 B.C.) codified the ancient Sumerian laws and did much to develop trade. The chief god of his kingdom was Marduk, 'the later Bel', whose temple was called Esagilla. Babylon became the greatest trading centre in Western Asia and a rival of the Egyptian Memphis. Sumerian gradually ceased to be a spoken language, being supplanted by Semitic, but remained, like Latin, in mediæval Europe, the language of law, culture, and religion, while the Babylonian language became the language of trade and diplomacy, and was used in international correspondence by all the great Powers. The Hammurabi dynasty came to an end about 1926 B.C., when the Hittites raided Babylonia and carried off the statues of Marduk and his consort. Kassites, assisted by Elamites, had been attacking Babylonia from the east, and the Sea-landers, who were Arabians mixed with Sumerians, established their independence. In the end the Kassites, who were probably Aryan by race, conquered Babylonia and established a new dynasty. Like the Trojans they were 'tamers of horses'. Their military successes are believed to have been due to the use of the horse, which was a rarity in Babylonia before their time, but became common as a beast of burden as soon as the Kassite dynasty was established. Kassite supremacy lasted for over 570 years, and during that period Babylonia was known as Karduniash. One of its early kings brought back from Khani (Mitanni) the statues of Marduk and his consort which had been carried off by the Hittites. Babylonian civilization was not changed by Kassite conquest, and its trade went on as of yore. The Kassites formed an aristocracy like the Normans in England. During the Kassite period Assyria was a growing power. It had origin as a Sumerian colony, but above the relics of the Sumerians at Asshur have been found those of a people whose kings had such non-Semitic and probably Aryan names as Ushpia, Kikia, and Adasi. The Amorites afterwards swept into Assyria, which they Semitized. During the Hammurabi dynasty it was subject to Babylonian overlordship. It grew independent during the latter period of the Kassite dynasty, and its kings formed compacts with the Kassites. Their western neighbours were by this time the Mitannians. An Aryan military aristocracy had formed a powerful State in north-western Mesopotamia, where they worshipped Indra, Varuna, and Mitra, gods which figure in the mythology of the Aryan invaders of India. Egypt, under Thothmes III, extended her Syrian empire to the borders of Mitannia and a friendship sprang up between the two Powers. Assyria was during the period subject to Mitanni. The Tell-el-Amarna letters reveal the fact that Egyptian monarchs had married princesses from Mitanni, and the famous Akhenaton had Mitannian blood in his veins.

The Hittites conquered Northern Syria and overran Mitannia when the Egyptian Asian empire went to pieces. Assyria then became powerful and independent again, the first great king of its new age being Ashur-uballit, who was strong enough to interfere with Babylonia's domestic politics. Shalmaneser I of Assyria (c. 1300 B.C.) conquered the whole of the Mitanni kingdom and extended the Assyrian empire westward across the Babylonian caravan road to North Syria. He built a new capital at Kalah (Nimrud). His son, Tulkulti—Nineb I—(c. 1275 B.C.), conquered Babylonia and reigned over it for seven years. In the end he was murdered by political conspirators, with whom his son was associated. Civil war ensued, and Assyria's history is found to be obscure for a century afterwards. In Babylon the Kassite dynasty, under which trade flourished, came to an end as a result of an Elamite invasion about 1185 B.C. A new Babylonian dynasty then arose, and the third king, Nebuchadnezzar I, revived the old empire and waged war against Assyria. But the future lay with Assyria, which was organized as a military State. It did not have Babylonia's natural resources, and could only exist as a great Power by imposing tribute on weaker States. A standing army was the basis of its strength. The national god was Ashur, who was symbolized by a winged disk, an adaptation of the Egyptian winged disk of Horus. It was carried to battle with the king, so that wherever the king was, there was the national god of war. The heavily-bearded Assyrians were a fiercer and more war-like people than the mild shaven Babylonians, who were ever influenced by Sumerian modes of thought. The Assyrian temperament is reflected in its art, which at its best is characterized by vigorous realism and brilliant ferocity. Much of it is harsh, exaggerated, and pompous. A sharp contrast is presented by the calmer and more idealistic art of the Sumero-Babylonians. The records of Assyrian monarchs deal mainly with extensive conquests. They did their utmost to set up a reign of terror in Western Asia, and when subject States revolted the chief men in them were flayed alive or impaled on stakes. The wholesale destruction of trading city States and the massacres of thousands of innocents were fit subjects for an Assyrian conqueror to boast of in his inscriptions. Hittites, North Syrians, Babylonians, and Urartians (Armenians), were time and again plundered and subjected. A great conqueror of the Middle Period was Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1100 B.C.), and other monarchs of the same name repeated his conquests and atrocities during the last century of Assyria's existence. The military glory of such a monarch as Ashur-natsir-pal III (885-860 B.C.), whose armies swept through western Asia like cyclones, has a lurid background of savage cruelty and oppression. He fought for no greater cause than plunder and the maintenance of Assyria's ability to wring tribute from the oppressed. His son, Shalmaneser III, extended the empire but died under a cloud of internal revolt. Subsequent rulers dominated Babylonia, and one, Adad-nirari IV (810-782 B.C.), married the Babylonian princess, Sammurammat, the Semiramis of tradition. Tiglath-Pileser IV (745-727 B.C.) was overlord of Babylon, and, indeed, Babylonia was more or less under Assyrian sway for the next century. Sargon II ('Sargon the later') did his utmost to break the national spirit in subject States by transporting whole communities from one to another. He removed a portion of the 'ten lost tribes' to the Median hills, and dispatched Babylonians from Kutha to Samaria, where they made Nergal their chief god. His campaigns extended to Phœnicia, Cilicia, and Armenia. Sennacherib, his son, defeated Egypt and her allies in Palestine and besieged Hezekiah in Jerusalem. A revolution in Babylonia broke out, and he swept into it and devastated Babylon, so that Nineveh might become the chief city in Mesopotamia. But Babylon had to be rebuilt by his son Esarhaddon, so that its dislocated trade might be restored. Esarhaddon, recognizing that the great commercial rival of Babylonia was Egypt, and that Egypt instigated the Palestinian and Syrian revolts against Assyria, invaded the Nile valley and captured and sacked Memphis. Ashur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.), the next Assyrian emperor, punished the Egyptian rebels by sweeping southwards and capturing and sacking Thebes, which is referred to as No (Nu-Amon) in the Bible (Nahum, iii, 8-10): "Populous No ... Yet was she carried away ... her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they (the Assyrians) cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains". Egypt became for a time an Assyrian province. Elam was similarly dealt with, the great capital Susa being treated like Thebes. On the north and east Assyrian power was established with characteristic Assyrian ferocity and thoroughness. The result was that the predatory nomadic tribes of Scythians and Medes were able to sweep through the devastated territories and strike at the very heart of the empire. Ashur-bani-pal was the last great monarch of Assyria. In private life he was cultured and scholarly, and his library, which contained copies of many ancient records and literary works, is one of the sources of Mesopotamian history. Although the Sardanapulus of Greek tradition, he was not the actual monarch who perished when Nineveh was captured and sacked about 606 B.C. by the fiery hillmen from the east. The Assyrian military organization collapsed and Assyria ceased to be. The factors that led to the downfall of Assyria can only be guessed at. It may be that its many wars of conquest had left it in a state of exhaustion. It is also possible that the new generation of the aristocratic class that grew up in wealth and luxury was disorganized by intrigues and corruption. After Ashur-bani-pal died, no great leader arose, and the vast unwieldy empire suffered from internal decay. Babylonia was the first to foster organized revolt. It was overrun by the Chaldeans from the south, who, two years after Ashur-bani-pal's death, set on the throne at Babylon their leader, King Nabopolassar. With him began the Neo-Babylonian dynasty which lasted for 86 years. He had an ambitious and capable son named Nebuchadnezzar, who set out, as soon as Nineveh fell, to seize the western portion of the Assyrian Empire—the Medes, with whom the Chaldeans had an agreement, being content to retain north-eastern Mesopotamia. The Egyptians, having overcome the Assyrian garrisons in the Nile valley, were by this time moving northward through Palestine with the idea of re-establishing their ancient empire in Asia. Memphis and Babylon were rival trading centres, and the struggle that ensued was one which was to decide which should have preeminence on the western Asian trade-routes, and especially the 'clearing-houses' of North Syria. In 604 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar met and defeated Pharaoh Necho's Egyptian army at Carchemish. The Egyptians retreated in confusion and were pursued to their frontier. Nabopolassar's death in Babylon caused Nebuchadnezzar to return home and ascend the throne. Eight years later, however, he was back in Palestine again. Judah had been plotting with Egypt, its ally, and the Babylonian monarch besieged and captured Jerusalem. Thousands of Jews were carried off as captives to Babylonia. In 587 B.C. Egypt involved Judah in a second revolt. Nebuchadnezzar II again captured Jerusalem. This time he destroyed the city and carried away the greater part of the remnant of the Jewish people to serve his artisans and agriculturists "by Babel's streams". Babylon was triumphant as a political and trading centre, and, during Nebuchadnezzar's long reign of 42 years, prospered greatly. Its products and its culture were carried far and wide, and Chaldean astrologers as well as merchants became known in Egypt and Greece. Babylonia was the birthplace of the science of astronomy, which developed from astrology. Nebuchadnezzar was a great builder. It is the ruins of his Babylon that have been excavated in our own day. Although Greek descriptions of the city have been found to be somewhat exaggerated, it was yet made very strong and impressive. The royal palace was rebuilt, and the Hanging Garden on its terraced platform became one of the seven wonders of the world. Trade flourished in the capital, and a harbour was built at the head of the Persian Gulf to promote sea traffic. In 539 B.C. Cyrus, the Persian conqueror, having defeated the Babylonian army, entered Babylon in state and was welcomed by the priests, Nabo-nidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian empire, having made them his enemies. The independence of Babylonia then came to an end, but the importance of its capital as a trading centre did not suffer sudden decline. When it was captured by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. it had been much damaged in consequence of revolts against Persia. The Macedonian conqueror resolved to make it his capital, but his early death, and subsequent political developments, hastened its decay. The Greeks had removed the rocks that blocked the Tigris, which then could be navigated by vessels from the Persian Gulf. Seleucus built the new capital of Seleucia on the right bank of the Tigris, and the traders followed the officials to the new Babylon. In time Ctesiphon arose on the left bank, and after the fall of the Parthian empire it was the principal city of the province. The Moslem conquest of Mesopotamia in the seventh century of our era brought about the rise of Bagdad, a few miles to the north of Ctesiphon. It will be noted that all these cities are strategically situated in the neck of land, between the rivers, which is crossed by the caravan roads leading east and west. During the reign of the famous Harun al Rashid (786-809) Bagdad was at the height of its splendour. A portion of this ruler's great palace still remains, and the tomb of Zobiede, his queen, is a prominent feature on the outskirts of the city. Bagdad declined as a trading centre after Vasco da Gama discovered the sea-route to India, and diverted the merchandise previously carried to Europe across the overland routes across Persia and through Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Bagdad afterwards depended chiefly on the traffic caused by pilgrim caravans to and from Mecca. The disastrous neglect of Babylonia's irrigation system occurred under Turkish rule. Towards the close of the nineteenth century Germany obtained concessions from the Turks and planned the Bagdad railway, so as to reopen the ancient overland trade-route for Indo-Persian trade. British interests in the Persian Gulf were seriously threatened by this scheme. When war broke out in 1914, a British force landed in ancient Chaldea and pushed northward. Bagdad, the modern Babylon, was captured in 1917, and Mosul (Nineveh) was occupied in 1918. The Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Turkey placed Mesopotamia under the protection of Great Britain, which thus secured control of the Bagdad railway. An extensive irrigation scheme in the southern alluvial valley promises to restore ancient Babylonia to its importance as one of the great grain-yielding areas of the world.—Bibliography: R. W. Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria; H. Winckler, History of Babylonia and Assyria; L. W. King and H. R. H. Hall, Egypt and Western Asia in the Light of recent Discoveries; P. S. P. Handcock, The Latest Light on Bible Lands; L. W. King, History of Babylon; D. A. Mackenzie, Myths of Babylonia and Assyria; T. G. Pinches, The Religion of Babylon and Assyria; The Old Testament in the Light of the Records of Assyria and Babylonia; A. H. Sayce, Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia; M. Jastrow, Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria; R. Koldeweg, The Excavations of Babylon.

Babyroussa (bab-i-ru¨s´a; a Malay word signifying stag-hog), a species of wild hog (Sus or Porcus Babyrussa), a native of the Indian Archipelago. From the outside of the upper jaw spring two teeth 12 inches long, curving upwards and backwards like horns, and almost touching the forehead. The tusks of the lower jaw also appear externally, though they are not so long as those of the upper jaw. Along the back are some weak bristles, and on the rest of the body only a sort of wool. These animals live in herds, feed on herbage, are sometimes tamed, and their flesh is well flavoured.

Bac´carat, a gambling card game of French origin, played by any number of players, or rather betters, and a banker. The latter deals two cards to each player and two to himself, and covers the stakes of each with an equal sum. The cards are then examined, and according to the scores made the players take their own stake and the banker's, or the latter takes all or a certain number of the stakes.

Baccarat (ba˙k-a˙-rä), a town of France, about 15 miles south-east of Lunéville, department Meurthe-et-Moselle, on the River Meurthe, with a handsome new church, and one of the largest works for plate-glass and crystal in France. Pop. 7277.

Bacchana´lia, or Dionysia, feasts in honour of Bacchus or Dionysus, characterized by licentiousness and revelry, and celebrated in ancient Athens. In the processions were bands of Bacchantes of both sexes, who, inspired by real or feigned intoxication, wandered about rioting and dancing. They were clothed in fawn-skins, crowned with ivy, and bore in their hands thyrsi, that is spears entwined with ivy, or having a pine-cone stuck on the point. These feasts passed from the Greeks to the Romans, who celebrated them with still greater dissoluteness till the Senate abolished them, 187 B.C.

Bacchante (bak-an´te), a person taking part in revels in honour of Bacchus. See Bacchanalia.

Bacchiglione (ba˙k-kil´yō-nā), a river of Northern Italy, rises in the Alps, passes through the towns of Vicenza and Padua, and enters the Adriatic near Chioggia, after a course of about 90 miles.

Bacchus (bak´us; in Greek, generally Dionўsus), the god of wine, son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Sĕmĕlē. He first taught the cultivation of the vine and the preparation of wine. To spread the knowledge of his invention he travelled over various countries and received in every quarter divine honours. Drawn by lions (some say panthers, tigers, or lynxes), he began his march, which resembled a triumphal procession. Those who opposed him were severely punished, but on those who received him hospitably he bestowed rewards. His love was shared by several; but Ariadne, whom he found deserted upon Naxos, alone was elevated to the dignity of a wife, and became a sharer of his immortality. In art he is represented with the round, soft, and graceful form of a maiden rather than with that of a young man. His long waving hair is knitted behind in a knot, and wreathed with sprigs of ivy and vine leaves. He is usually naked; sometimes he has a loose mantle hung negligently round his shoulders; sometimes a fawn-skin hangs across his breast. He is often accompanied by Silenus, Bacchantes, Satyrs, &c. See Bacchanalia.—Bibliography: Farnell, Cults of the Greek States; J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion; Sir J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough.

Bacchylides (bak-kil'i-dēz), born in the Island of Cos, about the middle of the fifth century B.C., the last of the great lyric poets of Greece, a nephew of Simonides and a contemporary of Pindar. The extant remains of his odes, hymns, pæans, &c., were augmented in 1897 by papyrus discoveries.

Bacciocchi (ba˙t-chok´ē), Maria Anne Eliza Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon, born at Ajaccio, 1777, died near Trieste, 1820; a great patroness of literature and art. She married Captain Bacciocchi, who in 1805 was created Prince of Lucca and Piombino. She virtually ruled these principalities herself, and as Grand-Duchess of Tuscany she enacted the part of a queen. She fell with the Empire.

Baccio Delia Porta (ba˙ch´ō). See Bartolommeo.

Bach (bah), Johann Sebastian, one of the greatest of German musicians, born in 1685 at Eisenach, died in 1750 at Leipzig. Being the son of a musician he was early trained in the art, and soon distinguished himself. In 1703 he was engaged as a player at the Court of Weimar, and subsequently he was musical director to the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen, and afterwards held an appointment at Leipzig. He paid a visit to Potsdam on the invitation of Frederick the Great. As a player on the harpsichord and organ he had no equal among his contemporaries; but it was not till a century after his death that his greatness as a composer was fully recognized. His compositions, many of which are pieces of sacred music, show great originality. They include pieces, vocal and instrumental, for the organ, piano, stringed and keyed instruments; church cantatas, oratorios, masses, passion music, &c. More than fifty musical performers have proceeded from this family. Sebastian himself had eleven sons, all distinguished as musicians. The most renowned were the following:—Wilhelm Friedemann, born in 1710 at Weimar, died at Berlin in 1784. He was one of the most scientific harmonists and most skilful organists.—Karl Philipp Emmanuel, born in 1714 at Weimar, died in 1788 at Hamburg. He composed mostly for the piano, and published melodies for Gellert's hymns; he also wrote The True Manner of Playing the Harpsichord.—Johann Christoph Friedrich, born at Weimar, 1732, died in 1795, a great organist, is known also by the music he published.—Johann Christian, born in 1735 at Leipzig, died in London, 1782, was a favourite composer and conductor with the English public.—Bibliography: P. Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach; A. Pirro, L'Esthétique de Jean Sebastian Bach.

Bacharach (ba˙h´a˙-ra˙h), a small place of 2000 inhabitants on the Rhine, 12 miles S. of Coblenz. The vicinity produces excellent wine, which was once highly esteemed. The view from the ruins of the castle is one of the sublimest on the Rhine.

Bach´elor, a term applied anciently to a person in the first or probationary stage of knighthood who had not yet raised his standard in the field. It also denotes a person who has taken the first degree in the liberal arts and sciences, or in divinity, law, or medicine, at a college or university; or a man of any age who has not been married.—A knight bachelor is one who has been raised to the dignity of a knight without being made a member of any of the orders of chivalry such as the Garter, the Thistle, or the Bath.

Bachelor's Buttons, the double-flowering buttercup (Ranunculus acris), with white or yellow blossoms, common in gardens.

Bachian (ba˙ch´a˙n), one of the Molucca Islands, immediately S. of the equator, S.W. of Gilolo; area, 800 sq. miles. It is ruled by a native sultan under the Dutch.

Bachmut (ba˙h-möt'), a town in the Ukraine, government of Ekaterinoslav, with a trade in cattle, tallow, &c., and coal and rock-salt mines. Pop. 20,000.

Bacilla´ria, a genus of microscopic algæ, belonging to the class Diatomaceæ, the siliceous remains of which abound in cretaceous, tertiary, and more recent geological deposits.

Bacil´lus. See Bacteria.

Back, Admiral Sir George, eminent English Arctic discoverer, born 1796, died 1878. He accompanied Franklin and Richardson in their northern expeditions, and in 1833-4 headed an expedition to the Arctic Ocean through the Hudson Bay Company's territory, on which occasion he wintered at the Great Slave Lake, and discovered the Back or Great Fish River.

Backergunge. See Bakarganj.

Backgam´mon, a game played by two persons upon a table or board made for the purpose, with pieces or men, dice-boxes, and dice. The table is in two parts, on which are twenty-four black and white spaces called points. Each player has fifteen men of different colours for the purpose of distinction. The movements of the men are made in accordance with the numbers turned up by the dice.

Backhaus, Wilhelm, one of the greatest living pianists, born at Leipzig in 1884. At the age of twenty-one he was appointed a professor at the Royal College of Music, Manchester. This position, however, he soon gave up, and since 1905 has devoted his time to concert tours.

Backhuysen (ba˙k´hoi-zn), Ludolf, a painter of the Dutch school, particularly celebrated for sea pieces, born in 1631, died 1709. His most famous picture is a sea piece which the burgomasters of Amsterdam commissioned him to paint as a present to Louis XVI. It is still at Paris.

Backwarda´tion, a stock exchange term signifying the rate paid by a speculative seller of stock for the privilege of carrying over or continuing a bargain from one fortnightly account to another, instead of closing it on the appointed day.

Bacninh, a town of Tongking, on the Red River, fortified and containing a French garrison, being in an important strategic position. Pop. 7000.

Ba´con, Anthony, elder brother of the celebrated Lord Chancellor, was born in 1558 and died in 1601. He was a skilful politician, and much devoted to learned pursuits. He became personally acquainted with most of the foreign literati of the day, and gained the friendship of Henri IV of France. Francis Bacon dedicated to him the first edition of the Essays.

Bacon, Francis, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, and Lord High Chancellor of England, was born at London in 1561, died at Highgate in 1626. His father, Nicholas Bacon, was Keeper of the Great Seal under Queen Elizabeth. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1575 was admitted to Gray's Inn. From 1576 to 1579 he was at Paris with Sir Amyas Paulet, the English ambassador. The death of his father called him back to England, and being left in straitened circumstances he zealously pursued the study of law, and was admitted a barrister in 1582. In 1584 he became member of Parliament for Melcombe Regis, and soon after drew up a Letter of Advice to Queen Elizabeth, an able political memoir. In 1586 he was member for Taunton, in 1589 for Liverpool. A year or two after he gained the Earl of Essex as a friend and patron. Bacon's talents and his connection with the Lord-Treasurer Burleigh, who had married his mother's sister, and his son, Sir Robert Cecil, First Secretary of State, seemed to promise him the highest promotion; but he had displeased the queen, and when he applied for the attorney-generalship, and next for the solicitor-generalship (1595), he was unsuccessful. Essex endeavoured to indemnify him by the donation of an estate in land. Bacon, however, forgot his obligations to his benefactor, and not only abandoned him as soon as he had fallen into disgrace, but without being obliged took part against him on his trial, in 1601, and was active in obtaining his conviction. He had been chosen member for the county of Middlesex in 1593, and for Southampton in 1597, and had long been a Queen's Counsel. The reign of James I was more favourable to his interest. He was assiduous in courting the king's favour, and James, who was ambitious of being considered a patron of letters, conferred upon him in 1603 the honour of knighthood. In 1604 he was appointed King's Counsel, with a pension of £60; in 1606 he married; in 1607 he became Solicitor-General, and six years after Attorney-General. Between James and his Parliament he was anxious to produce harmony, but his efforts were without avail, and his obsequiousness and servility gained him enmity and discredit. In 1617 he was made Lord-Keeper of the Seal; in 1618 Lord High Chancellor of England and Baron Verulam. In this year he lent his influence to bring a verdict of guilty against Raleigh. In 1621 he was made Viscount St. Albans. Soon after this his reputation received a fatal blow. A new Parliament was formed in 1621, and the Lord Chancellor was accused before the House of bribery, corruption, and other malpractices. It is difficult to ascertain the full extent of his guilt; but he seems to have been unable to justify himself, and handed in a 'confession and humble submission', throwing himself on the mercy of the Peers. He was condemned to pay a fine of £40,000, to be committed to the Tower during the pleasure of the king, declared incompetent to hold any office of State, and banished from Court for ever. The sentence, however, was never carried out. The fine was remitted almost as soon as imposed, and he was imprisoned for only a few days. He survived his fall a few years, during this time occupying himself with his literary and scientific works, and vainly hoping for political employment. In 1597 he published his celebrated Essays, which immediately became very popular, were successively enlarged and extended, and translated into Latin, French, and Italian. The treatise on the Advancement of Learning appeared in 1605; The Wisdom of the Ancients in 1609 (in Latin); his great philosophical work, the Novum Organum (in Latin), in 1620; and the De Augmentis Scientiarum, a much enlarged edition (in Latin) of the Advancement, in 1623. His New Atlantis was written about 1614-7; Life of Henry VII about 1621. Various minor productions also proceeded from his pen. Numerous editions of his works have been published, by far the best being that of Messrs. Spedding, Ellis, and Heath, 1857-9 (reprinted, 1879-90). Bacon was great as a moralist, a historian, a writer on politics, and a rhetorician; but it is as the father of the inductive method in science, as the powerful exponent of the principle that facts must be observed and collected before theorizing, that he occupies the grand position he holds among the world's great ones. His moral character, however, was not on a level with his intellectual, self-aggrandizement being the main aim of his life. We need do no more than allude to the preposterous attempt that has been made to prove that Bacon was the real author of the plays attributed to Shakespeare, an attempt that only ignorance of Bacon and Shakespeare could uphold and tolerate.—Bibliography: J. Spedding, Life and Letters of Francis Bacon; R. W. Church, Bacon (in English Men of Letters Series); Sir Sidney Lee, Great Englishmen of the Sixteenth Century; J. M. Robertson, Short History of Free-thought.

Bacon, John, English sculptor, born 1740, died 1799. Among his chief works are two groups for the interior of the Royal Academy; the statue of Judge Blackstone for All Souls College, Oxford; another of Henry VI for Eton College; the monument of Lord Chatham in Westminster Abbey; and the statues of Dr. Johnson and Mr. Howard in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Bacon, Sir Nicholas, father of Francis Bacon, Lord-Keeper of the Great Seal, born 1510, died 1579. Henry VIII gave him several lucrative offices, which he retained under Edward VI. He lived in retirement during the reign of Mary, but Queen Elizabeth appointed him Lord-Keeper for life. He was the intimate friend of Lord Burleigh, a sister of whose wife he married, and by her became the father of the great Chancellor.

Bacon, Roger, an English monk, and one of the most profound and original thinkers of his day, was born about 1214, near Ilchester, Somersetshire, died at Oxford in 1294. He first entered the University of Oxford, and went afterwards to that of Paris, where he is said to have distinguished himself and received the degree of Doctor of Theology. About 1250 he returned to England, entered the order of Franciscans and fixed his abode at Oxford; but having incurred the suspicion of his ecclesiastical superiors, he was sent to Paris and kept in confinement for ten years, without writing-materials, books, or instruments. The cause seems to have been simple enough. He had been a diligent student of the chemical, physical, and mathematical sciences, and had made discoveries, and deduced results, which appeared so extraordinary to the ignorant that they were believed to be works of magic. This opinion was countenanced by the jealousy and hatred of the monks of his fraternity. In subsequent times he was popularly classed among those who had been in league with Satan. Having been set at liberty, he enjoyed a brief space of quiet while Clement IV was Pope; but in 1278 he was again thrown into prison, where he remained for at least ten years. Of the close of his life little is known. His most important work is his Opus Majus, where he discusses the relation of philosophy to religion, and then treats of language, metaphysics, optics, and experimental science. He was undoubtedly the earliest philosophical experimentalist in Britain; he made signal advances in optics; was an excellent chemist; and in all probability discovered gunpowder. He was intimately acquainted with geography and astronomy, as appears by his discovery of the errors of the calendar, and their causes, and by his proposals for correcting them, in which he approached very nearly to truth.—Cf. E. Charles, Roger Bacon, sa vie, ses ouvrages, ses doctrines.

Bacte´ria (Gr. baktērion, a rod), a general term applied to the lowest visible forms of life; other names given are germs or microbes. They are divided into three classes: (1) cocci—these are minute spheres about one twenty-five thousandth of an inch in diameter, arranged in chains or clusters; (2) bacilli—these are straight rods about the breadth of a coccus and two to four times as long; (3) spirilla—here there are two forms; one is like a bacillus, but curved (spirillum proper or vibrio); the other is a very fine spiral thread (spirochaete) often only half the thickness of a vibrio and two to six times as long. Bacteria consist of protoplasm surrounded by a membrane, and many show active movements; they all multiply asexually by splitting, and so rapidly may the process occur that 17,000,000 organisms or more may be formed from one bacterium in twenty-four hours. The chief part played by bacteria in nature is to cause putrefaction. They are found on all organic matter, and are therefore omnipresent. When grown artificially (see Bacteriology) they usually require organic matter for their food, and this they split up into simpler chemical compounds, some of which are very poisonous to animals (toxins); they can also split up sugars to produce various alcohols, acids, and gases. When certain of the bacilli are starved, the living matter gathers itself up into a spore surrounded by a very resisting membrane, and it can survive for a long time in this condition. All ordinary bacteria, including most of those which produce disease, can be killed by a few minutes' boiling, but the sporing varieties (e.g. many putrefactive forms) withstand much longer boiling—up to one and a half hours; they can also be killed by chemical means (see Disinfection). Many bacteria are useful to man, and a few give rise to disease (see Germ Theory).

Bacteriology, the branch of science which deals with the structure and properties of bacteria. Though the existence of bacteria had been known from the time when Leeuwenhock arranged lenses so as to form a microscope, it was through the work of Pasteur that modern knowledge regarding the group originated. Pasteur's discovery that yeasts are the cause of the formation of alcohol from sugar was followed by his showing that bacteria are responsible for other processes of a similar character, e.g. the formation of vinegar from alcohol, the occurrence of the rancid change in butter, &c. When he went on to prove that a bacterium was the cause of a disease of silkworms, a stimulus was given to the germ theory of infection, and bacteriology was thus early brought intimately into contact with medical science. Another stimulus to bacteriological inquiry came from the controversy on spontaneous generation, and Pasteur was one of those who helped to establish the principle that the new development of living things, as represented by bacteria, out of non-living matter does not take place. This led to the inevitable deduction that all putrefactive processes are due to bacteria. On this Lister founded his antiseptic treatment of wounds, the practical effects of which focused attention on the important part played by bacteria in human affairs. The modern science of bacteriology really dates from 1877, when Koch proved that Bacillus anthracis is the cause of anthrax in cattle. The outstanding feature of Koch's research was that in it, for the first time, methods were employed whereby all extraneous organisms were excluded from the inquiry, and the way was thus opened up for the study of the properties and effects of one species of bacterium acting by itself. The chief aspects of his work were as follows: (1) the determination of the temperatures at which bacteria are killed; the knowledge of this enables investigators to render free from living organisms their apparatus and the food materials (usually called media) necessary to support bacterial life (this is called sterilization); (2) the discovery that the insertion of a plug of cotton-wool in the neck of a vessel (e.g. a flask or test-tube) before its sterilization constitutes a sufficient filter, which prevents bacteria in the outside air gaining access to its interior or to any food medium placed in it for sterilization; (3) the elaboration of a series of media capable of acting as food for all the commonly occurring bacteria; (4) the introduction of a simple method of separating from one another bacterial species which in nature are often growing side by side. This is effected by making media containing a jelly (e.g. gelatine) which melts at a relatively low temperature. The bacterial mixture is well diluted in the melted medium, and this is poured out in a thin layer on a sterile glass plate and allowed to set. Each individual bacterial cell can thus multiply apart from neighbouring cells, and, it may be, in a few hours the resulting growth (a 'colony') is visible to the naked eye. A minute part of the colony is picked off with a heated needle and placed on a mass of sterile medium. In this way a 'pure culture' of each species present in the original mixture can be obtained. Koch's work was chiefly concerned with disease bacteria, and between 1880 and 1895 many such organisms were isolated in pure culture and their properties investigated (see Germ Theory of Disease).

While in the evolution of knowledge the progress of bacteriology has been most associated with that of medicine and surgery, the science has fundamental relations with many other human interests, and the same methods are used in investigating such relationships. The adaptation of these methods on a commercial scale underlies all industrial processes concerned in the preserving of milk and in the canning and bottling of meat and fruit (apart from the addition of chemical preservatives). Since bacteriology came into existence, many of the most primitive domestic procedures have been improved and placed on a scientific basis. Thus, butter-making involves a previous souring of the milk; this is due to bacterial action, and standard mixtures of milk-souring bacteria are now regularly supplied by the laboratory as 'starters' of the process. It is recognized that the disorders of milk, e.g. 'ropiness', 'blue milk', &c., are due to certain 'wild' bacteria gaining access to the dairy. The ripening of such cheeses as Gorgonzola and Stilton is due to bacteria and allied organisms, and here again light has been shed on the 'diseases' of cheese by bacteriological investigation. The pickling of foods by salt, or vinegar, or nitre, is due to the action of these substances as antiseptics, and a similar principle, aided by boiling, underlies the making of jams. Again, certain kinds of bacteria which only flourish at high temperatures are responsible for the heating of hay and corn stacks, and for the production of ensilage. Bacteriology is also throwing important light on factors concerned in the fertility of soils. For example, it has been shown that the little nodules on the roots of plants of the pea tribe are caused by bacteria; these, in growing, take up nitrogen from the air, and form compounds which promote the growth of the plant on which they are parasites and remain to enrich the soil when the plant dies. In short, there is no industry, which depends on natural putrefaction being prevented or modified so as to stop at a particular stage, which bacteriology cannot guide towards securing the most perfect results.—Bibliography: Fischer, The Structure and Functions of Bacteria; Abbot, Principles of Bacteriology; Muir and Ritchie, Manual of Bacteriology; E. R. Stitt, Practical Bacteriology; P. H. Hiss and H. Zinsser, A Textbook of Bacteriology.

Bactria´na, or Bactria, a country of ancient Asia, south of the Oxus and reaching to the west of the Hindu Kush. It is often regarded as the original home of the Indo-European races. A Græco-Bactrian kingdom flourished about the third century B.C., but its history is obscure.

Baculi´tes, a fossil genus allied to the ammonites, characteristic of cretaceous strata, having a straight tapering shell. See Cephalopoda.

Ba´cup, a municipal borough of England, in Lancashire, 18 miles N. of Manchester. The chief manufacturing establishments are connected with cotton-spinning and power-loom weaving; there are also ironworks, Turkey-red dyeing-works, and in the neighbourhood numerous coal-pits and immense stone-quarries. Pop. (1921), 21,256.

Badagry, seaport in the British province of Southern Nigeria, West Africa, 50 miles E.N.E. of Whydah. Pop. about 10,000.

Badajoz (ba˙-da˙-hōth´; ancient, Pax Augusta), the fortified capital of the Spanish province of Badajoz, on the left bank of the Guadiana, which is crossed by a stone bridge of twenty-eight arches. It is a bishop's see, and has an interesting cathedral. During the Peninsular War Badajoz was besieged by Marshal Soult, and taken in March, 1811. It was twice attacked by the English, on 5th and 29th May, 1811, and was besieged by Wellington on 16th March, and taken 6th April, 1812. Pop. 37,600.—The province of Badajoz has an area of 8451 sq. miles. Pop. 644,220.

Badakshan´, a territory of Central Asia, tributary to the Ameer of Afghanistan. It has the Oxus on the north, and the Hindu Kush on the south, and has lofty mountains and fertile valleys; the chief town is Faizabad. The inhabitants profess Mahommedanism. Pop. 20,957.

Badalona (bä-da˙-lō´na), a Mediterranean seaport of Spain, 5 miles from Barcelona. Pop. 19,240.

Baden (bä´dėn), formerly a Grand-Duchy and one of the more important States of the German Empire, situated in the S.W. of Germany, to the west of Württemberg. It is divided into four districts, Constance, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, and Mannheim. It has an area of 5819 sq. miles, and a pop. of 2,142,833. It is mountainous, being traversed to a considerable extent by the lofty plateau of the Schwarzwald or Black Forest, which attains its highest point in the Feldberg (4904 feet). The nucleus of this plateau consists of gneiss and granite. In the north it sinks down towards the Odenwald, which is, however, of different geological structure, being composed for the most part of red sandstone. The whole of Baden, except a small portion in the S.E., in which the Danube takes its rise, belongs to the basin of the Rhine, which bounds it on the south and west. Numerous tributaries of the Rhine intersect it, the chief being the Neckar. Lakes are numerous, and include a considerable part of the Lake of Constance. The climate varies much. The hilly parts, especially in the east, are cold and have a long winter, while the valley of the Rhine enjoys the finest climate of Germany. The principal minerals worked are coal, salt, iron, zinc, and nickel. The number of mineral springs is remarkably great, and of these not a few are of great celebrity. The vegetation is peculiarly rich, and there are magnificent forests. The cereals comprise wheat, oats, barley, and rye. Potatoes, hemp, tobacco, wine, and sugar-beet are largely produced. Several of the wines, both white and red, rank in the first class. Baden has long been famous for its fruits also. Of the total area 55.4 per cent is under cultivation, 39.4 per cent under forest, and 5.2 per cent uncultivated (houses, roads, water, &c.). The farms are mostly quite small. The manufactures are important. Among them are textiles, tobacco and cigars, chemicals, machinery, pottery ware, jewellery (especially at Pforzheim), wooden clocks, confined chiefly to the districts of the Black Forest, musical boxes and other musical toys. The capital is Karlsruhe, about 5 miles from the Rhine; the other chief towns are Mannheim, Freiburg-im-Breisgau (with a Roman Catholic university), Baden, and Heidelberg. Baden has warm mineral springs, which were known and used in the time of the Romans. Heidelberg has a university (Protestant), founded in 1386, the oldest in Germany. The railways have a length of 1200 miles, and are all State property. In the time of the Roman Empire southern Baden belonged to the Roman province of Rhætia. Under the old German Empire it was a margraviate, which in 1533 was divided into Baden-Baden and Baden-Durlach, but reunited in 1771. The title of grand-duke was conferred by Napoleon in 1806, and in the same year Baden was extended to its present limits. Until 1918 the executive power was vested in the grand-duke, the legislative in a house of legislature, consisting of an upper and a lower chamber. The former consisted partly of hereditary members; the latter of elected representatives of the people. In the break-up of the German Empire in Nov., 1918, Baden was among the first States to feel the shock of revolution. The Grand-Duke Frederick I abdicated, and the Provisional Government, under the Socialist Herr Jeiss, proclaimed Baden a Republic. Two-thirds of the population are Roman Catholics, the rest Protestants.

Baden (or Baden-Baden, to distinguish it from other towns of the same name; German Bad, a bath), a town and watering-place, in the former Grand-Duchy of Baden, 18 miles S.S.W. of Karlsruhe, built in the form of an amphitheatre on a spur of the Black Forest, overhanging a valley, through which runs a little stream Oosbach. Baden has been celebrated from the remotest antiquity for its thermal baths; and it used also to be celebrated for its gaming-saloons. It has many good buildings, and a castle, the summer residence of the former grand-dukes. Pop. 22,066.

Baden, a town of Austria, 15 miles S.W. of Vienna. It has numerous hot sulphurous springs, used both for bathing and drinking, and much frequented. Pop. 19,000.

Baden, a small town of Switzerland, canton Aargau, celebrated for its hot sulphurous baths, which attract many visitors. Pop. 8318.

Baden-Powell. See Powell.

Badge (baj), a distinctive device, emblem, mark, honorary decoration, or special cognizance, used originally to identify a knight or distinguish his followers, now worn as a sign of office or licensed employment, as a token of membership in some society, or generally as a mark showing the relation of the wearer to any person, occupation, or order. See Cockade, Heraldry, Totems.

Badger (baj´ėr), a plantigrade, carnivorous mammal, allied both to the bears and to the weasels, of a clumsy make, with short thick legs, and long claws on the fore-feet. The common badger (Meles vulgāris) is as large as a middling-sized dog, but much lower on the legs, with a flatter and broader body, very thick tough hide, and long coarse hair. It inhabits the north of Europe and Asia, burrows, is indolent and sleepy, feeds by night on vegetables, small quadrupeds, &c. Its flesh may be eaten, and its hair is used for artists' brushes in painting. The American badger belongs to a separate genus. Badger baiting, or drawing the badger, is a barbarous sport, long a favourite amusement in England, but declared illegal in the middle of last century, and yet to some extent practised, generally as an attraction to public-houses of the lowest sort. A badger is put in a barrel, and one or more dogs are put in to drag him out. When this is effected he is returned to his barrel, to be similarly assailed by a fresh set. The badger usually makes a most determined and savage resistance.

Badger Dog, a long-bodied, short-legged dog, with rather large pendulous ears, usually short haired, black, and with yellow extremities; often called by its German name Dachshund.

Bad´minton, a game closely resembling lawn-tennis, but played with battledore and shuttle-cock instead of ball and racket: named after a seat of the Duke of Beaufort, in Gloucestershire.

Badrinath (-ät´), a peak of the main Himalayan range, in Garhwál District, in the United Provinces, 23,210 feet above the sea. On one of its shoulders, at an elevation of 10,400 feet, stands a celebrated temple of Vishnu, which some years attracts as many as 50,000 pilgrims.

Baedeker (bā´de-kėr), Karl, a German publisher, born 1801, died 1859; originator of a celebrated series of guide-books for travellers.

Baelz's Disease, an affection of the mouth characterized by swelling of the mucous glands of the mouth and lips, leading to the formation of small abscesses and ulcers.

Baena (ba˙-ā´na˙), a town of Spain, in Andalusia, province of Cordova, and 24 miles S.S.E. of the city of that name. Pop. 14,730.

Baeza (ba˙-ā´tha˙; anciently, Beatia), a town of Spain, in Andalusia, 22 miles E.N.E. of Jaen, with 15,843 inhabitants. The principal edifices are the cathedral, the university (now suppressed), and the old monastery of St. Philip de Neri.

Baffa (ancient, Paphos), a seaport on the S.W. coast of Cyprus. Pop. 1000. It occupies the site of New Paphos, which, under the Romans, was full of beautiful temples and other public buildings. Old Paphos stood a little to the south-east.

Baffin, William, an English navigator, born 1584, famous for his discoveries in the Arctic regions; in 1616 he ascertained the limits of Baffin Bay. He was killed at the siege of Ormuz, in the East Indies, 1622.

Baffin Bay, on the N.E. of North America, between Greenland and Baffin Land and other islands that lie on the N. of the continent; discovered by Baffin in 1616.

Bafulabe (ba˙-fu¨-lä-bā), a trading-place in French West Africa, on the Upper Senegal, and on the railway that runs from Kayes on the Senegal to Bammako on the Niger.

Bagamo´yo, a seaport of former German East Africa, a short distance north-west of Dar-el-Salaam. There is no proper harbour, only a shallow and rather exposed roadstead where ships have to anchor some distance from the shore, yet it is the chief trading-centre of the colony, and as the terminus of the caravan route to Tanganyika is a place of some importance. Pop. about 25,000. See European War.

Bagasse´, the sugar-cane in its dry crushed state as delivered from the mill, and after the main portion of its juice has been expressed; used as fuel in the sugar factory, and called also cane-trash.

Bagatelle´, a game played on a long flat board covered with cloth like a billiard-table, with spherical balls and a cue or mace. At the end of the board are nine cups or sockets of just sufficient size to receive the balls. These sockets are arranged in the form of a regular octagon, with the ninth in the middle, and are numbered consecutively from one upwards. Nine balls are used, generally one black, four white, and four red, the distinction between white and red being made only for the sake of variety. In the ordinary game, at starting, the black ball is placed on a point in the longitudinal middle line of the board, a few inches in front of the nearest of the sockets, and the player places one of his eight balls on a corresponding point at the other end of the board, and tries to strike the black ball into one of the sockets with his own. After this his object is to place as many of his balls as possible in the sockets. Each ball so placed counts as many as the socket is numbered for, and the black ball always counts double. He who first makes the number of points agreed on wins.

Bagdad´, or Baghdad, a city of a vilayet of same name (54,540 sq. miles; pop. 900,000) in what was anciently Mesopotamia. The greater part of it lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris, which is crossed by a bridge of boats; old Bagdad, the residence of the caliphs (now in ruins), was on the western bank of the river. The city occupies a large area. The houses are mostly built of brick, the streets unpaved and very narrow, and there are few buildings of any note. The palace of the governor is spacious. Of the mosques only a few attract notice, many are in ruins; the bazaars are large and well stocked; that of Dawd Pasha still ranks as one of the most splendid in the world. Manufactures: leather, silks, cottons, woollens, carpets, &c. Steamers ply on the river between Bagdad and Bassorah, and the town exports wheat, dates, galls, gums, mohair, carpets, &c., to Europe, the chief import being cotton goods. The estimated population is over 200,000; of these about 86,000 are Mahommedans, 52,000 Jews, and 7000 Christians. The city has been frequently visited by the plague. Bagdad was founded in 762 by the Caliph Almansur, and raised to a high degree of splendour in the ninth century by Harun Al Rashid. It is the scene of a number of the tales of the Arabian Nights. It was long the chief city of the Mahommedan world, and at one time is said to have had two millions of inhabitants. In the thirteenth century it was stormed by Hulaku, grandson of Genghis-Khan, who caused the reigning caliph to be slain, and destroyed the caliphate. It was again laid waste by Timur in 1401. For a considerable period it was the object of contention between the Persians and the Turks, until it was besieged and captured by Sultan Murad IV in 1638. Since that date it remained a part of the Turkish Empire. It was captured by the British on 11th March, 1917.

Bagdad Railway, a railway which, under arrangement with the Turkish Government, was intended to run from Konia, which is the terminus of the Anatolian railway system, to Bagdad, Basra (Bassorah), and the Persian Gulf. It was built chiefly by means of funds provided by German and French financiers, in association with the Anatolian Railway Company, a German company. The line has been constructed continuously as far as Kara Bunar in Cilicia. Farther on, the following sections have been completed: Dorak to Bagtché, on the Ordana side of the Taurus Mountains; Radjun, via Muslimié, to Jerablus, on the Euphrates, with a branch from Muslimié to Aleppo; Jerablus to El-Abiad, and Bagdad to Samara. A branch line has also been completed from Alexandretta to Toprak Kalé. Of the distance from Konia to Bagdad (1509 miles), 1117 miles (with gaps) are already working. In 1919 the railway system passed to the Allies, and in 1920 it was announced that the line between Basra and Bagdad had been completed.

Bagehot (bag´ot), Walter, English economist and journalist, born at Langport, Somerset, 1826, died at the same place 1877. He studied at Bristol, and at University College, London, and graduated as B.A. and M.A. at the London University (1848). He was for some time associated with his father in the banking business at Langport, and for a number of years he acted as London agent for the bank. He was one of the editors of the National Review (1855-64), and from 1860 till his death he was editor and part proprietor of the Economist. His chief works are: Physics and Politics; The English Constitution; Lombard Street; and Studies, Literary, Biographic, and Economic. He was a high authority on economics, banking, and finance, and was often consulted by public men.

Bag´gala, a two-masted Arab boat, generally 200-250 tons burden, used for trading in the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, &c.

Baggesen (bag´e-sen), Jens, a Danish poet, who also wrote much in German, born 1764, at Korsör, died at Hamburg, 1826. He led a rather wandering and unsettled life, spending some time in England as well as in France and Germany. He tried lyric, epic, and dramatic poetry, but was most successful as a humorist and satirist. One of his best poems is his famous song There was a Time when I was very Little.

Bagging is the name of the textile material which is used in the making of bags. Baltic hemp was the first material used for the purpose, but now all kinds of fibres are used, though the majority of bags are made of jute fibre. The style of the bagging used depends, naturally, upon the requirements of the bag; for the export of raw cotton from the United States of America we find the coarsest of all cotton-bagging used. When intended to carry grain, spices, sugar, &c., the bag must be made of closely-woven material. In many cases bags to carry sugar are lined with paper.

Baghelkand, a tract of country in Central India, occupied by a collection of native States (Rewah being the chief), under the Governor-General's agent for Central India; area, 11,323 sq. miles. Pop. 1,772,574.

Bagheria (ba˙-gā´rē-a˙), a town of Sicily, province of Palermo, 9 miles by railway from the city of Palermo. Pop. 21,212.

Bagimont's Roll, a rent-roll of Scotland, made up in 1275 by Baiamund or Boiamond de Vicci, vulgarly called Bagimont, who was sent from Rome by the Pope, in the reign of Alexander III, to collect the tithe of all the church livings in Scotland for an expedition to the Holy Land. It remained the statutory valuation, according to which the benefices were taxed, till the Reformation. A copy of it as it existed in the reign of James V is in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.

Bagirmi (ba˙-gir´mē), or Baghermi, a Mohammedan Negro State in Central Africa, situated to the south-east of Lake Tchad. It is mostly a plain; has an area of about 20,000 sq. miles, and about 100,000 inhabitants. The people are industrious, and fairly civilized. The country is in the French sphere of influence, but the people are still under a native ruler.

Bagnara (ba˙-nyä´ra˙), a seaport near the S.W. extremity of Italy. Pop. 11,000.

Bagnères de Bigorre (ba˙n-yār dė bē-gorr), a watering-place, France, department Hautes-Pyrénées, on the left bank of the Adour. It owes its chief celebrity to its sulphurous and saline baths. The springs were known to and used by the Romans. The site is one of the most romantic in the Pyrénées, and the town is well built and well provided with accommodation for visitors. Pop. 8455.

Bagnères de Luchon (ba˙n-yār dė lu-shōn), a town, France, department Haute-Garonne, in a picturesque valley surrounded by wooded hills, one of the principal watering-places of the Pyrénées, having sulphurous thermal waters, beneficial in rheumatic complaints. There is a large bathing establishment, and a large and splendid casino building, comprising a theatre, concert and ball rooms, &c. Resident pop. 4000.

Bagni (bän´yē), Italian for 'baths', a name in Italy for various places which possess natural baths or thermal springs, with some designation added to mark the particular locality. Bagni di Lucca, in the province of Lucca, and about 13 miles north-east of the city of Lucca, is one of the most frequented of these bathing-places, its waters being recommended against gout, rheumatism, affections of the skin, &c.

Bagpipe, a musical wind-instrument of very great antiquity, having been used among the ancient Greeks, and being a favourite instrument over Europe generally in the fifteenth century. It still continues in use among the country people of Poland, Italy, the south of France, and in Scotland and Ireland. Though now often regarded as the national instrument of Scotland, especially Celtic Scotland, it is only Scottish by adoption, being introduced into that country from England. It consists of a leathern bag, which receives the air from the mouth, or from bellows; and of pipes, into which the air is pressed from the bag by the performer's elbow. In the common or Highland form, one pipe (called the chanter) plays the melody; of the three others (called drones) two are in unison with the lowest A of the chanter, and the third and longest an octave lower, the sound being produced by means of reeds. The chanter has eight holes, which the performer stops and opens at pleasure, but the scale is imperfect and the tone harsh. The Highland bagpipe is a powerful instrument, and calls for great exertion of the lungs in order that the air may be supplied in sufficient quantity. There are several other species of bagpipes, as the soft and melodious Irish bagpipe, supplied with wind by a bellows, and having several keyed drones and a keyed chanter; the old English bagpipe (now no longer used); the Italian bagpipe, a very rude instrument, &c. The Irish bagpipe is, musically speaking, the most perfect of all.—Bibliography: Sir J. G. Dalyell, Musical Memoirs of Scotland; E. de Bricqueville, Les Musettes.

Bagration (ba˙g-rä´tyōn), Peter, Prince, distinguished Russian general, descended from a noble Georgian family. He was born in 1765, entered the Russian army in 1782, and henceforth was constantly engaged in active service, distinguishing himself in many actions and gradually rising in military rank. He fought in Poland, in Italy, and against the Turks, was engaged in the battles of Austerlitz, Eylau, and Friedland, and at last was mortally wounded at the battle of Borodino, Sept., 1812.

Bagshot-sand, in geology, the collective name for a series of sands of the Eocene age, occupying extensive tracts round Bagshot, in Surrey, and in the New Forest, Hampshire, the whole reposing on the London-clay; generally devoid of fossils.

Bagster, Samuel, publisher, founder of the firm of Bagster & Sons, celebrated for their bibles, was born in 1772, and died in 1851. He began business as a London bookseller in 1794, and soon turned his attention to the publication of bibles, bringing out a Hebrew bible, the Septuagint (Greek) version, and the English version, with 60,000 parallel references, followed by his great polyglot bible, which in its final form showed eight languages at the opening of the volume. Separate versions in different languages were also brought out, with various other aids to the study of Scripture; a polyglot Book of Common Prayer, in eight languages; &c.

Baha´dur Shah, the last of the Grand Moguls of India, a descendant of Tamerlane. In 1857, during the Indian Mutiny, the Mahommedans, who wished to restore the Empire of the Moguls, placed him, then a very old man, at the head of the movement in Delhi; but the city was soon retaken by the British, and the Emperor was banished to Rangoon, where he died in 1862.

Baha´ma Islands, or Lucayos, a group of islands in the West Indies, forming a colony belonging to Britain, lying N.E. of Cuba and S.E. of the coast of Florida, the Gulf Stream passing between them and the mainland. They extend a distance of upwards of 600 miles, and are said to be twenty-nine in number, besides keys and rocks innumerable. The principal islands are Grand Bahama, Great and Little Abaco, Andros Islands, New Providence, Eleuthera, San Salvador, Great Exuma, Watling Island, Long Island, Crooked Island, Acklin Island, Mariguana Island, Grand Inagua. Of the whole group about twenty are inhabited, the most populous being New Providence, which contains the capital, Nassau; the largest being Andros, 100 miles long, 20 to 40 broad. They are low and flat, and have in many parts extensive forests. Total area, 4400 sq. miles. The soil is a thin but rich vegetable mould, and an important product is pineapples, which form a large export (both canned and green). Other fruits are also grown, with sisal hemp (a valuable export), cotton, sugar, maize, yams, ground nuts, coco-nuts, &c. Sponges are obtained in large quantity, and are at present the chief export. Total exports about £382,140 (1919). The Bahama Islands are a very favourite winter resort for persons suffering from lung trouble. San Salvador, or Cat Island, is generally believed to be the same as Guanahani, the land first touched on by Columbus (12th Oct., 1492) on his first great voyage. The first British settlement was made on New Providence towards the close of the seventeenth century. A number of loyal Americans settled in the islands after the War of Independence. Pop. 55,944, including 14,000 whites.

Baha´walpur, a town of India, capital of State of same name in the Punjab, 2 miles from the Sutlej; surrounded by a mud wall and containing the extensive palace of the Nawab. Pop. 18,700. The State has an area of 15,000 sq. miles, of which 10,000 is desert, the only cultivated lands lying along the Indus and Sutlej. Pop. 780,641.

Bahia (ba˙-ē´a˙; formerly St. Salvador), a town of Brazil, on the Bay of All Saints, State of Bahia. It consists of a lower town, which is little more than an irregular, narrow, and dirty street, stretching about 4 miles along the shore; and an upper town, larger and much better built, with various outlying suburbs. The harbour is one of the best in South America; and the export trade, chiefly in sugar, cotton, coffee, tobacco, hides, piassava, and tapioca, is very extensive. Pop. 348,000. The State, area 164,600 sq. miles, pop. 3,013,007, has much fertile land, both along the coast and in the interior.

Bahia Blanca, a seaport of the Argentine Republic, on a bay of same name opening into the Atlantic, about 350 miles south-west of Buenos Ayres; it is a rising place connected by railway with the capital, and a terminus of other railways from the interior. It carries on a considerable trade directly with Europe, exporting mutton, wheat, &c. Pop. 75,000.

Bahr (bär), an Arabic word signifying sea or large river; as in Bahr-el-Huleh, the Lake Merom in Palestine; Bahr-el-Abiad, the White Nile, Bahr-el-Azrek, the Blue Nile, which together unite at Khartoum.

Bahraich (bä-rāch´), a flourishing town of India, in Oudh, Faizabad division. It carries on a good local trade, and has a shrine that attracts many Hindu and Mohammedan pilgrims. It is the seat of an American Methodist mission. Pop. 27,304.

Bahrein (bä´rīn) Islands, a group of islands in the Persian Gulf, in an indentation on the Arabian coast, since 1867 under British protection. The principal island, usually called Bahrein, is about 27 miles in length and 10 in breadth. It is in general very flat and low, and the soil is not very fertile except in a few places; but irrigation is employed and excellent dates are grown. The principal town is Menamah or Manama; pop. 30,000. The smaller island of Moharrek, separated by a shallow strait 2 miles wide, contains the town of Moharrek, the present seat of government; pop. 25,000. The Bahrein Islands are chiefly noted for their pearl-fisheries, which were known to the ancients, and which employ in the season from 2000 to 3000 boats manned by from 8 to 20 men each. Total pop. estimated at 110,000.

Bahr-el-Ghazal, a large river of Central Africa, a western tributary of the White Nile (or Bahr-el-Abiad). It flows through a very swampy region, and is liable to inundations. The head of steam navigation is Meshra-er-Rek. The river gives its name to a province of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, yielding ivory, rubber, timber, &c., and suited for cotton growing.

Baiadeer. See Bayadere.

Baiæ (bī´ē), an ancient Roman watering-place on the coast of Campania, 10 miles west of Naples. Many of the wealthy Romans had country houses at Baiæ, which was a favourite resort of Horace. Ruins of temples, baths, and villas still attract the attention of archæologists.

Baikal (bī´ka˙l), a large freshwater lake in Eastern Siberia, 360 miles long, and about 50 in extreme breadth, interspersed with islands; in the line of the great Siberian Railway. It is surrounded by rugged and lofty mountains; contains seals, and many fish, particularly salmon, sturgeon, and pike. Its greatest depth is over 4000 feet. It receives the waters of the Upper Angara, Selenga, Barguzin, &c., and discharges its waters by the Lower Angara. It is frozen over in winter.

Baikie, William Balfour, born in the Orkney Islands 1824, died at Sierra Leone 1863. He joined the British navy, and was made surgeon and naturalist of the Niger Expedition, 1854. He took the command on the death of the senior officer, and explored the Niger for 250 miles. Another expedition, which started in 1857, passed two years in exploring, when the vessel was wrecked, and all the members, with the exception of Baikie, returned to England. With none but native assistants he formed a settlement at the confluence of the Benué and the Quorra, in which he was ruler, teacher, and physician, and within a few years he opened the Niger to navigation, made roads, and established a market.

Bail, the person or persons who procure the release of a prisoner from custody by becoming surety for his appearance in court at the proper time; also, the security given for the release of a prisoner from custody. In the United States bail is a matter of right in all cases where a sentence of death cannot be pronounced, and even in such a case it may be allowed by one of the judges.

Baildon, an urban district in the W. Riding of Yorkshire, about 5 miles north of Bradford, with worsted manufactures, chemical works, and quarries. Pop. (1921), 6527.

Bailen (bī-len´), a town of Southern Spain, province Jaen, with lead-mines. Pop. 8334.

Bailey (bā´li), the name given to the courts of a castle formed by the spaces between the circuits of walls or defences which surrounded the keep.

Bailey, or Baily, Nathaniel, an English lexicographer, school teacher at Stepney, and author of several educational works. His Dictionary, published in 1721, passed through a great many editions.

Bailey, Philip James, English poet, born near Nottingham, 1816, called to the bar 1840, died 1902. He published Festus, his best work, in 1839; The Mystic, 1855; The Age, 1858; and The Universal Hymn, 1867.

Bailie, or Baillie, a municipal officer or magistrate in Scotland, corresponding to an alderman in England. The criminal jurisdiction of the provost and bailies of royal burghs extends to breaches of the peace, drunkenness, adulteration of articles of diet, thefts not of an aggravated character, and other offences of a less serious nature.

Bailiff, a civil officer or functionary, subordinate to someone else. There are several kinds of bailiffs, whose offices widely differ, but all agree in this, that the keeping or protection of something belongs to them. In England the sheriff is the monarch's bailiff, and his county is a bailiwick. The name is also applied to the chief magistrates of some towns, to keepers of royal castles, as of Dover, to persons having the conservation of the peace in hundreds and in some special jurisdictions, as Westminster, and to the returning officers in the same. But the officials commonly designated by this name are the bailiffs of sheriffs, or sheriffs' officers, who execute processes, &c.

Bailleul (ba˙-yeul), an ancient French town, department of Nord, near the Belgian frontier, about 19 miles west of Lille. Much fighting took place in its vicinity during the European War, but it was not destroyed until the campaign of 1918. Pop. 12,828.—A village of the same name in department Orne gave its name to the Baliol family.

Baillie, Joanna, a Scottish authoress, born at Bothwell, Lanarkshire, in 1762, died at Hampstead, 1851. She removed in early life to London, where her brother, Matthew Baillie, was settled as a physician. Here in 1798 she published her first work, entitled A Series of Plays, in which she attempted to delineate the stronger passions by making each passion the subject of a tragedy and a comedy. The series was followed up by a second volume in 1802, and a third in 1812. A second series appeared in 1836, and a complete edition of her whole dramatic works in 1850. She also published a volume of miscellaneous poetry, including songs, in 1841. Her only plays performed on the stage were a tragedy entitled the Family Legend, brought out at Edinburgh under the patronage of Sir Walter Scott; and De Montfort, brought out by John Kemble, who acted in it with Mrs. Siddons.

Baillie, Matthew, M.D., physician and anatomist, brother of the preceding, was born 1761 at Shotts, Lanarkshire, died at Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in 1823. In 1773 he was sent to the University of Glasgow. He afterwards studied anatomy under his maternal uncles, John and William Hunter, and entered Oxford, where he graduated as M.D. In 1783 he succeeded his uncle as lecturer on anatomy in London, where he acquired a high reputation as a teacher and demonstrator, having also a large practice. In 1810 he was appointed physician to George III. His work on The Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body gave him a European reputation.

Baillie, Robert, an eminent Scottish Presbyterian clergyman, was born at Glasgow in 1599, died 1662. Though educated and ordained as an Episcopalian, he resisted the attempt of Archbishop Laud to introduce his Book of Common Prayer into Scotland, and joined the Presbyterian party. In 1638 he represented the presbytery of Irvine in the General Assembly at Glasgow, which dissolved Episcopacy in Scotland. In 1640 he was selected to go to London, with other commissioners, to draw up the accusation against Archbishop Laud. Of this, and almost all the other proceedings of his public life, he has left a minute account in his letters and journals, which form a most valuable collection for the history of his time. In 1642 he was appointed professor of divinity at Glasgow. He was a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and attended its sittings from 1643-6. After the Restoration, though made principal of his college through Court patronage, he did not hesitate to express his dissatisfaction with the reintroduction of Episcopacy.

Baillie, Robert, of Jerviswood, in Lanarkshire, a Scottish patriot of the reign of Charles II. He brought himself into notice by opposing the tyrannical measures of Archbishop Sharpe against the Nonconformists, for which he was fined 6000 merks (or £500) and imprisoned for four months. In 1683 he went to London in furtherance of a scheme of emigration to South Carolina taken up by a number of Scottish gentlemen, as being the only way of escaping the tyranny of the Government. He became associated with Monmouth, Sydney, Russell, and the rest of that party, and was charged with complicity in the Rye-house plot. After a long imprisonment, during which vain attempts were made to obtain evidence against him, he was brought before the Court of Justiciary (23rd Dec., 1684), was found guilty, and condemned to be executed that afternoon.

Baillieston, a town of Scotland, in Lanarkshire, a few miles east of Glasgow, with extensive collieries, in which many of the inhabitants are employed. Pop. 5500.

Bailly (ba˙-yē), Jean Sylvain, French astronomer and statesman, born at Paris 1736. After some youthful essays in verse, he was induced by Lacaille to devote himself to astronomy, and on the death of the latter in 1753, being admitted to the Academy of Sciences, he published a reduction of Lacaille's observations on the zodiacal stars. In 1764 he competed ably but unsuccessfully for the Academy prize offered for an essay upon Jupiter's satellites, Lagrange being his opponent; and in 1771 he published a treatise on the light reflected by these satellites. In the meantime he had won distinction as a man of letters by his Éloges on Pierre Corneille, Leibnitz, Molière, and others; and the same qualities of style shown by these were maintained in his History of Astronomy (1775-87), his most extensive work. In 1784 the French Academy elected him a member. The revolution drew him into public life. Paris chose him, 12th May, 1789, first deputy of the tiers-état, and in the Assembly itself he was made first president, a post occupied by him on 20th June, 1789, in the session of the Tennis Court, when the deputies swore never to separate till they had given France a new constitution. As Mayor of Paris his moderation and impartial enforcement of the law failed to commend themselves to the people, and his forcible suppression of mob violence, 17th July, 1791, aroused a storm which led to his resignation and retreat to Nantes. In 1793 he attempted to join Laplace at Melun, but was recognized and sent to Paris, where he was condemned by the revolutionary tribunal, and executed on 12th Nov.

Bailment, in law, is the delivery of a chattel or thing to a person in trust, either for the use of the bailer or person delivering, or for that of the bailee or person to whom it is delivered. A bailment always supposes the subject to be delivered only for a limited time, at the expiration of which it must be re-delivered to the bailer, the responsibility of the bailee being dependent, in some degree, upon the contract on which the bailment is made. Pledging and letting for hire are species of bailment. Agistment, or the taking in of cattle or live stock to feed at a rate of so much per head, is a contract of bailment.

Baily, Edward Hodges, an English sculptor, born at Bristol 1788, died at London 1867. He became a pupil of Flaxman in 1807, gained the Academy Gold Medal in 1811, and was elected R.A. in 1821. Principal works: Eve at the Fountain, Eve Listening to the Voice, Maternal Affection, Girl Preparing for the Bath, The Graces, &c. The bas-reliefs on the south side of the Marble Arch, Hyde Park, the statue of Nelson on the Trafalgar Square monument, and other public works, were by him.

Baily, Francis, astronomer, born in Berkshire 1774; settled in London as a stockbroker in 1802. While thus actively engaged he published Tables for the Purchasing and Renewing of Leases, The Doctrine of Interest and Annuities, The Doctrine of Life Annuities and Assurances, and an epitome of universal history. On retiring from business with an ample fortune in 1825 he turned his attention to astronomy, became one of the founders of the Astronomical Society, contributed to its Transactions, and in 1835 published a life of Flamsteed. He died in 1844.

Baily's Beads, a phenomenon attending eclipses of the sun, the unobscured edge of which appears discontinuous and broken immediately before and after the moment of complete obscuration. It is classed as an effect of irradiation, and is caused by the sun shining through the depressions between the lunar mountains.

Bain, Alexander, Scottish philosopher and educationalist, was born at Aberdeen in 1818. He was educated at Marischal College (then a separate university), Aberdeen; was for some years a deputy professor in the university; subsequently held official posts in London; and in 1860 was appointed professor of logic and English in Aberdeen University, a post which he held till his resignation in 1881. His most important works are: The Senses and the Intellect (1855); The Emotions and the Will (1859), together forming a complete exposition of the human mind; Mental and Moral Science (1868); Logic, Deductive and Inductive (1870); Mind and Body (1873); Education as a Science (1879); James Mill, a Biography (1881); John Stuart Mill, a Criticism with Personal Recollections (1882); besides an English Grammar; English Composition and Rhetoric; an Autobiography, &c. Bain was at once grammarian, rhetorician, educationalist, and logician, but his fame rests on his contributions to psychology. He died in 1903.

Bainsizza Plateau. See European War.

Bairam (bī´ram), the Easter of the Mohammedans, which follows immediately after the Ramadan or Lent (a month of fasting), and lasts three days. This feast during the course of thirty-three years makes a complete circuit of all the months and seasons, as the Turks reckon by lunar years. Sixty days after this first great Bairam begins the lesser Bairam. They are the only two feasts prescribed by the Mohammedan religion.

Baird, Sir David, a distinguished British soldier, was born in Aberdeenshire in 1757, and entered the army 1772. Having been promoted to a lieutenancy in 1778 he sailed for India, distinguished himself as a captain in the war against Hyder Ali, was wounded and taken prisoner, and confined in the fortress of Seringapatam for nearly four years. He and his fellow-prisoners were treated with great barbarity, and many of them died or were put to death, but at last (in 1784) all that survived were set at liberty. In 1787 he became major, and in 1791 joined the army under Cornwallis as lieutenant-colonel, and was appointed to the command of a brigade in the war against Tippoo. After much hard service he was made a colonel in 1795, went in 1797 to the Cape of Good Hope as brigadier-general, and in 1798, on his appointment as major-general, returned to India. In 1799 he commanded the storming party at the assault of Seringapatam, and, in requital, was presented with the State sword of Tippoo Saib. Being appointed in 1800 to command an expedition to Egypt, he landed at Kosseir in June, 1801, crossed the desert, and, embarking on the Nile, descended to Cairo, and thence to Alexandria, which he reached a few days before it surrendered to General Hutchinson. Next year he returned to India, but being soon after superseded by Sir Arthur Wellesley (Wellington), he sailed for Britain, where he was knighted and made K.B. With the rank of lieutenant-general he commanded an expedition in 1805 to the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1806, after defeating the Dutch, he received the surrender of the colony. He commanded a division at the siege of Copenhagen, and after a short period of service in Ireland sailed with 10,000 men for Corunna, where he formed a junction with Sir John Moore. He commanded the first division of Moore's army, and in the battle of Corunna lost his left arm. By the death of Sir John Moore, Sir David succeeded to the chief command, receiving for the fourth time the thanks of Parliament, and a baronetcy. In 1814 he was made a general. He died in 1829.

Baird, Spencer Fullerton, American naturalist, born 1823, died 1887. From 1850 to 1878 he was assistant secretary, and then became secretary, of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and was also chief Government commissioner of fish and fisheries. He wrote much on natural history, his chief works being The Birds of North America (in conjunction with John Cassin), The Mammals of North America, Review of American Birds in the Smithsonian Institution, and (with Messrs. Brewer and Ridgeway) History of North American Birds.

Baireuth (bī´roit), a well-built and pleasantly-situated town of Bavaria, on the Red Main, 41 miles north-east of Nürnberg. The principal edifices, besides churches, are the old and the new palace, the opera-house, the gymnasium, and the national theatre, constructed after the design of the composer Wagner, and opened in 1876 with a grand performance of his tetralogy of the Nibelungen Ring. Industries: cotton-spinning, sugar-refining, musical instruments, sewing-machines, leather, brewing, &c. There is a monument to Jean Paul F. Richter, who died here. Pop. 34,547.

Baius, or De Bay, Michael, Catholic theologian, was born 1513, in Hainaut, educated at Louvain, made professor of theology there in 1552, and chosen a member of the Council of Trent in 1563. Leaving the scholastic method, he founded systematic theology directly upon the Bible and the Christian fathers, of whom he particularly followed St. Augustine. His doctrines of original sin and of salvation by grace led to his persecution as a heretic by the old Scotists, and the Jesuits, who succeeded in obtaining a Papal bull in 1567, condemning the doctrines imputed to him. Baius, however, remained in the possession of his dignities, was appointed in 1575 Chancellor of Louvain University; and the King of Spain even conferred upon him the office of Inquisitor-General in the Netherlands. He died in 1589. His Augustinian views descended to the Jansenists, while his doctrine of pure undivided love to God formed the staple of Quietism. His system is called Baianism.

Baize, a sort of coarse woollen fabric with a rough nap, now generally used for linings, and mostly green or red in colour.

Baja (bä´ya˙), a market town of Hungary, district of Bacs, on the Danube, with a trade in grain and wine, and a large annual hog fair. Pop. 20,361.

Bajaderes. See Bayaderes.

Bajazet (ba˙-ya˙-zet´), or Bayezid, I, Turkish emperor, who, in 1389, having strangled his brother Jacob, succeeded his father Murad or Amurath, who fell in the battle of Kossovo while fighting against the Serbians. From the rapidity of his conquests he received the name of Ilderim, the Lightning. In three years he overcame Bulgaria, part of Serbia, Macedonia, Thessaly, and the States of Asia Minor, and besieged Constantinople for ten years, defeating Sigismund and the allied Hungarians, Poles, and French in 1395. The attack of Timur (Tamerlane) on Natolia, in 1400, saved the Greek Empire, Bajazet being defeated and taken prisoner by him near Ancyra, Galatia, 1402. The story of his being carried about in a cage by Timur is improbable; but Bajazet died, in 1409, in Timur's camp, in Caramania. His successor was Soliman I.

Bajazet II succeeded his father, Mohammed II, Sultan of the Turks, in 1481. He increased the Turkish Empire by conquests on the N.W. and in the E., took Lepanto, Modon, and Durazzo in a war against the Venetians, and ravaged the coasts of the Christian States on the Mediterranean, to revenge the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. Having abdicated in favour of his younger son Selim, he died on his way to a residence near Adrianople in 1513. He did much for the improvement of his empire and the promotion of the sciences.

Bajimont's Roll. See Bagimonts Roll.

Bajocco, or Baiocco (ba˙-yok´o), was a copper coin in the Papal States, the hundredth part of a scudo, or rather more than a halfpenny. The name was also given in Sicily to the Neapolitan grano, the hundredth part of the ducato (3s. 4d.).

Bajus. See Baius.

Bajza (boi´za), Anton, Hungarian lyric poet, historian, and critic, born 1804, died 1858. As contributor to and editor of various periodicals he played an important part in the development of modern Hungarian literature and drama. A volume of his poems, of high merit, was published in 1835. He also translated a collection of foreign dramas, and edited a series of historical works.

Bakalaha´ri, a Bechuana tribe inhabiting the Kalahari Desert, S. Africa.

Bak´arganj, a maritime district and town in Eastern Bengal; chief rivers: Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna. Area, 3649 sq. miles. Pop. 2,292,000. The town now lies in ruins. Pop. 7000.

Bakau (bä´kou), a town of Roumania, on the Bistritza. Pop. 16,187.

Bakchisarai (ba˙k-chi-sa˙-rī´), or Bagtcheserai (Bakh-chi-Sarai) (bäg-che-se-rī; Turk., 'Garden Palace'), an ancient town of Russia, in the Crimea, picturesquely situated at the bottom of a narrow valley, hemmed in by precipices. It contains the palace of the ancient Crimean khans, restored by the Russian Government. Pop. 15,000.

Baker, Sir Richard, an English historian, born in Kent in 1568, educated at Oxford, knighted in 1603 by James I, and in 1620 appointed High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, where he had estates. Having given security for a debt incurred by his wife's family, he was thrown into Fleet Prison, where, after remaining some years, he died in 1645. During his imprisonment he wrote some devotional books and his Chronicle of the Kings of England, first published in 1641, and afterwards continued by Edward Phillips, the nephew of Milton, and others—a work of great popularity in its day, though of no permanent value.

Baker, Sir Samuel White, a distinguished English traveller, born in 1821. He resided some years in Ceylon; in 1861 began his African travels, which lasted several years, in the Upper Nile regions, and resulted, among other discoveries, in that of Albert Nyanza Lake in 1864, and of the exit of the White Nile from it. In Africa he encountered Speke and Grant after their discovery of the Victoria Nyanza. On his return home he was received with great honour and was knighted. In 1869 he returned to Africa as head of an expedition sent by the Khedive of Egypt to annex and open up to trade a large part of the newly-explored country, being raised to the dignity of pasha. He returned in 1873, having finished his work, and was succeeded by the celebrated Gordon. His writings include: The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon; Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon; The Albert Nyanza; The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia; Ismailia: a Narrative of the Expedition to Central Africa; Cyprus as I saw it in 1879; also, Cast up by the Sea, a story published in 1868. He died 30th Dec., 1893.

Baker, Thomas, antiquary, born 1656, educated at Cambridge. As a non-juror he lost his living at Long-Newton in 1690, and was compelled to resign his fellowship on the accession of George I, but continued to reside at St. John's College till his death in 1740. His Reflections on Learning (1709-10) went through seven editions. He left in MS. forty-two folio volumes of an Athenæ Cantabrigienses, from which a History of St. John's College was edited by Professor Mayor in 1869.

Bakewell, an ancient market town, England, county of Derby, between Buxton and Matlock, possessing a fine Gothic church, a chalybeate spring, a cotton-mill erected by Arkwright, and a large marble-cutting industry. Pop. 3062.

Bakewell, Robert, an English agriculturist, celebrated for his improvements in the breeding of sheep, cattle, and horses, was born in Leicestershire in 1725, and died in 1795. He commenced experiments in breeding sheep, about 1755, upon his father's farm at Dishley, and for fifty years devoted himself to the acquisition and diffusion of information upon the subject. He was the originator of the new Leicestershire breed of sheep, which has since been so well known, and also of a breed of cattle very famous in their day. The demand for his rams increased so considerably, that whereas he let them for the season at £16 per head in 1755, by 1789 they were hired at 6000 guineas. Various improvements in farm management were also introduced by him.

Bakhmut. See Bachmut.

Bakhuisen. See Backhuysen.

Baking, a term meaning 'to cook by dry heat', and primarily applied to the baking of bread. A common application of the term is to a mode of cooking food in a close oven, baking in this case being opposed to roasting or broiling, in which an open fire is used. The oven should not be too close, but ought to be properly ventilated. Baking is also applied to the hardening of earthenware or porcelain by fire. See Bread.

Baking Powder, a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and tartaric acid, usually with some flour added. The water of the dough causes the liberation of carbonic acid, which makes the bread 'rise'.

Bakony (ba˙-kon´yė) Wald, a thickly wooded mountain range dividing the Hungarian plains, famous for the herds of swine fed on its mast.

Baksheesh´, an Eastern term for a present or gratuity. A demand for baksheesh meets travellers in the East everywhere from Turkey and Egypt to Hindustan.

Baku (bä-kö´), a Russian port on the western shore of the Caspian, occupying part of the Peninsula of Apsheron. The naphtha or petroleum springs of Baku have long been known; and the Field of Fire, so called from emitting inflammable gases, has long been a place of pilgrimage with the Guebres or Fire-worshippers. From the development of the petroleum industry, Baku has greatly increased, and is now a large and flourishing town. About 1500 oil-wells are in operation, producing immense quantities of petroleum (6,448,000 tons in 1917), much of which is led direct in pipes from the wells to the refineries in Baku, and it is intended to lay a pipe for its conveyance all the way to the Black Sea at Batoum, which is already connected with Baku by railway. Some of the wells have had such an outflow of oil as to be unmanageable, and the Baku petroleum now competes successfully with any other in the markets of the world. Baku, formerly the station of the Caspian fleet, is strongly fortified, and has a large shipping trade. The district of Baku lies within the limits of the new Republic of Azerbaijan. Pop. 237,000; pop. of the province, 1,119,600.

Baku´nin, Michael, Russian anarchist, the founder of Nihilism, born 1814 of a rich and noble family, entered the army, but threw up his commission after two years' service, and studied philosophy at Moscow, with his friends Hertzen, Turgeniev, Granovski (historian), and Byelinski (critic). Having adopted Hegel's system as the basis of a new revolution, he went in 1841 to Berlin, and thence to Dresden, Geneva, and Paris, as the propagandist of anarchism. Wherever he went he caused disturbance, and after undergoing imprisonment in various States, was handed over to Russia in 1851 by Austria, imprisoned for five years, and finally sent to Siberia. Escaping thence through Japan, he joined Hertzen in London on the staff of the Kolokol. His extreme views, however, ruined the paper and led to a quarrel with Marx and the Internationale; and having fallen into disrepute with his own party in Russia, he died suddenly and almost alone at Berne in 1878. He demanded the entire abolition of the State as a State, the absolute equalization of individuals, and the extirpation of hereditary rights and of religion, his conception of the next stage of social progress being purely negative and annihilatory.

Bala, a lake 4 miles long, and an urban district of N. Wales, in Merionethshire. Pop. 1408.

Balaam (bā'lam), a prophet, invited by Balak, King of Moab, to curse the Israelites, but compelled by miracle to bless them instead (Num. xxii-xxiv). In another account he is represented as aiding in the perversion of the Israelites to the worship of Baal, and as being, therefore, slain in the Midianitish war (Num. xxxi; Josh. xiii). He is the subject of many rabbinical fables, the Targumists and Talmudists regarding him, as most of the fathers did, in the light of an impious and godless man.

Bala Beds, or Bala Series, a deposit of Upper Ordovician Age, named from the Bala district, North Wales, consisting of slates, grits, sandstones, and limestones, there being two limestones separated by sandy and slaty rocks about 1400 feet thick. They contain trilobites of many species, and other marine fossils. The lower Bala limestone (25 feet thick) may be traced over a large area in North Wales. See Caradoc Series, Ordovician System.

Balachong´, an Oriental condiment, composed of small fishes, or shrimps, pounded up with salt and spices and then dried.

Balæ´na, the genus which includes the Greenland or right whale, type of the family Balænidæ, or whale-bone whales.

Balæ´niceps ('whale-head'), a genus of wading birds belonging to the Sudan, intermediate between the herons and storks, and characterized by an enormous bill, broad and swollen, giving the only known species (B. rex), also called shoe-bird, a peculiar appearance. It feeds on fishes, water-snakes, carrion, &c., and makes its nest in reeds or grass adjoining water. The bill is yellow, blotched with dark-brown, the general colour of the plumage dusky-grey, the head, neck, and breast slaty, the legs blackish.

Balænop´tera. See Rorqual.

Balagarh (bä-lä-gar'), town of Hindustan, in the Punjab. Pop. 11,233.

Balaghat´, a district of India, in the Central Provinces, Nagpur division; area, 3146 sq. miles; capital, Burha, a small place. The surface is diversified, comprising extensive uplands as well as lowlands; forests are extensive, and a comparatively small part of the area is under cultivation, rice being the chief crop. Iron exists in considerable quantities, and it is worked in a small way; gold is also worked. Pop. 330,000, almost entirely rural.

Balaguer (ba˙-la˙-gār'), Victor, Spanish author and politician, important writer in the Catalonian dialect, born 1824, died 1901. Born at Barcelona, he studied law there, and, becoming learned in Catalonian history, was appointed archivist and soon after professor of history. In 1869 he entered the Cortes as a Liberal; in 1872 was Minister of Public Works; from 1886 to 1888 Colonial Minister. He wrote much both in prose and verse, his prose comprising historical works, novels, &c., his verse lyrics, ballads, tragedies, odes, &c. His tragedies were partly on subjects taken from Catalonian history, partly on subjects connected with Greek and Roman history or literature. Among his lyrical and other poems are: El Trovador de Montserrat; Primavera de Ultimo Trovador Catalan; Poesias Completas (1874); Obras Poeticas (1880). Don Juan de Serrallonga is the most popular of his novels. Among other works of his are: Historia Politica y Literaria de los Trovadores; Historia de Cataluña; Los Pirineos; Cristobal Colon; Estudios Historicos y Politicos; Historias y Tradiciones; Instituciones y Reyes de Aragon. As a poet he was imitative, reminding us of Quintana, Zorilla, and Byron.

Balaklava (ba˙-la˙-klä'va), a small seaport in the Crimea, 8 miles S.S.E. Sevastopol. In the Crimean war it was captured by the British, who used the harbour as a base of supplies. The famous battle of Balaklava was fought some distance to the north of the seaport, on 25th Oct., 1854. The Russians brought a force of 25,000 men against the allies, a much larger force than they had to encounter, and the chief incidents in the battle were as follows: The Russians captured a series of positions occupied by the Turks in front of the British position; a Russian cavalry charge was repulsed by the 93rd Highlanders; a great mass of Russian cavalry was defeated by a charge of British heavy cavalry; the British light cavalry brigade charged and took a Russian battery, and put to flight the cavalry behind it, but were compelled by overpowering force to retreat with heavy loss, their retreat being covered by a brilliant charge of the French. The celebrated charge of the light brigade, or of the 'six hundred', though a brilliant feat of arms, was made under an erroneous interpretation of orders; that of the heavy brigade was equally glorious, and contributed far more to the final repulse of the enemy.

Balako´vo, a river-port of South-Eastern Russia, on the left bank of the Volga, government of Samara, with a very important trade in grain. Pop. 16,000.

Balalai´ka, a musical instrument of very ancient Slavonic origin, common among the Russians and Tartars. It is a narrow, shallow guitar with only two strings.

Bal´ance, an instrument for determining the relative weights of bodies. Balances are of various forms; in that most commonly used a horizontal beam rests so as to turn easily upon a fulcrum in the middle. From the extremities of the beam, called the centres of suspension, hang the scales; and a slender metal pointer between them, and in front of the fulcrum, indicates when the beam is level. The characteristics of a good balance are: (1) that the beam should rest in a horizontal position when the scales are either empty or loaded with equal weights; (2) that a very small addition of weight put into either scale should cause the beam to deviate from the level, which property is denominated the sensibility of the balance; (3) that when the beam is deflected from the horizontal position by inequality of the weights on the scales, it should have a tendency speedily to restore itself and come to rest in the level, which property is called the stability of the balance. To secure these qualities the arms of the beam should be exactly similar, equal in weight and length, and as long as possible; the centres of gravity and suspension should be in one straight line, and the fulcrum immediately above the centre of gravity; and the fulcrum and the centres of suspension should cause as little friction as possible. The fulcrum ought to be a knife-edge; and if the balance requires to be very delicate, the centres of suspension ought to be knife-edges also. If the balance has no tendency to one position more than another, when the scales are either loaded, empty, or off altogether, it is proof that the centre of gravity and the fulcrum coincide, and the remedy is to lower the centre of gravity. If the beam is disturbed by a small addition of weight to either scale, and exhibits no tendency to resume the horizontal position, we may infer that the centre of gravity is above the fulcrum. If it requires a considerable excess of weight to deflect the beam from the level, we may infer either that there is too much friction at the fulcrum, or that the centre of gravity is too low. If two weights are found to be in equipoise, one being in each scale, and if, when that which is in one scale is put into the other, there is no longer equilibrium, then we may infer that the arms of the beam are of unequal lengths. For purposes of accuracy, balances have occasionally means of raising or depressing the centre of gravity, of regulating the length of the arms, &c., and the whole apparatus is usually enclosed in a glass case, to prevent the heat from expanding the arms unequally, or currents of air from disturbing the equilibrium. A refinement in weighing is obtained by the use of the milligram rider, a short bent wire which can be moved along a scale engraved on the beam.

Of the other forms of balance, the Roman balance, or steel-yard, consists of a lever moving freely upon a suspended fulcrum, the shorter arm of the lever having a scale or pan attached to it, and the longer arm, along which slides a weight, being graduated to indicate quantities. It is commonly used for weighing loaded carts, for luggage at railway stations, &c. A variety of this, the Danish balance, has the weight fixed at the end of the lever, the fulcrum being movable along the graduated index. The spring-balance registers the weight of an article by the extent to which it draws out or compresses a spiral spring. It is of service where a high degree of exactness is not required, as in its domestic use, and it also finds application in the dynamometer for measuring horse-power of machinery. An extremely ingenious balance, used in the Mint and the Bank of England, for weighing 'blanks' and sovereigns, distributes them automatically into three compartments according as they are light, heavy, or the exact weight. The Roberval balance is a form in common use for weighing letters and parcels.—Bibliography: E. A. Brauer, The Construction of the Balance; E. Nicholson, Men and Measures: a history of weights and measures, ancient and modern.

Balance of Power, a political principle which first came to be recognized in modern Europe in the sixteenth century, though it appears to have been also acted on by the Greeks in ancient times, in preserving the relations between their different States. The object in maintaining the balance of power is to secure the general independence of nations as a whole, by preventing the aggressive attempts of individual States to extend their territory and sway at the expense of weaker countries. The first European monarch whose ambitious designs induced a combination of other States to counteract them was the Emperor Charles V, similar coalitions being formed in the end of the seventeenth century, when the ambition of Louis XIV excited the fears of Europe, and a century later against the exorbitant power and aggressive schemes of the first Napoleon. Since that time we have the instance of the Crimean War, entered into to check the ambition of Russia. Of late years there has been a marked tendency among British politicians to decry and impugn the principle of the balance of power, as calculated only to propagate a system of mutual hostility, and retard the cause of progress, by the expenditure both of money and life thus occasioned. An equilibrium between the various Powers is, of course, essential to the very existence of international law. The war of 1914-8 has proved to the world that in the absence of any central authority neither treaties nor signatures could prevent a State sufficiently powerful from ignoring the law and acting solely according to its interests and ambitious designs. See Society of Nations.—Bibliography: Hume, Essay on the Balance of Power; Von Gentz, Fragments on the Balance of Power; Professor L. Oppenheim, International Law, vol. i; Vattel, Le droit des gens.

Balance of Trade, the difference between the stated money values of the exports and imports of a country. The balance is erroneously said to be 'in favour' of a country when the value of the exports is in excess of that of the imports, and 'against it' when the imports are in excess of the exports. The phrases date from the days of the mercantile system, the characteristic doctrine of which alleged the desirability of regulating commerce with a view to amassing treasure by exporting produce largely, importing little merchandise in return, and receiving the balance in bullion. In certain conceivable political and industrial conditions this may have had beneficial results; but its importance was greatly overestimated, and the state of this balance came to be regarded as an invariable criterion of the industrial condition of a country. The false analogy of the successful merchant who gains more than he spends became the basis of popular reasoning, the products of a country being mistakenly identified with its exports, its consumption with its importation. It is now generally recognized that if bullion be exported from a country it is because it is at the time the cheapest commodity available for export; and further, that there are certain natural limits to its undue exportation, in that the increased scarcity of money is attended with a fall in the money-value of other commodities, which thus in turn become preferable objects of exportation, while bullion flows back. The excess of the value of imports over that of exports, which is regarded by some as an adverse and alarming symptom in British trade, is in large part readily accounted for on the ground of shipping receipts, insurance returns, interest on capital employed in foreign trade, merchants' profits, and the income derived from foreign investments.

Bal´anus ('acorn-shells'), a genus of sessile cirripeds, family Balanidæ, of which colonies are to be found on rocks at low water, on timbers, crustaceans, shells of mollusca, &c. They differ from the barnacles in having a symmetrical shell, and being destitute of a flexible stalk. The shell consists of six plates, with an operculum of four valves. They pass through a larval state, in which they are not fixed, moving by means of swimming feet which disappear in the final state. All the Balanidæ are hermaphrodite. A South American species (Balănus psittăcus) is eaten on the coast of Chile, the Balănus tintinnabŭlum by the Chinese. The old Roman epicures esteemed the larger species.

Balapur´, town of India, in Akola district, Berar, with strong fort and fine pavilion of black stone. Pop. 10,500.

Bal´as, a name used to distinguish the rose-coloured species of ruby from the ruby proper.

Balasor´, a seaport town, Hindustan, presidency of Bengal, province of Orissa, head-quarters of a district and subdivision bearing the same name. It carries on a considerable traffic with Calcutta. Pop. 21,362.

Bala´ta, a gum yielded by Mimūsops Balata, a tree growing abundantly in British, French, and Dutch Guiana, Honduras and Brazil, obtained in a milky state by 'tapping' the tree, and hardening to a substance like leather. Used for similar purposes to india-rubber, and in the United States chewed as a masticatory.

Bal´aton, or Plattensee, a lake of Hungary, 55 miles S.W. of Pesth; length, 50 miles; breadth, 3 to 10 miles; area, about 390 sq. miles. Of its thirty-two feeders the Szala is the largest, and the lake communicates with the Danube by the Rivers Sio and Sarviz. It abounds with a species of perch.

Balbec. See Baalbek.

Balbi, Adrien, geographer and statistician, born at Venice in 1782. In 1808 his first work on geography, Prospetto Politico-Geografico, procured his appointment as professor of geography in the College of San Michele at Murano, and he became in 1811 professor of natural philosophy in the Lyceum at Fermo. In 1820 he proceeded to Portugal, and collected there materials for his Essai Statistique sur le Royaume de Portugal et d'Algarve and Variétés Politiques et Statistiques de la Monarchie Portugaise, both published in 1822 at Paris, where he resided till 1832. He then settled in Padua, where he died in 1848. Balbi's admirable Abrégé de Géographie was written at Paris, and translated into the principal European languages.

Balbi, Gaspāro, a Venetian dealer in precious stones, born about the middle of the sixteenth century, who travelled first to Aleppo and thence down the Euphrates and Tigris to the Malabar coast, sailing finally for Pegu, where he remained for two years. His Viaggio all' Indie Orientale, published on his return to Venice in 1590, contains the earliest account of India beyond the Ganges.

Balbo, Cesāre, Italian author and statesman, born in 1789 at Turin. After holding one or two posts under the patronage of Napoleon, he devoted himself to history, publishing a history of Italy prior to the period of Charlemagne, a compendium of Italian history, &c. His Speranze d'Italia (1843), a statement of the political condition of Italy, and of the practicable ideals to be kept in view, gave him a wide reputation. He died in 1853.

Balbo´a, Vasco Nuñez de, one of the early Spanish adventurers in the New World, born 1475. Having dissipated his fortune, he went to America, and was at Darien with the expedition of Francisco de Enciso in 1510. An insurrection placed him at the head of the colony, but rumours of a western ocean and of the wealth of Peru led him to cross the isthmus. On 25th Sept., 1513, he saw for the first time the Pacific, and after annexing it to Spain, and acquiring information about Peru, returned to Darien. Here he found himself supplanted by a new governor, Pedrarias Davila, with much consequent grievance on the one side, and much jealousy on the other. Balboa submitted, however, and in the following year was appointed Viceroy of the South Sea. Davila was apparently reconciled to him, and gave him his daughter in marriage, but shortly after, in 1517, had him beheaded on a charge of intent to rebel. Pizarro, who afterwards completed the discovery of Peru, served under Balboa.

Balbriggan, a seaport and favourite watering-place, Ireland, county of Dublin; celebrated for its hosiery. Pop. 2273.

Bal´cony, in architecture, is a gallery projecting from the outer wall of a building, supported by columns or brackets, and surrounded by a balustrade. Balconies were not used in Greek and Roman buildings, and in the East the roof of the house has for centuries served similar purposes on a larger scale. Balconies properly so styled came into fashion in Italy in the Middle Ages, and were introduced into Britain in the sixteenth century.

Bal´dachin (-kin; It. baldachino), a canopy or tent-like covering of any material, either suspended from the roof, fastened to the wall, or supported on pillars over altars, thrones, pulpits, beds, portals, &c. Portable baldachins of rich materials were formerly used to shield the heads of dignitaries in processions, and are still so used in the processions of the Roman Catholic Church, and in the East. The enormous bronze baldachin designed by Bernini for Pope Urban VIII, and placed over the tomb of the apostles in St. Peter's at Rome, is one of the most famous, though surpassed in beauty by many in other European cathedrals and churches.

Balder, or Baldur, a Scandinavian divinity, represented as the son of Odin and Frigga, beautiful, wise, amiable, and beloved by all the gods. His mother took an oath from every creature, and even from every inanimate object, that they would not harm Balder, but omitted the mistletoe. Balder was therefore deemed invulnerable, and the other gods in sport flung stones and shot arrows at him without harming him. But the evil god Loki fashioned an arrow from the mistletoe and got Balder's blind brother Hōder to shoot it, himself guiding his aim. Balder fell dead, pierced to the heart, to the deep grief of all the gods. He is believed to be a personification of the brightness and beneficence of the sun.

Baldi, Bernardino, mathematician, theologian, geographer, historian, poet, &c., born at Urbino 1533; studied at Padua; became abbot of Guastalla. He knew upwards of twelve languages, and is said to have written over a hundred works, most of which remain in MS. His works include a poem on Navigation, various translations and commentaries, Lives of Celebrated Mathematicians, &c. He died in 1617.

Baldness, loss of the hair, complete or partial, usually the latter, and due to various causes. Most commonly it results as one of the changes belonging to old age, due to wasting of the skin, hair-sacs, &c. It may occur as a result of some acute disease, or at an unusually early age, without any such cause. In both the latter cases it is due to defective nourishment of the hair, owing to lessened circulation of the blood in the scalp. The best treatment for preventing loss of hair seems to consist in such measures as bathing the head with cold water and drying it by vigorous rubbing with a rough towel and brushing it well with a hard brush. Various stimulating lotions are also recommended, especially those containing cantharides. But probably in most cases senile baldness is unpreventable. When extreme scurfiness of the scalp accompanies loss of the hair, an ointment that will clear away the scurf will prove beneficial.

Baldovinet´ti, Alessio, Florentine artist, born 1427. Few of his works remain except a Nativity in the church of the Annunziato, and two altarpieces in the gallery of the Uffizi and the Academy of Arts, Florence. Died 1499. His portrait by himself is in the gallery at Bergamo.

Baldric (ba¨ld´rik), a broad belt formerly worn over the right or left shoulder diagonally across the body, often highly decorated and enriched with gems, and used not only to sustain the sword, dagger, or horn, but also for purposes of ornament, and as a military or heraldic symbol.

Bal´dung, Hans, or Hans Grün (grün), German painter and wood engraver, born in Swabia 1470, died in Strasburg 1552. His work, though inferior to Dürer's, possessed many of the same characteristics, and on this account he has been sometimes considered a pupil of the Nuremberg master. His principal paintings are the series of panels (of the date 1516) over the altar in Freiburg Cathedral; others of his works are to be found at Berlin, Colmar, and Basel. His numerous and often fantastic engravings have the monogram H and B, with a small G in the centre of the H.

Baldwin I, Emperor of Constantinople, founder of the short-lived dynasty of Latin sovereigns of the Eastern Empire, was born in 1172, and was hereditary Count of Flanders and Hainault. His courage and conduct in the fourth crusade led to his unanimous election as Emperor of the East after the capture of Constantinople by the French and Venetians in 1204. In the absence of Baldwin's brother with a large part of the army, the Greeks rose in revolt under the instigation of Joannices, King of Bulgaria. Baldwin marched on Adrianople, but was taken prisoner and died in captivity, 1205. Baldwin was succeeded by his brother Henry.—Baldwin II, fifth and last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, was born 1217. During his minority John de Brienne was regent, but on his assuming the power himself the Empire fell to pieces. In 1261 Constantinople was taken by the forces of Michael Palæologus, and Baldwin retired to Italy, dying in 1270.

Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem, reigned 1100-18, having assumed the title which his elder brother, Godfrey de Bouillon, had refused. He subdued Cæsarea, Ashdod, Tripolis, and Acre.—Baldwin II, his cousin and successor, reigned from 1118-31. During his reign the reduction of Tyre and institution of the order of Templars took place.—Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem from 1143 to 1162, was son and successor of Foulques of Anjou, and the embodiment of the best aspects of chivalry. After defeating Noureddin in 1152, and again in 1157, he was enabled to devote himself to the hopeless task of improving the kingdom and establishing the Christian chivalry in the East. His death in 1162 was almost immediately followed by the total collapse of the kingdom.

Baldwin, James Mark, American philosopher, born in Columbia, 12th Jan., 1861. He was educated at Princeton College, Leipzig and Berlin Universities; was instructor of German and French at Princeton College, 1885-7; professor of philosophy in Lake Forest University, 1887-9; professor of psychology at Princeton University, 1893-1903. From 1903-9 he was professor of philosophy and psychology at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Professor Baldwin is best known by his experimental psychology and his theories of genetic logic. He distinguishes between genetic logic, as theory of thought, and genetic philosophy, as theory of reality. Genetic sciences, according to Baldwin, are psychology, sociology, ethics, &c., and his point of view he terms 'Æsthonomical Idealism'. Among his numerous works are: Handbook of Psychology (2 vols., 1891-2); Mental Development in the Child and the Race (3rd edition, 1906); Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Development (1904); Thought and Things, or Genetic Logic (1906-8). He also edited the Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology (1901-9) and The Psychological Review (1894-1909).

Bâle (bäl). See Basel.

Bale, John, an English ecclesiastic, born in Suffolk in 1495, died in 1563. Although educated a Roman Catholic, he became a Protestant, and the intolerance of the Catholic party drove him to the Netherlands. On the accession of Edward VI he returned to England, was presented to the living of Bishop's Stoke, Southampton, and soon after nominated Bishop of Ossory, in Ireland. Here, on his preaching the reformed religion, the popular fury against him reached such a pitch that in one tumult five of his domestics were murdered in his presence. On the accession of Mary he lay some time concealed in Dublin, and after many hardships found refuge in Switzerland. At her death he was appointed by Elizabeth a prebend of Canterbury, where he died. His fame as an author rests upon his Scriptorum Illustrium Majoris Britanniæ Catalogus, or An Account of the Lives of Eminent Writers of Britain, commencing with Japhet the son of Noah, and ending with the year 1557. It is compiled from various writers, chiefly from the antiquary Leland. He was also the author of nineteen miracle plays, printed in 1558. One of his plays, Kynge Johan, is a link between the old morality plays and the historical drama.

Balear´ic Crane (Balearĭca pavonīna), a handsome species of crested crane inhabiting North-West Africa.

Balear´ic Islands, an archipelago of four large and eleven small islands, south-east of Spain, including Majorca, Minorca, Iviza, and Formentera. The popular derivation of the ancient name Baleares (Gr. ballein, to throw) has reference to the repute of the inhabitants for their skill in slinging, in which they distinguished themselves both in the army of Hannibal and under the Romans, by whom the islands were annexed in 123 B.C. After being taken by the Vandals, under Genseric, and in the eighth century by the Moors, they were taken by James I, King of Aragon, 1220-34, and constituted a kingdom, which in 1343 was united to Spain. The islands now form a Spanish province, with an area of 1935 sq. miles, and 330,167 inhabitants. See separate articles.

Baleen´. See Whale-bone.

Bale-fire, any great fire kindled in the open air, especially the fire of a funeral pile, or a beacon-fire.

Balen (bä´len), Hendrik van, painter, born at Antwerp 1560, died 1632. His works, chiefly classical, religious, and allegorical—some of them executed in partnership with Breughel—are to be found in most of the European galleries. He was the first master of Van Dyck and Snyders. Three of his sons also followed the art.

Balfe (balf), Michael William, composer, was born in Dublin, 15th May, 1808. In his seventh year he performed in public on the violin, and at sixteen took the part of the Wicked Huntsman in Der Freischütz at Drury Lane. In 1825 he went to Italy, wrote the music for a ballet, La Pérouse, for the Scala at Milan, and in the following year sang at the Théâtre-Italien, Paris, with moderate success. He returned to Italy, and at Palermo was given his first opera, I Rivali (1829). For five years he continued singing and composing operas for the Italian stage. In 1835 he came to England, and composed a number of operas, amongst others The Bohemian Girl (1843), The Rose of Castile (1857), Satanella (1858), and The Talisman (first performed in 1874). He died 20th Oct., 1870. His operas are melodious, and many of the airs are excellent.

Balfour (bal-för´), Sir Andrew, Bart., a Scottish botanist and physician, born in Fifeshire in 1630. After completing his studies at St. Andrews and London, and travelling on the Continent, he settled at Edinburgh, where he planned, with Sir Robert Sibbald, the Royal College of Physicians, and was elected its first president. He also laid the foundation of a hospital in Edinburgh, which expanded into the Royal Infirmary. He died in 1694. His familiar letters were published in 1700.

Bal´four, Right Hon. Arthur James, First Earl of (created 1922), son of J. M. Balfour of Whittingehame, Haddingtonshire, and of Lady Blanche Cecil, sister of the third Marquess of Salisbury, was born 25th July, 1848, and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He represented Hertford from 1874-5, East Manchester from 1885 to 1906, and has been representative for the City of London since 1906. For a time he was private secretary to his uncle, Lord Salisbury, under whom he was President of the Local Government Board, and afterwards Secretary for Scotland (1886-7), with a seat in the cabinet. He showed much firmness and ability as Chief Secretary for Ireland during Lord Salisbury's administration from 1887-91. He succeeded Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith as leader of the House of Commons and First Lord of the Treasury in 1891-2, and held the position again from 1895 till 1900, and from that year till 1902. On the retirement of Lord Salisbury in 1902 he became Prime Minister, a position which he retained till Dec., 1905. Under him as Premier was passed the new English Education Act (which owed much to his personal influence and exertions), that for London, and the new Licensing Act, and he advocated a change of our fiscal policy, at least as far as having recourse to retaliation, denying that he in any way favoured protection. He became First Lord of the Admiralty in the Coalition Government of 1915, and Foreign Secretary in 1916. He was one of the British delegates to the Peace Conference in 1919. He is given to studies bearing on philosophy and religion, and has published a Defence of Philosophic Doubt (1879), Essays and Addresses (1893), The Foundations of Belief (1895), Economic Notes on Insular Free-Trade (1903), Criticism and Beauty (1909), Theism and Humanism (1915), &c. He was President of the British Association in 1904, and Gifford Lecturer, Glasgow University, 1913-4. In 1919 he was elected to succeed Lord Rayleigh, O.M., as Chancellor of Cambridge University.

Balfour, Francis Maitland, writer on embryology, brother of the foregoing, born in 1851, early distinguished himself in his special study, and in 1874, in conjunction with Dr. M. Foster, published The Elements of Embryology; but the promise of his chief work, Comparative Embryology (1880-1) was unfulfilled, as in 1882 he was killed by a fall on Mont Blanc.

Balfour, Sir James, Scottish lawyer and politician, born about 1522, took part in the conspiracy against Cardinal Beaton, and was condemned with Knox to the galleys; but after his release found it to his interest to change his opinions, and was appointed, through the favour of Queen Mary, Lord of Session and member of the Privy Council. In 1567 he was appointed Governor of Edinburgh Castle, but had no scruple in surrendering it to Murray, who made him President of the Court of Session. He was charged with a share in the murder of Darnley, and helped to bring Regent Morton to his death. He died in 1583. The Practicks of Scots Law, attributed to him, was long a textbook.

Balfour, John Hutton, a distinguished botanist, born 1808, died 1884. He graduated at Edinburgh University in arts and in medicine; from 1841 to 1845 was professor of botany in Glasgow University; and in the latter year removed to Edinburgh to occupy a similar post, resigning his chair in 1879. He wrote valuable botanical textbooks, including Elements, Outlines, Manual, and Class-book, besides various other works.

Balfroosh´, or Barfurush´, a town, Persia, province of Mazanderan, about twelve miles from the Caspian, a great emporium of the trade between Persia and Russia. Pop. estimated at 50,000.

Ba´li, an island of the Indian Archipelago east of Java, belonging to Holland; greatest length, 85 miles, greatest breadth, 55 miles; area, about 2160 sq. miles. It consists chiefly of a series of volcanic mountains, of which the loftiest, Agoong (11,326 feet), became active in 1843 after a long period of quiescence. Principal products: rice, cocoa, coffee, indigo, cotton, &c. The people are akin to those of Java and are mostly Brahmans in religion. It is divided into eight provinces under native rajahs, and since 1882 has formed one colony with Lombok, the united pop. being 1,363,000, of whom about 900,000 belong to Bali.

Bal´iol, or Balliol, John de, of Barnard Castle, Northumberland, father of King John Baliol, a great English (or Norman) baron in the reign of Henry III, to whose cause he strongly attached himself in his struggles with the barons. In 1263 he laid the foundation of Balliol College, Oxford, which was completed by his widow Devorguila or Devorgilla. She was daughter and co-heiress of Allan of Galloway, a great baron of Scotland, by Margaret, eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion. It was on the strength of this genealogy that his son John Baliol became temporary King of Scotland. He died 1269.

Bal´iol, or Balliol, John, King of Scotland, born about 1249, died 1315. On the death of Margaret, the Maid of Norway and grandchild of Alexander III, Baliol claimed the vacant throne by virtue of his descent from David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother to William the Lion, King of Scotland (see above article). Robert Bruce (grandfather of the king) opposed Baliol; but Edward I's decision was in favour of Baliol, who did homage to him for the kingdom, 20th Nov., 1292. Irritated by Edward's harsh exercise of authority, Baliol concluded a treaty with France, then at war with England; but after the defeat at Dunbar he surrendered his crown into the hands of the English monarch. He was sent with his son to the Tower, but, by the intercession of the Pope in 1297, obtained liberty to retire to his Norman estates, where he died.—His son, Edward, in 1332 landed in Fife with an armed force, and, having defeated a large army under the Regent Mar (who was killed), got himself crowned king, but was driven out in three months.

Balis´tidæ. See Trigger-fishes.

Balize (ba-lēz´). See Belize.

Bal´kan (ancient, Hæmus), a rugged chain of mountains extending from Cape Emineh, on the Black Sea, in Eastern Roumelia, westwards to the borders of Serbia, though the name is sometimes used to include the whole mountain system from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, the region south of Austria and Russia, or south of the Danube and Save, forming the Balkan Peninsula. The range, which is over 200 miles in length, forms the water-shed between the streams flowing northward into the Danube and those flowing southward to the Ægean, the chief of the latter being the Maritza. The average height is not more than 5000 feet, but the highest point, Tchat-al-dagh, is 8340 feet. In the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8 the Russian troops managed to cross it without great difficulty, though they had to encounter a stubborn resistance at the Shipka Pass, where a Turkish army of 32,000 men ultimately surrendered to them.

Balkan League, The. After the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria, in 1908, the Balkan League of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece was formed, apparently at the instigation of the Powers of the Triple Entente, primarily to constitute a bulwark against Austrian aggression towards the southeast. The League, however, directed its activities against Turkey, taking advantage of Turkish embarrassments in Libya and of the success of an insurrection in Albania to attempt in 1912 the overthrow of the Turkish regime in Europe. The declaration of hostilities by the League in Oct., 1912, began the First Balkan War (q.v.). The League was maintained during the two campaigns of the war, but jealousy of Bulgarian pre-eminence led to its disruption in June, 1913, when Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece went to war with their former ally.

Balkan States. See Bulgaria, Greece, Roumania, Serbia, Turkey, and Yugo-Slavs.

Balkan War, The. The First Balkan War (Oct., 1912-May, 1913) was the effort of the Balkan League (q.v.) to dismember Turkey in Europe. Each member of the League was allotted a definite strategic object, and each gained a considerable measure of success. Bulgaria defeated the Turks at Kirk Kilisseh and Lule Burgas, and drove them behind the lines of Tchataldja. The Greeks captured Salonica; the Serbians forced their way to the sea at Durazzo. The Montenegrins invested Scutari. An armistice in December was followed by indecisive negotiations, in which the Great Powers took part. Renewed hostilities in the spring of 1913 (during which the Turks lost Adrianople) came to an end with the Treaty of London in May. Before its promises could be carried out, Serbia, Greece, and Roumania joined to crush Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War, alleging that her claims to conquered territory in Macedonia were excessive. The Treaty of Bucharest (Aug., 1913) finally concluded the war. The net results were: (1) to confine Turkey to Constantinople and the vilayet of Adrianople; (2) to extend Bulgarian territory to the Ægean and to increase greatly both Serbia and Montenegro; (3) to grant Salonica to Greece; (4) to create an autonomous Albania.—Bibliography: E. Ashmead-Bartlett, With the Turks in Thrace; The Balkan War Drama, by a Special Correspondent; D. J. Cassvetti, Hellas and the Balkan Wars; Sir J. R. L. Rankin, The Inner History of the Balkan War.

Balkash´, or Balkhash (ba˙l-ha˙sh´), a salt lake in Russian Central Asia, surrounded by steppes and plains; length about 330 miles, area 8500 sq. miles, depth nowhere more than 80 feet; formerly of much greater area and gradually growing smaller; receives the Ili and other smaller streams.

Balkh (bälk or bälh), a city in the north of Afghanistan, in Afghan Turkestan, at one time the emporium of the trade between India, China, and Western Asia. It was long the centre of Zoroastrianism, and was also an important Buddhist centre. In 1220 it was sacked by Genghis Khan, and again by Timur in the fourteenth century. The remains of the ancient city extend for miles. The town is now merely a village, but a new town has been built an hour's journey north of the old, the residence of the Afghan governor, with a pop. of about 20,000. The district, which formed a portion of ancient Bactria, lies between the Oxus and the Hindu-Kush, with Badakshan to the east and the desert to the west. In the vicinity of the Oxus, where there are facilities for irrigation, the soil is rich and productive, and there are many populous villages.

Bal´kis, the Arabian name of the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon. She is the central figure of innumerable Eastern legends and tales.

Ball, Game of. Ball-playing was practised by the ancients, and old and young amused themselves with it. The Phæacian damsels are represented in the Odyssey as playing it to the sound of music; and Horace represents Mæcenas as amusing himself thus during a journey. In the Greek gymnasia, the Roman baths, and in many Roman villas, a sphæristerium (a place appropriated for playing ball) was to be found; the games played being similar to those of the present day. In the Middle Ages the sport continued to be very popular both as an indoor and outdoor exercise, and was a favourite Court pastime until about the end of the eighteenth century. In England football and tennis are mentioned at an early date, and a favourite game prior to the English revolution was one in which a mall or mallet was used, hence the name pall-mall (It. palla, Lat. pila, a ball) for the game and the place where it was played. The most popular modern forms are cricket, base-ball, football, golf, lawn-tennis, fives, and polo.

Ball, John, an itinerant preacher of the fourteenth century, excommunicated about 1367 for promulgating "errors, schisms, and scandals against the Pope, archbishops, bishops, and clergy". He was one of the most active promoters of the popular insurgent spirit which found vent under Wat Tyler in 1381, and the couplet

"When Adam delved and Eve span

Who was then the gentleman?"

is attributed to him. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered on 15th July, 1381.

Ball, Sir Robert Stawell, astronomer, born at Dublin 1840, educated at Chester and Trinity College, Dublin. In 1865 he was appointed Lord Rosse's astronomer at Parsonstown, and subsequently held various official posts, including those of Andrews professor of astronomy in the University of Dublin and Astronomer Royal for Ireland (1874), Lowndean professor of astronomy and geometry in the University of Cambridge and director of the observatory (1892). He became F.R.S. in 1873, and was knighted in 1886. Besides many memoirs and articles, he published The Story of the Heavens, Starland, In Starry Realms, Time and Tide, The Story of the Sun, Great Astronomers, The Earth's Beginning, Popular Guide to the Heavens (numerous plates with accompanying text), Natural Sources of Power, &c. He died in 1913.

Bal´lad, a term loosely applied to various poetic forms of the song type, but in its most definite sense a poem in which a short narrative is subjected to simple lyrical treatment. It was, as indicated by its name, which is related to the Low Latin ballare and O. French baller, to dance, originally a song accompanied by a dance. The ballad, like the nursery tales and the Märchen, is probably one of the earliest forms of rhythmic poetic expression, constituting a species of epic in miniature, out of which by fusion and remoulding larger epics were sometimes shaped. Their present form is, of course, relatively recent. As in the folk-tales, so in the ballads of different nations, the resemblances are sufficiently numerous and close to point to the conclusion that they have often had their first origin in the same primitive folk-lore or popular tales. But in any case, excepting a few modern literary ballads of a subtler kind, they have been the popular expression of the broad human emotions clustering about some strongly-outlined incidents of war, love, crime, superstition, or death. It is probable that in the Homeric poems fragments of older ballads are embedded; but the earliest ballads, properly so called, of which we have record were the ballistea or dancing-songs of the Romans, of the kind sung in honour of the deeds of Aurelian in the Sarmatic war by a chorus of dancing boys. In their less specialized sense of lyric narratives, their early popularity among the Teutonic race is evidenced by the testimony of Tacitus, of the Gothic historian Jornandes, and the Lombard historian Paulus Diaconus; and many appear to have been written down by order of Charlemagne and used as a means of education. Of the ballads of this period, however, only a general conception can be formed from their traces in conglomerates like the Niebelungenlied; the more artificial productions of the Minnesingers and Meistersingers overlying the more popular ballad until the fifteenth century, when it sprang once more into vigorous life. A third German ballad period was initiated by Bürger, under the inspiration of the revived interest in the subject shown in Great Britain and the publication of the Percy Reliques; and the movement was sustained by Herder, Schiller, Goethe, Heine, Uhland, and others. The earlier German work is, however, of inferior value to that of Scandinavia, where, though comparatively few manuscripts have survived, and those not more than three or four centuries old, a more perfect oral tradition has rendered it possible to trace the original stock of the twelfth century.

Of the English and Scottish ballads anterior to the thirteenth century there are few traces beyond the indication that they were abundant, if indeed anything can be definitely asserted of them earlier than the fourteenth century. Among the oldest may be placed The Little Gest of Robin Hood, Hugh of Lincoln, Sir Patrick Spens, and the Battle of Otterbourn. In the fifteenth century specimens multiply rapidly: ballad-making became in the reign of Henry VIII a fashionable amusement, the king himself setting the example; and though in the reign of Elizabeth ballads came into literary disrepute and ballad singers were brought under the law, yet there was no apparent check upon the rate of their production. Except perhaps in the north of England and south of Scotland, there was, however, a marked and increasing tendency to vulgarization as distinct from the preservation of popular qualities. The value of the better ballads was lost sight of in the flood of dull, rhythmless, and frequently scurrilous verse. The modern revival in Britain dates from the publication of Allan Ramsay's Evergreen and Tea-table Miscellany (1724-7) and of the selection Reliques made by Bishop Percy from his seventeenth-century MSS. (1765), a revival not more important for its historic interest than for the influence which it has exercised upon all subsequent poetry.

The threefold wave discernible in German, if not in British, ballad history, is equally to be traced in Spain, which alone among the Latinized countries of Europe has songs of equal age and merit with the British historic ballads. The principal difference between them is, that for the most part the Spanish romance is in trochaic, the British ballad in iambic metre. The ballads of the Cid date from about the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century; and then followed an interval of more elaborate production, a revival of ballad interest in the sixteenth century, a new declension, and finally a modern and still-persisting enthusiasm.

The French poetry of this kind never reached any high degree of perfection, the romance, farce, and lyric flourishing at the expense of the ballad proper. Of Italy much the same may be said, though Sicily has supplied a great store of ballads; and nearly all the Portuguese poetry of this kind is to be traced to a Spanish origin. The Russians have lyrico-epic poems, of which some, in old Russian, are excellent, and the Serbians are still in the ballad-producing stage of civilization. Modern Greece has also its store of ballads, published in several collections. In Greece, Russia, and elsewhere the old habit of improvising song as an accompaniment to dance still exists.—Bibliography: Professor Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads; Professor Gummere, The Beginnings of Poetry; Sir W. Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (edited by T. F. Henderson); T. F. Henderson, The Ballad in Literature.

Ballade (bal-a˙d´), the earlier and modern French spelling of ballad, but now limited in its use to a distinct verse-form introduced into English literature of late years from the French, and chiefly used by writers of vers-de-société. It consists of three stanzas of eight lines each, with an envoy or closing stanza of four lines. The rhymes, which are not more than three, follow each other in the stanzas thus: a, b, a, b; b, c, b, c, and in the envoy, b, c, b, c; and the same line serves as a refrain to each of the stanzas and to the envoy. There are other varieties, but this may be regarded as the strictest, according to the precedent of Villon and Marot.

Bal´lantyne, James, the printer of Sir Walter Scott's works, born at Kelso 1772, died at Edinburgh 1833. Successively a solicitor and a printer in his native town, at Scott's suggestion he removed to Edinburgh, where the high perfection to which he had brought the art of printing, and his connection with Scott, secured him a large trade. The printing firm of James Ballantyne & Co. included Scott, James Ballantyne, and his brother John (who died in 1821). For many years he conducted the Edinburgh Weekly Journal. His firm was involved in the bankruptcy of Constable & Co., by which Scott's fortunes were wrecked, but Ballantyne was continued by the creditors' trustee in the literary management of the printing-house. He survived Scott only about four months.

Ballantyne, Robert Michael, writer of books for boys, born at Edinburgh 1825, died in Rome 1894, was a nephew of James Ballantyne, the printer of Sir Walter Scott's works. He was for some years in North America in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, and his experiences there supplied him with materials for some of his earlier books, especially Hudson's Bay, or Life in the Wilds of North America (1848); The Young Fur Traders; and Ungava, a Tale of Eskimo Land. For many years he continued to produce popular and instructive boys' books, dealing with scenes and subjects of the most varied kind; and he also published a volume entitled Personal Reminiscences of Book-Making (1893).

Ballarat´, or Ballaarat, an Australian town in Victoria, chief centre of the gold-mining industry of the colony, and next in importance to Melbourne, from which it is distant W.N.W. about 60 miles direct. It consists of two distinct municipalities, Ballarat West and Ballarat East, separated by the Yarrowee Creek, and has many handsome buildings, and all the institutions of a progressive and flourishing city, including hospital, mechanics' institute and library, free public library, Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, &c. Gold was first discovered in 1851, and the extraordinary richness of the field soon attracted hosts of miners. The surface diggings having been exhausted, the precious metal is now got from greater depths, and there are mines as deep as some coal-pits, the gold being obtained by crushing the auriferous quartz. There are also foundries, woollen mills, flour-mills, breweries and distilleries, &c. Pop. 42,252.

Bal´last, a term applied (1) to heavy matter, as stone, sand, iron, or water placed in the bottom of a ship or other vessel to sink it in the water to such a depth as to enable it to carry sufficient sail without oversetting. (2) The sand placed in bags in the car of a balloon to steady it and to enable the aeronaut to lighten the balloon by throwing part of it out. (3) The material used to fill up the space between the rails on a railway in order to make it firm and solid.

Ball´ater, a village and favourite summer resort in Aberdeenshire, on the Dee, at the terminus of the Deeside Railway, about 43 miles from Aberdeen, a centre from which Balmoral, Lochnagar, Braemar, &c., are easily reached. The Pananich chalybeate springs are adjacent. Pop. (1921), 1542.

Ball-cock, a kind of self-acting stopcock opened and shut by means of a hollow sphere or ball of metal attached to the end of a lever connected with the cock. Such cocks are often employed to regulate the supply of water to cisterns. The ball floats on the water in the cistern by its buoyancy, and rises and sinks as the water rises and sinks, shutting off the water in the one case and letting it on in the other.

Bal´lentyne, or Bellenden, John, a Scottish poet; was a native of Lothian, and appears to have been born towards the close of the fifteenth century. He was in the service of James V from the king's earliest years, and at his request he translated Boece's Latin History, which had been published at Paris in 1526, the translation being printed in 1536. As a reward he was made Archdeacon of Moray and a canon of Ross. He was a bitter opponent of the Reformation, and is said to have died at Rome in 1550.

Ballet (bal´ā), a species of dance, usually forming an interlude in theatrical performances, but principally confined to opera. Its object is to represent, by mimic movements and dances, actions, characters, sentiments, passions, and feelings, in which several dancers perform together. The ballet is an invention of modern times, though pantomimic dances were not unknown to the ancients. The dances frequently introduced into operas seldom deserve the name ballet, as they usually do not represent any action, but are destined only to give the dancers an opportunity of showing their skill. The modern ballet was developed and perfected in France, and introduced into England in the eighteenth century. From an artistic point of view, the modern ballet is often a very low-class entertainment.

Ball-flower, an architectural ornament resembling a ball placed in a circular flower, the three petals of which form a cup round it; usually inserted in a hollow moulding, and generally characteristic of the Decorated Gothic style of the fourteenth century.

Ballia, a town of India, in the United Provinces, on the Ganges, the administrative head-quarters of a district of the same name. Pop. 16,680.

Ballina´, a town and river-port, Ireland, County Mayo, on both banks of the Moy, about 5 miles above its mouth in Killala Bay, with a considerable local and also a little coasting and foreign trade. Pop. 4662.

Ballinasloe´ (-slō), a town, Ireland, in Galway and Roscommon counties, 15 miles south-west of Athlone, on both sides of the Suck, noted for its cattle fair, from 5th till 9th Oct., the most important in Ireland. The town contains remains of a castle of Elizabethan date. Pop. 5170.

Ballis´ta, a machine used in military operations by the ancients for hurling heavy missiles, thus serving in some degree the purpose of the modern cannon. The motive power appears to have been obtained by the torsion of ropes, fibres, catgut, or hair. They are said to have sometimes had an effective range of a quarter of a mile, and to have thrown stones weighing as much as 300 lb. The ballistæ differed from the catapultæ, in that the latter were used for throwing darts.

Ballis´tic Pendulum, an apparatus for ascertaining the velocity of military projectiles, and consequently the force of fired gunpowder. A piece of ordnance is fired against bags of sand supported in a strong case or frame suspended so as to swing like a pendulum. The arc through which it vibrates is shown by an index, and the amount of vibration forms a measure of the force or velocity of the ball.

Ballistics, the science of the motion of projectiles. Interior ballistics deals with the motion of the shot while inside the gun, and with the results of the explosion of the charge. Exterior ballistics comprises a study of the trajectory or path of the projectile in the air, and the causes which affect the shape of this path, such as the density of the air, shape and weight of the shot, rifling of the barrel, angle of fire and speed of the projectile. If the air-resistance be neglected, it can be shown that the trajectory is a parabola. This result, given by Galileo, is of little use in gunnery except when taken along with a knowledge of air-resistance. Robins, in 1742, first measured the muzzle-speed of the shot by firing into a ballistic pendulum and noting the swing of the pendulum. Wheatstone, in 1840, suggested measuring the speed by causing the shot to cut successive wire screens, each of which formed part of an electric circuit. The Boulangé chronograph is a modern development of this idea. Rev. F. Bashforth's experiments, carried out between 1865 and 1880, form the basis of our knowledge of air-resistance. He found that the latter was proportional to the square of the diameter of the shot, and that, although the resistance is expressible in terms of a power of the speed, this power changes with the speed. The air-resistance is a maximum at about the speed at which sound travels, viz. 1100 feet per second. Artillerists employ ballistic tables based on the results obtained by Bashforth and others, by means of which, given the kind of projectile, its initial velocity, and angle of fire, they can calculate the range and time of flight of the projectile. See Gunnery.—Bibliography: F. Bashforth, The Motion of Projectiles; J. M. Ingalls, Interior Ballistics; P. Charbonnier, Balistique Extérieure.

Balloon-fish (Tetraŏdon lineātus), ord. Plectognathi, a curious tropical fish that can inflate itself so as to resemble a balloon.

Balloons, the most elementary form of lighter-than-air air-craft, unprovided with any means of propulsion or steering. Deriving its power of sustentation from the gas contained in the gas-bag, the free balloon is spherical in form. It is usually filled with coal-gas, which has a lifting-force of 35 lb. per 1000 cu. feet. Varying in size from 5000 to 20,000 cu. foot capacity, the gas-bag is covered with a 'net', from which is hung the 'basket' for the accommodation of the aeronaut, or pilot, and passengers. The spherical gas-bag has at the bottom an elongation, known as the 'neck', which is open to the air in order that the gas may escape as it expands during the rise into the rarefied atmosphere of the upper air. A 'valve' is fitted at the top, which may be opened by a cord from the basket when it is desired to allow gas to escape in order to descend. Bags containing sand are carried in order that ballast may be dropped when it is desired to rise. A free balloon is completely at the mercy of the wind, and simply drifts where the wind takes it. Balloons are usually constructed of cotton fabric, though occasionally of gold-beater's skin, in which case they are commonly filled with hydrogen in place of coal-gas. A 'trail-rope' is usually carried, with which the practice of 'trailing' may be effected over open country or the sea. This consists in allowing the end of the trail-rope to drag on the ground. As the balloon rises it raises more of the rope off the ground, the additional weight bringing it down again. Per contra, as it falls the weight of the trail-rope is taken by the ground and so lightens the balloon. This tends to maintain the balloon at a uniform height. The greatest height ever attained by a balloon is 37,000 feet, reached by Glaisher and Coxwell in Sept., 1862. Both aeronauts nearly perished from the effects of the cold and rarefaction of the atmosphere. In 1895 Parseval and Siegsfield, two officers of the Prussian army, invented the 'Drachen-ballon' or 'Kite-balloon' (Fr. Saucisse). This consists of a captive balloon comprising an elongated gas-bag fitted with an automatic air-chamber, or 'ballonet', for maintaining the pressure, and automatic stabilizers to prevent yawing off the wind, rolling from side to side, and pitching horizontally. This was improved upon by Captain Caquot of the French army, who in 1916 produced an improved type, offering many advantages, which was used in large numbers by the British, French, and American armies and navies during the Great European War of 1914-8. See also Aeronautics, Air-ships.—Bibliography: British Military Manual of Ballooning; Rev. J. M. Bacon, The Dominion of the Air; H. Coxwell, My Life and Balloon Experiences; J. Glaisher, Travels in the Air; G. Tissandier, Histoire de mes Ascensions.

Bal´lot, Voting by, signifies literally voting by means of little balls (called by the French ballottes), usually of different colours, which are put into a box in such a manner as to enable the voter, if he chooses, to conceal for whom or for what he gives his suffrage. The method is adopted by most clubs in the election of their members—a white ball indicating assent, a black ball dissent. Hence, when an applicant is rejected, he is said to be blackballed. The term voting by ballot is also applied in a general way to any method of secret voting, as, for instance, when a person gives his vote by means of a ticket bearing the name of the candidate whom he wishes to support. In this sense vote by ballot is the mode adopted in electing the members of legislative assemblies in most countries, as well as the members of various other bodies. In ancient Greece and Rome the ballot was in common use. In Britain it had long been advocated in the election of members of Parliament and of municipal corporations, but it was only introduced by an Act passed in 1872.

Ballyme´na, a town of Ireland, County Antrim, 22 miles from Belfast, with a considerable trade in linens and linen yarns, the manufacture of which is carried on to a great extent. Pop. 11,380.

Ballymo´ney, a town of Ireland, County Antrim, 38 miles N.W. of Belfast; linen, chemicals, tanning, and brewing. Pop. 3100.

Ballyshan´non, a small seaport of Ireland, County Donegal, on the Erne, about 1 mile from the S.E. shore of Donegal Bay. Pop. 2471.

Balm (bäm; Melissa officinālis), a plant, belonging to the Labiatæ;, formerly in great repute for its medicinal virtues. A native of the south of Europe, it is cultivated in English gardens. It is a herbaceous perennial, with an erect branching stem about 2 feet high. The leaves arise with the flower-stems from a thick joint at the extremity of the stalk. The flowers are whitish; they are produced in a round terminal umbel, and appear in June. The stems and leaves are slightly stimulating and tonic. They contain an essential oil of a yellowish colour and with a fragrant smell, called oil of balm.

Balm of Gilead, the exudation of a tree, Balsamodendron gileadense, nat. ord. Amyridaceæ, a native of Arabia Felix, and also obtained from the closely-allied species Balsamodendron Opobalsămum. The leaves of the former tree yield when bruised a strong aromatic scent; and the balm of Gilead of the shops, or balsam of Mecca or of Syria, is obtained from it by making an incision in its trunk. It has a yellowish or greenish colour, a warm, bitterish, aromatic taste, and an acidulous fragrant smell. It is valued as an odoriferous unguent and cosmetic by the Turks. It is frequently adulterated for market.—The balm of Gilead fir, which produces a turpentine called Canada balsam, is the Abies balsamifĕra, a North American species, whose range is from Virginia to Canada. The name is derived from Jeremiah, viii, 22.

Balmain´, a populous western suburb of Sydney, N.S.W., with extensive docks and various industrial works. Pop. 33,000.

Balmer´ino, Arthur Elphinstone, Lord, a Scottish Jacobite, born 1688, executed 1746. He took part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, and fought at Sheriffmuir. Having joined the young Pretender in 1745, he was taken prisoner at Culloden, tried at Westminster, found guilty, and beheaded. His title was from Balmerino in Fife.

Balmor´al Castle, a private residence of the British sovereign, beautifully situated on the S. bank of the Dee, in Aberdeenshire, 45 miles W. by S. of Aberdeen. It stands in the midst of fine and varied mountain scenery, is built of granite in the Scottish baronial style, mainly in two connected blocks, and has an imposing appearance. The estate, purchased by the Prince Consort in 1852 and bequeathed to Queen Victoria, extends to about 40,000 acres, mostly deer forest.

Balnaves´, Henry, of Halhill, a Scottish reformer, was born at Kirkcaldy, educated at St. Andrews, and became a lord of session and a member of the Scottish Parliament in 1538. He was one of the commissioners appointed in 1543 to treat of the proposed marriage between Edward VI and Mary. In 1547 he was one of the prisoners taken in the castle of St. Andrews and exiled to France. Recalled in 1554, he busily engaged in the establishment of the reformed faith, assisted in revising the Book of Discipline, and accompanied Murray to England in connection with Darnley's murder. He died in 1579.

Balrampur. See Bulrampur.

Balsa, a kind of raft or float used on the coasts and rivers of Peru and other parts of South America for fishing, for landing goods and passengers through a heavy surf, and for other purposes where buoyancy is chiefly wanted. It is formed generally of two inflated seal-skins, connected by a sort of platform on which the fisherman, passengers, or goods are placed.

Bal´sam, the common name of succulent plants of the genus Impatiens, family Balsaminaceæ, having beautiful irregular flowers, cultivated in gardens and green-houses. Impatiens balsamīna, native of the East Indies, is a common cultivated species. I. noli-me-tangere grows wild in Britain, but is not native. See Impatiens.

Balsam, an aromatic, resinous substance, flowing spontaneously or by incision from certain plants. A great variety of substances pass under this name. But in chemistry the term is confined to such vegetable juices as consist of resins mixed with volatile oils, and yield the volatile oil on distillation. The resins are produced from the oils by oxidation. A balsam is thus intermediate between a volatile oil and a resin. It is soluble in alcohol and ether, and capable of yielding benzoic acid. The balsams are either liquid or more or less solid; as, for example, the balm of Gilead, and the balsams of copaiba, Peru, and Tolu. Benzoin, dragon's-blood, and storax are not true balsams, though sometimes called so. The balsams are used in perfumery, medicine, and the arts. See Copaiba, &c.—Balsam of Gilead or of Mecca, balm of Gilead (q.v.).—Canada balsam. See Canada balsam.

Balsam Fir. See Balm of Gilead.

Balsa´mo, Joseph. See Cagliostro, Count.

Balsamoden´dron, a genus of trees or bushes, ord. Amyridaceæ, species of which yield such balsamic or resinous substances as balm of Gilead, bdellium, myrrh, &c.

Balta, a town in the Ukraine, government of Podolia, on the Kodema, an affluent of the Bug, 115 miles N.N.W. of Odessa. Pop. 18,450.

Baltic, Battle of the. See Copenhagen; Parker, Sir Hyde.

Baltic Provinces, a term commonly given to the former Russian governments of Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia (q.v.).

Baltic Sea, an inland sea or large gulf connected with the North Sea, washing the coasts of Denmark, Germany, Russia, and Sweden; nearly 900 miles long, extending to 200 broad; superficial extent, together with the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, 171,743 sq. miles. Its greatest depth is 126 fathoms; mean, 44 fathoms. A chain of islands separates the southern part from the northern, or Gulf of Bothnia. The water of the Baltic is colder and clearer than that of the ocean: it contains a smaller proportion of salt, and the ice obstructs the navigation three or four months in the year. Among the rivers that enter it are the Neva, Dwina, Oder, Vistula, and Niemen. Islands: Samsoe, Moen, Bornholm, Langeland, Laaland, which belong to Denmark (besides Zealand and Funen); Gottland and Oeland, belonging to Sweden; Rügen, belonging to Prussia; Dagoe and Oesel, belonging to Russia; and the Åland Islands. The Sound, the Great and the Little Belt lead from the Kattegat into the Baltic. The Baltic and North Sea were long connected by the Eider and a canal from it to the neighbourhood of Kiel, but this has been superseded by the great ship canal, starting from the Elbe near its mouth and ending in Kiel Bay.

Bal´timore, a city and port in Maryland, United States, finely situated on the N. side of the Patapsco, 14 miles above Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore takes its name from Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland; it was first laid out as a town in 1729; and was erected into a city in 1797. It is well built, chiefly of brick, and is known as the 'monumental city', from the public monuments which adorn it, the principal being the Washington monument. Among its buildings are the city hall, built in Renaissance style, of white marble, with a tower and dome rising 240 feet; the Peabody Institute, containing a library, art gallery, &c.; the Maryland Institute; the custom-house; the post office; the United States court-house and jail, the Johns Hopkins hospital, the Roman Catholic cathedral, &c. The chief educational institution, now one of the most important in the States, is the Johns Hopkins University, endowed with 3,500,000 dollars by its founder (whose name it bears). There is a Roman Catholic archbishop with the rank of primate, and a Protestant episcopal bishop. Industries: shipbuilding; manufactures of iron, wool, cotton, pottery, &c.; sugar-refining, distilling, tanning, the making of agricultural implements, canning oysters and fruits, &c. As a flour market Baltimore is an important centre; and it does an immense trade in exporting tobacco and other products. The harbour is very extensive. Pop. (1920), 733,826.

Baltimore, George Calvert, Lord, born in Yorkshire about 1580, died in London 1632. He was for some time Secretary of State to James I, but this post he resigned in 1624 in consequence of having become a Roman Catholic. Notwithstanding this he retained the confidence of the king, who in 1625 raised him to the Irish peerage, his title being from Baltimore, a fishing-village of Cork. He had previously obtained a grant of land in Newfoundland, but as this colony was much exposed to the attacks of the French he left it, and obtained another patent for Maryland. He died before the charter was completed, and it was granted to his son Cecil, who deputed the governorship to his brother Leonard (1606-47).

Baltimore Bird, an American bird, the Ictĕrus Baltimorii, family Icteridæ, nearly allied to the Sturnidæ, or starlings. It is a migratory bird, and is known also by the names of 'golden robin', 'hang-bird', and 'fire-bird'. It is about 7 inches long; the head and upper parts are black, the under parts of a brilliant orange hue. It builds a pouch-like nest, very skilfully constructed of threads deftly interwoven, suspended from a forked branch and shaded by overhanging leaves. It feeds on insects, caterpillars, beetles, &c. Its song is a clear, mellow whistle.

Baluchistan (ba-lö´chi-stän), a country in Asia, the coast of which is continuous with the north-western seaboard of India, bounded on the north by Afghanistan, on the west by Persia, on the south by the Arabian Sea, and on the east by Sindh. It has an area of about 135,000 sq. miles, and a population estimated at 834,703. The general surface of the country is rugged and mountainous, with some extensive intervals of barren sandy deserts, and there is a general deficiency of water. Various kinds of grain are cultivated, and there is abundance of excellent fruits. The main body of the inhabitants are divided into two great branches, the Baluchis and Brahuis, differing in language, figure, and manners. The Baluchi language resembles the modern Persian, the Brahui presents points of agreement with the Dravidian languages of India. The Baluchis in general have tall figures, long visages, and prominent features; the Brahuis have shorter, thicker bodies, with round faces and rather flat features. Both races are Mahommedans, hospitable and brave. There are also many Afghans and others in the country. The Khan of Khelat, the nominal ruler of the whole land, in 1877 concluded a treaty with Britain, in virtue of which he became a feudatory of India. Since then Quetta, in the north-east, occupying an important position, and certain portions of territory, have been absolutely annexed, and in 1887 a separate administration was constituted, and British authority established, under the Governor-General's agent. The area of British Baluchistan, including tribal areas, is 54,228 sq. miles; pop. 414,412. The country nominally under the Khan of Khelat has an area of 72,280 sq. miles; pop. 359,086. Under British administration roads and railways have been made, with telegraphs and a postal service. Wool, fruits, &c., are exported, cottons and other goods imported, and there is a fair transit trade.—Bibliography: Floyer, Unexplored Baluchistan; T. Thornton, Life of Sandeman.

Bal´uster, a small column or pilaster, of various forms and dimensions, often adorned with mouldings, used for balustrades.

Balustrade´, a range of balusters, together with the cornice or coping which they support, used as a parapet for bridges or the roofs of buildings, or as a mere ornament; also serving as a fence or enclosure for balconies, terraces, staircases, &c.

Baluze (ba˙-lüz), Étienne, French historian and miscellaneous writer, born 1630, died 1718. For more than thirty years he was librarian to M. de Colbert, and was appointed professor of canon law in the Royal College, but displeasing Louis XIV with his Histoire Générale de la Maison d'Auvergne, he was thrown into prison and his property confiscated. He recovered his liberty in 1713, but did not regain his position. He left some 1500 MSS. in the national library of Paris, besides forty-five printed works, including Regum Francorum Capitularia (2 vols.) and Miscellanea (7 vols.).

Balzac (ba˙l-za˙k), Honoré de, a celebrated French novelist, was born at Tours in 1799, died 1850. Before completing his twenty-fourth year he had published a number of novels under various assumed names, but the success attending all was very indifferent; and it was not till 1829, by the publication of Le Dernier Chouan, a tale of La Vendée, and the first novel to which Balzac appended his name, that the attention of the public was diverted to the extraordinary genius of the author. A still greater popularity attended his Physiologie de Mariage, a work full of piquant and caustic observations on human nature. He wrote a large number of novels, all marked by a singular knowledge of human nature and distinct delineation of character, but apt to be marred by exaggeration. Among his best-known works are: Scènes de la Vie de Province, Scènes de la Vie Parisienne, Le Père Goriot, Eugénie Grandet, and Le Médecin de Campagne. The publication of this last, in 1835, led to a correspondence between Balzac and the Countess Eveline de Hanska, a Polish lady whom, after about fifteen years, he visited and married. A collected edition of his works, under the title La Comédie Humaine, was published in 45 vols., Paris, 1856-9, and another in 1869. In 1899 appeared the first volume of Balzac's Œuvres Posthumes, and in 1906 the second.—Bibliography: F. Wedmore, Balzac; M. F. Sandars, Balzac; W. H. Helm, Aspects of Balzac; Taine, Essay on Balzac.

Balzac (ba˙l-za˙k), Jean Louis Guez de, French writer, born 1594, died 1654. His writings, which had a great reputation in their day owing to the elegance of his style, are now neglected. The most esteemed are his Familiar Letters, Le Prince, Le Socrate Chrétien, and Aristippe.

Bamako, capital of the French colony of Upper Senegal and Niger since 1904. It is an important trade-centre and the terminus of the Niger-Senegal railway. Pop. 8000.

Bamba, a district of the Congo, W. coast of Africa, lying to the south of the River Ambriz. It is thickly populated, and is rich in gold, silver, copper, salt, &c.

Bambar´ra, a territory of Western Africa, on the Upper Niger, first visited by Mungo Park, now in the French portion of the Sudan. The country is generally very fertile, producing wheat, rice, maize, yams, &c. The inhabitants are of negro or mixed race, and some are Mohammedans. Excellent cotton cloth is made. The chief town is Segou. Pop. estimated at 2,000,000. See Senegal.

Bam´berg, a town of Germany, Bavaria, charmingly situated on several hills, on the navigable River Regnitz, some 3 miles from its mouth in the Main. It is the seat of a Catholic archbishop; the cathedral, founded in 1004 (the present structure dates from 1111), is one of the finest churches in Germany. The royal library contains 100,000 volumes and valuable MSS. Bamberg carries on a large trade; its industries are cotton-spinning, tobacco-manufacture, brewing, &c. Pop. 48,063.

Bambino (ba˙m-bē´nō; It., an infant), the figure of our Saviour represented as an infant in swaddling-clothes. The Santissimo Bambino in the church of Ara Cœli at Rome, a richly-decorated figure carved in wood, is believed to be able to perform miracles and heal the sick. According to popular belief, the painting was miraculously done by St. Luke or by an angel. Bambinos are set up for the adoration of the faithful in many places in Catholic countries.

Bambocciades (bam-boch-ādz´), pictures, generally grotesque, of common, rustic, or low life, such as those of Peter Van Laar, a Dutch painter of the seventeenth century, who on account of his deformity was called Bamboccio (cripple). Teniers is the great master of this style.

Bamboo´, the common name of the arborescent grasses belonging to the genus Bambūsa. There are many species, belonging to the warmer parts of Asia, Africa, and America, and growing from a few feet to as much as 100 feet, requiring much moisture to thrive properly. A peculiarity of the bamboo family is that they flower on reaching a certain age, generally about 130 years. The best-known species is B. arundinacĕa, common in tropical and sub-tropical regions. From the creeping underground rhizome, which is long, thick, and jointed, spring several round jointed stalks, which send out from their joints several shoots, the stalks also being armed at their joints with one or two sharp rigid spines. The oval leaves, 8 or 9 inches long, are placed on short footstalks. The flowers grow in large panicles from the joints of the stalk. Some stems grow to 8 or 10 inches in diameter, and are so hard and durable as to be used for building purposes. The smaller stalks are used for walking-sticks, flutes, &c.; and indeed the plant is used for innumerable purposes in the East Indies, China, and other Eastern countries. Cottages are almost wholly made of it; also, bridges, boxes, water-pipes, ladders, fences, bows and arrows, spears, baskets, mats, paper, masts for boats, &c. The young shoots may be either pickled or salted and eaten with rice, or candied and preserved in sugar; the seeds of some species are also eaten. The substance called tabasheer is a siliceous deposit that gathers at the internodes of the stems. The bamboo is imported into Europe for various purposes, and is grown in British gardens.

Bambook´, a country in Western Africa between the Falémé and Senegal Rivers, about 140 miles in length, by 80 to 100 in breadth. It is on the whole hilly and somewhat rugged. The valleys and plains are remarkably fertile. The natives are Mandingoes, mostly professed Mahommedans ruled by independent chieftains, most of whom acknowledge the supremacy of France. Gold and ivory are exchanged for European goods.

Bambook-butter, shea-butter (q.v.).

Bam´borough Castle, an ancient English castle on the coast of Northumberland, formerly with connected estate the property of the Forsters, and forfeited to the Crown in 1715, both being purchased by Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, and bequeathed by him for charitable purposes.

Bambu´sa. See Bamboo.

Bam´ian, a valley and pass of Afghanistan, the latter at an elevation of 8496 feet, the only known pass over the Hindu Kush for artillery and heavy transport. The valley is one of the chief centres of Buddhist worship, and contains two remarkable colossal statues and other ancient monuments.

Bamo. See Bhamo.

Bampton Lectures, a course of lectures established in 1751 by John Bampton, Canon of Salisbury, who bequeathed certain property to the University of Oxford for the endowment of eight divinity lectures to be annually delivered. The subjects prescribed are mainly connected with the evidences of Christianity, and the lecturer must have taken the degree of M.A. at Oxford or Cambridge. The first course of lectures was delivered in 1780, and they have been delivered every year since, with the exceptions of 1834, 1835, and 1841. Among the more remarkable lectures were those by Dr. White in 1784, by Dr. Mant in 1812, by Reginald Heber in 1815, Whately in 1822, Milman in 1827, Dr. Hampden in 1832, H.L. Mansel in 1858, Canon Liddon in 1866, Canon Gore in 1891, J. R. Illingworth in 1894, and W. R. Inge in 1899. A similar course of lectures, the Hulsean, is annually delivered at Cambridge.

Ban, in political law, is equivalent to excommunication in ecclesiastical. In Teutonic history the ban was an edict of interdiction or proscription: thus, to put a prince under the ban of the empire was to divest him of his dignities, and to interdict all intercourse and all offices of humanity with the offender. Sometimes whole cities have been put under the ban, that is, deprived of their rights and privileges.

Ban, anciently, a title given to the military chiefs who guarded the eastern marches of Hungary; till 1919 the title of the Governor of Croatia and Slavonia. A province over which a ban is placed is called banat, and is equivalent to the German term mark. During the European War, Serbia occupied the banat to the south of Hungary, and her claims to that region were disputed both by Hungary and Roumania. The territory is bounded almost entirely by the Danube, Theiss, and Maros Rivers, except on the east, where it is shut in by the Transylvanian Carpathians. The banat was ultimately divided between Yugo-Slavia and Roumania. See Temesvar.

Bana´na, a plant of the genus Musa, nat. ord. Musaceæ, being M. sapientum, while the plantain is M. paradisiăca. It is originally indigenous to the East Indies, and an herbaceous plant with an underground stem. The apparent stem, which is sometimes as high as 30 feet, is formed of the closely-compacted sheaths of the leaves. The leaves are 6 to 10 feet long and 1 or more broad, with a strong midrib, from which the veins are given off at right angles; they are used for thatch, basket-making, &c., besides yielding a useful fibre. The spikes of the flowers grow nearly 4 feet long, in bunches, covered with purple-coloured bracts. The fruit is 4 to 10 or 12 inches long, and 1 inch or more in diameter; it grows in large bunches, weighing often from 40 to 80 lb. The pulp is soft and of a luscious taste; when ripe it is eaten raw or cooked. The banana is cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical countries, and is the food of millions. It is estimated that in Jamaica alone 40,000 acres are devoted to its culture. Excellent biscuits may be made from banana meal, but it is not suitable for bread. Vast quantities are imported by Britain and the United States. Manila hemp is the product of a species of banana.

Bana´na, an African port, in Belgian Congo, at the mouth of the Congo.

Banana-bird, a pretty insessorial bird (Ictĕrus leucoptĕryx), a native of the West Indies and the warmer parts of America. It is a lively bird, easily domesticated, tawny and black in colour, with white bars upon the wings.

Banat. See Ban.

Ban´bridge, a town of Ireland, County Down, 22 miles S.W. of Belfast, on the Bann. The manufacture of linen is carried on to a great extent in town and neighbourhood. Pop. 5101.

Banbury (ban'be-ri), a town of England, in Oxfordshire, long celebrated for its cheese, its cakes, and its ale; a parliamentary borough till 1885, and now giving name to a parliamentary division of the county. Pop. (municipal borough) (1921), 13,347.

Banca, an island belonging to the Dutch East Indies, between Sumatra and Borneo; area, 4446 sq. miles; pop. 113,658, of which a considerable proportion are Chinese. It is celebrated for its excellent tin, of which the annual yield is above 6000 tons; but it produces nothing else of any importance.

Banco, in commerce, a term employed to designate the money in which the banks of some countries keep or kept their accounts, in contradistinction to the current money of the place, which might vary in value or consist of light and foreign coins. The term was applied to the Hamburg bank accounts before the adoption (in 1873) of the new German coinage. The mark banco had a value of 1s. 5½d.; but there was no corresponding coin. See Bank.

Ban´croft, George, American historian, born near Worcester, Mass., 1800, died 1891. He was educated at Harvard and in Germany, where he made the acquaintance of many literary men of note. In 1823 he published a translation of Heeren's Politics of Ancient Greece, and a small volume of poems, and was also meditating and collecting materials for a history of the United States. Between 1834 and 1840 three volumes of his history were published. In 1845 he was appointed Secretary of the Navy, and effected many reforms and improvements in that department. He was American ambassador to Britain from 1846 to 1849, when the University of Oxford conferred on him the honorary degree of D.C.L. He took the opportunity while in Europe to perfect his collections on American history. He returned to New York in 1849, and began to prepare for the press the fourth and fifth volumes of his history, which appeared in 1852. The sixth appeared in 1854, the seventh in 1858, the eighth soon after, but the ninth did not appear till 1866. From 1867 to 1874 he was Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Berlin. The tenth and last volume of his great work appeared in 1874. An additional section appeared first as a separate work in 1882: History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States, and the whole came out in 6 vols. in 1884-5. He has also published many essays in the North American Review and other periodicals, a selection from which was published in 1855 under the title of Miscellanies.

Ban´croft, Richard, born in Lancashire 1544, died 1610, studied at Cambridge, entered the Church, and rose rapidly during the reign of Elizabeth till he obtained the see of London in 1597. James I made him Archbishop of Canterbury on the death of Whitgift. He suppressed the Puritans mercilessly, and they in return never ceased to abuse him.

Ban´croft, Sir Squire, English actor, born in London in 1841. After playing in Dublin and elsewhere he made his first appearance in London, at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, in 1865. He married Miss Marie Effie Wilton in 1867, and was knighted in 1897. In collaboration with his wife he has written The Bancrofts: Recollections of Sixty Years (1909).

Banda, a town and district of India, in the United Provinces. The town stands on a plain on the right bank of the Ken River, 95 miles S.W. from Allahabad, and is a considerable cotton mart. Pop. 22,000.—Area of district 2965 sq. miles. Pop. 660,000.

Banda Islands, a group belonging to Holland, Indian Archipelago, south of Ceram, Great Banda, the largest, being 12 miles long by 2 broad. They are beautiful islands, of volcanic origin, yielding quantities of nutmeg. Goenong Api, or Fire Mountain, is a cone-shaped volcano which rises 2320 feet above the sea. Pop. 10,000.

Bandajan´, a pass over a range of the Himálaya, Kashmir State, 14,854 feet above sea-level.

Bandan´na, a variety of silk handkerchief having a uniformly-dyed ground, usually of bright red or blue, ornamented with white or yellow circular, lozenge-shaped, or other simple figures produced by discharging the groundcolour.

Banda Oriental. See Uruguay.

Bandel´lo, Matteo, an Italian writer of novelle or tales, born about 1480, died about 1562. He was, in his youth, a Dominican monk, and having been banished from Italy as a partisan of the French, Henry II of France gave him in 1550 the bishopric of Agen. He left the administration of his diocese to the Bishop of Grasse, and employed himself, at the advanced age of seventy, in the completion of his novelle. He also wrote poetry, but his fame rests on his novelle, which are in the style of Boccaccio's Decameron and the Queen of Navarre's Heptameron, and have been made use of by Shakespeare, Massinger, and Beaumont and Fletcher.

Bande Noire. See French Revolution.

Band-fish, the popular name of fishes of the genus Cepŏla, from their long, flat, thin bodies. C. rubescens, a very fragile creature, is sometimes cast up on British shores. Also called Snake-fish, Ribbon-fish.

Ban´dicoot (Perameles), a genus of small Australian marsupials. The most common species (P. nasuta), the long-nosed bandicoot, measures about 1½ feet from the tip of the snout to the root of the tail. It is not unlike an overgrown rat, and is most destructive to farm-produce.

Ban´dicoot Rat, the Mus gigantēus, the largest known species of rat, attaining the weight of 2 or 3 lb., and the length, including the tail, of 24 to 30 inches. It is a native of India, and is very abundant in Ceylon. Its flesh is said to be delicate and to resemble young pork, and is a favourite article of diet with the coolies. It is destructive upon rice-fields and gardens.

Bandinelli, Baccio, Italian sculptor, born at Florence 1493, died there 1560. He was jealous of and strove to rival Michael Angelo. Among his works are a Hercules and Cacus, The Dead Body of Christ held up by an Angel, Adam and Eve, &c.

Ban´dit, It. bandito, originally an exile, banished man, or outlaw, and hence, as persons outlawed frequently adopted the profession of brigand or highwayman, the word came to be synonymous with brigand, and is now applied to members of the organized gangs which infest some districts of Italy, Sicily, Spain, Greece, and Turkey.

Band of Hope. See Temperance.

Ban´dolier, a large leathern belt or baldrick, to which were attached a bag for balls and a number of pipes or cases of wood or metal covered with leather, each containing a charge of gunpowder. It was worn by ancient musketeers, and hung from the left shoulder under the right arm with the ball bag at the lower extremity, and the pipes suspended on either side. The name is now given to a similar belt, worn by mounted troops, for carrying cartridges. Another form of the word is bandoleer.

Ban´doline, a gummy perfumed substance used to impart gloss and stiffness to the hair.

Ban´don, a town, Ireland, County Cork, on both sides of the Bandon. Pop. 3122.

Bands, a small article of clerical dress, made of linen, going round the neck and hanging down in front for a short distance in two pieces with square ends, supposed to be a relic of the amice.

Baneberry, or Herb Christopher (Actæa spicāta), a European plant, ord. Ranunculaceæ, local in England, with a spike of white flowers and black, poisonous berries. Two American species are considered remedies for rattlesnake bite.

Banér (ba˙-nār´), Johan Gustafsson, a Swedish general in the Thirty Years' War, born 1596, died 1641. He made his first campaigns in Poland and Russia, and accompanied Gustavus Adolphus, who held him in high esteem, to Germany. After the death of Gustavus in 1632 he had the chief command of the Swedish army, and in 1634 invaded Bohemia, defeated the Saxons at Wittstock, 24th Sept., 1636, and took Torgau. He ravaged Saxony again in 1639, gained another victory at Chemnitz, and in 1640 defeated Piccolomini. In Jan., 1641, he very nearly took Ratisbon by surprise.

Banff (bamf), county town of Banffshire, Scotland, a seaport on the Moray Firth at the mouth of the Deveron. It is well built, carries on some boat-building, and has ropeworks, a brewery, &c., fishing and shipping. Near the town are the county lunatic asylum, and Duff House, a seat of the Duke of Fife, now public property; on the east side of the Deveron is the town of Macduff, where an extensive fishing trade is carried on. Banff is one of the Elgin burghs, which together return a member to Parliament. Pop. 3517.—The county has an area of 403,053 acres. In the south it is mountainous; but the northern part is comparatively low and fertile; principal rivers, the Spey and Deveron; principal mountains, Cairngorm (4095 feet) and Ben Macdhui (4296 feet), on its southern boundary. Little wheat is raised, the principal crops being barley, oats, turnips, and potatoes. Fishing is an important industry; as is also the distilling of whisky. Serpentine abounds in several places, especially at Portsoy, where it is known as 'Portsoy marble', and Scotch topazes or cairngorm stones are found on the mountains in the south. Banffshire returns one member to Parliament. Pop. (1921), 57,293.

Banff, a town of N. W. Canada, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, with National Park, hot springs, coal-mines, &c.

Bang. See Bhang.

Bangalore´, a town of Hindustan, capital of Mysore, and giving its name to a considerable district in the east of Mysore State. The town stands on a healthy plateau 3000 feet above sea-level, has a total area of nearly 14 sq. miles, and is one of the pleasantest British stations in India. In the old town stands the fort, reconstructed by Hyder Ali in 1761, and taken by Lord Cornwallis in 1791. Under English administration the town has greatly prospered in recent times. There are manufactures of silks, cotton cloth, carpets, gold and silver lace, &c. Pop. 189,485.—The Bangalore district has an area of 3070 sq. miles, of which more than half represent cultivable land. Pop. about 760,000.

Bangkok´, or Bankok, the capital of the kingdom of Siam, extending for several miles on both sides of the Menam, which falls into the Gulf of Siam about 15 miles below. The inner city occupies an island surrounded with walls and bastions, and contains the palace of the king and other important buildings. The dwellings of the common people are of wood or bamboo, often raised on piles; a large portion of the population, however, dwell in boats or wooden houses erected on bamboo rafts moored in the river, and forming a floating town. Temples are numerous and lavishly decorated. Houses in the European style have been erected in modern times, and the telegraph, telephone, gas, fire-engines, and omnibuses introduced. A university with eight faculties has recently been established. The trade, both inland and foreign, is very extensive, the exports consisting chiefly of rice, sugar, silk, cotton, tobacco, pepper, sesame, ivory, aromatic wood, cabinet woods, tin, hides, &c.; and the imports consisting chiefly of British cotton, woollen, and other goods. Pop. 628,675, of whom about a half are Chinese. See Siam.

Ban´gor, a city of North Wales, in Carnarvonshire, picturesquely situated near the northern entrance of the Menai Strait. It appears to have possessed a cathedral in the sixth century, which was destroyed by the Normans in 1071. The present cathedral—the third—only dates from the reign of Henry VII. It has a college of the University of Wales (founded in 1903), and a Normal College. Bangor has risen into importance as a popular resort; its principal trade is in the export of slates from the neighbouring quarries. Pop. (1921), 11,032.

Ban´gor, a seaport town, Ireland, County Down, on the south side of Belfast Lough. Principal trade: cotton, linen, and embroideries. Pop. 7776.

Ban´gor, a port of the United States, in Maine, on the W. side of Penobscot River, a flourishing and pleasantly-situated town, and one of the largest lumber depots in the world. The river is navigable to the town for vessels of the largest size. Pop. (1920), 25,948.

Bango´rian Controversy, a controversy stirred up by a sermon preached before George I in 1717 by Dr. Hoadly, Bishop of Bangor, from the text "My kingdom is not of this world" (John, xviii, 36), in which the bishop contended in the most pronounced manner for the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom. The controversy was carried on with great heat for many years, and resulted in an enormous collection of pamphlets.

Bangs´ring. See Banxring.

Bangweo´lo, or Bangweulu, Lake, in South Africa, the southernmost of the great lake reservoirs of the Congo, heard of in 1798, was reached by Livingstone in 1868, an oval-shaped shallow sheet of water, said to be 150 miles in length along its greater axis, from east to west, and about 75 miles in width, but its exact limits are uncertain. It was first circumnavigated by Poulett Weatherley in 1896. See Congo.

Ban´ian, or Ban´yan, an Indian trader or merchant, one engaged in commerce generally, but more particularly one of the great traders of Western India, as in the seaports of Bombay, Kurrachee, &c., who carry on a large trade by means of caravans with the interior of Asia, and with Africa by vessels. They form a class of the Vaisya caste, wear a peculiar dress, and are strict in the observance of fasts and in abstaining from the use of flesh. Hence, Banian days, days in which sailors in the navy had no flesh meat served out to them. Banian days are now abolished, but the term is still applied to days of poor fare.

Banian Tree. See Banyan.

Ba´nim, John, an Irish novelist, dramatist, and poet, born in 1798, died 1842. His chief early work was a poem, The Celt's Paradise (1821). Having settled in London, he made various contributions to magazines and to the stage; but his fame rests on his novels, particularly the O'Hara Tales, in which Irish life is admirably portrayed. In these, as in some of his other publications, his brother, Michael Banim (born 1796, died 1874), had an important share, if not an equal claim to praise. The two brothers have been justly called 'the first national novelists of Ireland'.

Banishment. See Exile.

Ban´jarmassin, a district and town in the south-east of Borneo, under the government of the Dutch. The town is situated on an arm of the Banjar, about 14 miles above its mouth, in a marshy locality, the houses being built on piles, and many of them on rafts. Exports: pepper, benzoin, bezoar, ratans, dragon's-blood, birds'-nests, &c.; imports: rice, salt, sugar, opium, &c. Pop. 52,000, mostly Dyaks.

Ban´jo (a negro corruption of bandore; It. pandora, from Lat. pandura, a three-stringed instrument), the favourite musical instrument of the negroes of the Southern States of America. It is six-stringed, has a body like a tambourine and a neck like a guitar, and is played by stopping the strings with the fingers of the left hand and twitching or striking them with the fingers of the right. The upper or octave string, however, is never stopped. The banjo was introduced into England in 1846.

Banjoemas (ba˙n´yö-ma˙s), a town in Java, near the centre of the island, well built and of commercial importance; it is 22 miles from the coast, and is the residence of a Dutch governor. Pop. 6500.

Banking and Banks. Banks are establishments for the deposit, custody, and repayment on demand of money, and obtain the bulk of their profits from the investment of sums thus derived and not in immediate demand. The term is a derivative of the banco or bench of the early Italian money-dealers, being analogous in its origin to the terms trapezītai (trapeza, a bench or table) applied to the ancient Greek money-changers, and mensarii (mensa, a table) applied to the public bankers of Rome.

In respect of constitution there is a broad division of banks into public and private; public banks including such establishments as are under any special state or municipal control or patronage, or whose capital is in the form of stock or shares which are bought and sold in the open market; private banks embracing those which are carried on by one or more individuals without special authority or charter and under the laws regulating ordinary trading companies. In respect of function three kinds of banks may be discriminated: (1) banks of deposit merely, receiving and returning money at the convenience of depositors; (2) banks of discount or loan, borrowing money on deposit and lending it in the discount of promissory notes, bills of exchange, and negotiable securities; (3) banks of circulation or issue, which give currency to promissory notes of their own, payable to bearer and serving as a medium of exchange within the sphere of their banking operations. The more highly-organized banks discharge all three functions, but all modern banks unite the two first. For the successful working of a banking establishment certain resources other than the deposits are of course necessary, and the capital paid up by shareholders on their shares and forming the substantial portion of their claim to public credit is held upon a different footing from the sums received from depositors. It is usually considered that for sound banking this capital should not be traded with for the purpose of making gain in the same way as the moneys deposited in the bank; and it is for the most part invested in Government or other securities subject to little fluctuation in value and readily convertible into money. But in any case prudence demands that a reserve be kept sufficient to meet all probable requirements of customers in event of commercial crises or minor panics. The reserve of the banking department of the Bank of England is always in coin, or in notes against which an equivalent value of coin and bullion is lying in the issue department. In other English banks the reserve is usually kept partly in gold and partly in Government stocks and Bank of England notes; but it sometimes lies as a deposit in the Bank of England. The working capital proper of a bank is constituted by moneys on deposit, for which the bank may or may not pay interest; the advantages of security, of ease in the transmission of payments, &c., being regarded in the cases of banks little affected by competition as a sufficient return to the depositor. Thus the Bank of England pays no interest on deposits, while the contrary practice has prevailed in Scotland since 1729, where interest is paid on deposits although not on current accounts.

Of the methods of making profit upon the money of depositors, one of the most common is to advance it in the discounting of bills of exchange not having long periods (seldom more than three months with the Bank of England) to run; the banker receiving the amounts of the bills from the acceptors when the bills arrive at maturity. Loans or advances are also often made by bankers upon exchequer bills or other Government securities, on railway debentures or the stock of public companies of various kinds, as well as upon goods lying in public warehouses, the dock-warrant or certificate of ownership being transferred to the banker in security. In the case of a well-established credit they may be advanced upon notes of hand without other security. Money is less commonly advanced by bankers upon mortgages on land, in which the money loaned is almost invariably locked up for a number of years. To banks of issue a further source of profit is open in their note circulation, inasmuch as the bank is enabled to lend these notes, or promises to pay, as if they were so much money and to receive interest on the loan accordingly, as well as to make a profitable use of the money or property that may be received in exchange for its notes, so long as the latter remain in circulation. It is obvious, however, that this interest on its loaned notes may not run over a very extended period, in that the person to whom they are issued may at once return them to the bank to lie there as a deposit and so may actually draw interest on them from the bank of issue; or he may present them to be exchanged for coin, or by putting them at once into circulation may ensure a certain number speedily finding their way back through other hands or other banks to the establishment from which he received them. A considerable number of the notes issued will, however, be retained in circulation at the convenience of the public as a medium of exchange; and on this circulating portion a clear profit accrues. This rapid return of notes through other banks, &c., in exchange for portions of the reserve of the issuing bank, is one of the restraints upon an issue of notes in excess of the ability of the bank to meet them. In the United Kingdom a more obvious restraint upon an unlimited note issue, originating partly in a desire for greater security, partly in the belief that the note augmentation of the currency might lead to harmful economic results in its influence upon prices, is to be found in the Bank Acts of 1844 and 1845, which impose upon banks of issue the necessity of keeping an equivalent in gold for all notes issued beyond a certain fixed amount. The wisdom of these legal restrictions, which are not uniform throughout the kingdom, and the desirability of the acquisition and control by the State of the whole business of issue, are still matters of debate.

In specific relation to his customer the banker occupies the position of debtor to creditor, holding money which the customer may demand at any time in whole or in part by means of a cheque payable at sight on presentation during banking hours. For the refusal to cash a cheque from the erroneous supposition that he has no funds of his customer's in his hands, or for misleading statements respecting the position in which the bank stands, the banker is legally responsible. Moreover, the law regards him as bound to know his customer's signature, and the loss falls upon him in event of his cashing a forged cheque. In their relations to the community, the chief services rendered by banks are the following: By receiving deposits of money they are the means by which the surplus capital of one part of a country is transferred to another where it may be advantageously employed in stimulating industry; they enable vast and numerous money transactions to be carried on without the intervention of coin or notes at all, thus obviating trouble, risk, and expense. The mechanism by which the last of these benefits is secured is to be found in perfection in the London Clearing House.

The modern tendency of banks is towards amalgamation. The large English banking institutions have absorbed many of the smaller banks. They have also made working arrangements with Scotch and Irish banks and with similar institutions abroad.

The result of these amalgamations is to give control of immense financial resources to a smaller number of banks. In 1918 the Government appointed a Committee to inquire into the effect of such amalgamations and absorptions. The terms of reference were: "To consider and report to what extent, if at all, amalgamations between banks may affect prejudicially the interests of the industrial and mercantile community, and whether it is desirable that legislation should be introduced to prohibit such amalgamations or to provide safeguards under which they might continue to be permitted"; and the Committee reported: "That legislation be passed requiring that the prior approval of the Government must be obtained before any amalgamations are announced or carried into effect".

In order, however, that such legislation may not have the effect of producing secret amalgamations, the Committee decided that "all proposals for agreements which would alter the status of a bank as regards its separate entity and control, or for purchase by one bank of the shares of another bank, be also submitted for the prior approval of the Government before they are carried out".

Another development is the registration of the British Overseas Bank, Limited, with a nominal capital of £5,000,000. The principal object of this institution is to carry on general banking business in all parts of the world. Four banks—two English, one Scotch, and one having connections with South America—are financially interested in the Overseas Bank.

Banking operations on a considerable scale appear to have been conducted by the ancients, and recent excavations have proved that in the seventh century B.C. banking was practised at Bagdad by a firm of Egibi & Sons. Modern banking, however, must be regarded as having had an independent origin in the reviving civilization of the Middle Ages. In the twelfth century almost the whole trade of Europe was in the hands of the Italian cities, and it was in these that the need of bankers was first felt. The earliest public bank, that of Venice, established in 1171 and existing down to the dissolution of the Republic in 1797, was for some time a bank of deposit only, the Government being responsible for the deposits, and the whole capital being in effect a public loan. In the early periods of the operations of this bank deposits could not be withdrawn, but the depositor had a credit at the bank to the amount deposited, this credit being transferable to another person in place of money payment. Subsequently deposits were allowed to be withdrawn, the original system proving inconvenient outside the Venetian boundaries. It is, however, less from the Bank of Venice than from the Florentine bankers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that modern banking specially dates, the magnitude of their operations being indicated by the fact that between 1430 and 1433, 76 bankers of Florence issued on loan nearly 5,000,000 gold florins. The Bank of St. George at Genoa also furnished a striking chapter in financial history. The important Bank of Amsterdam, taken by Adam Smith as a type of the older banks, was established in 1509, and owed its origin to the fluctuation and uncertainty induced by the clipped and worn currency. The object of the institution (established under guarantee of the city) was to give a certain and unquestionable value to a bill on Amsterdam; and for this purpose the various coins were received in deposit at the bank at their real value in standard coin, less a small charge for recoinage and expense of management. For the amount deposited a credit was opened on the books of the bank, by the transfer of which payments could be made, this so-called bank money being of uniform value as representing money at the mint standard. It bore, therefore, an agio or premium above the worn-coin currency, and it was legally compulsory to make all payments of 600 guilders and upwards in bank money. The deposits were supposed to remain in the coffers of the bank, but they were secretly traded with in the eighteenth century till the collapse of the bank in 1790. Banks of a similar character were established at Nuremberg and other towns, the most important being the Bank of Hamburg, founded in 1619. In England there was no corresponding institution, the London merchants being in the habit of lodging their money at the Mint in the Tower, until Charles I appropriated the whole of it (£200,000) in 1640. Thenceforth they lodged it with the goldsmiths, who began to do banking business in a small way, encouraging deposits by allowing interest for their use, lending money for short periods, discounting bills, &c. The bank-note was first invented and issued in 1690 by the Bank of Stockholm, founded by Palmstruck in 1688, and one of the most successful of banking establishments. About the same time the banks of England and Scotland began to take shape, opening up a new era in the financing of commerce and industry.

Bank of England.—The Bank of England, the most important banking establishment in the world, was projected by William Paterson, who was afterwards the promoter of the disastrous Darien scheme. It was the first public bank in the United Kingdom, and was chartered in 1694 by an Act which, among other things, secured certain recompenses to such persons as should advance the sum of £1,500,000 towards carrying on the war against France. Subscribers to the loan became, under the Act, stockholders, to the amount of their respective subscriptions, in the capital stock of a corporation, denominated the Governor and Company of the Bank of England. The company thus formed advanced to the Government £1,200,000 at an interest of 8 per cent—the Government making an additional bonus or allowance to the bank of £4000 annually for the management of this loan (which, in fact, constituted the capital of the bank), and for settling the interest and making transfers, &c., among the various stockholders. This bank, like that of Venice, was thus originally an engine of the Government, and not a mere commercial establishment. Its capital has been added to from time to time, the original capital of £1,200,000 having increased to £14,553,000 in 1816, since which no further augmentation has taken place. There exists besides, however, a variable 'rest' of over £3,000,000. The charter of the bank was originally granted for eleven years certain, or till a year's notice after 1st Aug., 1705. It was subsequently renewed for various periods in 1697, 1708, 1713, 1742, 1764, 1781, 1800, 1833, and 1844, certain conditions which the bank had to fulfil being specified at each renewal. On this last occasion it was continued till twelve months' notice from 1855. At the same time the issue department of the bank was established as distinct from the general banking department, the sole business entrusted to the former being the issue of notes. By this arrangement the bank was authorized to issue notes to the value of £14,000,000 upon securities specially set apart, the most important of the securities being the sum of £11,015,100 due to the bank by the Government, together with so much of the coin and bullion then held by the bank as was not required by the banking department. The bank has since been permitted to increase its issue on securities to £18,450,000, but for every note that the issue department may issue beyond the total sum of £18,450,000 an equivalent amount of coin or bullion must be paid into the coffers of the bank. For its special privileges the bank has to pay to the Government an annual sum of £180,000, and the profit derived from the issue of notes beyond £14,000,000. The Bank of England notes are practically equivalent to gold. They are (like all English bank-notes) of the value of £5 and upwards, and are legal tender throughout England. Notes once issued by the bank and returned to it are not reissued but are destroyed—a system adopted in order to facilitate the keeping of an account of the numbers of the notes in circulation, and so prevent forgery. On 7th Aug., 1914, Government notes for £1, and ten shillings, were issued convertible into gold at the Bank of England.

In compliance also with the Bank Charter Act of 1844 the bank is compelled to publish a weekly account, of which the following is a specimen:—

Dr. Issue Department. Week ending 11th August, 1920 Cr.

Notes issued £139,980,460 Government debt £11,015,100

Other securities 7,434,900

Gold coin and bullion 121,530,460

Silver bullion ——

£139,980,460 £139,980,460

Dr. Banking Department Cr.

Capital £14,553,000 Government securities £68,250,449

Rest 3,458,795 Other securities 73,805,565

Public deposits 15,999,059 Notes 14,452,665

Other deposits 124,018,988 Gold and silver coin 1,537,092

Seven-day and other bills 15,929

£158,045,771 £158,045,771

The total of the notes given out by the issue department is called the 'issue circulation', the portion of it in the hands of the public being the 'active circulation', and that still in the banking department being the 'note reserve'. This 'note reserve' represents really the amount of bullion in the issue department available for the use of the banking department. Of the other items in the account it may be noted that the proprietors' 'rest' is a varying surplus increased always by accumulated profits up to 5th April and 10th Oct., when the bank dividends are paid to the shareholders; and that the public deposits, which include sums lodged on account of the customs, inland revenue, &c., increase through revenue receipts until the dividend terms in January, April, July, and October. The other or private deposits comprise those of bankers, merchants, and other persons. An increase in these private deposits indicates an increase of monetary ease, while a decrease informs us that bankers, merchants, and traders have calls upon them for money. A better indication of the demand for money is furnished, however, by the advances on commercial securities, and it is by this and the condition of the reserve that the bank rate of discount is regulated. When the reserve is high and the advances moderate the discount rate is low, and it is raised according as the reserve falls and advances are more in request, especially during an adverse foreign exchange and drain of gold. Gold is thus restrained from going abroad, and its influx into the country is encouraged. In addition to the profit which the bank may make by ordinary banking business, by the Bank Act of 1892 and the Revenue Act of 1906, it receives an allowance for the management of the national debt, at the rate of £325 per million on 500 millions, and £100 per million on all debt above that sum. The annual sum is not to be less than £160,000. It also derives a profit from foreign gold coin and bullion brought to it, for which it pays £3, 17s. 9d., or 1½d. per ounce less than the real value.

The management of the bank is in the hands of a governor, deputy-governor, and twenty-four directors, elected by stock-holders who have held £500 of stock for six months previous to the election. A director is required to hold £2000, a deputy-governor £3000, and a governor £4000 of the stock. The court or board of directors meets every Thursday, when the weekly account is presented. The Bank of England has branches in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Leeds, Hull, Bristol, Plymouth, and Portsmouth.

The other English banks consist of numerous joint-stock and private banks in London and the provinces, many of the provincial establishments of both kinds having the right to issue notes. Private banks in London with not more than six partners have never been prevented from issuing notes, but they could not profitably compete with the Bank of England. The maximum issues of the provincial banks are limited to a certain amount, against which they are not compelled to hold gold in reserve, and they have no power to issue against specie in excess of the fixed circulation. Their actual issues are considerably below this amount. No union can take place between a joint-stock bank and a private bank, or between two joint-stock banks of issue, without one of them losing its issue. Their total authorized circulation is about £2,958,900, but the actual circulation of these banks is now only about £1,200,000, being distributed among about eighteen private and about twenty joint-stock banks. The notes of these banks are payable in Bank of England paper. The greater number of joint-stock banks are of limited liability, though their liability in respect of their notes is unlimited. Some of them have a large number of branches. All the joint-stock banks allow interest on money deposited with them. The total paid-up capital and reserves of the English joint-stock banks is about £100,000,000.

Scotland.—In Scotland there are no private banks, the only banks in that portion of the United Kingdom being eight joint-stock banks of issue, and their branches (the Mercantile and Savings not being banks of issue). By the Act of 1845 new banks of issue were prohibited, a monopoly being given to such establishments (nineteen in number) as existed in the year previous to 1st May, 1845. At the same time the issue of each was limited to the amount of its average circulation during that year, together with the specie held at the head office. Any bank issuing notes in excess of this limit is supposed to hold an equivalent amount of gold. The aggregate authorized circulation is now £2,676,350; the average actual circulation is fully £7,000,000. The Bank of Scotland, established by Act of Parliament in 1695, had for its original capital only £100,000, increased to £200,000 in 1744; but it now has a capital of £1,325,000 paid up. It remained the only bank in Scotland till the Royal Bank of Scotland was established in 1727, with an original capital of £151,000, which has grown to £2,000,000 paid up. The British Linen Company was incorporated in 1746, for the purpose of promoting the linen manufacture, but soon became a general banking company; capital, £1,250,000 paid up. These three banks claim to be by their charters banks of limited liability. All the other Scottish banks have been established within the nineteenth century. They are all incorporated by royal charter or Act of Parliament, which enables them to sue and be sued as a corporation, and latterly they have all become banks of limited liability, except that their liability is not to be limited in respect to their note issue. The total paid-up capital of the Scotch banks is £9,300,000. A large number of one-pound notes circulate in Scotland, thus tending to keep the requirements for gold low. From allowing a moderate rate of interest on deposit accounts (although not on current accounts) it is not uncommon for depositors in Scottish banks to lodge their money permanently as an investment; and the habit of keeping an account with a banker is much more general in Scotland than in England, branch offices of the banks being very numerous. Several of the Scotch banks have branch offices in London, but of course they cannot issue their own notes from these offices. The Scotch banks have enjoyed a high reputation for stability, and though public confidence was somewhat shaken by the failure of the Western Bank in 1857, and even more rudely by that of the City of Glasgow Bank in 1878, their shares are generally looked upon as a safe and remunerative investment. Their total deposits amount to fully £107,000,000.

Ireland.—The banks in Ireland consist of one public or national bank, the Bank of Ireland, and of sundry joint-stock and private banks. The authorized note circulation is arranged on the same footing as that of the Scotch banks. If any bank discontinues its issue and issues notes of the Bank of Ireland, the circulation of the latter may be to an equal amount increased. The authorized circulation is £6,354,494; the actual circulation is sometimes a little above, sometimes a little below. The Bank of Ireland, which was established by charter in 1783 with similar privileges to those granted to the Bank of England, has lent the greater portion of its capital to Government. Its capital is £2,769,230 (or £3,000,000 Irish); it has also a rest or reserve of over £1,000,000. The bank allows interest on deposits when lodged for a stated period.

Banque de France.—The Bank of France is second in importance only to the Bank of England. It was established in the beginning of the nineteenth century, at first with a capital of 45,000,000 francs, and with the exclusive privilege in Paris of issuing notes payable to bearer, a privilege which was extended in 1848 to cover the whole of France. It has numerous branches in the larger towns, a number of these having been acquired in 1848, when certain joint-stock banks of issue were by Government decree incorporated with the Bank of France, the capital of which was then increased to 91,250,000 francs (£3,650,000), in 91,250 shares of 1000 francs each. In 1857 the capital was doubled, and besides this it has a large surplus capital or rest. Like the Bank of England, it is a bank of deposit, discount, and circulation, and is a large creditor of the State. The Government appoints the governor and the two deputy-governors, who are all required to be stockholders. There is also a body of fifteen directors and three censors, nominated by the shareholders. The value of its note circulation in March, 1922, was 36,225,852,000 francs.

British Colonies.—With regard to the banks in British colonies little need be said. All the more important are joint-stock concerns, and they are carried on subject to Acts passed by the respective colonial legislatures. Some of them have their head-quarters in London, and have been established by English capital. In Canada the banks are not allowed to issue notes of lower denominations than five dollars, notes for one and two dollars and higher amounts being issued by the Dominion Government; and the banking laws are such that there is no possibility of holders of bank-notes being losers by them. The total paid-up capital of the Canadian banks is about £20,000,000; their total deposits about £135,000,000.

United States.—The more important of the banks of the United States are what are called national banks, established in accordance with an Act passed in 1863. Associations of this kind at starting must invest at least a third of their paid-up capital in Government bonds, which pay them an interest of 4 per cent more or less. They then obtain from the Government bureau, established for the purpose, 90 per cent of paper-money sheets, which they sign and pay out, this constituting their note circulation. These banks pay no interest to depositors. Besides the notes of these banks a large portion of the currency of the United States consists of Government notes issued from the national treasury. There are also banks chartered by the different States and private banks.

Savings-banks are banks established for the receiving of small sums, so as to be taken advantage of by the poorer classes, and they are carried on entirely for the benefit of the depositors. They are of comparatively recent origin, one of the earliest having been an institution in which small sums were received, and interest allowed on them, established by Mrs. Priscilla Wakefield, at Tottenham, near London, in 1803. The first savings-bank in Scotland was formed in 1810 by the Rev. Henry Duncan, of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire. In 1814 the Edinburgh savings-bank was established on the same principles, and the system soon spread over the kingdom. The first Act relating to savings-banks was passed in 1817. By it all deposits in savings-banks, as soon as they reached £50, were placed in the hands of the National Debt Commissioners, who allowed interest on them. In 1824 it was enacted that the deposits for the first year should not exceed £50, nor those in subsequent years £30, the total deposits being limited to £150, and interest ceasing to be paid when accrued interest made the total £200. By the Act of 1893 the limit of annual deposit was raised to £50, and the interest is now rather less than 3 per cent. An Act of 1833 had provided for the purchase of Government annuities by depositors either for life or for a term of years; and an annuity of any amount up to £100 may now be obtained. Depositors in savings-banks (by an Act of 1880) can also have their money invested for them in Government stock, the banks collecting and paying the dividends; and when accrued interest raises an account above £200 the excess is now so invested for the depositor. The total amount invested by one person in Government stock is not to exceed £500, nor £200 in one year. These banks are managed by local trustees having no personal interest in the business, and by certain paid officers. A new class of savings-banks, namely, Post Office Savings-banks, was established in Britain in connection with the money-order department of the Post Office in 1861. Any sum not less than a shilling is received, provided that the total amount banked does not exceed £50 in one year, or more than £200 in all; the excess of accrued interest above this being invested in Government stock. Interest is paid on every complete pound at the rate of 2½ per cent. For the deposits the Government is responsible, and they may be drawn from any Post Office Savings-bank in the kingdom. These savings-banks have become very numerous, and much of the funds formerly in the trustees' savings-banks has been transferred to them. The total amount deposited in the old banks is now about £52,000,000, in the new about £157,600,000. The regulations regarding the purchase of Government stock and annuities correspond with those given above. Savings-banks are now well known in all civilized countries, and the good they have done is incalculable. In the United States there is an enormous amount of money deposited in them. Post Office Savings-banks have been proposed to be established in the States, but have not yet been so. In Canada, Australia, and other British colonies they are established, as well as savings-banks of several other kinds. School savings-banks are the most recent institutions of this kind, and have had a marked effect for good.

Bank Holidays, in England and Ireland, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday, first Monday in August, Christmas and following day, or 27th (if next day is a Sunday); in Scotland, New-Year's Day, first Monday of May and August and Christmas.

Bankrupt (from It. banca rotta 'bank broken' or 'bench broken'. Dr. Johnson said that the word originated from the Italian custom of breaking the bench of an insolvent money-changer; but rotta also means 'interrupted' or 'stopped', and is here used more in the sense of our colloquial word broken, and means 'insolvent'), a person whom the law does or may take cognizance of as unable to pay his debts. Properly it is of narrower signification than insolvent, an insolvent person simply being unable to pay all his debts. In England up till 1861 the term bankrupt was limited to an insolvent trader, and such traders were on a different footing from other insolvent persons, the latter not getting the same legal relief from their debts. In all civilized communities laws have been passed regarding bankruptcy. At present bankruptcy in England is regulated by the Bankruptcy Acts of 1883 and 1890, which have as one chief feature the intervention of the Board of Trade in the proceedings, with the object of obtaining full official supervision and control. A bankruptcy petition may be presented either by a creditor or a debtor. A creditor's petition must be founded on a debt of not less than fifty pounds, due to one or more creditors, and on an 'act of bankruptcy' committed by the debtor within three months before the presentation of the petition. A debtor commits an act of bankruptcy if he makes a conveyance of his property to a trustee for the benefit of his creditors; if he makes a fraudulent transfer of any part of his property; if, to defeat or delay his creditors, he conceal himself either at home or abroad; if execution issued against him has been enforced by seizure and sale of his goods under process in an action in any court; if he files in court a declaration of inability to pay his debts, or presents a bankruptcy petition against himself; if a creditor has obtained a final judgment against him for any amount and he fail to pay the judgment debt without satisfactory reason; or if the debtor gives notice to any of his creditors that he has suspended, or is about to suspend, payment of his debts. In London jurisdiction in bankruptcy now rests with the High Court of Justice, while the county courts continue to have jurisdiction in bankruptcy outside the London district. When the court is satisfied as to the petition, a 'receiving order' is issued to protect the debtor's estate by constituting the official appointed by the Board of Trade receiver of the debtor's property, and to stay the remedies of all creditors until the meeting of creditors. The debtor must make out a full statement of his affairs, accounting as best he can for his insolvency. The official receiver summons the meeting of creditors, a summary of the debtor's affairs being sent to each creditor with the notice of the meeting, which is also advertised in the London Gazette. The creditors must send to the official receiver, one day before the meeting, sworn proofs of their claims to enable them to vote. At the meeting the creditors (unless the debtor's proposal for a composition or scheme be entertained) pass a resolution adjudging the debtor bankrupt, and appoint a trustee of the bankrupt's property, with a committee of inspection selected from their own body to superintend the administration of the bankrupt's property by the trustee, who divides the available realized assets amongst all creditors who have sent sworn proofs of claims. Rates, assessments, and taxes, and all wages or salary of a clerk, servant, labourer, or workman during four months before the date of the receiving order not exceeding £50 are paid in priority to all other debts. The trustee is required to give satisfactory security to the Board of Trade, by which his accounts are audited not less than twice in each year. All moneys received by the trustee under the bankruptcy must be paid forthwith to an account kept at the Bank of England by the Board of Trade, called the 'Bankruptcy Estates Account'. The debtor is bound to be publicly examined upon oath in court, and any creditor who has tendered a proof, or his representative, may take part in the examination. Until the debtor has passed his public examination he cannot apply for an order of discharge, and upon proof of misdemeanour the court refuses or suspends the discharge. A discharged bankrupt is disqualified for five years from acting as member of Parliament, justice of peace, alderman, overseer of the poor, county councillor, or as a member of any school, highway, or burial board. An undischarged bankrupt obtaining credit to the extent of £20 or upwards from any person, without informing such person of his status, is guilty of a misdemeanour. By the Act of 1883 the creditors may at the first meeting resolve to entertain a proposal for a composition or scheme of arrangement of the debtor's affairs, but the composition or scheme shall not be binding on the creditors, unless confirmed at a second meeting by a majority in number representing three-fourths in value of all the creditors who have proved. The composition or scheme has then to be formally brought before the court for approval, which may be refused. A composition or scheme may be sanctioned by the court after the debtor's adjudication as a bankrupt, and in this case the bankruptcy is annulled. Though imprisonment for debt has been abolished, fraudulent bankrupts may be punished, and the conduct of prosecutions for offences arising out of any bankruptcy proceeding falls to the public prosecutor. The estates of persons dying insolvent may be administered according to the law of bankruptcy. The Act of 1913 embodies suggestions of the Bankruptcy Law Amendment Committee of 1906. Thus, the Summary Jurisdiction Act can now be applied to offenders under the Debtors' Act. Whereas previously conviction for such offences as failure to keep proper accounts and concealment of debt could only be by trial before a jury, they are punishable after summary trial before a stipendiary magistrate or justice of the peace, the onus of proving innocence falling on the debtor. A married woman, too, may be made bankrupt even if not trading separately from her husband.

According to Scots law bankruptcy is notorious insolvency, that is, a public acknowledgment of inability to discharge obligations. By a judicial proceeding, called sequestration, authorized by the Court of Session or sheriff court, on the petition of the debtor himself with the concurrence of one creditor swearing to a debt of £50, two whose debts together amount to £70, or of any number of creditors whose debts together amount to £100; or on the petition of a creditor or creditors to the foregoing extent without the concurrence of the debtor, if he has clearly shown himself to be insolvent (or a notour bankrupt), the whole estates and effects of the debtor, real and personal, are legally taken for behoof of the creditors. The debtor's estate is then made over to a trustee chosen by the creditors, the trustee being charged to bring the whole estate into the form of money, with certain precautions, and to receive, investigate, and reject or admit the claims of the creditors, subject to review of the Court of Session or sheriff court by summary petition. The debtor, and all who can give information as to the estate, must submit to public examination on oath before the sheriff of the county, and the debtor may thereafter, or by petition after six, twelve, or eighteen months from sequestration, be discharged of all debts by the court with consent of the creditors or a number of them, or at the expiry of two years without consent. These proceedings may be partly superseded by 'composition' if such be assented to by a majority in number and nine-tenths in value of creditors, or by a majority in number and four-fifths in value of the creditors, according to the period at which such arrangement may be proposed. They may also be terminated by a deed of arrangement entered into between the bankrupt and a majority in number and four-fifths in value of his creditors, approved of by the court. Before a discharge is given there must be a report from the trustee as to the conduct of the bankrupt, whether he has complied with the provisions of the Act, whether his bankruptcy is culpable or not, &c. Before the abolition of imprisonment for ordinary civil debts by Act passed in 1880, an insolvent debtor often took advantage of a form of process by which, on making a complete cessio bonorum, or surrender to his creditors of all his property, he might obtain protection from imprisonment. Though no person can now be imprisoned for ordinary debts, a creditor of a notour bankrupt may present a petition to the sheriff, praying him to decern that the debtor assign over all his goods for behoof of his creditors and that a trustee be appointed; and this proceeding is still designated a process of cessio bonorum. The Act of 1880 also provides for the better punishment of fraudulent debtors in Scotland. If the debtor's liabilities exceed £200, the sheriff may award sequestration of the debtor's estate instead of cessio bonorum. There is no appeal from the sheriff's decision with respect to discharge.

In Ireland there is a special code of bankruptcy contained in special Acts, differing to some extent from the regulations prevailing both in England and Scotland. Thus in Ireland it is not an offence for an undischarged bankrupt to obtain credit to any amount without disclosing the fact of his bankruptcy. All bankruptcy business comes before the court at Dublin, Belfast, or Cork. Imprisonment for debt was abolished in 1872.

Official returns in Great Britain show a tendency towards a smaller number of failures, but a larger amount of money is involved.

In the different British colonies the laws regulating bankruptcy naturally differ, and the same is the case with the individual States of the American Union, though Congress has the power of legislating for the whole country in regard to this, and has oftener than once done so.—Bibliography: H. Goudy, Treatise of the Law of Bankruptcy in Scotland; Sir R. H. J. Palgrave, Dictionary of Political Economy; E. T. Baldwin, The Law of Bankruptcy and Bills of Sale; Sir R. L. V. Williams, The Law and Practice of Bankruptcy; R. Ringwood, The Principles of Bankruptcy.

Banks, Sir Joseph, Baronet, a distinguished naturalist, born in London 1743. After studying at Harrow and Eton he went to Oxford in 1760, and formed there amongst his fellow-undergraduates a voluntary class in botany, &c. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1766, and soon after went to Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay to collect plants. In 1768, with Dr. Solander, a Swedish gentleman, pupil of Linnæus, and then assistant librarian at the British Museum, he accompanied Cook's expedition as naturalist. In 1772 he visited Iceland along with Dr. Solander, and during this voyage the Hebrides were examined, and the columnar formation of the rocks of Staffa first made known to geologists. In 1777 Banks was chosen President of the Royal Society, and in 1781 was made a baronet, and in 1795 received the Order of the Bath. He wrote only essays, papers for learned societies, and short treatises. He died in 1820, and bequeathed his collections to the British Museum.

Banks, Thomas, an English sculptor, born in 1735, died in 1805. He studied sculpture in the Royal Academy, where he obtained the gold medal for a bas-relief of the Rape of Proserpine. In 1772 he went to Italy, where he executed several excellent pieces, particularly Cupid tormenting a Butterfly, which was afterwards purchased by the Empress Catherine. On leaving Italy he spent two unsatisfactory years in Russia, and then returned to England, where he was soon after made an Academician. One of his best-known works is Shakespeare attended by Painting and Poetry. Among his other works was a colossal statue—Achilles mourning the loss of Briseis—in the hall of the British Institution, and the monument of Sir Eyre Coote in Westminster Abbey. His bust of Warren Hastings is in the National Gallery.

Bank´sia (named after Sir Joseph Banks), a genus of Australian shrubs and trees, order Proteaceæ, with leathery leaves generally dark-green on the upper surface and pale below, often cultivated in conservatories for their peculiar foliage and flowers. They are named "honeysuckles" by the colonists, from the honey the flowers contain.

Banks´ring. See Banxring.

Bankura´, a town of Bengal, on the Dhalkisor River, healthy and with a considerable trade Pop. 21,000.

Bann, Upper and Lower, two rivers in the N. of Ireland, the former rising in the mountains of Mourne, County Down, and, after flowing 38 miles in a northerly direction, falling into Lough Neagh, the latter being the outlet of Lough Neagh, and falling into the Atlantic Ocean 4 miles below Coleraine, after a course of nearly 40 miles.

Ban´natyne Club, a literary society instituted in Edinburgh (1823) by Sir Walter Scott (its first president), David Laing (secretary till its dissolution in 1861), Archibald Constable, and Thomas Thomson. It started with thirty-one members, subsequently extended to 100, having as its object the printing of rare works on Scottish history, literature, geography, &c. It derived its name from George Bannatyne (1545-1609), the collector of the famous MS. of early Scottish poetry.

Ban´neret, formerly, in England, a knight made on the field of battle as a reward for bravery, with the ceremony of cutting off the point of his pennon and making it a banner. The first banneret in England was made by King Edward I, and the last (John Smith) by Charles I after the battle of Edgehill in 1642.

Ban´nock, a cake made of oatmeal, barley-meal, or peasemeal baked on an iron plate or griddle over the fire. From a supposed resemblance the turbot is sometimes called in Scotland the Bannock-fluke.

Bannockburn, a village of Scotland, in Stirlingshire, 2 miles S.E. Stirling, famous for the decisive battle in which King Robert Bruce of Scotland defeated Edward II of England, on the 24th June, 1314. It has manufactures of woollens, such as tartans, carpets, &c.; pop. 4103.

Banns of Marriage, public notice of the intended celebration of a marriage given either by proclamation, viva voce, by a clergyman, session-clerk, or precentor in some religious assembly, or by posting up written notice in some public place. Dissent of parents or guardians renders null and void the publication of the banns of minors. In France the banns must be published on two distinct Sundays, and the marriage cannot take place until three days after the second publication. In America the practice is confined to the Roman Catholics, although it is still recognized in the statutes of some of the States.

Bannu, a district in the north-west of Hindustan, traversed by the Indus; area, 3847 sq. miles; pop. 390,000, nearly half being Afghans.

Banquette (bang-ket´) in fortification, the elevation of earth behind a parapet, on which the garrison or defenders may stand. The height of the parapet above the banquette is usually about 4 feet 6 inches; the breadth of the banquette from 2½ or 3 feet to 4 or 6 feet, according to the number of ranks to occupy it. It is frequently made double, that is, a second is made still lower.

Banshee´, or Benshi´, a fairy woman believed in Ireland and some parts of Scotland to attach herself to a particular house, and to appear or make her presence known by wailing before the death of one of the family.

Ban´tam, a residency occupying the whole of the W. end of the Island of Java. It formed an independent kingdom, governed by its own sultan, till 1683, and the Dutch exercised suzerainty with brief intermission until its formal incorporation by them at the beginning of last century. It produces rice, coffee, sugar, cinnamon, &c. Serang is its capital. The town Bantam was the first Dutch settlement in Java (1595), and for some time their principal mart, though now not so prosperous.

Ban´tam Fowl, a small but spirited breed of domestic fowl, first brought from the East Indies, supposed to derive its name from Bantam in Java. Most of the sub-varieties have feathered legs; but these are not to be preferred. In point of colour the black and nankeen varieties are the best. A well-bred bantam does not weigh more than a pound.

Banteng´ (Bos Banteng or Sondaicus), a wild species of ox, native of Java and Borneo, having a black body, slender white legs, short sleek hair, sharp muzzle, and the back humped behind the neck.

Banting System, a course of diet for reducing superfluous fat, adopted and recommended in 1863 by W. Banting of London. The dietary recommended was the use of butcher-meat principally, and abstinence from beer, farinaceous food, and vegetables. See Corpulence.

Ban´try, a seaport near the head of Bantry Bay, County Cork, Ireland. Pop. 3159.—The bay, one of three large inlets at the S.W. extremity of Ireland, affords an unsurpassed anchorage, and is about 25 miles long by 4 to 6 broad, and from 10 to 40 fathoms deep, with no dangerous rocks or shoals.

Bantu (bän-tö´), the ethnological name of a group of African races below about 6° N. latitude, and including the Kaffirs, Zulus, Bechuanas, the tribes of the Loango, Congo, &c., but not the Hottentots.—Bibliography: Deniker, Races of Man; J. Roscoe, The Northern Bantu.

Banu. See Bannu.

Banx´ring (genus Tapaia), a quadruped belonging to the Insectivora, inhabiting the Indian Archipelago, bearing some resemblance externally to a squirrel, but having a long pointed snout.

Ban´yan (Ficus benghalensis), a tree of India, of the fig genus. The most peculiar feature of this tree is its method of throwing out from the horizontal branches supports which take root as soon as they reach the ground, enlarge into trunks, and, extending branches in their turn, soon cover a prodigious extent of ground. A celebrated banyan tree has been known to shelter 7000 men beneath its shade. The wood is soft and porous, and from its white glutinous juice bird-lime is sometimes prepared. Both juice and bark are regarded by the Hindus as valuable medicines, and the tree itself is sacred. The banyan tree is described by Southey in his poem The Curse of Kehama.

Ba´obab (Adansonia digitāta) or Monkey-bread Tree, a tree belonging to the nat. ord. (or sub-ord.) Bombaceæ, and the best-known species of its genus, which was named after the naturalist Adanson. Though not tall, it is one of the bulkiest of trees, its trunk sometimes measuring 30 feet in diameter, and as the profusion of leaves and drooping boughs sometimes almost hides the stem, the whole forms a hemispherical mass of verdure 140 to 150 feet in diameter and 60 to 70 feet high. It is a native of the African savannahs, and is cultivated in many of the warmer parts of the world. The roots are of extraordinary length, a tree 77 feet in girth having a tap-root 110 feet in length. The leaves are deep green, divided into five unequal parts lanceolate in shape, and radiating from a common centre. The flowers resemble the white poppy, having snowy petals and violet-coloured stamens; and the fruit, which is large and of an oblong shape, is said to taste like gingerbread, with a pleasant acid flavour. The wood is pale-coloured, light, and contains a large store of water, which enables the tree to withstand prolonged drought. The tree is liable to be attacked by a fungus which, growing in the woody part, renders it soft and pithlike. By the negroes of the west coast these trunks are hollowed into chambers, and dead bodies are suspended in them. There they become perfectly dry and well preserved, without further preparation or embalming. The baobab is emollient and mucilaginous; the pulverized leaves constitute lalo, which the natives mix with their daily food.

Bapaume, a French town in the department of Pas-de-Calais. It has been the scene of several battles. In 1793 the French were compelled by the allied troops to abandon the place, and in the Franco-German war one of the most closely-contested battles was fought there on 3rd Jan., 1871. Bapaume, occupied by the Germans in the European War, was recaptured by British troops on 29th Aug., 1918, the great battle of Bapaume having begun on 21st Aug. Pop. (1911) 2917.

Baph´omet, the imaginary idol or symbol which the Templars were accused of employing in their mysterious rites, and of which little is known. The word is supposed to be a corruption of Mahomet, to whose faith the Templars were accused of having a leaning. See Gnosticism.

Baptism (from the Gr. baptizō, from baptō, to immerse or dip), a rite which is generally thought to have been usual with the Jews even before Christ, being administered to proselytes. All that can be said, however, with some certainty is that the Jewish baptism was not of later origin than the Christian baptism. Anyhow, from this baptism that of St. John the Baptist differed, because he baptized Jews also as a symbol of the necessity of perfect purification from sin. Christ himself never baptized, but directed his disciples to administer this rite to converts (Mat. xxviii, 19); and baptism, therefore, became a religious ceremony among Christians, taking rank as a sacrament with all sects which acknowledge sacraments. It should, however, be borne in mind that among many peoples a rite is found which has considerable likeness to Christian baptism. In the primitive Church the person to be baptized was dipped in a river or in a vessel, with the words which Christ had ordered, generally adopting a new name further to express the change. Sprinkling, or, as it was termed, clinic baptism, was used only in the case of the sick who could not leave their beds. The Greek Church and Eastern schismatics retained the custom of immersion; but the Western Church adopted or allowed the mode of baptism by pouring or sprinkling, since continued by most Protestants. This practice can be traced back certainly to the third century, before which its existence is disputed. Since the Reformation there have been various Protestant sects called Baptists, holding that baptism should be administered only by immersion, and to those who can make a personal profession of faith. The Montanists in Africa baptized even the dead, and in Roman Catholic countries the practice of baptizing church bells—a custom of tenth-century origin—continues to this day. Being an initiatory rite, baptism is only administered once to the same person. The Roman and Greek Catholics consecrate the water of baptism, but Protestants do not. The act of baptism is accompanied only with the formula that the person is baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but, among most Christians, it is preceded by a confession of faith made by the person to be baptized if an adult, and by his parents or sponsors if he be a child. The Roman Catholic form of baptism is far more elaborate than the Protestant. This Church teaches that all persons not baptized are damned, and that even unbaptized infants are not admitted into Heaven; but for those whose chief fault was that they had not been baptized, even St. Augustine himself believed in a species of mitigated damnation. Protestants hold that though the neglect of the sacrament is a sin, yet the saving new birth may be found without the performance of the rite which symbolizes it. Naming the person baptized forms no essential part of the ceremony, but has become almost universal, probably from the ancient custom of renaming the catechumen.—Bibliography: E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture (vol. ii); S. Baring-Gould, Origin and Development of Religious Belief; J. E. Hanaver, Baptism, Jewish and Christian; Harnack, History of Dogma; article Baptism in Encyclopedia of Ethics and Religion; Corblet, Histoire du Sacrément du Baptême; P. Mauro, Baptism: its place and importance in Christianity.

Bap´tistery, a building or a portion of a building in which is administered the rite of baptism. In the early Christian Church the baptistery was distinct from the basilica or church, but was situated near its west end, and was generally circular or octagonal in form, and dome-roofed. About the end of the sixth century the baptistery began to be absorbed into the church, the font being placed within and not far from the western door. Some detached baptisteries still remain in use, as those of the Lateran, Rome (the earliest in existence), at Pisa, Parma, Ravenna, Aquileia, Siena, Florence, &c., that of Florence being 108 feet in diameter externally, and richly decorated. Baptisteries were dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

Bap´tists, a Protestant sect, distinguished by their opinions respecting the mode and subjects of baptism. With regard to the mode, they maintain the necessity of immersion, and with regard to the subjects, they consider that baptism ought not to be administered to children at all, nor to adults in general, but to those only who profess repentance and faith. They are sometimes called Anti-pædobaptists, to express their variance from those who defend infant baptism, and who are called Pædobaptists. Apart from the special sect of that name, Baptists are to be found equally among Calvinists and Arminians, Trinitarians and Unitarians. The Baptists as a whole adopt the Independent or Congregational form of church government, and their ecclesiastical assemblies are held for the purpose of mutual stimulus and intercourse, and not for the general government of the body, or for interference with individual churches. The Particular Baptists of England (so called from believing that Christ died only for the elect), the Baptists of Scotland and Ireland, the Associated Baptists of America, and some of the Seventh-day Baptists, are Calvinistic. The other classes, such as the General Baptists (who believe that Christ died for all), are Arminian, or at least not Calvinistic. Most Baptists profess to be Trinitarians. The Free-will Baptists, the Christian Society, and most of the General Baptists of England admit of open communion; the other bodies decline communion with any Christians but Baptists. The Associated or Calvinistic Baptists long ranked in the United States as the most numerous denomination of Christians. The Seventh-day Baptists, or Sabbatarians, observe the seventh day of the week. The Free-will Baptists profess the doctrine of free salvation. The Anabaptists of the Reformation period are not to be confounded with the Baptists, by whom their principles were expressly disclaimed. The first regular Baptist Church appears to have been formed in the reign of Elizabeth, but we may date their first public acknowledgment as distinct from the Anabaptists from their petition to Parliament in 1620. The year 1633 provides the earliest record of the formation of a Particular Baptist Church in London. In 1689 a Baptist General Assembly, held in London, formulated a confession of thirty-two articles and a catechism. The Baptist Union, formed in 1832, comprehends the greater number of members of the sect in Great Britain and Ireland. In July, 1905, a world-congress of Baptists was held in London, and the Baptist World Alliance was constituted. The total number of members of Baptist Churches in the United Kingdom was 405,104 in 1922, and 408,029 in 1920. There are nine colleges for training ministers, of which the chief are: Bristol Baptist College; Regent's Park; Rawdon, Bradford; and the Metropolitan Pastors' College. The Regular Baptists in the United States numbered 7,504,447 members in 1922, and nearly 6,000,000 in 1920, in addition to which there are Anti-mission Baptists, Free-will Baptists, and Seventh-day Baptists. In Canada there are in all about 128,730 Baptists.—Bibliography: H. C. Vedder, A Short History of the Baptists; A. H. Newman, History of the Baptist Churches in the United States; The Baptist Handbook (annually); The American Baptist Year-book (annually); W. E. MacIntyre, Baptist Churches, 1500-1914.

Bar, in law, the railing that encloses the place which counsel occupy in courts of justice; hence the phrase, at the bar of the court, that is, in open court. Hence also persons duly admitted as pleaders or advocates before the courts of England are denominated barristers (see Barrister), and the whole body of such barristers or advocates are called the bar. The enclosed place or dock in which persons accused of crimes stand in court is also called the bar. Near the door of both Houses of Parliament there is also a bar, beyond which none but the members and clerks are admitted, and at which counsel, witnesses, offenders against privilege, &c., are heard.

Bar, in music, is a line drawn through the stave to mark the rhythm of small portions; the notes composing these are also called a bar.

Bar, in heraldry, an ordinary resembling the fesse, stretching like it horizontally across the shield but narrower.

Bar, Confederation of. See Poland.

Bar´aba, the name of a great steppe in the West Siberian governments of Tomsk, Akmolinsk, and Tobolsk.

Barabin´zians, a rude, uncultivated tribe of Tartars, living on the banks of the River Irtish, and subsisting chiefly on the produce of their herds and on fish supplied by the lakes of the Baraba steppe.

Baraguey-d'Hilliers (ba˙-ra˙-gā-dēl-yā),Louis, a distinguished French general under the first Empire, born in Paris, 1764. After serving under Custine and other generals he joined the army of Italy, and took Bergamo and Venice, of which he became Governor. He took part in the expedition to Egypt, served in the campaigns in Germany and Spain, and commanded a division of the "Great Army" in the Russian campaign of 1812. He was entrusted with the direction of the vanguard in the retreat, but was compelled to capitulate. Napoleon ordered him to return to France as under arrest, but, overcome with grief and fatigue, he died at Berlin on the way, Dec., 1812.

Baranovitchi, a town in Russia, government of Minsk. A battle was fought here between the Russians and the Germans in July, 1916. See European War.

Barb, a horse of the Barbary breed, introduced by the Moors into Spain, and of great speed, endurance, and docility.

Bar´bacan, or Barbican, generally an advanced work defending the entrance to a castle or fortified town, as before the gate or drawbridge, and often of formidable size and strength.

Barba´does, or Barbados, the most eastern of the West India Islands, first mentioned in 1518, and occupied by the British in 1625. Length, 21 miles; breadth, 13; area, 106,470 acres or 166 sq, miles, about 74,000 being under cultivation. It is divided into eleven Church of England parishes; capital, Bridgetown. It is one of the most densely-populated areas in the world, the population in 1917 being estimated at 186,656, or nearly 1100 to the square mile. The climate is very hot, though moderated by the constant trade-winds; and the island is subject to dreadful hurricanes. The surface is broken, now without forests, and with few streams; the highest point is 1145 feet above the sea-level. There are few indigenous mammals or birds. The black lowland soil gives great returns of sugar in favourable seasons. The chief exports, besides sugar, are molasses and rum; imports: rice, salt meat, corn, butter, flour, &c. Both exports and imports were over £2,000,000 in 1918. Barbadoes has a considerable transit trade, being in some measure the central mart for all the Windward Islands. It is the see of a bishop and the head-quarters of the British forces in the West Indies. There is a railway across the island, also tramways, telephones, &c. The island forms a distinct government under a Governor, an Executive and a Legislative Council of 9 members, and a House of Assembly of 24 members. Liberal provision is made for education both by old foundations and by annual vote.

Barbadoes Leg, a form of elephantiasis.

Bar´bara, St., according to the legend, belonged to Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, and was beheaded by her father for having turned Christian, he being immediately thereafter struck dead by lightning. The latter part of this legend caused her, probably, to be invoked in storms, and to be considered the patron saint of artillerists.

Barbarelli. See Giorgione.

Barbarian (Gk. barbaros), a name given by the Greeks, and afterwards by the Romans, to everyone who spoke an unintelligible language; and hence coming to connote the idea of rude, illiterate, uncivilized. This word, therefore, did not always convey the idea of something odious or savage; thus a Greek character in Plautus calls Nævius a barbarous poet, because he had not written in Greek; and Cicero terms illiterate persons without taste 'barbarians'.

Barbarossa ('red-beard'), the name of two famous Turkish corsairs of the sixteenth century, who ravaged the shores of the Mediterranean, and established themselves in Algiers. The elder of the brothers, Aruch or Horuk, was killed in 1518; the younger and more notorious, Hayraddin, who captured Tunis, died in 1546. See Frederick Barbarossa.

Bar´bary, a general name for the most northerly portion of Africa, extending about 2600 miles from Egypt to the Atlantic, with a breadth varying from about 140 to 550 miles, comprising Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya (Tripolitania, Barqa, and Fezzan). The principal races are: the Berbers, the original inhabitants, from whom the country takes its name; the Arabs, who conquered an extensive portion of it during the times of the caliphs; the Bedouins, Jews, Turks, and the French colonists of Algeria, &c. The country, which was prosperous under the Carthaginians, was, next to Egypt, the richest of the Roman provinces, and the Italian States enriched themselves by their intercourse with it. In the fifteenth century, however, it became infested with adventurers who made the name of Barbary corsair a terror to commerce, a condition of things finally removed by the French occupation of Algeria.

Barbary Ape (Inŭus ecaudātus), a species of ape, or tailless monkey, with greenish-brown hair, of the size of a large cat, remarkable for docility, also called the magot. It is common in Barbary and other parts of Africa, and some used to live formerly on Gibraltar Rock, being the only European monkey, though probably not indigenous. It has been the 'showman's ape' from time immemorial.

Bar´bastel, or Barbastelle, a bat with hairy lips (Barbastellus commūnis), a native of England.

Barbas´tro, a city, Spain, Arragon, province of Huesca, with an interesting cathedral, and some trade and manufactures. Pop. 7202.

Bar´bauld, Anna Letitia, English poet and general writer, was born in Leicestershire, 1743, daughter of a Presbyterian minister named Aikin. She published a small volume of miscellaneous poems in 1772, and in 1773, in conjunction with her brother, Dr. John Aikin, a collection of pieces in prose. In 1774 she married the Rev. Rochemont Barbauld. Her Early Lessons and Hymns for Children, and various essays and poems, won considerable popularity. She edited a collection of English novels, with critical and biographical notices; a selection from the British essayists of the reign of Anne, and another from Richardson's correspondence. Her last long poem, Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, appeared in 1812. She died at Stoke-Newington, 1825.

Bar´becue, a word of West Indian origin, meaning a hog, or other large animal, roasted whole. In the United States the word means a large gathering of people in the open air, for a social or political feast, where whole animals are roasted and eaten.