Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 8
You’re reading novel Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 8 online at LightNovelFree.com. Please use the follow button to get notification about the latest chapter next time when you visit LightNovelFree.com. Use F11 button to read novel in full-screen(PC only). Drop by anytime you want to read free – fast – latest novel. It’s great if you could leave a comment, share your opinion about the new chapters, new novel with others on the internet. We’ll do our best to bring you the finest, latest novel everyday. Enjoy!
BADHAM, CHARLES (1813-1884), English scholar, was born at Ludlow, in Shrops.h.i.+re, on the 18th of July 1813. His father, Charles Badham, translator of Juvenal and an excellent cla.s.sical scholar, was regius professor of physic at Glasgow; his mother was a cousin of Thomas Campbell, the poet. When about seven [v.03 p.0189] years old, Badham was sent to Switzerland, where he became a pupil of Pestalozzi. He was afterwards transferred to Eton, and in 1830 was elected to a scholars.h.i.+p at Wadham College, Oxford, but only obtained a third cla.s.s in cla.s.sics (1836), a failure which may have been due to his dislike of the methods of study then in fas.h.i.+on at Oxford, at a time when cla.s.sical scholars.h.i.+p was in a very unsatisfactory condition. Shortly after taking his degree in 1837 Badham went to Italy, where he occupied himself in the study of ancient MSS., in particular those of the Vatican library. It was here that he began a life-long friends.h.i.+p with G. C. Cobet. He afterwards spent some time in Germany, and on his return to England was incorporated M.A. at Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1847. Having taken holy orders, he was appointed headmaster of Louth grammar school, Lincolns.h.i.+re (1851-1854), and subsequently headmaster of Edgbaston proprietary school, near Birmingham. In the interval he had taken the degree of D.D. at Cambridge (1852). In 1860 he received the honorary degree of doctor of letters at the university of Leiden. In 1866 he left England to take up the professors.h.i.+p of cla.s.sics and logic in Sydney University, which he held until his death on the 26th of February 1884. He was twice married. Dr Badham's cla.s.sical attainments were recognized by the most famous European critics, such as G. C. Cobet, Ludwig Preller, W. Dindorf, F. W. Schneidewin, J. A. F. Meineke, A. Ritschl and Tischendorf. Like many schoolmasters who are good scholars and even good teachers, he was not a professional success; and his hasty temper and dislike of anything approaching disingenuousness may have stood in the way of his advancement. But it is strange that a scholar and textual critic of his eminence and of European reputation should have made comparatively little mark in his native country. He published editions of Euripides, _Helena_ and _Iphigenia in Tauris_ (1851), _Ion_ (1851); Plato's _Philebus_ (1855, 1878); _Laches_ and _Euthydemus_ (1865), _Phaedrus_ (1851), _Symposium_ (1866) and _De Platonis Epistolis_ (1866). He also contributed to _Mnemosyne_ (Cobet's journal) and other cla.s.sical periodicals. His _Adhortatio ad Discipulos Academiae Sydniensis_ (1869) contains a number of emendations of Thucydides and other cla.s.sical authors. He also published an article on "The Text of Shakespere" in _Cambridge Essays_ (1856); _Criticism applied to Shakespere_ (1846); _Thoughts on Cla.s.sical and Commercial Education_ (1864).
A collected edition of his _Speeches and Lectures delivered in Australia_ (Sydney, 1890) contains a memoir by Thomas Butler.
BADIUS, JODOCUS or JOSSE (1462-1535), sometimes called BADIUS ASCENSIUS from the village of Asche, near Brussels, where he was born, an eminent printer at Paris, whose establishment was celebrated under the name of _Prelum Ascensianum_. He was himself a scholar of considerable repute, had studied at Brussels and Ferrara, and before settling in Paris, had taught Greek for several years at Lyons. He ill.u.s.trated with notes several of the cla.s.sics which he printed, and was the author of numerous pieces, amongst which are a life of Thomas a Kempis, and a satire on the follies of women, ent.i.tled _Navicula Stultarum Mulierum_.
BADLESMERE, BARTHOLOMEW, BARON (1275-1322), English n.o.bleman, was the son and heir of Gunselm de Badlesmere (d. 1301), and fought in the English army both in France and Scotland during the later years of the reign of Edward I. In 1307 he became governor of Bristol Castle, and afterwards Edward II.
appointed him steward of his household; but these marks of favour did not prevent him from making a compact with some other n.o.blemen to gain supreme influence in the royal council. Although very hostile to Earl Thomas of Lancaster, Badlesmere helped to make peace between the king and the earl in 1318, and was a member of the middle party which detested alike Edward's minions, like the Despensers, and his violent enemies like Lancaster. The king's conduct, however, drew him to the side of the earl, and he had already joined Edward's enemies when, in October 1321, his wife, Margaret de Clare, refused to admit Queen Isabella to her husband's castle at Leeds in Kent. The king captured the castle, seized and imprisoned Lady Badlesmere, and civil war began. After the defeat of Lancaster at Boroughbridge, Badlesmere was taken and hanged at Canterbury on the 14th of April 1322. His son and heir, Giles, died without children in 1338.
BADMINTON, or GREAT BADMINTON, a village in the southern parliamentary division of Gloucesters.h.i.+re, England, 100 m. W. of London by the Great Western railway (direct line to south Wales). Here is Badminton House, the seat of the dukes of Beaufort, standing in a park some 10 m. in circ.u.mference. The manor of Badminton was acquired in 1608 from Nicolas Boteler (to whose family it had belonged for several centuries) by Thomas, Viscount Somerset (d. 1650 or 1651), third son of Edward, 4th earl of Worcester, and was given by his daughter and heiress Elizabeth to Henry Somerset, 3rd marquess of Worcester and 1st duke of Beaufort (1629-1699), who built the present mansion (1682) on the site of the old manor house. It is a stone building in Palladian style, and contains a number of splendid paintings and much fine wood-carving. The parish church of St. Michael stands close to it. This is a Grecian building (1785), with a richly ornamented ceiling and inlaid altar-pavement; it also contains much fine sculpture in the memorials to former dukes, and is the burial-place of Field Marshal Lord Raglan, who was the youngest son of the 5th duke of Beaufort. Raglan Castle, near Monmouth, now a beautiful ruin, was the seat of the earls and the 1st marquess of Worcester, until it was besieged by the Parliamentarians in 1646, and after its capitulation was dismantled.
BADMINTON, a game played with rackets and shuttlec.o.c.ks, its name being taken from the duke of Beaufort's seat in Gloucesters.h.i.+re. The game appears to have been first played in England about 1873, but before that time it was played in India, where it is still very popular. The Badminton a.s.sociation in England was founded in 1895, and its laws were framed from a code of rules drawn up in 1887 for the Bath Badminton Club and based on the original Poona (1876) rules. In England the game is almost always played in a covered court. The All England champions.h.i.+ps for gentlemen's doubles, ladies' doubles, and mixed doubles were inst.i.tuted in 1899, and for gentlemen's singles and ladies' singles in 1900; and the first champions.h.i.+p between England and Ireland was played in 1904. Badminton may be played by daylight or by artificial light, either with two players on each side (the four-handed or double game) or with one player on each side (the two-handed or single game). The game consists entirely of volleying and is extremely fast, a single at Badminton being admitted to require more staying power than a single at lawn tennis. There is much scope for judgment and skill, _e.g._ in "dropping" (hitting the shuttle gently just over the net) and in "smas.h.i.+ng" (hitting the shuttle with a hard downward stroke). The measurements of the court are shown on the accompanying plan.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
_Diagram of Court._--In the two-handed game, the width of the court is reduced to 17 ft. and the long service lines are dispensed with, the back boundary lines being used as the long service lines, and the lines dividing the half courts being produced to meet the back boundary lines. The net posts are placed either on the side boundary lines or at any distance not exceeding 2 ft. outside the said lines; thus in the four-handed game, the distance between the posts is from 20 to 24 ft., and in the two-handed fame, from 17 to 21 ft. _N.B._--With the exception of the net line, the dotted lines on the court apply only to the court for the two-handed game.
The Badminton hall should be not less than 18 ft. high. Along the net line is stretched a net 30 in. deep, from 17 to 24 ft. long according to the position of the posts, and edged on the top with white tape 3 in. wide. The top of the net should be 5 ft. from [v.03 p.0190] the ground at the centre and 5 ft. 1 in. at the posts. The shuttlec.o.c.k (or shuttle) has 16 feathers from 2 to 2 in. long, and weighs from 73 to 85 grains. The racket (which is of no specified size, shape or weight) is strung with strong fine gut and weighs as a rule about 6 oz.
The game is for 15 or, rarely, for 21 aces, except in ladies' singles, when it is for 11 aces; and a rubber is the best of three games. Games of 21 aces are played only and always in matches decided by a single game, and generally in handicap contests. The right to choose ends or to serve first in the first game of the rubber is decided by tossing. If the side which wins the toss chooses first service, the other side chooses ends, and vice versa; but the side which wins the toss may call upon the other side to make first choice. The sides change ends at the beginning of the second game, and again at the beginning of the third game, if a third game is necessary. In the third game the sides change ends when the side which is leading reaches 8 in a game of 15 aces, and 6 in a game of 11 aces, or, in handicap games, when the score of either side reaches half the number of aces required to win the game. In matches of one game (21 aces) the sides change ends when the side which is leading has scored 11 aces. The side winning a game serves first in the next game, and, in the four-handed game, either player on the side that has won the last game may take first service in the next game.
In a game of 15 aces, when the score is "13 all" the side which first reaches 13 has the option of "setting" the game to 5, and when the score is "14 all" the side which first reaches 14 has the option of "setting" the game to 3, _i.e._ the side which first scores 5 or 3 aces, according as the game has been "set" at "13 all" or "14 all," wins. In ladies' singles, when the score is "9 all" the side first reaching 9 may "set" the game to 5, and when the score is "10 all" the side which first reaches 10 may "set" the game to 3. In games of 21 aces, the game may be "set" to 5 at "19 all" and to 3 at "20 all." There is no "setting" in handicap games.
In the four-handed game, the player who serves first stands in his right-hand half court and serves to the player who is standing in the opposite right-hand half court, the other players meanwhile standing anywhere on their side of the net. As soon as the shuttle is. .h.i.t by the server's racket, all the players may stand anywhere on their side of the net. If the player served to returns the shuttle, _i.e._ hits it into any part of his opponents' court before it touches the ground, it has to be returned by one of the "in" (serving) side, and then by one of the "out"
(non-serving) side, and so on, until a "fault" is made or the shuttle ceases to be "in play."[1] If the "in" side makes a "fault," the server loses his "hand" (serve), and the player served to becomes the server; but no score accrues. If the "out" side makes a "fault," the "in" side scores an ace, and the players on the "in" side change half courts, the server then serving from his left half court to the player in the opposite left half court, who has not yet been served to. Only the player served to may take the service, and only the "in" side can score an ace. The first service in each innings is made from the right-hand half court. The side that starts a game has only one "hand" in its first innings; in every subsequent innings each player on each side has a "hand," the partners serving consecutively. While a side remains "in," service is made alternately from each half court into the half court diagonally opposite, the change of half courts taking place whenever an ace is scored. If, in play, the shuttle strikes the net but still goes over, the stroke is good; but if this happens in service and the service is otherwise good, it is a "let," _i.e._ the stroke does not count, and the server must serve again, even if the shuttle has been struck by the player served to, in which case it is a.s.sumed that the shuttle would have fallen into the proper half court. It is a "let," too, if the server, in attempting to serve, misses the shuttle altogether. It is a good stroke, in service or in play, if the shuttle falls on a line, or, in play, if it is followed over the net with the striker's racket, or pa.s.ses outside either of the net posts and then drops inside any of the boundary lines of the opposite court. _Mutatis mutandis_, the above remarks apply to the two-handed game, the main points of difference being that, in the two-handed game, both sides change half courts after each ace is scored and the same player takes consecutive serves, whereas in the double game only the serving side changes half courts at an added ace and a player may not take two consecutive serves in the same game.
It is a "fault" (a) if the service is overhand, _i.e._ if the shuttle when struck is higher than the server's waist; (b) if, in serving, the shuttle does not fall into the half court diagonally opposite that from which service is made; (c) if, before the shuttle is struck by the server, both feet of the server and of the player served to are not inside their respective half courts, a foot _on_ a line being deemed out of court; (d) if, in play, the shuttle falls outside the court, or, in service or play, pa.s.ses through or under the net, or hangs in the net, or touches the roof or side walls of the hall or the person or dress of any player; (e) if the shuttle "in play" is. .h.i.t before it reaches the striker's side; (f) if, when the shuttle is "in play," a player touches the net or its supports with his racket, person or dress; (g) if the shuttle is struck twice successively by the same player, or if it is struck by a player and his partner successively, or if it is not distinctly hit, _i.e._ if it is merely caught on the racket and spooned over the net; (h) if a player wilfully obstructs his opponent.
For full information on the laws of the game the reader is referred to the _Laws of Badminton and the Rules of the Badminton a.s.sociation_, published annually (London). See also an article by S. M. Ma.s.sey in the _Badminton Magazine_ (February 1907), reprinted in a slightly revised form in the _Badminton Gazette_ (November 1907). Until October 1907 _Lawn Tennis and Badminton_ was the official organ of the Badminton a.s.sociation; in November 1907 the _Badminton Gazette_ became the official organ.
[1] The shuttle is "in play" from the time it is struck by the server's racket until it touches the ground, or touches the net without going over, or until a "fault" is made.
BADNUR, a town of British India, the headquarters of the district of Betul in the Central Provinces. It consists, besides the European houses, of two bazaars. Pop. (1901) 3766. There is a good _serai_ or inn for native travellers, and a _dak bungalow_ or resting-place for Europeans. Not far from Badnur is Kherla, the former residence of the Gond rajas, where there is an old fort, now in ruins, which used to be held by them.
BADRINATH, a village and celebrated temple in British India, in the Garhwal district of the United Provinces. It is situated on the right bank of the Vishnuganga, a tributary of the Alaknanda river, in the middle of a valley nearly 4 m. in length and 1 in breadth. The village is small, containing only twenty or thirty huts, in which reside the Brahmans and the attendants of the temple. This building, which is considered a place of high sanct.i.ty, is by no means equal to its great celebrity. It is about 40 or 50 ft. in height, built in the form of a cone, with a small cupola, on the top of which is a gilt ball and spire, and contains the shrine of Badrinath, dedicated to an incarnation of Vishnu. The princ.i.p.al idol is of black stone and is 3 ft. in height. Badrinath is a favourite resort of pilgrims from all parts of India. In ordinary years the number varies from 7000 to 10,000; but every twelfth year, when the festival of k.u.mbh-mela is celebrated, the concourse of persons is said to be 50,000. In addition to the gifts of votaries, the temple enjoys a further source of revenue from the rents of villages a.s.signed by former rajas. Successive temples have been shattered by avalanches, and the existing building is modern. It is situated among mountains rising 23,000 ft. above the level of the sea.
Elevation of the site of the temple, 10,294 ft.
BADULLA, the capital of the province of Uva, Ceylon, 54 m. S.E. of Kandy.
It is the seat of a government agent and district judge, besides minor courts. It was in Kandyan times the home of a prince who ruled Uva as a princ.i.p.ality. Badulla stands 2222 ft. above sea-level; the average annual rainfall is 79 in.; the average temperature, 73. The population of the town in 1901 was 5924; of the Badulla district, 186,674. There is a botanic garden; and the town, being almost encircled by a river--the Badullaeya--and overshadowed by the Naminacooly Kande range of mountains (highest peak 6680 ft.), is very [v.03 p.0191] picturesquely situated. The railway terminus at Bandarawella is 18 m. from Badulla. Tea is cultivated by the planters, and rice, fruit and vegetables by the natives in the district.
BAEDEKER, KARL (1801-1859), German publisher, was born at Essen on the 3rd of November 1801. His father had a printing establishment and book-shop there, and Karl followed the same business independently in Coblenz. Here he began to issue the first of the series of guide-books with which his name is a.s.sociated. They followed the model of the English series inst.i.tuted by John Murray, but developed in the course of years so as to cover the greater part of the civilized world, and later were issued in English and French as well as German. Baedeker's son Fritz carried on the business, which in 1872 was transferred to Leipzig.
BAEHR, JOHANN CHRISTIAN FELIX (1798-1872), German philologist, was born at Darmstadt on the 13th of June 1798. He studied at the university of Heidelberg where he was appointed professor of cla.s.sical philology in 1823, chief librarian in 1832, and on the retirement of G. F. Creuzer became director of the philological seminary. He died at Heidelberg on the 29th of November 1872. His earliest works were editions of Plutarch's _Alcibiades_ (1822), _Philopoemen, Flamininus, Pyrrhus_ (1826), the fragments of Ctesias (1824), and Herodotus (1830-1835, 1855-1862). But most important of all were his works on Roman literature and humanistic studies in the middle ages: _Geschichte der romischen Litteratur_ (4th ed., 1868-1870), and the supplementary volumes, _Die christlichen Dichter und Geschichtschreiber Roms_ (2nd ed., 1872), _Die christlich-romische Theologie_ (1837), _Geschichte der romischen Litteratur im karolingischen Zeitalter_ (1840).
BAEL FRUIT (_Aegle marmelos_). _Aegle_ is a genus of the botanical natural order Rutaceae, containing two species in tropical Asia and one in west tropical Africa. The plants are trees bearing strong spines, with alternate, compound leaves each with three leaflets and panicles of sweet-scented white flowers. _Aegle marmelos_, the bael- or bel-fruit tree (also known as Bengal quince), is found wild or cultivated throughout India. The tree is valued for its fruit, which is oblong to pyriform in shape, 2-5 in. in diameter, and has a grey or yellow rind and a sweet, thick orange-coloured pulp. The unripe fruit is cut up in slices, sun-dried and used as an astringent; the ripe fruit is described as sweet, aromatic and cooling. The wood is yellowish-white, and hard but not durable. The name _Aegle_ is from one of the Hesperides, in reference to the golden fruit; _marmelos_ is Portuguese for quince.
BAENA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Cordova; 32 m. by road S.E. of the city of Cordova. Pop. (1900) 14,539. Baena is picturesquely situated near the river Marbella, on the slope of a hill crowned with a castle, which formerly belonged to the famous captain Gonzalo de Cordova.
Farming, horse-breeding, linen-weaving and the manufacture of olive-oil are the chief local industries. The nearest railway station is Luque (pop.
4972), 4 m. S.E. on the Jaen-Lucena line. The site of the Roman town (Baniana or Biniana) can still be traced, and various Roman antiquities have been disinterred. In 1292 the Moors under Mahommed II. of Granada vainly besieged Baena, which was held for Sancho IV. of Castile; and the five Moorish heads in its coat-of-arms commemorate the defence.
BAER, KARL ERNST VON (1792-1876), German biologist, was born at Piep, in Esthonia, on the 29th of February 1792. His father, a small landowner, sent him to school at Reval, which he left in his eighteenth year to study medicine at Dorpat University. The lectures of K. F. Burdach (1776-1847) suggested research in the wider field of life-history, and as at that time Germany offered more facilities for, and greater encouragement to, scientific work, von Baer went to Wurzburg, where J. I. J. Dollinger (1770-1841), father of the Catholic theologian, was professor of anatomy.
In teaching von Baer, Dollinger gave a direction to his studies which secured his future pre-eminence in the science of organic development. He collaborated with C. H. Pander (1794-1865) in researches on the evolution of the chick, the results of which were first published in Burdach's treatise on physiology. Continuing his investigations alone von Baer extended them to the evolution of organisms generally, and after a sojourn at Berlin he was invited by his old teacher Burdach, who had become professor of anatomy at Konigsberg, to join him as prosector and chief of the new zoological museum (1817). Von Baer's great discovery of the human ovum is the subject of his _Epistola de Ovo Mammalium et Hominis Genesi_ (Leipzig, 1827), and in the following year he published the first part of his _History of the Evolution of Animals_ (_Ueber die Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere_), the second part following in 1837. In this work he demonstrated first, that the Graafian follicles in the ovary are not the actual eggs, but that they contain the spherical vesicle, which is the true ovum, a body about the one hundred and twentieth of an inch in diameter, wherein lie the properties transmitting the physical and mental characteristics of the parent or grandparent, or even of more remote ancestors. He next showed that in all vertebrates the primary stage of cleavage of the fertilized egg is followed by modification into leaf-like germ layers--skin, muscular, vascular and mucous--whence arise the several organs of the body by differentiation. He further discovered the gelatinous, cylindrical cord, known as the _chorda dorsalis_, which pa.s.ses along the body of the embryo of vertebrates, in the lower types of which it is limited to the entire inner skeleton, while in the higher the backbone and skull are developed round it. His "law of corresponding stages" in the development of vertebrate embryos was exemplified in the fact recorded by him about certain specimens preserved in spirit which he had omitted to label. "I am quite unable to say to what cla.s.s they belong. They may be lizards, or small birds, or very young mammalia, so complete is the similarity in the mode of formation of the head and trunk in these animals.
The extremities are still absent, but even if they had existed in the earliest stage of the development we should learn nothing, because all arise from the same fundamental form." Again, in his _History of Evolution_ he suggests, "Are not all animals in the beginning of their development essentially alike, and is there not a primary form common to all?" (i. p.
223). Notwithstanding this, the "telic" idea, with the archetypal theory which it involved, possessed von Baer to the end of his life, and explains his inability to accept the theory of unbroken descent with modification when it was propounded by Charles Darwin and A. R. Wallace in 1858. The influence of von Baer's discoveries has been far-reaching and abiding. Not only was he the pioneer in that branch of biological science to which Francis Balfour, gathering up the labours of many fellow-workers, gave coherence in his _Comparative Embryology_ (1881), but the impetus to T. H.
Huxley's researches on the structure of the _medusae_ came from him (_Life_, i. 163), and Herbert Spencer found in von Baer's "law of development" the "law of all development" (_Essays_, i. 30). In 1834 von Baer was appointed librarian of the Academy of Sciences of St Petersburg.
In 1835 he published his _Development of Fishes_, and as the result of collection of all available information concerning the fauna and flora of the Polar regions of the empire, he was appointed leader of an Arctic expedition in 1837, The remainder of his active life was occupied in divers fields of research, geological as well as biological, an outcome of the latter being his fine monograph on the fishes of the Baltic and Caspian Seas. One of the last works from his prolific pen was an interesting autobiography published at the expense of the Esthonian n.o.bles on the celebration of the jubilee of his doctorate in 1864. Three years afterwards he received the Copley medal. He died at Dorpat on the 28th of November 1876.
(E. CL.)
BAER, WILLIAM JACOB (1860- ), American painter, was born on the 29th of January 1860 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied at Munich in 1880-1884. He had much to do with the revival in America of the art of miniature-painting, to which he turned in 1892, and was the first president of the Society of Painters in Miniature, New York. Among his miniatures are "The Golden Hour," "Daphne," "In Arcadia" and "Madonna with the Auburn Hair."
BAETYLUS (Gr. [Greek: baitulos, baitulion]), a word of Semitic origin (= bethel) denoting a sacred stone, which was supposed to be endowed with life. These fetish objects of wors.h.i.+p were meteoric stones, which were dedicated to the G.o.ds or revered as symbols of the G.o.ds themselves (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvii. 9; Photius, _Cod._ 242). [v.03 p.0192] In Greek mythology the term was specially applied to the stone supposed to have been swallowed by Cronus (who feared misfortune from his own children) in mistake for his infant son Zeus, for whom it had been subst.i.tuted by Ura.n.u.s and Gaea, his wife's parents (_Etymologic.u.m Magnum_, s.v.). This stone was carefully preserved at Delphi, anointed with oil every day and on festal occasions covered with raw wool (Pausanias x. 24). In Phoenician mythology, one of the sons of Ura.n.u.s is named Baetylus. Another famous stone was the effigy of Rhea Cybele, the holy stone of Pessinus, black and of irregular form, which was brought to Rome in 204 B.C. and placed in the mouth of the statue of the G.o.ddess. In some cases an attempt was made to give a more regular form to the original shapeless stone: thus Apollo Agyieus was represented by a conical pillar with pointed end, Zeus Meilichius in the form of a pyramid. Other famous baetylic idols were those in the temples of Zeus Casius at Seleucia, and of Zeus Teleios at Tegea. Even in the declining years of paganism, these idols still retained their significance, as is shown by the attacks upon them by ecclesiastical writers.
See Munter, _uber die vom Himmel gefallenen Steine_ (1805); Bosigk, _De Baetyliis_ (1854); and the exhaustive article by F. Lenormant in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionary of Antiquities_.
BAEYER, JOHANN FRIEDRICH WILHELM ADOLF VON (1835- ), German chemist, was born at Berlin on the 31st of October 1835, his father being Johann Jacob von Baeyer (1794-1885), chief of the Berlin Geodetical Inst.i.tute from 1870.
He studied chemistry under R. W. Bunsen and F. A. Kekule, and in 1858 took his degree as Ph.D. at Berlin, becoming privat-docent a few years afterwards and a.s.sistant professor in 1866. Five years later he was appointed professor of chemistry at Stra.s.sburg, and in 1875 he migrated in the same capacity to Munich. He devoted himself mainly to investigations in organic chemistry, and in particular to synthetical studies by the aid of "condensation" reactions. The Royal Society of London awarded him the Davy medal in 1881 for his researches on indigo, the nature and composition of which he did more to elucidate than any other single chemist, and which he also succeeded in preparing artificially, though his methods were not found commercially practicable. To celebrate his seventieth birthday his scientific papers were collected and published in two volumes (_Gesammelte Werke_, Brunswick, 1905), and the names of the headings under which they are grouped give some idea of the range and extent of his chemical work:--(1) organic a.r.s.enic compounds, (2) uric acid group, (3) indigo, (4) papers arising from indigo researches, (5) pyrrol and pyridine bases, (6) experiments on the elimination of water and on condensation, (7) the phthaleins, (8) the hydro-aromatic compounds, (9) the terpenes, (10) nitroso compounds, (11) furfurol, (12) acetylene compounds and "strain"
(_Spannungs_) theory, (13) peroxides, (14) basic properties of oxygen, (15) dibenzalacetone and triphenylamine, (16) various researches on the aromatic and (17) the aliphatic series.
BAeZA (anc. _Beatia_), a town of southern Spain, in the province of Jaen; in the Loma de Ubeda, a mountain range between the river Guadalquiver on the S. and its tributary the Guadalimar on the N. Pop. (1900) 14,379. Baeza has a station 3 m. S.W. on the Linares-Almeria railway. Its chief buildings are those of the university (founded in 1533, and replaced by a theological seminary), the cathedral and the Franciscan monastery. The Cordova and Ubeda gates, and the arch of Baeza, are among the remains of its old fortifications, which were of great strength. The town has little trade except in farm-produce; but its red dye, made from the native cochineal, was formerly celebrated. In the middle ages Baeza was a flouris.h.i.+ng Moorish city, said to contain 50,000 inhabitants; but it was sacked in 1239 by Ferdinand III. of Castile, who in 1248 transferred its bishopric to Jaen.
It was the birthplace of the sculptor and painter, Caspar Becarra.
BAFFIN, WILLIAM (1584-1622), English navigator and discoverer. Nothing is known of his early life, but it is conjectured that he was born in London of humble origin, and gradually raised himself by his diligence and perseverance. The earliest mention of his name occurs in 1612, in connexion with an expedition in search of a North-West Pa.s.sage, under the orders of Captain James Hall, whom he accompanied as chief pilot. Captain Hall was murdered in a fight with the natives on the west coast of Greenland, and during the two following years Baffin served in the Spitsbergen whale-fishery, at that time controlled by the Muscovy Company. In 1615 he entered the service of the Company for the discovery of the North-West Pa.s.sage, and accompanied Captain Robert Bylot as pilot of the little s.h.i.+p "Discovery," and now carefully examined Hudson Strait. The accuracy of Baffin's tidal and astronomical observations on this voyage was confirmed in a remarkable manner by Sir Edward Parry, when pa.s.sing over the same ground, two centuries later (1821). In the following year Baffin again sailed as pilot of the "Discovery," and pa.s.sing up Davis Strait discovered the fine bay to the north which now bears his name, together with the magnificent series of straits which radiate from its head and were named by him Lancaster, Smith and Jones Sounds, in honour of the generous patrons of his voyages. On this voyage he had sailed over 300 m. farther north than his predecessor Davis, and for 236 years his farthest north (about lat. 77 45') remained unsurpa.s.sed in that sea. All hopes, however, seemed now ended of discovering a pa.s.sage to India by this route, and in course of time even Baffin's discoveries came to be doubted until they were re-discovered by Captain Ross in 1818. Baffin next took service with the East India Company, and in 1617-1619 performed a voyage to Surat in British India, and on his return received the special recognition of the Company for certain valuable surveys of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf which he had made in the course of the voyage. Early in 1620 he again sailed to the East, and in the Anglo-Persian attack on Kishm in the Persian Gulf, preparatory to the reduction of Ormuz, he received his death-wound and died on the 23rd of January 1622. Besides the importance of his geographical discoveries, Baffin is to be remembered for the importance and accuracy of his numerous scientific and magnetic observations, for one of which (the determination of longitude at sea by lunar observation) the honour is claimed of being the first of its kind on record.
BAFFIN BAY and BAFFIN LAND, an arctic sea and an insular tract named after the explorer William Baffin. Baffin or Baffin's Bay is part of the long strait which separates Baffin Land from Greenland. It extends from about 69 to 78 N. and from 54 to 76 W. From the northern end it is connected (1) with the polar sea northward by Smith Sound, prolonged by Kane Basin and Kennedy and Robeson Channels; (2) with the straits which ramify through the archipelago to the north-west by narrow channels at the head of Jones Sound, from which O. Sverdrup and his party conducted explorations in 1900-1902; (3) with the more southerly part of the same archipelago by Lancaster Sound. Baffin Bay was explored very fully in 1616 by Baffin. The coasts are generally high, precipitous and deeply indented. The most important island on the east side is Disco, to the north of Dis...o...b..y, Greenland. During the greater part of the year this sea is frozen, but, while hardly ever free of ice, there are normally navigable channels along the coasts from the beginning of June to the end of September connected by transverse channels. The bay is noted as a centre of the whale and seal fishery. At more than one point a depth exceeding 1000 fathoms has been ascertained.
Baffin Land is a barren insular tract, included in Franklin district, Canada, with an approximate area of 236,000 sq. m., situated between 61 and 90 W. and 62 and 74 N. The eastern and northern coasts are rocky and mountainous, and are deeply indented by large bays including Frobisher and Home Bays, c.u.mberland Sound and Admiralty Inlet. Baffin Land is separated from Greenland by Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, from Ungava by Hudson Strait, from Keewatin and Melville Peninsula by Fox Channel and Fury-and-Hecla Strait, from Boothia Peninsula and North Somerset by the Gulf of Boothia and Prince Regent Inlet, and from North Devon by Lancaster Sound. Various names are given to various parts of the land--thus the north-western part is called c.o.c.kburn Land, farther [v.03 p.0193] east is North Galloway; on the extreme eastern peninsula are c.u.mberland and Penny Lands, while the southern is called Meta Incognita; in the west is Fox Land. In the southern part of the interior are two large lakes, Amadjuak, which lies at an alt.i.tude of 289 ft., and Nettiling or Kennedy.
BAGAMOYO, a seaport of German East Africa in 6 22' S., 38 55' E. Pop.
about 18,000, including a considerable number of British Indians. Being the port on the mainland nearest the town of Zanzibar, 26 m. distant, Bagamoyo became the starting-point for caravans to the great lakes, and an entrepot of trade with the interior of the continent. It possesses no natural harbour. The beach slopes gently down and s.h.i.+ps anchor about 2 m. off the coast. The town is oriental in character. The buildings include the residence of the administrator, barracks, a government school for natives, a mosque and Hindu temple, and the establishment of the _Mission du Sacre Coeur_, which possesses a large plantation of coco-nut palms. Bagamoyo is in telegraphic communication with Zanzibar and with the other coast towns of German East Africa, and has regular steams.h.i.+p communication with Zanzibar. Of the explorers who made Bagamoyo the starting-point for their journeys to the interior of Africa, the most ill.u.s.trious were Sir Richard Burton, J. H. Speke, J. A. Grant and Sir H. M. Stanley.
BAGATELLE (French, from Ital. _bagatella_, _bagata_, a trifle), primarily a thing of trifling importance. The name, though French, is given to a game which is probably of English origin, though its connexion with the _shovel-board_ of Cotton's _Complete Gamester_ is very doubtful. Strutt does not mention it. The game is very likely a modification of billiards, and is played on an oblong board or table varying in size from 6 ft. by 1 ft. to 10 ft. by 3 ft. The bed of the table is generally made of slate, although, in the smaller sizes, wood covered with green cloth is often used. The sides are cus.h.i.+oned with india-rubber. The head is semicircular and fitted with 9 numbered cups set into the bed, their numbers showing the amount scored by putting a ball into them. An ordinary billiard-cue and nine b.a.l.l.s, one black, four red and four white, are used. The black ball is placed upon a spot about 9 in. in front of hole 1, and about 18 in. from the player's end of the board a line (the baulk) is drawn across it, behind which is another spot for the player's ball. (These measurements of course differ according to the size of the table.) Some modern tables have pockets as well as cups.
_Bagatelle Proper._--The black ball having been placed on the upper spot, the players "string" for the lead, the winner being that player who plays his ball into the highest hole. Any number may play, either separately, or in sides. Each player in turn plays all eight b.a.l.l.s up the table, no score being allowed until a ball has touched the black ball, the object being to play as many b.a.l.l.s as possible into the holes, the black ball counting double. b.a.l.l.s missing the black at the beginning, those rolling back across the baulk-line, and those forced off the table are "dead" for that round and removed. The game is decided by the aggregate score made in an agreed number of rounds.
_Sans egal._--This is a French form of the game. Two players take part, one using the red and one the white b.a.l.l.s. After stringing for lead, the leader plays at the black, forfeiting a ball if he misses. His opponent then plays at the black if it has not been touched, otherwise any way he likes, and each then plays alternately, the object being to hole the black and his own b.a.l.l.s, the winner being the one who scores the highest number of points. If a player holes one of his opponent's b.a.l.l.s it is scored for his opponent.
The game is decided by a certain number of rounds, or by points, usually 21 or 31. In other matters the rules of bagatelle apply.
_The Cannon Game._--This is usually considered the best and most scientific of bagatelle varieties. Tables without cups are sometimes used. As in billiards three b.a.l.l.s are required, the white, spot-white and black, the last being spotted and the non-striker's ball placed midway between holes 1 and 9. The object of the game is to make cannons (caroms), b.a.l.l.s played into holes, at the same time counting the number of the holes, but if a ball falls into a hole during a play in which no cannon is made the score counts for the adversary. If the striker's ball is holed he plays from baulk; if an object-ball, it is spotted as at the beginning of the game. A cannon counts 2; missing the white object-ball scores 1 to the adversary; missing the black, 5 to the adversary. If there are pockets, the striker scores 2 for holing the white object-ball and 3 for holing the black, but a cannon must be made by the same stroke; otherwise the score counts for the adversary.
_The Irish Cannon Game._--The rules of the _cannon game_ apply, except that in all cases pocketed b.a.l.l.s count for the adversary.
_Mississippi._--This variation is played with a bridge pierced with 9 on more arches, according to the size of the table, the arches being numbered from 1 upwards. All nine b.a.l.l.s are usually played, though the black is sometimes omitted, each player having a round, the object being to send the b.a.l.l.s through the arches. This may not be done directly, but the b.a.l.l.s must strike a cus.h.i.+on first, the black, if used, counting double the arch made.
If a ball is played through an arch, without first striking a cus.h.i.+on, the score goes to the adversary, but another ball, lying in front of the bridge, may be sent through by the cue-ball if the latter has struck a cus.h.i.+on. If a ball falls into a cup the striker scores the value of the cup as well as of the arch.
_Trou Madame._--This is a game similar to _Mississippi_, with the exceptions that the ball need not be played on to a cus.h.i.+on, and that, if a ball falls into a cup, the opponent scores the value of the cup and not the striker.
_Bell-Bagatelle_ is played on a board provided with cups, arches from which bells hang, and stalls each marked with a number. The ball is played up the side and rolls down the board, which is slightly inclined, through the arches or into a cup or stall, the winner scoring the highest with a certain number of b.a.l.l.s.
BAGDAD, or BAGHDAD, a vilayet of Asiatic Turkey, situated between Persia and the Syrian desert, and including the greater part of ancient Babylonia.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 8
You're reading novel Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 8 online at LightNovelFree.com. You can use the follow function to bookmark your favorite novel ( Only for registered users ). If you find any errors ( broken links, can't load photos, etc.. ), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible. And when you start a conversation or debate about a certain topic with other people, please do not offend them just because you don't like their opinions.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 8 summary
You're reading Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 8. This novel has been translated by Updating. Author: Various already has 599 views.
It's great if you read and follow any novel on our website. We promise you that we'll bring you the latest, hottest novel everyday and FREE.
LightNovelFree.com is a most smartest website for reading novel online, it can automatic resize images to fit your pc screen, even on your mobile. Experience now by using your smartphone and access to LightNovelFree.com
- Related chapter:
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 7
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 9