The new ballot system had its first practical demonstration at the Massachusetts election of 1889, and its success led to its rapid adoption in many other states. In 1890 ballot laws were passed in seven states: Vermont, Mississippi, Wyoming and Washington provided for the Massachusetts plan, although Vermont afterwards adopted the system of party-groups, which Maryland used from the first. The New York and New Jersey laws of 1890, however, only provided for official ballots for each party, and allowed ballots obtained outside of the polling-booths to be used. In 1891 seventeen additional states and two territories adopted the Australian ballot system. All of these provided for a blanket ballot; but while the Massachusetts arrangement was adopted in Arkansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North and South Dakota, Kentucky, Texas and Oregon, the system of party groups was followed in Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. California had the Massachusetts arrangement of names, but added on the ballot a list of party names, by marking one of which a voter would cast his vote for all of the candidates of that party. Pennsylvania placed all the candidates not in a party-group in alphabetical order.
Iowa adopted the Australian ballot system in 1892; Alabama and Kansas in 1893; Virginia in 1894; Florida in 1895; and Louisiana and Utah in 1896. In 1895, too, New York adopted the blanket ballot in place of separate party ballots, but arranged the names of candidates in party columns. The only state to abandon the blanket ballot after once adopting it was Missouri which in 1897 returned to the system of separate ballots, with no provision for booths where the ballot might be marked in secret. (See the article, "Present Status of the Ballot Laws," by Arthur Ludington inAmer. Pol. Science Rev.for May 1909.)
Owing to the large number of officials chosen at one time in American elections, the form and appearance of the ballot used is very different from that in Great Britain. At the quadrennial presidential election in New York state, for example, the officers to be voted for by each elector are thirty-six presidential electors, one congressman, state-governor, lieutenant-governor and five other state officers, a member for each house of the state legislature, several judges, a sheriff, county-clerk and other county officers. The column with the list of the candidates of each party for all of these offices is 2 to 3 ft. in length; and as there are often eight to ten party-tickets in the field, the ballot-paper is usually from 18 to 20 in. in width. Each voter receives one of these "blanket" ballots on entering the polling-place, and retires to a booth to mark either a party column or the individual candidates in different columns for whom he wishes to vote. Where, as in Massachusetts, the names of candidates are arranged by offices instead of in party-lists, every voter must mark the name of each individual candidate for whom he wishes to vote. Connecticut, New Jersey, Missouri, North and South Carolina, Georgia and New Mexico use the system of separate party ballots. (See alsoVoting,Voting Machines,Election,Representation.)
[1]For a description of Grote's card-frame, in which the card was punctured through a hole, and was thus never in the voter's hands, seeSpectator, 25th February 1837.
[1]For a description of Grote's card-frame, in which the card was punctured through a hole, and was thus never in the voter's hands, seeSpectator, 25th February 1837.
BALLOU, HOSEA(1771-1852), American Universalist clergyman, was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, on the 30th of April 1771. He was a son of Maturin Ballou, a Baptist minister, was self-educated, early devoted himself to the ministry, became a convert to Universalism in 1789, and in 1794 became a pastor of a congregation at Dana, Massachusetts. He preached at Barnard, Vermont, and the surrounding towns in 1801-1807; at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1807-1815; at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1815-1817; and as pastor of the Second Universalist Church in Boston from December 1817 until his death there on the 7th of June 1852. He founded and editedThe Universalist Magazine(1819; later calledThe Trumpet) andThe Universalist Expositor(1831; laterThe Universalist Quarterly Review); wrote about 10,000 sermons, many hymns, essays and polemic theological works; and is best known forNotes on the Parables(1804),A Treatise on Atonement(1805) andExamination of the Doctrine of a Future Retribution(1834); in these, especially the second, he showed himself the principal American expositor of Universalism. His great contribution to his Church was the body of denominational literature he left. From the theology of John Murray, who like Ballou has been called "the father of American Universalism," he differed in that he divested Universalism of every trace of Calvinism and opposed legalism and trinitarian views.
Consult the biography by Thomas Whittemore (4 vols., Boston, 1854-1855) and that by Oscar F. Safford (Boston, 1889); and J. C. Adams,Hosea Ballou and the Gospel Renaissance(Boston, 1904).
His grand-nephew,Hosea Ballou(1796-1861), born in Halifax, Vermont, on the 18th of October 1796, preached to Universalists in Stafford, Connecticut (1815-1821); and in Massachusetts, in Roxbury (1821-1838) and in Medford (1838-1853); and in 1853 was elected first president of Tufts College at Medford, serving in that office until shortly before his death, which took place at Somerville, Massachusetts, on the 27th of May 1861. He was the first (1847) to urge the necessity of a Universalist denominational college, and this did much towards the establishment of Tufts. He was associated with the elder Hosea Ballou in editingThe Universalist Quarterly Review; edited an edition of Sismondi'sHistory of the Crusades(1833); and wrote theAncient History of Universalism, down toA.D.553 (1829; 2nd ed., 1842).
Maturin Murray Ballou(1820-1895), son of the first Hosea, was a pioneer in American illustrated journalism, editedGleason's PictorialandBallou's Monthlyand many collections of quotations, and in 1872 became editor-in-chief of theBoston Daily Globe, of which he was one of the founders. He wrote a life of his father (1860), and aHistory of Cuba(1854).
BALLSTON SPA,a village and the county-seat of Saratoga county, New York, U.S.A., about 7 m. S. of Saratoga Springs. Pop. (1890) 3527; (1900) 3923; (1910 U.S. Census) 4138. It is served by the Delaware & Hudson railway, and is connected with Saratoga Springs, Albany, and Schenectady by electric lines. There are several manufacturing establishments, among which are one of the largest manufactories of paper-bags in the United States and a large tannery. It is, however, as a popular summer resort that Ballston Spa is best known. Many fine chalybeate and other springs rising through solid rock from a depth of about 650 ft. furnish a highly effervescent water of considerable medicinal and commercial value. The village has the Ballston Spa public library, the Saratoga county law library and the Saratoga county court house. Ballston Spa, which was named in honour of the Rev. Eliphalet Ball, an early settler, was settled about 1787 by the grandfather of Stephen A. Douglas, and was incorporated in 1855.
See E. F. Prose,Centennial Hist. of Ballston Spa, 1908.
BALLYCASTLE,a seaport and watering-place on the north coast of Co. Antrim, Ireland, in the north parliamentary division, situated on a bay of the same name opposite Rathlin Island. Pop. (1901) 1481. It is connected with the Northern Counties (Midland) railway at Ballymoney by the Ballycastle light railway. The town consists of two divisions, about a quarter of a mile apart and connected by a fine avenue. Towards the close of the 18th century Mr Hugh Boyd, obtaining the estate, devoted himself to the extension and improvement of the town, establishing manufactures, endowing charities and building churches; and succeeded in producing a temporary vitality. Upwards of £150,000, including a large government grant, is said to have been expended upon the pier and harbour; but the violence of the sea overthrew the one and the other became filled with sand. To the east of the town are the remains of Bonamargy Abbey, the burial-place of many of the MacDonnell family. The Carey brook, by the side of which the abbey stands, was formerly called the Margy, and on its waters according to tradition dwelt the four children of Lir, changed to swans by their step-mother until St Columba released them from enchantment. (See P. W. Joyce,Old Celtic Romances.) With this well-known romance is connected the wide-spread belief in Ireland of ill-fortune following the killing of a swan. Coal-seams, formerly extensively worked, and from an unknownperiod of antiquity, appear in the cliffs towards Fair Head, and the fisheries are important. The coast-scenery and the view from the hill of Knocklayd are notable.
BALLYMENA,a town of Co. Antrim, Ireland, in the mid parliamentary division, on the Braid, an affluent of the Maine, 2 m. above their junction. Pop. of urban district (1901) 10,886. It is 33 m. N.N.W. of Belfast on the Northern Counties (Midland) railway. Branch lines run to Larne and to Parkmore on the east coast. The town owes its prosperity chiefly to its linen trade, introduced in 1733, which gives employment to the greater part of the inhabitants. Brown linen is a specialty. Iron ore is raised in the neighbourhood. Antiquities in the neighbourhood are few and the present buildings of Ballymena Castle and Galgorm Castle are modern. Gracehill, however, a Moravian settlement, was founded in 1746.
BALLYMONEY,a market town of Co. Antrim, Ireland, in the north parliamentary division, 53 m. N.N.W. from Belfast by the Northern Counties (Midland) railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2952. The Ballycastle railway joins the main line here. The trade of the town is prosperous, brewing, distilling and tanning being carried on, besides the linen manufacture common to the whole county. Soap, candles and tobacco are also manufactured, and the town is a centre for local agricultural trade. Near the neighbouring village of Dervock (4½ m. N.) is a cottage shown by an inscription to have been the home of the ancestors of William McKinley, president of the United States.
BALLYMOTE,a market town of Co. Sligo, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, 14 m. S. of Sligo by the Midland Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 997. It is a centre for some agricultural trade and has carriage-building works. There are remains of a strong castle, built by the powerful earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgh, in 1300, and the scene of hostilities in 1641 and 1652. Ruins are also seen of a Franciscan foundation attributed to the 13th century; it was a celebrated seat of learning and an extant memorial of the work of its monks is theBook of Ballymote(c.1391) in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy, a miscellaneous collection in prose and verse of historical, genealogical and romantic writings. There are also, near the town, ruins of a house of the Knights of St John (1303).
BALLYSHANNON,a seaport and market-town of Co. Donegal, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, at the mouth of the Erne; on the Bundoran branch of the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1901) 2359. The river is here crossed by a bridge of twelve arches, which connects the town with the suburb of The Port. Below the bridge the river forms a beautiful cascade, 150 yds. wide, with a fall at low water of 16 ft. Here is the salmon leap, where the fish are trapped in large numbers, but also assisted to mount the fall by salmon-ladders. The fisheries are of great value, and there is an export trade to England in salmon, which are despatched in ice. The harbour is a small exposed creek of Donegal Bay, and is only accessible to small vessels owing to a bar. Previous to the Union Ballyshannon returned two members to the Irish parliament and it was incorporated by James I. There are slight remains of a castle of the O'Donnells, earls of Tyrconnell, where the English, on attempting to besiege it, were defeated and lost heavily in their retreat across the river, in 1597. There are numerous raths or encampments in the vicinity and other remains. Coolmore, 3 m. N.W., is a bathing-resort.
BALM,a fragrant herb,Melissa officinalis, of the Deadnettle order (Labiatae) with opposite, ovate, crenulated leaves, which are wrinkled above, and small white or rose-spotted flowers. It is a native of central and southern Europe; it is often grown in gardens and has become naturalized in the south of England and grows apparently wild as a garden escape in North America. The name is from the Greekμέλισσα, the plant being visited by bees. Bastard Balm is an allied plant,Melittis Melissophyllum, a southern European species, found in the south and south-west of England.
BALMACEDA, JOSÉ MANUEL(1838-1891), president of the republic of Chile, was born in Santiago in 1838. His parents were wealthy, and in his early days he was chiefly concerned in industrial and agricultural enterprise. In 1865 he was one of the representatives of the Chilean government at the general South American congress at Lima, and after his return obtained great distinction as an orator in the national assembly. After discharging some diplomatic missions abroad, he became successively minister of foreign affairs and of the interior under the presidency of Señor Santa Maria, and in the latter capacity carried compulsory civil marriage and several other laws highly obnoxious to the clergy. In 1886 he was elected president; but, in spite of his great capacity, his imperious temper little fitted him for the post. He was soon irreconcilably at variance with the majority of the national representatives, and on the 1st of January 1891 he sought to terminate an intolerable situation by refusing to convoke the assembly and ordering the continued collection of the taxes on his own authority. This led to the Chilean Civil War of 1891, which ended in the overthrow of Balmaceda, who committed suicide on the 18th of September, the anniversary of his elevation to the presidency.
BALMAIN,a town of Cumberland county, N.S.W., Australia, on the western shore of Darling Harbour, Port Jackson, 2 m. by water from Sydney and suburban to it. Pop. (1901) 30,881. It is the home of great numbers of the working classes of Sydney and some of the largest factories and most important docks are situated here. Saw-mills, iron foundries, chemicals, glass and soap works, shipbuilding yards and a cocoanut-oil factory in connexion with the soap-manufacture at Port Sunlight, England, are among the chief industrial establishments. Balmain became a municipality in 1860.
BALMERINO, JAMES ELPHINSTONE,1stBaron(c.1553-1612), Scottish politician, was the third son of Robert, 3rd Lord Elphinstone (d. 1602). Rising to power under James VI. he became a judge and a royal secretary; he accompanied the king to London in 1603 and was made Lord Balmerino, or Balmerinoch, in 1604. In 1605 he became president of the court of session, but his ardour for the Roman Catholic religion brought about his overthrow. In 1599 on the king's behalf, but without the king's knowledge, he had sent a letter to Clement VIII. in which he addressed the pope in very cordial terms. A copy of this letter having been seen by Elizabeth, the English queen asked James for an explanation, whereupon both the king and the secretary declared it was a forgery. There the matter rested until 1608, when the existence of the letter was again referred to during some controversy between James and Cardinal Bellarmine. Interrogated afresh Balmerino admitted that he had written the compromising letter, that he had surreptitiously obtained the king's signature, and that afterwards he had added the full titles of the pope. In March 1609 he was tried, attainted and sentenced to death, but after a brief imprisonment he was released and he died at Balmerino in July 1612.
Balmerino's elder sonJohn(d. 1649) was permitted to take his father's title in 1613. In 1634 he was imprisoned for his opposition to Charles I. in Scotland, and by a bare majority of the jury he was found guilty of "leasing-making" and was sentenced to death. But popular sympathy was strongly in his favour; the poet Drummond of Hawthornden and others interceded for him, and after much hesitation Charles pardoned him. Balmerino, however, did not desist from his opposition to the king. A chief among the Covenanters and a trusted counsellor of the marquess of Argyll, he presided over the celebrated parliament which met in Edinburgh in August 1641, and was one of the Scottish commissioners who visited England in 1644. He died in February 1649 and was succeeded as 3rd lord by his sonJohn(1623-1704), who in 1669 inherited from his uncle James the title of Lord Coupar. John's sonJohn, 4th Lord Balmerino (1652-1736), was a lawyer of some repute and, although a sturdy opponent of the Union, was a Scottish representative peer in 1710 and 1713. John's sonArthur(1688-1746) who became 6th Lord Balmerino on the death of his half-brother John in January 1746, is famous as a Jacobite. He joined the partisans of James Edward, the Old Pretender, after the battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1713, and then lived for some time in exile, returning to Scotland in 1733 when his father hadsecured for him a pardon. He was one of the first to join Charles Edward in 1745; he marched with the Jacobites to Derby, fought at Falkirk and was captured at Culloden. Tried for treason in Westminster Hall he was found guilty, and was beheaded on the 11th of August 1746, behaving both at his trial and at his execution with great constancy and courage. On his death without issue his titles became extinct.
BALMÈS, JAIME LUCIANO(1810-1848), Spanish ecclesiastic, eminent as a political writer and a philosopher, was born at Vich in Catalonia, on the 28th of August 1810, and died there on the 9th of July 1848. Having attacked the regent Espartero and been exiled he founded and edited on his return theEl Pensamiento de la Nacion, a Catholic and Conservative weekly; but his fame rests principally onEl Protestantismo comparado con el Catolicismo en sus relaciones con la Civilisacion Europea(3 vols., 1842-1844, 6th edition, 1879; Eng. trans. London, 1849), an able defence of Catholicism on the ground that it represents the spirit of obedience or order, as opposed to Protestantism, the spirit of revolt or anarchy. From the historical standpoint it is of little value. The best of his philosophical works, which are clear expositions of the scholastic system of thought, are theFilosofia Fondamental(4 vols., 1846, Eng. trans. by H. F. Brownson, 2 vols. New York, 1856), and theCurso de Filosofia Elemental(4 vols., 1847), which he translated into Latin for use in seminaries.
See A. de Blanche-Raffin,Jacques Balmès, sa vie et ses ouvrages(Paris, 1849); and E. Bullón Fernández,Jaime Balmès y sus oberas(Madrid, 1903).
BALMORAL CASTLE(Gaelic, "the majestic dwelling"), a private residence of the British sovereign, in the parish of Crathie and Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the right bank of the Dee (here spanned by a fine suspension bridge), 9 m. W. of Ballater and at a height of 900 ft. above the sea. The property formerly belonged to the Farquharsons of Inverey, from whom it was acquired by Sir Robert Gordon, whose trustees disposed of the lease in 1848 to the prince consort, by whom the whole estate was purchased in 1852 and bequeathed to Queen Victoria. The castle is built of granite in the Scots baronial style, with an eastern tower 100 ft. high commanding a superb view—Ballochbuie and Braemar to the W., Glen Gairn to the N., Lochnagar and the beautiful valley of the Dee to the S. On Craig Gowan (1319 ft.), a hill 1 m. to the south, have been erected memorial cairns to Queen Victoria, the prince consort, Princess Alice and other members of the royal family of Great Britain. The parish church of Crathie (1903), replacing the kirk of 1806, is 1½ m. to the W., and about 2 m. farther west stands Abergeldie Castle, another Highland royal residence, an ancient building to which modern additions have been made, inhabited by King Edward VII. when prince of Wales, and after his accession to the throne used as a shooting-lodge.
BALNAVES, HENRY(1512?-1579), Scottish politician and reformer, born at Kirkcaldy about 1512, was educated at St Andrews and on the continent, where he adopted Protestant views. Returning to Scotland, he continued his legal studies and in 1538 was appointed a lord of session. He married about the same time Christian Scheves, and in 1539 was granted the estate of Halhill in Fife, after which he is generally named. Before 1540 he was sworn of James V's. privy council, and was known as one of the party in favour of the English alliance and of an ecclesiastical reformation. He is also described as treasurer to James (Letters and Papers, 1543, i. 64), but the regent Arran appointed him secretary in the new government of the infant Queen Mary (January 1543). He promoted the act permitting the reading of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, and was one of the commissioners appointed to arrange a marriage treaty between the little queen and the future Edward VI. In London he was not considered so complaisant as some of the other commissioners, and was not made privy to all the engagements taken by his colleagues (ib.i. 834). But Beton "loved him worst of all," and, when Arran went over to the priestly party, Balnaves was, in November 1543, deprived of his offices and imprisoned in Blackness Castle.
Thence he was released by the arrival of Hertford's fleet in the following May, and from this time he became a paid agent of the English cause in Scotland. He took no part in the murder of Beton, but was one of the most active defenders of the castle of St Andrews. He received £100 from Henry VIII. in December 1546, was granted an annuity of £125 by Protector Somerset in 1547 and was made English paymaster of the forces in St Andrews. When that castle surrendered to the French in July Balnaves was taken prisoner to Rouen. Somerset made vain efforts to procure his release and continued his pension. He made himself useful by giving information to the English government, and even Mary Tudor sent him £50 as reward in June 1554. Balnaves also busied himself in writing what Knox calls "a comfortable treatise of justification," which was found in MS. with a preface by Knox, among the reformer's papers, and was published at Edinburgh in 1584 under the titleThe Confession of Faith.
In 1557 Balnaves was permitted to return to Scotland and regain his property; probably it was thought that Mary Tudor's burnings would have cooled the ardour of his English affections, and that in the war threatening between two Catholic countries, Balnaves would serve his own. The accession of Queen Elizabeth changed the situation, and Mary of Guise had reasons for accusing him of "practices out of England" (Salisbury MSS.i. 155). He took, in fact, an active part in the rising of 1559 and was commissioned by the Congregation to solicit the help of the English government through Sir Ralph Sadleir at Berwick. He was also selected one of the Scots representatives to negotiate with the duke of Norfolk in February 1560. In 1563 he was restored to his office as lord of session, and was one of those appointed by the General Assembly to revise theBook of Discipline. He was one of Bothwell's judges for the murder of Darnley in 1567, and in 1568 he accompanied Moray to the York inquiry into Queen Mary's guilt. He resigned his judicial office in 1574, and died in 1579 at Edinburgh. He has been claimed as a Scots bard on the strength of one ballad, "O gallandis all, I cry and call," which is printed in Allan Ramsay'sEvergreen(2 vols. 1724-1727).
SeeLetters and Papers of Henry VIII.(1540-1545); Bain's and Thorp'sCal. of Scottish State-Papers; EnglishDomestic and Foreign Cals.;Acts of Engl. Privy Council;Reg. P.C., Scotland;Reg. Great Seal of Scotland;Hamilton Papers;Border Papers; Knox,Works; Burnet,Reformation; Froude,Hist.
(A. F. P.)
BALNEOTHERAPEUTICS(Lat.balneum, a bath, and Gr.θεραπεύειν, to treat medically). The medical treatment of disease by internal and external use of mineral waters is quite distinct from "hydrotherapy," or the therapeutic uses of pure water. But the term "balneotherapeutics" has gradually come to be applied to everything relating to spa treatment, including the drinking of waters and the use of hot baths and natural vapour baths, as well as of the various kinds of mud and sand used for hot applications. The principal constituents found in mineral waters are sodium, magnesium, calcium and iron, in combination with the acids to form chlorides, sulphates, sulphides and carbonates. Other substances occasionally present in sufficient quantity to exert a therapeutic influence are arsenic, lithium, potassium, manganese, bromine, iodine, &c. The chief gases in solution are oxygen, nitrogen, carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. Argon and helium occur in some of the "simple thermal" and "thermal sulphur waters." There are few doctors who would deny the great value of special bathing and drinking cures in certain morbid conditions. In the employment of the various mineral waters, many of the spas adopt special means by which they increase or modify their influence,e.g.the so-called "aromatic" or "medicated" baths, in which substances are mixed to exert a special influence on the skin and peripheral nerves. Of these the "pine-needle" bath has the greatest repute; it is made by adding a decoction of the needles or young shoots of firs and pines. Fir wood oil (a mixture of ethereal oils) or the tincture of an alcoholic extract acts equally well. The volatile ethereal constituents are supposed to penetrate the skin and to stimulate the cutaneouscirculation and peripheral nerves, being eliminated later by the ordinary channels. Similar effects follow the addition to the bath of aromatic herbs, such as camomile, thyme, &c. For a full-sized bath 1½ to 2 lb of herbs are tied in a muslin bag and infused in a gallon of boiling water; the juices are then expressed and the infusion added to the bath. Astringent baths are prepared in a similar way from decoctions of oak bark, walnut leaves, &c. In many spas on the European continent baths are prepared from peat or mud mixed with hot mineral water. Mineral peat consists of decomposing vegetable soil that has been so long in the neighbourhood of the medicinal spring that it has undergone peculiar and variable chemical changes. This is mixed with the hot mineral water until the bath has the desired consistency, the effect on the patient being in almost direct proportion to the density. These baths vary greatly in composition. Mud baths are chiefly prepared from muddy deposits found in the neighbourhood of the springs, as at St Amand. They act like a large poultice applied to the surface of the body, and in addition to the influence of the temperature, they exert a considerable mechanical effect. The pulse is accelerated some 6 to 12 beats a minute, the respiration number rises, and the patient is thrown into a profuse perspiration. They have very great value in gouty and rheumatic conditions and in some of the special troubles of women.
There are certain conditions in which mineral water treatment is distinctly contra-indicated. Advanced cardiac disease and cardiac cases with failure of compensation must pre-eminently be treated at home, not at a spa. Advanced arterio-sclerosis, any form of serious organic visceral disease, advanced cirrhosis, pulmonary tuberculosis with a tendency to haemoptysis, much elevation of temperature or emaciation, are all entirely unsuited for this form of treatment. Serious organic nervous diseases, great nervous depression and old cases of paralysis are all contra-indicated. Any trouble, however suited in itself for spa treatment, must be considered inapplicable if complicated with pregnancy.
In advising balneotherapeutic treatment in any case, all the conditions and habits of the patient—pecuniary, physical and psychical—must be considered, as the spa must be fitted to the patient, not the patient to the spa. Besides the particular disease, the idiosyncrasy of the patient must be considered, the same morbid condition in different people requiring very different treatment. Retarded convalescence is a condition often treated at the spas, although hygienic surroundings, both mental and physical, are usually all that is necessary to ensure complete recovery. After rheumatic fever, however, if the joints remain painful and the heart is dilated, the thermal gaseous saline water of Nauheim, augmented by Schott's resistance movements, will often appear to work wonders. Chronic rheumatism, where there is much exudation round a joint or incipient stiffness of a joint, may be relieved by hot thermal treatment, especially when combined with various forms of massage and exercises. Simple thermal waters, hot sulphur springs and hot muriated waters are all successful in different cases. Chronic muscular rheumatism can also be benefited in a similar manner. Diseases of the nervous system are on the whole treated by these means with small success. Mental diseases other than very mild cases of depression should be considered inapplicable. Neurasthenics are sometimes treated at chalybeate or thermal muriated saline spas; but such treatment is entirely secondary to the general management of the case. Neuralgic affections and the later stages of neuritis, especially when dependent on gout or rheumatism, are often relieved or cured. Abdominal venosity (abdominal plethora), a feature of obesity, glycosuria, &c., are extremely well fitted for this form of treatment. The alkaline sulphated waters, the bitter waters and the common salt waters can all be prescribed, and after a short course can be supplemented with various forms of active and passive exercises. Diseases of the respiratory organs are far more suited for climatic treatment than for treatment by baths. Anaemia can usually be better or equally well treated at home, or by seaside residence or a sea voyage, though many physicians prescribe chloride of sodium waters, followed by a course of iron waters at some suitably situated spa. In the anaemia dependent on malarial infection, the muriated or alkaline sulphated waters at spas of considerable elevation and combined with iron and arsenic are often very beneficial. Gravel and stone, if of the uric acid variety, can be treated with the alkaline waters, but the case must be under constant observation lest the urine become too alkaline and a deposition of phosphates take place on the already formed uric acid stone. Gout is so variable both in cause and effect that much discrimination is required in its treatment. Where the patient is of "full habit," with portal stagnation, the sulphated alkaline or mild bitter waters are indicated, especially those of Carlsbad and Marienbad; but the use of these strong waters must be followed by a long rest under strict hygienic conditions. Where this is impossible, a milder course must be advised, as at Homburg, Kissingen, Harrogate, Wiesbaden, Baden-Baden, &c. For very delicate patients, and where time is limited, the simple thermal waters are preferable.
For radiant heat and light baths and electric baths of all kinds, seeElectrotherapeutics; and for compressed air baths,Aerotherapeutics. (See alsoBaths,Therapeutics, and the articles on diseases.)
BALQUHIDDER(Gaelic, "the farm in the back-lying country"), a village and parish of Perthshire, Scotland. Pop. of parish (1901) 605. The village lies 2 m. W. of the station of the same name on the Caledonian railway from Callander to Oban, and 27¾ m. N.W. of Stirling. It is situated at the east end of Loch Voil, a lake at the foot of the Braes of Balquhidder. The Maclaurins acquired the district as early as the 9th century and occupied it for several hundred years until ousted by the Macgregors, a neighbouring clan, who had repeatedly raided their lands, and in 1558 slew the chief and many of his followers. Balquhidder was the scene of some of the exploits of Rob Roy, who died there in 1734. His grave in the old kirkyard is marked by a stone ornamented with rude carving, executed probably centuries before his time. Another ancient stone is said traditionally to cover the grave of Angus, the Columban missionary, who was the first to carry on Christian work in this part of the Highlands.
BALRAMPUR,a town of British India near the river Rapti, 28 m. from Gonda, in the Gonda district of the United Provinces. Pop. (1901) 16,723. It gives its name to one of the largesttalukdariestates in the province. The raja, Sir Drigbijai Singh K.C.S.I., was conspicuously loyal during the Mutiny, and was rewarded with accessions of territory and hereditary privileges. His death in 1882 gave rise to prolonged litigation and the estate was thrown into chancery. The income is estimated at £120,000, paying a revenue of £46,000. Numerous schools and hospitals are supported. Balrampur contains a large palace, a handsome modern temple and an Anglo-vernacular school.
BALSAM(from Gr.βάλσαμον, through Lat.balsamum, contracted by popular use to O. Fr.basme, mod. Fr.bâme; Eng. balm), a term properly limited to such resins or oleo-resins as contain benzoic acid or cinnamic acid or both. Those balsams which conform to this definition make up a distinct class, allied to each other by their composition, properties and uses. Those found in commerce are the balsam of Peru, balsam of Tolu, liquid storax and liquidambar.Balsam of Peruis the produce of a lofty leguminous tree,Myroxylon Pereirae, growing within a limited area in San Salvador, Central America and introduced into Ceylon. It is a thick, viscid oleo-resin of a deep brown or black colour and a fragrant balsamic odour. It is used in perfumery. Though contained in the pharmacopeias it has no special medicinal virtues.Balsam of Toluis produced fromMyroxylon toluiferum. It is of a brown colour, thicker than Peru balsam, and attains a considerable degree of solidity on keeping. It also is a product of equatorial America, but is found over a much wider area than is the balsam of Peru. It is used in perfumery and as a constituent in cough syrups and lozenges.Liquid storaxorstyrax preparatus, is a balsam yielded byLiquidambar orientalis, a native of Asia Minor. It is a soft resinous substance, with a pleasing balsamic odour, especially after ithas been kept for some time. It is used in medicine as an external application in some parasitic skin diseases, and internally as an expectorant. An analogous substance is derived fromLiquidambar Altingiain Java.Liquidambar balsamis derived fromLiquidambar styraciflua, a tree found in the United States and Mexico. It contains cinnamic acid, but not benzoic acid.
Of so-called balsams, entirely destitute of cinnamic and benzoic constituents, the following are found in commerce:—Mecca balsamorBalm of Gilead, fromCommiphora opobalsamum, a tree growing in Arabia and Abyssinia, is supposed to be the balm of Scripture and theβάλσαμονof Theophrastus. When fresh it is a viscid fluid, with a penetrating odour, but it solidifies with age. It was regarded with the utmost esteem among the nations of antiquity and to the present day it is peculiarly prized among the people of the East. Forbalsam of copaibaseeCopaiba. Under the name ofwood oil, orGurjun balsam, an oleo-resin is procured in India and the Eastern Archipelago from several species ofDipterocarpus, chieflyD. turbinatus, which has the odour and properties of copaiba and has been used for the same purposes. Wood oil is also used as a varnish in India and forms an effective protection against the attacks of white ants.Canada balsamorCanada turpentineis the oleo-resin yielded byAbies balsamea, a tree that grows in Canada and the northern parts of the United States. It is a very transparent substance, somewhat fluid when first run, but thickening considerably with age, possessed of a delicate yellow colour and a mild terebinthous odour. It contains 24% of essential oil, 60% of resin soluble in alcohol, and 16% of resin soluble only in ether. Its chief uses are for mounting preparations for the microscope and as a cement for glass in optical work.
The garden balsam is an annual plant,Impatiens balsamina, and the balsam apple is the fruit ofMomordica balsamina, nat. order Cucurbitaceae.
BALSHAM, HUGH DE(d. 1286), English churchman, appears first as sub-prior of the monastery of Ely. On the death of William of Kilkenny in 1256 the monks elected him bishop of Ely, to the annoyance of Henry III. who had handed over the temporalities of the see to John de Waleran. The election was confirmed by the pope in 1257 and Hugh set to work to repair the harm done to the diocese by the intruder. In 1280 the bishop obtained a charter allowing him to replace the secular brethren residing in his hospital of St John at Cambridge by "studious scholars"; a second charter four years later entirely differentiated these scholars from the brethren of the hospital, and for them Hugh de Balsham founded and endowed the college of Peterhouse.
BALTA,a town in the Russian government of Podolia, between the Dniester and the Bug, 131 m. by rail N.N.W. of Odessa. It carries on a large trade in cattle, horses and grain, and has two annual fairs, held at Whitsuntide and in June. A variety of industries, such as tallow-melting, soap-boiling, tile-making and brewing, are carried on. The Jews form a very considerable part of the population, which in 1867 numbered 14,528, and in 1897, 23,393. Balta was in great part destroyed by the Russians in 1780.
BALTARD, LOUIS PIERRE(1764-1846), French architect and engraver, was born in Paris on the 9th of July 1764. He was originally a landscape painter, but in his travels through Italy was so much struck with the beauty of the Italian buildings, that he changed his profession and devoted himself to architecture. In his new occupation he achieved great success, and was selected to prepare the plans for some of the largest public edifices in Paris. His reputation, however, is chiefly based on his great skill in engraving. Among the best known of his plates are the drawings of Paris (Paris et ses monuments, 2 vols. fol., 1803), the engravings for Denon'sÉgypte, the illustrations of Napoleon's wars (La Colonne de la grande armée), and those contained in the series entitled theGrand prix de l'architecture, which for some time he carried on alone. He also gained distinction as an engraver of portraits. Baltard died in Paris on the 22nd of January 1846.
Two of his children were also architects. Of these the more important wasVictor Baltard(1805-1874), who was born in Paris on the 19th of June 1805. In1833he gained theprix de Romeat the École des beaux-arts for designing a military school. He was largely instrumental in introducing a regular scheme of fresco decoration by modern artists in the churches of Paris, to take the place of the heterogeneous collections of pictures of all kinds with which their walls had been promiscuously decorated. He built many additions to existing churches, and also the church of St Augustin, in which he united the structural values of stone and steel. His most popular achievement was, however, the building of the central market in Paris. Victor Baltard also built the slaughter houses and the cattle market of La Villette. He died in Paris on the 13th of January 1874, after a life of great activity in his profession.
BALTIC SEA(Scand. and Ger.Ostsee; Russ.Baltiyskoe More), a sea extending between 54° and 66° N. lat., and 9° and 30° E. long., surrounded by the territories of Sweden, Russia, Germany and Denmark. Its greatest length is about 960 m.; greatest breadth about 400 m.; and length of coast-line, 5000 m.; the central axis runs approximately from south-west to north-east. The Baltic is connected with North Sea by the winding channel between the south of Scandinavia and the Cimbrian peninsula. This channel is usually included in the Baltic. The part of it west of a line joining the Skaw with Christiania fjord receives the name of Skagerrak; the part east of this line is called the Kattegat. At its southern end the Kattegat is blocked by the Danish islands, and it communicates with the Baltic proper by narrow channels called the Sound, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. The real physical boundary between the North Sea and the Baltic is formed by the plateau on which the islands Zealand, Fünen and Laaland are situated, and its prolongation from the islands Falster and Möen to the coasts of Mecklenburg and Rügen.
East of this plateau the Baltic proper forms a series of hollows or troughs. The first, or Bornholm deep, lies east of the island of Bornholm, and is separated from the next, or Gotland deep, by the Middelbank. Beyond the Middelbank the Danziger Tiefe, an isolated depression, lies to the south-east, while to the northeast the Gotland basin, the largest and deepest of all, extends north-eastwards to the Gulf of Finland. Along the Swedish coast a deep channel runs northward from outside the island of Öland; this is entirely cut off to the south and east by a bank which sweeps eastward and northward from near Karlskrona, and on which the island of Gotland stands, but it communicates at its northern end with the Gotland deep, and near the junction opposite Landsort is the deepest hole in the Baltic (420 metres = 230 fathoms).
An unbroken ridge, extending from Stockholm to Hangö in Finland, separates the Baltic basin proper from the depression between Sweden and the Åland Isles, to which the name Åland Haf has been given. North of the Åland Haf a ridge defines the southern edge of another depression, the Bothnian Sea, which in turn is separated from the most northerly division, the Gulf of Bothnia, by a ridge across the narrow Quarken or Kvarken Strait. The Gotland deep may be said to extend directly into the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic, running eastwards for about 250 m., and separating Finland from Esthonia. Between Esthonia and Courland is the Gulf of Riga, a shallow inlet of roughly circular form, about 100 m. in diameter, and nowhere more than 27 fathoms deep.
According to recent computations the total area of the Baltic, including the Skagerrak and Kattegat, is 166,397 sq. m., and its volume 6907 cub. m., giving a mean depth of 36 fathoms, which is markedly less than that of any other arm of the sea of similar area.
In the deeper hollows in the south part of the Baltic the bottom consists almost invariably of either soft brown or grey mud or hard clay, while on the shallow banks and near the low coasts fine sand, of white, yellow or brown colour with small pebbles, is usually found.
At the time of the last great subsidence, in glacial times, an armCoasts—changes and character.of the sea extended across Sweden, submerging a great part of the littoral up to the Gulf of Bothnia, and including the present lakes Vener, Hjelmar and Mälar. During this period the waters of the northern Baltic were sufficiently salt for oysters to flourish. The subsequent upheaval restricted direct communication with the open sea to the Danish channels, and the Baltic waters became fresher: the oyster disappeared, but a number of cold salt-water fishes and crustaceans, and even seals, became acclimatized. It has been suggested that the presence of the remains of these animals indicates a communication to the north with the Arctic Ocean; but in view of the severe climatic conditions still prevailing at the time, this seems an unnecessary assumption. In the next stage of its history the Baltic is transformed by further elevation into a vast freshwater lake, theAncyluslake of G. de Geer (named from the remains of the molluscAncylus fluviatilis), which is supposed to have covered an area of about 220,000 sq. m., including the whole of the present Baltic area and a large part of Finland, with Lake Ladoga. Then followed a subsidence, which not only re-established communication through the Danish channels, but allowed the Baltic to become sufficiently salt for such forms asCardium eduleandLittorina littorea. At this time the Gulf of Bothnia must have suffered greater depression than the Baltic proper, for the deposits of that epoch show a thickness of 100 metres (328 ft.) near Hernösand, but of only 25 metres (82 ft.) in the neighbourhood of Gotland. After this period of subsidence the process of elevation set in which gave the Baltic its present form and physical condition, and appears to be still in progress. Dr R. Sieger has traced a series of isobasic lines, or lines of equal rate of elevation, for portions of Sweden and Finland; these indicate that the movement is now almostnilalong the axial lines of the Baltic and the Gulf of Finland, but increases in amplitude northwards to the Gulf of Bothnia and in the direction of the main ridge of themassifof southern Sweden. At Stockholm the rate of elevation is approximately 0.47 metre (= 1.54 ft.) in a century.
The coast of the Baltic is rocky only in the island-studded region at the head of the Baltic basin proper—a submerged lake-district—and the littoral generally is a typical morainic land, the work of the last great Baltic glacier. The southern margin of the Baltic is of peculiar interest. From Schleswig eastwards to Lübeck Bay the coast is pierced by a number of narrow openings orFohrden, the result of encroachment of the sea caused by subsidence. East of Lübeck, as far as the mouth of the Oder, these give place toBodden, ramified openings studded with islands: the structure here resembles that of Scania in southern Sweden, a region once joined to both Denmark and Pomerania by an isthmus which was severed by tectonic movements. Beyond the Oder the coast-line is unbroken as far as the Gulf of Danzig. It is then cut into by the estuaries of the Vistula, the Pregel and the Memel. Here the westerly winds have full play, and the coast is rimmed by a continuous line of dunes, which cut off the two great lagoons of theFrisches HaffandKurisches Haffby sandspits orNehrungen.
The drainage area of the Baltic is relatively large. According to the measurements of Sir J. Murray it extends to 461,450 sq. sea m. ( = 611,700 sq. English m.) The largest river-basin included in it is that of the Neva in the east, and next in size come the Vistula and the Oder in the south. The narrow parallel troughs, at right angles to the coast, which form the drainage-system of Sweden and western Finland, are a remarkable feature.
Levellings from Swinemünde show that the mean level of theLevel.surface of the Baltic at that point is 0.093 metres (= .305 ft.) below the surface of the North Sea at Amsterdam, and 0.066 metres ( = .216 ft.) below its level at Ostend. A line of levels from Swinemünde through Eger to the Adriatic showed the mean level of the surface of the Baltic to be 0.499 metres (1.6 ft.) above that of the Adriatic Sea. The mean level of the surface of the Baltic rises about 0.5 metres (1.6 ft.) from the coast of Holstein to Memel, probably as a result of the prevailing westerly winds; this mean difference is exceeded with strong westerly winds, and disappears or is reversed with easterly winds. The waves of the Baltic are usually short and irregular, often dangerous to navigation. Destructive waves, probably caused by distant earthquakes, calledSeebaren(cf. English "bores") have been recorded.
The range of the tides is about one foot at Copenhagen; within the Baltic proper ordinary tides are scarcely perceptible. There is, however, a distinctly marked annual rise and fall due to meteorological influences having a mean range of about 11.4 cm. (0.37 ft.), at Travemünde, and 13.9 cm. (0.46 ft.) at Swinemünde, the maximum occurring at the end of the summer rainy period in August.
The circulation of water in the Baltic proper must be consideredCirculation.apart from the circulation in the channels connecting it with the North Sea; and in this relation the plateau connecting the islands Falster and Möen with the coast of Mecklenburg and Rügen must be taken as the dividing line. In the great basins and hollows from Rügen to the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland the upper layers of water, from 30 to 70 metres (16 to 38 fathoms) in thickness, have almost the same salinity throughout. In these waters a vertical circulation is kept up by convection currents. Beneath these layers are masses of salter water, through which a thermal wave of small amplitude is slowly propagated to the bottom by conduction. These strata are practically stagnant, deficient in oxygen and surcharged with carbonic acid. Their salter waters must have been originally derived from outside, and must therefore have passed over the plateau between Falster and Mecklenburg, but their horizontal extension is checked by the ridges separating the deep hollows in the Baltic from each other. The inflow to the deep basins is intermittent, probably with a long period of flux and reflux.
The circulation in the channels connecting the Baltic proper with the North Sea is of a complex character. It is necessary in the first place to distinguish clearly between outflowing and inflowing waters; in practice this is easily done, as the outflowing water always contains less than 30 partspro milleof salt, and the inflowing water more than 32pro mille. The Baltic receives much more water by rainfall, discharge of rivers, &c., than it loses by evaporation; hence a surplus must be got rid of by an outflowing current which may be named the "Baltic Stream." The following general laws may be laid down with regard to this:—
1. That the Baltic Stream must be a surface current, because it originates from a redundancy of fresh water.
2. That, on account of the earth's rotation, the main part of the Baltic Stream must keep close to the coast of the Scandinavian peninsula.
3. That it must be a periodic stream, because the discharge of the rivers into the Baltic varies with the season of the year. In spring and summer the water from the Baltic is sufficiently abundant to inundate the whole surface of the Kattegat and Skagerrak, but in winter the sources of the Baltic current are for the most part dried up by the freezing of the land water.
All the waters which enter the Skagerrak or Kattegat as undercurrents can be found at the surface of the North Sea (q.v.). They may be divided according to their origin and salinity as follows:—
(a)Ocean waterof 35pro millesalinity or more.
(b)North Sea water, the predominant water in the North Sea area, of 34 to 35pro millesalinity.
(c)Bank water, 32 to 34pro mille, which forms a broad edging covering the coast banks of Holland, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
The deepest water stratum in the Skagerrak is certainly of oceanic origin; it has been found to suffer changes of long period, and it is probably not always composed of water derived from the same part or the same depth of the North Atlantic; this water is, as a rule, deficient in oxygen. The "North Sea" water, of 34 to 35pro millesalinity, does not appear at the surface in the Skagerrak, except as a strip along part of the coast of Jutland, but it is always found as an undercurrent overlying the oceanic water. It enters into all the deep coast channels, and into the Christiania fjord, but it is not always found in the deep channels of the Kattegat. The principal time of inflow of North Sea water is during spring and summer. The bank-water of 32 to 34pro millesalinity is found all along the continental coast of the North Sea and North Atlantic, and it may therefore enter the Skagerrak either from the North Sea or from the north along the coast of Norway. It is probable indeed that an influx of this water occurs from both directions—in August and September from the south, and in the late winter and early spring from the north. The seasonal changes in the distribution of the bank-waters in different parts of the coast are too complex to be briefly explained; their relations to the times of occurrence of various fisheries of the region present many remarkable features, which have been investigated in recent years by the Swedish Commission.
On the west and south coasts of Sweden, and in the Skagerrak south-east of Norway, navigation is interfered with by ice only in severe winters, and then the ice is usually drifting, compact sea-ice being very rare. Between Stockholm and Visby navigation usually ceases at the end of December and begins again about the 10th of April. During very severe winters the Åland Sea is covered with thick ice available for traffic. The south part of the Gulf of Bothnia is covered with ice every winter along the coasts, but rarely, if ever, in its central part. Navigation is interrupted by drifting ice from about the middle of November to the beginning of May, though the port of Hernösand has been known to remain open during a whole winter. The northern Quarken is covered with traversable ice every third or fourth year. The northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia is frozen every winter. In the Gulf of Finland the sea is closed to navigation by ice for about 150 days in the year; but navigation is rendered possible throughout the winter by the use of ice-breakers.
See references to different parts of the subject in the standard books of A. Penck, A. de Lapparent, E. Suess and others. Also Credner,Die Entstehung der Ostsee(Leipzig, 1895); G. de Geer,Om Skandinaviens nivåforändringar under quartärperioden(Stockholm, 1888); R. Sieger,Seeenschwankungen und Strandverschiebungen in Skandinavien(Berlin, 1893); O. Pettersson, "Review of Swedish Hydrographic Research,"Scottish Geographical Magazine(1894); N. Ekholm,Om klimatets ändringar i geologisk och historisk tid. Ymer(Stockholm, 1899);Publications of the International Council for the Study of the Sea(Copenhagen, since 1902).
(H. N. D.)
BALTIMORE, GEORGE CALVERT,1st Baron(c.1580-1632), English statesman, son of Leonard Calvert, and Alice, daughter of John Crosland of Crosland, was born at Kipling in Yorkshire and educated at Trinity College, Oxford. After travelling on the continent, he entered the public service as secretary to Robert Cecil, afterwards earl of Salisbury. In 1606 he was appointed clerk of the crown in Connaught and Clare, in 1608 a clerk of the council, and was returned to parliament for Bossiney in 1609. He assisted James I. in his discourse against Vorstius, the Arminian theological professor of Leiden, and in 1613 took charge of the Spanish and Italian correspondence. The same year he was sent on a mission to Ireland to investigate grievances. For these services he was rewarded by knighthood in 1617, followed by a secretaryship of state in 1619 and a pension of £2000 a year in 1620. He represented successively Yorkshire (1621) and Oxford University (1624) in the House of Commons, where it fell to him in his official capacity to communicate the king's policy and to obtain supplies. He was distrusted by the parliament, and was in favour of the unpopular alliance with Spain and the Spanish marriage. Shortly after the failure of the scheme he declared himself a Roman Catholic, and on the 12th of February 1625 threw up his office, when he was created Baron Baltimore of Baltimore and received a grant of large estates in Ireland. Henceforth he was seen little in public life and his attention was directed to colonial enterprise, with which his name will be always associated. He had established a small settlement in Newfoundland in 1621, for which under the name of Avalon he procured a charter in 1623, and which he himself visited in 1627. In consequence of disputes and the unsuitable nature of the climate he sailed thence for Virginia, but was forbidden to settle there unless he took the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. He returned home, and died on the 15th of April 1632 before a new concession was secured, the charter of Maryland passing the great seal on the 20th of June 1632 in favour of his son Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore, who founded the colony. Baltimore married Anne, daughter of George Mynne of Hurlingfordbury, Hertfordshire, by whom he had six sons and five daughters. He wroteCarmen funebre in D. Hen. Untonum(1596);The Answer to Tom Tell-Troth ...(1642) is also attributed to him, and Wood mentions Baltimore as having composed "something concerning Maryland." His letters are to be found in various publications, including Strafford'sLetters,Clarendon State Papersand theCalendars of State Papers.
Bibliography.—George and Cecilius Calvertby William Hand Browne (1890); article by C. H. Firth in theDict. of Nat. Biog.with references there given; Wood'sAthenae Oxonienses(Bliss) ii. 522; Doyle's,The English in America;Discourse on the Life and Character of Sir G. Calvertby J. P. Kennedy (1845), with theReviewand theReplyto the same;London Magazine, June 1768; "Sir G. Calvert," by L. W. Wilhelm (Maryland Hist. Soc., 14th April 1884);The Nation, vol. 70, p. 95;American Historical Review, vol. 5, p. 577.
BALTIMORE,a city and seaport, and the metropolis of Maryland, U.S.A., the 7th city in population in the United States. It is at the head of tide-water on the Patapsco river and its middle and north-west branches where they form an estuary 12 m. from the entrance of their waters into Chesapeake Bay, in lat. 39° 17′ N. and long. 76° 37′ W., about 172 m. by water from the Atlantic Ocean, 40 m. by rail N.W. from Washington, 26 m. N. by W. from Annapolis, 97 m. S.W. from Philadelphia, and 184 m. from New York. Pop. (1890) 434,439; (1900) 508,957 of whom 79,258 were negroes, and 68,600 foreign-born (of these 33,208 were natives of Germany, 10,493 of Russia, 9690 of Ireland, 2841 of England, 2811 of Poland, 2321 of Bohemia and 2042 of Italy); (1910, census) 558,485. It is served by the Baltimore & Ohio, the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington (the Pennsylvania system), the Baltimore & Annapolis Short Line, the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic; the Northern Central; the Western Maryland and the Maryland & Pennsylvania railways; and by steamship lines running directly to all the more important ports on the Atlantic coast of the United States, to ports in the West Indies and Brazil, to London, Liverpool, Southampton, Bristol, Leith, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast, Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremen, Hamburg and other European ports.
The city extends nearly 6½ m. from E. to W., and except on the W. side a little more than 5 m. from N. to S., covering an area of about 32 sq. m. The ground on which it is built is for the most part gently rolling; originally some portions were swampy and others were marked by precipitous heights, but the swamps have been drained and filled and the heights rounded off. Jones's Falls, a small stream shut in between granite walls several feet in height, crosses the N. boundary line a short distance W. of its middle, flows S.E. to the S.E. corner of the main business quarter, and there meets the north-west branch of the Patapsco, in which lies the harbour, defended at its entrance by the historic Fort McHenry, built at the S.E. extremity of Locust Point, an irregular peninsula extending S.E., on which are grain-elevators and a number of wharves, including those of the Baltimore & Ohio railway.
That part of the city which lies E. of Jones's Falls is known as East Baltimore, and is in turn nominally divided into Fells' Point to the S. and E., now a shipbuilding and manufacturing quarter, and Old Town to the N. and W. In the Old Town still remain a few specimens of eighteenth century architecture, including several old-fashioned post-houses, which used to furnish entertainment for travellers starting for the Middle West by way of the old Cumberland Road beginning at Fort Cumberland, and from Baltimore to Fort Cumberland by a much older turnpike. The more inviting portion of the modern city lies on the western side of Jones's Falls, and the principal residential districts are in the northern half of the city. A little S. from the centre of the city, Baltimore Street, running E. and W., and Charles Street, running N. and S., intersect; from this point buildings on these two streets are numbered N., S., E. and W., while buildings on other streets are numbered N. and S. from Baltimore Street and E. and W. from Charles Street. Baltimore Street is the chief business thoroughfare; S. of it as well as a little to the N. is the wholesale, financial and shipping district; while West Lexington Street, a short distance to the N., and North Howard and North Eutaw Streets, between Fayette and Franklin Streets, have numerous department and other retail stores. In North Gay Street also, which runs N.E. through East Baltimore, there are many small but busy retail shops. North Charles Street, running through the district in which the more wealthy citizens live, is itself lined with many of the most substantial and imposing residences in the city. Mount Vernon Place and Washington Place, intersecting near the centre of the city, Eutaw Place farther N.W., and Broadway running N. and S. through the middle of East Baltimore, are good examples of wide streets, having squares in the middle, adorned with lawns, flower-beds and fountains.
The buildings of the principal business quarter have been erected since 1904, when a fire which broke out on Sunday the 7th of February destroyed all the old ones within an area of 150 acres. Within a year after the fire, however, 225 places of business were again occupied and 170 more were building. A city ordinance prohibited the erection of any building more than 185 ft. in height, and prescribed a uniform height for those in the same neighbourhood; a large portion of the new buildings are of either three or four storeys, but a few tall ones range from ten to sixteen. The principal materials of which they are built are limestone, granite, marble and bricks, and terra-cotta of various colours.
The city hall, the post-office and the court-house, standing in a row, and each occupying a separate block along E. Fayette Street in almost the exact centre of the city, are three of Baltimore's most imposing buildings, and all of them narrowly escaped destruction by the great fire. The city hall, completed in 1875, in the Renaissance style, consists of a centre structure of four storeys surmounted by an iron dome 260 ft. high, and two connecting wings of three storeys surmounted by a mansard roof; the entire outer facing is of white Maryland marble. The post-office, completed in 1890, is built of Maine granite. The court-house, completed in 1899, is of white marble, with mural paintings by La Farge, E. H. Blashfield and C. Y. Turner. Two of the principal library buildings—the Peabody and the EnochPratt—are faced with white marble. Among the churches may be mentioned the Roman Catholic cathedral, surmounted by a dome 125 ft. high—Baltimore being the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric, the highest in rank in the United States; the First Presbyterian church (decorated Gothic), with a spire 250 ft. high; the Grace Episcopal church—Baltimore being the seat of a Protestant Episcopal bishopric; the First Methodist Episcopal church; and the synagogues of the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation and the Oheb Shalom Congregation. Other notable buildings are the custom-house, the Masonic Temple, the Maryland Clubhouse, the Mount Royal station of the Baltimore & Ohio railway, and the buildings of the Johns Hopkins hospital. There are several good bridges across Jones's Falls.
On an elevated site at the intersection of Washington Place—a continuation of N. Charles Street—with Mount Vernon Place stands a white marble monument in honour of George Washington, the eldest of the monuments in his honour in the United States. The corner-stone was laid in 1815 and the monument was completed in 1829. The base is 50 ft. sq. and 24 ft. high; on this stands a Doric column, 25 ft. in diameter at the base and 130 ft. high, which is surmounted by a statue of Washington 16 ft. high. A winding stairway in the interior leads to a parapet at the top. In the square by which the monument is surrounded are also statues of George Peabody by W. W. Story (a replica of the one in London), Roger Brooke Taney by W. H. Rinehart, and John Eager Howard by Emmanuel Frémiet; and bronze pieces representing Peace, War, Force and Order, and a figure of a lion by Antoine L. Barye. The Henry Walters collection of paintings, mostly by modern French artists, and of Chinese and Japanese bronzes, ivory carvings, enamels, porcelain and paintings is housed in the Walters Art Gallery at the S. end of Washington Place; at the south-east corner of the square is the Peabody Institute with its conservatory of music and collection of rare books, of American paintings, and of casts, including the Rinehart collection of the works of William H. Rinehart who was a native of Maryland. In Monument Square near the post-office and the court-house is the white marble Battle Monument, erected in 1815 to the memory of those who had fallen in defence of the city in the previous year; it is 52 ft. high, the column being in the form of a bundle of Roman fasces, upon the bands of which are inscribed the names of those whom it commemorates; and the whole is surmounted by a female figure, the emblematical genius of the city. To this monument and the one in honour of Washington, Baltimore owes the name "The Monumental City," frequently applied to it. A small monument erected to the memory of Edgar Allan Poe stands in the Westminster Presbyterian churchyard, where he is buried; there is another monument to his memory in Druid Hill Park. In Greenmount Cemetery in the north central part of the city are the graves of Junius Brutus Booth, Mme Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (1785-1879), the wife of Jerome Bonaparte, Johns Hopkins, John McDonogh and Sidney Lanier.
In 1908 there were in the city under the jurisdiction of the department of public parks and squares 13 parks of 10 acres or more each and 33 squares, and the total acreage of parks was 2188 acres and of squares 86.53 acres. Chief among the parks is Druid Hill Park in the N.W. containing 672.78 acres and famous for its natural beauty. Clifton Park, of 311.26 acres, 2 m. E. of Druid Hill and formerly a part of the Johns Hopkins estate, passed into the possession of the city in 1895. Patterson Park in the extreme S.E., of 125.79 acres, is a favourite resort for the inhabitants of East Baltimore.
Education.—Baltimore ranks high as an educational centre. Johns Hopkins University (q.v.) is a leading institution of the United States for graduate study. The Peabody Institute, founded in 1859 by George Peabody, who was for some years a resident of Baltimore, is an important factor in the promotion of science, literature and the fine arts. Goucher College (Methodist, 1888) for women, is one of the best institutions of the kind in southern United States. The older of the two state normal schools, opened in 1867, is located here. Morgan College (Methodist), opened in 1876, offers the advantages of a college education to the coloured young people. Loyola College, founded in 1852, and various other institutions are for the training of the Catholics.
The McDonogh farm school, about 12 m. N.W., with a farm of 835 acres, a printing-office, and carpenter and machine shops prepares poor boys to enter any college in the country. The institution owes its origin to a bequest left by John McDonogh. Among the professional schools are the university of Maryland and Baltimore University—each of which offers courses in law, medicine and dentistry—the Baltimore Medical College, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Woman's Medical College, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, the Maryland College of Pharmacy (since 1904 part of the university of Maryland), the Baltimore Law School, St Joseph's Seminary and St Mary's Seminary, which, established by the Society of St Sulpice in 1791, is said to be the oldest Catholic theological seminary in the United States. The city also has a Polytechnic Institute, as well as high schools for white and for coloured pupils. The principal libraries are those of Johns Hopkins University, Peabody Institute, Maryland Historical Society, and the Bar Association; and the Enoch Pratt, the New Mercantile, and Maryland Diocesan (Protestant Episcopal).
The charitable institutions of Baltimore are numerous. Several such institutions supported wholly or in part by the state of Maryland (q.v.) are located here, and besides these there are scores of others. A representative list includes:— the Charity Organization Society, the primary object of which is to organize the work of the others; the Baltimore Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, which seeks to discourage indiscriminate alms-giving; the Bay View asylum or city poorhouse; the Children's Aid Society; the Thomas Wilson Fuel-Saving Society, for furnishing coal at low rates; the Woman's Industrial Exchange, for assisting women in need to support themselves; Johns Hopkins hospital, noted for the excellence of its equipment especially for heating and ventilating; Saint Joseph's general hospital; hospital for the women of Maryland of Baltimore city; nursery and child's hospital; Baltimore eye, ear and throat charity hospital; Maryland hospital for the insane; the Sheppard asylum, intended especially for the cure of the insane; the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt hospital; the Baltimore orphan asylum; Saint Vincent's infant asylum; the Thomas Wilson sanatorium for children, intended for children under three years of age, who are suffering from disease, during the warm summer months; the Free Summer Excursion Society, for affording a change of air to the indigent sick; home for the incurables; homes for the aged; homes for friendless children; institutions for the blind; and institutions for the deaf and dumb.
Water for the city taken from Jones's Falls and Gunpowder river a few miles N. of the city limits, is brought through tunnels, and is stored in eight reservoirs having an aggregate capacity of 2275 million gallons. The whole system is owned by the municipality and can furnish about 300 million gallons daily. After the fire $10,000,000 was appropriated for a new sewage system (begun 1906). In 1900 the Maryland legislature empowered the city to borrow $1,350,000 to establish a municipal lighting plant, but in 1909 private concerns still supplied the streets with light.
Commerce.—The harbour, which consists of three parts, is excellent. Its entrance at Fort McHenry is a channel 600 ft. wide, with a minimum draft (1907) of 31 ft. of water. The depth is continued with an increased width for a mile and a quarter to near Fells' Point, where the width is contracted to one-fourth of a mile with a depth of 16 ft. Above this entrance it widens into an ellipse a mile long, half a mile broad and 15 ft. deep. The third or inner harbour has a depth of 14 ft. and penetrates far into the city. Vessels of the largest class can lie at the Locust Point wharves and Canton, and vessels of 4000 tons can use the inner harbour W. of the mouth of Jones's Falls. By 1905 $5,000,000 had been appropriated since the great fire for new docks. In 1908 the city ranked fourth among the Atlantic ports of the United States in the amount of its exports ($82,113,496), and fourth in the amount of its imports ($23,722,045).
That Baltimore has grown rapidly as a manufacturing city since 1880 is seen from the fact that in that year there were but 3683 manufacturing establishments, with a total annual product valued at $78,417,304, as compared with 6359 establishments (of which 2274 were under the factory system) in 1900 producing commodities valued at $161,249,240 ($135,107,626 under the factory system); in 1905 there were 2163 establishments under the factory system with a total annual product valued at $151,546,580, an increase of 12.2% in the five years. The city ranked eighth among the manufacturing centres of the United States, as regards the value of products, in the three successive censuses of 1880, 1890 and 1900. In 1905 it was ninth. Baltimore is noted particularly as the most important centre in the United States of the canning and preserving industry. The output in 1905 ($5,981,541) of the city's establishments for the canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables was 7.7% of that of the whole United States; in 1900 it had been 15% of the country's total. What seems to have been the first oyster-canning establishment in America was built in Baltimore (by a Thomas Kensett) in 1820, and oyster-canning as a distinct industry on a permanent footing was begun here in 1850. The term "cove oysters," now applied to canned oysters everywhere, was originally applied to the oysters found in the coves on the W. side of the Chesapeake Bay, above the mouth of the Potomac. Up to 1900, after which year oyster canneries began to be built in the southern states, especially in Mississippi, Baltimore was the centre of the oyster-canning industry. Baltimore is also a well-known centre for the manufacture of clothing, in which in 1905 ($22,684,656) it ranked fourth among the cities of the United States; for cigar and cigarette-making (1905, $4,360,366); for the manufacture of foundry and machine shop products (1905, $6,572,925), of tinware (1905, $5,705,980), of shirts (1905, $5,710,783), of cotton-duck (the output of sail-duck being about three-fourths of the total for the United States), bricks (about 150,000,000 annually), and fertilizers; it also manufactures furniture, malt liquors, and confectionery, and many other commodities in smaller amounts. The markets, especially the Lexington market, are noted for the abundance and great variety of their produce. The proximity of coal-mines, the abundance and variety of food supplies furnished by the state, the great quantity and variety of the city's manufactured goods, the excellent shipping facilities, and the consequent low cost of living, are prominent features of the physical life of the city.