The exports of Baden, which coincide largely with the industries just mentioned, are of considerable importance, but the bulk of its trade consists in the transit of goods. The country is well furnished with roads and railways, the greater proportion of the latter being in the hands of the state. A line runs the whole length of the land, for the most part parallel with the Rhine, while branches cross obliquely from east to west. Mannheim is the great emporium for the export of goods down the Rhine and has a large river traffic. It is also the chief manufacturing town of the duchy and the seat of administrative government for the northern portion of the country.
Education and Religion.—The educational establishments of Baden are numerous and flourishing, and public education is entirely in the hands of the government. There are two universities, the Protestant at Heidelberg and the Roman Catholic at Freiburg-im-Breisgau, and a celebrated technical college at Karlsruhe. The grand-duke is a Protestant; under him the Evangelical Church is governed by a nominated council and a synod consisting of the "prelate," 48 elected, and 7 nominated lay and clerical members. The Roman Catholic archbishop of Freiburg is metropolitan of the Upper Rhine.
Constitution and Government.—The government of Baden is an hereditary monarchy, with the executive power vested in the grand-duke, while the legislative authority is shared by him with a representative assembly (Landtag) consisting of two chambers. The upper chamber is composed of all the princes of the reigning family who are of full age; the chiefs of the mediatized families; the archbishop of Freiburg; the president of the Protestant Evangelical church; a deputy from each of the universities and from the technical high school, eight members elected by the territorial nobility for four years, three representatives of the chamber of commerce, two of that of agriculture, one of that of trades, two mayors of municipalities, one burgomaster of lesser towns, one member of a district council, and eight members (two of them legal functionaries) nominated by the grand-duke. The lower chamber consists of 73 popular representatives, of whom 24 are elected by the burgesses of certain towns and 49 by the rural communities. Every citizen of 25 years of age, who has not been convicted and is not a pauper, has a vote. The elections are, however, indirect; the citizens nominating theWahlmänner(deputy electors) and the latter electing the representatives. The chambers meet at least every two years. The members of the lower chamber are elected for four years, half the number retiring at the expiration of every two years. The executive consists of four departments of state—those of the interior, of foreign affairs and of the grand-ducal house, of finance, and of justice, ecclesiastical affairs and education. The chief sources of revenue are direct and indirect taxes, domains and railways. The last are worked by the state, and the sole public debt, amounting to about 22 millions sterling, is attributable to this head. The supreme courts of justice of the duchy are in Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Offenburg, Heidelberg, Mosbach, Waldshut, Constance and Mannheim, whence appeals lie to theReichsgericht(supreme tribunal of the empire) in Leipzig. By virtue of a convention with Prussia, of 1871, the Baden army forms a portion of the Prussian army.
History.—During the middle ages the district which now forms the grand-duchy of Baden was ruled by various counts, prominent among whom were the counts and dukes of Zähringen. In 1112 Hermann, a son of Hermann, margrave of Verona (d. 1074), and grandson of Bertold, duke of Carinthia and count of Zähringen, having inherited some of the German estates of his family, called himself margrave of Baden, and from this date the separate history of Baden may be said to begin. Hermann appears to have called himself by the title of margrave, and not the more usual title of count, owing to the connexion of his family with the margraviate of Verona. His son and grandson, both named Hermann, added to their territories, which about 1200 were divided, and the lines of Baden-Baden and Baden-Hochberg were founded, the latter of which was divided about a century later into the branches of Baden-Hochberg and Baden-Sausenberg. The family of Baden-Baden was very successful in increasing the area of its possessions, which after several divisions were united by the margrave Bernard I. in 1391. Bernard, a soldier of some renown, continued the work of his predecessors, and obtained other districts, including Baden-Hochberg, the ruling family of which died out in 1418.
During the 15th century a war with the count palatine of the Rhine deprived Margrave Charles I. (d. 1475) of a part of his territories, but these losses were more than repaired by his son and successor, Christopher I. In 1503 the family ofBaden-Sausenberg became extinct, and the whole of Baden was united by Christopher, who divided it, however, before his death in 1527 among his three sons. One of these died childless in 1533, and in 1535 his remaining sons, Bernard and Ernest, having shared their brother's territories, made a fresh division and founded the lines of Baden-Baden and Baden-Pforzheim, called after 1565 Baden-Durlach. Further divisions followed, and the weakness caused by these partitions was accentuated by a rivalry between the two main branches of the family. This culminated in open warfare, and from 1584 to 1622 Baden-Baden was in the possession of one of the princes of Baden-Durlach. Religious differences added to this rivalry. During the period of the Reformation some of the rulers of Baden adhered to the older and some adopted the newer faith, and the house was similarly divided during the Thirty Years' War. Baden suffered severely during this struggle, and both branches of the family were exiled in turn. The treaty of Westphalia in 1648 restored thestatus quo, and the family rivalry gradually died out. During the wars of the reign of Louis XIV. the margraviate was ravaged by the French troops, and the margrave of Baden-Baden, Louis William (d. 1707), was prominent among the soldiers who resisted the aggressions of France. In 1771 Augustus George of Baden-Baden died without sons, and his territories passed to Charles Frederick of Baden-Durlach, who thus became ruler of the whole of Baden.
Although in 1771 Baden was united under a single ruler it did not form a compact territory, and its total area was only about 1350 sq. m. Consisting of a number of isolated districts lying on either bank of the upper Rhine, it was the work of Charles Frederick to acquire the intervening stretches of land, and so to give territorial unity to his country. Beginning to reign in 1738 and coming of age in 1746, this prince is the most notable of the rulers of Baden. He was interested in the development of agriculture and commerce; sought to improve education and the administration of justice, and was in general a wise and liberal ruler. His opportunity for territorialaggrandizementcame during the Napoleonic wars. When war broke out between France and Austria in 1792 the Badenese fought for Austria; consequently their country was devastated and in 1796 the margrave was compelled to pay an indemnity, and to cede his territories, on the left bank of the Rhine to France. Fortune, however, soon returned to his side. In 1803, largely owing to the good offices of Alexander I., emperor of Russia, he received the bishopric of Constance, part of the Rhenish Palatinate, and other smaller districts, together with the dignity of a prince elector. Changing sides in 1805 he fought for Napoleon, with the result that by the peace of Pressburg in that year he obtained the Breisgau and other territories at the expense of the Habsburgs. In 1806 he joined the Confederation of the Rhine, declared himself a sovereign prince, became a grand-duke, and received other additions of territory. The Baden contingent continued to assist France, and by the peace of Vienna in 1809 the grand-duke was rewarded with accessions of territory at the expense of the kingdom of Württemberg. Having quadrupled the area of Baden, Charles Frederick died in June 1811, and was succeeded by his grandson, Charles, who was married to Stephanie de Beauharnais (d. 1860), an adopted daughter of Napoleon. Charles fought for his father-in-law until after the battle of Leipzig in 1813, when he joined the Allies.
In 1815 Baden became a member of the Germanic confederation established by the Act of the 8th of June, annexed to the Final Act of the congress of Vienna of the 9th of June. In the hurry of the winding-up of the congress, however, the vexed question of the succession to the grand-duchy had not been settled. This was soon to become acute. By the treaty of the 16th of April 1816, by which the territorial disputes between Austria and Bavaria were settled, the succession to the Baden Palatinate was guaranteed to Maximilian I., king of Bavaria, in the expected event of the extinction of the line of Zähringen. As a counterblast to this the grand-duke Charles issued in 1817 a pragmatic sanction (Hausgesetz) declaring the counts of Hochberg, the issue of a morganatic marriage between the grand-duke Charles Frederick and Luise Geyer von Geyersberg (created Countess Hochberg), capable of succeeding to the crown. A controversy between Bavaria and Baden resulted, which was only decided in favour of the Hochberg claims by the treaty signed by the four great powers and Baden at Frankfort on the 10th of July 1819. Meanwhile the dispute had produced important effects in Baden. In order to secure popular support for the Hochberg heir, Charles in 1818 granted to the grand-duchy, under article xiii. of the Act of Confederation, a liberal constitution, under which two chambers were constituted and their assent declared necessary for legislation and taxation. The outcome was of importance far beyond the narrow limits of the duchy; for all Germany watched the constitutional experiments of the southern states. In Baden the conditions were not favourable to success. The people, belonging to the "Celtic fringe" of Germany, had fallen during the revolutionary period completely under the influence of French ideas, and this was sufficiently illustrated by the temper of the new chambers, which tended to model their activity on the proceedings of the Convention in the earlier days of the French Revolution. On the other hand, the new grand-duke Louis, who had succeeded in 1818, was unpopular, and the administration was in the hands of hide-bound and inefficient bureaucrats. The result was a deadlock; and, even before the promulgation of the Carlsbad decrees in October 1819 the grand-duke had prorogued the chambers, after three months of sterile debate. The reaction that followed was as severe in Baden as elsewhere in Germany, and culminated in 1823, when, on the refusal of the chambers to vote the military budget, the grand-duke dissolved them and levied the taxes on his own authority. In January 1825, owing to official pressure, only three Liberals were returned to the chamber; a law was passed making the budget presentable only every three years, and the constitution ceased to have any active existence.
In 1830 Louis was succeeded as grand-duke by his half-brother Leopold, the first of the Hochberg line. The July Revolution led to no disturbances in Baden; but the new grand-duke from the first showed liberal tendencies. The elections of 1830 were not interfered with; and the result was the return of a Liberal majority. The next few years saw the introduction, under successive ministries, of Liberal reforms in the constitution, in criminal and civil law, and in education. In 1832 the adhesion of Baden to the PrussianZollvereindid much for the material prosperity of the country. With the approach of the revolutionary year 1848, however, Radicalism once more began to lift up its head. At a popular demonstration held at Offenburg on the 12th of September 1847, resolutions were passed demanding the conversion of the regular army into a national militia which should take an oath to the constitution, a progressive income-tax and a fair adjustment of the interests of capital and labour.
The news of the revolution of February 1848 in Paris brought this agitation to a head. Numerous public meetings were held at which the Offenburg programme was adopted, and on the 4th of March, under the influence of the popular excitement, it was accepted almost unanimously by the lower chamber. As in other German states, the government bowed to the storm, proclaimed an amnesty and promised reforms. The ministry was remodelled in a more Liberal direction; and a new delegate was sent to the federal diet at Frankfort, empowered to vote for the establishment of a parliament for united Germany. The disorders, fomented by republican agitators, none the less continued; and the efforts of the government to suppress them with the aid of federal troops led to an armed insurrection. For the time this was mastered without much difficulty; the insurgents were beaten at Kandern on the 20th of April; Freiburg, which they held, fell on the 24th; and on the 27th a Franco-German "legion," which had invaded Baden from Strassburg, was routed at Dossenbach.
At the beginning of 1849, however, the issue of a new constitution, in accordance with the resolutions of the Frankfort parliament, led to more serious trouble. It did little to satisfy the Radicals, who were angered by the refusal of the second chamber to agree to their proposal for the summoning of aconstituent assembly (10th of February 1849). The new insurrection that now broke out was a more formidable affair than the first. A military mutiny at Rastatt on the 11th of May showed that the army sympathized with the revolution, which was proclaimed two days later at Offenburg amid tumultuous scenes. On the same day (13th of May) a mutiny at Karlsruhe forced the grand-duke to take to flight, and the next day he was followed by the ministers, while a committee of the diet under Lorenz Brentano (1813-1891), who represented the more moderate Radicals as against the republicans, established itself in the capital to attempt to direct affairs pending the establishment of a provisional government. This was accomplished on the 1st of June, and on the 10th the "constituent diet," consisting entirely of the most "advanced" politicians, assembled. It had little chance of doing more than make speeches; the country was in the hands of an armed mob of civilians and mutinous soldiers; and, meanwhile, the grand-duke of Baden had joined with Bavaria in requesting the armed intervention of Prussia, which was granted on the condition that Baden should join the League of the Three Kings.
From this moment the revolution in Baden was doomed, and with it the revolution in all Germany. The Prussians, under Prince William (afterwards emperor), invaded Baden in the middle of June. The insurgent forces were under the command of the Pole, Ludwig von Mieroslawski (1814-1878), who reduced them to some semblance of order. On the 20th he met the Prussians at Waghäusel, and was completely defeated; on the 25th Prince William entered Karlsruhe; and at the end of the month the members of the provisional government, who had taken refuge at Freiburg, dispersed. Such of the insurgent leaders as were caught, notably the ex-officers, suffered military execution; the army was dispersed among Prussian garrison towns; and Baden was occupied for the time by Prussian troops. The grand-duke returned on the 19th of August, and at once dissolved the diet. The elections resulted in a majority favourable to the new ministry, and a series of laws were passed of a reactionary tendency with a view to strengthening the government.
The grand-duke Leopold died on the 24th of April 1852, and was succeeded by his second son, Frederick, as regent, the eldest, Louis (d. 22nd of January 1858), being incapable of ruling.[1]The internal affairs of Baden during the period that followed have comparatively little general interest. In the greater politics of Germany, Baden, between 1850 and 1866, was a consistent supporter of Austria; and in the war of 1866 her contingents, under Prince William, had two sharp engagements with the Prussian army of the Main. Two days before the affair of Werbach (24th of July), however, the second chamber had petitioned the grand-duke to end the war and enter into an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia. The grand-duke had from the first been opposed to the war with Prussia, but had been forced to yield owing to popular resentment at the policy of Prussia in the Schleswig-Holstein question (q.v.). The ministry, now at one, resigned; Baden announced her withdrawal from the German confederation; and on the 17th of August a treaty of peace and alliance was signed with Prussia. The adhesion of Baden to the North German confederation was prevented by Bismarck himself, who had no wish to give Napoleon III. so good an excuse for intervention; but it was the opposition of Baden to the formation of a South German confederation that made the ultimate union inevitable. The troops of Baden took a conspicuous share in the war of 1870; and it was the grand-duke of Baden, who, in the historic assembly of the German princes at Versailles, was the first to hail the king of Prussia as German emperor.
The internal politics of Baden, both before and after 1870, centre in the main round the question of religion. The signing on the 28th of June 1859 of a concordat with the Holy See, by which education was placed under the oversight of the clergy and the establishment of religious orders was facilitated, led to a constitutional struggle, which ended in 1863 with the victory of Liberal principles, the communes being made responsible for education, though the priests were admitted to a share in the management. The quarrel between Liberalism and Clericalism was, however, not ended. In 1867, on the accession to the premiership of Julius von Jolly (1823-1891), several constitutional changes in a Liberal direction were made; responsibility of ministers, freedom of the press, compulsory education. In the same year (6th of September) a law was passed to compel all candidates for the priesthood to pass the government examinations. The archbishop of Freiburg resisted, and, on his death in April 1868, the see was left vacant, In 1869 the introduction of civil marriage did not tend to allay the strife, which reached its climax after the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility in 1870. The "Kulturkampf" raged in Baden, as in the rest of Germany; and here as elsewhere the government encouraged the formation of Old Catholic communities. Not till 1880, after the fall of the ministry of Jolly, was a reconciliation with Rome effected; in 1882 the archbishopric of Freiburg was again filled up. The political tendency of Baden, meanwhile, mirrored that of all Germany. In 1891 the National Liberals had but a majority of one in the diet; from 1893 they could maintain themselves only with the aid of the Conservatives; and in 1897 a coalition of Ultramontanes, Socialists, Social-democrats and Radicals (Freisinnige), won a majority for the opposition in the chamber.
Amid all these contests the wise and statesmanlike moderation of the grand-duke Frederick won him universal esteem. By the treaty under which Baden had become an integral part of the German empire, he had reserved only the exclusive right to tax beer and spirits; the army, the post-office, railways and the conduct of foreign relations were placed under the effective control of Prussia. In his relations with the German empire, too, Frederick proved himself rather a great German noble than a sovereign prince actuated by particularist ambitions; and his position as husband of the emperor William I.'s only daughter, Louise (whom he had married in 1856), gave him a peculiar influence in the councils of Berlin. When, on the 20th of September 1906, the grand-duke celebrated at once the jubilee of his reign and his golden wedding, all Europe combined to do him honour. King Edward VII. sent him, by the hands of the duke of Connaught, the order of the Garter. But more significant, perhaps, was the tribute paid by theTemps, the leading Parisian paper. "Nothing more clearly demonstrates the sterile paradox of the Napoleonic work," it wrote, "than the history of the grand-duchy. It was Napoleon, and he alone, who created this whole state in 1803 to reward in the person of the little margrave of Baden a relative of the emperor of Russia. It was he who after Austerlitz aggrandized the margravate at the expense of Austria; transformed it into a sovereign principality and raised it to a grand-duchy. It was he too who, by the secularization on the one hand and by the dismemberment of Württemberg on the other, gave the grand-duke 500,000 new subjects. He believed that the recognition of the prince and the artificial ethnical formation of the principality would be pledges of security for France. But in 1813 Baden joined the coalition, and since then that nation created of odds and ends (de bric et de broc) and always handsomely treated by us, had not ceased to take a leading part in the struggles against our country. The grand-duke Frederick, grand-duke by the will of Napoleon, has done France all the harm he could. But French opinion itself renders justice to the probity of his character and to the ardour of his patriotism, and nobody will feel surprise at the homage with which Germany feels bound to surround his old age." He died at Mainau on the 28th of September 1907, and was succeeded by his son, the grand-duke Frederick II.
Bibliography.—Das Grossherzogtum Baden in geographischer ... Hinsicht dargestellt(Karlsruhe, 1885); Wielandt,Das Staatsrecht des Grossherzogtums Baden(Freiburg, 1895); F. von Weech,Badische Geschichte(Karlsruhe, 1890);Die Zähringer in Baden(Karlsruhe, 1881);Baden unter den Grossherzögen Karl Friedrich, Karl Ludwig(Freiburg, 1863);Geschichte der badischen Verfassung(Karlsruhe, 1868); andBaden in den Jahren 1852 bis 1877(Karlsruhe, 1877); C. F. Nebenius and F. von Weech,Karl Friedrich von Baden(Karlsruhe, 1868); L. H. Häusser,Denkwürdigkeiten sur Geschichte der badischen Revolution(Heidelberg, 1851); L. Müller,Badische Landtagsgeschichte(Berlin, 1899-1902); E. von Chrismar,Genealogie des Gesamthauses Baden vom 16. Jahrhundert bis heute(Gotha, 1892); E. H. Meyer,Badisches Volksleben im 19. Jahrhundert(Strassburg, 1900); F. J. Mone,Quellensammlung zur badischen Landesgeschichte(Karlsruhe, 1848-1867);Badische Biographien, edited by F. von Weech (Karlsruhe, 1875-1891).
[1]Frederick assumed the title of grand-duke on the 5th of September 1856.
[1]Frederick assumed the title of grand-duke on the 5th of September 1856.
BADENOCH,a district of south-east Inverness-shire, Scotland, bounded on the N. by the Monadhliath mountains, on the E. by the Cairngorms and Braemar, on the S. by Atholl and the Grampians, and on the W. by Lochaber. Its area is somewhat undefined, but it may be estimated to measure 36 m. from N.E. to S.W. and 15 m. from N. to S. Excepting the valley of the Spey and the great glens, it is almost entirely a wild mountainous tract, many hills exceeding 3000 ft. in height, and contains in the forests of Alder, Drumochter, Gaick and Feshie some of the best deer country in the Highlands. Loch Laggan and Loch Ericht are the principal lakes, and the district is abundantly watered by the Spey and its numerous tributaries. It is traversed, from Dalnaspidal to Boat of Garten, by the Highland railway. There are very few industries, and population groups itself at Kingussie and other places on or near the Spey. From 1229 to 1313 the lordship of Badenoch was owned by the Comyns. In 1371 Robert II. granted it to his son Alexander Stewart, 1st earl of Buchan (1343-1405), the "Wolf of Badenoch." Reverting to the crown, it was bestowed in 1452 upon the 1st earl of Huntly, and still gives the title of lord of Badenoch to the marquess of Huntly.
BADENWEILER,a health resort and watering place of the grand-duchy of Baden, Germany, 28 m. N. by E. by rail from Basel, at the western edge of the Black Forest. It is sheltered by the Blauen (3820 ft.) and the climate is excellent. Its new parish (Evangelical) church (1897) is built at the foot of the 11th-century castle which belonged to the margraves of Baden, and was destroyed by the French during the wars of Louis XV. The place is visited by 5000 people annually, partly for its warm mineral springs (70° F.), partly for its whey cure, and partly on account of its equable climate and picturesque surroundings. There are aKurhaus, built in 1853, and a park of 15 acres; also a grand-ducal castle, refitted in 1887-1888. In 1784 well-preserved Roman baths were discovered here. The permanent population is about 600.
BADGER,the common name for any animal of the Musteline subfamilyMelinaeor the typical genusMeles(seeCarnivora). The name is probably derived from "badge," device, on account of the marks on the head; or it may be identical with the term separately noticed below, the Frenchblaireaubeing used in both senses. The members of the typical genus have the lower jaw so articulated to the upper, by means of a transverse condyle firmly locked into a long cavity of the cranium, that dislocation of the jaw is all but impossible, and this enables those creatures to maintain their hold with the utmost tenacity. The European badger (Meles taxusorM. meles) is from 25 in. to 29 in. long, with a tail of about 8 in.; the general hue of the fur is grey above and black on the under parts; the head is white, with a black stripe on each side. In habits it may be taken as typical of the subfamily. It is nowhere abundant, but is found over the northern parts of Europe and Asia, and is a quiet, inoffensive animal, nocturnal and solitary in its habits, sleeping by day in its burrow, and issuing forth at night to feed on roots, beech-mast, fruits, the eggs of birds, small quadrupeds, frogs and insects. It is said also to dig up the nests of wasps in order to eat the larvae, as the ratel—a closely allied South African form—is said to rob the bees of their honey. The male and female are seldom seen together, and are supposed to trace each other by the odour of the secretion in the anal glands. Fossil remains of the badger have been found in England in deposits of Pleistocene age. In eastern Persia this species is replaced by the Persian badger (M. canescens); two species—the white-tailed badger (M. leucurus) and the Chinese badger (M. chinensis) occur in eastern Asia; and another (M. anacuma) is found in Japan. The American badger (Taxidea americana) ranges over the greater part of the United States, and in habits closely resembles the European species, but seems to be more carnivorous. When badgers were more abundant than they now are, their skins, dressed with the hair attached, were commonly used for pistol furniture. They are now chiefly valued for the hair, that of the European badger being used in the manufacture of the best shaving-brushes while the softer hair of the American species is employed for the same purpose, and also for painters' pencils, and the fur is used for articles of ladies' apparel and trimmings. The Malay badger (Mydaus meliceps) is confined to the mountains of Java (where it is called the teledu), Sumatra and Borneo. The head and body are about 15 in. long, and the tail no more than an inch; the fur is dark brown, with the top of the head, neck and a broad dorsal stripe, white. Like the skunk, this animal can eject the foetid secretion of the anal glands. The sand-badgers (Arctonyx) are Asiatic; the best-known species (A. collaris) ranges from the eastern Himalayas to Burma; the smallerA. taxoidesis found in Assam, Arakan and perhaps in China; and there is probably another in Tibet. In these the tail is much longer in proportion to the body than in the rest of the group.
The badger does not usually seek to attack, but, when driven to bay, its great muscular power and tough hide render it a formidable antagonist. The cruel sport ofbadger-drawingwas formerly popular throughout Great Britain, but was prohibited about the middle of the 19th century, together with bear-baiting and bull-baiting. The badger-ward, who was usually attached to a bear-garden, kept his badger in a large box. Whenever a drawing was arranged, bets were made as to how many times the dog, usually a bull-terrier, woulddrawthe badger,i.e.pull it out of its box, within a given number of minutes. As soon as the dog succeeded in doing this the animals were parted, often by the attendants biting their tails, and the badger was again shut up in his box, which, at a signal from the time-keeper, was again opened. Another method of baiting this animal is thus described in theEncyclopaedia of Sport: "They dig a place in the earth about a yard long, so that one end is four feet deep. At this end a strong stake is driven down. Then the badger's tail is split, a chain put through it, and fastened to the stake with such ability that the badger can come up to the other end of the place. The dogs are brought and set upon the poor animal who sometimes destroys several dogs before it is killed." The colloquial "to badger" (i.e.worry or tease) is a metaphorical derivative, and "drawing a badger" is similarly used in a figurative sense.
BADGER,a term of uncertain derivation (possibly derived frombagger, in allusion to the hawker's bag) for a dealer in food, such as corn or victuals (more expressly, fish, butter or cheese), which he has purchased in one place and brought for sale to another place; an itinerant dealer, corresponding to the modern hawker or huckster. An English statute of 1552 which summarized, and prescribed penalties against, the offences of engrossing, forestalling and regrating, specially exempted badgers from these penalties, but required them to be licensed by three justices of the peace for the county in which they dwelt. A statute of 1562-1563, after declaring that many people took up the trade of badgering "seeking only to live easily and to leave their honest labour," enacted that badgers should be licensed for a year only, should be householders of three years' standing in the county in which they were licensed, and should enter into recognizances not to engross or forestall. An act of 1844 abolished the offence of badgering, and repealed the statutes passed in relation to it. The word is still in common use in country districts.
BADGHIS("home of the winds"), a district on the north-west of Afghanistan, between the Murghab and Hari Rud rivers, extending as far northward as the edge of the desert of Sarakhs. It includes the Chul formations through which the Russo-Afghan boundary runs. This region was surveyed by the boundary commission of 1885. Since that date it has been largely settled by the amir with purely Afghan tribes.
BADHAM, CHARLES(1813-1884), English scholar, was born at Ludlow, in Shropshire, on the 18th of July 1813. His father, Charles Badham, translator of Juvenal and an excellent classical scholar, was regius professor of physic at Glasgow; his mother was a cousin of Thomas Campbell, the poet. When about sevenyears 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 scholarship at Wadham College, Oxford, but only obtained a third class in classics (1836), a failure which may have been due to his dislike of the methods of study then in fashion at Oxford, at a time when classical scholarship 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 friendship 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, Lincolnshire (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 professorship of classics and logic in Sydney University, which he held until his death on the 26th of February 1884. He was twice married. Dr Badham's classical 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,HelenaandIphigenia in Tauris(1851),Ion(1851); Plato'sPhilebus(1855, 1878);LachesandEuthydemus(1865),Phaedrus(1851),Symposium(1866) andDe Platonis Epistolis(1866). He also contributed toMnemosyne(Cobet's journal) and other classical periodicals. HisAdhortatio ad Discipulos Academiae Sydniensis(1869) contains a number of emendations of Thucydides and other classical authors. He also published an article on "The Text of Shakespere" inCambridge Essays(1856);Criticism applied to Shakespere(1846);Thoughts on Classical and Commercial Education(1864).
A collected edition of hisSpeeches and Lectures delivered in Australia(Sydney, 1890) contains a memoir by Thomas Butler.
BADIUS, JODOCUSorJOSSE(1462-1535), sometimes calledBadius Ascensiusfrom the village of Asche, near Brussels, where he was born, an eminent printer at Paris, whose establishment was celebrated under the name ofPrelum 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 illustrated with notes several of the classics which he printed, and was the author of numerous pieces, amongst which are a life of Thomas à Kempis, and a satire on the follies of women, entitledNavicula Stultarum Mulierum.
BADLESMERE, BARTHOLOMEW,Baron(1275-1322), English nobleman, 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 noblemen 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,orGreat Badminton, a village in the southern parliamentary division of Gloucestershire, 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 circumference. 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.
Diagram of Court.
BADMINTON,a game played with rackets and shuttlecocks, its name being taken from the duke of Beaufort's seat in Gloucestershire. 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 Association 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 championships for gentlemen's doubles, ladies' doubles, and mixed doubles were instituted in 1899, and for gentlemen's singles and ladies' singles in 1900; and the first championship 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 "smashing" (hitting the shuttle with a hard downward stroke). The measurements of the court are shown on the accompanying plan.
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.
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. fromthe ground at the centre and 5 ft. 1 in. at the posts. The shuttlecock (or shuttle) has 16 feathers from 2½ to 2¾ 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 hit 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 assumed 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 passes 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 footona line being deemed out of court; (d) if, in play, the shuttle falls outside the court, or, in service or play, passes 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 hit 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 theLaws of Badminton and the Rules of the Badminton Association, published annually (London). See also an article by S. M. Massey in theBadminton Magazine(February 1907), reprinted in a slightly revised form in theBadminton Gazette(November 1907). Until October 1907Lawn Tennis and Badmintonwas the official organ of the Badminton Association; in November 1907 theBadminton Gazettebecame 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.
[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 goodseraior inn for native travellers, and adak bungalowor 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 sanctity, 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 principal 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 Kumbh-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 assigned 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 principality. Badulla stands 2222 ft. above sea-level; the average annual rainfall is 79½ 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 verypicturesquely 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 associated. They followed the model of the English series instituted 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 classical 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'sAlcibiades(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 römischen Litteratur(4th ed., 1868-1870), and the supplementary volumes,Die christlichen Dichter und Geschichtschreiber Roms(2nd ed., 1872),Die christlich-römische Theologie(1837),Geschichte der römischen Litteratur im karolingischen Zeitalter(1840).
BAEL FRUIT(Aegle marmelos).Aegleis 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 nameAegleis from one of the Hesperides, in reference to the golden fruit;marmelosis 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 Jaén-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 Würzburg, where J. I. J. Döllinger (1770-1841), father of the Catholic theologian, was professor of anatomy. In teaching von Baer, Döllinger 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 Königsberg, 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 hisEpistola de Ovo Mammalium et Hominis Genesi(Leipzig, 1827), and in the following year he published the first part of hisHistory 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 thechorda dorsalis, which passes 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 class 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 hisHistory of Evolutionhe 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 hisComparative Embryology(1881), but the impetus to T. H. Huxley's researches on the structure of themedusaecame 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 hisDevelopment 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 nobles 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.βαίτυλος, βαιτύλιον), a word of Semitic origin (= bethel) denoting a sacred stone, which was supposed to be endowed with life. These fetish objects of worship were meteoric stones, which were dedicated to the gods or revered as symbols of the gods themselves (Pliny,Nat. Hist.xvii. 9; Photius,Cod.242).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 substituted by Uranus and Gaea, his wife's parents (Etymologicum 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 Uranus 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 204B.C.and placed in the mouth of the statue of the goddess. 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,Über die vom Himmel gefallenen Steine(1805); Bösigk,De Baetyliis(1854); and the exhaustive article by F. Lenormant in Daremberg and Saglio'sDictionary 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 Institute from 1870. He studied chemistry under R. W. Bunsen and F. A. Kekulé, and in 1858 took his degree as Ph.D. at Berlin, becoming privat-docent a few years afterwards and assistant professor in 1866. Five years later he was appointed professor of chemistry at Strassburg, 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 arsenic 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.
BAÉZA(anc.Beatia), a town of southern Spain, in the province of Jaén; 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. Baéza has a station 3 m. S.W. on the Lináres-Almería 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 Baéza, 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 Baéza was a flourishing 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 Jaén. 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 Passage, 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 Passage, and accompanied Captain Robert Bylot as pilot of the little ship "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 passing over the same ground, two centuries later (1821). In the following year Baffin again sailed as pilot of the "Discovery," and passing 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 unsurpassed in that sea. All hopes, however, seemed now ended of discovering a passage 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 BAYandBAFFIN 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 Disco Bay, 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, Cumberland 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 Cockburn Land, farthereast is North Galloway; on the extreme eastern peninsula are Cumberland 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 altitude 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 entrepôt of trade with the interior of the continent. It possesses no natural harbour. The beach slopes gently down and ships 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 theMission du Sacré Cœur, 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 steamship communication with Zanzibar. Of the explorers who made Bagamoyo the starting-point for their journeys to the interior of Africa, the most illustrious 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 theshovel-boardof Cotton'sComplete Gamesteris 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 1½ 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 cushioned 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 balls, 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 balls up the table, no score being allowed until a ball has touched the black ball, the object being to play as many balls as possible into the holes, the black ball counting double. Balls 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 Égal.—This is a French form of the game. Two players take part, one using the red and one the white balls. 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 balls, the winner being the one who scores the highest number of points. If a player holes one of his opponent's balls 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 balls 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), balls 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 thecannon gameapply, except that in all cases pocketed balls 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 balls are usually played, though the black is sometimes omitted, each player having a round, the object being to send the balls through the arches. This may not be done directly, but the balls must strike a cushion first, the black, if used, counting double the arch made. If a ball is played through an arch, without first striking a cushion, 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 cushion. 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 toMississippi, with the exceptions that the ball need not be played on to a cushion, and that, if a ball falls into a cup, the opponent scores the value of the cup and not the striker.
Bell-Bagatelleis 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 balls.
BAGDAD,orBaghdad, a vilayet of Asiatic Turkey, situated between Persia and the Syrian desert, and including the greater part of ancient Babylonia. The original vilayet extended from Mardin on the N. to the Persian Gulf on the S., and from the river Khabor on the W. to the Persian frontier on the E. From the middle of the 17th century, when this region was annexed by the Turks, until about the middle of the 19th century, the vilayet of Bagdad was the largest province of the Turkish empire, constituting at times an almost independent principality. Since then, however, it has lost much of its importance and all of its independence. The first reduction in size occurred in 1857, when some of the western portion of the vilayet was added to the newly created sanjak of Zor. In 1878 the Mosul vilayet was created out of its northern, and in 1884 the Basra vilayet out of its southern sanjaks. At the present time it extends from a point just below Kut el-Amara to a point somewhat above Tekrit on the Tigris, and from a point somewhat below Samawa to a point a little above Anah on the Euphrates. It is still, territorially, the largest province of the empire, and includes some of the most fertile lands in the Euphrates-Tigris valleys; but while possessing great possibilities for fertility, by far the larger portion of the vilayet is to-day a desert, owing to the neglect of the irrigation canals on which the fertility of the valley depends. From the latitude of Bagdad northward the region between the two rivers is an arid, waterless, limestone steppe, inhabited only by roving Arabs. From the latitude of Bagdad southward the country is entirely alluvial soil, deposited by the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, possessing great possibilities of fertility, but absolutely flat and subject to inundations at the time of flood of the two rivers. At that season much of the country, including the immediate surroundings of Bagdad, is under water. During the rest of the year a large part of the country is a parched and barren desert, and much of the remainder swamps and lagoons. Wherever there is any pretence at irrigation, along the banks of the two great rivers and by the few canals which are still in existence, the yield is enormous, and the shores of the Tigris and Euphrates in the neighbourhood of Bagdad and Hilla seem to be one great palm garden. Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II. personally acquired large tracts of land in various parts of the vilayet. These so-calledsenniehsarewell farmed and managed, in conspicuous contrast with the surrounding territory. Canals and dikes have been constructed to control and distribute the much-needed water, and the officials are housed in new buildings of substantial appearance. Indeed, wherever one finds a new and prosperous-looking village, it may be assumed to belong to the sultan. Thesesenniehsare an advantage to the country in that they give security to their immediate region and certain employment to some part of its population. On the other hand, they withdrew large tracts of fertile and productive land from taxation (one-half of the cultivated land of the vilayet was said to be administered for the sultan's privy purse), and thus greatly reduced the revenue of the vilayet.