Chapter 6

(G. A. B.)

BATRACHOMYOMACHIA(Gr.βάτραχος, “frog,”μῦς, “mouse,” andμάχη, “battle”), the “Battle of Frogs and Mice,” a comic epic or parody on theIliad, definitely attributed to Homer by the Romans, but according to Plutarch (De Herodoti Malignitate, 43) the work of Pigres of Halicarnassus, the brother (or son) of Artemisia, queen of Caria and ally of Xerxes. Some modern scholars, however, assign it to an anonymous poet of the time of Alexander the Great.

Edition by A. Ludwich (1896).

BATTA,an Anglo-Indian military term, probably derived from the Canaresebhatta(rice in the husk), meaning a special allowance made to officers, soldiers, or other public servants in the field.

BATTAGLIA,a town of Venetia, Italy, in the province of Padua, 11 m. S.S.W. by rail from Padua. Pop. (1901) 4456. It lies at the edge of the volcanic Euganean Hills, and is noted for its warm saline springs and natural vapour grotto. A fine palace was erected in the Palladian style in the 17th century by Marchese Benedetto Selvatico-Estense, then owner of the springs.

BATTAKHIN,African “Arabs” of Semitic stock. They occupy the banks of the Blue Nile near Khartum, and it was against them that General Gordon fought most of his battles near the town. Their sheikh, El Obeid, routed Gordon’s troops on the 4th of September 1884, a defeat which led to the close investment of Khartum. In the 18th century James Bruce described them as “a thieving, pilfering lot.”

BATTALION,a unit of military organization consisting of four or more companies of infantry. The term is used in nearly every army, and is derived through Fr. from It.battaglione, Med. Lat.battalia(seeBattle). “Battalion” in the 16th and 17th centuries implied a unit of infantry forming part of the line of battle, but at first meant an unusually largebattaliaor a single large body of men formed of severalbattalias. In the British regular service the infantry battalion is commanded by a lieut.-colonel, who is assisted by an adjutant, and consists at war strength of about 1000 bayonets in eight companies. Engineers, train, certain kinds of artillery, and more rarely cavalry are also organized in battalions in some countries.

BATTAMBANG,orBattambong(locallyPhralabong), the chief town of the north-western division of Cambodia, formerly capital of Monton Kmer,i.e.“The Cambodian Division,” one of the eastern provinces of Siam, now included in the French protectorate of Cambodia. It is situated in 103° 6′ E., 13° 6′ N., in the midst of a fertile plain and on the river Sang Ke, which flows eastwards and falls into the Tonle or Talé Sap, the great lake of Cambodia. The town is a collection of bamboo houses of no importance, but there is a walled enceinte of some historical interest. Trade is small and is carried on by Chinese settlers, chiefly overland with Bangkok, but to a small extent also by water with Saigon. The population is about 5000, two-thirds Cambodian and the remainder Chinese and Siamese. The language is Cambodian.

Battambang was taken by the Siamese when they overran the kingdom of Cambodia towards the end of the 18th century, and was recognized by the French as belonging to Siam when the frontier of Cambodia was adjusted by treaty in 1867-1872. In another treaty in 1893, Siam bound herself to maintain no armed forces there other than police, but this arrangement was annulled by the treaty of 1904, by which Battambang was definitely admitted to lie within the French sphere of influence. Under a further treaty in March 1907 (seeSiam), the district of Battambang was finally ceded to the French.

BATTANNI,orBhitani, a small tribe on the Waziri border of the North-West Frontier Province of India. The Battannis hold the hills on the borders of Tank and Bannu in the Dera Ismail Khan district, from the Gabar mountain on the north to the Gomal valley on the south. They are only 3000 fighting men strong, and are generally regarded as the jackals of the Waziris. Their chief importance arises from the fact that no raids can be carried into British districts by the Mahsud Waziris without passing through Battanni territory. A small British expedition against the Battannis was led by Lt.-Col. Rynd in 1880. Under the excitement caused by the preaching of a fanatical mullah the Mahsud Waziris had attacked the town of Gomal. The Battannis failed to supply information as to theirmovements, and gave them a passage through their lands. The British troops accordingly stormed the Hinis Tangi defile in face of opposition, and burned the village of Jandola.

BATTAS(DutchBattaks), the inhabitants of the formerly independent Batta country, in the central highlands of Sumatra, now for the most part subjugated to the Dutch government. The still independent area extends from 98°-99° 35′ E., and 2°-3° 25′ S. North-east of Toba Lake dwell the Timor Battas, and west of it the Pakpak, but on its north (in the mountains which border on the east coast residency) the Karo Battas form a special group, which, by its dialects and ethnological character, appears to be allied to the Gajus and Allas occupying the interior of Achin. The origin of the Battas is doubtful. It is not known whether they were settled in Sumatra before the Hindu period. Their language contains words of Sanskrit origin and others referable to Javanese, Malay and Tagal influence. Their domain has been doubtless much curtailed, and their absorption into the Achin and Malay population seems to have been long going on. The Battas are undoubtedly of Malayan stock, and by most authorities are affiliated to that Indonesian pre-Malayan race which peopled the Indian Archipelago, expelling the aboriginal negritos, and in turn themselves submitting to the civilized Malays. In many points the Battas are physically quite different from the Malay type. The average height of the men is 5 ft. 4 in.; of the women 4 ft. 8 in. In general build they are rather thickset, with broad shoulders and fairly muscular limbs. The colour of the skin ranges from dark brown to a yellowish tint, the darkness apparently quite independent of climatic influences or distinction of race. The skull is rather oval than round. In marked contrast to the Malay type are the large, black, long-shaped eyes, beneath heavy, black or dark brown eyebrows. The cheek-bones are somewhat prominent, but less so than among the Malays. The Battas are dirty in their dress and dwellings and eat any kind of food, though they live chiefly on rice. They are remarkable as a people who in many ways are cultured and possess a written language of their own, and yet are cannibals. The more civilized of them around Lake Toba are good agriculturists and stock-breeders, and understand iron-smelting. They weave and dye cotton, make jewellery and krisses which are often of exquisite workmanship, bake pottery, and build picturesque chalet-like houses of two storeys. They have an organized government, hereditary chiefs, popular assemblies, and a written civil and penal code. There is even an antiquated postal system, the letter-boxes being the hollow tree trunks at crossroads. Yet in spite of this comparative culture the Battas have long been notorious for the most revolting forms of cannibalism. (SeeMemoirs of the Life, &c., of Sir T.S. Raffles, 1830.)

The Battas are the only lettered people of the Indian Archipelago who are not Mahommedans. Their religion is mainly confined to a belief in evil spirits; but they recognize three gods, a Creator, a Preserver and a Destroyer, a trinity suggestive of Hindu influence.

Up to the publication of Dr H.N. van der Tuuk’s essay,Over schrift en uitspraak der Tobasche taal(1855), our knowledge of the Batta language was confined to lists of words more or less complete, chiefly to be found in W. Marsden’sMiscellaneous Works, in F.W. Junghuhn’sBattalander, and in theTijdschrift van het Bataviaasch Genootschap, vol. iii. (1855). By his exhaustive works (Bataksch Leesboek, in 4 vols., 1861-1862;Bataksch-nederduitsch Woordenboek, 1861;Tobasche Spraakkunst,1864-1867) van der Tuuk made the Batta language the most accessible of the various tongues spoken in Sumatra. According to him, it is nearest akin to the old Javanese and Tagal, but A. Schreiber (Die Battas in ihrem Verhältnis zu den Malaien von Sumatra, 1874) endeavoured to prove its closer affinity with the Malay proper. Like most languages spoken by less civilized tribes, Batta is poor in general terms, but abounds in terms for special objects. The number of dialects is three, viz. the Toba, the Mandailing and the Dairi dialects; the first and second have again two subdivisions each. The Battas further possess six peculiar or recondite modes of speech, such as thehata andung, or language of the wakes, and thehata podaor the soothsayer’s language. A fair acquaintance with reading and writing is very general among them. Their alphabet is said, with the Rejang and Lampong alphabets, to be of Indian origin. The language is written on bark or bamboo staves from bottom to top, the lines being arranged from left to right. The literature consists chiefly in books on witchcraft, in stories, riddles, incantations, &c., and is mostly in prose, occasionally varied by verse.1

See also “Reisen nach dem Toba See,”Petermanns Mitteil. (1883); Modigliani,Fra i Batacchi indipendenti(Rome, 1892); Neumann, “Het Pane- en Bilastroomgebied,”Tydschr. Aardr. Gen., 1885-1887; Van Dijk in the same periodical (1890-1895); Wing Easton in theJaarboek voor het Mynwezen, 1894; Niemann in theEncyclopaedia van Nederlandsch-Indie, under the headingBataks,with very detailed bibliography; Baron J. v. Brenner,Besuch bei den Kannibalen Sumatras(Würzburg, 1893); H. Breitenstein,21 Jahre in Indien, Java, Sumatra(Leipzig, 1899-1900); G.P. Rouffaer,Die Batik-Kunst in niederlandisch-Indien und ihre Geschichte(Haarlem, 1899).

1Mr C.A. van Ophuijsen has published (inBijd. tot Land-, Taalen Volken-Kunde, 1886) an interesting collection of Battak poetry. He describes a curious leaf language used by Battak lovers, in which the name of some leaf or plant is substituted for the word with which it has greatest phonetic similarity.

BATTEL,orBattels(of uncertain origin, possibly connected with “battle,” a northern English word meaning to feed, or “batten”), a word used at Oxford University for the food ordered by members of the college as distinct from the usual “commons”; and hence college accounts for board and provisions supplied from kitchen and buttery, and, generally, the whole of a man’s college accounts. “Batteler,” now a resident in a college, was originally a rank of students between commoners and servitors who, as the name implies, were not supplied with “commons,” but only such provisions as they ordered for themselves.

BATTEN, SIR WILLIAM(floruit1626-1667), British sailor, son of Andrew Batten, master in the royal navy, first appears as taking out letters of marque in 1626, and in 1638 he obtained the post of surveyor to the navy, probably by purchase. In March 1642 he was appointed second-in-command under the earl of Warwick, the parliamentary admiral who took the fleet out of the king’s hands. It was Vice-Admiral Batten’s squadron which bombarded Scarborough when Henrietta Maria landed there. He was accused (it appears unjustly) by the Royalists of directing his fire particularly on the house occupied by the queen, and up to the end of the First Civil War showed himself a steady partisan of the parliament. To the end of the First Civil War, Batten continued to patrol the English seas, and his action in 1647 in bringing into Portsmouth a number of Swedish ships of war and merchantmen, which had refused the customary salute to the flag, was approved by parliament. When the Second Civil War began he was distrusted by the Independents and removed from his command, though he confessed his continued willingness to serve the state. When part of the fleet revolted against the parliament, and joined the prince of Wales in Holland, May 1648, Batten went with them. He was knighted by the prince, but being suspected by the Royalists, was put ashore mutinously in Holland and returned to England. He lived in retirement during the Commonwealth period. At the Restoration Sir William Batten became once more surveyor of the navy. In this office he was in constant intercourse with Pepys, whose diary frequently mentions him; but the insinuations of Pepys against him must not be taken too seriously, as there is no evidence to show that Batten in making a profit from his office fell below the standards of the time. In 1661 he became M.P. for Rochester, and in 1663 he was made master of the Trinity House. He died in 1667.

There is no separate life of Batten, but many notices of him will be found in Penn’sLife of Sir W. Penn, and in Pepys’Diary.

BATTEN,(1) A term (a form of “baton”) used in joinery (q.v.) for a board not more than 4 to 7 in. broad or 3 in. thick, used for various purposes, such as for strengthening or holding together laths and other wood-work; and specially, on board ship, a strip of wood nailed to a mast to prevent rubbing, or fixing down a tarpaulin over a hatchway, in rough weather, to keep out water. (2) A verb (the root is found in words of several Teutonic languages meaning profit or improvement, and also in the English “better”and “boot”) meaning to improve in condition, especially in the case of animals by feeding; so, to feed gluttonously; the word is used figuratively of prospering at the expense of another.

BATTENBERG,the name of a family of German counts which died out about 1314, whose seat was the castle of Kellerburg, near Battenberg, a small place now in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. The title was revived in 1851, when Alexander (1823-1888), a younger son of Louis II., grand-duke of Hesse, contracted a morganatic marriage with a Polish lady, Countess Julia Theresa von Haucke (1825-1895), who was then created countess of Battenberg. Raised to the rank of a princess in 1858, the countess and her children were allowed to style themselves princes and princesses of Battenberg, with the addition ofDurchlauchtor Serene Highness. The eldest son of this union, Louis Alexander (b. 1854), married in 1884 Victoria, daughter of Louis IV., grand-duke of Hesse, and became an admiral in the British navy. The second son, Alexander Joseph (q.v.), was prince of Bulgaria from 1879 to 1886. The third son, Henry Maurice, was born in 1858, and married on the 23rd of July 1885 Beatrice, youngest daughter of Victoria, queen of England. He died at sea on the 20th of January 1896 when returning from active service with the British troops during the Ashanti War, and left three sons and a daughter, Victoria Eugénie, who was married in 1906 to Alphonso XIII., king of Spain. The fourth son, Francis Joseph, born in 1861, married in 1897 Anna, daughter of Nicholas I., prince of Montenegro, and is the author ofDie volkswirtschaftliche Entwickelung Bulgariens von 1879 bis zur Gegenwart(Leipzig, 1891). The only daughter of the princess of Battenberg, Marie Caroline, born in 1852, was married in 1871 to Gustavus Ernest, prince and count of Erbach-Schönberg.

BATTER,an architectural term of unknown origin, used of the face of a wall which is slightly inclined to the perpendicular. It is most commonly employed in retaining walls, the lower courses of which are laid at right angles to the batter, so as to resist the thrust of the earth inside. For aesthetic reasons it is often adopted in the lowest or basement porticos of a great building. From a historical point of view it is the most ancient system employed, as throughout Egypt and Chaldaea all the temples built in unburnt brick were perforce obliged to be thicker at the bottom, and this gave rise to the batter or raking side which was afterwards in Egypt copied in stone. For defensive purposes the walls of the lower portions of a fortress were built with a batter as in the case of the tower of David and some of the walls built by Herod at Jerusalem. The Crusaders also largely adopted the principle, which was followed in some of the castles of the middle ages throughout Europe.

BATTERING RAM(Lat.aries, ram), a military engine used before the invention of cannon, for beating down the walls of besieged fortresses. It consisted of a long heavy beam of timber, armed at the extremity with iron fashioned something like the head of a ram. In its simplest form the beam was carried in the hands of the soldiers, who assailed the walls with it by main force. The improved ram was composed of a longer beam, in some cases extending to 120 ft., shod with iron at one end, and suspended, either by the middle or from two points, from another beam laid across two posts. This is the kind described by Josephus as having been used at the siege of Jerusalem (B.J.iii. 7. 19). The ram was shielded from the missiles of the besieged by a penthouse (vinea) or other overhead protection. It was often mounted on wheels, which greatly facilitated its operations. A hundred soldiers at a time, and sometimes even a greater number, were employed to work it, and the parties were relieved in constant succession. No wall could resist the continued application of the ram, and the greatest efforts were always made to destroy it by various means, such as dropping heavy stones on the head of the ram and on the roof of the penthouse; another method being to seize the ram head with grapnels and then haul it up to a vertical position by suitable windlasses on the wall of the fortress. Sometimes the besieged ran countermines under the ram penthouse; this if successful would cause the whole engine to fall into the excavation. In medieval warfare the low penthouse, calledcat, was generally employed with some form of ram.

BATTERSEA,a south-western metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded N. by the Thames, N.E. by Lambeth, and S.E., S., and W. by Wandsworth. Pop. (1901) 168,907. The principal thoroughfares are Wandsworth Road and Battersea Park and York Roads from east to west, connected north and south with the Victoria or Chelsea, Albert and Battersea bridges over the Thames. The two first of these three are handsome suspension bridges; the third, an iron structure, replaced a wooden bridge of many arches which was closed in 1881, after standing a little over a century. Battersea is a district mainly consisting of artisans’ houses, and there are several large factories by the river. The parish church of St Mary, Church Road (1776), preserves from an earlier building stained glass and monuments, including one to Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke (d. 1751), and his second wife, who had a mansion close by. Of this a portion remains on the riverside, containing a room associated with Pope, who is said to have worked here upon the “Essay on Man.” Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common (220 acres) lie partly within the borough, but the principal public recreation ground is Battersea Park, bordering the Thames between Albert and Victoria Bridges, beautifully laid out, containing a lake and subtropical garden, and having an area of nearly 200 acres. It was constructed with difficulty by embanking the river and raising the level of the formerly marshy ground, and was opened in 1858. Among institutions are the Battersea Polytechnic, the Royal Masonic Institution for girls, founded in 1788, and Church of England and Wesleyan Training Colleges. Battersea is in the parliamentary borough of Battersea and Clapham, including the whole of the Battersea division and part of the Clapham division. The borough council consists of a mayor, 9 aldermen and 54 councillors. Area, 2160.3 acres.

An early form of the name isPatricseyor Peter’s Island; the manor at the time of the Domesday survey, and until the suppression of the monasteries, belonging to the abbey of St Peter, Westminster. It next passed to the crown, and subsequently to the family of St John and to the earls Spencer. York Road recalls the existence of a palace of the archbishops of York, occasionally occupied by them between the reigns of Edward IV. and Mary. Battersea Fields, bordering the river, were formerly a favourite resort, so that the park also perpetuates a memory. The art of enamelling was introduced,c.1750, at works in Battersea, examples from which are highly valued.

BATTERY(Fr.batterie, frombattre, to beat), the action of beating, especially in law the unlawful wounding of another (seeAssault). The term is applied to the apparatus used in battering, hence its use in military organization for the unit of mobile artillery of all kinds. This consists of from four to eight guns with theirpersonnel, wagons and train. In the British service the term is applied to field, horse, field-howitzer, heavy and mountain artillery units. “Battery” is also used to imply a mass of guns in action, especially in connexion with the military history of the 18th and early 19th centuries. In siegecraft, a battery is simply an emplacement for guns, howitzers or mortars, constructed for the purposes of the siege, and protected as a rule by a parapet. In fortification the term is applied similarly to permanent or semi-permanent emplacements for the artillery of the defence. In all these senses the presence of artillery is implied in the use of the word (seeArtillery, andFortification and Siegecraft). The word is also used for the “pitcher” and “catcher” in baseball; for a collection of utensils, primarily of hammered copper or brass, especially in the French termbatterie de cuisine; and for the instruments of percussion in an orchestra.

Electric Battery—This term was applied by the old electricians to a collection of Leyden jars, but is now used of a device for generating electricity by chemical action, or more exactly, of a number of such devices joined up together. There are two main classes of electric battery. Inprimarybatteries, composed of a number of galvanic or voltaic “cells,” “couples” or “elements,” on the completion of the interactions between the substances on which the production of electricity depends, the activity of the cells comes to an end, and can only be restored with the aid ofa fresh supply of those substances; insecondarybatteries, also called storage batteries or accumulators (q.v.), the substances after the exhaustion of the cells can be brought back to a condition in which they will again yield an electric current, by means of an electric current passed through them in the reverse direction. The first primary battery was constructed about 1799 by Alessandro Volta. In one form, the “voltaic pile,” he placed a series of pairs of copper and zinc disks one above the other, separating each pair from the one above it by a piece of cloth moistened with a solution of common salt. In another form, the “couronne de tasses,” he took a number of vessels or cells containing brine or dilute acid, and placed in each a zinc plate and a copper plate; these plates were not allowed to touch each other within the vessels, but each zinc plate was connected to the copper plate of the adjoining vessel. In both these arrangements an electric current passes through a wire which is connected to the terminal plates at the two ends of the series. The direction of this current is from copper to zinc; within each cell itself it is from zinc to copper. The plate to which the current flows within the cell is thenegative plate, and that from which it flows thepositive plate; but the point on the negative plate at which the current enters the external wire is thepositive pole, and the point on the positive plate at which it leaves the external circuit thenegative pole. During the time that the external connexion is maintained between the two poles and the current passes in the wire, the zinc or positive plates are gradually dissolved, and hydrogen gas is liberated at the surface of the copper or negative plates; but when the external connexion is broken this action ceases. If the materials used in the cells were perfectly pure, probably the cessation would be complete. In practice, however, only impure commercial zinc is available, and with this corrosion continues to some extent, even though the external circuit is not closed, thus entailing waste of material. This “local action” is explained as due to the fact that the impurities in the zinc plate form miniature voltaic couples with the zinc itself, thus causing its corrosion by voltaic action; and an early improvement in the voltaic cell was the discovery, applied by W. Sturgeon in 1830, that the evil was greatly reduced if the surface of the zinc plates was amalgamated, by being rubbed with mercury under dilute sulphuric acid. Another disadvantage of the simple cell composed of copper and zinc in dilute acid is that the current it yields rapidly falls off. The hydrogen formed by the operation of the cell does not all escape, but some adheres as a film to the negative plate, and the result is the establishment of a counter or reverse electromotive force which opposes the main current flowing from the zinc plate and diminishes its force. This phenomenon is known as “polarization,” and various remedies have been tried for the evils it introduces in the practical use of primary batteries. Alfred Smee in 1839 modified the simple copper-zinc couple excited by dilute sulphuric acid by substituting for the copper thin leaves of platinum or platinized silver, whereby the elimination of the hydrogen is facilitated; and attempts have also been made to keep the plates free from the gas by mechanical agitation. The plan usually adopted, however, is either to prevent the formation of the film, or to introduce into the cell some “depolarizer” which will destroy it as it is formed by oxidizing the hydrogen to water (see alsoElectrolysis).

The former method is exemplified in the cell invented by J.F. Daniell in 1836. Here the zinc stands in dilute sulphuric acid (or in a solution of zinc sulphate), and the copper in a saturated solution of copper sulphate, the two liquids being separated by a porous partition. The hydrogen formed by the action of the cell replaces copper in the copper sulphate, and the displaced copper, instead of the hydrogen, being deposited on the copper plate polarization is avoided. The electromotive force is about one volt. This cell has been constructed in a variety of forms to suit different purposes. In a portable form, designed by Lord Kelvin in 1858, the copper plate, soldered to a gutta-percha covered wire, is placed at the bottom of a glass vessel and covered with crystals of copper sulphate; over these wet sawdust is sprinkled, and then mere sawdust, moistened with solution of zinc sulphate, upon which is placed the zinc plate. The Minotto cell is similar, except that sand is substituted for sawdust. In these batteries the sawdust or sand takes the place of the porous diaphragm. In another class of batteries the diaphragm is dispensed with altogether, and the action of gravity alone is relied upon to retard the interdiffusion of the liquids. The cell of J.H. Meidinger, invented in 1859, may be taken as a type of this class. The zinc is formed into a ring which fits the upper part of a glass beaker filled with zinc sulphate solution. At the bottom of the beaker is placed a smaller beaker, in which stands a ring of copper with an insulated connecting wire. The mouth of the beaker is closed by a lid with a hole in the centre, through which passes the long tapering neck of a glass balloon filled with crystals of copper sulphate; the narrow end of this neck dips into the smaller beaker, the copper sulphate slowly runs out, and being specifically heavier than the zinc sulphate it collects at the bottom about the copper ring. In Lord Kelvin’s tray-cell a large wooden tray is lined with lead, and is covered at the bottom with copper by electrotyping. The zinc plate is enveloped in a piece of parchment paper bent into a tray shape, the whole resting on little pieces of wood placed on the bottom of the leaden tray. Copper sulphate is fed in at the edge of the tray and zinc sulphate is poured upon the parchment. A battery is formed by arranging the trays in a stack one above the other.

Various combinations have been devised in which the hydrogen is got rid of more or less completely by oxidation. Sir W.R. Grove in 1839 employed nitric acid as the oxidizing agent, his cell consisting of a zinc positive plate in dilute sulphuric acid, separated by a porous diaphragm of unglazed earthenware from a platinum negative immersed in concentrated nitric acid. Its electromotive force is nearly two volts, but it has the objection of giving off disagreeable nitrous fumes. R.W. von Bunsen modified Grove’s cell by replacing the platinum with the much cheaper material, gas carbon. Chromic acid is much used as a depolarizer, and cells in which it is employed are about as powerful as, and more convenient than, either of the preceding. In its two-fluid form the chromic acid cell consists of a porous pot containing amalgamated zinc in dilute sulphuric acid, and a carbon plate surrounded with sulphuric acid and a solution of potassium or sodium bichromate or of chromic acid. But it is commonly used in a one-fluid form, the porous pot being dispensed with, and both zinc and carbon immersed in the chromic acid solution. Since the zinc is dissolved even when the circuit is not closed, arrangements are frequently provided by which either the zinc plate alone or both plates can be lifted out of the solution when the cell is not in use. In preparing the solution the sodium salt is preferable to the potassium, and chromic acid to either. In the cell devised by Georges Leclanché in 1868 a solid depolarizer is employed, in the shape of manganese dioxide packed with fragments of carbon into a porous pot round a carbon plate. A zinc rod constitutes the positive plate, and the exciting fluid is a solution of sal-ammoniac. Sometimes no porous pot is employed, and the manganese dioxide and granulated carbon are agglomerated into a solid block round the carbon plate. The electromotive force is about one and a half volt. The cell is widely used for such purposes as ringing electric bells, where current is required intermittently, and for such service it will remain effective for months or years, only needing water to be added to the outer jar occasionally to replace loss by evaporation. On a closed circuit the current rapidly falls off, because the manganese dioxide is unable to oxidize all the hydrogen formed, but the cell quickly recovers after polarization. The so-called “dry cells,” which came into considerable use towards the end of the 19th century, are essentially Leclanché cells in which the solution is present, not as a liquid, but as a paste formed with some absorbent material or gelatinized. Black oxide of copper is another solid depolarizer, employed in the Lalande cell. In the Edison-Lalande form the copper oxide is suspended in a light copper frame. The exciting solution consists of one part of caustic soda dissolved in three parts by weight of water, and to prevent it from being acted on by thecarbonic acid of the air it is covered with a layer of petroleum oil. Sodium zincate, which is soluble, is formed by the action of the cell, and the hydrogen produced is oxidized by oxygen from the copper oxide. The electromotive force may be about one volt initially, but in practice only about three-quarters of a volt can be relied on.

Primary cells form a convenient means of obtaining electricity for laboratory experiments, and for such light services as working telegraphs, bells, &c.; but as a source of the heavy currents required for electric lighting and traction they are far too expensive in operation, apart from other considerations, to compete with dynamoelectric machinery driven by steam or water power. Certain forms, known as “standard cells,” are also used in electrical measurements as standards of electromotive force (seePotentiometer).

See W.R. Cooper,Primary Batteries(London, 1901); Park Benjamin,The Voltaic Cell(New York, 1893); W.E. Ayrton,Practical Electricity(London, 1896).

BATTEUX, CHARLES(1713-1780), French philosopher and writer on aesthetics, was born near Vouziers (Ardennes), and studied theology at Reims. In 1739 he came to Paris, and after teaching in the colleges of Lisieux and Navarre, was appointed to the chair of Greek and Roman philosophy in the Collège de France. In 1746 he published his treatiseLes Beaux-Arts réduits à un même principe, an attempt to find a unity among the various theories of beauty and taste, and his views were widely accepted. The reputation thus gained, confirmed by his translation of Horace (1750), led to his becoming a member of the Académie des Inscriptions (1754) and of the French Academy (1761). HisCours de belles lettres(1765) was afterwards included with some minor writings in the large treatise,Principes de la liltérature(1774). The rules for composition there laid down are, perhaps, somewhat pedantic. His philosophical writings wereLa Morale d’Épicure tirée de ses propres écrits(1758), and theHistoire des causes premières(1769). In consequence of the freedom with which in this work he attacked the abuse of authority in philosophy, he lost his professorial chair. His last and most extensive work was aCours d’études à l’usage des élèves de l’école militaire(45 vols.). In theBeaux-Arts, Batteux developed a theory which is derived from Locke through Voltaire’s sceptical sensualism. He held that Art consists in the faithful imitation of the beautiful in nature. Applying this principle to the art of poetry, and analysing, line by line and even word by word, the works of great poets, he deduced the law that the beauty of poetry consists in the accuracy, beauty and harmony of individual expression. This narrow and pedantic theory had at least the merit of insisting on propriety of expression. HisHistoire des causes premièreswas among the first attempts at a history of philosophy, and in his work on Epicurus, following on Gassendi, he defended Epicureanism against the general attacks made against it.

See Dacier et Dupuy, “Éloges,” inMémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions.

BATTHYANY, LOUIS(Lajos), Count(1806-1849), Hungarian statesman, was born at Pressburg in 1806. He supplied the defects of an indifferent education while serving in garrison in Italy as a lieutenant of hussars, and thenceforward adopted all the new ideas, economical and political. According to Széchenyi, he learnt much from a German tutor of the radical school, but it was not till after his marriage with the noble-minded and highly-gifted countess Antonia Zichy that he began working earnestly for the national cause. When Széchenyi drew nearer to the court in 1839-1840, Batthyány became the leader of the opposition in the Upper House, where his social rank and resolute character won for him great influence. Despite his “sardanapalian inclinations,” he associated himself unreservedly with the extremists, and spent large sums for the development of trade and industry. In 1847 he fiercely opposed the government, procured the election of Kossuth as the representative of Pest, took part in the Great Deputation of the 15th of March, and on the 31st of March 1848 became the first constitutional prime-minister of Hungary. His position became extremely difficult when Jellachich and the Croats took up arms. Convinced that the rigid maintenance of the constitution was the sole panacea, he did his utmost, in his frequent journeys to Innsbruck, to persuade the court to condemn Jellachich and establish a strong national government at Pest. Unfortunately, however, he was persuaded to consent to the despatch of Magyar troops to quell the Italian rising, before the Croat difficulty had been adjusted, and thenceforth, despite his perfect loyalty, and his admirable services as Honvéd minister in organizing the national forces, his authority in Hungary declined before the rising star of Kossuth. When Jellachich invaded Hungary, Batthyány resigned with the intention of forming a new ministry excluding Kossuth, but this had now become impossible. Then Batthyány attempted to mediate between the two extreme parties, and subsequently raised a regiment from among his peasantry and led them against the Croats. On the 11th of October he was incapacitated for active service by a fall from his horse which broke his arm. On his recovery he returned to Pest, laboured hard to bring about peace, and was a member of the deputation from the Hungarian diet to Prince Windischgrätz, whom the Austrian commander refused to receive. A few days later (8th of January 1849) he was arrested at Pest. As a magnate he was only indictable by the grand justiciary, as a minister he was responsible to the diet alone. At Laibach, whither he was taken, he asked that Deák might be his advocate, but this being refused he wrote his own defence. Sentence of hanging was finally pronounced upon him at Olmtitz for violating the Pragmatic Sanction, overthrowing the constitution, and aiding and abetting the rebellion. To escape this fate he Stabbed himself with a small concealed dagger, and bled to death in the night of the 5th of October 1849.

See Bertalan Szemere,Batthyány, Kossuth, Gorgei(Ger.), (Hamburg, 1853).

(R. N. B.)

BATTICALOA, the provincial capital of the eastern province of Ceylon, on the E. coast, 69 m. S.S.E. of Trincomalee, situated on an island in lat. 7° 44′ N. and long. 81° 52′ E. It is of importance for its haven and the adjacent salt lagoons. The population of the town in 1901 was 9969; of the district (2872 sq. m.) 143,161. The old Dutch fort dates from 1682. Batticaloa is the seat of a government agent and district judge; criminal sessions of the supreme court are also held. Rice and cocoanuts are the two staples of the district, and steamers trading round the island call regularly at the port. The lagoon is famous for its “singing fish,” supposed to be shell-fish which give forth musical notes. The district has a remnant of Veddahs or wild men of the wood. The average annual rainfall is 55½ in.; the average temperature 80.4° F.

BATTISHILL, JONATHAN(1738-1801), one of the best 18th century English composers of church music. Until 1764 he wrote chiefly for the theatre (incidental songs, pantomime music, and an opera in collaboration with Michael Arne, the son of Thomas Arne), but his later compositions are chiefly glees, part-songs and church music. In 1763 he had married a singer at Covent Garden theatre where he was harpsichordist. She retired from her profession when she married; and her death in 1777 so crushed him that he composed no more.

BATTLE, a market-town in the Rye parliamentary division of Sussex, England, 54½ m. S.E. by S. from London by the South Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2996. It is pleasantly situated in an undulating well-wooded district, 7 m. from the sea at Hastings. Its name is derived from the conflict in 1066, which insured to William the Norman the crown of England (see alsoBattle Abbey Roll). Before the battle, in which King Harold fell, William vowed to build an abbey on the spot if he should prove victorious, and in 1094 the consecration took place with great pomp. The gatehouse, forming a picturesque termination to the main street of the town, is Decorated; and there also remain parts of the foundations of the Norman church, of the Perpendicular cloisters, and of the Early English refectory. A mansion occupies part of the site, and incorporates some of the ancient building. The church of St Mary is of various dates, the earliest portions being transitional Norman.

SeeChronicles of Battle Abbey. 1066-1176, translated, &c., by M.A. Lower (London, 1851).

BATTLE,a general engagement between the armed forces, naval or military, of enemies. The word is derived from the Fr.bataille, and this, like the Ital.battaglia, and Span.batalla, comes from the popular Lat.battaliaforbattualia. Cassiodorus Senator (480-?575) says:Battualia quae vulgo Batalia dicuntur ... exercitationes militum vel gladiatorum significant(see Du Cange,Glossarium, s.v.Batalia). The verbbattuere, cognate with “beat,” is a rare word, found in Pliny, used of beating in a mortar or of meat before cooking. Suetonius (Caligula, 54-32) uses it of fencing,battuebat pugnatoriis armis,i.e.not with blunted weapons or foils.Battaliaorbataliawas used for the array of troops for battle, and hence was applied to the body of troops so arranged, or to a division of an army, whence the use of the word “battalion” (q.v.).

A “pitched battle,” loosely used as meaning almost a decisive engagement, is strictly, as the words imply, one that is fought on ground previously selected (“pitched” meaning arranged in a fixed order) and in accordance with the intentions of the commanders of both sides; the French equivalent isbataille arrangée, opposed tobataille manœuvrée, which is prearranged but may come off on any ground. With “battle,” in its usual meaning of a general engagement of hostile forces, are contrasted “skirmish,”1a fight between small bodies (“skirmishing” technically means fighting by troops in extended or irregular order), and “action,” a more or less similar engagement between large bodies of troops. (See alsoTacticsandStrategy.)

1This is the same word as “scrimmage,” and is derived from the Anglo-Frencheskrimir, modernescrimer, properly to fight behind cover, now to fence. The origin of this is the Old High Germanscirman, to fight behind a shield,scirm. Modern GermanSchirm.

BATTLE ABBEY ROLL. This is popularly supposed to have been a list of William the Conqueror’s companions preserved at Battle Abbey, on the site of his great victory over Harold. It is known to us only from 16th century versions of it published by Leland, Holinshed and Duchesne, all more or less imperfect and corrupt. Holinshed’s is much the fullest, but of its 629 names several are duplicates. The versions of Leland and Duchesne, though much shorter, each contain many names found in neither of the other lists. It was so obvious that several of the names had no right to figure on the roll, that Camden, as did Dugdale after him, held them to have been interpolated at various times by the monks, “not without their own advantage.” Modern writers have gone further, Sir Egerton Brydges denouncing the roll as “a disgusting forgery,” and E.A. Freeman dismissing it as “a transparent fiction.” An attempt to vindicate the roll was made by the last duchess of Cleveland, whoseBattle Abbey Roll(3 vols., 1889) is the best guide to its contents.

It is probable that the character of the roll has been quite misunderstood. It is not a list of individuals, but only of family surnames, and it seems to have been intended to show which families had “come over with the Conqueror,” and to have been compiled about the 14th century. The compiler appears to have been influenced by the French sound of names, and to have included many families of later settlement, such as that of Grandson, which did not come to England from Savoy till two centuries after the Conquest. The roll itself appears to be unheard of before and after the 16th century, but other lists were current at least as early as the 15th century, as the duchess of Cleveland has shown. In 1866 a list of the Conqueror’s followers, compiled from Domesday and other authentic records, was set up in Dives church by M. Leopold Delisle, and is printed in the duchess’ work. Its contents are naturally sufficient to show that the Battle Roll is worthless.

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