BeaversBeavers (Castor fiber)
Beaver, the largest rodent quadruped now existing in the northern hemisphere, about 2 feet in length exclusive of the tail, genus Castor (C. fiber), is now found in considerable numbers only in North America, living in colonies, but occurring solitary in Central Europe and Asia. It has short ears, a blunt nose, small fore-feet, large webbed hind-feet, with a flat ovate tail covered with scales on its upper surface. It is valued for its fur, which used to be largely employed in the manufacture of hats, but for which silk is now for the most part substituted, and for an odoriferous secretion named castor, at one time in high repute, and still largely used in some parts of the world as an antispasmodic medicine. The food of the beaver consists of the bark of trees, leaves, roots, and berries. Their favourite haunts are rivers and lakes which are bordered by forests. In winter they live in houses, which are 3 to 4 feet high, are built on the water's edge, and, being substantial structures with the entrance under water, afford them protection from wolves and other wild animals. These dwellings are called beaver 'lodges', and accommodate a single family. They also live in burrows. They can gnaw through large trees with their strong teeth, this being done partly to obtain food, partly to get materials for houses or dam-building. When they find a stream not sufficiently deep for their purpose, they throw across it a dam constructed with great ingenuity of wood, stones, and mud. Beavers were fairly numerous in Britain in very early times, at least in Scotland and Wales. Their existence has been recorded in Wales till the thirteenth century, and in Scotland to a later date, but they are now extinct in Britain. A colony was some years ago introduced into the Island of Bute, but they died out again.—Bibliography: Harting,British Animals Extinct within Historic Times; E. A. Mills,In Beaver World; A. A. R. Dugmore,The Romance of the Beaver.
Beaver(from Fr.baviére, a child's bib, frombave, saliva), the movable face-guard of a helmet, so fitted on as to be raised and lowered at pleasure.
Beaver Falls, a town of the United States, Pennsylvania, on Beaver River, 30 miles north-west of Pittsburg, in the coal and natural-gas region. Pop. 12,191.
Beaver-rat(Hydromys chrysogaster), aTasmanian rodent quadruped, inhabiting the banks both of salt and fresh waters. They are admirable swimmers and divers, and exceedingly shy.
Bebee´ru.SeeGreenheart.
Bebel(bā´bl), Ferdinand August, German Socialist, born in 1840, died in 1913. He became a master turner in Leipzig, was elected to the Reichstag or Diet of the new German Empire in 1871, in which he was prominent until his death. He opposed the leadership of Prussia in Germany and the establishment of the empire, and showed himself favourable to the Paris Commune and the International. Found guilty of treasonable practices, he was condemned to two years' imprisonment in a fortress in 1872, with six months' ordinary imprisonment for insulting the Kaiser. His influence kept on increasing as leader of the Social Democrats in Germany and in the German Parliament, where he spoke strongly against militarism and the emperor's naval policy. His works includeDie Frau und der Socialismus(Woman and Socialism), in which he went so far as to attack marriage as an institution;Die Socialdemokratic und das allgemeine wahlrecht;Für Volkswehr gegen Militarismus;Aus meinem Leben; &c.
Bec, a celebrated abbey of France, in Normandy, near Brionne, founded in the eleventh century, now represented only by some ruins. Lanfranc and Anselm were both connected with this abbey.
Beccafi´co, a European bird (Sylvia hortensis), the garden-warbler. These birds are much esteemed as dainties in the autumn, when they have fattened on figs and grapes.
Beccafu´mi, Domen´ico, Italian painter, born near Sienna in the latter half of the fifteenth century, enriched the churches of Sienna with many noble frescoes and other paintings. He drew and coloured well, and possessed strong inventive powers. He died at Sienna in 1551, and was buried in its cathedral.
Beccaria(bek-a˙-rē´a˙), Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di, Italian economist and writer on penal laws, born 1738, died 1794. He is principally known from his treatise,On Crimes and Punishments, which was speedily translated into various languages, and to which many of the reforms in the penal codes of the principal European nations are traceable. He became professor of political economy at Milan, where he died.
Beccaria(bek-a˙-rē´a˙), Giovanni Battista, an Italian natural philosopher, born 1716, died 1781; was appointed professor of experimental physics at Turin, 1748; author of a treatise onNatural and Artificial Electricity,Letters on Electricity, &c. He contributed several articles to theTransactions of the Royal Society of London, and was commissioned in 1759 to measure an arc of the meridian in the neighbourhood of Turin.
Beccles(bek´lz), a municipal borough in Suffolk, England, 33 milesN.N.E.from Ipswich, on the right bank of the Waveney; has a fine church of the fourteenth century, and a good trade coastwise. Pop. (1921), 7077.
Becelære, town of Belgium, province of West Flanders. It was the scene of fighting in the third battle of Ypres (1917), and in the battle of Flanders (1918).
Becerra(be-ther´a˙), Gaspar, Spanish painter and sculptor, born 1520, died 1570. He studied under Michel Angelo at Rome, and is credited with the chief share in the establishment of the fine arts in Spain.
Beche(bāsh), Sir Henry de Ia, an English geologist, born 1796, died 1855. He founded the geological survey of Great Britain, which was soon undertaken by the Government, De la Beche being appointed director-general. He also founded the Jermyn Street Museum of Economic or Practical Geology, and the School of Mines. His principal works are:Geology of Jamaica,Classification of European Rocks,Geological Manual,Researches in Theoretical Geology,Geology of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset, &c.
Bêche-de-Mer(bāsh-dē-mār). SeeTrepang.
Becher(beh´er), Johann Joachim, German chemist, born in 1625 or 1635, died in London 1682. He became a professor at Mainz; was elected a member of the Imperial Council at Vienna, 1660, but fell into disgrace and subsequently resided in various parts of Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, and Great Britain. His chief work,Physica Subterranea, containing many of the fanciful theories of the alchemists, was published in 1669, and enlarged in 1681. Among his other works areLaboratorium portabileandAlphabetum minerale.
Bechstein(beh´stīn), Johann Matthäus, German naturalist, born in 1757, died in 1822. He wrote a popularNatural History of Germany, and various works on forestry, in which subject his labours were highly valuable. In Britain he is best known by a treatise on cage birds.
Bechuanas, orBetchuanas(bech-wan´az), a widely-spread race of people inhabiting the central region of South Africa north of Cape Province. They belong to the great Kaffir stem, and are divided into tribal sections. They live chiefly by husbandry and cattle-rearing, and they work with some skill in iron, copper, ivory, and skins. They were led to seek British protection owing to the encroachments of the Boers. The southern portion of their territory was first placed under British protection in 1885, and subsequently the whole Bechuana country up to the Zambezi was annexed. In 1895 thesouthern portion (then a Crown colony) was united to the Cape Colony; the remainder is still a protectorate partly under native chiefs. The head-quarters of the British administration are at Mafeking in the Cape Province. Bechuanaland Protectorate comprises the territory lying between the Molopo River on the south and the Zambezi on the north, and extending from the Transvaal Province and Matabeleland on the east to South-West Africa; area, 275,000 sq. miles; pop. 125,350, of whom about 1700 are Europeans. It is generally flat or slightly undulating, and is essentially a grass country, the grasses being nutritious and standing drought well. Surface water is scarce, but there is underground water, besides swampy lakes such as Ngami. Some parts are wooded and well watered. Gold, coal, and copper have been found. There is railway connection both with south and north.—Cf. G. W. Stow,The Native Races of South Africa.
Beck Case, The, a celebrated case of mistaken identity, which involved a grave miscarriage of justice. Adolf Beck, a Swede, had been sentenced in 1890 to seven years' penal servitude for a series of mean frauds committed against some women, and in 1904 he was again convicted and sentenced for a similar offence. Soon after his second trial a Jew named John Smith, who had been convicted of fraudulency in 1877, was arrested for similar frauds committed while Beck was in custody. The resemblance between the two men was remarkable, and it was eventually discovered that Beck was entirely innocent. He received two King's pardons, and the sum of £5000 from the Home Office as compensation. A commission which considered the case drew attention in its report to the carelessness of the police in identifying Beck with Smith, though the latter was a Jew; and stated that further legal training was desirable for the subordinate officials in the Home Office. Beck died in poverty in 1909. Cf. J. Kempster,Perversion of Justice as exhibited in the Beck Case.
Beckenham, a suburban locality on the south of London, in West Kent, now forming an urban district, lying south of Sydenham. Pop. 33,350.
Beck´er, Wilhelm Adolf, German archæologist, born at Dresden 1796, died at Meissen 1846. In 1828 he became a teacher at Meissen, in 1837 was appointed extraordinary professor of classical archæology at Leipzig, and in 1842 ordinary professor. Best-known works:Gallus, or Roman Scenes of the Time of Augustus; andCharicles, or Illustrations of the Life of the Ancient Greeks, which wonderfully reproduce the social life of old Rome and Greece.
Beck´et, Thomas (the form À Becket is also common), Archbishop of Canterbury, born in London 1117 or 1119, assassinated in Canterbury Cathedral, 29th Dec., 1170. He was educated at Oxford and Paris, and was sent, by the favour of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, to study civil law at Bologna in Italy, and on his return made Archdeacon of Canterbury and Provost of Beverley. In 1158 Henry II appointed him High Chancellor and preceptor to his son, Prince Henry—the first instance after the Conquest of a high office being filled by a native Englishman. At this period he was a complete courtier, conforming in every respect to the humour of the king. He was, in fact, the king's prime companion, held splendid levees, and courted popular applause. On the death of Theobald, 1162, he was consecrated archbishop, when he affected an extraordinary austerity of character, and appeared as a zealous champion of the Church against the aggressions of the king, whose policy was to have the clergy in subordination to the civil power. Becket was forced to assent to the Constitutions of Clarendon, but a series of bitter conflicts with the king followed, ending in Becket's flight to France, when he appealed to the Pope, by whom he was supported. After much negotiation a sort of reconciliation took place in 1170, and Becket returned to England, resumed his office, and renewed his defiance of the royal authority. A rash hint from the king induced four barons, Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, Hugh de Morville, and Richard Breto, to go to Canterbury and murder the archbishop while at vespers in the cathedral. He was canonized in 1172 by Pope Alexander III, and the splendid shrine erected at Canterbury for his remains was, for three centuries, a favourite place of pilgrimage.—Bibliography: J. C. Robertson and J. B. Sheppard,Materials for the History of Archbishop Becket(Rolls Series); Canon Morris,Life and Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket; Lhuillier,Saint Thomas de Cantorbéry; Abbott,St. Thomas of Canterbury, His Death and His Miracles.
Beckett, Gilbert Abbot À. SeeÀ Beckett.
Beck´ford, William, an English writer famous in his time for his immense wealth and his eccentricities. He was born at Fonthill, his father's estate in Wiltshire, in 1759. In 1770 the death of his father left him in the possession of £1,000,000 of money, and an income of £100,000 a year. He travelled much, and for some time lived in Portugal. He expended an enormous sum in building and rebuilding Fonthill Abbey, near Salisbury, which he filled with rare and expensive works of art. Here he lived in seclusion for twenty years. In 1822 the abbey and greater part of its contents were sold, and he retired to Bath, where, with a much-diminished fortune, but one amply sufficient, helived till 1844. His literary fame rests upon his Eastern taleThe History of the Caliph Vathek, which he wrote in French, and a translation of which by the Rev. Samuel Henley appeared at London in 1786. The tale is still much read, and was highly commended by Lord Byron. He had two daughters, one of whom became Duchess of Hamilton, and brought his valuable library to this family.—William Beckford, his father, a London merchant and West Indian proprietor, was famous for a spirited speech made to George III when Lord Mayor of London.—Bibliography: Cyrus Redding,Memoir; R. Garnett,Vathek(with a critical essay); Melville,The Life and Letters of William Beckford of Fonthill.
Beckmann, Johann, German writer on the industrial arts and agriculture, born 1739, died 1811. He was for a short time professor of physics and natural history at Petrograd, and afterwards for almost forty-five years professor of philosophy and economy in Göttingen. HisHistory of Inventionsis well known in the English translation of it. This work entitled the author to be regarded as the founder of scientific technology.
Beckx(beks), Pierre Jean, general of the order of Jesuits, born near Louvain, Belgium, 1795, died 1887. The success of the Jesuits, especially in non-Catholic countries, was greatly due to his tact and energy.
Becquerel(bek-rel), Antoine César, French physicist, born 1788, died 1878. He served as an officer of engineers, and retired in 1815, after which he devoted himself to the study of electricity, especially electro-chemistry. In 1837 he was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society of London. He refuted the 'theory of contact' by which Volta explained the action of his pile or battery. Becquerel may be considered one of the creators of electro-chemistry.—His son, Alexandre Edmond (1820-91), was associated with him in much of his work. He was the author of a workLa Lumière, ses causes et ses effets(1867-8).
Becquerel Rays(bek-rel), the rays given out by radium and other 'radioactive' substances, so named from their discoverer, the French physicist, Henri Becquerel (born 1852, died 1908), son of Alexandre Edmond Becquerel. They were first detected in 1896, as proceeding from uranium salts; and it is only by uranium, thorium, radium, and one or two other elements that they are emitted, these bodies giving them out spontaneously and without any apparent loss of radioactive power or change of any kind. The Becquerel rays are invisible, and only known by their effects, which are of various kinds: thus, like the Röntgen rays, they blacken a photographic plate, even after passing through glass or other intervening substances; they cause a number of different substances to give out a fluorescent light, and they render air a conductor of electricity. Like the Röntgen rays, they act strongly on the human skin. They consist of a mixture ofα-,β-, andγ-rays. SeeRadio-activity;Radium.
Becse(bech´e),Old, a town of Hungary, 48 milesS.of Szegedin, on the right bank of the Theiss. Pop. 19,000.—New Becse, a market-town on the left bank of the Theiss, 5 milesE.of Old Becse. Pop. 7725, or, with the immediately adjoining village of Franyova, about 15,000. Both towns carry on an extensive trade in grain.
Becskerek(bech´ke-rek), two towns of South Hungary.—Great Becskerek, now in Yugo-Slavia, is on the Bega, 45 milesN.of Belgrade, with which it communicates by the Bega Canal. Trade in cattle and agricultural produce. Pop. 26,407.—Little Becskerek, now belonging to Roumania, is 11 miles by railway from Temesvar. Pop. 3660.
Bed, Bedstead, an article of furniture to sleep or rest on. The termbedproperly is applied to a large flat bag filled with feathers, down, wool, or other soft material, and also to a mattress supported on spiral springs or form of elastic chains or wirework which is raised from the ground on a bedstead. The term, however, sometimes includes the bedstead or frame for supporting the bed. The forms of beds are necessarily very various—every period and country having its own form of bed. Air-beds and water-beds are much used by invalids.
Bed, in geology, a layer or stratum, usually a stratum of considerable thickness.
Beda.SeeBede.
Bédarieux(bā-där-i-eu), a thriving town, Southern France, department Hérault, situated on the Orb. Pop. 6186.
Bed-bug.SeeBug.
Bed-chamber, Lords of the, officers of the royal household of Britain under the Groom of the Stole. They are twelve in number, and wait a week each in turn. In the case of a queen regnant these posts are occupied by ladies, calledLadies of the Bed-chamber.
Beddoes(bed´ōz), Thomas, physician and author, born 1760; educated at Oxford, London, and Edinburgh. After taking his doctor's degree, and visiting Paris, he was appointed professor of chemistry at Oxford. There he published some excellent chemical treatises, and essays upon such subjects as the calculus, sea-scurvy, consumption, catarrh, and fever. His expressed sympathy with the French revolutionists led to his retirement from his professorship in 1792, soon after which he published hisObservations on the Nature of DemonstrativeEvidence, and the exceedingly popularHistory of Isaac Jenkins. In 1794 he married a sister of Maria Edgeworth; and in 1798, with the pecuniary aid of Wedgwood, opened a pneumatic institution for curing phthisical and other diseases by inhalation of gases. It speedily became an ordinary hospital, but was noteworthy as connected with the discovery of the properties of nitrous oxide, and as having been superintended by the young Humphry Davy. Beddoes' essaysOn Consumption(1779) andOn Fever(1807), and hisHygeia(3 vols., 1807) had a high contemporary repute. He died in 1808.
Beddoes, Thomas Lovell, poet, son of above, born 1803, died 1849; publishedThe Bride's Tragedywhile a student at Oxford, studied medicine, and lived long abroad. His work was largely fragmentary, but his posthumousDeath's Jest-book, or The Fool's Tragedy(1850), received the high praise of such judges as Landor and Browning. HisPoems, with memoir, appeared in 1851.
Bede,Beda, orBæda, known as the Venerable, English historian and theologian, born in 672 or 673 in the neighbourhood of Monkwearmouth, County Durham; educated at St. Peter's Monastery, Wearmouth; took deacon's orders in his nineteenth year at St. Paul's Monastery, Jarrow, and was ordained priest at thirty by John of Beverley, Bishop of Hexham. His life was spent in studious seclusion, the chief events in it being the production of homilies, hymns, lives of saints, commentaries, and works in history, chronology, grammar, &c. He was the most learned Englishman of his day, and in some sense the father of English history, his most important work being hisHistoria Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum(orEcclesiastical History of England), afterwards translated by King Alfred into Anglo-Saxon. Besides his familiarity with Latin, he knew Greek and had some acquaintance with Hebrew. Most of his writings were on scriptural and ecclesiastical subjects, but he also wrote on chronology, physical science, grammar, &c., and had considerable ability in the writing of Latin verse. He died in 735, an interesting record of his closing days being preserved in a letter by his pupil Cuthbert. His body was after a lapse of time removed from Jarrow church to Durham, but of the shrine which formerly enclosed them only the Latin inscription remains, ending with the verse—'Hac sunt in fossa Bedæ venerabilis ossa'. On 13th Nov., 1899, Leo XIII decreed that the feast of the Venerable Bede should be celebrated in the Church on 27th May. An edition of the whole works of Bede (12 vols.), with an English translation, was prepared by Dr. Giles (1843-4).—Bibliography: Gehle.De Bedæ Venerabilis Vita et Scriptis; Browne,The Venerable Bede; C. Plummer's introduction to his edition of theHistoria Ecclesiastica.
Bedeguar, orBedegar(bed´e-gär), a spongy excrescence or gall, sometimes termed sweet-brier sponge, found on various species of roses, and produced by several insects as receptacles for their eggs, especially by theCynips rosæ, It was once thought to be a diuretic and vermifuge.
Bedell´, William, a celebrated Irish bishop, born in Essex in 1570. In 1604 he went to Venice as chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton, and remained eight years. After holding the living of Horingsheath from 1615-27, he became Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and in 1629 Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, though he resigned the latter of the united sees in 1630. He set himself to reform abuses and promote the spread of Protestantism, procured the translation of the Old Testament into Irish, and by his tact and wisdom conciliated the adherents of both creeds. He underwent a brief imprisonment on the breaking out of the rebellion in 1641, and died in the year following. His biography was written by Bishop Burnet.
Be´der Ware.SeeBidery.
Bed´ford, a municipal and, until 1918, a parliamentary borough, England, county town of Bedfordshire, on the Ouse. The chief buildings are the law courts, a range of public schools, a large infirmary, county jail, &c., and the churches. The town is rich in charities and educational institutions, the most prominent being the Bedford Charity, embracing grammar and other schools, and richly endowed. There is an extensive manufactory of agricultural implements; lace is also made, and there is a good trade. John Bunyan was born at Elstow, a village near the town, and it was at Bedford that he lived, preached, and was imprisoned. Bedford gives its name to a parliamentary division of the county. Pop. 40,247.—BedfordshireorBeds, the county, is bounded by Northampton, Bucks, Herts, Cambridge, and Huntingdon; area, 302,942 acres, of which 260,000 are under tillage or in permanent pasture. Chalk hills, forming a portion of the Chilterns, cross it on the south; north of this is a belt of sand; the soil of the vale of Bedford, consisting mostly of clay and loam, is very fertile; and the meadows on the Ouse, Ivel, and other streams furnish rich pasturage. Two-thirds of the soil is under tillage. Besides the usual cereal and other crops, culinary vegetables are extensively cultivated for the London market. Principal manufactures: agricultural implements, and straw-plait for hats, which is made up principally at Dunstable and Luton. The county returns three members to Parliament(divisions: Bedford, Luton, Midlands). Pop. (1921), 206,478.
Bedford, John, Duke of, one of the younger sons of Henry IV, King of England; famous as a statesman and a warrior. He defeated the French fleet in 1416, commanded an expedition to Scotland in 1417, and was lieutenant of England during the absence of Henry V in France. On the king's death he became Regent of France, and for several years his policy was as successful as it was able and vigorous, the victory of Verneuil in 1424 attesting his generalship. The greatest stain on his memory is his execution of the Maid of Orleans (Joan of Arc) in 1431. He died in 1435 at Rouen, and was buried in the cathedral of that city.
Bedford Level, a large tract of marshy land in England, of about 400,000 acres total area, comprising 63,000 in Norfolk, 30,000 in Suffolk, 50,000 in Huntingdon, the Peterborough fen in Northampton, the Holland district in Lincolnshire, and most of the Isle of Ely in Cambridge. It derives its name from Francis, Earl of Bedford, who in 1634 made an agreement with Charles I for the drainage of the Level, in consideration of receiving 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land. A great part of the Level is under cultivation, and produces grain, flax, and cole-seed; the remainder yields a winter harvest of wild-fowl for the London market. SeeFenland.
Bedfordshire Regiment, The, raised in 1688 on the approach of the Prince of Orange, suffered severely at Blenheim, and distinguished itself in a marked manner at the siege of Lille. In 1797 it went to Scotland and there recruited 1000 'parish boys' under sixteen years old, who later made excellent soldiers. The regiment shared in the Chitral and South African (1900-2) campaigns; on going to the front in 1914, sustained heavy losses at Givenchy, and distinguished itself at Ypres and the Aisne.
Bedivere, the last knight of the Round Table (q.v.). SeeMorte d'Arthur.
Bed´lam, a corruption of Bethlehem (Hospital), the name of a religious house in London, converted, after the general suppression by Henry VIII, into a hospital for lunatics. The original Bedlam stood in Bishopsgate Street; its modern successor in St. George's Fields was opened in 1815, having been built on the site of the notorious tavern called 'The Dog and the Duck'. The lunatics were at one time treated as little better than wild beasts, and hence Bedlam came to be typical of any scene of wild confusion. The average number of patients is about 300.
Bed´lington, a town and urban district of England, in Northumberland, near the mouth of the Blyth, and not far from the seaport of Blyth, with collieries, ironworks, &c. Pop. 25,440.
Bedlington Terrier, an English Dog, deriving its name from Bedlington, in Northumberland, having first become well known as a favourite among the miners of that place. It is a dog of moderate size, head rather long, with a light, silky tuft on top, ears hanging close to the cheeks, legs moderately long and strong, tail tapering to the point, which is almost bare; colour, dark blue, blue and tan, liver, liver and tan, sandy, or sandy and tan; courageous, intelligent, and generally useful.
Bedlis.SeeBetlis.
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