Britannica Concise 2005

Styles and imagery vary by location,

Bark beetle (Dendroctonus valens)

WILLIAM E. FERGUSON

Tapa wall drapery painted with animal clan emblems, from the Teluk Jos Sudarso (Humboldt Bay) area, Irian Jaya (West New Guinea), Indonesia, in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde Justinus van Nassau, Breda, Neth.

HOLLE BILDARCHIV, BADEN-BADEN, GER.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

168 I Barker ► Barnard

from naturalistic and stylized representations of human and animal forms to mythical beings, spirals, circles, and abstract motifs.

Barker, Harley Granville- See Harley Granville-Barker

barking deer See muntjac

Barkley, Alben W(illiam) (b. Nov. 24, 1877, Graves county, Ky., U.S.—d. April 30, 1956, Lexington, Va.) U.S. politician. After graduat¬ ing from college, he studied law and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1901. He was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Represen¬ tatives (1913-27) and the Senate (1927-49), where he served as majority leader (1937-47). He was a prominent spokesman for the domestic and international policies of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as vice president under Pres. Harry S. Truman (1949-53). He later returned to the Senate (1954-56).

Barkley, Charles (Wade) (b. Feb. 20, 1963, Leeds, Ala., U.S.) U.S. basketball player. He spent his collegiate career as a forward at Auburn University. He played for the Philadelphia 76ers (1984-91), the Phoenix Suns (1992-95), and the Houston Rockets (1996-99). He is known for his bruising play on the court and for his outspokenness off it.

Barlach Vbar-lak\, Ernst (b. Jan. 2, 1870, Wedel, Ger.—d. Oct. 24, 1938, Giistrow) German sculptor, graphic artist, and writer. After study¬ ing in Hamburg, Dresden, and Paris, he became the outstanding sculptor of the Expressionist movement, achieving a rough-hewn quality by pre¬ ferring wood, the material used in late Gothic sculpture. Even when he worked with other, more contemporary materials, he often emulated the raw quality of wood sculpture to achieve a more brutal effect. He achieved fame in the 1920s and ’30s with the execution of several war memorials for the Weimar Republic. Barlach also wrote Expressionist plays, which he illustrated with woodcuts and lithographs. His studio at Giistrow was opened posthumously as a museum.

barley Cereal plant of the genus Hordeum, in the family Poaceae (or Gramineae), and its edible grain. The three cultivated species are H. vul- gare, H. distichum, and H. irregulare. Barley is adaptable to a greater range of climate than any other cereal. About half of the world’s crop is used as livestock feed, the rest for human food and for malting. Most beer is made from malted barley, which is also used in distilled beverages (see malt). Barley has a nutlike flavour and is high in carbohydrates, with moderate quantities of protein, calcium, and phosphorus. Barley flour is used to make unleavened bread and porridge. Pearl barley, the most popu¬ lar form in many parts of the world, is often added to soups.

Barlow, Joel (b. March 24, 1754, Redding, Connecticut Colony [U.S.]—d. Dec. 24, 1812, Zarnowiec, Pol.) U.S. writer and poet. He was a member of the group of young writers known as the Hartford (or Con¬ necticut) Wits, whose patriotism led them to attempt to create a national literature. He became famous for his Vision of Columbus (1787), a poetic paean to America, but is remembered primarily for The Hasty Pudding (1796), a mock-heroic epic poem inspired by homesickness for New England.

Barmakid Vbar-mo-.kidV or Barmecide Vbar-ms-.skB Any member of the priestly family of Persian origin that achieved prominence in the 8th century as scribes and viziers to the caliphs of the ‘Abbasid dynasty. They supported the arts and sciences, tolerated explorations of religion and philosophy, and promoted public works. The first notable Barmakid, Khalid ibn Barmak (d. 781/782), helped establish the 'Abbasid caliphate; he became governor of Tabaristan and later Fars. His son Yahya (d. 805) and grandsons al-Fadl (d. 808) and Ja'far (d. 803) held power as viziers but died in prison or were executed in a reversal of fortune, largely because their excessive power, wealth, and liberalism led the caliphs to see them as threats.

Barmen, Synod of Meeting of German Protestant leaders at Barmen in May 1934 to organize Protestant resistance to Nazism. Representatives came from Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches. Some church lead¬ ers had already chosen to limit their efforts to passive resistance, and oth¬ ers had been co-opted by the Nazi regime. The Pastors’ Emergency League, headed by Martin Niemoller, was the backbone of active resis¬ tance. The Synod was of major importance in the founding of the Con¬ fessing Church by Karl Barth and others.

barn Farm building used for sheltering animals, their feed and other supplies, farm machinery, and farm products. Bams are named according to their purpose (e.g., hog barns, dairy barns, tobacco bams, and tractor

bams). The principal type in the U.S. is the general-purpose barn, used for housing livestock and for storing hay and grain. Most North American and European farms have one or more barns. They usually consist of two stories, though one-story bams gained in popularity in the late 20th cen¬ tury.

barn owl Any of several species of sometimes called monkey-faced owls because of their heart-shaped facial disk and absence of ear tufts.

Barn owls are about 12-16 in.

(30^-0 cm) long, white to gray or yellowish to brownish orange. Their dark eyes are smaller than those of other owls. They hunt mainly small rodents, often on cultivated land, and nest in hollow trees, buildings, tow¬ ers, and old hawk nests. The com¬ mon bam owl is found worldwide except in Antarctica and Micronesia.

Other species occur only in the Old World.

Barnabas \'bar-no-bos \, Saint orig. Joseph the Levite (fi. 1st cen¬ tury; feast day June 11) Apostolic Father and early Christian missionary. Born in Cyprus, he was a Hellenized Jew who joined the church in Jerus¬ alem shortly after its founding. According to the Acts of the Apostles, he helped found the church in Antioch, calling on St. Paul to assist him. A conflict eventually separated them, and Barnabas returned to the island of his birth. One legend holds that he was martyred in Cyprus. His reputed tomb is near the Monastery of St. Barnabas at Salamis, whose Christian community Paul and Barnabas founded.

barnacle Any of a majority of the 1,000 species of the subclass Cir- ripedia of marine crustaceans that, as adults, are covered with a shell made of hai’d calcium-containing plates and are permanently cemented, head down, to rocks, pilings, ships’ hulls, driftwood, or seaweed or to the bod¬ ies of larger sea creatures, from clams to whales. Barnacles trap tiny particles of food with their cirri, feathery retractable organs that emerge from openings between the shell plates. Adult barnacles com¬ monly are hermaphrodites.

barnacle goose Species (. Branta leucopsis) of waterbird that resembles a small Canada goose, with dark back, white face, and black neck and bib. It winters in the north¬ ern British Isles and on the coasts of Denmark, Germany, and the Nether¬ lands. In the Middle Ages, it was thought to hatch from barnacles, and thus was considered “fish” and could be eaten on Fridays.

Barnard \'bar-nord\, Christiaan (Neethling) (b. Nov. 8, 1922, Beaufort West, S.Af.—d. Sept. 2, 2001, Paphos, Cyprus) South African surgeon. He showed that intestinal atresia is caused by deficient fetal blood supply, which led to development of a surgical procedure to cor¬ rect the formerly fatal defect. He introduced open-heart surgery to South Africa, designed a new artificial heart valve, and did animal heart trans¬ plant experiments. In 1967 Barnard’s team performed the first human heart transplant, replacing the heart of Louis Washkansky with one from an accident victim. The transplant was successful, but Washkansky, given immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection of the heart, died 18 days later from pneumonia.

Barnard, Henry (b. Jan. 24, 1811, Hartford, Conn., U.S.—d. July 5, 1900, Hartford) U.S. educator. He studied law and entered the state leg¬ islature, where he helped create a state board of education and the first teachers’ institute (1839). With Horace Mann, he undertook to reform the country’s common schools; he was an innovator in instituting school

nocturnal birds of prey (genus Tyto),

Common barn owl (Tyto alba).

KARL MASLOWSKI/PHOTO RESEARCHERS

Barnacle

ANTHONY MERCIECA, FROM ROOT RESOURCES-EB INC.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Barnard's ► Baroque I 169

inspections, textbook reviews, and parent-teacher organizations. As Rhode Island’s first commissioner of education (from 1845) he worked to raise teachers’ wages, repair build¬ ings, and obtain higher-education appropriations. In 1855 he helped found the American Journal of Edu¬ cation. He was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin (1858-61).

In 1867 he became the first U.S. commissioner of education, in which post he established a federal agency to collect national educational data.

Barnard's Vbar-nsrdzV star Star about six light-years away from the Sun, next nearest the Sun after the Alpha Centauri system, in the constel¬ lation Ophiuchus. Named for Edward Emerson Barnard (b.

1857—d. 1923), who discovered it in 1916, it has the largest proper motion of any known star. It is gradu¬ ally nearing the solar system. The star attracted astronomers’ attention in the 1960s when its proper motion was claimed to show periodic deviations attributed to the gravitational pull of two planets (see planets of other stars). The deviations were later proved to be artifacts of measurement.

Barnburners See Hunkers and Barnburners

Barnes, Albert C(oombs) (b. Jan. 2, 1872, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d. July 24, 1951, Chester county. Pa.) Pharmaceutical manufacturer and art collector. He obtained a medical degree and later studied in Ger¬ many. In 1902 he made a fortune with his invention of the antiseptic Argyrol. After building a mansion in Merion, Pa., in 1905, he began to collect art seriously, amassing some 180 paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 66 by Paul Cezanne, 35 by Pablo Picasso, and an extraordinary col¬ lection of 65 works by Henri Matisse. The Barnes Foundation, housed in quarters next to his Merion home, was chartered on Dec. 4, 1922, and opened in 1925. The 22-room structure displayed his collection in a highly personal manner that eschewed standard museum practice. The founda¬ tion also was intended to promote art education by providing art classes and by establishing a publishing program. (Barnes himself wrote and coauthored a number of books on art.) In 1961, after extensive litigation, his galleries were opened to the public.

Barnes, Djuna (b. June 12, 1892, Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 18?, 1982, New York, N.Y.) U.S. writer. Barnes worked as an artist and journalist in her youth. She went to Paris in 1920, where she became a well-known figure in the literary scene. She wrote plays, short stories, and poems; her masterpiece, the novel Nightwood (1936), tells of the homosexual and heterosexual loves of five extraordinary people. After returning to New York in 1940, she wrote little and lived reclusively.

Barnet \bar-'net\, Charlie orig. Charles Daly Barnet (b. Oct. 26, 1913, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept., 4, 1991, San Diego, Calif.) U.S. saxophonist and big-band leader of the swing era. Born to a wealthy fam¬ ily, Barnet took up the saxophone as a child and eventually performed on tenor, alto, and soprano. His was among the first of the big bands to be racially integrated, and his unabashed admiration for Duke Ellington and Count Basie resulted in an effective synthesis of their styles. His best- known recording was “Cherokee” (1939).

Barnett, Ida B. Wells- See Ida B. Wells

Barnsley Town and metropolitan borough (pop., 2001: 218,062), north¬ ern England. Located on the River Dearne, the town lies in the ceremo¬ nial county of South Yorkshire. Its major growth came in the 19th century as a coal-mining town in the heart of the Yorkshire coalfield. Local coal production has declined since the early 20th century, and light industries have been promoted.

Barnum, P(hineas) T(aylor) (b. July 5, 1810, Bethel, Conn., U.S.—d. April 7, 1891, Bridgeport, Conn.) U.S. showman. In 1841 he bought the American Museum, a collection of conventional exhibits in New York City, and transformed it into a carnival of live freaks and dra¬

matic curiosities, which he promoted with sensational publicity. He exhib¬ ited the midget Tom Thumb with great international success and brought Jenny Lind (billed as the “Swedish Nightingale”) to the U.S. for a profit¬ able concert tour in 1850. By the time his museum closed in 1868 after several fires, he had enticed 82 million visitors there. In 1871 he started a circus and in 1881 joined a rival, James A. Bailey (1847-1906), to form the three-ring Barnum and Bailey’s Circus, which featured the elephant Jumbo as part of the “Greatest Show on Earth.”

Barocci \ba-'rot-che\, Federico (b. c.1526, Urbino, Duchy of Urbino, Papal States—d. 1612, Urbino) Italian painter. Except for two visits to Rome (mid 1550s, 1560-63), where he painted frescoes for Pope Pius IV’s casino in the Vatican Gardens, he seems to have spent his whole life in and near Urbino. He executed altarpieces and devotional paintings in a style characterized by subtle colour harmonies and warmth of feeling. His patrons included the duke of Urbino and Emperor Rudolf II (1552— 1612), and he received commissions from the cathedrals of Genoa and Perugia. His famous works include the Deposition (1567-69) and the Madonna del Popolo (1579). A prolific draftsman, he was one of the first artists to use coloured chalks. He enjoyed a long and productive career, becoming one of the leading painters in central Italy.

Baroda See Vadodara

Baroja \ba-'ro-ha\ (y Nessi), Pio (b. Dec. 28, 1872, San Sebastian, Spain—d. Oct. 30, 1956, Madrid) Basque writer. He wrote 11 trilogies dealing with contemporary social problems, the best known of which is The Struggle for Life (1904). His most ambitious project was a long cycle of works about a 19th-century insurgent and his era. He wrote almost 100 novels, including Zalacain el aventurero (1909). Because of his anti- Christian views, stubborn insistence on nonconformity, and somewhat pessimistic tone, he never achieved great popularity. He is considered the foremost Spanish novelist of his time.

barometer Device used to measure atmospheric pressure. Because atmo¬ spheric pressure changes with distance above or below sea level, a barom¬ eter can also be used to measure altitude. In the mercury barometer, atmospheric pressure balances a column of mercury, the height of which can be precisely measured. Normal atmospheric pressure is about 14.7 lb per square inch, equivalent to 30 in. (760 mm) of mercury. Other liquids can be used in barometers, but mercury is the most common because of its great density. An aneroid barometer indicates pressure on a dial using a needle that is mechanically linked to a partially evacuated chamber, which responds to pressure changes.

barometric pressure See atmospheric pressure

baron Title of nobility, ranking in modern times immediately below a viscount or a count (in countries without viscounts). The wife of a baron is a baroness. Originally, in the early Middle Ages, the term designated a tenant of whatever rank who held a tenure of barony direct from the king. Gradually, it came to mean a powerful personage, and therefore a mag¬ nate. The rights and title may be conferred for military or other honor¬ able service.

baronet British hereditary rank of honor, first created by James I in 1611 to raise money, ostensibly for support of troops in Ulster. The baronetage is not part of the peerage, nor is it an order of knighthood. A baronet ranks below a baron but above all knights except a Knight of the Garter (see Order of the Garter). The baronetcy is inherited by the male heirs of a baronet.

Baroque, Late See Rococo style

Baroque \b3-'rok\ architecture Architectural style originating in late 16th-century Italy and lasting in some regions, notably Germany and colonial South America, until the 18th century. It had its origins in the Counter-Reformation, when the Catholic Church launched an overtly emo¬ tional and sensory appeal to the faithful through art and architecture. Complex architectural plan shapes, often based on the oval, and the dynamic opposition and interpenetration of spaces were favoured to heighten the feeling of motion and sensuality. Other characteristic quali¬ ties include grandeur, drama and contrast (especially in lighting), curva¬ ceousness, and an often dizzying array of rich surface treatments, twisting elements, and gilded statuary. Architects unabashedly applied bright colours and illusory, vividly painted ceilings. Outstanding practitioners in Italy included Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Carlo Maderno (1556-1629), Francesco Borromini, and Guarino Guarini (1624-83). Classical elements

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

170 I Baroque period ► Barry

subdued Baroque architecture in France. In central Europe, the Baroque arrived late but flourished in the works of such architects as the Austrian Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723). Its impact in Britain can be seen in the works of Christopher Wren. The late Baroque style is often referred to as Rococo or, in Spain and Spanish America, as Chur- RIGUERESQUE.

Baroque period (17th—18th century) Era in the arts that originated in Italy in the 17th century and flourished elsewhere well into the 18th cen¬ tury. It embraced painting, sculpture, architecture, decorative arts, and music. The word, derived from a Portuguese term for an irregularly shaped pearl and originally used derogatorily, has long been employed to describe a variety of characteristics, from dramatic to bizarre to over¬ decorated. The style was embraced by countries absorbed in the Counter- Reformation; artworks commissioned by the Roman Catholic church were overtly emotional and sensory. The period’s most notable practitioners were Annibale Carracci (see Carracci family), Caravaggio, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. A spectacular example of the Baroque arts is the Palace of Versailles. In music, the Baroque era is usually considered to extend from c. 1600 to c. 1750, when such significant new vocal and instrumen¬ tal genres as opera, oratorio, cantata, sonata, and concerto were intro¬ duced and such towering composers as Claudio Monteverdi, J.S. Bach, and George Frideric Handel flourished.

Barotse See Lozi

Barquisimeto V.bar-ke-se-'ma-toN City (pop., 2000 est.: 875,790), northwestern Venezuela. The capital of Lara state, it is located at the northern end of the Cordillera Merida, at an elevation of 1,800 ft (500 m). Founded in 1552 as Nueva Segovia, it is one of the country’s oldest cit¬ ies. It was almost destroyed by an earthquake in 1812 and was further damaged in 19th-century civil wars. It is a hub of transport and commerce and the centre of an agricultural region.

barracuda Any of about 20 species of predaceous marine fishes (fam¬ ily Sphyraenidae) found in all warm and tropical regions and in some more temperate areas. Swift and powerful, barracudas are slender and have small scales, a jutting lower jaw, and a large mouth with many large, sharp teeth. They vary in size from relatively small to 4-6 ft (1.2-1.8 m) long. They are primarily fish eaters. They are popular sport fishes and are caught for food, though in certain seas they may become contaminated with a toxic substance. Bold and inquisitive, they are potentially danger¬ ous to humans when large.

Barracuda (Sphyraena)

C. LEROY FRENCH/TOM STACK & ASSOCIATES

Barranquilla \,ba-ran-'ke-ya\ City (pop., 1999: 1,226,292), northern Colombia. Founded in 1629 about 10 mi (16 km) from the mouth of the Magdalena River, it remained unimportant until the 1930s, when the clear¬ ing of sandbars made it an important port on the Caribbean Sea. It has since been rivaled by the Pacific Ocean port of Buenaventura, but it still handles goods from the interior and is the terminus of natural-gas pipe¬ lines from northern Colombia.

Barraque \ba-ra-'ka\, Jean (b. Jan. 17, 1928, Puteaux, France—d. Aug. 17, 1973, Paris) French composer. He studied at the Paris Conser¬ vatoire with Jean Langlais (1907-91) and Olivier Messiaen. His major work, employing a radically nonrepetitive style, was a planned five-part reflection on Hermann Broch’s novel The Death of Virgil, of which he completed three parts—... au-dela du hasard (1959), Chant apres chant

(1966), and Le Temps restitue (1968)—before his early death. He also composed a long piano sonata (1952) and a clarinet concerto (1968).

Barras \ba-'ras\, Paul-Francois-Jean-Nicolas, viscount de (b.

June 30, 1755, Fox-Amphoux, France—d. Jan. 29, 1829, Chaillot) French revolutionary. A Provencal nobleman, Barras became disenchanted with the royal regime and welcomed the French Revolution. Elected to the National Convention (1792), he played a key role in the overthrow of Maximiuen Robespierre and emerged as the commander of the army of the interior and the police. In 1795 he and Napoleon defended the regime against a royalist insurrection and established the Directory, with Barras as chief among the five directors. The Coup of 18 Fructidor brought him greater power, but he was overthrown in 1799 and exiled from Paris on suspicion of conspiracy to restore the monarchy.

Barrault \ba-'ro\, Jean-Louis (b. Sept. 8, 1910, Le Vesinet, France—d. Jan. 22, 1994, Paris) French actor and director. He made his acting debut in Paris (1931) and joined the Comedie-Francaise (1940-46) as an actor and director. He and his wife, Madeleine Renaud, formed their own company (1946-58) at the Theatre Marigny. There they performed a mixture of French and foreign classics and modern plays that helped revive French theatre after World War II. He was appointed director of the Theatre de France (1959-68) and later directed at several other Paris theatres (1972-81). He appeared in more than 20 films and was best known for his role in The Children of Paradise (1945).

Barre, Mohamed Siad See Mohamed Siad Barre

Bar res \ba-'res\, (Auguste-) Maurice (b. Aug. 19, 1862, Charmes- sur-Moselle, France—d. Dec. 5,

1923, Paris) French writer and poli¬ tician. He served in the Chamber of Deputies (1889-93) and became a strong nationalist. With Charles Mau- rras, he expounded the doctrines of the French Nationalist Party in two newspapers, and in his novels he expressed an individualism that included a deep-rooted attachment to one’s native region. His series of novels titled Les Bastions de TEst earned success as French propa¬ ganda during World War I.

Barrie, Sir James (Matthew)

(b. May 9, 1860, Kirriemuir, Angus,

Scot.—d. June 19, 1937, London,

Eng.) Scottish playwright and novel¬ ist. After moving to London, he wrote Auld Licht Idylls (1888), a book about his native Scotland. His best-selling novel The Little Minis¬ ter (1891) was made into a play in 1897. His plays Quality Street (1901) and The Admirable Crichton (1902) ran successfully in London. After creating the stories of Peter Pan for a friend’s sons, he won great success with his classic children’s play Peter Pan, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904). His other plays include The Twelve-Pound Look (1910) and Dear Brutus (1917).

barrier penetration See tunneling

barrister Vbar-o-storX One of two types of practicing lawyers in Brit¬ ain (the other is the solicitor). Barristers engage in advocacy (trial work), and only they may argue cases before a high court. A barrister must be a member of one of the four Inns of Court. In Canada, all lawyers are both barristers and solicitors, though individual lawyers may describe them¬ selves as one or the other. In Scotland trial lawyers are called advocates.

Barrow, Clyde See Bonnie and Clyde

Barry \dm-ba-'re\, (Marie-) Jeanne Becu, countess du known as Madame du Barry (b. Aug. 19, 1743, Vaucouleurs, France—d. Dec. 8, 1793, Paris) French mistress of Louis XV. A Paris shop assistant, she became the mistress of Jean du Barry, who introduced her into Pari¬ sian high society. Admired for her beauty, she joined Louis XV’s court in 1769 after a nominal marriage to Jean’s brother, a nobleman, qualified her as Louis’s official royal mistress. Though she exercised little politi¬ cal influence, her unpopularity contributed to the decline of the prestige of the crown in the early 1770s. After Louis’s death (1774), she was ban-

Barres, 1906.

H. ROGER-VIOLLET

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Barry ► Bartlett I 171

ished from court. In the French Revolution she was condemned as a counterrevolutionary and guillotined.

Barry, John (b. 1745, County Wexford, Ire.—d. Sept. 13, 1803, Phila¬ delphia, Pa., U.S.) Irish-born American naval officer. He immigrated to America in 1760 and was a merchant shipmaster out of Philadelphia at age 21. He outfitted the first American fleet in 1776, and as captain of a frigate he captured several British ships. He fought the last battle of the American Revolution in March 1783 in the Straits of Florida, where he defeated three British ships. After the war he was recalled to active ser¬ vice as senior captain of the new U.S. Navy. He was often called the “Father of the Navy” because he trained many future naval officers.

Barrymore family U.S. theatrical family. Maurice Barrymore (orig. Herbert Blythe; 1847-1905) made his stage debut in London before mov¬ ing to New York City (1875), where he adopted Barrymore as his stage name. He joined Augustin Daly’s company and in 1876 married Georgi- ana Drew, of the theatrical Drew family. Their eldest child, Lionel Barry¬ more (orig. Lionel Blythe; 1878-1954), became a leading Broadway actor in plays such as Peter Ibbetson (1917) and The Copperhead (1918), then moved to Hollywood in 1926, where he appeared in films such as A Free Soul (1931, Academy Award) and Grand Hotel (1932). Famous as a char¬ acter actor, he made some 200 films, including 15 Dr. Kildare pictures. His sister Ethel Barrymore (orig. Ethel Blythe; 1879-1959) appeared in London in Peter the Great (1898) and on Broadway in Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines (1901). She opened the New York theatre named for her in 1928 in The Kingdom of God and later starred in The Corn Is Green (1940). She appeared in more than 30 films, including None but the Lonely Heart (1944, Academy Award) and The Spiral Staircase (1946). Their brother John Barrymore (orig. John Blythe; 1882-1942) was acclaimed in plays such as Justice (1916), Richard III (1920), and especially Ham¬ let (1922). His films include Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) and Dinner at Eight (1933). An alcoholic, he was known for his flamboyant behav¬ iour. John’s granddaughter Drew Barrymore (b. 1975) first won notice at age seven in the film E.T. (1982).

barter Direct exchange of goods or services without the use of money or any other intervening medium of exchange. Barter is conducted either according to established rates of exchange or by bargaining. Barter is common among preliterate societies, particularly in those communities with some developed form of market. Goods may be bartered within a group as well as between groups, although gif exchange probably accounts for most intragroup trade, particularly in small and relatively simple soci¬ eties. See also currency.

Barth, John orig. John Simmons Barth, Jr. (b. May 27, 1930, Cambridge, Md., U.S.) U.S. writer. Barth grew up on Maryland’s eastern shore, the locale of much of his writing, and from 1953 he taught prin¬ cipally at Johns Hopkins University. Apart from the experimental pieces in Lost in the Funhouse (1968), his best-known works are the novels The Floating Opera (1956), The End of the Road (1958), The Sot-Weed Fac¬ tor (1960), Giles Goat-Boy (1966), and The Tidewater Tales (1987), most of which play with and parody traditional narrative forms, combining philosophical depth with biting satire and boisterous, often bawdy humour. In 2001 he published the experimental novel Coming Soon!!!: A Narrative, which was not well received.

Barth \'bart\, Karl (b. May 10, 1886, Basel, Switz.—d. Dec. 9/10, 1968, Basel) Swiss theologian. He studied at the Universities of Berlin, Tubin¬ gen, and Marburg, and in 1911-21 he was a pastor at Safenwil, Switz. The tragedy of World War I made him question the liberal theology of his teachers, rooted in post-Enlightenment ideas. With The Epistle to the Romans (1919) he inaugurated a radical turnaround in Protestant thought, initiating a trend toward neoorthodoxy. The work led to his appointment as professor at Gottingen (1921), Munster (1925), and Bonn (1930). He was a founder of the Confessing Church, which opposed the Nazi regime; when his refusal to take the oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler cost him his chair at Bonn, he returned to Basel. He spoke at the opening of the World Council of Churches in 1948 and visited Rome following the Second Vat¬ ican Council.

Barthelme Vbart-ol-meV, Donald (b. April 7, 1931, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d. July 23, 1989, Houston, Texas) U.S. writer. Barthelme worked as a journalist, journal editor, and museum director before his fiction began to be published. He is known for modernist “collages” marked by technical experimentation and melancholy gaiety. His story collections include Come Back, Dr. Caligari (1964), City Life (1970), Sixty Stories

(1981), and Overnight to Many Distant Cities (1983); his novels include Snow White (1967), The Dead Father (1975), Paradise (1986), and The King (1990). His brother Frederick (b. 1943) is also a novelist ( Second Marriage, 1984) and short-story writer {Moon Deluxe, 1983).

Barthes \'bart\, Roland (Gerard) (b. Nov. 12, 1915, Cherbourg, France—d. March 25, 1980, Paris) French social and literary critic. His early books examined the arbitrariness of the constructs of language and applied similar analyses to popular-culture phenomena. He analyzed mass culture in Mythologies (1957). On Racine (1963) set off a literary furor, pitting him against more traditional French literary scholars. His later contributions to SEMIOTICS included the even more radical S/Z (1970); The Empire of Signs (1970), his study of Japan; and other significant works that brought his theories wide (if belated) attention in the 1970s and helped establish structuralism as one of the leading intellectual movements of the 20th century. In 1976 he became the first person to hold the chair of literary semiology at the College de France.

Bartholdi \bar-'tol-de\, Frederic-Auguste (b. April 2, 1834, Col¬ mar, Alsace, Fr.—d. Oct. 4, 1904, Paris) French sculptor. He studied sculpture and painting in Paris. In 1865 he and several others conceived the idea for a monument to the Franco-American alliance of 1778. Begin¬ ning work in 1870, Bartholdi designed the huge statue that would come to be known as the “Statue of Liberty” (1875-86) and was able to see its construction through using funds he raised in both France and the U.S. While not as famous, his masterpiece is the Lion of Belfort (1871-80), carved out of the red sandstone of a hill overlooking Belfort in eastern France.

Bartholomaeus Vbar-.tol-o-'ma-osX (Anglicus) or Bartholomew the Englishman (fl. c. 1220^40) Franciscan encyclopedist. Though primarily interested in scripture and theology, in his 19-volume encyclo¬ pedia On the Properties of Things he covered all customary knowledge of his time and was the first to make readily available the views of Greek, Jewish, and Arabic scholars on medical and scientific subjects. The ency¬ clopedia was printed in English translation c. 1495.

Bartholomew, Saint (fl. 1st century ad —d. traditionally Albanopo- lis, Armenia; Western feast day August 24; date varies in Eastern churches) One of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is mentioned only briefly in the Gospels, and his Hebrew name may have been Nathanael bar Tolmai. By tradition he was a missionary to Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia (in modern Iran), Lycaonia (in modem Turkey), and Armenia. He was supposedly martyred at the command of the Armenian king Asty- ages, who had him flayed and beheaded.

Barthou \bar-'tii\, (Jean-) Louis (b. Aug. 25, 1862, Oloron-Sainte- Marie, France—d. Oct. 9, 1934, Marseille) French politician. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1889, he served in various conservative gov¬ ernments. He was appointed premier (1913) and secured the passage of a bill requiring three years’ compulsive military service. He represented France at the Conference of Genoa, entered the Senate, and became chair¬ man of the reparations commission. Named foreign minister in 1934, he was assassinated with King Alexander of Yugoslavia during the latter’s visit to France.

Bartlett, Sir Frederic C(harles) (b. Oct. 20, 1886, Stow-on-the- Wold, Gloucestershire, Eng.—d. Sept. 30, 1969, Cambridge, Cam¬ bridgeshire) British psychologist best known for his studies of memory. The first professor of experimental psychology at the Uni¬ versity of Cambridge (1931-52), he also directed the university’s psy¬ chological laboratory. His major work, Remembering (1932), described memories not as direct recollections but rather as mental reconstructions coloured by cultural attitudes and personal habits.

Bartlett, John (b. June 14, 1820,

Plymouth, Mass., U.S.—d. Dec. 3,

1905, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. book¬ seller and editor. Bartlett was an

employee and then owner of the Har- j Q ^ n B ar f| ett

vard University Bookstore. In 1855 courtesy of little, brown and co.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

172 I Bartok ► base

he published the work for which he is best known, Familiar Quotations, based largely on a notebook he kept for his customers. It was greatly expanded in later editions; the 17th edition appeared in 2002. He also wrote a complete concordance to Shakespeare’s dramatic works and poems (1894), outstanding for the number and fullness of its citations.

Bartok Vbar-t6k\, Bela (b. March 25, 1881, Nagyszentmiklos, Hung., Austria-Hungary—d. Sept. 26, 1945, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He developed a superb piano technique at an early age. In 1904 he set about researching Hungarian folk music, having discovered that the folk-music repertory generally accepted as Hungarian was in fact largely urban Roma (Gypsy) music (see Rom). His fieldwork with the composer Zoltan KodAly formed the basis for all later research in the field, and he published major studies of Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovakian folk music. He worked folk themes and rhythms into his own music, achieving a style that was at once nation¬ alistic and deeply personal. He also toured widely as a virtuoso pianist. In 1940 he immigrated to the U.S., where he was inadequately recognized. His works include the opera Bluebeard’s Castle (1911), six celebrated string quartets (1908-39), the didactic piano set Mikrokosmos (1926-39), Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937), Concerto for Orchestra (1943), and three piano concertos (1926, 1931, 1945).

Bartolome de Cardenas See Bartolome Bermejo

Bartolomeo V.bar-to-lo-'ma-oV, Fra orig. Baccio della Porta (b.

March 28, 1472, Florence—d. Oct. 31, 1517, Florence) Italian painter active in Florence. His early works, such as the Annunciation (1497) in Volterra Cathedral, were influenced by Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci. In 1500 he joined the Dominican order. He painted religious subjects, pri¬ marily the Madonna and Child in various settings, with monumental fig¬ ures grouped in balanced compositions. He became a prominent exponent of the High Renaissance style and was the leading painter in Florence, rivaled only by Andrea del Sarto.

Barton, Clara orig. Clarissa Harlowe (b. Dec. 25, 1821, Oxford, Mass., U.S.—d. April 12, 1912, Glen Echo, Md.) U.S. nurse, founder of the American Red Cross. She attended the Liberal Institute at Clinton, N.Y. (1850-51). In 1852 she established a free school in Bordentown, N.J., that soon became so large that the townsmen would no longer allow a woman to run it. After resigning her post, she was employed by the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. (1854-57, 1860). During the Ameri¬ can Civil War she organized the distribution of medicine and supplies for soldiers wounded in the first Battle of Bull Run. She gained permission to pass through battle lines to distribute supplies, search for the missing, and nurse the wounded, becoming known as the “angel of the battlefield.” In 1865, at the request of Pres. Abraham Lincoln, she set up a bureau of records to aid in the search for missing men. While in Europe for a rest, she helped with relief work for victims of the Franco-Prussian War (1870- 71) and became associated with the International Red Cross. In 1881 she founded the American Red Cross. She lobbied Congress to sign the Geneva Convention (see Geneva Conventions), which provided for the treatment of the sick and wounded in battle and the proper handling of prisoners of war. She wrote the U.S. amendment to the constitution of the Red Cross, which provides for the distribution of relief not only in war but also during natural disasters. She served as president of the Ameri¬ can Red Cross until 1904.

Barton, Sir Derek H(arold) R(ichard) (b. Sept. 8, 1918, Grave¬ send, Kent, Eng.—d. March 16, 1998, College Station, Texas, U.S.) Brit¬ ish chemist. Unsatisfied in his father’s carpentry business, he entered London’s Imperial College and received his doctorate in 1942. His stud¬ ies revealed that organic molecules have a preferred three-dimensional form from which their chemical properties can be inferred. This research earned him the 1969 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, shared with Odd Hassel of Norway.

Bartram Vbar-troirA, John (b. March 23, 1699, Marple, Pa., U.S.—d. Sept. 22, 1777, Kingsessing, Pa.) naturalist and explorer, considered the “father of American botany.” Largely self-educated, he was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and the botanist for the American colonies to George III. He was the first North American experimenter to hybridize flowering plants, and he established near Philadelphia a botanical garden that became internationally famous. He explored the Alleghenies and the Carolinas and in 1743 was commissioned by the British crown to explore the wilderness north to Lake Ontario in Canada. In 1765-66 he explored extensively in Florida with his son William Bartram.

Bartram, William (b. April 9, 1739, Kingsessing, Pa., U.S.—d. July 22, 1823, Kingsessing) U.S. naturalist, botanist, and artist, the son of John Bartram, he described the abundant river swamps of the southeastern U.S. in their primeval condition in his Travels through North and South Caro¬ lina, Georgia, East and West Florida (1791). The book was influential among the English and French Romantics (see Romanticism). Bartram was also noted for his renderings of plants and animals.

Baruch \b3-'riik\, Bernard (Mannes) (b. Aug. 19, 1870, Camden, S.C., U.S.—d. June 20, 1965, New York, N.Y.) U.S. financier and adviser to presidents. After graduating from the College of the City of New York in 1889, he went to work in Wall Street brokerage houses, where he amassed a fortune as a speculator. During World War I he was appointed chairman of the War Industries Board by Pres. Woodrow Wilson. In 1919 he was a member of the Supreme Economic Council at the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles and one of Wilson’s advisers on the terms of peace. During World War II he served as an unofficial adviser on eco¬ nomic mobilization to Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Later he was instru¬ mental in setting UN policy on the international control of atomic energy.

Barye \ba-'re\, Antoine-Lou is (b. Sept. 24, 1796, Paris, Fr.—d. June 29, 1875, Paris) French sculptor. The son of a goldsmith, he was appren¬ ticed at 13 to an engraver. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (1818— 23) and began to sculpt animal forms c. 1819. Influenced by Theodore Gericault, he had a unique talent for rendering dynamic tension and exact anatomical detail. His most famous works depict wild animals devouring their prey; he also rendered groups of domestic animals. His notable bronzes include Lion Devouring a Gavial Crocodile (1831) and an eques¬ trian statue of Napoleon at Ajaccio, Corsica (1860-65).

baryon \'bar-e-,an\ Any member of one of two classes of hadrons. Baryons are heavy subatomic particles made up of three quarks. They are characterized by a baryon number, B, of 1, and have half-integer spin val¬ ues. Their antiparticles (see antimatter), called antibaryons, have a baryon number of -1. Both protons and neutrons are baryons.

Baryshnikov Vbo-'rish-no-.kofV Mikhail (Nikolayevich) (b. Jan. 28, 1948, Riga, Latvia, U.S.S.R.) Latvian-born U.S. dancer. After enter¬ ing the Kirov Ballet’s training school in St. Petersburg in 1963, he joined the company as a soloist in 1966. There he quickly became popular with Soviet audiences, dancing leading roles created for him in ballets such as Gorianka (1968) and Vestris (1969). He defected while on tour in Canada in 1974. He danced with American Ballet Theatre until 1978, winning enor¬ mous acclaim, and he served as its artistic director from 1980 to 1989. He danced and acted in several movies and on television.

barytes See barite

barzakh Vbar-,zak\, al- Arabic "obstacle" or "barrier" Term that appears in the Qur’an on three separate occasions and has been inter¬ preted in various ways by Muslim commentators. In one surah (chapter), it refers to the barrier that prevents the dead from returning to earth to accomplish the good they left undone in life. It has been understood as a physical barrier between heaven and hell and as a moral prohibition by God. The term is used elsewhere in the Qur’an to describe a barrier between two seas, one saltier than the other, whose waters meet but do not mix. In Sufism, barzakh is understood as the barrier between the mate¬ rial world and the world of God and the angels.

basalt \b3-'solt\ Dark igneous rock that is low in silica content and com¬ paratively rich in iron and magnesium. Some basalts are glassy (have no visible crystals), and many are very fine-grained and compact. Basaltic lavas may be spongy or pumice-like. Olivine and augite are the most common minerals in basalts; plagioclase is also present. Basalts may be broadly classified into two main groups. Calc-alkali basalts predominate among the lavas of mountain belts; the active volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea in Hawaii erupt calc-alkali lavas. Alkali basalts predominate among the lavas of the ocean basins and are also common in mountain belts.

base In chemistry, any substance that in water solution is slippery to the touch, tastes bitter, changes the colour of acid-base indicators (e.g., litmus paper), reacts with acids to form salts, and promotes certain chemical reactions (e.g., base catalysis). Examples of bases are the hydroxides of the alkali metals and alkaline earth metals (sodium, calcium, etc.; see caustic soda) and the water solutions of ammonia or its derivatives (amines). Such substances produce hydroxide ions (OH - ) in water solutions. Broader

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

baseball ► Basho I 173

pitcher’s mound

(60.5 ft [18.4 m] from home plate)

A typical college or professional baseball field. The batter stands at home plate, the pitcher at the pitcher's mound. When a hit falls outside the foul lines, the batter may not run. Any ball over the fence represents a home run for the batter. Coaches at first and third base tell runners when to run. In the dugout, players wait to bat. Home-run fence distances and configurations vary from field to field. Softball is played on a similar field, but with bases closer together (typically 60 ft apart) and the pitcher's mound closer to the plate (40 ft for women, 46 ft for men), and the home-run fence may be as close as 200 ft.

© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.

definitions of bases cover situations in which water is not present. See also ACID-BASE THEORY; ALKALI; NUCLEO¬ PHILE.

baseball Game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players (or 10, if a designated hitter bats and runs for the pitcher). Base¬ ball is played on a large field that has four bases laid out in a square, posi¬ tioned like a diamond, whose out¬ lines mark the course a runner must take to score. Teams alternate posi¬ tions as batters and fielders, exchanging places when three mem¬ bers of the batting team are put out.

Batters try to hit a pitched ball out of reach of the fielding team and com¬ plete a circuit around the bases in order to score a “run.” The team that scores the most runs in nine innings (times at bat) wins the game. If a game is tied, extra innings are played until the tie is broken. Base¬ ball is traditionally considered the national pastime of the United States. It was once thought to have been invented in 1839 by Abner Doubleday in Coopers town, N.Y., but it is more likely that baseball developed from an 18th-century English game called rounders that was modified by Alexander Cart¬ wright. The first professional asso¬ ciation was formed in 1871; in 1876 it became the National League. Its rival, the American League, was founded in 1900, and since 1903 (except in 1904 and 1994) the winning teams of each league have played a post¬ season championship known as the World Series. The Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown. Professional baseball leagues also exist in several Latin American countries. The champions of leagues in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela compete in the Caribbean Series each February. In Asia there are professional baseball leagues in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Japan has two major leagues, the Central and the Pacific, that face off in the Japan Series every October.

Basel Vba-zolX or Basle \'bal\ French Bale Ybal\ City (2000: city, 166,558; metro, area, 402,387), northwestern Switzerland. It straddles the Rhine at the point where France, Germany, and Switzerland meet. It was originally a settlement of the Celtic Rauraci tribe. Its university, the first in Switzerland, was founded by Pope Pius II while attending the Council of Basel (1431—49). In 1501 Basel was admitted into the Swiss Confed¬ eration. When Desiderius Erasmus taught at the university (1521-29), the city became a centre of humanism and of the Reformation. Primarily German-speaking and Protestant, it is an important trading and industrial city and river port.

Basel, Council of (1431^-9) Council of the Roman Catholic church held in Basel, Switz. It addressed the question of ultimate authority in the church and the problem of the Hussite heresy. Its members renewed the decree Sacrosancta (issued by the Council of Constance), which declared the council’s authority to be greater than the pope’s, and voted to receive most Hussites back into the church on terms opposed by the pope. In 1437 Pope Eugenius IV transferred the council to Ferrara to negotiate reunion with the Orthodox church more effectively, but several members remained in Basel as a rump council and declared Eugenius deposed. They then elected a new pope, Felix V, and the renewed schism cost the council its prestige and popular support. On the death of Eugenius, his successor, Nicholas V, obliged the antipope Felix to abdicate, ended the rump coun¬ cil, and brought the conciliar movement to a close.

basenji \bo-'sen-je\ Ancient breed of hound native to central Africa, where it is used to point and retrieve and to drive quarry into a net. Known as the barkless dog, it produces a variety of sounds other than barks. Its finely wrinkled forehead, erect ears, and tightly curled tail give it a char¬

acteristic alert expression. It has a short, silky reddish brown, black, or black-and-tan coat and white feet, chest, and tail tip. It stands 16-17 in.

(41^43 cm) high and weighs 22-24 lbs (10-11 kg). It is clean and gentle.

BASF AG German chemical and plastics manufacturing company.

Founded in 1865, BASF (the full German name means “Baden Aniline and Soda Factory”) was part of the chemical cartel IG Farben from 1925 until 1945, when the latter was dis¬ solved by the Allies. Refounded in 1952, BASF expanded operations globally to become one of the world’s largest chemical companies. Its products have included oil and natural gas, fertilizers, synthetic fibers, dyes and pigments, inks and print¬ ing accessories. BASF sold its pharmaceutical company, Knoll, in 2001 to focus on its chemical businesses. Its headquarters are in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

Bashan Vba-shsnX Ancient polity, eastern Palestine. Frequently cited in the Old Testament and later important in the Roman Republic and Empire, it was located in what is now Syria. In New Testament times, Bashan ranked as one of the great granaries of Rome. One of its towns, Bostra (Busra al-Sham), was important to both Nabataea and Rome. Augustus made Herod the Great ruler of Bashan, and in ad 106 Trajan brought the whole Nabataean kingdom under the empire in creating the province of Arabia, with Bostra as its capital. The country went into decline in the 7th cen¬ tury.

Basho \,bash-'6\ or Matsuo \ma-'tsii-o\ Basho orig. Matsuo Munefusa (b. 1644, Ueno, Iga province, Japan—d. Nov. 28, 1694, Osaka) Japanese haiku poet, the greatest practitioner of the form. Follow¬ ing the Zen philosophy he studied, he attempted to compress the mean¬ ing of the world into the simple pattern of his poetry, disclosing hidden hopes in small things and showing the interdependence of all objects. His

Basenji

SALLY ANNE THOMPSON/EB INC.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

174 I BASIC ► Basilicata

The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1694), a poetic prose travelogue, is one of the loveliest works of Japanese literature.

BASIC in full Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code Computer programming language developed by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz (b. 1928) at Dartmouth College in the mid 1960s. One of the simplest high-level languages, with commands similar to English, it can be learned with relative ease even by schoolchildren and novice programmers. Since c. 1980, BASIC has been popular for use on personal COMPUTERS.

basic Bessemer process Modification of the Bessemer process for converting pig iron into steel. The original Bessemer converter was not effective in removing the phosphorus from iron made from the high- phosphorus ores common in Britain and Europe. The invention of the basic process in England by Sidney G. Thomas (1850-1885) and Percy Gilchrist overcame this problem; the Thomas-Gilchrist converter was lined with a basic material such as burned limestone rather than an acid siliceous material. The introduction of the basic Bessemer process in 1879 made it possible for the first time for such high-phosphorus ore to be used for making steel.

Basic Input/Output System See BIOS

basic oxygen process Steelmaking method in which pure oxygen is blown through a long, movable lance into a bath of molten blast-furnace iron and scrap, in a steel furnace with a refractory lining called a con¬ verter. The oxygen initiates a series of heat-releasing reactions, including the oxidation of such impurities as silicon, carbon, phosphorus, and man¬ ganese; carbon dioxide is released, and the oxidation products of the other impurities form molten slag that floats on the molten steel. The advan¬ tages of using pure oxygen instead of air in refining iron into steel were recognized as early as the 1850s (see Bessemer process), but the process could not be commercialized until the late 1940s, when cheap, high-purity oxygen became available. Within 40 years it had replaced the open-hearth process and was producing more than half of all steel worldwide. Com¬ mercial advantages include high production rates, less labour, and steel with a low nitrogen content.

basic rocks See acid and basic rocks

basidiomycete Nbo-.si-de-o-'mI-.setX Any of a large and diverse class of fungi (division Mycota), including jelly and shelf, or bracket, fungi; mushrooms, puffballs, and stinkhorns; and the rusts and smuts. The club- shaped, SPORE-bearing organ (basidium) is borne on a usually large and conspicuous fruiting body. Basidiomycetes include bird’s-nest fungi, whose hollow fruiting bodies resemble nests containing eggs. The 15 spe¬ cies of the order Exobasidiales are parasitic on higher plants, particularly azaleas and rhododendrons. Jelly fungi are so called because they have jellylike, often colourful fruiting bodies. See also fungus.

Basie \'ba-se\, Count orig. William Allen Basie (b. Aug. 21, 1904, Red Bank, N.J., U.S.—d. April 26,

1984, Hollywood, Fla.) U.S. jazz pianist and bandleader. Basie was influenced by the Harlem pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. In Kansas City in 1936 he formed his own band, which became known as the most refined exponent of swing.

Its rhythm section was noted for its lightness, precision, and relaxation; on this foundation, the brass and reed sections developed a vocabulary of riffs and motifs. Their hit recordings included “One O’Clock Jump” and “Jumpin’ at the Woodside.” Basie’s piano style became increasingly spare and economical. His soloists included singer Jimmy Rushing, trum¬ peters Buck Clayton and Harry (“Sweets”) Edison, and saxophonist Lester Young. Basie’s reorganized band of the 1950s placed greater emphasis on ensemble work and developed a more powerful style Count Basie, 1969. built from the riffs and buoyant ^jov/globe photos

rhythm of the earlier group. The band achieved renewed popularity for recordings featuring vocalist Joe Williams.

basil Herb consisting of the dried leaves of Ocimum basilicum, an annual herb of the mint family, native to India and Iran. The dried large-leaf vari¬ eties have a fragrant aroma faintly reminiscent of anise, with a warm, sweet, aromatic, mildly pungent flavour. The dried leaves of common basil are less fragrant and more pungent. Basil is widely grown as a kitchen herb. Tea made from basil leaves is a stimulant. The heart-shaped basil leaf is a symbol of love in Italy.

Basil Vba-z3l\ I known as Basil the Macedonian (b. 826/835, Thrace—d. Aug. 29, 886) Byzantine emperor (867-86) and founder of the Macedonian dynasty. Born into a peasant family in Macedonia, he won employment in official circles in Constantinople and was made cham¬ berlain by the reigning emperor, Michael III. He became coemperor with Michael in 866 and murdered him the next year. Basil won victories against Muslim forces along the eastern borders of Asia Minor and asserted control over Slavs in the Balkans. He gained ground in southern Italy but lost Syracuse (878) and other key cities in Sicily to the Muslims. He also formulated the Greek legal code known as the Basilica. In later life Basil showed signs of madness.

Basil II known as Basil Bulgaroctonus \,bul-g3-'rak-t9-n3s\ ("Slayer of the Bulgars") (b. 957/958—d. Dec. 15, 1025) Byzantine emperor (976-1025). Crowned coemperor with his brother in 960, he had to exile the grand chamberlain (985) and defeat rival generals (989) in order to gain the authority to rule. Basil became one of the strongest Byz¬ antine emperors, winning territory in the Balkans, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Georgia. He was noted for his victory (1014) in the war with Bulgaria, which ended with his blinding all the soldiers in the defeated Bulgarian army. He increased his domestic authority by attacking the landed inter¬ ests of the military aristocracy and of the church. Because Basil left no able successor, the gains of his rule were soon undone.

Basil the Great, Saint (b. ad 329, Caesarea Mazaca, Cappadocia— d. Jan. 1, 379, Caesarea; Western feast day January 2; Eastern feast day January 1) Early church father. Born into a Christian family in Cappado¬ cia, he studied at Caesarea, Constan¬ tinople, and Athens and later established a monastic settlement on the family estate at Annesi. He opposed Arianism, which was sup¬ ported by the emperor Valens and his own bishop Dianius, and organized resistance to it after 365. He suc¬ ceeded Eusebius as bishop of Cae¬ sarea in 370. He died shortly after Valens, whose death in battle opened the way for the victory of Basil’s cause. More than 300 of his letters survive; several of his Canonical Epistles have become part of canon law in Eastern Orthodoxy.

basilica Originally a secular pub¬ lic building in ancient Rome, typically a large rectangular structure with an open hall and a raised platform at one or both ends. In one type, the central hall was flanked by side aisles set off by colonnades, and the raised platform was enclosed by an apse. The early Christians adopted this type for their churches. In the typical early Christian basilica, the columns separating the nave from the lower side aisles carried either arches or entablatures, above which rose clerestory walls that supported the roof. The long nave came to be crossed just before the apse by a shorter tran¬ sept, creating the cross-shaped plan that remains a standard church form to the present. “Basilica” is also a title of honor given to a Roman Catho¬ lic or Greek Orthodox church distinguished by its antiquity or its role as an international center of worship. See also cathedral.

Basilicata \ba-,ze-le-'ka-ta\ Autonomous region (pop., 2001 prelim.: 595,727), southern Italy. Roughly divided into a western mountainous region and an eastern section of low hills and wide valleys, its capital is Potenza. Known in ancient times as Lucania, the area was under Lombard League rule in the early Middle Ages. Until the fall of the Swabian Hohen- staufens (1254), it played a significant part in the affairs of southern Italy;

St. Basil, detail of a mosaic, 12th cen¬ tury; in the Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

AUNARI—ART RESOURCE

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Basilides ► Basque Country I 175

later it followed the variable fortunes of the Kingdom of Naples until united with the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The region suffered severe damage in a disastrous earthquake in 1980. Agriculture is an economic mainstay.

Basilides V.ba-so-'lI-dezV (fl. 2nd century ad, Alexandria) Founder of the Basilidian school of Gnosticism. According to Clement of Alexandria, Basil¬ ides claimed to base his teaching on a secret tradition of Peter the Apostle. He wrote psalms, odes, commentaries on the Gospels, and his own gos¬ pel. Fragments of these writings and varying accounts by Clement, St. Irenaeus, and others suggest that his system of belief included elements from Neoplatonism as well as the New Testament. The school survived in Egypt until the 4th century.

Baskerville, John (b. Jan. 28,

Eng.—d. Jan. 8, 1775, Birmingham,

Warwickshire) British typographer.

In 1757 he set up a printing house and published his first work, an edi¬ tion of Virgil. His editions of the Latin classics, John Milton’s poems (1758), and a folio Bible (1763) are characterized by clear and careful presswork rather than ornament; they are among the finest examples of the art of printing. He served as printer to Cambridge University (1758-68), and he created the widely used Baskerville typeface, which is still used and prized for its clarity and balance.

basketball Court game between two teams of five players. They score by tossing, or “shooting,” an inflated ball through a raised hoop, or “bas¬ ket,” located in their opponent’s end of the court. A goal is worth two points, three if shot from outside a specified limit. A player who is fouled (through unwarranted physi¬ cal contact) by another is awarded one to three free-throw attempts (depending on the circumstances of the foul). A successful free throw is worth one point. Invented in 1891 by James A. Naismith at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass., basketball quickly became popular throughout the U.S., with games orga¬ nized at the high school and collegiate level for both sexes. (For the first game, Naismith used as goals two half-bushel peach baskets, which gave

the sport its name.) Women first played the game under a markedly dif¬ ferent set of rules. The game developed internationally at a slower pace. The first Olympic basketball contest was held in 1936, and the Federa¬ tion Internationale de Basketball Amateur (FIB A) introduced world cham¬ pionships for men and women in 1950 and 1953, respectively. In the U.S., high school and collegiate championship tournaments are traditionally held in March and generate considerable excitement. A men’s professional league was organized in 1898 but did not gain much of a following until 1949, when it was reconstituted as the National Basketball Association (NBA). The first women’s professional leagues in the U.S. emerged dur¬ ing the 1970s but failed after a year or two. The current Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), owned by the NBA, was organized in 1997. Club and professional basketball outside the U.S. developed rap¬ idly in the latter part of the 20th century. The Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield.

basketry Art and craft of making containers and other objects from interwoven flexible fibres such as grasses, twigs, bamboo, and rushes. It is primarily a functional rather than a decorative art. The type of basketry in a given geographic region is determined by the type of vegetation available there. Numerous Asian, African, Oceanic, and Native American cultures have excelled in basketry.

Baskin, Leonard (b. Aug. 15, 1922, New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.—d. June 3, 2000, Northampton, Mass.) U.S. sculptor and graphic artist. After studying in Europe and the U.S., in 1939 he had his first one-man exhi¬ bition in New York City, and he later taught for many years at Smith Col¬ lege. He is known for his bleak portrayals of the human figure. His sculptures in bronze, limestone, and wood are dominated by themes of death, vulnerability, and spiritual decay. In his woodcuts he developed a distinctive linear style, depicting figures resembling those in anatomical charts. Baskin was particularly noted for his memorials, including the Holocaust Memorial (dedicated 1994) in Ann Arbor, Mich.

basking shark Huge, sluggish shark (family Cetorhinidae) named for its habit of floating or slowly swimming at the surface. Possibly com¬ prising more than one distinct species, it inhabits northern and temperate regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. It may grow as large as 46 ft (14 m); among fishes, only the whale shark grows larger. Despite its size, the basking shark feeds on plankton. It is gray-brown or black¬ ish, with tiny teeth and very long gill slits. It is generally harmless and is hunted sporadically for fish meal and liver oil.

Basle See Basel

Basque \'bask\ Spanish Vasco Member of a people of unknown ori¬ gin living in Spain and France along the Bay of Biscay and in the west¬ ern Pyrenees mountains in the region of the Basque Country. About

850,000 true Basques live in Spain and another 130,000 in France. Physically the Basques are similar to other Western European peoples; the Basque language, however, is not Indo-European. The Basques have sought autonomy from Spain since the 19th century. A national govern¬ ment was proclaimed in the Spanish Civil War, which saw the brutal bombing of Guernica (1937). After the war, the government and many Basques went into exile as Francisco Franco abolished their special privi¬ leges. The Basque separatist move¬ ment was rekindled after Franco’s death and the establishment of a lib¬ eral Spanish monarchy in 1975. Despite the granting of limited autonomy in 1978, the more militant separatists, including the terrorist ETA (Basque Homeland and Lib¬ erty), continued a campaign for complete independence.

Basque Country Spanish Pais Vasco VpIs-'bas-koN Euskera Euskadi Autonomous community (pop., 2005 est.: 2,124,846) and his-

basket

The U.S. professional court is shown. The U.S. college court has similar dimensions but has a shallower (19-ft 9-in) three-point line. International courts are slightly smaller and have 20-ft 6-in three-point lines and trapezoidal free-throw lanes that are wider at the boundary line than at the free-throw line. The basket height is 10 ft on all courts.

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1706, Wolverly, Worcestershire,

Baskerville, detail of a portrait after James Millar, 1774; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

176 I Basque Country ► bat

torical region, northern Spain. Bounded by the Bay of Biscay, it consists of the modem provinces of Vizcaya (Biscay), Alava, and Guipuzcoa and has an area of 2,793 sq mi (7,234 sq km); its capital is Vitoria-Gasteiz. The Pyrenees Mountains separate it from the Basque Country of France. The Basques who inhabit the region have long sought autonomy. A sepa¬ ratist movement succeeded in regaining Basque autonomy in 1936 under the short-lived Republican government, but autonomy was withdrawn by Francisco Franco in 1937. Though limited autonomy was granted in 1979, a campaign of terrorism against the Spanish government continued. Alava is an agricultural region, while metallurgical industry is concentrated around Bilbao.

Basque Country French Pays Basque \pe-'e-'bask\ Cultural region, extreme southwestern France. It extends from the Anie Peak of the Pyrenees to the coast around Biarritz on the Bay of Biscay. The region has been largely spared the problems associated with Basque separatism in Spain’s Basque Country. Fishing and tourism are economic mainstays.

Basque language Language spoken by an estimated 1,000,000 Basque people living in the Basque Country of north-central Spain and southwestern France. About 200,000 Basques live in other parts of the world. The only remnant of the languages spoken in western Europe before incursions by iNDO-EuROPEAN-speaking peoples, Basque has no known linguistic relatives; linguists call it a language isolate. Its gram¬ mar is markedly distinct from that of all other western European lan¬ guages. Basque is sparsely attested before the 16th century, when the first book in the language was printed (1545), though it has maintained a con¬ tinuous literary tradition since then.

Basrah, Al- or Basra Port and city (pop., 2003 est.: 1,400,000), south¬ eastern Iraq. It lies at the head of the Shatt al-Arab, about 70 mi (110 km) upstream from the Persian Gulf. Founded in ad 638, it became famous under the ‘Abbasid dynasty; in The Thousand and One Nights it was the city from which Sindbad the Sailor set sail. In the 17th—18th centuries it became a trading centre. Occupied by the British in World War I (1914— 18), the town and port underwent many improvements and grew in impor¬ tance. After World War II (1939-45), the growth of Iraq’s petroleum industry turned Al-Basrah into a major refining centre. It suffered heavy damage in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-90) and the First Persian Gulf War (1990-91) and was the scene of fighting between Iraqi and coalition forces in the Second Persian Gulf War (2003).

bas-relief \,ba-ri-Tef\ or low relief Sculptural form in which figures are carved in a flat surface and project only slightly from the background rather than standing freely. Depending on the degree of projection, reliefs may also be classified as high or medium relief.

bass \'bas\ In zoology, any of numerous fish species, many valued for food or sport. Most are placed in three families (all in the order Perci- formes): 400 species of sea bass and grouper; the family Moronidae, which contains about 12 species, including striped and European basses; and sunfishes, including the black and largemouth basses, prized by fishermen. Many other species are also known as bass, including the channel bass (a drum) and the calico bass (a crappie).

sons continued the Bassano workshop tradition: Francesco (1549-92) and Leandro (1557-1622), both of whom were part of the workshop’s Vene¬ tian branch, Giovanni Battista (1553-1613), and Gerolamo (1566-1621). Many products of the workshop were collaborative efforts.

basset hound Centuries-old breed of dog developed in France and

maintained, chiefly in France and Belgium, as a hunting dog of the aristocracy. Originally used to trail hares, rabbits, and deer, it has also been used for hunting birds, foxes, and other game. It is a slow, deliber¬ ate hunter, with a deep voice and a nose exceeded in keenness only by the bloodhound’s. Short-legged and heavy-boned, the basset hound has long, dangling ears and a short coat in any combination of black, tan, and white. It stands 12-15 in. (30-38 cm) high and weighs 40-60 lbs (18-27 1

Basset hound

SALLY ANNE THOMPSON/EB INC.

Basseterre \bas-'ter\ Seaport (pop., 1994 est.: 12,605), Saint Kitts Island. Chief town of Saint Kitts and capital of the federated state of Saint Kitts and Nevis, it lies on the southwestern coast, west of St. John’s, Anti¬ gua. Founded in 1627, it serves as a depot distributing merchandise to neighbouring islands.

Bassi Vbas-eV Agostino (b. Sept. 25, 1773, near Lodi, Lombardy, Habsburg crown land—d. Feb. 8, 1856, Lodi) Italian bacteriologist. He attended Pavia University. In 1807 he began an investigation of the silk¬ worm disease muscardine, which was causing serious economic losses in Italy and France. After 25 years of research, he demonstrated that the dis¬ ease was contagious and was caused by a microscopic parasitic fungus spread among the silkworms by contact and infected food. He announced his discoveries in 1835 and theorized that many plant, animal, and human diseases are caused by animal or vegetable parasites, thus preceding both Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in formulating a germ theory of disease.

basso continuo See continuo

bassoon Principal tenor and bass instrument of the orchestral wood¬ wind family. Its mouthpiece has a double reed attached to a curved metal crook, which leads to a narrow conical bore that doubles back on itself (to keep its length manageable). It developed from the older curtal (or dulzian) in the 17th century. An agile instrument with a mild tone, it has a range of 3Vi octaves, starting at B-flat two octaves below middle C. The contrabassoon, a large metal instrument whose tubing doubles back four times, has a range an octave lower.

basswood Any of certain species of linden common to North America. The name refers especially to Tilia americana, found in a vast area of eastern North America but centred in the Great Lakes region, and to T. caroliniana and T georgiana, found in the southeastern U.S.

bast See phloem

bass \'bas\ Lowest musical voice or register. In vocal music, its range is approximately from the second E below middle C to middle C itself. A basso profundo emphasizes a lower register, a basso cantante a some¬ what higher one. Outside of Russia, the solo bass voice has generally been relegated to certain standard operatic character roles. The lowest-pitched member of most instrumental families is usually called the bass (bass clarinet, double bass, etc.). In Western tonal music, the bass part is usually second in importance only to the melody, being the chief determiner of harmonic movement, a tendency that became particularly notable after the appearance of the basso continuo c. 1600.

Bass Strait \'bas\ Strait separating Australia from Tasmania. It is 150 mi (240 km) wide at its widest point and 185 mi (298 km) long. It was named in 1798 for the British surgeon-explorer George Bass. Development of its offshore petroleum resources began in the 1960s.

Bassano \ba-'sa-no\, Jacopo orig. Jacopo da Ponte (b. c. 1517, Bassano, republic of Venice—d. Feb. 13, 1592, Bassano) Italian painter. He was the most celebrated member of a family of artists from the small town of Bassano, near Venice, where he worked for most of his life. He trained with Bonifacio de’ Pitati in Venice and was influenced by other Venetian painters. He became known for his late Renaissance-style works depicting biblical themes, lush landscapes, and rustic scenes. Four painter

Bastet \'bas-,tet\ or Bast or Ubasti In Egyptian religion, a goddess worshiped first as a lioness and later as a cat. Her nature changed after the domestication of the cat c. 1500 bc. She had cults at Bubastis in the Nile delta and at Memphis. In the Late and Ptolemaic periods, large cem¬ eteries of mummified cats were created at both sites, and thousands of bronze statuettes of the goddess were deposited as votive offerings. Bastet is represented as a lioness or a woman with a cat’s head, usually holding a bag, a breastplate, and a sistrum (wire rattle). The Romans carried her cult to Italy.

Bastille \bas-'tel\ Medieval fortress in Paris that became a symbol of despotism. In the 17th—18th centuries, the Bastille was used as a French state prison and a place of detention for important persons. On July 14, 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution, an armed mob of Pari¬ sians captured the fortress and released its prisoners, a dramatic action that came to symbolize the end of the ancien regime. The Bastille was sub¬ sequently demolished by the Revolutionary government. Bastille Day (July 14) has been a French national holiday since 1880.

Basutoland See Lesotho

bat Any member of about 900 species (order Chiroptera) of the only mammals to have evolved true flight. Their wings are evolutionary modi-

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Bat Mitzvah ► Bathurst Island I 177

fication of the forelimbs, with greatly elongated fingers joined by a mem¬ brane that extends down the side of the body. Most bats use echolocation to orient themselves and find prey. Found worldwide, they are particu¬ larly abundant in the tropics. Wingspreads vary among species from 6 in. (15 cm) to 5 ft (1.5 m). Nearly all species roost during the day (in caves, crevices, burrows, building, or trees) and feed at night. Most are insecti- vores, consuming enough insects to affect the balance of insect popula¬ tions. Others feed on fruit, pollen, nectar, or blood (vampire bats). Some may live more than 20 years. The guano of bats has long been used for agricultural fertilizer. See also free-tailed bat, fruit bat.

Bat Mitzvah See Bar Mitzvah

Bataan Death March \bo-'tan\ (April 1942) Forced march of 70,000 U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war (World War II) captured by the Japa¬ nese in the Philippines. From the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula, the starving and ill-treated prisoners were force-marched 63 mi (101 km) to a prison camp. Only 54,000 prisoners lived to reach the camp; up to 10,000 died on the way and others escaped in the jungle. In 1946 the Japanese commander of the march was convicted by a U.S. military com¬ mission and executed.

Bataille \ba-'tay\, Georges (b. Sept. 10, 1897, Billom, France—d. July 9, 1962, Paris) French librarian and writer. He trained as an archi¬ vist and worked at the Bibliotheque Nationale and at the Orleans library. He wrote a number of novels under pseudonyms before publishing Le Coupable (1944; Guilty) under his own name. His novels, essays, and poetry show a fascination with eroticism, mysticism, violence, and an ideal of excess and waste. In 1946 he founded the influential literary review Critique , which he edited until his death.

Batak \ba-'tak\ Any member of any of several closely related ethnic groups of central Sumatra, Indon. The Batak are descendants of a pow¬ erful Proto-Malayan people who until 1825 lived in relative isolation in the highlands surrounding Lake Toba in Sumatra. They have their own written language. In their traditional religion, ancestors, plants, animals, and inanimate objects are considered to possess souls or spirits; today about a third of the 3.1 million Batak adhere to traditional beliefs, while the rest profess Christianity or Islam.

Batavian Republic Republic of the Netherlands after it was con¬ quered by France in 1795. Its government, set up in 1798, was bound to France by alliance. In 1805 Napoleon renamed it the Batavian Common¬ wealth and placed executive power in the hands of a dictator. In 1806 it was replaced by the Kingdom of Holland under the rule of Louis Bonaparte; it was incorporated into the French empire in 1810.

bat-eared fox Species ( Otocyon megalotis) of large-eared fox found in open, arid areas of eastern and southern Africa. It has 48 teeth (six more than any other canine) and, except for its unusually large ears, looks like the red fox. It grows to a length of about 32 in. (80 cm), including a 12-in. (30-cm) tail, and weighs 7-10 lbs (3-4.5 kg). It lives alone or in small groups and feeds primarily on insects, especially ter¬ mites.

Bateman, Hester orig. Hester Needham (b. 1709, London,

Eng.—d. 1794, London) British sil¬ versmith. In 1760, after the death of her husband, John Bateman, she took over the family business. Until 1774 she generally executed designs com¬ missioned by other silversmiths. After that time her shop became well known for its tableware, such as spoons, sugar bowls, saltcellars, and tea¬ pots. Bateman’s designs were restrained and graceful, characterized by beaded edges. In addition to domestic silver, she produced large presen¬ tation pieces. See photograph opposite.

Bateson, Gregory (b. May 9, 1904, Grantchester, Eng.—d. July 4, 1980, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.) British-born U.S. anthropologist. Son of British biologist William Bateson, he studied anthropology at Cam¬ bridge University but soon thereafter moved to the U.S. His most impor¬ tant book, Naven (1936), was a groundbreaking study of cultural symbolism and ritual based on fieldwork in New Guinea. From 1936 to

Bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis)

MARK BOULTON FROM THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS-EB INC.

1950 he was married to Margaret Mead, with whom he studied the con¬ nection between culture and personality, publishing Balinese Character in 1942. His interests broadened to include problems of learning and communication among schizophrenics. His last book, Mind and Nature (1978), synthesized many of his ideas.

Bateson, William (b. Aug. 8, 1861, Whitby, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. Feb. 8, 1926, London) British biologist.

In 1900, while studying inheritance of traits, he was drawn to the research of Gregor Mendel, which explained perfectly the results of his own plant experiments. He was the first to translate Mendel’s major work into English. With Reginald Crundall Punnett, he published the results of a series of breeding experi¬ ments that not only extended Men¬ del’s principles to animals but also showed that, contrary to Mendel, certain features were consistently inherited together, a phenomenon that came to be termed linkage (see linkage group). In 1908 he became Britain’s first professor of genetics, and in 1909 he introduced the term genetics. He opposed Thomas Hunt Morgan’s theory of chromosomes.

Gregory Bateson was his son. See also Carl Erich Correns; Hugo de Vries; Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg.

Bath City (pop., 1995 est.: 84,000), southwestern England. Situated on the River Avon, it was founded as Aquae Sulis by the Romans, who were attracted to its hot mineral springs. The Anglo-Saxons arrived in the 6th century ad, followed by the Normans c. 1100. In the Middle Ages it was a prosperous centre for the cloth trade. When the Roman baths were rediscovered in 1755, Bath had already revived as a spa; its popularity is reflected in the works of Jane Austen, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and Tobias Smollett. It was rebuilt and extended in the Palladian style during the 1 8th century. Bath today retains many of its 18th-century structures.

Ba'th \'bath\ Party or Baath Party Arab political party that advo¬ cates formation of a single Arab socialist state. It was founded in Dam¬ ascus, Syria, by Michel 'Aflaq and Salah al-Dln al-Bltar in 1943 and in 1953 merged with the Syrian Socialist Party to form the Arab Socialist Ba'th Party. It espoused nonalignment and opposition to imperialism and colonialism. It gained control of Syria in 1963 after the failure of a short¬ lived union with Egypt and of Iraq in 1968 after a series of coups there; the Iraqi branch of the party was toppled as a result of the Second Per¬ sian Gulf War (2003). The party also has branches in other Middle East¬ ern countries. See also Pan-Arabism; Hafiz al-Assad; Saddam Hussein.

William Bateson, drawing by Sir Will¬ iam Rothenstein, 191 7; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON

Silver coffee pot by Hester Bateman, 1773-74; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON

batholith Large body of igneous ROCK formed beneath the Earth’s sur¬ face by the intrusion and solidifica¬ tion of magma. Batholiths are usually composed of coarse-grained rocks (e.g., granite or quartz diorite) and often have an irregular shape, with side walls that incline steeply. They may have a surface exposure of 40 sq mi (100 sq km) or more and may be 6-9 mi (10—15 km) thick. A well- known batholith is located in the Sierra Nevada range of California.

Bathory, Stephen See Stephen Bathory

Bathurst See Banjul

Bathurst Island Island, Nunavut, Canada. Located in the Arctic Ocean between Cornwallis and Melville islands, it is 160 mi (260 km) long and 50-100 mi (80-160 km) wide.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

178 I bathypelagic zone ► battlement

The coastline is fringed with islets, and several islands stretch from its western tip. Discovered in 1819 by Sir William Parry, it was named for Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst.

bathypelagic zone \,bath-i-p9-'la-jik\ Worldwide zone of deep ocean waters, about 3,000-13,000 ft (1,000-4,000 m) below the surface. It is inhabited by a wide variety of marine forms, including eels, fishes, mol- lusks, and others.

bathyscaphe Vba-thi-,skaf\ Navigable diving vessel developed by Auguste Piccard (assisted by his son Jacques), designed to reach great depths in the ocean. The first bathyscaphe, the FNRS 2, was built in 1946^18 in Belgium. A later version, the Trieste, was acquired by the U.S. Navy; in 1960 it dived to a record 35,810 ft (10,916 m) in the Mariana Trench. The bathyscaphe consists of two main components: a steel cabin, heavier than water and resistant to sea pressure, to accommodate the observers; and a light container called a float, filled with gasoline, which, being lighter than water, provides the necessary lifting power (replacing cables, which had previously been used to support descending chambers but had proven unreliable at great depths).

batik \b9-'tek\ Method of dyeing textiles, principally cottons, in which patterned areas are covered with wax so that they will not receive colour. Multicoloured effects are achieved by repeating the dyeing process sev¬ eral times, the initial pattern of wax being boiled off and another design applied before redyeing. Wax was applied with bamboo strips in Indone¬ sia, where the technique originated. A small copper pot with a handle and narrow applicator spout for applying the wax came into use in Java by the mid 18th century; a wood-block wax applicator was developed in the 19th century. Dutch traders imported the cloth and the technique to Europe. Today machines for applying wax in traditional Javanese patterns reproduce the same effects as the hand-dyeing process.

Batiniyyah V.ba-ti-'ne-yoV School of Islamic thought that interpreted religious texts exclusively on the basis of hidden rather than literal mean¬ ings. Such interpretation gained currency around the 8th century among esoteric Shiite sects, especially the schismatic Isma'njyyah, who believed that beneath every obvious meaning lay a hidden, true meaning, which the imam was empowered to interpret. While influenced by speculative philosophy and theology, the Batiniyyah remained proponents of esoteric knowledge. Sunnite Muslims condemned the Batiniyyah as enemies of Islam for rejecting literal truth and producing confusion and controversy through their multiple textual readings.

Batista \ba-'tes-ta\ (y Zaldivar), Fulgencio (b. Jan. 16, 1901, Banes, Cuba—d. Aug. 6,1973, Guadalmina, near Marbella, Spain) Soldier, president, and dictator who twice ruled Cuba (1933-44, 1952-59). Batista worked his way up through the army and came to power as a strongman, ruling first through associates, then as president himself from 1940. During his first term he cultivated the support of the U.S., the army, organized labour, and the civil service, and he achieved gains in the educational sys¬ tem, public works, and the economy as a whole while enriching himself and his associates. He lost the 1944 election but returned by way of an army revolt in 1952. His second rule was a corrupt and brutal dictatorship that set the stage for his overthrow by Fidel Castro on Jan. 1, 1959.

Batlle y Ordonez Vbat-ya-e-or-'thon-yasV Jose (b. May 21, 1856, Montevideo, Uru.—d. Oct. 20, 1929, Montevideo) President of Uruguay (1903-07, 1911-15). The son of a former president of Uruguay, he was involved in politics from the 1880s. His narrow victory in the 1903 presi¬ dential election led to a brief civil war, but when he held new elections in 1905 he won again. He stepped down at the end of his term and was reelected in 1911. He inaugurated labour reforms, limited the profits of foreign-owned businesses, encouraged migration, nationalized and devel¬ oped public works, ended the death penalty, and protected children born out of wedlock. He is credited with transforming Uruguay into a stable, democratic welfare state.

Baton Rouge Vbat^n-TiizhV City (pop., 2000: 227,818), capital of Louisiana, U.S. Located on the Mississippi River, it is the state’s second- largest city. Settled by the French in 1719, it was named for a red cypress pole that marked a boundary between Indian tribes. The area was ceded to Britain in 1763, then taken by the Spanish in the American Revolution. Spain ceded Louisiana to France in 1800 but tried to retain Baton Rouge at the time of the Louisiana Purchase (1803). In 1810 the city was annexed to the U.S., and it became the state capital in 1849. The capital was trans¬ ferred to other towns when Baton Rouge was occupied by Federal troops

during the American Civil War; in 1882 it regained its capital status. It has deepwater port facilities and is an important petroleum refining centre.

battalion Tactical military organization composed of a headquarters and two or more companies, batteries, or similar units and usually com¬ manded by a field-grade officer such as a lieutenant colonel. The term has been used in nearly every Western army for centuries and has had many meanings. In the 16th-17th century, it denoted a unit of infantry used in a line of battle and was loosely applied to any large body of men. During the Napoleonic Wars, battalions were fighting units of the French army under the administrative unit of the regiment. In the armies of the British Commonwealth nations, infantry battalions are tactical units within regi¬ ments. The typical U.S. Army battalion is a unit of 800-900 soldiers, divided into a headquarters company and three rifle companies; two to five battalions form the combat elements of a tactical brigade. See also MILITARY UNIT.

Battenberg family or Mountbatten family Family that rose to international prominence in the 19th-20th centuries. The first Battenbergs were a family of German counts that died out c. 1314; the title was revived in 1851. In 1917 the family members who lived in England renounced the German title of prince of Battenberg and adopted Mountbatten as a sur¬ name (“mount” being a translation of “Berg”). Prominent members of the family included Philip, duke of Edinburgh, and Louis Mountbatten.

battered woman syndrome Psychological and behavioral pattern displayed by female victims of domestic violence. Explanations that have evolved since the late 1970s include learned helplessness, a “cycle of vio¬ lence” theory, and a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. The term is a legal concept rather than a psychiatric diagnosis and lacks clearly defined criteria. It has been used to support legal arguments of self-defense, dimin¬ ished responsibility, or insanity when a woman is accused of murdering or assaulting her batterer, committing a crime under his coercion, or pro¬ voking the behaviour the batterer is on trial for. Critics say the term cre¬ ates a stereotyped image inadequate to describe individual experiences.

battering ram Medieval weapon consisting of a heavy timber with a metal knob or point at the front. Rams were used to beat down the gates or walls of a besieged city or castle. Usually suspended by ropes from the roof of a movable shed, the timber was swung back and forth by its operators so that it banged against the structure under siege. The shed’s roof was covered with animal skins to protect the operators inside it from bombardment with stones or fiery materials.

Battersea enamelware Painted enamelware made by Stephen The¬ odore Janssen at York House in London’s Battersea district from 1753 to 1756. The ware is composed of soft white enamel over a copper ground. The designs were applied by hand painting or by transfer printing: an impression from an engraved metal plate brushed with enamel colours was made on paper, and the design was then transferred to the object to be decorated. Most of the objects (e.g., snuffboxes, watch cases) were decorated with mottoes, portraits, landscapes, or flowers. The transfer printing technique was first used for large-scale production at Battersea.

battery Any of a class of devices, consisting of a group of electro¬ chemical cells (see electrochemistry), that convert chemical energy into electrical energy; the term is also commonly applied to a single cell of this kind. A wet cell (e.g., a car battery) contains free liquid electrolyte; in a dry cell (e.g., a flashlight battery) the electrolyte is held in an absor¬ bent material. Chemicals are arranged so that electrons released from the battery’s negative electrode flow (see electric current) through a circuit outside the battery (in the device powered by it) to the battery’s positive electrode. The battery’s voltage depends on the chemicals used and the number of cells (in series); the current depends on the resistance in the total circuit (including the battery—and thus on electrode size). Multiple batteries may be connected in series (the positive electrode of one to the negative electrode of the next), which increases total voltage, or in par¬ allel (positive to positive and negative to negative), which increases total current. Batteries that are not rechargeable include standard dry cells used in flashlights and certain wet cells for marine, mine, highway, and mili¬ tary use. Car batteries, many kinds of dry cells used in cordless appli¬ ances, and batteries for certain military and aerospace uses may be recharged repeatedly. See illustration on opposite page.

battery See assault and battery

battlement Parapet (portion above the roof) of the exterior wall of a fortification, consisting of alternating low portions (crenels) and high por-

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battleship ► Baudrillard I 179

tions (merlons). Rooftop defenders would shoot from behind the merlons during times of siege. Medieval battlements were often bracketed out (see corbel) to form a machicolation (overhang) with holes in its floor through which objects could be dropped on encroachers below.

battleship Capital ship of the world’s navies from c. 1860, when it began to replace the wooden-hulled ship of the line, until World War II, when it was superseded by the aircraft carrier. It combined large size, powerful guns, and heavy armour with fairly high speed and great cruis¬ ing radius. The most powerful could hit targets at a range of more than 20 mi (30 km) and absorb heavy damage while remaining afloat and con¬ tinuing to fight. It originated in early ironclad vessels with mixed sail and steam propulsion, such as the French armoured frigate Gloire (1859). In 1906 HMS Dreadnought revolutionized battleship design by introducing steam-turbine propulsion and an array of ten 12-in. (305-mm) guns. In World War II (1939^15) battleships were used mainly for specialized tasks such as bombarding enemy coastal defenses in amphibious warfare. After the Persian Gulf War (1990—91), the U.S. decommissioned its last two active battleships.

Batu \'ba-tu\ (d. c. 1255, Russia) Grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of the Golden Horde. In 1235 Batu was elected commander in chief of

carbon - anode

metal — cathode

sodium -

sulfur—

alumina

anode

sodium alumina sulfur

The sodium-sulfur (NaS) battery, patented in 1965 by the Ford Motor Company, has been used in some electric cars. During discharge, the sodium reacts with the ceramic alumina electrolyte, losing electrons, which travel out the anode to the cir¬ cuit the battery is powering. The ionic sodium then combines with sulfur, which has acquired electrons from the cathode. The reaction is reversible, so the battery can be recharged. The advantage of this battery over other rechargeables (e.g., lead- acid, nickel-cadmium, or nickel-metal hydride batteries) is that it can provide the same amount of power with a smaller, lighter battery. However, since the chemicals must be heated to a molten state (about 325 °C, or 617 °F) and pure sodium is very reactive, failure of the battery casing or ceramic electrolyte is potentially dan¬ gerous.

© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.

the western part of the Mongol empire and given responsibility for the invasion of Europe. His troops burned and sacked Kiev in 1240, and by the end of 1241 he had conquered Russia, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and the Danube valley. Only the death of Ogodei prevented him from invading western Europe. Batu established the state of the Golden Horde in southern Russia, which was ruled by his successors for the next 200 years.

Baudelaire \bod-'ler\, Charles (-Pierre) (b. April 9, 1821, Paris, France—d. Aug. 31, 1867, Paris)

French poet. While a law student he became addicted to opium and hash¬ ish and contracted syphilis. His early reckless spending on fine clothes and furnishings led to a life dogged by debt. In 1844 he formed an associa¬ tion with Jeanne Duval, a woman of mixed black and white ancestry who inspired some of his finest poetry. He published a single novel, La fan- farlo, in 1847. His discovery of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in 1852 led to years of work on Poe, which pro¬ duced many masterly translations and critical articles. His reputation rests primarily on the extraordinary poetry collection Les fleurs du mal (1857; The Flowers of Evil), which dealt with erotic, aesthetic, and social themes in ways that appalled many of his middle-class readers, and he was accused of obscenity and blasphemy. Though the title became a byword for depravity, the book became perhaps the most influential collection of lyrics published in Europe in the 19th century. His Petits poemes en prose (1868) was an important and innovative experiment in prose poetry. He also wrote pro¬ vocative essays in art criticism. Baudelaire’s later years were darkened by disillusionment, despair, and mounting debt; his death at 46 resulted from syphilis. He is regarded as the earliest and finest poet of modernism in French.

Baudot \bo-'do\, (Jean Maurice) Emile (b. 1845, Magneux, France—d. March 28, 1903, Sceaux) French engineer. In 1874 he pat¬ ented a telegraph code that by the mid 20th century had supplanted Morse code as the standard telegraphic alphabet. In Baudot’s code, each letter is represented by a five-unit combination of current-on or current-off sig¬ nals of equal duration, providing 32 permutations (sufficient for the Roman alphabet, punctuation, and control of the machine’s mechanical functions). Baudot also invented (1894) a distributor system for multiplex (simultaneous) transmission of several messages on the same telegraphic circuit or channel. The baud, a unit of data transmission speed, is named for him.

Baudouin \bod-'waii\ I (b. Sept. 7, 1930, Stuyvenberg Castle, near Brussels, Belg.—d. July 31, 1993, Motril, Spain) King of the Belgians (1951-93). The son of King Leopold III, Baudouin lived with his family under house arrest in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. After postwar exile in Switzerland, Baudouin became king on his father’s abdication (1951). He helped restore confidence in the monarchy after the stormy reign of his father and became a unifying force in a country divided between Flemish- (Dutch- ) and French-speaking factions. Because Bau¬ douin and his wife, Fabiola, were childless, he was succeeded by his brother, Albert II.

Baudrillard \bo-dre-'yar\, Jean (b. 1929, Riems, France) French soci¬ ologist, philosopher, and social critic. He taught sociology at the Univer¬ sity of Paiis from 1966 to 1987. He is known for his theories of consumer culture and of the influence of contemporary electronic media, especially television. In a series of works in the 1970s, he applied ideas from semi¬ otics to argue that consumer culture and especially advertising constitute a “code” of images and ideals in terms of which individuals construct their social identities. In works published during the 1980s and ’90s, he argued that the exchange of words, images, and other symbols through increasingly pervasive electronic media created a new kind of reality, the “hyper-real,” in which symbols become partly constitutive of the reality they serve to represent. An example, according to Baudrillard, is the tele-

Baudelaire, photograph by Etienne Carjat, 1863.

COURTESY OF THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS

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180 I Baugh ► bayberry

vision news, which reports about important events in the world but at the same time makes events important by reporting about them. In The Gulf War Did Not Take Place (1991), he contended that the mass-media por¬ trayal of the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf had made that event “unreal.” See also postmodernism.

Baugh Vbo\, Sammy in full Samuel Adrian Baugh (b. March 17, 1914, Temple, Texas, U.S.) First outstanding quarterback of U.S. pro¬ fessional football. He led the NFL in forward passing in 6 of 16 seasons (1937-52) with the Washington Redskins. He also excelled as a punter and as a defensive halfback.

Bauhaus Vbau-,haus\ German "House of Building" (1919-33) Influential, forward-looking German school of architecture and applied arts. It was founded by Walter Gropius with the ideal of integrating art, craftsmanship, and technology. Realizing that mass production had to be the precondition of successful design in the machine age, its members rejected the Arts and Crafts Movement’s emphasis on individually executed luxury objects. The Bauhaus is often associated with a severe but elegant geometric style carried out with great economy of means, though in fact the works produced by its members were richly diverse. Its faculty included Josef Albers, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, Vasily Kandinsky, and Marcel Breuer. The school was based in Weimar until 1925, Dessau through 1932, and Berlin in its final months, when its last director, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, closed the school in anticipation of the Nazis’ doing so. See also International Style.

Baum \'bam\, L(yman) Frank (b. May 15, 1856, Chittenango, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 6, 1919, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. writer of children’s books. Baum achieved commercial success with his first book, Father Goose (1899), and followed it the next year with the even more popular Won¬ derful Wizard of Oz. He wrote 13 more Oz books, which acquired a huge readership. The series was continued by Ruth Plumly Thompson after his death.

bauxite Most important aluminum ore, of varying compositions in which aluminum hydroxide or aluminum oxide predominate (named for Les Baux in southern France, where the ore was identified in 1821). The other constituents are largely iron oxide, silica, and titania. Bauxite has been found in all the continents except Antarctica. Known deposits can supply the world with aluminum for hundreds of years at present production levels.

Bavaria German Bayern Vbl-onA State (pop., 2002 est.: 12,330,000), southern Germany. Conquered by the Romans in the 1st century bc (see Noricum; Raetia), the area was taken by Charlemagne and incorporated into his empire in 788. It became one of the great duchies of the Holy Roman Empire. Under Maximilian I, Bavaria led the Catholic League in the Thirty Years' War. It was overrun repeatedly in the context of larger wars in the 18th century. It joined the German Empire in 1871, while remaining a kingdom. The king was overthrown in 1918; after a brief period of insta¬ bility, Bavaria joined the Weimar Republic in 1919. Adolf Hitler had his first power base in Bavaria in the 1920s. It adopted a new constitution in 1946 and became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. It has long been Germany’s most Roman Catholic area. Its largest cities are Munich (its capital), Augsburg, and Nurnberg. Notable regions include the Bavarian Alps, the Black Forest, and the Bohemian Forest. Bavaria is famous for the beauty of its rolling landscape and the charm of its villages.

Bavarian Succession, War of the (1778-79) Conflict in which Frederick II of Prussia prevented Joseph II of Austria from acquiring Bavaria. After the death of the Bavarian elector Maximilian Joseph (1727-77), his successor, Charles Theodore (1724-99), ceded Lower Bavaria to Austria. Frederick II responded by declaring war (1778). There was little fighting because each force was concerned with cutting its opponent’s communi¬ cations and denying it supplies. Short on supplies, soldiers foraged for potatoes; hence, the conflict was nicknamed the “potato war.” In 1779 Austria and Prussia signed a treaty giving Austria a fraction of the terri¬ tory originally occupied.

Bax, Sir Arnold (Edward Trevor) (b. Nov. 8, 1883, London, Eng.—d. Oct. 3, 1953, Cork, County Cork, Ire.) British composer. Bom into a wealthy family, he was free to compose throughout his life and consequently wrote prolifically. His early works, influenced by the poetry of William Butler Yeats, frequently evoke Celtic legend. His compositions include seven symphonies, the orchestral works Spring Fire (1913), November Woods (1917), and Tintagel (1919), piano sonatas, string quar¬ tets, and numerous vocal works.

bay In architecture, any division of a building between vertical lines or planes, especially the entire space included between the centerlines of two adjacent vertical supports. The space between two columns or pilasters, or from pier to pier in a church, including that part of the vaulting (see vault) or ceiling between them, is thus called a bay.

bay Any of several small trees with aromatic leaves, especially the sweet bay, or bay laurel ( Laurus nobilis ), source of the bay leaf used in cook¬ ing. The California laurel ( Umbellularia californica) is an ornamental tree also called the bay tree. The bay rum tree, or simply bay ( Pimenta race- mosa ), has leaves and twigs that yield, when distilled, oil of bay, which is used in perfumery and in the preparation of bay rum, a fragrant cos¬ metic and medicinal liquid.

bay Semicircular or nearly circular concavity, similar to a gulf but usu¬ ally smaller. Bays may range from a few hundred yards to several hun¬ dred miles from side to side. They are usually located where easily eroded rocks, such as clays and sandstones, are bounded by harder, more erosion- resistant formations of igneous rocks, such as granite, or hard calcareous rocks, such as massive limestones. Some bays form excellent harbours.

Bay Vbl\, Laguna de Lake, central Luzon, Philippine Islands. Located southeast of Manila, the lake, about 32 mi (52 km) long, is the largest in the Philippines. Its outlet is the Pasig River. It is dotted with islands, the largest being densely settled Talim.

Bay of Pigs invasion (April 17, 1961) Abortive invasion of Cuba directed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and carried out by Cuban exiles. The invasion was intended to spark a rebellion that would topple Fidel Castro, whose communist regime was considered a threat to U.S. interests in the region. The invasion began with the bombing of Cuban military bases; two days later a force of about 1,500 landed at several sites along the coast, including the Bay of Pigs. The rebellion never mate¬ rialized, the invasion force was quickly defeated, and more than 1,100 men were imprisoned. The result was a huge propaganda victory for Cas¬ tro and a severe embarrassment for the administration of U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

Bayamon \,bI-a- , mon\ Municipality (pop., 2000: 224,044), northeast¬ ern Puerto Rico, part of the metropolitan area of San Juan. Puerto Rico’s first settlement, Caparra, was founded nearby in 1508 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. Established as a town in 1772, it is now a manufac¬ turing centre for clothing, furniture, automotive parts, and metal products. Educational institutions include Bayamon Central University.

Bayard \'ba-3rd\, Thomas Francis (b. Oct. 29, 1828, Wilmington, Del., U.S.—d. Sept. 28, 1898, Dedham, Mass.) U.S. statesman, diplomat, and lawyer. Born into a prominent political family, he succeeded his father as U.S. senator from Delaware (1869-85). He served as secretary of state (1885-89) and as ambassador to Britain (1893-97), the first U.S. repre¬ sentative to Great Britain to hold that rank. A champion of arbitration, he was critical of the aggressive position of Pres. Grover Cleveland in the dispute with Britain over the Venezuelan boundary (1895).

Baybars I or Baibars \'bl-bars\ (b. c. 1223, north of the Black Sea—d. July 1, 1277, Damascus, Syria) Most eminent sultan of the MamlGk dynasty. A Kipchak Turk, he was sold as a slave ( mamluk ) after a Mon¬ gol invasion in the 1240s. He ended up in the service of the sultan of Egypt’s AyyObid dynasty, who gave him military training. In 1250 his army captured the Crusader king Louis IX, and he and other mamluk officers murdered the last Ayyubid sultan, establishing the Mamluk dynasty. He distinguished himself against an invading Mongol force at the Battle of ‘Ayn Jalut (1260) and soon thereafter took the throne, when he murdered the third Mamluk sultan. As sultan, he rebuilt the Syrian fortresses that had been destroyed by the Mongols and built up the sultanate’s arma¬ ments. He seized territory from the Crusaders that they were never to recover. He harried the Mongols in Persia, attacking their allies (the Chris¬ tian Armenians) and forging an alliance with the Mongols of the Golden Horde against them. He sent military expeditions into Nubia and Libya. He had diplomatic relations with James I of Aragon, Alfonso X of Leon and Castile, and Charles of Anjou, as well as with the Byzantine emperor. At home he built canals and the great mosque in Cairo that bears his name and established efficient postal service between Cairo and Damascus. The Sirat Baybars, a folk account purporting to be his life story, is still popu¬ lar in the Arabic-speaking world.

bayberry Any of several aromatic shrubs and small trees of the genus Myrica in the bayberry family (Myricaceae), but especially M. pennsyl-

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Bayer AG ► bazooka I 181

vanica, also called candleberry, which has grayish waxy berries that, upon boiling, yield the wax used in bayberry candles. The California bayberry, or California wax myrtle (M. californica), is used as an ornamental on sandy soils in warm climates.

Bayer AG German chemical and pharmaceutical company. Founded in 1863 by Friedrich Bayer (1825-1880), it now operates plants in more than 30 countries. Bayer has originated scores of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and synthetic materials; it was the first developer and marketer of aspirin (1899); of Prontosil, the first sulfa drug (1935); and of polyurethane (1937). Bayer was part of the chemical cartel IG Farben from 1925 to 1945, when the latter was dissolved by the Allies; it was reestablished as an independent company in 1951. Its most noteworthy drug of the 1990s was the antibiotic Cipro. Its headquarters are in Leverkusen.

Bayeux \ba-'yce\ Tapestry Medieval embroidered tapestry depicting the Norman Conquest. Woven in woolen threads of eight colours on coarse linen, it is about 231 ft (70 m) long by about 20 in. (50 cm) wide. It consists of 79 consecutive scenes, with Latin inscriptions and decora¬ tive borders. Stylistically it resembles English illuminated manuscripts. It was probably woven c. 1066, within a few years of the conquest, and was possibly commissioned by Odo, bishop of Bayeux, brother of William I (the Conqueror). The most famous of all pieces of needlework, it hung for centuries in the cathedral in Bayeux (Normandy) and now hangs in the tapestry museum there.

English axman in combat with Norman cavalry during the Battle of Hastings, detail from the 11 th-century Bayeux Tapestry, Bayeux, France.

GIRAUDON/ART RESOURCE, NEW YORK

Bayezid \bI-3-'zed\ I (b. c. 1360—d. March 1403?, Ak§ehir, Anatolia) Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1389-1402). After succeeding his father, Murad II (d. 1389), Bayezid expanded Ottoman control of the shrinking Byzantine Empire by conquering vast tracts of territory in the Balkans, thus securing his rule south of the Danube. From 1391 to 1398 he blockaded Constantinople (modern Istanbul), and he crushed the Hungarian Crusad¬ ers at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. He then sought to widen Ottoman control over Anatolia. Defeated by Timur at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, Bayezid died in captivity. He was succeeded by his son, Mehmed I, after an interregnum of some 10 years.

Bayezid \,bI-3-'zed\ II (b. December 1447/January 1448?, Demotika, Thrace, Ottoman Empire—d. May 26, 1512, Demotika) Sultan who con¬ solidated control of the Ottoman Empire begun by his father, Mehmed II. After taking the throne in 1481, he reversed his father’s policies of expro¬ priating Muslim religious properties and rejected his pro-European ori¬ entation but continued the policy of territorial conquest. Under him, Herzegovina came under direct Ottoman control, and the Ottoman hold over the Crimea and Anatolia was strengthened. He fought the Safavid dynasty in the east, the MamlOk dynasty in the south, and the Venetians in the west. At home he built mosques, colleges, hospitals, and bridges and supported jurists, scholars, and poets. He abdicated in favour of his son, Selim I, a month before his death.

Baykal, Lake See Lake Baikal

Bayle \'bel\, Pierre (b. Nov. 18, 1647, Carla-le-Comte, France—d. Dec. 28, 1706, Rotterdam, Neth.) French philosopher. Educated at a Jesuit school, he converted to Roman Catholicism but later reverted to his origi¬ nal Calvinist faith. His religious views led to his losing professorships first at Sedan and later at Rotterdam. He was convinced that philosophi¬ cal reasoning led to universal skepticism, but that nature compelled man¬ kind to adopt beliefs on the basis of blind faith. The bulk of his Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697) consists of quotations, anecdotes, com¬ mentaries, and erudite annotations that cleverly undo whatever orthodox Christian beliefs the articles express; and it was condemned by religious authorities. Bayle’s oblique method of subversive criticism was later adopted by the contributors to the Encyclopedie of Denis Diderot.

Baylis, Lilian (Mary) (b. May 9, 1874, London, Eng.—d. Nov. 25, 1937, London) British theatrical manager and founder of the Old Vic. She assisted her aunt, Emma Cons, in the operation of the Royal Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavern, and on Cons’s death in 1912 she converted the hall into the Old Vic, which became famous for its Shakespearean productions. Between 1914 and 1923 the theatre staged all of William Shakespeare’s plays, a feat no other playhouse had attempted. In 1931 she took over the derelict Sadler’s Wells Theatre and made it a centre of opera and ballet.

Bayliss, Sir William Maddock (b. May 2, 1860, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, Eng.—d. Aug. 27, 1924, London) British physiologist. He and Ernest H. Starling studied nerve-controlled blood-vessel contraction and dilation and discovered the peristaltic wave. In 1902 they showed that dilute hydrochloric acid mixed with partly digested food activates a chemical in the duodenum that they called secretin, because it stimulates secretion of pancreatic juice. This marked the discovery of hormones, a term the men coined. Bayliss also showed how the enzyme trypsin was formed from inactive trypsinogen and measured precisely the time it took to digest protein. His recommendation of gum-saline injections for wound shock saved many lives in World War I.

Baylor, Elgin (b. Sept. 16, 1934, Washington, D.C., U.S.) U.S. basket¬ ball player. At 6 ft 5 in. (1.96 m) Baylor played for the Minneapolis (later Los Angeles) Lakers of the NBA from 1958 to 1971. A high-scoring and acrobatic forward, Baylor averaged 27.4 points for his career, placing him in the top five of all time.

bayonet Short, sharp-edged, sometimes pointed weapon, designed for attachment to the muzzle of a firearm. According to tradition, it was developed in Bayonne, France, early in the 17th century and soon spread throughout Europe. The earliest design, the plug bayonet, was inserted into the muzzle of a musket, thus preventing the musket from being fired until the bayonet was removed. Later designs, including the socket bayo¬ net invented by Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1688), slipped it over the muzzle. Repeating firearms greatly reduced its combat value. By World War I it had become an all-purpose knife.

bayou \'bl-ii\ Still or slow-moving section of marshy water, usually a creek, secondary watercourse, or minor river that is a tributary of another river or channel. It may occur in the form of an oxbow lake. Bayous are typical of Louisiana’s Mississippi River delta.

Bayreuth \bI-'roit\ City (pop., 2001 est.: 74,500), east-central Germany. It is situated northeast of Nurnberg. Founded in 1194 under Bishop Otto II of Bamberg, it came under the burgrave of Niirnberg in 1248-1398 and the margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach in 1603-1769. The margraves patronized the arts and commissioned many Baroque buildings that still exist. It was ceded to Prussia in 1791, captured by Napoleon in 1806, and passed to Bavaria in 1810. Composer Richard Wagner settled there in 1872 and designed the Festspielhaus, where Wagner festivals have been held since its opening in 1876. Manufactures include machinery, textiles, chemicals, pianos, porcelain, and glassware.

Bazin \ba-'za n \, Henri-Emile (b. Jan. 10, 1829, Nancy, France—d. Feb. 7, 1917, Dijon) French engineer. As an assistant to H.-P.-G. Darcy (1803-1858), he completed his program of tests on resistance to water flow in channels after Darcy’s death, producing the classic study of the subject. He later studied the problem of wave propagation (see wave) and the contraction of fluid flowing through an orifice. In 1854 he enlarged the Canal de Bourgogne and made it profitable for commercial naviga¬ tion. In 1867 he suggested the use of pumps for dredging rivers, leading to the construction of the first suction dredgers.

bazooka Shoulder-type rocket launcher adopted by the U.S. Army in World War II. It consisted of a smoothbore steel tube, originally about 5

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

182 I BBC ► bean

ft (1.5 m) long, open at both ends and equipped with a hand grip, shoul¬ der rest, trigger mechanism, and sights. Officially named the M9A1 Rocket Launcher, it was called bazooka after the crude horn of that name used by a popular radio comedian. It was developed chiefly for attacking tanks and fortified positions at short range. The U.S. Army abandoned it during the Vietnam War in favour of lighter-weight antitank weapons.

BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broad¬ casting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. The BBC World Service began in 1932, and by the 1990s was broadcasting programs in 38 languages to 120 million people worldwide. BBC televi¬ sion service, which kept its monopoly on television service until a com¬ mercial channel began broadcasting in 1954, introduced regular color broadcasts in Europe in 1967. The BBC radio monopoly ended in 1972. The BBC today offers five radio networks and two national television channels.

BBS See bulletin-board system

BCS theory Comprehensive theory that explains the behaviour of super¬ conducting materials. It was developed in 1957 by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and J. Robert Schrieffer (b. 1931), whose surname initials pro¬ vide its name. Cooper discovered that electrons in a superconductor are grouped in pairs (Cooper pairs) and that the motions of all the pairs within a single superconductor constitute a system that functions as a single entity. An electric voltage applied to the superconductor causes all Coo¬ per pairs to move, forming an electric current. When the voltage is removed, the current continues to flow because the pairs encounter no opposition. See also superconductivity.

beach Sediments that accumulate along sea or lake shores. One type of beach occurs as a sediment strip bordering a rocky or cliffy coast. A sec¬ ond type is the outer margin of a marine plain. The third type consists of naiTOw sediment barriers stretching for dozens or even hundreds of miles parallel to the general direction of the coast. These barriers separate lagoons from the open sea and generally are dissected by tidal inlets. Certain sediment forelands, such as spits, points, and tombolos (which connect an island with a mainland), occasionally are called beaches.

Beach, Amy Marcy orig. Amy Marcy Cheney known as Mrs. H.H.A. Beach (b. Sept. 5, 1867, Henniker, N.H., U.S.—d. Dec. 27, 1944, New York, N.Y.) U.S. composer and pianist. A precociously bril¬ liant musician, she performed as soloist with major orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. As a composer she was devoted to German Romanticism rather than American themes or sources. Her best-loved works were her songs. Her Gaelic Symphony (1894) was the first symphony by an Ameri¬ can woman. Other works include a piano concerto (1899), the choral pieces The Chambered Nautilus (1907) and Canticle of the Sun (1928), the opera Cabildo (1932), and a piano quintet (1907).

Beach Boys U.S. rock group. The band was formed in California in 1961 by brothers Brian Wilson (b. 1942) on keyboards and bass, Dennis Wilson (1944-83) on drums, and Carl Wilson (1946-98) on guitar; their cousin Mike Love (b. 1941) on drums; and Alan Jardine (b. 1942) on gui¬ tar. Within a year they launched a string of surfing-oriented hits marked by close vocal harmony, including “Surfin’ Safari” and “California Girls.” By 1966 they had released more than 10 albums, including Pet Sounds (1966), considered their best. Despite Brian Wilson’s reclusiveness due to stress- and drug-related breakdowns, the band continued to make recordings into the 1980s and toured into the 1990s.

beach flea See sand flea

bead Small object, usually pierced for stringing. It may be made of vir¬ tually any material—wood, shell, bone, seed, nut, metal, stone, glass, or plastic—and is worn or affixed to another object for decorative or, in some cultures, magical purposes. The earliest Egyptian beads (c. 4000 bc) were made of stone, feldspar, lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise, hematite, or amethyst and were variously shaped (sphere, cone, shell, animal head). By 3000-2000 bc, gold beads in tubular shapes were in use. From the Middle Ages to the 18th century, trade in beads was enormous. Today the richness of beadwork varies with fashion.

Beadle, George Wells (b. Oct. 22, 1903, Wahoo, Neb., U.S.—d. June 9, 1989, Pomona, Calif.) U.S. geneticist. He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University. While studying Drosophila, he realized that genes must influence heredity chemically and designed a complex technique to

determine the nature of those effects, showing that something as appar¬ ently simple as eye colour results from a long series of chemical reac¬ tions, which are affected by genes. With Edward L. Tatum, he found that the total environment of a bread mold could be varied so that researchers could locate and identify mutations relatively easily, concluding that each gene determines the structure of a specific enzyme, which in turn allows a single chemical reaction to proceed. For the “one gene, one enzyme” concept, they shared a 1958 Nobel Prize with Joshua Lederberg. Beadle later served as president of the University of Chicago (1960-68).

beadwork Ornamental work in beads. In the Middle Ages beads were used to embellish embroidery work. In Renaissance and Elizabethan England, clothing, purses, fancy boxes, and small pictures were adorned with beads. In the 19th-20th century beadwork proliferated in dress deco¬ ration. Beads are used as ornamentation on a variety of objects (clothing, masks, weapons, dolls) in many cultures, including the Native American, African, and Oceanic.

beagle Breed of small hound, popular as both a pet and a hunter. It looks like a small foxhound, with large brown eyes, hanging ears, and a short coat that is usually a combina¬ tion of black, tan, and white. Beagles are solidly built and heavy for their height. Two sizes are recognized: those standing less than 13 in. (33 cm) and weighing about 18 lbs (8 kg), and those standing about 15 in.

(38 cm) and weighing about 30 lbs (13.5 kg). Beagles generally excel as rabbit hunters and are typically alert and affectionate.

Beagle Channel Channel, extreme southern South America. Separating the main islands of Tierra del Fuego from smaller islands in the archipelago, it is about 150 mi (240 km) long and 3-8 mi (5-13 km) wide. The eastern portion forms part of the Chile-Argentina border, while the western portion lies entirely within Chile. It was named for the British ship HMS Beagle, in which Charles Darwin explored the area.

beak or bin Stiff, projecting oral structure of birds and turtles (both of which lack teeth) and certain other animals (e.g., cephalopods and some insects, fishes, and mammals). The term bill is preferred for the beak of a bird, which is composed of upper and lower jaws covered by a horny sheath of skin, with the nostrils on top, usually at the base. The shapes and sizes of bills are adapted for obtaining food, preening, building nests, and other functions; they range from the long, slim bills of nectar-sipping hummingbirds to the sturdy, curved, nut-cracking bills of parrots.

Beaker culture Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age culture of north¬ ern and western Europe. The people are known for a group of distinctive bell-shaped earthenware beakers decorated with toothed stamps, probably used in rituals of consumption. The Beaker people buried their dead in simple graves but also in megalithic tombs in western Europe. They used the bow and arrow as well as copper daggers and spearheads. As they searched for gold and copper, they spread metallurgy into other parts of Europe. They eventually mixed with the Battle-Ax culture and spread from central Europe to eastern England.

beam In building construction, a horizontal member spanning an open¬ ing and carrying a load. The load may be a wall above the opening (see post-and-beam system) or it may be a floor or roof. Beams may be of wood, steel or other metals, reinforced or prestressed concrete, plastic, or even brick with steel reinforcement. For weight reduction, metal beams are I-shaped, having a thin vertical web and thicker horizontal flanges where greater stress occurs. A joist is any of a series of small parallel beams supporting a floor or roof. See also girder, spandrel.

bean Seed or pod of certain leguminous plants (see legume). The mature seeds of the principal food beans, except soybeans, are similar in compo¬ sition, though they differ widely in eating quality. Rich in protein and providing moderate amounts of iron and vitamins B 1 and B 2 , fresh or dried beans are used worldwide for cooking. Varieties differ greatly in size, shape, colour, and tenderness of the immature pods. The common string, snap, or green bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) of Central and South American origin is the dominant edible-podded bean in the U.S., second to the soy-

Beagle

SALLY ANNE THOMPSON/EB INC.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Bean ► Beat movement I 183

bean in importance. Third in importance is the broad, or fava, bean ( Vicia faba ), the principal bean of Europe. The lima bean ( P. limensis ), of Cen¬ tral American origin, is commercially important in few countries outside the Americas. The scarlet runner bean (P. coccineus) is native to the New World tropics and is grown in Europe for its attractive flowers and fleshy immature pods. The mung bean, or green gram (P. aureus ), is native to India and grown extensively in the Orient for food.

Bean, Roy (b. 1825?, Mason county, Ky., U.S.—d. March 16, 1903, Langtry, Texas) U.S. justice of the peace and saloonkeeper. He left Ken¬ tucky in 1847 and moved from town to town, killing at least two men in duels, before settling in Texas. During the American Civil War he first served with Confederate regulars and then was a blockade runner in Texas, becoming so prosperous that he was able to live at ease in San Antonio for some 16 years. In 1882 he moved to a site on the lower Pecos River that he named for Lillie Langtry, opened a saloon, and dispensed hard, commonsensical, and prankish rulings as an unofficial magistrate, styling himself the “law west of the Pecos.”

bear Generally massive, short-legged mammals constituting the family Ursidae. Bears are the most recently evolved carnivore, found in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Closely related to the dog and the raccoon, most bears climb with ease and are strong swimmers. As a family, they are omnivores, but dietary preferences vary among species (the polar bear feeds mainly on seals, the spectacled bear on vegetation, etc.). Though they do not truly hibernate, bears often sleep fitfully through much of the win¬ ter. They live 15-30 years in the wild but much longer in captivity. They have been hunted as trophies, for hides, and for food. See also black bear; brown bear; sun bear.

bear cat See lesser panda

Bear Flag Revolt Short-lived rebellion in 1846 by American settlers in California against Mexican authorities. In June a small group captured Sonoma, a settlement north of San Francisco, and declared independence, raising a flag that featured a grizzly bear. Capt. John C. Fremont soon arrived to give his support and was elected to head the “republic.” In July U.S. forces occupied San Francisco and Sonoma and claimed California for the U.S. The bear flag later became the state flag.

bear grass Either of two species of North American plants that make up the genus Xerophyllum, in the lily family. The western species, X. tenax, also known as elk grass, squaw grass, and fire lily, is a smooth, light- green mountain perennial with a stout, unbranched stem and grasslike, rough-edged leaves at the bottom. It flowers at five to seven years, bear¬ ing a large cluster of small, creamy white flowers at the top of the stem. The turkey beard (X. asphodeloides ) of southern North America is a simi¬ lar plant that grows in dry pine barrens. In the southern and southwest¬ ern U.S., the name bear grass is given to various kinds of yucca and to the camas ( Camassia scilloides ) and the aloelike Dasylirion texanum.

bear market In securities and commodities trading, a declining mar¬ ket. A bear is an investor who expects prices to decline and, on this assumption, sells a borrowed security or commodity in the hope of buy¬ ing it back later at a lower price, a speculative transaction called short- selling. See also bull market.

bearberry Flowering, prostrate, evergreen shrub {Arctostaphylos uva- ursi) of the heath family, growing widely throughout North America in rocky and sandy woods and open areas. It has woody stems that are often 5-6 ft (1.5-1.8 m) long. Roots develop from stem joints, and the plant spreads, forming a broad, massive ground cover. The foliage turns bronzy in winter. The white, pink, or pink-tipped flowers are shaped like a narrow-mouthed bell. The berries are red.

Beard, Charles A(ustin) (b. Nov. 27, 1874, near Knightstown, Ind., U.S.—d. Sept. 1, 1948, New Haven, Conn.) U.S. historian. Beard taught at Columbia University (1904-17) and cofounded New York’s New School for Social Research (1919). He is best known for iconoclastic studies of the development of U.S. political institutions, emphasizing the dynamics of socioeconomic conflict and change and analyzing motiva¬ tional factors in the founding of institutions. His works include An Eco¬ nomic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913), claiming that the Constitution was formulated to serve the economic inter¬ ests of the founders; The Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy (1915); and, with his wife, Mary R. Beard (1876-1958), The Rise of American Civilization (1927).

Beard, James (b. May 5, 1903, Portland, Ore., U.S.—d. Jan. 23, 1985, New York, N.Y.) U.S. culinary expert and cookbook author. In 1945 he became the first chef to demonstrate cooking on network television. Through his Greenwich Village cooking school he influenced such future chefs as Julia Child and Craig Claiborne (b. 1920—d. 2000). He champi¬ oned simple American and English dishes and wrote one of the first seri¬ ous books on outdoor cooking. His more than 20 cookbooks include James Beard’s American Cookery (1972) and Beard on Bread (1973).

Bearden, Roma re (Howard) (b. Sept. 2, 1914, Charlotte, N.C., U.S.—d. March 11, 1988, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. He studied with George Grosz at the Art Students League and Columbia University. After military service in World War II, he attended the Sorbonne and traveled in Europe. During this time he achieved recognition for his complex, semiabstract collages of photographs and painted paper on canvas. The narrative structure of his work is clear; aspects of African American cul¬ ture, including ritual, music, and family, were his predominant themes. By the 1960s Bearden was recognized as the preeminent collagist in the U.S. He is regarded as one of the most important African American art¬ ists of the 20th century.

Beardsley, Aubrey (Vincent) (b. Aug. 21, 1872, Brighton, Sussex, Eng.—d. March 16, 1898, Menton, Fr.) British illustrator. His only for¬ mal training was a few months of evening classes at the Westminster School of Art. His style was based on the work of Edward Burne-Jones and Japanese woodcuts, and he quickly became a master of the curvilin¬ ear black-and-white ornamental illustration popularized by the Art Nou¬ veau movement. In 1893 he illustrated an edition of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur, and in 1894 he achieved notoriety with his erotic illus¬ trations for the English version of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. He became art editor and illustrator of the new quarterly The Yellow Book that same year. He died at age 25 of tuberculosis.

bearing In machine construction, a connector (usually a support) that permits the connected members to rotate or to move in a straight line rela¬ tive to one another. Often one of the members is fixed, and the bearing acts as a support for the moving member. Most bearings support rotating shafts against either transverse (radial) or thrust (axial) loads. To mini¬ mize friction, the contacting surfaces in a bearing may be separated by a film of oil or gas; these are sliding bearings (see oil seal). In ball bearings and roller bearings, the surfaces are separated by balls or rollers.

bearing wall or load-bearing wall Wall that carries the load of floors and roof above in addition to its own weight. The traditional masonry bearing wall is thickened in proportion to the forces it has to resist: its own weight, the dead load of floors and roof, the live load of people, as well as the lateral forces of arches, vaults, and wind. Such walls may be much thicker toward the base, where maximum loads accumu¬ late. Bearing walls may also be framed and sheathed or constructed of reinforced concrete.

Bearn \ba-'am\ Historical region and former province, southwestern France. It was bounded by Gascony and the Pyrenees; its capital was Pau. It formed part of Aquitania under the Romans; it was later devastated by the Vandals and Visigoths. Held as the countship of Bearn by the future Henry IV, it became a holding of the French crown when he became king in 1589. In the 16th century Pau was an important cultural centre under the patronage of Margaret of Angouleme.

Beas River \'be-,as\ ancient Hyphasis River, northwestern India. One of the “five rivers” that give the Punjab its name, it rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh state and flows south and southwest for some 290 mi (470 km) to the Sutlej River in western Punjab state. It was the approximate limit of Alexander the Great’s invasion of India in 326 bc.

beat In physics, the pulsation resulting from a combination of two waves of slightly different frequency. Beat frequency is the difference between the frequencies of the combining waves. When the interfering frequen¬ cies are in the audible range, the beats are heard as alternating soft and loud pulses. The human ear can detect beats with frequencies up to 10 hertz, or 10 beats per second. Piano tuners listen for beats when compar¬ ing the pitch of a tuning fork to that of a vibrating string; when no beats are heard, the fork and string are at the same frequency. Ultrasonic or inaudible frequencies can be superimposed to produce audible beats, allowing the detection of vocal sounds produced by bats or dolphins.

Beat movement American social and literary movement of the 1950s and ’60s. It is associated with artists’ communities in San Francisco, Los

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

184 I Beatles ► Beaumarchais

Angeles, and New York. Its adherents expressed alienation from conven¬ tional society and advocated personal release and illumination through heightened sensory awareness and altered states of consciousness. Beat poets, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso (1930-2001), and Gary Snyder, sought to liberate poetry from academic refinement, creating verse that was vernacular, sometimes sprinkled with obscenities, but often powerful and moving. Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs developed an unstructured, spontaneous, sometimes hallucina¬ tory approach to prose writing that was designed to convey the imme¬ diacy of experience. The Beat movement had faded by c. 1970, though its influence continued to be felt decades later.

Beatles British rock group that came to personify the counterculture of the 1960s. Its principal members, all born in Liverpool, Eng., were Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The group began with the pairing of McCartney and Lennon in 1956; Harrison joined in 1957, and Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best later. In 1960 they adopted the name the Beatles. In 1962 they signed a recording contract and replaced Best with Starr (Sutcliffe had left the group in 1961). The release in 1962-63 of such songs as “Please Please Me” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” made them England’s most popular rock group, and in 1964 “Bea- tlemania” struck the U.S. Originally inspired by Chuck Berry, Elvis Pres¬ ley, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly, among others, their direct, energetic songs kept them at the top of the pop charts. Their long hair and tastes in dress were influential throughout the world, as were their experimenta¬ tion with hallucinogenic drugs and Indian mysticism and their involve¬ ment with the politics of peace. From 1965 to 1967 the Beatles’ music rapidly evolved, becoming increasingly subtle, sophisticated, and varied—ranging from ballads such as “Yesterday” to the psychedelic hard rock of “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Their public performances ended in 1966. Albums such as Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), and The Beatles (“White Album,” 1968) set new trends in rock. In 1967 they pro¬ duced Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band , an album novel for its conception as a dramatic whole, use of electronic music, and character as a studio work not reproducible onstage. They appeared in the films A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965). The group dissolved in 1970. In 1988 the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Lennon (1994), McCartney (1999), and Harrison (2004) were also inducted as solo performers.

Beaton, Sir Cecil (Walter Hardy) (b. Jan. 14, 1904, London, Eng.—d. Jan. 18, 1980, Broadchalke, Salisbury, Wiltshire) British pho¬ tographer and designer. When he received his first camera at age 11, he began making portraits of his sisters. In the 1920s he became staff pho¬ tographer at Vanity Fair and Vogue. In Beaton’s exotic and bizarre por¬ traits, the sitter is only one element of an overall decorative composition dominated by flamboyant backgrounds. His photographs of the siege of Britain were published in Winged Squadrons (1942). After the war he designed costumes and stage sets, including those for the movies Gigi (1958) and My Fair Lady (1964).

Beatrix \ba-a-'treks\ (Wilhelmina Armgard) (b. Jan. 31, 1938, Soestdijk, Neth.) Queen of The Netherlands. Beatrix went into exile with her family when the Germans invaded The Netherlands in World War II, and she spent the war years in Britain and Canada. In 1965 her betrothal to a German diplomat sparked controversy because of his past membership in the Hitler Youth and the German army. They were married in 1966, and the hostility waned with the births of the first male heirs in the house of Orange since 1890. Beatrix became queen in 1980 after the abdication of her mother, Juliana.

Beatty Vbat-e\, (Henry) War¬ ren orig. Henry Warren Beaty

(b. March 30, 1937, Richmond, Va.,

U.S.) U.S. film actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He stud¬ ied acting with famed coach Stella Adler in New York and made his film

debut in Splendor in the Grass (1961). He later starred in and produced the influential film Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Often cowriting, directing, or producing his own films, he later starred in Shampoo (1975), Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds (1981, Academy Award for direction), and Bul- worth (1998).

Beaubourg Center See Pompidou Center

Beaufort Sea \'bo-fort \ Part of the Arctic Ocean northeast of Alaska, northwest of Canada, and west of Banks Island in the Arctic Archipelago. Its surface area is about 184,000 sq mi (476,000 sq km), its average depth is 3,239 ft (1,004 m), and its greatest depth is 15,360 ft (4,680 m). It is frozen over almost year-round; only in August and September does the ice break up. The Mackenzie River flows into the sea; the chief settlement is Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

Beauharnais \bo-ar-'ne\, Alexandre, viscount de (b. May 28,

1760, Martinique—d. June 23, 1794, Paris, France) French politician and general, first husband of Josephine. A liberal noble, he became a promi¬ nent figure during the French Revolution. He presided over the Constitu¬ ent Assembly in 1791, served with gallantry in the army, and was named general in chief of the Army of the Rhine in 1793. He was guillotined during the Reign of Terror, largely because he was a noble. He was the father of Eugene and Hortense de Beauharnais and the grandfather of Napo¬ leon III.

Beauharnais, Eugene de (b. Sept. 3, 1781, Paris, France—d. Feb. 21, 1824, Munich, Bavaria) French administrator and general. Son of Josephine and Alexandre, viscount de Beauharnais, he became a useful mili¬ tary aide to his stepfather, Napoleon. In 1804 he received the title of prince and was appointed archchancellor of state. He was named Napoleon’s viceroy in Italy (1805), where he reorganized public finances, built roads, and introduced the French legal system. As commander of the Italian army, he fought admirably in various conflicts. In 1814 he held out in Italy against the Austrians and the Neapolitans but was forced to con¬ clude an armistice. He retired to the Bavarian court of his wife’s family.

Beauharnais, (Eugenie-) Hortense de (b. April 10, 1783, Paris, France—d. Oct. 5, 1837, Arenenberg, Switz.) French-bom queen of Hol¬ land (1806-10). Daughter of Josephine and Alexandre, viscount de Beauhar¬ nais, and stepdaughter of Napoleon, Hortense married Napoleon’s brother, Louis Bonaparte. When he became king of Holland, she was named queen. The marriage was unhappy but produced three children, including the future Napoleon III. When Napoleon was exiled in 1814, Hortense became the centre of Bonapartist intrigue, and her support of Napoleon during his return led to her banishment from France in 1815, after which she settled in Switzerland.

Beaujolais X.bo-zho-'laX Region in northern Rhone and northeastern Loire departments, east-central France. It is located east of the Massif Central and west of the Saone River. The region is wooded and supports local forestry; its highest point is Mount Saint-Rigaud, elevation 3,310 ft (1,009 m). East of the mountain are the limestone escarpments of the Cote Beaujolaise, which support a world-famous red wine industry.

Beaujoyeulx \bozh-wa-'yce\, Balthazar de orig. Baltazarini di Belgioioso (b. 16th century, Piedmont region—d. 1587, Paris, Fr.) Italian-born French composer and choreographer. In 1555 he left Italy for Paris and joined the court of Catherine de Medicis as a violinist. There he organized unofficial court fetes and became valet de chambre to the royal family. In 1581 he staged the lavish Ballet comique de la reine\ consid¬ ered the first ballet, it was emulated by other European courts and was the precursor of developments in ballet for the next century.

Beaumarchais X.bo-mar-'shaX, Pierre-Augustin Caron de (b.

Jan. 24, 1732, Paris, France—d. May 18, 1799, Paris) French playwright. Son of a watchmaker, he invented a clockwork mechanism and became embroiled in lawsuits over its patent; a series of witty pamphlets he wrote in his defense established his reputation as a writer. His comedy The Bar¬ ber of Seville (1772) was kept off the stage for three years because it criti¬ cized the aristocracy. His Marriage of Figaro (1784) similarly censured the nobility and it, too, was initially banned. The plays became famous operas by Gioacchino Rossini and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, respec¬ tively. He founded the Societe des Auteurs (1777) to enable playwrights to obtain royalty payments. His wealth led, ironically, to his temporary imprisonment during the French Revolution, an event his plays were sometimes said to have sparked.

Beatrix of The Netherlands.

COURTESY OF THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS EMBASSY; PHOTOGRAPH, MAX KOOT

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Beaumont ► Beccafumi I 185

Beaumont Vbo-.mantA City (pop., 2000: 113,866), southeastern Texas, U.S. Lying at the head of navigation on the Neches River, it is connected to the Gulf of Mexico by the Sabine-Neches Canal and is a major port of entry. It was founded in 1835. When Spindletop, the first major oil field in Texas, was discovered in 1901, the city grew rapidly. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the “Golden Triangle” petrochemical and industrial complex.

Beaumont \'bo- 1 mant\, Francis (b. c. 1585, Grace-Dieu, Leicester¬ shire, Eng.—d. March 6, 1616, London) British playwright. He is known chiefly for the 10 very popular plays on which he collaborated with John Fletcher (1579-1625) c. 1606—13. These included the tragicomedies The Maides Tragedy, Phylaster, and A King and No King. Forty other plays attributed to them were later found to have been written by others. Their independent work includes Beaumont’s poetry and his parody The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607) and Fletcher’s pastoral The Faithful Shep¬ herdess (1608). After Beaumont retired in 1613, Fletcher collaborated with other playwrights, possibly including William Shakespeare, with whom he may have written King Henry the Eighth and The Two Noble Kinsmen.

Beaumont, William (b. Nov. 21, 1785, Lebanon, Conn., U.S.—d. April 25, 1853, St. Louis, Mo.) U.S. surgeon. He served many years as an army surgeon. When treating a trapper whose abdomen had been perfo¬ rated by a shotgun blast, Beaumont collected gastric juice for analysis and showed that it contained hydrochloric acid, which supported his belief that digestion was a chemical process. He also reported on the effects of dif¬ ferent foods on the stomach and established alcohol as a cause of gastritis.

Beauregard Vbo-r9-,gard\, P(ierre) G(ustave) T(outant) (b. May

28, 1818, near New Orleans, La., U.S.—d. Feb. 20, 1893, New Orleans) U.S. military leader. He graduated from West Point in 1838 and served in the Mexican War. After Louisiana seceded in 1861, he resigned his commission and became a general in the Confederate army. He com¬ manded the forces that bombarded Fort Sumter, S.C., was on the field at the First Battle of Bull Run (1861), and assumed command at the Battle of Shiloh after the death of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston (1862). He con¬ ducted the defenses of Charleston, S.C., and Richmond, Va. Though a capable commander, his penchant for questioning orders sometimes bor¬ dered on insubordination. After the war he quarreled with other generals’ accounts of his role.

Beauvoir Vbo-.vwarV, Simone (Lucie-Ernestine-Marie- Bertrand) de (b. Jan. 9, 1908, Paris, France—d. April 14, 1986, Paris) French writer and feminist. As a student at the Sorbonne, she met Jean- Paul Sartre, with whom she formed a lifelong intellectual and romantic bond. She is known primarily for her treatise The Second Sex (1949), a scholarly and passionate plea for the abolition of what she called the myth of the “eternal feminine”; the book became a classic of feminist literature. She also wrote four admired volumes of autobiography (1958-72), philo¬ sophical works that explore themes of existentialism, and fiction, notably The Mandarins (1954, Prix Goncourt). The Coming of Age (1970) is a bitter reflection on society’s indifference to the elderly.

Beaux-Arts \bo-'zar\ style or Second Empire style or Second Empire Baroque Architectural style developed at the Ecole des Beaux- Arts in Paris. It enjoyed international dominance in the late 19th century (see Second Empire) and rapidly became an official style for many of the new public buildings demanded by expanding cities and their national governments. Beaux-Arts buildings are typically massive and have a sym¬ metrical plan with rooms arranged axially, profuse Classicist detail, and pavilions that extend forward at the ends and centre. Among the most admired Beaux-Arts structures is the Paris Opera.

beaver Either species of the aquatic rodent family Castoridae (genus Castor ), both of which are well known for building dams. Bea¬ vers are heavyset and have short legs and large, webbed hind feet. They grow as large as 4 ft (1.3 m) long, including the 1-ft (30-cm) tail, and as heavy as 66 lb (30 kg). Beavers build their dams of sticks, stones, and mud in small rivers, streams, and lakes, often producing sizable ponds. With their powerful jaws and large teeth, they can fell medium-size trees,

whose branches they use in their dams and whose tender bark and buds they eat. One or more family groups share a dome-shaped stick-and-mud lodge built in the water, with tunnel entrances below water level. Ameri¬ can beavers (C. canadensis) range from northern Mexico to the Arctic. Their prized pelts stimulated the exploration of western North America, and by 1900 beavers were trapped to near extinction. Eurasian beavers (C. fiber) are now found in only a few locations, including the Elbe and Rhone drainages of Europe. The mountain beaver of the Pacific North¬ west is unrelated.

Beaverbrook (of Beaverbrook and of Cherkley), Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron orig. William Maxwell Aitken known as Lord Beaverbrook (b. May 25, 1879, Maple, Ont., Can.—d. June 9, 1964, near Leatherhead, Surrey, Eng.) Canadian-British politician and newspaper proprietor. After making a fortune in Montreal as a financier, he moved to England and became active in politics as a Conservative. Beginning in 1916, he took over or founded newspapers, including the London Daily Express, Sunday Express, and Evening Standard. Idiosyn¬ cratic and very successful, he became a “press lord” and a champion of individual enterprise and British imperial interests. He held various high government appointments, including positions in the British Cabinet dur¬ ing both World Wars, but he never fully achieved the political power he sought.

Bebel \'ba-bol\, August (b. Feb. 22, 1840, Deutz, near Cologne, Ger.—d. Aug. 13, 1913, Passugg, Switz.) German socialist and writer. A turner by trade, Bebel joined the Leipzig Workers’ Educational Associa¬ tion (1861) and became its chairman (1865). Influenced by the ideas of Wilhelm Liebknecht, in 1869 he helped found the Social Democratic Labour Party (later the Social Democratic Party) and became its most influential and popular leader for more than 40 years. He served in the Reichstag in 1867, 1871—81, and 1883-1913. He spent a total of nearly five years in prison on such charges as “libel of Bismarck.” He wrote a number of works, including Woman and Socialism (1883), a powerful piece of Social Democratic propaganda.

Bebey, Francis (b. July 15, 1929, Douala, Camer.—d. May 28, 2001, Paris, France) Cameroonian-born French writer and singer-songwriter. After studying in Paris and New York City, he settled in Paris in 1960. He worked for radio stations and then for UNESCO, researching and documenting traditional African music. Meanwhile, he also composed and recorded his own highly experimental music that often incorporated Latin American, Western, and African elements. Because of this, he is some¬ times considered “the father of world music.” He also wrote two books about African music and several works of fiction.

bebop or bop Jazz characterized by harmonic complexity, convoluted melodic lines, and frequent shifting of rhythmic accent. In the mid-1940s, a group of musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Char¬ lie Parker, rejected the conventions of swing to pioneer a self-consciously artistic extension of improvised jazz, which set new technical standards of velocity and harmonic subtlety. Two genres grew out of bebop in the 1950s: the delicate, dry, understated approach that came to be known as cool jazz, and the aggressive, blues- tinged earthiness of hard bop.

Beccafumi N.bek-o-'fii-meV Domenico orig. Domenico di Giacomo di Pace known as Mecherino \,mak-ka-'re-no\ (b. c.

1484, Cortina, Republic of Venice—d. May 1551, Siena,

Republic of Siena) Italian painter and sculptor active in Siena. He adopted the name of his patron,

Lorenzo Beccafumi. In 1510 he went to Rome to study the work of Raphael and Michelangelo. In 1512 he returned to Siena, where most of his best work can be found. He is noted for his sense of fantasy and creation of striking light effects, as in The Birth of the Virgin (c. 1543). He

.T:

The Birth of the Virgin, panel painting by Domenico Beccafumi, c. 1543; in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy.

SCALA-ART RESOURCE/EB INC.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

186 I Beccaria ► Beckmann

painted decorations for the Siena town hall (1529-35) and executed designs for the marble pavement of Siena Cathedral. He is considered the outstanding Sienese painter of the Mannerist style.

Beccaria X.bak-ka-'re-oV, Cesare (b. March 15, 1738, Milan—d. Nov. 28, 1794, Milan) Italian criminologist and economist. He became an inter¬ national celebrity in 1764 with the publication of Crime and Punishment, the first systematic statement of principles governing criminal punish¬ ment, in which he argued that the effectiveness of criminal justice depended more on the certainty of punishment than on its severity. The book greatly influenced criminal-law reform in western Europe. In later years, Beccaria lectured at Milan’s Palatine School and served as a pub¬ lic official, dealing with such issues as monetary reform, labour relations, and public education.

Bechet \b3-'sha\, Sidney (b. May 14, 1897, New Orleans, La., U.S.—d. May 14, 1959, Paris, France) U.S. saxophonist. He took up the clarinet at age six, later switching to the more powerful soprano saxo¬ phone. His emergence as a soloist from the New Orleans tradition of col¬ lective improvisation (see Dixieland) established his reputation in the mid- 1920s. He produced a large, warm tone with a wide and rapid vibrato. His mastery of drama and his use of critically timed deviations in pitch (“note bending”) had a long-lasting influence, because they were absorbed by his disciple Johnny Hodges. From the late 1940s he was based in Paris.

Bechtel Vbek-LL, Stephen D(avison) (b. Sept. 24, 1900, Aurora, Ind., U.S.—d. March 14, 1989, San Francisco, Calif.) U.S. construction engineer and president (1936-60) of W.A. Bechtel Co. and its successor, Bechtel Corp. He became a vice president in the San Francisco-based family firm of W.A. Bechtel Co. in 1925. In 1937 he and John McCone formed Bechtel-McCone Corp., a builder of refineries and chemical plants. The companies built ships and made aircraft parts during World War II. After the war, the newly formed Bechtel Corp. became one of the world’s largest construction and engineering firms, building pipelines in Canada, the Middle East, and elsewhere and constructing power plants all over the world. The Bechtel companies helped construct the Hoover Dam, the Alaska oil pipeline, and the city of Al-Jubayl in Saudi Arabia. Bechtel retired as its president in 1960 but remained senior director of what became known as the Bechtel Group.

Bechuanaland See Botswana

Beck, Ludwig (b. June 29, 1880, Biebrich, Ger.—d. July 20, 1944, Berlin) German general. After serving with the army general staff in World War I, he was later chief of the general staff (1935—38). He opposed Adolf Hitler’s occupation of the Rhineland and resigned to protest the decision to conquer Czechoslovakia. He helped plan the unsuccessful July Plot to assassinate Hitler; when it failed, Beck committed suicide.

Beckenbauer, Franz (b. Sept. 11, 1945, Munich, Ger.) German foot¬ ball (soccer) player. He is credited with inventing the modern attacking sweeper position. Nicknamed “Der Kaiser,” Beckenbauer is the only man to both captain and manage World Cup-winning teams (1974 and 1990, respectively). He spent most of his career with Bayern Munich (1958— 77), leading the team to three European Cup championships (1974-76) and four national titles. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1972 and 1976. After brief stints in New York and Hamburg, he retired in 1984 and turned to managing.

Becker, Boris (Franz) (b. Nov. 22, 1967, Leimen, W.Ger.) German tennis player. He left school in the 10th grade to concentrate on tennis. In 1985 he became the youngest winner (at 17) of the Wimbledon’s men’s singles title and the youngest ever to win a men’s grand-slam tournament, as well as the only unseeded player and the first German ever to win the title. He was victorious at Wimbledon again in 1986 and 1989 and also won singles titles at the 1989 U.S. Open and the 1991 and 1996 Austra¬ lian Open.

Becker, Gary S(tanley) (b. Dec. 2, 1930, Pottsville, Pa., U.S.) U.S. economist. He studied at Princeton University and the University of Chi¬ cago. As a professor at Columbia University and the University of Chi¬ cago, he applied the methods of economics to aspects of human behaviour previously considered the domain of sociology and demography. In Human Capital (1964) and A Treatise on the Family (1981), he advanced the theory that rational economic choices, based on self-interest, govern most human activities, even apparently noneconomic activities such as the formation of families. He won the Nobel Prize in 1992.

Becket, Saint Thomas or Thomas a Becket (b. c. 1118, Cheap- side, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 29,

1170, Canterbury, Kent; canonized 1173; feast day December 29) Arch¬ bishop of Canterbury (1162-70).

The son of a Norman merchant, he served as chancellor of England (1155-62) under Henry II. whose entire trust he won. A brilliant administrator, diplomat, and military strategist, he aided the king in increasing the royal power. Resistant to the Gregorian reform movement that asserted the autonomy of the church, Henry hoped to reinforce royal control of the church by appointing Becket archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. Becket, how¬ ever, embraced his new duties devoutly and opposed royal power in the church, especially proclaiming the right of offending clerics to be tried in ecclesiastical courts. The king issued the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164) listing royal rights over the church, and he summoned the archbishop to trial. Becket fled to France and remained in exile until 1170, when he returned to Canterbury and was murdered in the cathedral by four of Henry’s knights, traditionally said to be acting in response to the king’s angry words. Becket’s tomb, which was visited by Henry in an act of penance, became a site of pilgrimage.

Beckett, Samuel (Barclay) (b. April 13?, 1906, Foxrock, Co. Dub¬ lin, Ire.—d. Dec. 22, 1989, Paris,

France) Irish playwright. After studying in Ireland and traveling, he settled in Paris in 1937. During World War II he supported himself as a farmworker and joined the under¬ ground resistance. In the postwar years he wrote, in French, the narra¬ tive trilogy Molloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951), and The Unnamable (1953). His play Waiting for Godot (1952) was an immediate success in Paris and gained worldwide acclaim when he translated it into English.

Marked by minimal plot and action, existentialist ideas, and humour, it typifies the Theatre of the Absurd. His later plays, also sparsely staged, abstract works that deal with the mystery and despair of human exist¬ ence, include Endgame (1957),

Krapp’s Last Tape (1958), and Happy Days (1961). In 1969 he was awarded the Nobel Prize.

Beckford, William (b. Sept. 29,1760, London, Eng.—d. May 2,1844, Bath, Somerset) English dilettante, novelist, and eccentric. He is remem¬ bered for his gothic novel Vathek (1786), about an impious voluptuary who builds a tower so high that he challenges Muhammad in heaven and so brings about his own fall to the kingdom of the prince of darkness; though unevenly written, the story is full of invention and bizarre detail. Beckford and his family were forced to leave England for 10 years by a scandal involving a youth. On his return he built Fonthill Abbey, the most sensational building of the English Gothic Revival, whose own 270-ft (82-m) tower collapsed several times.

Beckmann Vbek-.manV Max (b. Feb. 12, 1884, Leipzig, Ger.—d. Dec. 27, 1950, New York, N.Y., U.S.) German Expressionist painter and graphic artist. After training at the conservative Weimar Academy, in 1903 he moved to Berlin and joined the Berlin Sezession. His experience as a medical orderly in World War I changed his outlook, and his work became full of horrifying imagery, with deliberately repulsive colours and erratic forms. He considered his work to be a combination of brutal realism and

Martyrdom of Thomas Becket, illustra¬ tion from an English psalter, c. 1220; in the British Library.

©THE BRITISH LIBRARY/HERITAGE-IMAGES

Samuel Beckett, 1965.

© GISELE FREUND

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Becknell ► bedstraw I 187

social commentary. In 1933 the Nazis declared his art “degenerate” and forced him to resign his professorship at the Stadel School of Art in Frankfurt. In 1937 he fled to Amsterdam, and in 1947 he moved to the U.S., where he taught in St. Louis, Mo., and New York City.

Becknell \'bek-n 3 l\, William (b. 1796?, Amherst county, Va., U.S.—d. April 30, 1865, Texas) U.S. trader. After settling in Missouri, he became involved in trade with the Southwest. When the Spanish prohibition on trade with New Mexico was lifted in 1821, he followed the customary route through the Colorado Rocky Mountains south to Santa Fe, where he sold his goods at great profit. The next year he pioneered a new route through the mountains of northeastern New Mexico that became known as the Santa Fe Trail. In the mid-1830s he moved to Texas, where he fought for Texas’s independence.

Beckwourth, Jim orig. James Pierson Beckwith (b. April 26, 1798, Virginia, U.S.—d. 1867?, Denver, Colo.) U.S. mountain man. Bom a slave, the son of a white man and a slave woman, he was taken by his father to St. Louis and set free. In 1823-24 he was hired by trading expe¬ ditions in the Rocky Mountains. He married a series of Indian women and lived among the Crow for about six years. During the California gold rush (1848) he established a route through the Sierra Nevada. In Califor¬ nia he met Thomas D. Bonner, who in 1856 published many of Beck- wourth’s stories and recollections.

Becquerel \be-'krel\, (Antoine-) Henri (b. Dec. 15, 1852, Paris, France—d. Aug. 25, 1908, Le Croisic) French physicist. His grandfather, Antoine-Cesar (1788-1878), was one of the founders of the field of elec¬ trochemistry, and his father, Alexandre-Edmond (1820-91), made impor¬ tant studies of light phenomena. Henri likewise studied phosphorescent materials as well as uranium compounds and employed photography in his experiments. He is remembered for his discovery of radioactivity, which occurred when he found that the element uranium (in a sample of pitchblende) emitted invisible rays that could darken a photographic plate. His 1901 report of a burn caused by a sample of Marie Curie’s radium that he carried in his vest pocket led to investigations by physicians and ulti¬ mately the medical use of radioactive substances. In 1903 he shared a Nobel Prize for Physics with the Curies. The unit of radioactivity, the becquerel (Bq), is named for him.

bed Piece of furniture on which a person may recline or sleep. Beds of simple construction appear in medi¬ eval manuscripts, as do more deco¬ rative beds with carving and inlay, embroidered coverlets, and elaborate hangings. The canopy, or tester, was introduced in the 15th century. In the 1820s the development of coiled springs fitted into mattresses revolu¬ tionized the bed. In the Middle East beds consisted of rugs piled up on the floor. In China raised and cano¬ pied beds were used 2,000 years ago.

The traditional Japanese bed (futon) consists of quilted padding and a coverlet arranged on the floor.

bedbug Any member of approxi¬ mately 75 species of nocturnal insects (family Cimicidae) that feed by sucking the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals. The reddish brown adult is broad and flat and less than 0.2 in. (4-5 mm) long.

Among the most cosmopolitan of human parasites, they are found in every kind of dwelling. They digest meals slowly; adults have lived for at least a year without food. Though the bite is irritating, it is not known to transmit diseases to humans.

bedding plant Plant that is grown, usually in quantity, in pots or flats in a greenhouse or similar struc¬ ture, and that is intended to be trans¬ planted to a flower garden, hanging

basket, window box, or other outdoor planter. Most bedding plants are annuals. They are transplanted outdoors after all danger of frost has passed. Some important bedding plants are impatiens, marigolds, and petunias.

Bede, Saint' known as the Venerable Bede (b. 672/673, tradition¬ ally Monkton in Jarrow, Northumbria [Eng.]—d. May 25, 735, Jarrow; feast day May 25) Anglo-Saxon theologian, historian, and chronologist. Raised in a monastery, he was ordained a priest at age 30. He is best known for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (732?), trac¬ ing Britain’s history from 55 bc to ad 597, a source vital to the history of the conversion to Christianity of the Anglo-Saxon tribes in Britain. His method of dating events from the time of Christ’s birth (ad) came into general use through the popularity of the Historia ecclesiastica and two works on chronology.

Bedford City (pop., 1995 est.: 81,000), southeast-central England. The administrative seat of Bedfordshire, it lies on the River Ouse northwest of London. It was a Roman fording station and a Saxon town. It was recap¬ tured by the Anglo-Saxons from the Danes in 914. John Bunyan is thought to have written A Pilgrim’s Progress while imprisoned there in the 17th century.

Bedfordshire Vbed-ford-.shhA Administrative (pop., 2001: 381,571), geographic, and historic county, southeast-central England. Much of the county is occupied by the River Ouse valley; its capital is Bedford. Settled c. 1800 bc by the Beaker culture, the valley was resettled by the Romans in the 1 st—5th centuries ad. First mentioned as a political unit in 1010, the county has survived virtually unchanged within its present boundaries. Its architectural masterpiece is Woburn Abbey, seat of the dukes of Bedford.

Bedlington terrier Breed of dog. It was developed in the 19th cen¬ tury in Northumberland, Eng., and named for Bedlingtonshire, a mining district in the area. Initially estab¬ lished as a fighting dog and hunter of vermin, the breed later became a popular pet. Lamblike in appearance, it has an arched back, a topknot, and a thick, curly coat that is blue-gray, deep reddish brown, or pale sandy, often with tan markings. The breed stands 15-16 in. (38-40 cm) tall and weighs 22-24 lbs. (10-11 kg).

Bedouin \'bed-win\ Any member of a community of Arabic-speaking desert nomads of the Middle East.

Ethnically, the Bedouin are identical to other Arabs. Bedouin traditionally have made their living by animal husbandry, and social rank among them is determined by the animals that they herd: camel nomads enjoy the greatest status, followed by sheep and goat herders and, finally, cattle nomads. Traditionally, Bedouin would migrate into the desert during the rainy season and return to culti¬ vated areas during the dry season, but since World War II (1939—45) the governments of many countries have nationalized their range lands, and conflicts over land use have arisen.

Many Bedouin have since adopted sedentary ways of life; most, how¬ ever, retain pride in their nomadic heritage.

bedstraw Any low perennial her¬ baceous plant of the genus Galium, in the madder family, found in damp woods and swamps and along stream banks and shores. Bedstraws bear finely toothed, often needle-shaped leaves in whorls of four to eight; clus¬ ters of small green, yellow, or white flowers; and fruit composed of two rounded nuts joined together. Northern bedstraw (G. boreale ), marsh bed- straw (G. palustre), and goosegrass (G. aparine) are common throughout Europe and have become naturalized in parts of North America. Sweet

Great Bed of Ware, carved, inlaid, and painted wood, English, late 16th century; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON, CROWN COPYRIGHT RESERVED

Bedbug (Cimex lectularius) magnified 5 x

WILLIAM E. FERGUSON

Bedlington terrier

SALLY ANNE THOMPSON/EB INC.

Bedouin with a young goat in central Qatar

M. ERICSON/OSTMAN AGENCY

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

188 I bee ► Beer Hall Putsch

woodruff (G. odoratum ) smells like freshly mown HAY; its dried shoots are used in perfumes, sachets, and beverages. The roots of several spe¬ cies yield a red dye.

bee Any of some 20,000 insect species belonging to the superfamily Apoidea (order Hymenoptera), including the familiar bumblebee.

Adults range in size from about 0.08 to 1.6 in. (2 mm-4 cm). Bees are related to wasps, but, unlike wasps, which can eat other insects, most bees are entirely dependent on flow¬ ers for their food. Male bees are usu¬ ally short-lived and never collect pollen; female bees make and provi¬ sion the nest and usually have spe¬ cial anatomical structures for carrying pollen. Most species are solitary. The so-called killer bee, an Africanized subspecies of Apis mel- lifera (see honeybee), reached the U.S. from Mexico c. 1990; killer bees react quickly and attack in number. See also Karl von Frisch.

bee balm Any of 12 North American annual or perennial plants in the genus Monarda, variously known as bergamot, horsemint, and bee balm. They belong to the mint family and have showy flowers. Wild bergamot (M fistulosa ) has a minty aroma. The more sharply scented Oswego tea (M didyma ; a bergamot variety) is native to eastern North America but is widely cultivated elsewhere.

beech Any of several different types of trees, especially about 10 spe¬ cies of deciduous ornamental and timber trees constituting the genus Fagus (family Fagaceae), native to temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. About 40 species of superficially similar trees, known as false beech (genus Nothofagus), are native to cooler regions of the Southern Hemisphere. A beech of the family Fagaceae is tall, round- headed, and wide-spreading, with smooth, steel-gray bark and toothed, shiny green leaves. The American beech {F. grandifolia), native to east¬ ern North America, and the European beech {F. sylvatica ), found through¬ out England and Eurasia, are the most widely known species. Both are economically important timber trees, often planted as ornamentals. Beech wood is durable under water and is valued for indoor use, tool handles, and shipping containers. The nuts provide forage for game animals, are used in fattening poultry, and yield an edible oil. Beeches are slow- growing and may live 400 years or more.

Beecham, Sir Thomas (b. April 29, 1879, St. Helens, Lancashire, Eng.—d. March 8, 1961, London) British conductor. He was born to an aristocratic family and was self-taught as a conductor. Devoted to broad¬ ening British musical tastes, he created the Beecham Symphony Orches¬ tra in 1909. In 1932 he founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1947 the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; he also founded opera com¬ panies. Though he had significant gaps in his technique, he was an incom¬ parable interpreter of the music he loved, especially that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; of his contemporaries, he particularly championed Rich¬ ard Strauss and Frederick Delius.

Beecher, Catharine (Esther) (b. Sept. 6, 1800, East Hampton, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 12, 1878, Elmira, N.Y.) U.S. educator who popularized and shaped a conservative movement to both elevate and entrench woman’s role in the domestic sphere. Daughter of the minister and temperance activist Lyman Beecher and sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher, she helped found the Hartford Female Seminary (1823) and other organizations devoted to women’s education. Her popular Treatise on Domestic Economy (1841) helped standardize domestic practices while reinforcing the belief that a woman’s proper place was in the home.

Beecher, Henry Ward (b. June 24, 1813, Litchfield, Conn., U.S.—d. March 8, 1887, Brooklyn, N.Y.) U.S. Congregational clergyman. The son of a minister, he was the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Catharine Esther Beecher. After graduating from Amherst College and later studying at Lane Theological Seminary, he served as pastor to congregations in Indi¬ ana. In 1847 he was called to Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. A famous ora¬ tor and one of the most influential preachers of his time, he opposed slavery and supported women’s suffrage, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution,

and scientific biblical criticism. He gained unfavourable publicity in 1874 when he was put on trial for adultery, but he was acquitted and returned to his church.

bee-eater Any of about 25 species of brightly coloured birds (family Meropidae) that feed on bees, wasps, and other insects. They are found throughout tropical and subtropical Eurasia, Africa, and Australasia (one species occasionally reaches the British Isles). Bee-eaters range in length from 6 to 14 in. (15-35 cm).

Their bill is moderately long, slightly downcurved, and pointed. Their bril¬ liant plumage is usually predomi¬ nantly green, but many species are partially coloured with red, yellow, blue, or purple.

beef Flesh of mature cattle, as dis¬ tinguished from veal, the flesh of calves. The best beef is obtained from steers (castrated males) and heifers (female cows that have not calved). Tenderness and flavour are improved by aging; in one common method, the carcass is hung for about two weeks at approximately 36 °F (2 °C). The world’s primary beef pro¬ ducers and consumers are the U.S., the European Union, Brazil, China,

Argentina, and Australia. Grading standards are relatively uniform; in the U.S., grades range from prime and choice to utility and canner. Beef provides protein and B vitamins; it also contains saturated fat, an excess of which can contribute to heart disease and other health problems. Beef is not eaten by Hindus because of the sacred status of the cow.

beehive tomb or tholos \'tho-,las\ Large, beehive-shaped ceremo¬ nial tomb, sometimes built into the side of a hill. The Treasury of Atreus, a surviving tholos (c. 1300-1250 bc) of the Mycenaean civilization, is a pointed dome built up of stepped blocks of conglomerate masonry cut and polished to give the impression of a true vault. A small side chamber contained the burials, while the main chamber was probably reserved for ritual use.

beekeeping or apiculture Va-po-.kol-chorX Care and manipulation of honeybees to enable them to produce and store more honey than they need so that the excess can be collected. Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms of animal husbandry. Early efforts at collecting the honey required destroying the hive; modern beekeepers use an extractor that empties the cells of the honeycomb without damaging them. To collect honey, bee¬ keepers need a veiled helmet for protection, a tool for cutting comb, and a smoker for tranquilizing the bees. Maintaining the hive includes pro¬ tecting the colony against diseases, parasites, and predators.

beer Alcoholic beverage made usually from malted barley, flavoured with hops, and brewed by slow fermentation. Known from ancient times, beer was especially common in northern climates not conducive to grape cul¬ tivation for wine. It is produced by employing either a bottom-fermenting yeast, which falls to the bottom of the container when fermentation is completed, or a top-fermenting yeast, which rises to the surface. Lager beers (from lagern, “to store”), of German origin, are bottom-fermented and stored at a low temperature for several months; most are light in colour, with high carbonation, medium hop flavor, and alcohol content of 3-5% by volume. Top-fermented beers, popular in Britain, include ale, stout, and porter; they are characterized by a prominent head of released carbon dioxide, a sharper and more strongly hopped flavour than lagers, and an alcohol content of 4-6.5% by volume. See also malt.

Beer Hall Putsch or Munich Putsch \'puch\ (Nov. 8-9, 1923) Unsuccessful attempt by Adolf Hitler to start an insurrection in Germany against the Weimar Republic. On Nov. 8, 1923, Hitler and his men pushed

Leaf-cutting bee ( Anthidium)

M.W.F. TWEEDIE FROM THE NATURAL HISTORY PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY-EB INC.

Henry Beecher, photographed by Napoleon Sarony

THE GRANGER COLLECTION

Bee-eater (Merops api aster).

S.C. PORTER-BRUCE COLEMAN LTD.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Beerbohm ► behaviour genetics I 189

their way into a right-wing political meeting in a Munich beer hall and obtained agreement that the leaders there should join in carrying the “revolution” to Berlin. The next day, some 3,000 Nazis marched toward the Marienplatz but were met by police gunfire. Hitler was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison for treason; he served only eight months, time he spent writing Mein Kampf.

Beerbohm, Sir (Henry) Max(imilian) (b. Aug. 24, 1872, London, Eng.—d. May 20, 1956, Rapallo, Italy) English caricaturist, writer, and dandy. His sophisticated drawings and parodies were unique in capturing, usually without malice, whatever was pretentious, affected, or absurd in his famous and fashionable contemporaries. His first literary collection, The Works of Max Beerbohm (1896), and his first book of drawings. Cari¬ catures of Twenty-five Gentlemen (1896), were followed by the charming fable The Happy Hypocrite (1897) and his only novel, Zuleika Dobson (1911), a burlesque of Oxford life. His story collection Seven Men (1919) is considered a masterpiece.

Beersheba City (pop., 1999 est.: 163,700), southern Israel. Historically it marked the extreme southern limit of Palestine, hence the biblical phrase “from Dan to Beersheba” (Dan is in far northern Israel). It fell to the Arabs in the 7th century and to the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. It was long a watering place for the nomadic Bedouin tribes of the Negev desert. Held by the British from 1917, it became part of Israel in 1948. It has since developed as the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of the Negev.

Beery, Wallace (Fitzgerald) (b. April 1, 1885, Kansas City, Mo., U.S.—d. April 15, 1949, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. film and stage actor. He initially worked in the circus and later in the choruses of New York City theatrical productions. After playing the lead in The Yankee Tourist, he spent several years as a dramatic actor in touring and stock companies. He started his film career in 1913, first as a comedian in Mack Sennett’s Keystone comedies. He is best known for his performances as dim-witted, but endearing, toughs in such films as The Champ (1931, Academy Award), Min and Bill (1931), and Tugboat Annie (1933).

beeswax Commercially useful wax secreted by worker honeybees to make the cell walls of the honeycomb. A bee consumes an estimated 6-10 lbs (3-4.5 kg) of honey for each pound of the wax it secretes in small flakes from glands on the underside of its abdomen. After honey removal, the comb is melted to produce the beeswax, which ranges from yellow to almost black. It is used for candles (often for churches), artificial fruit and flowers, modeling wax, and as an ingredient of furniture and floor waxes, leather dressings, waxed paper, lithographic inks, cosmetics, and ointments.

beet Cultivated form of the plant Beta vulgaris of the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), one of the most important vegetables. Four distinct types are cultivated: the garden beet, as a garden vegetable; the sugar beet, a major source of sugar and commer¬ cially the most important type; the mangel-wurzel, a succulent feed for livestock; and the leaf beet, or Swiss chard, for its edible leaves. Beet greens are a source of riboflavin, iron, and vitamins A and C. Beets are grown most extensively in temperate to cool regions or during the cooler seasons.

Beethoven Vba-.to-vonX, Lud¬ wig van (baptized Dec. 17, 1770,

Bonn, archbishopric of Cologne—d.

March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria)

German composer. Born to a musi¬ cal family, he was a precociously gifted pianist and violist. After nine years as a court musician in Bonn, he moved to Vienna to study with Joseph Haydn and remained there for the rest of his life. He was soon well known as both a virtuoso and a composer, and he became the first important composer to earn a success¬ ful living while forsaking employment in the church or court. He uniquely straddled the Classical and Romantic eras. Rooted in the traditions of Haydn and Mozart, his art also encompassed the new spirit of humanism expressed in the works of German Romantic writers as well as in the ide¬

als of the French Revolution, with its passionate concern for the freedom and dignity of the individual. His astonishing Third ( Eroica ) Symphony (1803) was the thunderclap that announced the Romantic century, and it embodies the titanic but rigorously controlled energy that was the hall¬ mark of his style. He began to lose his hearing from c. 1795; by c. 1819 he was totally deaf. For his last 15 years he was unrivaled as the world’s most famous composer. In musical form he was a considerable innova¬ tor, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto, and string quar¬ tet. His greatest achievement was to raise instrumental music, hitherto considered inferior to vocal, to the highest plane of art. His works include the celebrated 9 symphonies; 16 string quartets; 32 piano sonatas; the opera Fidelio (1805, rev. 1814);2 masses, including the Missa Solemnis (1823); 5 piano concertos; a violin concerto (1806); 6 piano trios; 10 vio¬ lin sonatas; 5 cello sonatas; and several concert overtures.

beetle Any of at least 250,000 species of insects constituting the order Coleoptera (the largest order in the animal kingdom), characterized by special forewings, called elytra, which are modified into hardened covers over a second pair of functional wings. Beetles occur in almost all envi¬ ronments except Antarctica and the peaks of the highest mountains. Tem¬ perate zones have fewer beetle species than the tropics but in greater numbers. The smallest species are less than 0.04 in. (1 mm) long; the largest can exceed 8 in. (20 cm). Most beetles eat either other animals or plants; some eat decaying matter. Some species destroy crops, timber, and textiles and spread parasitic worms and diseases. Others are valuable predators of insect pests. Some beetles are known by other common names (e.g., borer, chafer, curculio, firefly, weevil). Beetles are preyed on by other insects and by bats, swifts, and frogs.

Begin \be-'gen,\ English \'ba-gin\, Menachem (Wolfovitch) (b.

Aug. 16, 1913, Brest-Litovsk,

Russia—d. March 9, 1992, Tel Aviv,

Israel) Prime minister of Israel (1977-83). He earned a law degree from the University of Warsaw, Pol.

During World War II (1939—45) the Soviet authorities sent him to Sibe¬ ria, but he was soon released to join the Polish army in exile. He escaped to Palestine, where he became leader in 1943 of the Irgun Zvai Leumi (a right-wing underground movement in favour of a Jewish state). From 1948 to 1977 he led the opposition in the Israeli Knesset, except for three years when he sat in the Gov¬ ernment of National Unity (1967- 70). As head of the Likud party coalition, he became prime minister in 1977. He shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for Peace with Anwar el-Sadat for negotiations that resulted in the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty. His 1982 invasion of Lebanon turned world opinion against Israel, and he resigned in 1983. See also Arab-Israeli wars; Vladimir Jabotinsky.

begonia \bi-'gon-y3\ Any of about 1,000 species (genus Begonia) of mostly succulent, tropical or subtropical plants, many with colourful flow¬ ers or leaves and used as potted plants indoors or as garden plants. Bego¬ nias come in a bewildering array of cultivated varieties. The wax begonia ( B. semperfiorens) is the most popular for use as a summer bedding plant; angelwing begonias are characterized by their tall stems; hairy begonias have feltlike leaves. Most begonias are tender and intolerant of dry con¬ ditions; they require protection from strong sunlight.

Behan \'be-9n\, Brendan (Francis) (b. Feb. 9,1923, Dublin, Ire.—d. March 20, 1964, Dublin) Irish author. An alcoholic from age eight and an anti-English rebel, he was repeatedly arrested. Borstal Boy (1958) is an account of his detention in an English reform school, which combines earthy satire and powerful political commentary. His first play. The Quare Fellow { 1954), is an explosive statement on capital punishment and prison life. His second, The Hostage (produced 1958), is considered his master- work. He also wrote poetry, short stories, radio scripts, anecdotes, mem¬ oirs, and a novel.

behaviour genetics Study of the influence of an organism’s genetic composition on its behaviour and of the interaction of heredity and envi-

Beet (Beta).

GRANT HEILMAN

Menachem Begin, 1987.

RALPH CRANE/CAMERA PRESS FROM GLOBE PHOTOS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

190 I behaviour therapy ► Beirut

ronment (“nature” and “nurture”) in determining behaviour. The first sci¬ entist to explore the area was Sir Francis Galton, who sought to show that mental powers run in families. His work was followed by huge numbers of studies seeking to establish a link between IQ and genetics, none of them conclusive. Other human characteristics or behaviours studied for their possible hereditary nature include schizophrenia, alcoholism, depres¬ sion, introvert and extravert behaviour, and general activity level (includ¬ ing sleep disorders). Many such studies are based on long-term observation of identical (monozygotic) twins raised in different environ¬ ments. In animal studies, which examine topics such as learning, sexual activity, and aggressive behaviour, selective breeding is used to produce groups of genetically similar individuals that may be compared with other, dissimilar individuals or groups. See also human nature.

behaviour therapy or behaviour modification Application of experimentally derived principles of learning to the treatment of psycho¬ logical disorders and the control of behaviour. The concept, which has its roots in the work of Edward L. Thorndike, was popularized in the U.S. by theorists of behaviourism, including B.F. Skinner. Behaviour-therapy tech¬ niques are based on the principle of operant conditioning, in which desired behaviours are rewarded. There is little or no concern for conscious expe¬ rience or unconscious processes. Such techniques have been applied with some success to disturbances such as enuresis, tics, phobias, stuttering, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and various neuroses. Behaviour modification more generally refers to the application of reinforcement techniques for shaping individual behaviour toward some desired end or for controlling behaviour in classrooms or institutional situations. See also psychotherapy.

behaviourism Highly influential academic school of psychology that dominated psychological theory in the U.S. between World War I and World War 11. Classical behaviourism concerned itself exclusively with the objective evidence of behaviour (measured responses to stimuli) and excluded ideas, emotions, and inner mental experience (see conditioning). It emerged in the 1920s from the work of John B. Watson (who borrowed from Ivan Pavlov) and was developed in subsequent decades by Clark L. Hull and B.F. Skinner. Through the work of Edward C. Tolman, strict behav¬ iourist doctrines began to be supplemented or replaced by those admit¬ ting such variables as reported mental states and differences in perception. A natural outgrowth of behaviourist theory was behaviour therapy.

Behn Vban\, Aphra (b. July 1640, Harbledown?, Kent, Eng.—d. April 16, 1689, London) English dramatist, novelist, and poet, the first English¬ woman known to earn her living by writing. Her early life is obscure (as is her original surname), but she spent most of it in South America. She mar¬ ried a merchant named Behn in 1658; he died in the mid 1660s. Her novel Oroonoko (1688), the story of an enslaved African prince whom Behn knew in South America, influenced the development of the English novel. Her first play. The Fore ’d Marriage, was produced in 1671; her later witty comedies, such as the two-part The Rover (1677, 1681), were highly suc¬ cessful, and toward the end of her life she wrote many popular novels.

Behrens \'ba-rens\, Peter (b. April 14, 1868, Hamburg—d. Feb. 27, 1940, Berlin, Ger.) German architect and designer. He became director of Diisseldorf’s arts and crafts school in 1903. The large electrical company AEG hired him in 1907 as its artis¬ tic adviser, a comprehensive job that led him to design the hexagonal trademark of the AEG, its catalogs, its office stationery, products such as electric fans and street lamps, and retail shops and factories. His AEG Works turbine factory in Berlin (1909-12), with its sweeping glass curtain wall, became the most sig¬ nificant building in Germany at that time. He was an influential pioneer of Modernism; Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe all worked in his office.

Behrman Vber-monX, S(amuel)

N(athaniel) (b. June 9, 1893,

Worcester, Mass., U.S.—d. Sept. 9, 1973, New York, N.Y.) U.S. play¬ wright. He contributed to New York newspapers and magazines and stud¬

ied drama at Harvard University. His successful first play, the light comedy The Second Man (1927), was followed by the popular Meteor (1929), Brief Moment (1931), and Biography (1932). His more serious plays include Rain from Heaven (1934) and No Time for Comedy (1939). Noted for addressing complex social and moral issues, he wrote over 25 comedies in his 40-year career, and nearly every one was a hit.

Beiderbecke Vbl-dsr-.bekV (Leon) Bix (b. March 10, 1903, Daven¬ port, Iowa, U.S.—d. Aug. 6, 1931,

Long Island, N.Y.) U.S. jazz comet- ist and composer. Beiderbecke developed a style independent of the influence of Louis Armstrong and became the leading player of the Chicago style of jazz in the 1920s.

He was noted for his gentle, clear tone and introspective approach. His interest in the harmonies of compos¬ ers such as Claude Debussy was reflected in both his playing and his compositions. With saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer, Beiderbecke worked in the bands of Jean Gold- kette and Paul Whiteman. His alco¬ holism and early death contributed to his status as one of the early roman¬ tic legends of jazz.

Beijing \'ba-'jiq\ or Pei-ching

conventional Peking Vpe-'kiqV/or- merly (1928-49) Beiping Vba-'piqV City, municipality with provincial status (pop., 2003 est.: city, 7,699,300; 2002 est.: municipality, 14,230,000), and capital of China. The munici¬ pality is bordered by Hebei province and Tianjin municipality and has an area of 6,500 sq mi (16,800 sq km). Lying on a broad plain in northeast¬ ern China, the city has been settled since ancient times and has been known by various names. It became the royal residence of Kublai Khan, who in 1272 named it Dadu. It was chosen as the capital of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) in 1421, which it remained during the Qing dynasty (1644—1911/12). It suffered heavy damage when it was occupied by Euro¬ pean forces in 1860 and 1900 (see Boxer Rebellion). In 1928 the capital was moved to Nanjing, and the name Beiping (Pei-p’ing) was given to the former capital. Nearby, in 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident took place. Beijing’s capital status and its former name were restored follow¬ ing the communist victory in 1949. It is China’s cultural and educational centre. The old Forbidden City contains the former imperial palace, desig¬ nated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. Abutting it is Tiananmen Square, one of the world’s largest public squares. Beijing’s 15th-century walls were partly demolished in the Cultural Revolution. In 2001 the city was selected as the site for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Beijing University See Peking University

Beilstein Vbll-.shtlnV, Friedrich Konrad (b. Feb. 17, 1838, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Oct. 18, 1906, St. Petersburg) Russian chemist. From 1866 to his retirement he taught at St. Petersburg’s Technical Insti¬ tute. His Handbuch der organischen Chemie (“Handbook of Organic Chemistry”; 1st ed., 1880-83) fully described 15,000 organic compounds. The fourth edition (27 vol., 1937) is periodically supplemented, and remains indispensable for workers in organic chemistry.

Beira Vba-rg\ Coastal city (pop., 1997: 412,588), central Mozambique. Situated on the Mozambique Channel at the mouths of the Pungoe and Buzi rivers, it is the chief port for central Mozambique and for landlocked Zimbabwe and Malawi. Founded in 1891 as a trading company’s head¬ quarters, it passed to Portuguese administration in 1942 and then to inde¬ pendent Mozambique in 1975. It is the terminus of railways from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Congo (Kinshasa), Zambia, and Malawi.

Beirut \ba-'rut\ City (pop., 1998 est.: metro, area, 1,500,000), capital of Lebanon. The country’s chief port and largest city, it lies at the foot of the Lebanon Mountains. Initially settled by the Phoenicians, it gained promi¬ nence under Roman rule in the 1st century bc. It was captured by the Arabs in ad 635. Christian Crusaders held Beirut (1110-1291), after which it was dominated by the Mamluk dynasty. In 1517 it fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Under a French mandate, it became the capital of the new state of Lebanon in 1920 and capital of an independent Lebanon