Britannica Concise 2005

Brooks, Gwendolyn (Elizabeth) (b. June 7, 1917, Topeka, Kan., U.S.—d. Dec. 3, 2000, Chicago, Ill.) U.S. poet. Reared in the Chicago slums, Brooks published her first poem at age 13. With Annie Allen (1949), a loosely connected series of poems about growing up in Chi¬ cago, she became the first black poet to win the Pulitzer Prize. The Bean Eaters (1960) contains some of her best verse. Among her other books are In the Mecca (1968), the autobiographical Report from Part One (1972), Primer for Blacks (1980), Young Poets’ Primer (1981), and Chil¬ dren Coming Home (1991).

Brooks, James L. (b. May 9, 1940, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. screen¬ writer, director, and producer. He worked in television from 1964. He cocreated and produced the hit Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77) and several other TV programs and series, including The Tracey Ullman Show (1986-90) and The Simpsons (from 1989). As writer, producer, and direc¬ tor of the film Terms of Endearment (1983), he won three Academy Awards; he also wrote, directed, and produced Broadcast News (1987) and As Good As It Gets (1997).

Brooks, Louise (b. Nov. 14, 1906, Cherryvale, Kan., U.S.—d. Aug. 8, 1985, Rochester, N.Y.) U.S. film actress. She danced in Florenz Ziegfeld’s Follies (1925) and soon gained a Hollywood contract. Noted for her mag¬

netic screen presence and dark bobbed hair, she personified the 1920s flapper in the silent films A Girl in Every Port (1928) and Beggars of Life (1928). In Germany she gave legendary performances in G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box (1928) and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). Back in Holly¬ wood (1930), however, she was offered only minor roles, and she retired in 1938 with little fame and no fortune. Her films were rediscovered in the 1950s, and her book Lulu in Hollywood (1982) won critical praise.

Brooks, Mel orig. Melvin Kaminsky (b. June 28, 1926, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. director, producer, and actor. He wrote comedy routines for Sid Caesar’s television shows (1949-59) and cocreated the TV series Get Smart (1965). He wrote and directed his first feature film, The Pro¬ ducers (1968, Academy Award for writing), which was later transformed into a hit Broadway musical. He directed, produced, and cowrote (and sometimes acted in) film comedies such as Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), and Spaceballs (1987).

Brooks, Rodney Allen (b. Dec. 30, 1954, Adelaide, S.Aus., Austl.) Australian computer scientist. By the time he finished his doctorate (1981) at Stanford University, Calif., Brooks was disillusioned by the traditional “model-based” approach to artificial intelligence (AI). After moving to the Mobile Robotics Laboratory at MIT in 1984, he built simple robots that could perform “insectlike” actions on the premise that practical learning comes from interacting with the real world. In 1997 Brooks became direc¬ tor of the MIT AI Research Laboratory.

Brooks, Romaine Goddard orig. Beatrice Romaine God¬ dard (b. May 1, 1874, Rome, Italy—d. Dec. 7, 1970, Nice, Fr.) U.S. painter. Born to wealthy American parents, she studied painting in Italy. After a brief marriage, in 1905 she moved to Paris where she established herself in literary, artistic, and homosexual circles. Her reputation reached its height in 1925 with several important exhibitions. Her gray-shaded portraits, touched by occasional colour, distilled their subjects’ person¬ alities to a disturbing degree. The Amazon (c. 1920), Brooks’s portrait of her longtime lover Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972), is among her finest works.

Brooks, Van Wyck (b. Feb. 16, 1886, Plainfield, N.J., U.S.—d. May 2, 1963, Bridgewater, Conn.) U.S. critic, biographer, and literary histo¬ rian. Brooks attended Harvard University. His Finders and Makers series, tracing American literary history in rich biographical detail from 1800 to 1915, includes The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865 (1936, Pulitzer Prize); New England: Indian Summer, 1865-1915 (1940); The World of Washington Irving (1944); The Times of Melville and Whitman (1947); and The Confident Years: 1885-1915 (1952).

broom In botany, any of several leguminous shrubs or small trees of the genus Cytisus, native to temperate regions of Europe and western Asia.

They are cultivated widely, chiefly for their attractive flowers. The com¬ pound leaves have three leaflets. The solitary or clustered yellow, purple, or white flowers resemble pea flow¬ ers. The fruit is a flat pod. A com¬ mon, almost leafless species is C. scoparius, a shrub with bright yellow flowers often grown for erosion con¬ trol in warm climates. Butcher’s broom ( Ruscus aculeatus ) is a shrub of the lily family with small whitish flowers and red berries.

Brouwer Vbrau-orX, Adriaen (b.

1605/06, Oudenaarde, Flanders—d.

January 1638, Antwerp) Flemish painter. After studying with Frans Hals in Haarlem c. 1623, he returned to Flanders and by 1631 had settled in Antwerp. His pictures, mostly small and painted on panels, typically depict peasants drinking and brawling in taverns. The coarseness of his subjects was in direct contrast to his delicate technique; his virtuoso brush- work and sparkling tonal values were unsurpassed. Brouwer popularized genre painting in Flanders and Holland. Adriaen van Ostade and David Teniers were among his many followers.

Browder, Earl (Russell) (b. May 20, 1891, Wichita, Kan., U.S.—d. June 27, 1973, Princeton, N.J.) U.S. Communist Party leader (1930-44). He was imprisoned in 1919-20 for his opposition to U.S. participation in

Rupert Brooke, posthumous portrait drawing by J.H. Thomas; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Brown, C. ► Brown, W. I 281

World War I. In 1921 he joined the U.S. Communist Party; he served as the party’s general secretary from 1930 to 1944 and was its presidential candidate in 1936 and 1940. In 1944 he was removed from his position for declaring that capitalism and socialism could coexist, and in 1946 he was expelled from the party.

Brown, Capability orig. Lancelot Brown (b. 1715, Kirkharle, Northumberland, Eng.—d. Feb. 6, 1783, London) British master of natu¬ ralistic garden design. He worked for years at Stowe, Buckinghamshire, one of the most talked-of gardens of the day, under William Kent (1685— 1748). By 1753 he was the leading “improver of grounds” in England. At Blenheim Palace he created masterly lakes and almost totally erased the earlier formal scheme. His landscapes consisted of expanses of grass, irregularly shaped bodies of water, and trees placed singly and in clumps. His style is often thought of as the antithesis of that of Andre Le Notre, designer of the formal Versailles gardens. Brown’s nickname arose from his habit of saying that a place had “capabilities.”

Brown, Charles Brockden (b. Jan. 17, 1771, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d. Feb. 22, 1810, Philadelphia) U.S. writer. Brown left his law studies to devote himself to writing. His gothic novels in American set¬ tings were the first in a tradition later adapted by Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Wieland (1798), his best-known work, shows the ease with which mental balance is lost when common sense is confronted with the uncanny. His writings reflect a thoughtful liberalism while exploiting horror and terror. He has been called the “father of the Ameri¬ can novel.”

Brown, Clifford (b. Oct. 30, 1930, Wilmington, Del., U.S.—d. June 26, 1956, Pennsylvania) U.S. jazz trumpeter. He became the most influ¬ ential trumpeter of his generation, inspired by Fats Navarro to combine technical brilliance with lyrical grace in his playing. He was a principal figure in the hard-bop idiom (see bebop). After touring with Lionel Hamp¬ ton’s big band in 1953, he worked with Art Blakey; in 1954 he and drum¬ mer Max Roach formed a quintet that became one of the outstanding groups in modem jazz. He died in a car crash at age 25.

Brown, Ford Madox (b. April 16, 1821, Calais, Fr.—d. Oct. 6, 1893, London, Eng.) British painter. He studied in Bruges, Antwerp, Paris, and Rome. In Italy (1845) he met Peter von Cornelius, a member of the Naz- arenes, who influenced his palette and style. His use of brilliant colour, meticulous handling, and taste for literary subjects had a strong effect on the Pre-Raphaelites, most notably Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His most famous paintings are The Last of England (1852-55), a poignant tribute to emi¬ gration, and Work (1852-63), a Victorian social commentary. In 1861 he became a founding member of William Morris’s company, for which he designed stained glass and furniture.

Brown, George (b. Nov. 29,1818, Edinburgh, Scot.—d. May. 9,1880, Toronto, Ont., Can.) Canadian journalist and politician. He immigrated to New York in 1837 and in 1843 moved to Toronto, where he founded The Globe (1844), a reformist political newspaper. As a member of the Cana¬ dian assembly (1857-65), he advocated proportional representation, the confederation of British North America, acquisition of the Northwest Ter¬ ritories, and separation of church and state. He later became a leader of the Clear Grits movement. In 1873 he was appointed to the Canadian Senate, though he continued to manage his influential and popular news¬ paper (later The Globe and Mail).

Brown, James (b. May 3, 1933, Barnwell, S.C., U.S.) U.S. singer and songwriter. Growing up in Georgia during the Depression, Brown first sang and danced on street comers for money. He later formed a trio, appearing at small clubs throughout the South. He gradually evolved a highly personal style, combining blues and gospel music elements with his own emotionally charged and highly rhythmic delivery, accented by a strong sense of showmanship. His first hit, “Please, Please, Please” (1956), was followed by other million-selling singles, including “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”; his style, marked by strong dance-oriented rhythms and heavy syncopation, became known as funk. His checkered personal life was highlighted in 1988 when he received a three-year jail sentence on a variety of charges.

Brown, Jim orig. James Nathaniel Brown (b. Feb. 17, 1936, St. Simons, Ga., U.S.) U.S. football player, often considered the greatest run¬ ning back of all time. He was an All-American in football and lacrosse at Syracuse University. In his nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns (1957-65), he set NFL overall rushing and combined yardage records that

stood until 1984. Averaging a record 5.22 yards per carry in his career. Brown led the NFL in rushing in eight of the nine years he played. After retiring from football, he became a movie actor.

Brown, John (b. 1735, Buncle, Berwickshire, Scot.—d. Oct. 17, 1788, London, Eng.) British physician. He propounded the “excitability” theory published in Elementa medicinae (1780), which classified diseases as over- or understimulating and held that internal and external “exciting powers,” or stimuli, operate on living tissues. Brown viewed diseases as states of decreased excitability, requiring stimulants, or increased excit¬ ability, requiring sedatives. Hermann von Helmholtz discredited the theory.

Brown, John (b. May 9, 1800, Torrington, Conn., U.S.—d. Dec. 2, 1859, Charles Town, Va.) U.S. abolitionist. He grew up in Ohio, where his mother died insane when he was eight. He moved around the country working in various trades and raised a large family of 20 children. Though he was white, he settled in 1849 with his family in a black community founded at North Elba, N.Y. An ardent advocate of overt action to end slavery, he traveled to Kansas in 1855 with five of his sons to retaliate against proslavery actions in Lawrence. He and his group murdered five proslavery settlers (see Bleeding Kansas). In 1858 he proposed to estab¬ lish a mountain stronghold in Maryland for escaping slaves, to be financed by abolitionists. He hoped that taking the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, W.Va., would inspire slaves to join his “army of emancipation.” In 1859 his small force overpowered the arsenal’s guard; after two days it was in turn overpowered by federal forces led by Col. Robert E. Lee. Brown was tried for treason, convicted, and hanged. His raid made him a martyr to northern abolitionists and increased the sectional animosities that led to the American Civil War.

Brown, Joseph Rogers (b. Jan. 26,1810, Warren, R.I., U.S.—d. July 23, 1876, Isles of Shoals, N.H.) U.S. inventor and manufacturer. He per¬ fected and produced a highly accurate linear dividing engine in 1850, and then developed a vernier caliper and also applied vernier methods to the protractor. With Lucian Sharpe he founded the Brown and Sharpe Manu¬ facturing Co. His micrometre caliper appeared in 1867. He invented a pre¬ cision gear cutter to produce clock gears, a universal milling machine, and (perhaps his finest innovation) a universal grinding machine, in which articles were hardened first and then ground, thereby increasing accuracy and eliminating waste.

Brown, Molly orig. Margaret Tobin (b. July 18, 1867, Hannibal, Mo, U.S.—d. Oct. 26, 1932, New York, N.Y.) U.S. philanthropist, social reformer, and socialite. The daughter of Irish immigrants, she attended a grammar school and later worked at a tobacco factory. She followed her brother c. 1884 to Colorado, where she met and married James Brown, a miner. After he found gold in 1894, they moved to Denver, where they were welcomed into society. She became a founding member of the Den¬ ver Woman’s Club, part of a national network of women’s clubs dedi¬ cated to improving the conditions of women and children. After her husband left her, she traveled to New York and Newport, where she enjoyed social success. As a passenger on the disastrous maiden voyage of the Titanic (1912), she helped command a lifeboat and was celebrated by the U.S. press as “the Unsinkable Mrs. Brown.” Her life, in the semi¬ legendary form she herself recounted it, was popularized in a stage musi¬ cal and movie.

Brown, Robert (b. Dec. 21, 1773, Montrose, Angus, Scot.—d. June 10, 1858, London, Eng.) Scottish botanist. The son of a clergyman, he studied medicine in Aberdeen and Edinburgh before entering the British army as an ensign and assistant surgeon (1795). He obtained the post of naturalist aboard a ship bound to survey the coasts of Australia (1801), and on the journey he gathered some 3,900 plant species. He published some of the results of his trip in 1810 in his classic Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae..., laying the foundations of Australian botany and refining prevailing plant classification systems. In 1827 he transferred Joseph Banks’s botanical collection to the British Museum and became keeper of the museum’s newly formed botanical department. The follow¬ ing year he published his observation of the phenomenon that came to be called Brownian motion. In 1831 he noted the existence in plant cells of what he called the nucleus. He was the first to recognize the distinction between gymnosperms and angiosperms (flowering plants).

Brown, William Wells (b. 1814?, near Lexington, Ky.,U.S.—d. Nov. 6, 1884, Chelsea, Mass.) U.S. writer. Born into slavery, Brown escaped and educated himself, settling in the Boston area. He wrote a popular autobiography, Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave (1847),

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282 I brown bear ► browser

and lectured on abolitionism and temperance reform. Clotel (1853), his only novel, concerning the descendants of Thomas Jefferson and a slave, was the first novel ever published by an African American. His only play, The Escape (1858), is about two slaves who secretly marry.

brown bear Shaggy-haired, characteristically brown species ( Ursus arctos) of bear with numerous races native to Eurasia and to northwest¬ ern North America. North American brown bears are usually called griz¬ zly bears. Eurasian brown bears are generally solitary animals, able to run and swim well, and usually 48-84 in. (120-210 cm) long and 300-550 lbs (135-250 kg). They feed on mammals, fish, vegetable materials, and honey. The exceptionally large Siberian brown bear is similar in size to the grizzly.

brown dwarf Astronomical object intermediate in mass between a planet and a star. Sometimes described as failed stars, brown dwarfs are believed to form in the same way as stars, from fragments of an inter¬ stellar cloud that contract into gravitationally bound objects. However, they do not have enough mass to produce the internal heat that in stars ignites hydrogen and establishes nuclear fusion. Though they generate some heat and light, they also cool rapidly and shrink; they may differ from high-mass planets only in how they form.

brown recluse spider Venomous species ( Loxosceles reclusa) of brown spider, most common in the western and southern U.S. The brown recluse is light-coloured, generally with a dark violin-shaped design on its back, for which it is sometimes called the violin spider. About 0.25 in. (7 mm) long, it has a leg span of about 1 in. (2.5 cm). It has extended its range into parts of the northern U.S. and is often found under stones or in dark corners inside buildings. The venom of the brown recluse destroys the walls of blood vessels near the site of the bite, sometimes causing a slow-healing skin ulcer. Bites are occasionally fatal.

brown trout Prized and wary European game fish ( Salmo trutta, fam¬ ily Salmonidae) that is favoured for food. The species includes several varieties (e.g., the Loch Leven trout of Britain). The brown trout is rec¬ ognized by the light-ringed black spots on its brown body. It has been transplanted to many areas of the world because it can thrive in warmer waters than most other trout.

It grows to about 8 lbs (3.6 kg).

Oceangoing individuals, called sea trout, are larger than freshwater forms and provide good sport, as do those that enter large lakes.

Brown University Private university in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S., a traditional member of the Ivy League. It was founded in 1764 as Rhode Island College and renamed in 1804 for a benefactor, Nicholas Brown. It became coeducational in 1971 when it merged with Pembroke, a women’s college founded in 1891. Today it offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in all major academic fields; its school of medicine awards the M.D. Research facilities include centres for geological, astro¬ nomical, and educational research.

Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka) (1954) U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment says that no state may deny equal protection of the laws to any person within its jurisdiction. The court declared separate educa¬ tional facilities to be inherently unequal, thus reversing its 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. The Brown ruling was limited to public schools, but it was believed to imply that segregation is not permissible in other public facilities. Guidelines for ending segregation were presented and school boards were advised to proceed “with all deliberate speed.” See also Thur- good Marshall.

Browne, Sir Thomas (b. Oct. 19, 1605, London, Eng.—d. Oct. 19, 1682, Norwich, Norfolk) British physician and author. While practicing medicine, he began a parallel career as a writer. His best-known work, Religio Medici (1642), is a journal of reflections on the mysteries of God, nature, and man. A larger work commonly known as Browne’s Vulgar Errors (1646) attempted to correct popular beliefs and superstitions. He also wrote treatises on antiquarian subjects and the beautiful and subtle A Letter to a Friend (1690).

Brownian motion Any of various physical phenomena in which some quantity is constantly undergoing small, random fluctuations. It was named for Robert Brown, who was investigating the fertilization process of flowers in 1827 when he noticed a “rapid oscillatory motion” of micro¬ scopic particles within pollen grains suspended in water. He later discov¬ ered that similar motions could be seen in smoke or dust particles suspended in air and other fluids. The idea that molecules of a fluid are constantly in motion is a key part of the kinetic theory of gases, developed by James Clerk Maxwell, Ludwig Boltzmann, and Rudolf Clausius (1822- 88) to explain heat phenomena.

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett orig. Elizabeth Barrett (b. March 6, 1806, near Durham, Durham,

Eng.—d. June 29, 1861, Florence)

British poet. Though she was an invalid who was afraid to meet strangers, her poetry became well known in literary circles with the publication of volumes of verse in 1838 and 1844. She met Robert Browning in 1845 and, after a court¬ ship kept secret from her despotic father, they married and settled in Florence. Her reputation rests chiefly on the love poems written during their courtship, Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850). Her most ambi¬ tious work, the blank-verse novel Aurora Leigh (1857), was a huge popular success.

Browning, Robert (b. May 7,

1812, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 12,

1889, Venice, Italy) British poet. His early works include verse dramas, notably Pippa Passes (1841), and long poems, including Sordello (1840). In the years of his marriage (1846-61) to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, spent in Italy, he produced little other than Men and Women (1855), which contains dramatic lyrics such as “Love Among the Ruins” and the great monologues “Fra Lippo Lippi” and “Bishop Blougram’s Apology.” Dramatis Personae (1864), including “Rabbi Ben Ezra” and “Caliban upon Setebos,” finally won him popular recognition. The Ring and the Book (1868-69), a book-length poem, is based on a 1698 murder trial in Rome. Browning influenced many mod¬ ern poets through his development of the dramatic monologue (with its emphasis on individual psychology) and through his success in writing about the variety of modern life in language his contemporaries found often difficult as well as original.

Browning, Tod orig. Charles Albert Browning (b. July 12,1880, Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d. Oct. 6, 1962, Malibu, Calif.) U.S. film director. He was a circus performer and vaudeville comic before joining the Bio¬ graph film studio in 1915. He wrote several screenplays, then directed melodramas and adventure films (1917-25). He directed the macabre film The Unholy Three (1925), starring Lon Chaney, followed by Dracula (1931) and Freaks (1932), which established his reputation for films of horror and the grotesque.

Brownshirts See SA

Brownsville Affair Racial incident in 1906 in Brownsville, Texas, involving white citizens of Brownsville and African American soldiers stationed at nearby Fort Brown. On the evening of August 13-14, rifle shots on a street in Brownsville killed one white man and wounded another. The mayor and other whites accused African American soldiers of the crime. Though their white officers stated that the soldiers were in their barracks, investigators accepted the mayor’s version, and Pres. The¬ odore Roosevelt ordered dishonourable discharges for 167 African Ameri¬ can soldiers for their alleged conspiracy of silence. In 1972 a congressional investigation cleared the soldiers of guilt.

browser Software that allows a computer user to find and view infor¬ mation on the Internet. The first text-based browser for the World Wide Web became available in 1991; Web use expanded rapidly after the release in 1993 of a browser called Mosaic, which used “point-and-click” graphi¬ cal manipulations. Such Web browsers interpret the HTML tags in down¬ loaded documents and format the displayed data according to a set of

Brown trout (Salmo trutta)

TREAT DAVIDSON-THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, detail of an oil painting by Michele Gordigiani,

1858; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY,

LONDON

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Brubeck ► Bruhn I 283

standard style rules. Netscape Navigator became the dominant Web browser soon after its release in 1994; Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was introduced a year later and has become widespread.

Brubeck, Dave orig. David Warren Brubeck (b. Dec. 6, 1920, Concord, Calif., U.S.) U.S. jazz pianist and composer. Brubeck studied composition with Darius Milhaud before working as a jazz pianist. He formed a quartet with saxophonist Paul Desmond in 1951. His use of unconventional metres contributed to his immense appeal: the recording of Desmond’s “Take Five” became the first jazz instrumental to sell more than a million copies. This exposure brought many new listeners to jazz, particularly on college campuses during the 1950s and ’60s.

Bruce, Blanche K(elso) (b. March 1, 1841, Prince Edward county, Va., U.S.—d. March 17, 1898, Washington, D.C.) U.S. senator from Mis¬ sissippi during Reconstruction. Bom to a slave mother and a white father, he was educated by his father. He moved to Mississippi, where he became a significant figure in state politics and purchased a plantation. In the U.S. Senate (1875-81), he advocated just treatment of African Americans and Indians and opposed the policy of excluding Chinese immigrants. He later served as register of the U.S. treasury (1881-85, 1895-98), District of Columbia recorder of deeds (1889-95), and trustee of Howard Univer¬ sity.

Bruce, Lenny orig. Leonard Alfred Schneider (b. Oct. 13, 1925, Mineola, N.Y., U.S.—d. Aug. 3, 1966, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. stand-up comedian. He studied acting and began performing stand-up routines in nightclubs in the 1950s, soon developing a style marked by black humour and punctuated with obscenity. As he gained notoriety, he focused his material on criticisms of the social and legal establishments, organized religion, and other controversial subjects. His reputation acquired iconic status as a daring performer and an activist for free speech after his death from a drug overdose.

brucellosis X.bru-so-'lo-sosV or Malta fever or Mediterranean fever or undulant fever Infectious disease of humans and domestic animals. It is characterized by gradual onset of fever, chills, sweats, weak¬ ness, and aches, and it usually ends within six months. It is named after the British physician David Bruce (b. 1855—d. 1931), who first identi¬ fied (1887) the causative bacteria. Three main species in the genus Bru¬ cella commonly cause the disease in humans, who contract it from infected animals (goats, sheep, pigs, cattle). Brucellosis is rarely trans¬ mitted between humans but spreads rapidly in animals, causing severe economic losses. Drug therapy is not practical for animal brucellosis, but vaccination of young animals is useful. Infected animals must be removed from herds. Antibiotics are effective against acute disease in humans, in whom it can cause liver and heart problems if untreated.

Bruch VbriikX, Max (Karl August) (b. Jan. 6, 1838, Cologne, Prussia—d. Oct. 2, 1920, Friedensau, near Berlin, Ger.) German com¬ poser. Bruch held many conducting positions and taught for 20 years at the Berlin Academy. He was known in his lifetime principally for his many sacred and secular choral pieces, including Odysseus (1872) and Das Lied von der Glocke (1879). Today he is remembered especially for his first violin concerto (1868); he also wrote two further violin concer¬ tos, the cello variations Kol Nidrei (1881), and operas and symphonies.

Brucke VbriE-kaV Die German "The Bridge" Organization of Ger¬ man Expressionist artists. It was founded in 1905 by four architectural stu¬ dents at the Dresden Technical School, including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, who were soon joined by other German and European artists. Its name reflects their hope that their work would be a bridge to the art of the future. Strongly influenced by primitive art, Ger¬ man Gothic woodcuts, and the prints of Edvard Munch, they produced fig¬ ure paintings and portraits depicting human suffering and anxiety, as well as still lifes and landscapes characterized by harshly distorted shapes and violent colours. They contributed to the 20th-century revival of the wood- cut. The group disbanded in 1913. See photograph opposite.

Bruckner Vbruk-nsrV (Josef) Anton (b. Sept. 4, 1824, Ansfelden, Austria—d. Oct. 11, 1896, Vienna) Austrian composer. Son of a rural schoolmaster who died in Anton’s youth, he was taken into a monastery as a choirboy and there learned to play the organ. Greatly gifted, he became organist at Linz Cathedral in 1855; throughout his composing career, his orchestrations would be compared to organ sonorities. In 1865 he heai'd Tristan und Isolde in Munich and thereafter idolized Richard Wagner, though his own works remained indebted to Ludwig van

Beethoven. In 1868 he was appointed professor at the Vienna Conserva¬ tory and settled in Vienna for the rest of his life. He was 60 before he achieved fame with his Symphony No. 7 in E Major (1884). He was socially awkward and eccentric, and he remained a deeply devout Chris¬ tian to his death. His reputation rests on his nine mature symphonies (1866-96), his three masses, and his Te Deum (1884).

Bruegel Vbroi-golV Jan, the Elder (b. 1568, Brussels—d. Jan. 13, 1625, Antwerp) Flemish painter and draftsman, second son of Pieter Brue¬ gel. Early in his career he went to Italy, where he painted under the patronage of Cardinal Federigo Borromeo. After returning to Antwerp in 1596, he enjoyed a highly successful and prestigious career. In 1608 he was appointed court painter to the archdukes of Habsburg, regents of the southern Netherlands. He is known for his small-scale landscapes and exquisite flower paintings, all painted in a miniaturistic style on copper or panel. His skill at depicting delicate textures earned him the nickname “Velvet.” He often collaborated with other artists, including his friend Peter Paul Rubens. His sons, Jan the Younger and Ambrosius, were also painters.

Bruegel Vbroi-golV Pieter, the Elder (b. c. 1525, probably Breda, duchy of Brabant—d. Sept. 5/9, 1569, Brussels) Greatest Netherlandish painter of the 16th century. Not much is known of his early life, but in 1551 he set off for Italy, where he produced his earliest signed painting, Landscape with Christ and the Apostles at the Sea of Tiberias (c. 1553). Returning to Flanders in 1555, he achieved some fame with a series of satirical, moralizing prints in the style of Hieronymus Bosch, commissioned by an Antwerp engraver. He is best known for his paintings of Nether¬ landish proverbs, seasonal landscapes, and realistic views of peasant life and folklore, but he also took a novel approach to religious subject mat¬ ter, portraying biblical events in panoramic scenes, often viewed from above. He had many important patrons; most of his paintings were com¬ missioned by collectors. In addition to many drawings and engravings, about 40 authenticated paintings from his enormous output have survived. His sons, Peter Brueghel the Younger and Jan, the Elder Brueghel (both of whom restored to the name the h their father had abandoned), and later imitators carried his style into the 18th century.

Brugge Vbrui-ksA English Vbru-g9\ or Bruges VbruezhV City (pop., 2000 est.: 116,200), northwestern Belgium. First mentioned in 7th-century records, it was the site of a castle built in the 9th century by the first counts of Flanders against Norman invaders. It joined the Hanseatic League and was a major marketplace in the 13th century. As the centre of the Flem¬ ish cloth industry, it was the commercial hub of northern Europe. In the 15th century it was home to Jan van Eyck and other painters of the Flem¬ ish school (see Flemish art). It declined as a port and textile centre but later revived with the construc¬ tion of canals linking it with the North Sea. Shipbuilding, food pro¬ cessing, chemicals, electronics, and tourism are the main industries.

Brugghen, Hendrik ter See

Hendrik Terbrugghen

Brugmann Vbrug- 1 man\ /

(Friedrich) Karl (b. March 16, 1849, Wiesbaden, Nassau—d. June 29, 1919, Leipzig, Ger.) German lin¬ guist. A professor of Sanskrit and comparative linguistics, he belonged to the Neogrammarian school, which asserted the inviolability of phonetic laws and adhered to strict research methodology. Among the best known of his 400 publications are the two volumes on sounds and forms that he contributed to the Out¬ line of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-Germanic Languages

"Dodo and Her Brother/' oil painting by Die Brucke artist Ernst Ludwig Kirch¬ ner, c. 1908; in the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass.

COURTESY OF THE SMITH COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART, NORTHAMPTON, MASS.

(1886-93).

Bruhn VbriinV, Erik orig. Belton Evers (b. Oct. 3, 1928, Copen¬ hagen, Den.—d. April 1, 1986, Tor¬ onto, Ont., Can.) Danish ballet

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284 I bruise ► Brunei

dancer. From 1937 he studied at the Royal Danish Ballet training school, and in 1947 he joined the company. He performed as guest soloist with many other companies, including American Ballet Theatre in the 1950s and ’60s, dancing leading roles in such ballets as La Sylphide, Swan Lake , and Carmen. He was admired for his classical technique. He later served as director of the Royal Swedish Opera House (1967- 72) and assistant director (1973—81) and director (1983-86) of Canada’s National Ballet.

bruise or contusion Visible blu¬ ish or purplish mark beneath the sur¬ face of unbroken skin, indicating burst blood vessels in deeper tissue layers. Bruises are usually caused by a blow or pressure, but they may occur spontaneously in elderly persons. The yellowish hue that becomes visible as a bruise heals comes from the disintegration and gradual absorption of blood.

Bruhn as Romeo, 1967

FRED FEHL

Brumaire \brm-'mer. Coup of 18-19 (1799) French coup d’etat that overthrew the Directory and substituted the Consulate, making way for the despotism of Napoleon. Planned by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand with the aid of Napoleon, the coup took place on November 9-10 (18-19 Brumaire in the French republican calendar). It is often considered the effective end of the French Revolution.

Brummell, Beau orig. George Bryan (b. June 7, 1778, London, Eng.—d. March 30, 1840, Caen,

France) English dandy. The son of Lord North’s private secretary, he attended Oxford and became famous for his dress and wit as well as for his friendship with George, prince of Wales (later King George IV). The leader of English fashion of his time, he had by 1816 exhausted his inher¬ ited fortune on gambling and extravagance, and his sharp tongue had alienated his patron. He fled to Calais, France to avoid his creditors and struggled for 14 years before becoming British consul at Caen (1830-32). In 1835 his friends res¬ cued him from debtor’s prison, but he soon lost all interest in his per¬ sonal appearance, and he spent his final years in a charitable asylum.

Brun, Charles Le See Charles Le Brun

Beau Brummell, engraving by John Cooke after a portrait miniature, 1844.

Brundage, Avery (b. Sept. 28, 1887, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—d. May 8, 1975, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, W.Ger.) U.S. sports administrator. He competed in the decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games. He served as presi¬ dent of the U.S. Olympic Association and Committee 1929-53 and as vice president (1945-52) and president (1952-72) of the International Olym¬ pic Committee. Controversial and domineering, he demanded strict adher¬ ence to the rules of amateur competition, and he often dismissed political events as unrelated to Olympic competition, most notably the 1972 mur¬ der of Israeli athletes by terrorists.

Brundtland \'brimt-land\, Gro Harlem orig. Gro Harlem (b.

April 20, 1939, Oslo, Nor.) Norwegian politician, first woman prime min¬ ister of Norway (1981, 1986-89, 1990-96). Trained as a physician, she worked with various government health services, then served as minister of the environment (1974-79). She served in the Norwegian parliament (1977-97). As leader of the Labour Party group, she served as premier three times. In 1987 she chaired the UN World Commission on Environ¬ ment and Development, and in 1998 she was elected director-general of the World Health Organization.

Brunei \bru-'n!\ officially State of Brunei, Abode of Peace Inde¬ pendent sultanate, northern Borneo, western Pacific Ocean. The country is divided into two parts, each surrounded by the Malaysian state of

Sarawak; they both have coastlines on the South China Sea and Brunei Bay. Area:

2,226 sq mi (5,765 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 364,000. Capital: Bandar Seri Begawan. Brunei has a mixture of South¬ east Asian ethnic groups: about two-thirds are Malay, one-tenth Chinese, and the remainder indigenous peoples and Indians. Languages: Malay (official), English (widely understood). Religions: Islam (official; pre¬ dominantly Sunni); also traditional beliefs, Buddhism, Christianity. Cur¬ rency: Brunei dollar, ringgit. The narrow northern coastal plain gives way to rugged hills in the south. Brunei’s western enclave consists of the val¬ leys of the Belait, Tutong, and Brunei rivers and is mainly hilly. The east¬ ern enclave contains the Pandaruan and Temburong river basins and the country’s highest point, Pagon Peak (6,070 ft [1,850 m]). Much of Bru¬ nei is covered by dense tropical rainforest; very little land is arable. Its economy is dominated by production from major oil and natural gas fields. It has one of the highest per capita incomes in Asia. Brunei is a monar¬ chy; the head of state and government is the sultan. Brunei traded with China in the 6th century ad. Through allegiance to the Javanese Majap- AHlT kingdom (13th—15th century), it came under Hindu influence. In the early 15th century, with the decline of the Majapahit kingdom, many con¬ verted to Islam, and Brunei became an independent sultanate. When Fer¬ dinand Magellan’s ships visited in 1521, the sultan of Brunei controlled almost all of Borneo and its neighbouring islands. In the late 16th cen¬ tury Brunei lost power because of the Portuguese and Dutch activities in the region; they were soon joined by the British. By the 19th century the sultanate of Brunei included Sarawak (including present-day Brunei) and part of North Borneo (now part of Sabah). In 1841 a revolt took place against the sultan, and a British soldier, James Brooke, helped put it down; he was later proclaimed governor (see Brooke Raj). In 1847 the sultanate entered into a treaty with Great Britain, and by 1906 it had yielded all administration to a British resident. Brunei rejected membership in the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, negotiated a new treaty with Britain in 1979, and achieved independence in 1984, with membership in the Com¬ monwealth. Brunei has pursued ways to diversify the economy, notably by encouraging tourism.

Brunei See Bandar Seri Begawan

Brunei \bru-'nel\, Isambard Kingdom (b. April 9, 1806, Ports¬ mouth, Hampshire, Eng.—d. Sept. 15, 1859, London) British civil and mechanical engineer. He was the son of M arc Brunel. His introduction of the broad-gauge railway, with rails 7 ft (2 m) apart, made possible high

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Brunei ► Brussels I 285

speeds and provided a great stimulus to railroad progress. He was respon¬ sible for building more than 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of railway in Britain and also oversaw construction of railway lines in Italy, Australia, and India. His use of a compressed-air caisson to sink bridge pier foundations helped gain acceptance of compressed-air techniques in underwater and underground construction. Brunei made outstanding contributions to marine engineering with three steamships—the Great Western, the Great Britain, and the Great Eastern —each the largest in the world at date of launching. The Great Western instituted the first regular transatlantic ser¬ vice, and Great Eastern laid the first successful transatlantic cable.

Brunei, Sir Marc (Isambard) (b. April 25, 1769, Hacqueville, France—d. Dec. 12, 1849, London, Eng.) French-born British engineer and inventor. He perfected a method for making ships’ blocks (pulleys) by mechanical means rather than by hand; the system of 43 machines, run by 10 men, produced blocks superior in quality and consistency to those previously handmade by more than 100 men. This installation was an early example of completely mechanized production (see mechanization). In 1818 he patented the tunneling shield, a device that made safe tunnel¬ ing through water-bearing strata possible. In 1825 operations began for building the Brunei-designed tunnel under the River Thames, an unprec¬ edented feat completed in 1842. He was the father of I.K. Brunel.

Brunelleschi V.bru-mT-'es-keV, Filippo (b. 1377, Florence [Italy]—d. April 15, 1446, Florence) Florentine architect and engineer. Trained as a sculptor and goldsmith, he turned his attention to architecture after failing to win a competition for the bronze doors of the Baptistery of Florence, having tied with Lorenzo Ghiberti. He worked out the laws of linear per¬ spective (later codified by Leon Bat¬ tista Alberti). By the early 1420s Brunelleschi was Florence’s most prominent architect. His major work, the octagonal dome of the cathedral (1420-36), was constructed with the aid of machines of his own inven¬ tion. The Medici family commis¬ sioned him to design the (old) sacristy and basilica of San Lorenzo (begun 1421), considered keystones of the early Renaissance; he adhered to the conventional format while adding his own interpretation of antique designs for capitals, friezes, pilasters, and columns. His later monumental works foreshadowed the strong profiles and massive grandeur of the work of Alberti and Donato Bramante.

Brunhild Vbrun-.hildX (b. c. 534—d. 613, Reneve, Burgundy) Queen of the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia. Daughter of a king of the Visigoths, she married the Austrasian king Sigebert I in 567. One of the most force¬ ful monarchs of the Merovingians, she urged Sigebert to reclaim her mur¬ dered sister’s lands from Chilperic I. When her husband was assassinated in 575, Brunhild was imprisoned at Rouen. She later took refuge at Metz, where her son Childebert II had been proclaimed king, and she struggled to establish her authority over her son and the reluctant Austrasian mag¬ nates. After Childebert’s death she continued to influence affairs and impose her will on her grandsons. After a long career she fell into the hands of her enemies, including the founders of the Carolingian family; she was tortured and then dragged to death by a horse.

Brunhild or Brunhilda or Brynhild Beautiful Amazon-like heroine of ancient Germanic literature. She is known from Old Norse sources, notably the Edda poems and the Vqlsunga saga, and from the German Nibelungenlied. She also appears in the operas of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle. She vowed to wed only a man of the most outstanding qualities who could surpass her in strength. She was successfully wooed by King Gunther, who defeated her in a contest in which the deeds were actually performed by Siegfried in cloak of invisibility. When she later discovered that she had been deceived, she exacted vengeance, and Siegfried was killed. Siegfried’s widow in turn sought revenge and brought about the destruction of Gunther’s people, the Burgundians. In some Norse sources, Brunhild has supernatural qualities and is described as a Valkyrie.

Bruning Vbrui-niqV Heinrich (b. Nov. 26, 1885, Munster, Ger.—d. March 30, 1970, Norwich, Vt., U.S.) German politician. Elected to the Reichstag in 1924, he became noted as a financial expert. Leader of the Catholic Centre Party from 1929, he became chancellor of Germany in 1930. In response to the Great Depression, he instituted harsh austerity measures that paralyzed the German economy. He ignored the Reichstag and governed by presidential decree, which hastened the drift toward rightist dictatorship and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Forced to resign in 1932, he left Germany in 1934 and eventually moved to the U.S., where he taught at Harvard University (1937-52).

Brunn See Brno

Brunner Vbrun-orV (Heinrich) Emil (b. Dec. 23, 1889, Winterthur, Switz.—d. April 6, 1966, Zurich) Swiss Reformed theologian. After serv¬ ing as a pastor at Obstalden (1916-24), he taught for many years at the University of Zurich (1924-53); he lectured widely during this time and was a delegate to the founding session of the World Council of Churches in 1948. His theology was influenced by Martin Buber’s view of the rela¬ tionship between God and man. Like Karl Barth, he rejected 19th-century liberal theology in favour of reaffirming the central tenets of the Refor¬ mation, but his assertion that God was revealed in creation led to a dis¬ pute with Barth. His works include The Theology of Crisis (1929), Man in Revolt (1937), and Justice and the Social Order (1945).

Bruno of Querfurt \'kfer- I furt\ / Saint or Saint Boniface of Querfurt (b. c. 974, Querfurt, Saxony—d. March 14, 1009, near Braun- sberg, Prussia; feast day June 19) Missionary and martyr. A member of a noble family, he was attached to the clerical household of the emperor Otto III. After the martyrdom of St. Adalbert (997), Bruno entered a mon¬ astery, taking the name Boniface, and continued Adalbert’s work in Chris¬ tianizing the pagan Prussians. The members of a mission he sent to Poland, including Saints Benedict and John, were killed en route; Bruno wrote biographies of both saints, as well as an acclaimed biography of Adalbert. As archbishop, Bruno visited the rulers of Germany, Hungary, and Ukraine, seeking aid. He temporarily converted the pagan Pechenegs. He was killed on his way to his Prussian mission.

Bruno, Giordano orig. Filippo Bruno (b. 1548, Nola, near Naples—d. Feb. 17, 1600, Rome) Italian philosopher, astronomer, math¬ ematician, and occultist. He entered a Dominican convent in 1565 and was ordained a priest in 1572. He abandoned the order in 1576 after being accused of heresy. He moved to Geneva in 1578 and thereafter traveled Europe as a lecturer and teacher. Rejecting the traditional geocentric astronomy for a theory even more radical than that of Copernicus, he hypothesized an infinite universe and multiple worlds. His cosmological theories, which anticipated fundamental aspects of the modern concep¬ tion of the universe, led to his excommunication by the Roman Catholic, Calvinist, and Lutheran churches. In 1592 he was arrested and tried by the Venetian Inquisition, which extradited him to the Roman Inquisition in the following year. After a seven-year trial, he was burned at the stake. His ethical ideas have appealed to modem humanists, and his ideal of religious and philosophical tolerance has influenced liberal thinkers. His most important works are On the Infinite Universe and Worlds (1584) and The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast (1584).

Brusa See Bursa

Brusilov \bru-'sye-lof\, Aleksey (Alekseyevich) (b. Aug. 31, 1853, Tiflis, Russia—d. March 17, 1926, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Rus¬ sian general. He distinguished himself in the Russo-Turkish War (1877— 78) and was promoted to general in 1906. In World War I he led the Russian campaign in Galicia (1914) and was most famous as commander of the “Brusilov breakthrough” on the Eastern Front against Austria- Hungary (1916), inflicting losses that forced Germany to divert troops from the Battle of Verdun against France on the Western Front. He later served in the Bolshevik government as a military consultant (1920-24).

Brussels French Bruxelles \bruj-'sel, briek-'selV Flemish Brussel VbriE-solX City (pop., 2000 est.: 133,900), capital of Belgium. Part of the Brussels Capital Region (pop., 2000 est.: 959,300), one of the three regions into which Belgium is divided, it lies on the Senne River, a tribu¬ tary of the Schelde. The village began on an island in the Senne and ulti¬ mately became a holding of the dukes of Brabant. In 1530 it became the capital of the Netherlands, which was then under Habsburg control. Part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1815, it became a centre of Bel-

Interior of Santo Spirito, Florence, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, begun 1436

AUNARI-ART RESOURCE/EB INC.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

286 I Brussels sprout ► bryozoan

gian rebellion in 1830 and then the capital of Belgium. An important industrial and commercial city, it is the headquarters of both NATO and the European Union.

Brussels sprout Small CABBAGE-related plant (Brassica oleracea, Gem- mifera group). A member of the mustard family, Brussels sprouts are widely grown in Europe and the U.S. In early stages of growth, the plant closely resembles the common cabbage, but the main stem grows to a height of 2-3 ft (60-90 cm) and the axillary buds along the stem develop into small heads (sprouts) similar to heads of cabbage but measuring only 1-1.6 in. (25-40 mm) in diameter. The plant requires a mild, cool climate and is harmed by hot weather. Highly nutritious, Brussels sprouts are a particu¬ larly good source of vitamins A and C.

Brussels Treaty (1948) Agreement signed by Britain, France, Bel¬ gium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, creating a collective-defense alliance. It led to the formation of NATO and the Western European Union. A goal of the treaty was to show that Western European states could cooperate, thus encouraging the U.S. to play a role in the security of Western Europe.

Brutalism or New Brutalism Term coined (1953) to describe Le Corbusier’s use of monumental, sculptural shapes and raw, unfinished molded concrete, an approach that represented a departure from Interna¬ tional Style. New Brutalist architects displayed a willful avoidance of pol¬ ish and elegance in their buildings, exposing such structural elements as steel beams and precast concrete slabs to convey a stark, austere rectilin- earity. See also Louis Kahn, James Stirling.

Brutus, Marcus Junius or Quintus Caepio Brutus (b. 85—d.

42 bc, near Philippi, Macedonia)

Roman politician, leader of the con¬ spirators who assassinated Julius Caesar in 44 bc. He joined Pompey’s army against Caesar in the civil war (49) but was pardoned by Caesar after Pompey’s death. He joined the plot to murder Caesar out of his desire to restore the Roman republic.

After Caesar’s death, he and Gaius Cassius formed an army in Mace¬ donia; Brutus defeated the Caesari¬ ans under Octavian (Augustus) in the first engagement of the Battle of Phil¬ ippi, but Mark Antony and Octavian crushed his army in a second encounter. Realizing the republican cause was lost, Brutus committed suicide.

Bruyere, Jean de La See Jean de La Bruyere

Bryan, William Jennings (b.

March 19, 1860, Salem, Ill.,

U.S.—d. July 26, 1925, Dayton, Tenn.) U.S. politician and orator. He practiced law at Jacksonville, Ill. (1883-87), before moving to Lin¬ coln, Neb., where he was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1890. In the U.S. House of Representatives (1891-95), he became the national leader of the Free Silver Movement; he advocated its aims in his “Cross of Gold” speech, which won him the Democratic Party nomination for president in 1896. He was the party’s nominee again in 1900 and 1908. In 1901 he founded a newspaper, The Commoner, and thereafter lectured widely to admiring audiences; he was called “the Great Commoner.” He helped secure the presidential nomination for Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and served as his secretary of state (1913-15), contributing to

Marcus Brutus, marble bust; in the Capitoline Museum, Rome

AUNARI-ART RESOURCE

William Jennings Bryan, c. 1908.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

world law by espousing arbitration to prevent war. A believer in a literal interpretation of the Bible, he was a prosecuting attorney in the Scopes trial (1925), in which he debated Clarence Darrow on the issue of evolution; the trial took a heavy toll on his health, and he died soon after it ended.

Bryant, Bear orig. Paul William Bryant (b. Sept. 11, 1913, Kingsland, Aik., U.S.—d. Jan. 26, 1983, Tuscaloosa, Ala.) U.S. collegiate football coach. He was an all-state tackle in high school and went on to play blocking end at the University of Alabama (1932-36). As head coach at the University of Kentucky (1946-53), his team won 60 games, lost 23, and tied 5. After coaching at Texas A&M University (1954-57), he returned to Alabama (1957-82). His Alabama coaching record of 323 wins, 85 losses, and 17 ties broke Amos Alonzo Stagg’s long-standing coaching record for games won; in 1985 it was broken by Eddie Robin¬ son of Grambling State. In all, he took Alabama to 28 bowl games and six national championships.

Bryant, William Cullen (b. Nov. 3, 1794, Cummington, Mass., U.S.—d. June 12, 1878, New York,

N.Y.) U.S. poet. At age 17 Bryant wrote “Thanatopsis,” a meditation on nature and death that remains his best-known poem; influenced by deism, it in turn influenced Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Tho- reau. Admitted to the bar at age 21, he spent nearly 10 years as an attor¬ ney, a profession he hated. His Poems (1821), including “To a Waterfowl,” secured his reputation.

In 1825 he moved to New York City, where for almost 50 years (1829-78) he was editor in chief of the Evening Post, which he transformed into an organ of progressive thought.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Park, southern Utah, U.S. It is not a true canyon but rather a series of natural amphitheatres below which courtesy of the Brooklyn museum, new vork stands an array of limestone and

sandstone columns. Its geology is related to that of Grand Canyon and Zion national parks, since the stone of all three was formed while the entire region was under a shallow sea. The park, established in 1928, covers 35,835 acres (14,513 hectares).

William Cullen Bryant, detail of an oil painting by Daniel Huntington, 1866; in the Brooklyn Museum collection.

Bryn Mawr Vbrin-'morX College Private women’s liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pa., near Philadelphia. Though founded in 1885 by a group of Quakers, it has long operated on a nondenominational basis. It offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts and sciences, social research, and social work. It enjoys an academic exchange with nearby Haverford and Swarthmore colleges and the University of Penn¬ sylvania.

Brynhild See Brunhild

bryophyte \'brI-3-,fit\ Any of the green, seedless land plants that make up the division Bryophyta, numbering at least 18,000 species and divided into three classes: Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. They are distin¬ guished from vascular plants and seed plants by the production of only one SPORE-containing organ in their spore-producing stage. Most bryophytes are 0.8-2 in. (2-5 cm) tall or, if reclining, generally less than 12 in. (30 cm) long. Found throughout the world, from polar regions to the tropics, they are most abundant in humid environments, though none is marine. Bryophytes are extremely tolerant of dry and freezing conditions. Peat moss is economically important to humans in horticulture and as an energy source. Some bryophytes are used ornamentally, as in moss gardens. In nature, bryophytes initiate soil formation on barren terrain and maintain soil moisture, and they recycle nutrients in forest ecosystems. They are found on rocks, logs, and forest litter.

bryozoan V.bri-o-'zo-onV Aquatic invertebrate of the phylum Bryozoa (“moss animals”), members (called zooids) of which form colonies. Each zooid is a complete and fully organized animal. Species range in size from a one-zooid “colony” small enough (less than 0.04 in., or 1 mm, long) to live between sand particles to colonies that hang in clumps or chains as much as a 1.6 ft (0.5 m) across. The texture of colonies varies from soft

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

brytenwalda ► Buchner i 287

and gelatinous to hard with calcium-containing skeletons. Freshwater bry- ozoans attach primarily to leaves, stems, and tree roots in shallow water. Marine bryozoans have a wide range of habitats, from coastal areas to great ocean depths, but are most common just below the tidemarks. Bry¬ ozoans feed by capturing plankton with their tentacles.

brytenwalda See bretwalda BSE See mad cow disease

bubble chamber Subatomic-particle detector that uses a superheated liquid which boils into tiny bubbles of vapour along the tracks of the par¬ ticles. As charged particles move through the liquid, they knock electrons from the atoms of the liquid, creating ions. If the liquid is close to its boiling point, the first bubbles form around these ions. The observable tracks can be photographed and analyzed to measure the behaviour of the charged particles. Developed in 1952 by Donald Glaser, the bubble cham¬ ber proved very useful in the 1960s and ’70s for the study of high-energy nuclear and particle physics.

Buber Vbii-boA, Martin (b. Feb. 8, 1878, Vienna, Austria-Hungary—d. June 13, 1965, Jerusalem) German Jewish religious philosopher and biblical translator. Brought up in Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine), he studied in Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, and Zurich. Friedrich Nietzsche’s heroic nihilism led Buber, a nonob¬ servant Jew, to Zionism. He advo¬ cated Jewish-Arab cooperation in Palestine and saw Hasidism as a heal¬ ing power for the malaise of modern Judaism. Under Nazi pressure, he emigrated to Palestine in 1938, and he taught at Hebrew University until 1951. I and Thou (1923) expresses Buber’s belief that the human (I) encounters God (Thou) as a distinct being, rather than merging in mysti¬ cal union. The Bible was for Buber derived from the encounter between God and his people, but he rejected many of the Talmud’s laws as emerging from a relationship in which God was objectified rather than truly addressed.

Bubka Vbub-koN, Sergey (b. Dec. 14, 1963, Voroshilovgrad, Ukr., U.S.S.R.) Ukrainian pole-vaulter. He first cleared 6 m (19 ft 8 in.), long considered impossible, in Paris in 1985. In 1991 he cleared 6.1 m (20 ft), and he remains the only pole-vaulter to have done so. He won an Olym¬ pic gold medal in 1988 but failed to place at the 1992 Olympic Games. In 1994, at Sestriere, Italy, he vaulted a record 6.14 m (20 ft 1.75 in.) for his 17th outdoor record and his 35th overall.

buccaneer Any of the British, French, or Dutch sea adventurers who chiefly haunted the Caribbean and the Pacific seaboard of South America during the latter part of the 17th century, preying on Spanish settlements and shipping. Though inspired by such privateers as Englishman Francis Drake, the buccaneers were not legitimate privateers (the commissions they held were seldom valid), but neither were they the outlawed pirates who flourished in the 18th century. Usually escaped servants, former sol¬ diers, or loggers, they ran their ships democratically, divided plunder equitably, and even provided a form of accident insurance. They influ¬ enced the founding of the South Sea Co., and stories of their adventures inspired more serious voyages of exploration as well as the tales of writ¬ ers Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Buchanan \byu-'ka-n3n\, George (b. February 1506, Killeam, Stirlingshire, Scot.—d. Sept. 29, 1582, Edinburgh) Scottish humanist, scholar, and educator. As a teacher of Latin in Paris, Buchanan wrote bit¬ ter attacks on the Franciscans that landed him in jail for heresy. He escaped and became a teacher in Bordeaux, where Michel de Montaigne was one of his pupils. There he translated two of Euripides’ plays into Latin and wrote original dramas. His paraphrase of the Psalms was long used for Latin instruction. At first a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, he later helped prepare the case that led to her execution. In De jure regni apud Scotos (1579), he argued for limited monarchy; Rerum Scotiacarum his- toria (1582) traces Scotland’s history.

Buchanan \byu-'ka-n9n\, James (b. April 23, 1791, near Mercers- burg, Pa., U.S.—d. June 1, 1868, near Lancaster) 15th president of the U.S. (1857-61). He was admitted to the bar in 1812 and soon established a successful law practice. He was elected to the Pennsylvania legisla¬ ture in 1814 and later served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1821-31), as minister to Russia (1832-34), and in the U.S. Senate (1834-45). He was secretary of state in the cabinet of Pres. James K. Polk (1845-49). As minister to Britain (1853-56), he helped draft the Ostend Manifesto. In 1856 he was elected president as a Democrat, defeating John C. Fremont. Although experienced in government and law, he lacked the courage to deal effec¬ tively with the slavery crisis, and he equivocated on the question of Kan¬ sas’s status as a slaveholding state. The ensuing split within his party allowed Abraham Lincoln to win the election of 1860. He denounced the secession of South Carolina following the election and sent reinforce¬ ments to Fort Sumter but failed to respond further to the mounting crisis. He was the only president never to have married.

Bucharest Vbu-ko-.restV Romanian Bucuresti \,bu-ku-'resht y \ City (pop., 1997: 2,057,512), capital of Romania. Excavations have revealed evidence of prehistoric settlement. The site gained importance when the rulers of Walachia moved there in the 14th century. Vlad III built a for¬ tress there in the 15th century to ward off invading Turks; they eventu¬ ally took it and made it their Ottoman Walachian capital in 1659. In the 19th century civic unrest helped force the union of Walachia and Mold¬ avia, and Bucharest became the capital of the new Romanian state in 1862. Occupied by the Soviet army after World War II, it came under commu¬ nist control. During the 1980s it was the scene of political demonstrations against the government of Nicolae Ceau$escu that resulted in his overthrow and execution.

Bucharest, Treaty of (May 7, 1918) Settlement forced on Romania after it had been defeated by the Central Powers in World War I. Roma¬ nia was required to return southern Dobruja to Bulgaria, give Austria- Hungary control of the passes in the Carpathian Mtns., and lease its oil wells to Germany for 90 years. When the Central Powers collapsed in November 1918, the treaty was nullified.

Buchenwald Vbii-kon-.valtX One of the first and biggest of the German Nazi concentration camps, established in 1937 near Weimar. In World War II it held about 20,000 prisoners, most of whom worked as slave laborers in nearby factories. Though there were no gas chambers, many perished through disease, malnutrition, exhaustion, beatings, and executions. Inmates were used to test the effects of viral infections and vaccines. The commandant’s wife was the infamously sadistic lisa Koch (19067-1967), the “Witch of Buchenwald.” See also Holocaust.

Buchner \'bmk-nor\, Georg (b. Oct. 17, 1813, Goddelau, Hesse- Darmstadt—d. Feb. 19, 1837, Zurich, Switz.) German dramatist. As a medical student, he became involved in revolutionary politics and was forced to flee to Zurich. There he wrote plays marked by vivid imagina¬ tion and unconventional structure, combining extreme naturalism with visionary power; he is regarded as a forerunner of the Expressionist move¬ ment. His first play, Danton’s Death (1835), a drama of the French Revo¬ lution, was followed by Leonce and Lena (1836), a satire on the illusions of Romanticism. His last play, Woyzeck (1836), anticipated the social drama of the 1890s with its compassion for the poor and oppressed; it became the basis of a famous opera by Alban Berg.

Buchner Vbiik-narV Hans (b. Dec. 16, 1850, Munich, Bavaria—d. April 5, 1902, Munich, Ger.) German bacteriologist. He served as a phy¬ sician in the Bavarian army in the 1870s and taught at the University of Munich from 1880 until his death. Buchner was one of the first to note that a substance in blood serum could destroy bacteria. He named the substance alexin; now known as complement, it consists of proteins called gamma globulins and is of great importance in immunology.

James Buchanan, photograph by Mathew Brady.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

288 I Buchwald ► Buddha

Buchwald Vbuk-.woldX, Art(hur) (b. Oct. 20, 1925, Mt. Vernon, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. humour writer and columnist. Buchwald moved to Paris in 1948. His popular original column—reviews of the city’s nightlife for the International Herald Tribune —increasingly included offbeat spoofs and candid comments from celebrities. After moving in 1961 to Washington, D.C., he began poking fun at issues in the news, soon becoming estab¬ lished as one of the sharpest satirists of American politics and modem life. His widely syndicated work won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982. His books include numerous collections of columns and the memoir I’ll Always Have Paris (1996).

Buck, Pearl orig. Pearl Sydenstricker (b. June 26, 1892, Hills¬ boro, W.Va., U.S.—d. March 6, 1973, Danby, Vt.) U.S. author. Buck was reared in China by her missionary parents and later taught in a Chinese university. Her first book to reach a wide audience was The Good Earth (1931, Pulitzer Prize), describing the struggles of a Chinese peasant and his slave wife. Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935) followed; the trilogy was published as The House of Earth (1935). Among her later works are short stories, novels (including five under the pseudonym John Sedges), and an autobiography. She received the Nobel Prize for Litera¬ ture in 1938.

buckeye Any of about 13 trees and shrubs of the genus Aesculus (fam¬ ily Hippocastanaceae), native to North America, southeastern Europe, and eastern Asia. The name refers to the resemblance of the nut, which has a pale patch on a shiny red ground, to the eye of a deer. Buckeyes are val¬ ued as ornamental trees for their handsome candelabra-like flower clus¬ ters. Both the young foliage and the nuts are poisonous. Among the most notable is the Ohio buckeye (A. glabra ), also called fetid buckeye and American horse chestnut, with twigs and leaves that yield an unpleasant odour when crushed. The sweet, or yellow, buckeye (A. flava , or A. octan- dra) is the largest buckeye, up to 89 ft (27 m) tall, and is naturally abun¬ dant in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U.S.

Buckingham Palace London residence of the British sovereign. It takes its name from the house built there early in the 18th century for the dukes of Buckingham. Victoria was the first sovereign to live there. John Nash began the reconstruction of Buckingham House as a Neoclassical palace in 1821, but was not allowed to finish. His garden front remains virtually unchanged, but the Mall front was redesigned in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb (1849-1930) as a background for the Queen Victoria Memo¬ rial statue.

Buckingham Vbok-iq-omV, 1 st duke of orig. George Villiers (b.

Aug. 28, 1592, Brooksby, Leicestershire, Eng.—d. Aug. 23, 1628, Ports¬ mouth, Hampshire) English courtier and politician. Charming and hand¬ some, he quickly became a royal favourite of James I and the future Charles I. He became lord high admiral in 1619 and was created a duke in 1623, but his arrogance and abuse of power made him highly unpopular. His erratic foreign policy led to a series of disasters, including failed military expeditions to Spain and France. A bill to impeach him was introduced in Parliament in 1626, prompting Charles to dissolve Parliament. When Buckingham was assassinated by a naval lieutenant, Londoners rejoiced.

Buckingham, 2nd duke of orig. George Villiers (b. Jan. 30, 1628, London, Eng.—d. April 16, 1687, Kirkby Moorside, Yorkshire) English politician. Born eight months before the assassination of his father, the 1st duke of Buckingham, he was brought up with the family of Charles I. He fought for Charles II in the English Civil Wars, and after the Restoration in 1660 Buckingham became a leading member of the king’s inner circle of ministers, known as the Cabal. Parliament had him dis¬ missed from his posts for alleged Catholic sympathies in 1674.

Buckinghamshire Vbo-kiq-om-.shhA Administrative (pop., 2001: 479,028), geographic, and historic county, southern England. It is bor¬ dered by the River Thames, London, and the River Ouse valley in the north; its county seat is at Aylesbury. It was affected by each phase of English settlement, from the Neolithic to the Saxon. Under Saxon rule, as part of the kingdom of Mercia, it resisted Danish invasion and became prosper¬ ous. Before the 20th century it was a rural area, but the modem growth of London and the expansion of transportation links with it have brought population growth.

Buckley, William F(rank), Jr. (b. Nov. 24, 1925, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. writer and editor. He attended Yale University, where he was chairman of the Yale Daily News. In 1955 founded the National Review, as editor in chief, he used the journal as a forum for his conservative

views. His column “On the Right” was syndicated in 1962 and eventu¬ ally appeared in more than 200 newspapers. From 1966 he hosted Firing Line, a weekly television interview program in which he often employed his wit and debating skills against ideological opponents. His books include God and Man at Yale (1951), Rumbles Left and Right (1963), and a series of spy novels.

buckling Mode of failure under compression of a structural component that is thin (see shell structure) or much longer than wide (e.g., post, col¬ umn, leg bone). Leonhard Euler first worked out in 1757 the theory of why such members buckle. The definition by Thomas Young of the elastic modu¬ lus significantly propelled building construction science forward. The elastic theory formed the basis of structural analysis until World War II, when the behaviour of bomb-damaged buildings forced the modification of some of the theory’s underlying assumptions. See also post-and-beam SYSTEM.

buckminsterfullerene See fullerene

Buckner, Simon Bolivar (b. April 1, 1823, near Munfordville, Ky., U.S.—d. Jan. 8, 1914, near Munfordville) U.S. and Confederate military leader. He graduated from West Point and served in the Mexican War. In the American Civil War he established the Kentucky militia and became a Confederate general. Ordered to reinforce Fort Donelson, Tenn. (1862), he found the situation hopeless and unconditionally surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. After his release in a prisoner exchange, he served the Confed¬ eracy in many capacities. He was later governor of Kentucky (1887-91).

buckwheat Either of two species (. Fagopyrum esculentum, or sagit- tatum, and F. tataricum ) of herbaceous plants and their edible, triangular seeds, used as a cereal grain though the plant is not a cereal grass. It is less productive than other grain crops on good soils but is particularly adapted to arid, hilly land and cool climates. Because it matures quickly, it can be grown as a late-season crop. It improves conditions for the cul¬ tivation of other crops by smothering weeds and may be planted as a green-manure crop. Buckwheat is often used as a feed for poultry and other livestock. It is high in carbohydrates and is about 11% protein and 2% fat. The hulled kernels, or groats, can be cooked and served much like rice. Buckwheat flour is unsatisfactory for bread but is used to make pan¬ cakes (“buckwheat cakes”).

buckyball See fullerene

bud Small lateral or terminal protuberance on the stem of a vascular plant that may develop into a flower, leaf, or shoot. Buds arise from meristem tissue. In temperate climates, trees form resting buds that are resistant to frost in preparation for winter. Flower buds are modified leaves.

Budapest Vbii-do-.pesA City (pop., 2001: 1,775,203), capital of Hun¬ gary. Situated on the Danube River, it acquired its name in 1873 when the towns of Buda and Obuda on the river’s right bank and the town of Pest on its left bank amalgamated. Inhabited from Neolithic times, Buda was the site of a Roman camp in the 2nd century ad. By the 13th century both Buda and Pest had German inhabitants. Buda was fortified by Matthias I Corvinus in the 15th century and became the capital of Hungary. It was taken and held by the Turks (1541-1686), then retaken by Charles V, duke of Lorraine. In 1848-49 both towns experienced nationalistic revolt, and Pest became the capital of Kossuth Lajos’s revolutionary government. It became the centre of revolt for Hungarian independence in 1918. After World War II, it came under communist control. It was the base of an unsuccessful anticommunist uprising in 1956 (see Hungarian Revolution). Anticommunist unrest there in the 1980s led to the declaration of the Hungarian republic in 1989. Budapest is a vital Hungarian transport cen¬ tre; its economy includes heavy industry and manufactures from telecom¬ munications and electronics.

Buddha Vbii-doX orig. Siddhartha Gautama (fl. c. 6th-4th cen¬ tury, b. Kapilavastu, Shakya republic, Kosala kingdom—d. Kusinara, Mafia republic, Magadha kingdom) Indian spiritual leader and founder of Buddhism. The term buddha (Sanskrit: “enlightened one”) is a title rather than a name, and Buddhists believe that there are an infinite number of past and future buddhas. The historical Buddha, referred to as the Bud¬ dha Gautama or simply as the Buddha, was bom a prince of the Shak- yas, on the India-Nepal border. He is said to have lived a sheltered fife of luxury that was interrupted when he left the palace and encountered an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. Renouncing his princely life, he spent seven years seeking out teachers and trying various ascetic prac¬ tices, including fasting, to gain enlightenment. Unsatisfied with the

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Buddhism ► Buffalo I 289

results, he meditated beneath the bodhi tree, where, after temptations by Mara, he realized the Four Noble Truths and achieved enlightenment. At Sarnath he preached his first sermon to his companions, outlining the Eightfold Path, which offered a middle way between self-indulgence and self-mortification and led to the liberation of nirvana. The five ascetics who heard this sermon became his first disciples and were admitted as bhiksus (monks) into the sangha, or Buddhist order. His mission fulfilled, the Buddha died after eating poisonous mushrooms served him by acci¬ dent and escaped the cycle of rebirth; his body was cremated, and stupas were built over his relics.

Buddhism Major world religion and philosophy founded in northeast¬ ern India in the 5th century bce. Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha, Buddhism takes as its goal the escape from suffering and from the cycle of rebirth: the attainment of nirvana. It emphasizes meditation and the observance of certain moral precepts. The Buddha’s teachings were transmitted orally by his disciples; during his lifetime he established the Buddhist monastic order (sangha). He adopted some ideas from the Hinduism of his time, notably the doctrine of karma, but also rejected many of its doctrines and all of its gods. In India, the emperor Ashoka promoted Buddhism during the 3rd century bc, but it declined in succeeding centuries and was nearly extinct there by the 13th century. It spread south and flourished in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and it moved through Central Asia and Tibet (see Tibetan Buddhism) to China, Korea, and Japan (see Pure Land Buddhism; Zen). In the 19th cen¬ tury, Buddhism spread to Europe and the United States, and it became increasingly popular in the West in the second half of the 20th century. Buddhism’s main teachings are summarized in the Four Noble Truths, of which the fourth is the Eightfold Path. Buddhism’s two major branches, Mahayana and Theravada, have developed distinctive practices and unique collections of canonical texts. In the early 21st century, the various tra¬ ditions of Buddhism together had more than 375 million followers.

Buddhist councils In most Buddhist traditions, two early councils on doctrine and practice. The first, which most modern scholars do not accept as historical, was reputedly held at Rajagrha (modern Rajgir), India, dur¬ ing the first rainy season after the Buddha’s death, to compile his remem¬ bered words, including the sutras and monastic rules. The second, which is accepted as historical, met more than a century later at Vaisali, India, to resolve disputes within the monastic community. Theravada Buddhism recognizes subsequent councils: a third, called by Ashoka c. ad 247, at which the doctrinal disputes were resolved in its favor, and others con¬ tinuing up to the mid-20th century. Other Buddhist traditions recognize other important councils at which their respective canons were established or edited.

budding bacteria Group of bacteria that reproduce by budding. Each bacterium divides following unequal cell growth; the mother cell is retained, and a new daughter cell forms. In budding, the cell wall grows from one point on the cell rather than throughout the cell; this type of growth permits the development of more complex structures and pro¬ cesses. Most budding bacteria are aquatic and can attach to surfaces by their stalks; some are free-floating.

buddleia Vbod-le-oV or butterfly bush Any of more than 100 spe¬ cies of plants constituting the genus Buddleia , native to tropical and sub¬ tropical areas of the world. The genus was formerly included in the family Loganiaceae (order Gentianales) but is now placed in the family Buddle- jaceae (order Scrophulariales), which includes about 10 genera and more than 150 species. Most species of Buddleia have hairy or scaly leaves and clusters of purple, white, yellow, or orange flowers. Several species are cultivated as garden ornamentals.

Budenny \bu-'dy6-ne\, Semyon (Mikhaylovich) (b. April 13, 1883, Kozyurin, near Rostov-na-Donu, Russia—d. Oct. 17, 1973, Mos¬ cow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Russian army officer. In 1919 he joined the Com¬ munist Party and, as commander of the 1st Cavalry Army in the Russian Civil War, he played a crucial role in defeating the White (anti-Bolshevik) generals Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel and in fighting the Poles (1920). He later became a marshal of the Soviet Union and was com¬ mander of Moscow’s military district.

Budge, (John) Don(ald) (b. June 13, 1915, Oakland, Calif., U.S.—d. Jan. 26, 2000, Scranton, Pa.) U.S. tennis player. He won his very first tournament, the California Boys State Singles title (1930). In 1936 he became the first lawn-tennis player to win the grand-slam (the Australian, French, British, and U.S. singles championships). At Wimbledon in both

1937 and 1938, he won not only the singles but also the men’s doubles and mixed doubles. Representing the U.S. four times in the Davis Cup competition (1935-38), he won 25 of 29 matches. He turned professional in 1939. He is noted for having developed the backhand into an offen¬ sive stroke.

Buell \'byul\, Don Carlos (b. March 23, 1818, near Marietta, Ohio, U.S.—d. Nov. 19, 1898, Rockport, Ky.) U.S. general. A graduate of West Point, he was appointed general of volunteers at the start of the Ameri¬ can Civil War, and he helped organize the Union’s Army of the Potomac. He was sent to Kentucky to succeed William T. Sherman and to organize the Army of the Ohio. In 1862 he was Union commander in the Kentucky campaign against Confederate forces under Braxton Bragg. Following the Battle of Perry ville, he was removed from his command for alleged tar¬ diness in his pursuit of Confederate forces.

Buena Vista \,bwa-na-'ves-ta. Battle of Battle fought in 1847 near Monterrey, Mexico, in the Mexican War. A U.S. force of 5,000 com¬ manded by Gen. Zachary Taylor and assisted by Jefferson Davis invaded northern Mexico and engaged a Mexican force of 14,000 under Gen. Antonio Santa Anna. The U.S. forces repulsed the Mexican attack, and the Mexicans retreated with 1,500 casualties. Taylor’s victory helped him win the 1848 U.S. presidential election.

Buenos Aires \,bwa-n3s-'ar-ez,\ Spanish \,bwa-nos-'I-ras\ City (pop., 2001: city, 2,776,138; metro, area, 12,046,799), capital of Argentina. Located on an estuary of the Rio de la Plata in east-central Argentina, about 150 mi (240 km) from the Atlantic Ocean, it is nevertheless a major port. First colonized by the Spanish in 1536, it was not permanently settled until 1580. It became the seat of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata in 1776. In 1853 the city and the surrounding area that made up the prov¬ ince of Buenos Aires refused to recognize a new constitution approved by the country’s other provinces and began fighting with them intermit¬ tently over control of the Argentine government. After being made a fed¬ eral district and Argentina’s capital, it settled its wars with the other provinces (1880) and by World War I (1914-18) had become a thriving port. The country’s largest and most influential city, it is an important industrial and transportation centre.

buffalo Any member of several bovid species, including the massive water buffalo and Cape buffalo. The name is often applied to the Ameri¬ can bison. The anoa (Anoa depressicornis) is a tiny, dark-brown buffalo of the dense, mature forests of Sulawesi. A shy animal, it stands 2.5-3 ft (0.75-1 m) at the shoulder and has straight, sharp-tipped horns. It is hunted for food, hides, and horns. A slightly larger species, the tamarau (A. mindorensis), inhabits the Philippine island of Mindoro. Exceedingly shy and wild, its numbers have been greatly reduced.

Cape, or African, buffalo (Syncerus caffer).

MARK BOULTON-THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS

Buffalo City (pop., 2000: 292,648), western New York, U.S. Located at the northeastern point of Lake Erie on the Niagara River, it is the terminus of the New York State Barge Canal. Settled by American Indians in 1780, the site was laid out as a town at the beginning of the 19th century. It was a military post in the War of 1812 and was burned by the British. Rebuilt

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290 I Buffalo Bill ► building construction

in 1814-15, it became the western terminus of the Erie Canal, which brought an economic boom to the community. A major port on the St. Lawrence Seaway and the main U.S. gateway to Ontario’s Toronto- Hamilton industrial region, it processes much of U.S.-Canadian trade. It is also an educational and medical research centre.

Buffalo Bill See William F. Cody

buffalo soldier Nickname given to members of African American cavalry regiments of the U.S. Army who served in the western U.S. (1867-96). An 1866 law authorized the army to form cavalry and infan¬ try regiments of African American men under the command of white officers; the result was the 9th and 10th cavalries and the 38th through 41st infantries. The primary mission of the cavalry regiments was to con¬ trol Indians on the western frontier (the nickname “buffalo” was given by the Indians). The soldiers took part in almost 200 engagements. Noted for their courage and discipline, they had the army’s lowest desertion and court-martial rates. One of the 10th Cavalry’s officers was John Pershing, whose nickname “Black Jack” reflected his advocacy on behalf of Afri¬ can American troops.

buffer Solution usually containing a weak acid and its conjugate weak base, or a salt, of such a composition that the pH is held constant within a certain range. An example is a solution containing acetic acid (CH 3 COOH) and the acetate ion (CH 3 COCT). The pH depends on their relative concentration and can be found with a simple formula involving their ratio. Relatively small additions of acid or base will change the con¬ centration of the two species, but their ratio, and hence the pH, will not change much. Different buffers are useful in different pH ranges; they include phosphoric acid, citric acid, and boric acid, each with their salts. Biological fluids such as blood, tears, and semen have natural buffers to maintain them at the pH required for their proper function. See also law of MASS ACTION.

Buffett, Warren (b. Aug. 30, 1930, Omaha, Neb., U.S.) U.S. busi¬ nessman and investor. He attended the University of Nebraska (B.S., 1950) and Columbia University (M.S., 1951), where he was influenced by professor Benjamin Graham’s approach toward value investing—that is, purchasing shares of companies whose stocks are priced below their intrinsic value. Returning to his native Omaha, he turned $105,000 of ini¬ tial investment in his Buffett Partnership (1956-69) into $105 million by the time of its dissolution. He then began investing in businesses, bought under the umbrella of the textile manufacturer Berkshire Hathaway. He is said to be the first person to have made $ 1 billion in the stock market. His financial reports are read eagerly by stock-market novices and experts alike for their pithy wisdom.

Buffon \btB-'f 6 n V G(eorges)-L(ouis) Leclerc, comte de (b. Sept. 7, 1707, Montbard, Fr.—d. April 16, 1788, Paris) French naturalist. He studied mathematics, medicine, and botany until a duel forced him to cut short his studies. He settled on his family’s estate, where he researched the calculus of probability, the physical sciences, and forest management. Appointed keeper of the royal botanical garden (Jardin du Roi) in 1739, he was also assigned the cataloging of the royal natural history collec¬ tions, an undertaking that grew into his comprehensive work Histoire naturelle, generate et particuliere (1749-1804), an attempt to account for all known flora and fauna, of which he published 36 of the proposed 50 volumes before his death. He was ennobled in 1773.

bug Coding error in a computer program that prevents it from function¬ ing as designed. Most software companies have a quality-assurance department which is charged with finding program bugs while the pro¬ gram is in development (debugging); bugs are also often detected by means of beta testing (testing of a product, often by potential consumers, before it is placed on the market). The term originated in a computer con¬ text in 1945 when a moth flew into and jammed an electrical relay of the Harvard Mark II computer; it was extracted and taped into the log book with the inscription “First actual case of bug being found” (the term hav¬ ing previously been used for other kinds of mechanical defects).

bug Commonly, any insect; scientifically, any member of the insect order Heteroptera. In scientific usage, when the word “bug” is part of the com¬ mon name for a member of the order Heteroptera, it is a separate word (e.g., “chinch bug”); when used as part of the common name for an organism that is not a heteropteran, it is not separated (e.g., the ladybug, in the order Coleoptera). In common usage, there are many exceptions to this convention (e.g., bedbugs are heteropterans).

Bug \'bug\ River or Western Bug River River, eastern Europe. Ris¬ ing in western Ukraine, it flows north along the Poland-Ukraine and Poland-Belarus borders to Brest, and turns west into Poland to the Vistula River north of Warsaw, running a total of 516 mi (830 km). It is navigable below Brest. In World War I several battles were fought along its course in 1915. About 200 mi (322 km) of its central course formed part of the Curzon Line, a demarcation line between Poland and Soviet Russia for much of the 20 th century.

bugaku \bu-'ga-ku\ Repertoire of stylized dances of the Japanese impe¬ rial court, derived from the traditional dance forms of China, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia. The dances are divided into two basic forms: “dances of the left” ( saho no mai), accompanied by music derived from China, with dancers wearing red costumes; and “dances of the right” ( uho samai no mai), accompanied by music introduced from Korea, with dancers wearing costumes of blue or green. The dancers wear elaborate masks of painted wood to portray fictional characters.

Buganda \bii-'gan-d 3 \ Precolonial kingdom, East Africa. Located along the northern shore of Lake Victoria in present-day Uganda, the kingdom was founded in the late 14th century by the Ganda people. Ruled by the kabaka, or king, by the 19th century Buganda was the most powerful kingdom in the area. In 1900 it became a British protectorate. The Ganda subsequently played a major role in assisting British administration in East Africa. When Uganda became independent in 1962, Buganda was accorded special federal status within the new country. Ensuing tensions with the central government led in 1967 to the kingdom’s abolition and the area’s integration into Uganda. Buganda was restored in 1993.

Bugatti \bu-'gat-te\, Ettore (Arco Isidoro) (b. Sept. 15, 1881, Milan, Italy—d. Aug. 21, 1947, Paris, France) Italian builder of racing and luxury automobiles. His factory at Mosheim, Alsace (founded 1909), produced a highly successful low-powered racer for Le Mans. His luxurious Type 41 (“Golden Bugatti” or “La Roy ale”), produced in the 1920s, was prob¬ ably the most meticulously built of all cars; no more than eight were con¬ structed. His firm did not survive long after his death.

Buginese \,b 3 g- 3 -'nez\ Culturally dominant ethnic group of Celebes (Sulawesi), Indonesia. Their trading-port city Macassar (modern Ujung Pandang) fell to the Dutch in 1667, and they emigrated to other parts of the Malay Peninsula, establishing Buginese states in Selangor and Riau. They continued to harry the Dutch and also fought with the Malays. Their conflicts with the latter cost them their supremacy in the region by 1800. Early converts to Buddhism, the Buginese were converted to Islam in the 17th century. Today they number about 3.3 million. Their village economy is based on rice cultivation and some trade between islands.

bugle Soprano brass instrument historically used for hunting and military signaling. It developed from an 18th-century semicircular German hunt¬ ing horn with widely expanding bore. In the 19th century the semicircle was reshaped into an oblong double loop. Natural bugles use only har¬ monics 2-6 (producing tones of the C triad) in their calls (“Reveille,” “Taps,” etc.). The keyed bugle, patented in 1810, has six sideholes and keys which give it a complete chromatic scale. In the 1820s valves were added to produce the flugelhorn and, in lower ranges, the baritone, eupho¬ nium, and saxhorns.

building code Systematic statement of a body of rules that govern and constrain the design, construction, alteration, and repair of buildings. Such codes are based on requirements for the safety, health, and quality of life of building users and neighbors, and vary from city to city. Model codes developed by states, professional societies, and trade associations— including the BOCA (Building Officials and Code Administrators) coda, National Building Code, Uniform Building Code, and Standard Building Code—are typically adopted by local communities, with amendments. New York City’s code is the oldest (1916) and, because of the city’s population density and such concerns as fire prevention, adequate light, and ventilation, the most stringent.

building construction Techniques and industry involved in the assembly and erection of structures. Early humans built primarily for shelter, using simple methods. Building materials came from the land, and fabrication was dictated by the limits of the materials and the builder’s hands. The erection sequence involved, as now, first placing a foundation (or using the ground). The builder erected the structural system; the struc¬ tural material (masonry, mud, or logs) served as both skeleton and enclo¬ sure. Traditional bearing-wall and post-and-beam systems eventually gave

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building stone ► Bulgaria I 291

way to framed structures, and builders became adept at sealing and fire¬ proofing with a variety of claddings (exterior coverings) and finishes. Steel-framed buildings are usually enclosed by curtain walls. In modern- day construction, sheathing the skeleton of the building is only the begin¬ ning; specialists then begin the bulk of the work inside, installing plumbing, electrical wiring, HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning), win¬ dows, floor coverings, plasterwork, moldings, ceramic tile, cabinets, and other features. See also architecture.

building stone See building stone

Bujumbura V.bii-jam-'bur -d\ formerly Usumbura City (pop., 2001: 346,000), capital of Burundi. Lying on the northern end of Lake Tanga¬ nyika, it is the country’s chief port and largest urban centre. Known as Usumbura in the 1890s when German troops occupied the area and incor¬ porated it into German East Africa, it was included in a Tutsi kingdom. When Burundi achieved independence in 1962, the city’s name was changed to Bujumbura. Its industry specializes in textiles and agricultural products; most of Burundi’s foreign trade is shipped between the capital and Kigoma, Tanzania.

Bukhara or Bokhara or Buxoro \bo-'ka-ra, bli-'kar-oX City (pop., 1999 est.: 237,900), west-central Uzbekistan. Lying east of the Amu Darya, it was founded in the 1st century ad and was a major trade centre when the Arabs captured it c. 710. Built up by the Samanid dynasty, it became the capital of their realm, which at its height encompassed much of south¬ ern Central Asia. After falling to Genghis Khan in 1220 and to Timur in 1370, it was taken by the Uzbeks, who in the 16th century made it the capital of the khanate of Bukhara. In 1868 the khanate was made a Rus¬ sian protectorate and in 1920 a Soviet republic. Bukhara was the capital until the republic was absorbed into the Uzbek S.S.R. in 1924. It became part of Uzbekistan on that country’s independence in 1991. Historic build¬ ings in the central city were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993.

Bukhari \bu-'kar-e\, (Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn IsmaTl)

al- (b. July 19, 810, Bukhara, Central Asia—d. Aug. 31, 870, Khartank, near Samarkand) Muslim compiler and scholar of HadIth. He began his study as a child in Central Asia and traveled as far as Mecca and Cairo to learn about Muhammad and his utterances. Of the 600,000 traditions he collected, he deemed 7,275 authentic and included them in Kitab al-jami 1 al-sahih (“Entirety of the Genuine”). His Kitab al-tdrikh al-kabir (“The Great History”) contains biographies of those who passed on the oral tra¬ ditions from the days of the Prophet to Bukhari’s own era.

Bukharin \bu-'kar-3n\, Nikolay (Ivanovich) (b. Oct. 9, 1888, Mos¬ cow, Russia—d. March 14, 1938, Moscow) Russian communist leader and economist. After the Bolsheviks seized power, he became the editor of the party newspaper Pravda (1917-29). A member of the Politburo and a prominent leader of the Comintern, he also wrote several theoretical economic works. In 1938 he was a defendant in the last of the public purge trials. Falsely accused of counterrevolutionary activities and espio¬ nage, he was found guilty and executed.

Bukovina \,bu-ko-'ve-na\ Region, eastern central Europe. It consists of part of the northeastern Carpathian Mtns. and the adjoining plain. Settled by both Ukrainians and Romanians, it became an integral part of Mold¬ avia in the 14th century. It acquired its own name in 1775, when it was ceded to Austria by the Turks. Romania occupied it when Austria-Hungary collapsed in 1918, and was granted it through treaty in 1919. In 1944 the Soviet Union took the northern region, which became part of the Ukrai¬ nian S.S.R. (now Ukraine), while the rest became part of the Romanian People’s Republic (now Romania).

Bukowski, Charles (b. Aug. 16, 1920, Andernach, Ger.—d. March 9, 1994, San Pedro, Calif., U.S.) German-bom U.S. poet, short-story writer, and novelist. His family immigrated to Los Angeles in 1922. He began publishing short stories in the mid 1940s. His first poetry collec¬ tion, Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail, appeared in 1959, and the poetry vol¬ umes he published regularly for the next few years earned a devoted cult following. His novels include Post Office (1971) and Factotum (1975); he also wrote the screenplay for the film Barfly (1987), a semiautobiograph- ical comedy about alcoholic lovers. The novel Hollywood (1989) dealt with its filming. His writing, often scurrilous but humorous, frequently reflected his perpetually down-and-out mode of existence.

Bulawayo \,bu-la-'wa-yo\ City (pop., 1998 est.: 790,000), southwest¬ ern Zimbabwe. One of the country’s largest cities, it lies 4,400 ft (1,340

m) above sea level. Originally the headquarters of the king of the Nde- bele, it was occupied in 1893 by the British. It is Zimbabwe’s principal industrial centre and, as headquarters for the country’s railroads, its main transshipment point for goods to and from South Africa.

bulb In botany, the resting stage of certain seed plants, particularly peren¬ nial monocotyledons (see cotyledon), consisting of a relatively large, usu¬ ally globe-shaped, underground bud with membranous or fleshy overlapping leaves arising from a short stem. The fleshy leaves function as food reserves that enable a plant to lie dormant when water is unavail¬ able (during winter or drought) and to resume active growth when favour¬ able conditions again prevail. There are two main types of bulbs. One, typified by the onion, has a thin papery covering protecting its fleshy leaves. The other, the scaly bulb, as seen in true lilies, has naked storage leaves, with no papery covering, making the bulb appear to consist of angular scales. Bulbs enable many common ornamentals, such as the nar¬ cissus, tulip, and hyacinth, to flower rapidly in early spring when growing conditions are favourable. Other bulb-producing plants bloom in the sum¬ mer (e.g., lilies) or fall (e.g., the autumn crocus). The solid corms of the crocus and gladiolus and the elongated rhizomes of some irises are not bulbs.

Bulfinch, Charles (b. Aug. 8, 1763, Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony—d. April 4, 1844, Boston, Mass., U.S.) First professional U.S. architect. He studied at Harvard University and then toured Europe, visit¬ ing major architectural sites in France and Italy. Most of his works incor¬ porate Classical orders and show a mastery of proportion. Chiefly a designer of government buildings, he served as architect of the U.S. Capitol in 1817-30. He used the plans of his immediate predecessor, Benjamin H. Latrobe, for the wings but prepared a new design for the rotunda. His son Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867) wrote the famous Bulfinch’s Mythology.

Bulgakov \biil-'ga-k3f\, Mikhail (Afanasyevich) (b. May 15,

1891, Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. March 10, 1940, Moscow, Rus¬ sian S.F.S.R., U.S.S.R.) Russian playwright, novelist, and short-story writer. He wrote and staged many popular plays in the years 1925-29, including dramatizations of his own novels, but by 1930 his trenchant criticism of Soviet mores had caused him to be effectively prohibited from publishing. His works, known for their scathing humour, include the novella The Heart of a Dog (written 1925), a satire on pseudoscience that did not appear openly in the Soviet Union until 1987, and the dazzling fantasy The Master and Margarita, not published in unexpurgated form until 1973.

Bulganin \bul-'ga-nyin\, Nikolay (Aleksandrovich) (b. June 11,

1895, Nizhy Novgorod, Russia—d. Feb. 24, 1975, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet statesman and industrial and economic administrator. After supporting Nikita Khrushchev in the latter’s power struggle with Georgy Malenkov, Bulganin was made premier of the Soviet Union (1955-58). Though closely identified with Khrushchev, he joined an “anti¬ party group” that tried to oust Khruschev in 1957, a move that led to his own downfall.

Bulgaria officially Republic of Bulgaria Country, southeastern Europe. Area: 42,858 sq mi (111,002 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 7,740,000. Capital: Sofia. Bulgarians make up the great majority of the population; smaller ethnic groups include Turks, Roma (Gypsies), and Macedonians. Languages: Bulgarian (official), regional dialects. Reli¬ gions: Christianity (predominantly Eastern Orthodox; also other Chris¬ tians); also Islam. Currency: lev. Three major regions define the landscape. The northernmost is the Danubian Plain, a fertile area occu¬ pying one-third of the country. Immediately south lie the Balkan Moun¬ tains (Stara Planina). In the southwest and south lie the Rhodope Mountains, with the country’s highest point, Musala Peak, rising 9,596 ft (2,925 m). Smaller than the three major regions, Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast is a popular eastern European resort area. Major drainage systems include the Black and Aegean seas. Bulgaria had a planned economy mod¬ eled on the Soviet system (1946-89). Since 1991 the noncommunist gov¬ ernment has been moving to privatize some sectors of the economy, including agriculture. Bulgaria is a republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president, and its head of government is the prime minister. Evidence of human habitation dates from prehistoric times. Thracians were the first recorded inhabitants, dating from c. 3500 bc, and their first state dates from about the 5th century bc. The area was subdued by the Romans, who divided it into the provinces of Moesia and Thrace. In the 7th century ad the Bulgars took the region south of the Danube

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292 I Bulgarian Horrors ► bull-roarer

River. The Byzantine Empire in 681 for¬ mally recognized Bulgar control over the area between the Balkans and the Danube, though it would again dominate Bulgaria from the early 11th century to the late 12th century. Late in the 14th century Bulgaria fell to the Ottoman Turks and again lost its independence. At the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877— 78), Bulgaria rebelled. The ensuing Treaty of San Stefano was unaccept¬ able to the great powers, and the Congress of Berlin (1878) resulted. In 1908 the Bulgarian ruler, Ferdinand, declared Bulgaria’s independence. After its involvement in the Balkan Wars (1912-13), Bulgaria lost terri¬ tory. It sided with the Central Powers in World War I and with Germany in World War II. A communist coalition seized power in 1944, and in 1946 a people’s republic was declared. With other eastern European countries in the late 1980s, Bulgaria experienced political unrest; its communist leader resigned in 1989. A new constitution that proclaimed a republic was implemented in 1991. Economic turmoil followed Bulgaria into the 21st century as it sought political stability and joined NATO in 2004.

Bulgarian Horrors Atrocities committed by the Ottoman empire in subduing the Bulgarian rebellion of 1876. The name was used by William E. Gladstone in his pamphlet publicizing the incident. About 15,000 per¬ sons were reportedly massacred at Philippopolis (now Plovdiv), and vil¬ lages and monasteries were destroyed. Despite widespread public indignation, the European powers did little in response. The crisis ended with the Congress of Berlin, which created a small, autonomous princi¬ pality of Bulgaria.

Bulgarian language South Slavic language spoken by about nine million people in Bulgaria and enclaves in Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, and Turkey. Closely related is Macedonian, spoken by two to three mil¬ lion people in Macedonia, adjacent parts of Albania and Greece, and enclaves elsewhere. Both languages differ from other major Slavic lan¬ guages in several features. Both are direct descendants of Old Church Slavonic. Under Ottoman rule, literary production was solely in Church Slavonic. The Bulgarian vernacular became a literary language only in the mid-19th century; it was codified on the basis of northeastern Bul¬ garian dialects in 1899. Though efforts to create a literary Macedonian were underway before the Balkan Wars (1912-13), it was not formally recognized as a distinct language until the declaration of a Macedonian Republic within nascent communist Yugoslavia (1944).

Bulge, Battle of the (Dec. 16, 1944-Jan. 16, 1945) In World War II, the last German offensive on the Western Front, an unsuccessful attempt to divide the Allied forces and prevent an invasion of Germany. The “bulge” refers to the wedge that the Germans drove into the Allied lines. In December 1944, Allied forces were caught unprepared by a German

counterthrust in the wooded Ardennes region of southern Belgium. The German drive, led by Gerd von Rundstedt’s panzer army, was initially suc¬ cessful but was halted by Allied resistance and reinforcements led by George Patton. The Germans withdrew in January 1945, but both sides suffered heavy losses.

Buli style \'bu-le\ African wood sculpture made by the Luba people in the village of Buli, Congo (Zaire). The most typical examples are statues of ancestor figures and stools with seats supported on the heads and fin¬ gertips of figures. Because the carvings are almost identical and differ from other Luba carvings, they were once thought to be the work of a single artist, known as the Master of Buli, but it was later determined that they were actually produced in a workshop.

bulimia nervosa Nbii-Te-me-o-nor-'vo-soX Eating disorder, mostly in women, in which excessive concern with weight and body shape leads to binge eating followed by compensatory behaviour such as self-induced vomiting or the excessive use of laxatives or diuretics. The disorder typi¬ cally begins in adolescence or early adulthood and is associated with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Bulimia can have serious medi¬ cal complications such as dental decay and dehydration. Treatment may include psychotherapy. Unlike persons with anorexia nervosa, most bulimics remain close to their proper weight.

bulk modulus Vma-jo-losV Numerical constant that describes the elas¬ tic properties of a solid or fluid under pressure from all sides. It is the ratio of the tensile strength or compressive force per unit surface area to the change in volume per unit volume of the solid or fluid and thus is a mea¬ sure of a substance’s ability to resist deformation. Its units are newtons per square metre (N/m 2 ). Matter that is difficult to compress has a large bulk modulus; for example, steel has a bulk modulus of 1.6 x 10 11 N/m 2 , three times that of glass (i.e., glass is three times more compressible than steel).

Bull, John (b. 1562/63, Radnorshire, Wales?—d. March 12/13, 1628, Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands) British composer. He became organist of Hereford Cathedral in 1582, then organist at the Chapel Royal in 1591. In 1613 he departed for the continent to escape punishment for adultery; he held important organist positions in Brussels and Antwerp until his death. He wrote many verse anthems but is remembered for his keyboard works. In an era of remarkable English music for the virginal (a small harpsichord), he produced works that, with their resourceful keyboard figurations, reflect his own brilliant technique.

Bull \'bul. Ole (Bornemann) (b. Feb. 5, 1810, Bergen, Nor.—d. Aug. 17, 1880, Lyspen, near Bergen) Norwegian violinist. After training in his native Bergen, he freelanced in Christiania (now Oslo) in 1828-31. His Paris concerts, which featured Norwegian songs played on a folk violin, won much attention, and he toured Europe and the U.S. for two decades. A longtime nationalist, he was brought back home by the revolution of 1848. He helped found the Norwegian Theatre in Bergen, and in 1852-53 he established the socialist colony Oleona in Pennsylvania; debts from the failed experiment kept him touring the rest of his life. Much of the music he composed is lost.

bull market In securities and commodities trading, a rising market. A bull is an investor who expects prices to rise and, on this assumption, buys a security or commodity in hopes of reselling it later for a profit. A bullish market is one in which prices are expected to rise. See also bear MARKET.

Bull Moose Party U.S. dissident political party that nominated former president Theodore Roosevelt for the presidency in 1912. Formed by Sen. Robert La Follette in 1911 as the National Republican Progressive League, it opposed the conservatism of the Republican Party controlled by Pres. William H. Taft. The party derived its name from the characteristics of strength and vigour that Roosevelt attributed to himself. In 1912 Roosevelt won 25% of the popular vote; thus split, the Republicans lost the election to the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson. The party gradually dissolved, and the Republicans were reunited in 1916. See also Progressive Party.

bull-roarer Flat piece of wood, several inches to a foot in length, fas¬ tened at one end to a string, by which it is swung around in the air to produce a whirring or howling sound likened to those of animals or spir¬ its. It has been observed in Australia, the Americas, and other areas where indigenous societies survive. It may symbolize totemic ancestors, or it

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Bull Run ► Billow I 293

may be believed to cause or cure sickness, warn women and children away from men’s sacred ceremonies, control the weather, or promote fertility in animals and crops.

Bull Run, Battles of Two engagements of the American Civil War fought at a stream near Manassas, Va. The first battle (also called First Manassas) was fought on July 21, 1861, between 37,000 Union troops under Gen. Irvin McDowell (1818-85) and 35,000 Confederate troops under P.G.T. Beauregard and Joseph Johnston. In this first major encoun¬ ter of the war, the Union assault was beaten back and the army retreated to Washington, D.C. The second battle took place on Aug. 29-30, 1862, between a Confederate force of more than 56,000 under Robert E. Lee and a Union army of more than 70,000 under John Pope. To prevent the Union army from being joined by the Army of the Potomac, Lee sent troops under Stonewall Jackson to march around Pope’s right flank. Lee’s attack forced the Union troops to withdraw as far as Washington, D.C. Casual¬ ties numbered 15,000 for the North and 9,000 for the South. Both battles strengthened the South’s resolve and caused the North to review its mili¬ tary leadership and strategy.

bull terrier Breed of dog developed in 19th-century England from the bulldog and the now-extinct white English terrier. The Spanish pointer was later bred into the line to increase its size. The bull terrier was developed as a courageous fighting dog but not an aggressive fight provoker, and it is generally friendly. A muscular dog, it is considered, for its weight, the strongest of all dogs. It has a short coat, tapering tail, erect ears, and deep- set eyes. It stands 19-22 in. (48-56 cm) high and weighs 50-60 lbs (23-27 kg). There are two varieties, coloured and white.

bulldog or English bulldog Centuries-old breed of dog developed in Britain to fight bulls. Powerful and courageous, often vicious, and largely unaware of pain, the bulldog nearly disappeared when dogfight¬ ing was outlawed in 1835. Fanciers of the breed saved it and bred out its ferocity. It is now considered gentle and reliable. It has a large head, folded ears, a short muzzle, a protruding lower jaw, and loose skin that forms wrinkles on the head and face. Its short, fine coat is tan, white, reddish brown, brindle, or piebald. It stands 13-15 in. (34-38 cm) high and weighs 40-50 lbs (18-23 kg).

Buller River River, South Island, New Zealand. It was named for Charles Buller, founder of the New Zealand Co. It is the major river of the island’s west coast. Rising in the central highlands, it flows west 110 mi (177 km) into the Tasman Sea. Its gorge, which is most scenic at Inan- gahua Junction, is an important tourist attraction.

bulletin-board system (BBS) Computerized system used to exchange public messages or files. A BBS is typically reached by using a dial-up modem. Most are dedicated to a special interest, which may be an extremely narrow topic. Any user may “post” his or her own message (so that they appear on the site for all to read). Bulletin boards produce “conversations” between interested participants, who may download or print out messages they desire to keep or pass on to others. BBS sites today number in the tens of thousands. See also newsgroup.

bullfighting Spanish corrida de toros Spectacle, popular in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, in which matadors ceremonially taunt, and usually kill, bulls in an arena.

Spectacles with bulls were common in ancient Crete, Thessaly, and Rome. In the modern era, Roman amphitheatres were rebuilt and embellished for use as bullrings. The largest are in Madrid, Barcelona, and Mexico City. The corrida, which usually involves six individual fights, begins with a procession of matadors and their entourages. At the beginning of each fight an assistant (banderillero) performs a prelimi¬ nary maneuver to allow the matador to assess the animal’s behaviour. The matador then performs his capework, drawing the bull as close to him as possible without being gored. This is followed by the entrance of the pica¬ dors, horsemen who jab the bull with

lances to weaken its neck and shoulder muscles. The matador then ritu¬ ally slays the bull using a sword. In the Portuguese version of the ritual, the bull is fought from horseback and is not killed in the arena. Bullfight¬ ing has been banned in many countries.

bullfinch Any of several species of stocky, stout-billed songbird (fam¬ ily Fringillidae). Eurasia has six spe¬ cies of the genus Pyrrhula, all boldly marked. The common bullfinch ( P. pyrrhula), 6 in. (15 cm) long, is black and white; the male has a pink¬ ish orange underside. It has a soft warbling call and is a popular cage bird. Usually found in evergreen groves and hedgerows, it is notorious for eating the buds of fruit trees. The trumpeter bullfinch {Rhodopechys githaginea), of arid localities from the Canary Islands to India, is a pale bird with a blaring buzzy note.

bullfrog Solitary aquatic frog (Rana catesbeiana) named for its loud call. The largest U.S. frog, native to the eastern states, the bull¬ frog has been introduced into the western states and into other coun¬ tries. The bullfrog is green or brown with a white to yellowish belly and dark-barred legs. Its body is about 8 in. (20 cm) long, and its hindlegs may be 10 in. (25 cm) long. Large adults weigh 1 lb (0.5 kg) or more.

Bullfrogs usually live in or near a body of still water. They are used for food and as laboratory animals. The name is sometimes applied to other large frogs.

bullhead Any of several species of North American freshwater catfish in the genus Ictalurus, valued as food and sport fishes. Bullheads are related to the channel catfish (/. punctatus ) and other large North Ameri¬ can species, but their tail is squared, rather than forked, and they are gen¬ erally less than 12 in. (30 cm) long. The black bullhead (/. melas) is found in the Mississippi Valley, the yellow and brown bullheads (/. natalis and I. nebulosus) east of the Rocky Mtns., and the flat bullhead (I. platyceph- alus ) in coastal streams between North Carolina and Florida. The name is sometimes applied to sculpins.

bullionism Monetary policy of mercantilism, which called for national regulation of transactions in foreign currency and precious metals (bul¬ lion) in order to maintain a favourable balance in the home country. Bul¬ lionism is most closely associated with 16th- and 17th-century Spain, which was thought to owe its prosperity and military might to the gold and silver of its New World colonies. This view gave rise to the theory that a favourable balance of trade would increase the nation’s supply of precious metals. Spain’s abundant treasure led it to buy goods and ser¬ vices abroad at the neglect of domestic industry, causing it to experience an economic decline.

Bullock, Wynn (b. April 18, 1902, Chicago. Ill., U.S.—d. Nov. 16, 1975, Monterey, Calif.) U.S. photographer. He was strongly influenced in his early work—mainly “solarizations,” in which the image is partly nega¬ tive and partly positive—by the avant-garde experiments of LAszlo Moholy-Nagy. In 1948 Edward Weston persuaded him to focus on real¬ ism and tonal beauty, and Bullock followed his advice so closely that his images often resembled Weston’s. He is best known for realistic images that are meant to be viewed as “equivalents,” or visual metaphors (e.g., the passing of time, the inevitability of death).

Bulow VbiE-loV Bernhard (Heinrich Martin Karl), prince von

(b. May 3, 1849, Klein-Flottbek, near Altona, Ger.—d. Oct. 28, 1929, Rome, Italy) German imperial chancellor and Prussian prime minister (1900-09). After holding a number of diplomatic posts, he was appointed state secretary for the foreign department in 1897. He quickly became a potent force and succeeded to the chancellorship in 1900. In cooperation with William II, he pursued a policy of German aggrandizement in the years preceding World War I. He was unable to prevent the formation of the

Manolete executing a natural pass, a close pase with his left hand.

BARNABY CONRAD

Common bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

H.M. BARNFATHER/BRUCE COLEMAN LTD.

Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)

RICHARD PARKER

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294 I Biilow ► bungee jumping

English-French-Russian alliance against Germany (see Entente Cordiale; Triple Entente) and increased international tension with the first of the Moroccan crises.

Bulow \'biE-lo\, Hans (Guido), baron von (b. Jan. 8, 1830, Dres¬ den, Saxony—d. Feb. 12, 1894, Cairo, Egypt) German conductor and pianist. He studied piano with Clara Schumann’s father. His meetings with the composers Franz Liszt (1849) and Richard Wagner (1850) led to his decision to give up law for music, and with their help he launched a renowned career as conductor and pianist, studying with Liszt from 1851 and marrying his daughter Cosima in 1857. He was appointed court con¬ ductor to Louis II and later director of the Munich Conservatory. He con¬ ducted the premieres of Wagner’s operas Tristan und Isolde (1859) and Die Meistersinger (1868). Cosima abandoned von Biilow for Wagner, whom she married in 1870; nonetheless, von Biilow continued to pro¬ mote Wagner’s music. He was one of the first conductors to conduct from memory; his interpretations were noted for their integrity and emotional power.

bulrush Any of the annual or perennial grasslike plants constituting the genus Scirpus, especially S. lacustris, in the sedge family, that bear soli¬ tary or much-clustered spikelets. Bulrushes grow in wet locations, includ¬ ing ponds, marshes, and lakes. Their stems are often used to weave strong mats, baskets, and chair seats. Bulrushes may act as a filter, absorbing poisonous metals and toxic microorganisms, thus helping to reduce water pollution. In Britain, the term bulrush refers to either of two CATTAILS ( Typha latifolia and T. angustifolia).

Bultmann \'bult- 1 man\ / Rudolf (Karl) (b. Aug. 20, 1884, Wiefelst- ede, Ger.—d. July 30, 1976, Marburg, W.Ger.) German Protestant theo¬ logian and New Testament scholar. The son of a Lutheran pastor, he studied at the University of Tubingen and later taught many years at Marburg (1921-51). He established his reputation with his analysis of the Gospels in History of the Synoptic Tradition (1921). Influenced by his colleague Martin Heidegger, he held that Christian faith should focus less on the his¬ torical Jesus and more on the transcendent Christ, and he examined the New Testament in mythical terms. During the Nazi era he supported the anti-Nazi Confessing Church. His postwar books included Kerygma and Myth (1953), History and Eschatology (1957), and Jesus Christ and Mythology (1960).

Bulwer, Sir (William) Henry Lytton (Earle) later Baron Dalling and Bulwer of Dalfing (b. Feb. 13, 1801, London, Eng.—d. May 23, 1872, Naples, Italy) British diplomat. In the diplomatic service from 1829, he negotiated the Ponsonby Treaty (1838), which was advantageous to British trade with the Ottoman Empire. As ambassador to the U.S. (1849-52), he negotiated the controversial Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, which was intended to resolve (but in fact aggravated) Anglo- American disputes in Latin America. In 1856 he played a major part in the negotiations following the Crimean War. His brother was the novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward (George Earl) later 1st Baron Lyt¬ ton (of Knebworth) (b. May 25, 1803, London, Eng.—d. Jan. 18, 1873, Torquay, Devonshire) British politician, novelist, and poet. His first novel, Pelham, was published in 1828. He entered Parliament as a Lib¬ eral in 1831, retired in 1841, and returned in 1852 as a Tory. In the interim he wrote his long historical novels, including The Last Days of Pompeii, 3 vol. (1834), and Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings (1848). He was created a peer in 1866. The opening to his 1830 novel Paul Clifford (“It was a dark and stormy night...”) led to an annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Prize, in which entrants vie to create the most overwritten first sentence to a hypothetical novel.

bumblebee Any member of two genera constituting the insect tribe Bombini (family Apidae, order Hymenoptera), found almost worldwide but most common in temperate climates. Bumblebees are robust and hairy, average about 0.6-1 in. (1.5-2.5 cm) in length, and are usually black with broad yellow or orange bands. Bombus species are nest builders, often nesting in the ground, commonly in deserted bird or mouse nests. They live in organized groups, with a queen, drones, and workers (see caste). Psithyrus species are social parasites (see parasitism); they lay their eggs in Bombus nests, where the eggs and larvae are cared for by Bombus workers.

Bunau-Varilla \bLE-no-va-re-'ya\, Philippe (-Jean) (b. July 26, 1859, Paris, France—d. May 18, 1940, Paris) French engineer. He worked

for the French Panama Canal Co. (1884-89) until the project failed. He helped to instigate the revolution that resulted in Panamanian indepen¬ dence and was appointed by the provisional government to negotiate a treaty with the U.S. for the construction of a canal. In 1903 he signed a treaty with U.S. Secretary of State John Hay assuring the construction of the Panama Canal under U.S. control.

bunchberry Creeping perennial herbaceous plant ( Cornus canadensis), also called dwarf cornel, of the dogwood family. The small and incon¬ spicuous yellowish flowers, grouped in heads surrounded by four large and showy white (rarely pink) petal-like bracts, give rise to clusters of red fruits. Bunchberry is found in acid soils, bogs, and upland slopes in Asia and from Greenland to Alaska, and south as far as Maryland, New Mexico, and California.

Bunche VboqchV Ralph (Johnson) (b. Aug. 7, 1904, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—d. Dec. 9, 1971, New York,

N.Y.) U.S. diplomat. He earned graduate degrees at Harvard Univer¬ sity and taught at Howard University from 1928. After studying colonial policy in Africa, he collaborated with Gunnar Myrdal in An American Dilemma (1944), a study of U.S. race relations. He worked in the U.S. war and state departments during World War II. In 1947 he became director of the trusteeship department of the UN Secretariat. His work in forging a truce between Palestinian Arabs and Jews earned him the 1950 Nobel Prize for Peace. As UN undersecre¬ tary for political affairs, he oversaw UN peacekeeping forces around the Suez Canal (1956), in the Congo (1960), and in Cyprus (1964). He also served on the board of the NAACP for 22 years.

Bundelkhand Vbun-dsl-.kondV Historic region, central India. Long inhabited by various dynasties, it was finally settled by the Bundela Rajputs in the 14th century. For centuries afterward they engaged in war¬ fare with the Muslim power of Delhi. After a period of Mughal rule, the Marathas extended their influence, but by 1817 the British government had acquired all territorial rights over the region. After Indian indepen¬ dence was achieved, Bundelkhand in 1948 merged into Vindhya Pradesh, which in turn merged with Madhya Pradesh in 1956.

Bundestag Vbun-d3s-,tak\ Lower house of the German bicameral leg¬ islature. It represents the nation as a whole and is elected by universal suffrage under a system of mixed direct and proportional representation. Members serve four-year terms. The Bundestag in turn elects the chan¬ cellor. The term was formerly used to refer to the federal Diet of the Ger¬ man Confederation (1815-66), known as the Reichstag under the Weimar Republic (1919-34). Its building burned down in 1933 (see Reichstag fire), and its members were not allowed to meet again for the duration of the Nazi regime (1933-45). The Reichstag was reconstituted as the Bunde¬ stag in the governmental reorganization of 1949. Its membership was again reorganized after German unification in 1990.

bundle theory Theory advanced by David Hume to the effect that the mind is merely a bundle of perceptions without deeper unity or cohesion, related only by resemblance, succession, and causation. Hume’s well- argued denial of a substantial or unified self precipitated a philosophical crisis from which Immanuel Kant sought to rescue Western philosophy.

Bundy, McGeorge (b. March 30, 1919, Boston, Mass., U.S.—d. Sept. 16, 1996, Boston) U.S. public official and educator. He served in World War II as an intelligence officer. He joined the faculty of Harvard Uni¬ versity in 1949 and became dean of arts and sciences in 1953. As special assistant for national security to presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, he was a forceful advocate of expanding U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He resigned to become president of the Ford Founda¬ tion (1966-79) and later taught at New York University (1979-89).

bungee jumping Vbon-jeV Sport in which the jumper falls from a high place with a rubber (“bungee”) cord attached both to his or her feet and to the jump site, and, after a period of headfirst free fall, is bounced part-

Bunche.

H. ROGER-VIOLLET

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Bunin ► Burbank I 295

way back when the cord rebounds from its maximum stretch. It traces its roots to the “land diving” practiced on Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, in which divers jump off a high tower, their feet connected to it by a vine whose length is calculated to allow the jumper to fall until his hair just brushes the ground below. The Oxford Dangerous Sports Club, inspired by reports of the Pentecost Island divers, made the first Western bungee jumps, and bungee jumping was first offered commercially to the public in New Zealand in 1988.

Bunin Vbu-n y in\, Ivan (Alekseyevich) (b. Oct. 10, 1870, Voronezh, Russia—d. Nov. 8, 1953, Paris, France) Russian poet and novelist. He worked as a journalist and clerk while writing and translating poetry, but he made his name as a short-story writer, with such masterpieces as the title story of The Gentleman from San Francisco (1916). His other works include the novel Mitya’s Love (1925), the story collection Dark Avenues (1943), fictional autobiography, memoirs, and books on Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov. The first Russian awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1933), he is among the best stylists in the language.

Bunker Hill, Battle of also known as Battle of Breed's Hill (June 17,1775) First major battle of the American Revolution. Within two months after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, more than 15,000 colonial troops assembled near Boston to prevent the British army from occupy¬ ing several hills around the city, including Bunker and Breed’s hills. The colonists fortified Breed’s Hill in Charlestown, across the Charles River from Boston. They withstood a cannonade from British ships in Boston Harbor and fought off assaults by 2,300 British troops but were eventu¬ ally forced to retreat. Although the British won the battle, it was a Pyr¬ rhic victory that lent considerable encouragement to the revolutionary cause. British casualties (about 1,000) and the colonists’ fierce resistance convinced the British that subduing the rebels would be difficult.

bunraku Vbun-ra-ku\ Japanese traditional puppet theatre, in which nearly life-size dolls act out a chanted dramatic narrative, called joruri , to the accompaniment of a small samisen. Puppet theatre reached its height in the 18th century with the plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon and declined later because of a lack of good joruri writers.

Bunsen, Robert (Wilhelm) (b. March 31, 1811, Gottingen, Westphalia—d. Aug. 16, 1899, Heidelberg, Baden) German chemist. With Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, he observed (c. 1859) that each element emits light of a characteristic wavelength, opening the field of spectrochemical analy¬ sis. They discovered several new elements (including helium, cesium, and rubidium) by spectroscopy. His only book discussed methods of measur¬ ing volumes of gases. He invented the carbon-zinc battery, grease-spot photometer (see photometry), filter pump, ice calorimeter, and vapour calo¬ rimeter. Though often credited with inventing the Bunsen burner, he seems to have made only a minor contribution to its development.

bunting Common name for any of about 37 Old World species (genus Emberiza ) of finch, as well as certain similar species found in the New World. All belong to the family Frin- gillidae, and many are recognizable by strongly patterned heads or bright colours. Emberiza species are seed eaters that commonly breed in tem¬ perate Eurasia and from northern Africa to India. The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis ) breeds in the far north, and the lark bunting ( Cala- mospiza melanocorys ) inhabits the U.S. Great Plains. U.S. species include the indigo bunting ( Passe - rina cyanea) and the painted bunting ( P. ciris ). The male painted bunting, with red, green, and blue feathers, is the most colourful bird that breeds in the U.S.

Bunuel X.bun-yu-'weL, Luis (b. Feb. 22, 1900, Calanda, Spain—d. July 29, 1983, Mexico City, Mex.) Spanish film director. As a student at the University of Madrid he met Salvador Dau, with whom he later made the Surrealist film Un chien andalou (1928). Bunuel then directed the anti¬ clerical L’Age d’or (1930) and the documentary Land Without Bread (1932). After working as a commercial producer in Spain and a technical adviser in Hollywood, he moved to Mexico, where he directed Los olvida- dos (1950) and Nazarin (1958). He returned to Spain to make Viridiana (1961), which was suppressed in Spain as anticlerical but internationally

acclaimed. He attacked conventional morality in such later films as Belle de jour (1967), Tristana (1970), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977).

Bunyan, John (b. November 1628, Elstow, Bedfordshire,

Eng.—d. Aug. 31, 1688, London)

English minister and author. Bunyan encountered the seething religious life of various left-wing sects while serving in Oliver Cromwell’s army in the English Civil Wars. He under¬ went a period of spiritual crisis, con¬ verted to Puritanism, and became a preacher. After the Restoration, he was jailed as a Nonconformist for 12 years, during which he wrote his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666). He is best known for The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678- 84), a religious allegory expressing the Puritan religious outlook. A sym¬ bolic vision of the character Chris¬ tian’s pilgrimage through life, it was at one time second only to the Bible in popularity among ordinary read¬ ers. Despite his ministerial responsi¬ bilities, he published numerous works in his last 10 years.

Bunyan, Paul Legendary giant lumberjack of the U.S. frontier. A symbol of strength and vitality, he is accompanied by a giant blue ox, Babe. He was credited with creating Puget Sound, digging the Grand Canyon, and building the Black Hills, and was known for his prodigious appetite, eating hotcakes off a griddle so large it was greased by men using sides of bacon as skates. Tales of his exploits probably originated in lumber camps, and were first published by James MacGillivray in “The Round River Drive” (1910), which soon led to a national myth.

Bunyoro See Nyoro

Buonarroti, Michelangelo See Michelangelo buoyancy See Archimedes' principle

burakumin \bu- , ra-ku-min\ Japanese "hamlet people" Japanese minority group that suffers discrimination based on its historical outcaste status. In the late 16th century, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi divided the popu¬ lace into four social classes, one group remained outside and beneath the system: those whose occupation involved the taking of life (such as butch¬ ers or executioners) or handling flesh or dead bodies (such as leather- workers or gravediggers). Buddhist and Shinto beliefs in the polluting nature of these occupations have long stigmatized those who held them. Though their outcaste status was removed by law in 1871, prejudice remains, and burakumin heritage often stands in the way of marriages and employment opportunities. Burakumin are estimated to number 1-3 mil¬ lion.

Burbage Vbor-bijV Richard (b. c. 1567, London, Eng.—d. March 9/13, 1619, London) British actor. A popular actor by age 20, he was a member of the Earl of Leicester’s company and the Chamberlain’s (later King’s) Men. Closely associated with William Shakespeare, he was the first to play roles such as Richard III, Romeo, Henry V, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear. He also performed in plays by Thomas Kyd, Ben Jonson, and John Webster. He was a major shareholder of the Globe The¬ atre and the Blackfriars Theatre.

Burbank, Luther (b. March 7, 1849, Lancaster, Mass., U.S.—d. April 11, 1926, Santa Rosa, Cal.) U.S. plant breeder. He was reared on a farm and never obtained a college education. Influenced by Charles Darwin’s writings on domesticated plants, he began a plant-breeding career at age 21. On the proceeds of his rapid development of the hugely successful Burbank potato, he set up a nursery garden, greenhouse, and experimen-

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296 I Burbidge ► Burgess

tal farms in Santa Rosa, Cal. There he developed more than 800 new and useful strains and varieties of fruits, flowers, vegetables, grains, and grasses, many of which are still com¬ mercially important. His laboratory became world-famous, and he helped make plant breeding a mod¬ em science. He published two mul¬ tivolume works and a series of descriptive catalogs.

Burbidge, (Eleanor) Marga¬ ret orig. Eleanor Margaret Peachey (b. Aug. 12, 1919, Dav¬ enport, Cheshire, Eng.) English astronomer. She served as acting director (1950-51) of the Observa¬ tory of the University of London. In 1955 her husband, Geoffrey Bur¬ bidge (b. 1925), became a researcher at the Mount Wilson Observatory, and she accepted a research post at Caltech. She later joined the faculty at UC-San Diego, briefly serving as director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (1972-73). Jointly with her husband, she made notable con¬ tributions to the theory of quasars and to the understanding of how the elements are formed in the depths of stars through nuclear fusion (nucleo¬ synthesis).

burbot Vbar-botX Elongated fish ( Lota lota), the only freshwater mem¬ ber of the cod family. It lives in cold rivers and lakes of Europe, Asia, and North America. A mottled, greenish or brown bottom-dweller, it descends as deep as 700 ft (200 m). It may grow about 3.6 ft (1.1 m) long. It has very small, embedded scales, a long anal fin, and two dorsal fins. The burbot is valued as food in some areas.

Burchfield, Charles (Ephraim) (b. April 9, 1893, Ashtabula Har¬ bor, Ohio, U.S.—d. Jan. 10, 1967, Gardenville, N.Y.) U.S. painter. He attended the Cleveland School of Art and, after service in World War I, worked as a wallpaper designer in Buffalo, N.Y. In the 1920s and ’30s he was one of the leading painters of American life; his work was asso¬ ciated with Edward Hopper’s in its portrayal of the loneliness and bleak¬ ness of small-town life (e.g., November Evening , 1934). In the 1940s he abandoned realism for a more personal interpretation of nature, empha¬ sizing its mystery, movement, and colour from season to season (e.g.. The Sphinx and the Milky Way, 1946).

Burckhardt \'burk- I hart\, Jacob (Christopher) (b. May 25, 1818, Basel, Switz.—d. Aug. 8, 1897, Basel) Swiss historian of art and culture. After abandoning his study of theology, Burckhardt studied art history, then a new field, at the University of Berlin (1839-43). As he matured he became a cultural conservative, alienated from the contemporary world and preoccupied with reclaiming the past. From 1843 he taught primarily at the University of Basel; from 1886 until his retirement in 1893 he taught art history exclusively. He is famous for The Civilization of the Renais¬ sance in Italy (1860), which examines daily life in the Renaissance in terms of such phenomena as the development of individuality and the modern sense of humour; it became a model for cultural historians. He died while working on a four-volume survey of Greek civilization.

burdock Any plant of the genus Arctium, in the composite family, bear¬ ing globular flower heads with prickly bracts. Native to Europe and Asia, burdock species have been naturalized throughout North America. Regarded as weeds in the U.S., they are cultivated for their edible root in Asia. Their fruits are round burrs that stick to clothing and fur.

Bureau of Standards since 1988 U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Agency of the U.S. Depart¬ ment of Commerce responsible for the standardization of weights and measures, timekeeping, and navigation. Active since at least the mid-19th century, the agency works closely with the U.S. Naval Observatory and the Bureau International de l’Heure in Paris to ensure global standardized time.

bureaucracy Professional corps of officials organized in a pyramidal hierarchy and functioning under impersonal, uniform rules and proce¬

dures. Its characteristics were first formulated systematically by Max Weber, who saw in the bureaucratic organization a highly developed divi¬ sion of labour, authority based on administrative rules rather than personal allegiance or social custom, and a “rational” and impersonal institution whose members function more as “offices” than as individuals. For Weber, bureaucracy was a form of legalistic “domination” inevitable under capi¬ talism. Later writers saw in bureaucracy a tendency to concentrate power at the top and become dictatorial, as occurred in the Soviet Union. Robert K. Merton emphasized its red tape and inefficiency due to blind confor¬ mity to procedures. More recent theories have stressed the role of mana¬ gerial cliques, occupational interest groups, or individual power-seekers in creating politicized organizations characterized by internal conflict.

Burgas \bur-'gas\ City (pop., 2001: 802,932), eastern Bulgaria. Located on an inlet of the Black Sea, it is one of Bulgaria’s chief ports. It was founded in the 17th century; its development received impetus with the coming of the railroad in the late 19th century. It claims much of Bulgar¬ ia’s Black Sea trade and handles most of its fish catch. With several neighbouring towns, Burgas is part of the developing Black Sea Riviera.

Burger Vbmr-gsrV Gottfried August (b. Dec. 31, 1747, Molmers- wende bei Halberstadt, Brandenburg—d. June 8, 1794, Gottingen, Hanover) German poet. He was associated with the Gottinger Hain, a circle of Sturm und Drang poets who reawakened interest in folk and nature themes. His bizarre ballad “Lenore” (1773) had a profound effect on the subsequent development of literary Romanticism throughout Europe, and he is remembered as a founder of German Romantic ballad literature. He is also noted for his Petrarchan sonnets and translations from English, especially Thomas Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.

Burger, Warren E(arl) (b. Sept. 17, 1907, St. Paul, Minn., U.S.—d. June 25, 1995, Washington, D.C.) U.S. jurist. He graduated with honours from St. Paul (now William Mitchell) College of Law in 1931, after which he joined a prominent law firm and became active in the Republican Party. He was appointed an assistant U.S. attorney general (1953) and named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (1955), where his conservative approach commended him to Pres. Richard Nixon, who nominated him for chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1969. Contrary to the expectations of some, he did not try to reverse the liberal decisions on civil-rights issues and criminal law made during the tenure of his predecessor, Earl Warren. Under his leadership, the court upheld the 1966 Miranda v. Arizona decision, permitted busing as a means of ending racial segregation in public schools, and endorsed the use of racial quotas in the awarding of federal grants and contracts. Burger voted with the majority in Roe v. Wade (1973). Keenly interested in judicial administration, he became deeply involved in efforts to improve the judi¬ ciary’s efficiency. He retired in 1986 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988.

Burgess Vbar-jssV Anthony orig. John Anthony Burgess Wil¬ son (b. Feb. 25, 1917, Manchester, Eng.—d. Nov. 22, 1993, London) English novelist, critic, and composer. His experiences in Southeast Asia produced the novel trilogy The Long Day Wanes (1956-59). A Clockwork Orange (1962; film, 1971), his most original work, is a satire on extreme political systems. His other novels, which combine mordant wit, moral seriousness, verbal dexterity, and the bizarre, include The Wanting Seed (1962), Inside Mr. Enderby (1963), and Earthly Powers (1980). In addi¬ tion to his extensive literary criticism, biographies, and works on linguis¬ tics and music, he composed more than 65 musical works.

Burgess \'bor-j9s\, Guy (Francis de Money) (b. 1911, Devonport, Devon, Eng.—d. Aug. 30, 1963, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) British dip¬ lomat and Soviet spy. At the University of Cambridge in the 1930s, he became part of a group of young men, including Donald Maclean (1913— 83), who shared a disdain for capitalist democracy. They were recruited by Soviet intelligence operatives and supplied information from their positions, mainly in the British foreign office (Maclean from 1934, Bur¬ gess from 1944). Maclean’s post with the British embassy in Washing¬ ton, D.C., enabled him to pass secret information about NATO to the Soviets; Burgess also served in Washington. In 1951 both men were warned by their colleague Kim Philby that an investigation was closing in on Maclean. With the aid of Anthony Blunt, they fled England and van¬ ished, then surfaced in Moscow in 1956.

Burgess Vbsr-jasV Thornton W(aldo) (b. Jan. 14, 1874, Sandwich, Mass., U.S.—d. June 5, 1965, Hampden, Mass.) U.S. children’s author and naturalist. He loved nature as a child. His first book, Old Mother West

Burbank

COURTESY OF HUNT INSTITUTE FOR BOTANICAL DOCUMENTATION, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY, PITTSBURGH, PA.

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Burgess ► Burkina Faso I 297

Wind (1910), introduced the animal characters that were to populate his subsequent stories, which were published in many languages. He pro¬ moted conservationism through his “Wildlife Protection Program,” his “Radio Nature League,” and other organizations. He wrote more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for newspaper columns.

Burgess Vbor-josX Shale Fossil formation containing remarkably detailed traces of soft-bodied marine organisms of the middle of the Cam¬ brian Epoch (520-512 million years ago). Collected from a fossil bed in the Burgess Pass of the Canadian Rockies, the Burgess Shale is one of the best preserved and most important fossil formations in the world. Since it was discovered in 1909, over 60,000 specimens have been retrieved from the bed.

Burgesses Vbor-jss-ozV, House of Representative assembly in colo¬ nial Virginia, the first elective governing body in a British colony. It was one division of the legislature established in 1619 by the colonial gover¬ nor at Jamestown; the other included the governor himself and a council, all appointed by the colonial proprietor (the Virginia Company). Each Virginia settlement was entitled to elect two delegates, or burgesses (citi¬ zens of a borough in England). See also London Co.

Burghley, Baron See William Cecil

burglary Crime of breaking into and entering a structure with the intent to commit a felony within (see felony and misdemeanour). It is one of sev¬ eral crimes in the general category of theft. Some state statutes specify degrees of burglary based on when and where the crime occurs, whether anyone is present in the structure when it is broken into, and whether a deadly weapon is used.

Burgoyne Vbor-'goinV John (b. 1722, Sutton, Bedfordshire, Eng.—d. June 4, 1792, London) British general. After serving in the Seven Years’ War he was elected to the British House of Commons in 1761 and 1768. Assigned to Canada in 1776, he began a campaign to join British forces from the north, south, and west to isolate the rebellious New England colonies. In 1777 his army captured Fort Ticonderoga, N.Y., but was stopped at the Hudson River by a larger army of colonists under Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold. After several months of fighting, he surren¬ dered to Gates at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; he returned to England to face criticism for his defeat.

Burgundian school Group of 15th-century French composers, most of whom were associated with courts of various dukes of Burgundy. They are best known for their three-part chansons in rondeau form (see formes fixes), usually with text only in the highest part—perhaps implying a solo voice accompanied by instruments, written in full triadic harmony. The most important Burgundian composers were Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Bin- chois (c. 1400-60), and Antoine Busnois (c. 1430-92).

Burgundy French Bourgogne \biir-'g6n y \ Historical and govern¬ mental region, France. The name was originally applied to a kingdom in the Rhone valley and western Switzerland founded by the Burgundians, a Germanic people who fled Germany in the 5th century. Conquered by the Merovingians c. 534, it was incorporated into the Frankish empire. By the 843 Treaty of Verdun, which divided the empire of Charlemagne, it was included in the Middle Kingdom of Lothar I. It was later divided into Cis- jurane (Lower) Burgundy, or Provence (founded 879), and Transjurane (Upper) Burgundy (founded 888); they united in 933 to form the king¬ dom of Burgundy. After the 13th century, it was known as the kingdom of Arles; the name Burgundy was applied to the duchy of Burgundy, formed in the 9th century from lands in the northwestern part of the origi¬ nal kingdom. On the death of Burgundy’s duke in 1361, the duchy reverted to the French crown. Given to Philip II, by 1477 its lands extended into the Low Countries. It was seized by Louis XI, annexed to the French crown, and was a province until the French Revolution. Roughly coexten¬ sive with the pre-Revolutionary province, the current administrative region of Burgundy (1999: 1,610,067) covers 12,194 sq mi (31,582 sq km). Its capital is Dijon. Wine making is an important part of the economy.

burial Ritual disposal of human remains. The practice is often intended to facilitate the deceased’s entry into the afterworld. Grave burial dates back at least 125,000 years. Types of graves range from trenches to large burial mounds to great stone tombs such as pyramids. Caves have also long been used for the dead—e.g., in ancient Hebrew burials, the sepulchral caves (rock temples) of western India and Sri Lanka, and the Dogon cliff burial sites. Water burial, such as occurred among the Vikings, has also been common. Cremation and the scattering of ashes on water is widely

practiced, especially in Asia; in India the remains of the deceased are thrown into the sacred Ganges River. Some peoples (American Indian groups, Parsis, etc.) employ exposure to the elements to dispose of their dead. Among many peoples, the first burial is followed by a second, after an interval that often coincides with the duration of bodily decomposi¬ tion. This reflects a concept of death as slow passage from the society of the living to that of the dead. Jewish custom requires speedy burial; a prayer known as the Kaddish is recited at the graveside, and a gravestone is normally erected a year after burial. Christian burials are often preceded by a wake, a “watch” held over the deceased’s body and sometimes accompanied by festivity. Bodies of Muslims are laid on their right side and facing Mecca.

Buridan \bui-re- , da n ,\ English \'byur-3d- 3 n\, Jean (b. 1300, Bethune?, France—d. 1358) French philosopher, logician, and scientific theorist. He studied under William of Ockham at the University of Paris and later taught there. According to his modified version of determinism, though one must choose what presents itself as the greater good, the will is free to delay reason’s judgment by suggesting a more thorough inquiry into the worth of one’s motives. The dilemma of a particular kind of moral choice, between two evidently identical alternatives, is illustrated by the cel¬ ebrated allegory of “Buridan’s ass.” Among his achievements in mechan¬ ics was a revision of Aristotle’s theory of motion; he developed a theory of impetus by which the mover imparts to the moved a power, propor¬ tional to the former’s speed and mass, which keeps it moving. His stud¬ ies of optical images prefigured modern developments in cinematics. In logic he explicated the doctrines of Aristotle and Peter of Spain (c. 1210— 77). His works include Summula de dialecta (1487) and Consequents

(1493).

Burke, Edmund (b. January 12?, 1729, Dublin, Ire.—d. July 9, 1797, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, Eng.) British parliamentarian, orator, and political philosopher. The son of a lawyer, he began legal studies but lost interest, became estranged from his father, and spent some time wander¬ ing about England and France. Essays he published in 1757-58 gained the attention of Denis Diderot, Immanuel Kant, and Gotthold Lessing, and he was hired to edit a yearly survey of world affairs (1758-88). He entered politics (1765) as secretary to a Whig leader and soon became involved in the controversy over whether Parliament or the monarch controlled the executive. He argued (1770) that George Ill’s efforts to reassert a more active role for the crown violated the constitution’s spirit. Elected to Par¬ liament (1774-80), he contended that its members should exercise judg¬ ment rather than merely follow their constituents’ desires. Although a strong constitutionalist, he was not a supporter of pure democracy; although a conservative, he eloquently championed the cause of the American colonists, whom he regarded as badly governed, and he sup¬ ported the abolition of the international slave trade. He tried unsuccess¬ fully to legislate relief for Ireland and to reform the governance of India. He disapproved of the French Revolution for its leaders’ precipitous actions and its antiaristocratic bloodshed. He is often regarded as the founder of modern conservatism.

Burkina Faso \bur-'ke-n9-'fa-so\ formerly Upper Volta Country, West Africa. A landlocked country, it lies south of the Sahara Desert. Area: 103,456 sq mi (267,950 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 13,492,000. Capi¬ tal: Ouagadougou. Ethnic groups are the Mossi, Hausa, Fulani, Mande, Bobo, and Senufo. Languages: French (official), Mossi, Dyula, Fula. Reli¬ gions: Islam, traditional beliefs, Christianity. Currency: CFA franc. Burkina Faso consists of an extensive plateau characterized by a savanna, grassy in the north and sparsely forested in the south. The plateau is notched by the valleys of the Mouhoun (Black Volta), Nazinon (Red Volta), and Nakanbe rivers, which flow south into Ghana. The economy is largely agricultural. Burkina Faso is a republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president and its head of government the prime minister. Probably in the 14th century, the Mossi and Gurma peoples established themselves in eastern and central areas. The Mossi kingdoms of Yatenga and Ouagadougou existed into the early 20th cen¬ tury. A French protectorate was established over the region (1895-97), and its southern boundary was demarcated through an Anglo-French agreement. It was part of the Upper Senegal-Niger (see Mali) colony, then became a separate colony in 1919. It was constituted an overseas terri¬ tory within the French Union in 1947, became an autonomous republic within the French Community in 1958, and achieved total independence in 1960. Since then it has been ruled primarily by the military and has expe¬ rienced several coups; the country received its present name in 1984. A

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

298 I Burkitt ► Burne-Jones

ning of the 21st century.

Burkitt, Denis P(arsons) (b. Feb. 28, 1911, Enniskillen, N.Ire.—d. March 23, 1993, England) British surgeon and medical researcher. He discovered Burkitt lymphoma, a lethal cancer of the lymphatic system with a high incidence among children. He showed that it was common in equatorial African regions where malaria and yellow fever are endemic and linked it to Epstein-Barr virus in children with immune systems depressed by chronic malaria. He later helped develop an effective che¬ motherapy treatment. Burkitt was also known for his theory that a high- fibre diet protects against colon cancer, publicized in his book Don’t Forget Fibre in Your Diet (1979).

burlesque In literature, comic imitation of a serious literary or artistic form that relies on an extravagant incongruity between a subject and its treatment. It is closely related to parody, though burlesque is generally broader and coarser. Early examples include the comedies of Aristophanes. English burlesque is chiefly drama. John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), Henry Fielding’s Tom Thumb (1730), and Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Critic (1779) are parodies of popular dramatic forms of the period. Victorian burlesque, usually light entertainment with music, was eclipsed by other popular forms by the late 19th century, and burlesque eventu¬ ally came to incorporate and be identified with striptease acts (see bur¬ lesque show).

burlesque show Stage entertainment composed of slapstick sketches, bawdy humour, chorus numbers, and solo dances. Introduced in the U.S. in 1868 by a company of English chorus girls, it developed as a version of the minstrel show, divided into three parts: (1) a series of coarse humor¬ ous songs, slapstick sketches, and comic monologues; (2) the olio, or mixture of variety acts (e.g., acrobats, magicians, singers); and (3) cho¬ rus numbers and occasionally a takeoff, or burlesque, on politics or a cur¬ rent play. The show ended with an exotic dancer or a boxing match. In the early 20th century, many performers, including Fanny Brice, Al Jol- son, and W.C. Fields, began their careers in burlesque. The addition of the striptease in the 1920s made a star of Gypsy Rose Lee, but censorship and competition from motion pictures soon led to burlesque’s decline.

Burlingame, Anson (b. Nov. 14, 1820, New Berlin, N.Y., U.S.—d. Feb. 23, 1870, St. Petersburg, Russia) U.S. diplomat. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1855—61) and helped found the Republican Party. As U.S. minister to China (1861-67), he implemented a policy of cooperation between China and the Western powers. He so impressed the

Chinese government that in 1867 he was appointed imperial envoy to conduct China’s international rela¬ tions. He concluded the Burlingame Treaty, which established reciprocal rights of Chinese and U.S. citizens.

Burlington City (pop., 2000:

38,889), northwestern Vermont, U.S.

Lying on a hillside sloping toward Lake Champlain, it is the largest city in the state and a port of entry. Char¬ tered by Gov. Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire in 1763, it was named for the Burling family, who were pioneer landowners. Settlement began in 1773. Later it was a mili¬ tary post; in the War of 1812 it saw several engagements between land batteries and British warships on the lake. It was the home of Ethan Allen.

It is the seat of the University of Vermont. Shelburne Museum, a recon¬ struction of early American life, is nearby.

Burma See Myanmar

Burma Road Highway, South Asia. It runs 717 mi (1,154 km) from Lashio (in eastern Burma, now Myanmar) northeast to Kunming (in Yun¬ nan, China). An extension runs east through China from Kunming, then north to Chongqing. Completed in 1939, it functioned as a supply route to the interior of China, carrying war goods. It was seized by the Japa¬ nese in 1942 and reopened when it was connected to the Stilwell Road from India. Its importance diminished after World War II, but it has remained a link in a 2,100-mi (3,400-km) road system from Yangon, Myanmar, to Chongqing.

Burmese cat Breed of domestic cat, presumably of Asian origin. Com¬ pactly built, it has a small, rounded head and wide-set, round, yellow eyes. The short, finely textured, glossy coat darkens as it matures from milk- chocolate to a rich sable brown and is paler on the underside; the ears, face, legs, and tail may be darker. The tapered tail may be kinked near the tip.

burn Damage caused to the body by contact with flames, hot substances, some chemicals, radiation (including sunlight), or electricity. Bums are classified by depth of skin damage and by percentage of skin damaged. First-degree burns injure only the epidermis (top layer), with redness, pain, and minimal edema. In a second-degree burn, damage extends into the dermis (inner layer), with redness and blisters. Third-degree burns destroy the entire thickness of the skin. There is no pain, because the skin’s pain receptors are destroyed. Burns deeper than the skin can release toxic materials into the bloodstream and may require amputation. Sec¬ ondary shock follows severe bums, caused by loss of fluid both in the destroyed tissue and in leaks from the damaged area. Treatment depends on severity; first-degree bums need only first aid; third-degree burns require long-term hospitalization. Depending on the type, extent, and site of the burn, it may be left exposed, covered with a bandage, or excised to remove dead tissue in preparation for skin grafts. Complications of bums include respiratory problems, infection, ulcers in the stomach or duodenum, and, especially in brown skin, thick scarring. Seizures and hypertension after bums occur almost entirely in children. Survivors usu¬ ally require plastic surgery, long-term physical therapy, and psycho¬ therapy.

Burnaby District municipality (pop., 2001: 193,954), southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The settlement developed along with Vancou¬ ver in the late 19th century and is now an eastern suburb of that city. It is one of the province’s chief commercial and industrial centres, with impor¬ tant trucking, warehousing, and petroleum-distribution facilities.

Burne-Jones Vbom-'jonzV Sir Edward (Coley) (b. Aug. 28, 1833, Birmingham, Eng.—d. June 17, 1898, London) British painter, illustra¬ tor, and designer. At Oxford he met his future collaborator, William Mor¬ ris. In 1856 he became apprenticed to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His paintings portray the romantic medieval imagery favoured by the Pre-Raphaelites, and he drew inspiration from the elongated, melancholy figures of Fra Filippo Lippi and Sandro Botticelli. He first achieved great success in 1877

Burlingame, detail of an engraving by Perine & Giles, late 19th century.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Burnet ► Burr I 299

with an exhibition of paintings including The Beguiling of Merlin (1873— 77). He was a founding member of Morris & Co. (1861), notably as a designer of stained glass and tapestries, and he executed 87 designs for the Kelmscott Press edition of Geoffrey Chaucer (1896), considered one the world’s finest printed books. His work had great influence on the French Symbolist movement, and his revival of the ideal of the artist- craftsman influenced the development of 20th-century industrial design.

Burnet \bor-'net\, Sir (Frank) Macfarlane (b. Sept. 3, 1899, Tra- ralgon, Vic., Austl.—d. Aug. 31, 1985, Melbourne, Vic.) Australian phy¬ sician and virologist. Burnet received his medical degree from the University of Melbourne. He later discovered a method for identifying bacteria by the viruses (bacteriophages) that attack them, and he shared a 1960 Nobel Prize with Peter Medawar for the discovery of acquired immu¬ nological tolerance to tissue transplants. He was knighted in 1951.

Burnett, Carol (b. April 26, 1933, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.) U.S. comedian and actress. She made her Broadway debut in Once upon a Mattress (1959), then appeared regularly on television in The Garry Moore Show (1959-62). Her gift for parody and her knock-kneed comic grace gained her a wide following. The weekly Carol Burnett Show (1966-77) became one of television’s most popular programs and won her five Emmy Awards. She acted in several films, including Pete ‘n ’ Tillie (1972) and Annie (1982), and returned to Broadway in Moon over Buf¬ falo (1995).

Burnett, Frances (Eliza) Hodgson (b. Nov. 24, 1849, Manchester, Eng.—d. Oct. 29, 1924, Plandome, N.Y., U.S.) British-U.S. playwright and author. She is best remembered for the popular children’s novel Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), about an American boy who inherits an English earldom. The Secret Garden (1911), considered her best work, is a clas¬ sic of children’s literature. Other works include the novel Through One Administration (1883), about corruption in Washington, D.C., and the play A Lady of Quality (1896).

Burney, Charles (b. April 7, 1726, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng.—d. April 12, 1814, Chelsea, Middlesex) British music historian. After being apprenticed to Thomas Arne, he taught music and played the organ. In 1770 he set off on European travels, undertaken to research his seminal Gen¬ eral History of Music, 4 vol. (1776-89). His accounts of the many famous musicians and others he met, including Christoph Willibald Gluck and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, provide an entertaining and invaluable account of 18th-century European musical life and of intellectual life in general. The novelist Fanny Burney was his daughter.

Burney (d'Arblay), Fanny orig. Frances Burney (b. June 13, 1752, King’s Lynn, Norfolk,

Eng.—d. Jan. 6, 1840, London)

English novelist. The self-educated daughter of Charles Burney, she wrote lively accounts of his social musical evenings. Her habit of recording observations of society led to Evelina (1778), an epistolary novel about an unsure young girl’s social development; a landmark in the evo¬ lution of the novel of manners, it pointed the way to Jane Austen’s novels. Her later novels include Cecilia (1782) and the potboiler Camilla (1796).

Burnham, Daniel H(udson)

(b. Sept. 4, 1846, Henderson, N.Y.,

U.S.—d. June 1, 1912, Heidelberg,

Ger.) U.S. architect and city planner.

He pioneered the development of Chicago commercial architecture with his partner, John Wellborn Root (1850-91). Three of the firm’s Chi¬ cago buildings were designated landmarks in 1962: the Rookery (1886), the Reliance Building (1890), and the Monadnock Building (1891), the last and tallest (16-story) U.S. masonry skyscraper. As chief consulting architect for Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition (1893), Burnham chose firms working in academic eclecticism, the antithesis of the Chi¬ cago School. The exposition’s resulting “White City,” with its boulevards, gardens, and Classical facades, influenced subsequent planning in the U.S.

Burnham’s plan for Chicago (1907-09), which the city used for many years, is a classic example of U.S. city planning.

Burns, George orig. Nathan Birnbaum (b. Jan. 20, 1896, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. March 9, 1996, Beverly Hills, Calif.) U.S. comedian best known for his collaboration with Grade Allen (1902-64). Bums and Allen formed a comedy team in 1925 and were married in 1926. They performed on radio in The George Burns and Grade Allen Show (1932— 50), with Bums playing the straight man to Allen’s malaprop-prone chat¬ terbox, before their show moved to television (1950-58). They made 13 films together, including The Big Broadcast films of 1932, 1936, and 1937. Burns returned to the screen in films such as The Sunshine Boys (1975, Academy Award) and Oh, God! (1977) and its sequels. Famous for his wry humour and his cigars, he continued performing into his late 90s.

Bums, Ken(neth Lauren) (b. July 27, 1953, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. documentary filmmaker. He founded his own production company in 1975 and made such documentary films as Brooklyn Bridge (1981), The Shakers (1984), The Statue of Liberty (1985), and The Congress (1988). His acclaimed series The Civil War (1990), televised on PBS, won numerous filmmaking and history awards. His later television documen¬ taries include Baseball (1994), Lewis and Clark (1997), Frank Lloyd Wright (1998), and Jazz (2001).

Burns, Robert (b. Jan. 25, 1759, Alloway, Ayrshire, Scot.—d. July 21, 1796, Dumfries, Dumfriesshire)

National poet of Scotland. The son of a poor farmer, he early became familiar with orally transmitted folk song and tales. His father’s farm failed, and a farm he started himself quickly went bankrupt. Handsome and high-spirited, he engaged in a series of love affairs, some of which produced children, and celebrated his lovers in his poems. His Poems,

Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) brought acclaim but no financial security, and he eventually took a job as an exciseman. He later began col¬ lecting and editing hundreds of tra¬ ditional airs for James Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum (1787—1803) and George Thomson’s Select Col¬ lection of Original Scotish Airs (1793-1818); he substantially wrote many of these songs, though he did not claim them or receive payment for them. Among his best-known songs are “Auld Lang Syne,” “Green Grow the Rashes, O,” “John Anderson My Jo,” “A Red, Red Rose,” and “Ye Banks and Braes o’ Bonnie Doon.” He freely proclaimed his radical opinions, his sympathies with the common people, and his rebellion against orthodox religion and morality.

Burnside, Ambrose (Everett) (b. May 23, 1824, Liberty, Ind., U.S.—d. Sept. 13, 1881, Bristol, R.I.) Union general in the American Civil War. A graduate of West Point, he was promoted to major general in 1862 and replaced George B. McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac; he was himself replaced after the Union loss at the Battle of Fredericksburg. He resigned in 1864 after the “Burnside mine” fiasco in the Petersburg Campaign, when a mine explosion intended to damage Confederate troops resulted in heavy Union losses. He was governor of Rhode Island (1866-69) and a U.S. senator (1875-81). He originated the fashion of side whiskers, later known as “sideburns.”

Burnt Njall See Njals saga

Burr, Aaron (b. Feb. 6, 1756, Newark, N.J.—d. Sept. 14, 1836, Port Richmond, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. politician, third vice president of the U.S. (1801-05). He served in the American Revolution on George Washing¬ ton’s staff until 1779. He had a successful law practice in New York from 1782 and served as state attorney general (1789-91) and in the U.S. Sen¬ ate (1791-97). In 1800 he won the vice presidential nomination on the Jeffersonian Republican ticket. In the election, he and Thomas Jefferson received the same number of electoral college votes; under procedures then prevailing, the electors had cast their votes for both Jefferson and Burr without indicating which should be president and which vice presi¬ dent. The election went to the House of Representatives, which became

Fanny Burney, detail of an oil painting by her brother, E.F. Burney; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

Robert Burns, detail of an oil painting by Alexander Nasmyth; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY,

LONDON

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

300 I burro ► Burundi

deadlocked. Jefferson eventually was chosen president after Alexander Hamilton endorsed him; Burr became vice president. Burr resented Hamil¬ ton’s action and his later effort to block Burr’s nomination for governor of New York in 1804. Following some remarks by Hamilton about Burr’s character, Burr challenged him to a duel, in which Hamilton was mortally wounded. Burr fled to Philadelphia, where with Gen. James Wilkinson he planned an invasion of Mexico. He was tried for treason in 1807 before John Marshall, whose narrow interpretation of the constitutional charge led to acquittal. Under a cloud, Burr left for Europe, where he tried in vain to interest English and French authorities in his scheme to conquer Florida. In 1812 he returned to New York to resume his law practice.

burro See donkey

Burroughs, Edgar Rice (b. Sept. 1, 1875, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—d. March 19, 1950, Encino, Calif.) U.S. novelist. Burroughs worked as an advertising copywriter before trying fiction. His jungle adventure novel Tarzan of the Apes (1914) became the first of 25 books featuring Tarzan, the son of an English nobleman abandoned in Africa and raised by apes. He wrote 43 other novels.

Burroughs, John (b. April 3, 1837, near Roxbury, N.Y., U.S.—d. March 29, 1921, en route from California to New York) U.S. essayist and naturalist. In his early years he worked as a teacher, farmer, and U.S. Trea¬ sury Department clerk. In 1873 he moved to a farm in the Hudson River valley. Traveling extensively, he hiked and camped with John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, among other friends, and accompanied an expedition to Alaska. His many books helped establish the genre of the nature essay; they include Wake-Robin (1871), Birds and Poets (1877), Locusts and Wild Honey (1879), Ways of Nature (1905), and Field and Study (1919).

Burroughs, William S(eward) (b. Jan. 28, 1855, Auburn, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept. 15, 1898, Citronelle, Ala.) U.S. inventor. He was self- supporting from age 15. In 1885 he constructed his first calculating machine; though it proved commercially impractical, he patented a prac¬ tical model in 1892. This machine was a commercial success, but he died before he could earn much money from it. A year before his death he received the Franklin Institute’s John Scott Medal. In 1905 the Burroughs Adding Machine Co. was organized as successor to the company he had started. William S. Burroughs was his grandson.

Burroughs, William S(eward) (b. Feb. 5, 1914, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.—d. Aug. 2, 1997, Lawrence, Kan.) U.S. novelist. The grandson of the inventor William S. Burroughs, he attended Harvard University and later became a member of the central group of the Beat movement. His experimental novels evoke, in deliberately erratic prose, a nightmarish, sometimes wildly humorous world. His early Junkie (1953) frankly describes his experiences as a heroin addict. The Naked Lunch (1959; film, 1991), his best-known work, is preoccupied with homosexuality and police persecution and vividly satirizes the grotesque world of the addict. (Burroughs accidentally killed his second wife while executing a drunken prank.) In his later novels, including The Soft Machine (1961), Nova Express (1964), The Wild Boys (1971), Cities of the Red Night (1981), and The Western Lands (1987), he further experimented with dystopian visions and radical technical devices.

Bursa formerly Brusa ancient Prusa City (pop., 1997: 1,066,559), northwestern Turkey. It was founded in the 3rd century bc, at the foot of the Mysian Mount Olympus near the southeastern shore of the Sea of Marmara, as the seat of the kings of Bithynia. It flourished under the Romans (see Roman Republic and Empire) and later under the Byzantine Empire. After Crusaders conquered Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 1204, it was a seat of Byzantine resistance. The Ottoman Empire took it in the early 14th century and made it their first great capital. Conquered by Timur in the early 15th century, it was later recovered by the Ottomans. Though the Ottoman capital was later moved to Constantinople, Bursa continued to prosper. Under the Republic of Turkey, it is a centre for agri¬ culture and is noted for its carpets and many 15th-century mosques.

Burschenschaft Vbur-shon-.shaftV (German: “youth association”) Ger¬ man student organization that started as an expression of the nationalism prevalent in post-Napoleonic Europe. First appearing in 1815, the early groups were liberal and egalitarian and favored the political unification of Germany. The groups were suppressed under the Carlsbad Decrees and went underground until 1848, when they participated in the German revo¬ lution (see Revolutions of 1848). After German unification, they adopted a new and aggressive nationalism.

bursitis \bor-'sI-t9s\ Inflammation of the lubricating sac (bursa) over a joint or extension of a joint, or between tendons and muscles or bones, caused by infection, injury, arthritis or gout, calcium deposits along a ten¬ don or joint, or repetitive minor irritation. Common types are “house¬ maid’s knee,” “soldier’s heel,” “tennis elbow,” and “weaver’s bottom.” Bursitis in the shoulder is the most common form. Usually occurring in people unaccustomed to physical labour, it may be so painful that the affected part cannot be used. Treatment includes rest, heat, mild exercise, and medication to relieve inflammation and remove calcium deposits.

Burt, Sir Cyril (Lodowic) (b. March 3, 1883, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, Eng.—d. Oct. 10, 1971, London) British psychologist. He taught at the University of London (1924-50), becoming known for his pioneering work in educational psychology, especially mental testing and statistical analysis. His studies of human intelligence convinced him that intelligence was primarily inherited. Subsequent examination indicated that he had fabricated some of the data, though some of his earlier work remained unaffected by this revelation. His books, which were very popu¬ lar in England and went through many editions, include The Factors of the Mind (1940), The Backward Child (1961), The Young Delinquent (1965), and The Gifted Child (1975).

Burton, Richard orig. Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr. (b. Nov. 10, 1925, Pontrhydyfen, Wales—d. Aug. 5, 1984, Geneva, Switz.) British- U.S. actor. He first won success on the stage in The Lady’s Not for Burning in London (1949) and on Broadway (1950). His first Hollywood film role was in My Cousin Rachel (1952). During the filming of Cleopatra (1963) he had a highly publicized love affair with Elizabeth Taylor, whom he later twice married. Known for his resonant voice and his Welsh mournfulness, he starred again on Broadway in Camelot (1960) and an acclaimed Hamlet (1964). Among his other films are The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), and Equus (1977).

Burton, Robert (1577 -1640) British scholar and writer. He spent most of his life as a vicar at Oxford. His great Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) describes the kinds, causes, symptoms, and cures of melancholy in a lively, elegant, and sometimes humorous style; a mine of classical erudi¬ tion and curious information, it is an index to the philosophical and psy¬ chological ideas of its time. His Latin comedy Philosophaster (1606) is a vivacious exposure of charlatanism.

Burton, Sir Richard (Francis) (b. March 19, 1821, Torquay, Devon¬ shire, Eng.—d. Oct. 20, 1890, Trieste, Austria-Hungary) English scholar- explorer and Orientalist. Expelled from Oxford in 1842, Burton went to India as a subaltern officer. There he disguised himself as a Muslim and wrote detailed reports of merchant bazaars and urban brothels. He then traveled to Arabia, again disguised as a Muslim, and became the first non- Muslim European to penetrate the forbidden holy cities; he recounted his adventures in Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Mecca (1855-56), a classic account of Muslim life. In 1857-58 he led an expedition with John Han¬ ning Speke in search of the source of the Nile River; stricken with malaria, he turned back after becoming the first European to reach Lake Tanga¬ nyika. His travels resulted in a total of 43 accounts of such subjects as Mormons, West African peoples, the Brazilian highlands, Iceland, and Etruscan Bologna. He learned 25 languages and numerous dialects; among his 30 volumes of translations were ancient Eastern manuals on the art of love, and he larded his famous Arabian Nights translation with ethnological footnotes and daring essays that won him many enemies in Victorian society. After his death his wife, Isabel, who was a devout Catholic, burned his 40 years of diaries and journals.

Buru Dutch Boeroe \'bii-ru\ Island, Indonesia. Located west of Ceram in the western Moluccas, it measures 90 mi (145 km) long by 50 mi (81 km) wide. Namlea, the chief town, lies on the narrow coastal plain. It was taken by the Dutch in the mid-17th century. It became part of Indonesia after World War II. Indonesia used Buru for a prison camp following the 1965 attempted coup; most of the prisoners had been freed by 1981.

Burundi \bu-'run-de\ officially Republic of Burundi Country, east- central Africa. Area: 10,740 sq mi (27,816 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 7,795,000. Capital: Bujumbura. The population is divided primarily between the approximately four-fifths who are Hutu and the approxi¬ mately one-fifth who are Tutsi. The first inhabitants, the Twa Pygmies, make up about 1% of the population. Languages: Rundi (Kirundi), French (both official), Swahili. Religions: Christianity (mostly Roman Catholic; also Protestant, other Christians); also traditional beliefs. Currency: Burundi franc. Burundi occupies a high plateau straddling the divide of

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

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the Nile and Congo watersheds. The divide runs north to south, rising to about 8,500 ft (2,600 m). The plateau contains the Ruvubu River basin, the southernmost extension of the Nile basin. In the west the

Rusizi River connects Lake Kivu in the north with Lake Tanganyika to the south. Burundi has a developing economy based primarily on agriculture. It is governed by a military regime. It has one legislative house, and its head of state and government is the president assisted by a vice president. Original settlement by the Twa was followed by Hutu settlement, which occurred gradually and was completed by the 11th century. The Tutsi arrived 300-400 years later; though a minority, they established the king¬ dom of Burundi in the 16th century. In the 19th century the area came within the German sphere of influence, but the Tutsi remained in power. Following World War I, the Belgians took control of the area; their admin¬ istration was replaced by a UN trusteeship after World War II. Colonial conditions had intensified Hutu-Tutsi ethnic animosities, and, as indepen¬ dence neared, hostilities flared. Independence was granted in 1962 in the form of a kingdom ruled by the Tutsi. In 1965 the Hutu rebelled but were brutally repressed. The two groups clashed violently throughout the rest of the 20th century, although the number of deaths did not approach the nearly one million people killed in Rwanda. The unstable government that existed in these surroundings was overthrown by the military in 1996. In 2001 a transitional government took power, but political instability con¬ tinued in the region.

bus Device on a computer’s motherboard that provides a data path between the CPU and attached devices (keyboard, mouse, disk drives, video cards, etc.). Like a vehicular bus that stops at designated stations to pick up or drop off riders, a computer bus receives a data signal from the CPU and drops it off at the appropriate device (for example, the con¬ tents of a file in RAM are sent, via the bus, to a disk drive to be stored permanently). Conversely, data signals from devices are sent back to the CPU. On a network, a bus provides the data path between the various computers and devices. See also USB.

bus Large motor vehicle designed to carry passengers usually along a fixed route according to a schedule. The first gasoline-powered bus was built in Germany in 1895 and carried eight passengers. The first integral- frame bus was constructed in the early 1920s in the U.S. In the 1930s diesel engines were introduced, providing greater power and fuel efficiency to larger buses. With the development of highway systems, transconti¬ nental bus lines became common in North America. Double-decked buses are used in some European cities; articulated buses pull trailers with flex¬ ible joints. Trolley buses, whose electric motors draw power from over¬ head wires, are now used mostly in European cities.

Bush, George (Herbert Walker) (b. June 12, 1924, Milton, Mass., U.S.) 41st president of the U.S. (1989-93). Bush was the son of Prescott Bush, an investment banker and U.S. senator from Connecticut. He served in World War II as a toipedo bomber pilot on aircraft carriers in the Pacific, flying some 58 combat missions; he was shot down by the Japanese in 1944. After graduating from Yale University in 1948, he started an oil business in Texas. He was elected to a Republican seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (1966-70) and later served as ambassador to the UN (1971-72), chief of liaison to China (1974-76), and head of the CIA (1976-77). In 1980 he lost the Republican Party nomination for president to Ronald Reagan. Bush served as vice president under Reagan (1981— 89), whom he succeeded as president, defeating Michael Dukakis. He made no dramatic departures from Reagan’s policies. In 1989 he ordered a brief military invasion of Panama, which toppled that country’s leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega. He helped impose a UN-approved embargo against Iraq in 1990 to force its withdrawal from Kuwait. When Iraq refused, he authorized a U.S.-led air offensive that began the Persian Gulf War. Despite general approval of his foreign policy, an economic recession led to his defeat by Bill Clinton in 1992. His son George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas in 1994 and president of the U.S. in 2000. Another son, Jeb Bush, was elected governor of Florida in 1998.

Bush, George W(alker) (b. July 6, 1946, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) Governor of Texas (1995-2000) and 43rd president of the U.S. (from 2001). The eldest child of George Bush, the 41st president of the U.S.

(1989-93), George W. Bush attended Yale University and Harvard Busi¬ ness School. After spending a decade in the oil business with mixed suc¬ cess, he served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers profes¬ sional baseball franchise. In 1994 he was elected governor of Texas and won reelection by a landslide in 1998. In 2000 Bush captured the Republican Party presidential nomi¬ nation. Despite losing the national popular vote to Al Gore by more than 500,000 votes, he gained the presidency when the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a recount order by the Florida Supreme Court, enabling him to secure a narrow majority in the electoral college (271-266). In June 2001 Bush signed into law a $1.35 trillion tax-cut bill. In foreign affairs, his administration refused to abide by the Kyoto Protocol on reducing the emission of gases respon¬ sible for the greenhouse effect, withdrew from the Treaty on the Limita¬ tion of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, and attempted to remove U.S. citizens from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court. Fol¬ lowing the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon building near Washington, D.C., in September 2001 (see September 11 attacks), the Bush administration’s main priorities shifted to domestic security and counterterrorism. Bush identified Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network as responsible for the attacks. In October he launched a military campaign against Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which harboured bin Laden; the invasion of the country routed al-Qaeda and forced the Taliban from power. In late 2002 Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Bair accused the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein of continuing to possess and develop biological, chemical, and nuclear weap¬ ons in violation of UN mandates. After failing to persuade France, Rus¬ sia, and other UN Security Council members that those weapons would not be uncovered by UN weapons inspections, which had resumed in November, Bush and Blair led an attack on Iraq that toppled Saddam’s regime in 2003. Though no such weapons were found, fighting continued and escalated, as the United States helped Iraq pave the way for demo¬ cratic elections. Bush faced a strong challenge for the presidency in 2004 by Democratic Senator John Kerry but defeated him in a close contest.

Bush, Vannevar (b. March 11, 1890, Everett, Mass., U.S.—d. June 28, 1974, Belmont, Mass.) U.S. electrical engineer and administrator. He taught principally at MIT (1919-38, 1955-71). In the late 1920s and ’30s, Bush and his students built several electronic analog computers to solve

6 , 1946, New Haven, Conn., U.S.)

George W. Bush.