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BERVIC—BERWICK-ON-TWEED.

part of the expedition which, in 1840, brought back of Silurian slates, run along the north side of the remains of Napoleon to France. His death took place at Châteauroux, 31st January 1844.

BERVIC, CHARLES CLEMENT BALVAY, a celebrated French engraver, was born at Paris in May 1756. In 1790, he made himself famous by a full-length engraving of Louis XVI., from the picture by Callet, one of the finest works of the kind ever produced. The engravings of the Laocoon, Regnault's 'Education of Achilles,' and Guido's 'Rape of Deianira,' also from B.'s graver, display equal beauty of manipulation, and fully higher power. B. died March 23, 1822.

The second

the county, and terminate on the east coast in St.
Abb's Head, 300 feet high. The chief summits-
Lammer Law, Crib Law, Sayer's Law, and Clint
Hill-are 1500 to 1600 feet high.
district, which is on the west, is formed by the
river Leader or Lauder, and contains much fertile
land, with a larger amount of moor and hill. The
last, between the Lammermoors and the Tweed,
a comparatively
10 miles long and 8 broad, is
undulating level, and forms one of the most highly
cultivated districts in Britain. Hume Castle, on a
rock, 898 feet above the sea-level, 3 miles south of
Greenlaw, is a conspicuous and picturesque object
over the interior of Berwickshire. Except the Eye,
in the north-east, all the considerable streams are
tributary to the Tweed; the chief are the Leader,
Blackadder, and Whitadder, all excellent fishing-
streams. The coast is rocky and bold, with no bays,
except at Eyemouth and Coddingham. B., geologi-
cally, consists of carboniferous limestone in the south,
old red sandstone in the middle, and Silurian strata
in the north. Porphyry occurs on the coast, and
some trap and syenite in the interior. Ironstone and
thin seams of coal occur, as well as gypsum, clay,
and shell-marl. The prevailing soil in the valleys is
loamy; that in the Merse is a deep and fertile clay,
which has been greatly improved by thorough drain-
In no part of the
age during the last fifty years.
world is the science of agriculture better understood
and exemplified than in Berwickshire. The farms are
generally large, and held on nineteen years' leases
In 1855, there
by men of spirit and intelligence.
were 766 tenants who paid £10 rent and upwards.
B., though the 20th in size of the Scottish coun-
ties, stands about 5th in the amount of wheat and
turnips raised. The manufactures are inconsiderable.
The Tweed salmon-fisheries are the most valuable in
the kingdom, but have declined much of late years.
B. returns one member to parliament.
pop. 36,297; inhabited houses, 6363; day-schools,
91, with 5838 scholars; places of worship, 65 (29
of Established, 16 of United Presbyterian, and 15
of Free Church). The chief towns are Dunse, the
largest; Lauder, the only royal borough; Green-
law, the county town; Coldstream, where General
Monk first raised the Coldstream Guards; Eye-
mouth, the only seaport; Ayton; and Earlston, the
Ercildoune of Thomas the Rhymer. Dunse is the
birthplace of Boston, of Dr. M'Crie, and less cer-
tainly of John Duns Scotus. Berwick-on-Tweed is
the chief place of export for the county. The chief
antiquities of B. are the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey,
of Coldingham Priory, and of Fast Castle.
are many remains of British and Roman camps and
barrows.

BERWICK, JAMES FITZ-JAMES, DUKE OF, was the natural son of James II., by Arabella Churchill, sister of the Duke of Marlborough. He was born in 1670, in France, where he was educated, and entered the army. After serving in Hungary under Charles of Lorraine, he returned to England shortly before the revolution of 1688, which he exerted himself to prevent. In 1689, he accompanied his father in his Irish expedition, and after the death of St. Ruth, had the nominal chief command. He next served in Flanders, under Marshal Luxembourg, and afterwards under the Duke of Burgundy and Marshal Villeroi. In 1706, he was created a marshal of France, and sent at the head of an army to Spain, where he established the throne of Philip V. by the decisive victory of Almanza. For this important service, he was made a grandee of Spain, under the title of Duke of Liria and Xerica Spain, under the title of Duke of Liria and Xerica. After several years of inactivity, he received the command, in 1734, of an army intended to cross the Rhine. While besieging Philipsburg, he was killed by a cannon-ball. Contemporary testimony, confirmed by his military conduct, shews B. to have possessed some of the best qualities of a great commander. His defensive campaign in 1709, in Provence and Dauphiné, against the superior force of the Duke of Savoy, has always been regarded as a triumph of His son strategic skill. He was twice married. by the first marriage succeeded to the dukedom of Liria; his dukedom (De Fitz-james) and estates in France passed to his children by the second

marriage.

BE'RWICK, NORTH, a seaport town in Haddingtonshire, at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, 19 miles east-north-east of Edinburgh. Corn is exported from it, and it is frequented as a bathingplace. It unites with Lauder, Dunbar, Jedburgh, and Haddington, in returning one member to parliament. Pop. of borough, 863; of parish, 1643. The parish includes the Bass Rock, North Berwick Law, and the ruins of Tantallon Castle. The castle is graphically described in Scott's Marmion. It is an irregular pile, two miles east of the town, on a high rock, surrounded by the sea on three sides, with a ditch on the land-side, where there was formerly a drawbridge. It was a stronghold of the Douglas family. N. Berwick Law is a conical hill of an elevation of 940 feet, on the south, close to the town.

In 1851,

There

on

BERWICK-ON-TWEED, a seaport town the north bank of the Tweed, near its mouth, 58 miles east-south-east from Edinburgh. It is the frontier town of England and Scotland, and with its liberties, comprising an area of about 8 square miles, used to form a county by itself, separate from England and Scotland; and in acts of parliament applicable to England and Wales, 'the good town was always of Berwick-upon-Tweed' always expressly added. But this practice has been abolished, and B., with its liberties, is now considered as forming The town part of the county of Northumberland.

BE'RWICKSHIRE, a maritime and border county in the south-east extremity of Scotland, bounded N. by Haddington; W. by Mid-Lothian and Roxburgh; S. and S.E. by Roxburgh and the Tweed, which latter separates it from Northumberland and Durham; E. by the municipality of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the German Ocean. is, in general, well built, but has on the whole a It has an area of about 450 square miles, of decayed appearance. The Tweed is here spanned which about one half are under cultivation. B. by an old stone-bridge of 15 arches, and 924 feet is hilly in the north and west, and slopes to the long, and by the magnificent viaduct which connects south and east. It is naturally divided into three the York and Berwick Railway with the North The old fortificadistricts-Lammermoor, Lauderdale, and the Merse. British Railway to Edinburgh. The trade and shipping The first, on the north, consists chiefly of high tions still girdle the town. bleak moorlands. The Lammermoor hills, consisting are considerable, the chief exports being salmon, corn,

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BERYL-BESANCON.

wool, coal, &c. The Tweed Salmon-fishery is less | productive than formerly. Coal-mines exist near the town. At Tweedmouth, there are several large iron foundries for the manufacture of steam-engines and mill-machinery. There are also manufactures of sailcloth, cordage, and linens. B. has a free grammarschool, and several other free schools. The Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, a very useful society, meets here. Pop. of town and parish (1871), 13,231; of parliamentary borough, including Tweedmouth and Spittal (a village and watering-place), about 15,000. B. returns two members to parliament, and from the corrupt practices which have long prevailed at elections, the town has acquired an unenviable notoriety. In 1857, B. had 40 ships belonging to the port, 2806 tons. In 1858, 675 vessels of 42,710 tons entered and cleared the port. The past history of B. is full of interest, especially in regard to the Border wars. Its authentic records begin with the reign of Alexander I., in the 12th c., when it belonged to the Scottish realm, and was one of the principal seaports in the kingdom. It is described by a writer of the year 1296 as being 'for commerce and population another Alexandria.' From that period it was frequently taken and retaken by the English and the Scotch, its frontier position making it an important possession to either power. In 1482 it came finally into the possession of England, and is now essentially English in its usages, both civil and ecclesiastical.

BE'RYL, a mineral which scarcely differs except in colour from Emerald (q. v.), never exhibiting the bright rich green which characterises that gem, but colourless, yellowish, greenish-yellow, or blue. The finer varieties, which are transparent and of beautiful colour, are distinguished as Precious B., and are sometimes called Aquamarine. These occur in crystals similar in form to those of emerald; but the regular hexagonal prism is more frequently modified by truncation on the angles or edges, acumination, &c. The prisms are often long. Their sides are longitudinally striated, often deeply so; but the

Beryl, in its primary form.

truncating or terminating planes are smooth. The coarser varieties of B. (Common B.) are also found crystallised, but often massive. B. occurs chiefly in veins that traverse granite or gneiss, or imbedded in granite; sometimes it is found in alluvial soils formed from such rocks. Common B. is found in a number of places in Europe, and sometimes of great size in the United States. The mountains of Aberdeenshire, and those of Mourne in Ireland, yield Precious B., which is also found in several parts of the continent of Europe and of New England, but principally in Brazil and Siberia. It is much valued as a precious stone, although not so much as the emerald.

BERZE'LIUS, JOHANN JACOB, BARON, one of the greatest of recent chemists, was born at Westerlösa, in East Gothland, Sweden, 20th August 1779. While studying for the medical profession at the university of Upsala, he was more attracted by the

preparatory natural sciences, especially chemistry. After being some time employed in medical practice and lecturing, he was appointed (1806) lecturer on chemistry in the Military Academy of Stockholm, and, in the following year, professor of medicine and pharmacy. He was shortly after chosen president of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences; and from 1818 till his death, 7th August 1848, held the office of perpetual secretary. The king raised him to the rank of baron; other honours from learned societies were conferred on him; and the directors of the Swedish Ironworks, in consideration of the value of his researches in their particular branch of industry, bestowed on him a pension for life. In 1838, he was made a senator; but he took little part in politics. The field of his activity lay in his laboratory, where he acquired a name of which his country is justly proud. His services to chemistry are too vast to be described here. The science of chemistry, as at present organized, rests in a great measure upon the discoveries and views of B., although in not a few points he has been controverted, or found wrong. His multiplied and accurate analyses established the laws of combination on an incontrovertible basis; and to him we owe the system of chemical symbols. He discovered the elements selenium and thorium, and first exhibited calcium, barium, strontium, columbium or tantalum, silicium, and zirconium, in the metallic form. The blowpipe in the hands of B. became a powerful instrument in the analysis of inorganic substances. The, multitude and accuracy of his researches in every branch of chemical inquiry make it difficult to conceive how one man could have accomplished so much. Of his numerous writings, the most important is his Lärebok i Kemien (Text-book of Chemistry, 3 vols., Stock. 1808-1818), which has since passed through five large editions, on each occasion being almost wholly rewritten. The best known edition is that published in 8 vols. at Brussels in 1835. in 1835. The book has been translated into every European language. His essay on the Use of the Blowpipe exhausts the subject, while his Annual Reports on the Progress of Physics, Chemistry, and Mineralogy, undertaken at the request of the Academy of Sciences in 1822, have proved very valuable to science. Scarcely less so have been the Memoirs Relative to Physics, Chemistry, and Mineralogy, of which he was one of the originators and conductors, and to which, during the twelve years they were published, from 1806 to 1818, he contributed forty-seven original papers.

BESANÇON (Vesontio), capital of the French department of Doubs, and formerly capital of FrancheComté, is situated on the river Doubs, which divides it into two parts, about 45 miles east of Dijon. Lat. 47° 14' N., long. 6° 3' E. It was strongly but irregularly fortified by Vauban, the citadel being considered impregnable. Since that time, the fortifications have been extended and strengthened, and B. is now considered one of the strongest military positions in Europe. It was the ancient Vesontio, Besontium or Visontium, and was a considerable place even in the time of Cæsar, who, in 58 B. C., expelled from Vesontio the Sequani, and, in the neighbourhood of the city, gained a victory over Ariovistus. It then became an important Roman military station. In modern times, after undergoing many changes, it finally came into the possession of France in 1674. Several streets and places in B. still bear old Roman names; and in the neighbourhood are found ruins of a triumphal arch of Aurelianus, an aqueduct, an amphitheatre, and a theatre which must have been large enough to contain 20,000 spectators. Among the modern structures, the Cathedral and the churches of St.

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BESANTS-BESSEL.

John and the Magdalen, with the Prefecture, and the | Constantinople, B. visited Germany; and at the diets half-Gothic, half-Roman palace of Cardinal Grand- of Nuremberg, Worms, and Vienna, endeavoured to vella, are most remarkable. B. has considerable promote a crusade against the Turks. In philomanufactures, chiefly watches (of which more than sophy, he professed to be a follower of Plato, but 60,000 are made annually), porcelain, carpets, iron- without depreciation of Aristotle. His writings, wire, and beer, and is an important entrepôt for the consisting of Latin translations of Greek authors, produce of part of Switzerland and the south of defensive treatises on the Platonic philosophy, with France. 600,000 bottles of Seltzer-water are annually discourses and letters, have never been published manufactured. Pop. 41,000. collectively. Twice he was nearly elected pope; heathen philosophy but his partiality for the by the sacred college. was probably regarded as some disqualification November 19, 1472, leaving his collection of 600 B. died at Ravenna, valuable Greek MSS. to the St. Mark's Library,

besants.

BESIEGING. See SIEGE.

Venice.

on

the

BESA'NTS, or BEZA'NTS, circular pieces of bullion, generally gold, without any impression, supposed to represent the old coinage of Byzantium, brought home by the Crusaders, and hence of frequent occurrence as heraldic charges. B. are generally introduced into the arms of banks, and also into those of individuals who have been specially conBESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM, one of the most nected with money. Similar figures, when not distinguished of modern astronomers, was born at coloured or (gold), or argent (silver), are known in Minden, July 22, 1784. In 1806 he was, on the heraldry by the general term of roundels. A recommendation of Olbers, whom he had greatly bezanty cross, is a cross composed of B.; and assisted by his remarkable expertness in calcubezanty, or bezantée, is the term used when the lation, appointed assistant to Schröter at Lilienshield, or any particular charge, is strewed with thal. In 1810, he published his researches the orbit of the great comet of 1808, which gained for him the Lalande prize of the Paris Academy of Sciences. In the same year he was BESSARA'BIA, a province in the south-west of appointed director of the new observatory to be Russia, in lat. 44° 45'-48° 40′ N., and long. 26° 35'- erected by the king of Prussia at Königsberg; 30° 30′ E. Area, 17,000 square miles (about 1000 and repairing thither immediately, superintended square miles were ceded to Turkey in 1856), with the erection and the mounting of the instruments. a population, in 1864, of 1,026,346, composed of Rus- The establishment was completed in three years. sians, Poles, Wallachians, Moldavians, Bulgarians, In 1818, B. published his Fundamenta Astronomia Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Germans, and Tatars, with a sprinkling of Gipsies. The Dniester flows along the giving the results of Bradley's Greenwich observations a work upon which he had been engaged whole of its northern and eastern boundaries; the for eleven years. This work is one of the highest Pruth separates it from Moldavia on the west; and value to astronomers. It is described by a comit has the Danube on the south. B. is also inter- petent authority as having laid the foundations of sected by several considerable streams; which are, the principal improvements which have been made however, much reduced by the summer heat. The in astronomy since the date of its publication. In climate is, on the whole, mild and salubrious. In the 1830, appeared his Tabula Regiomontanæ, forming north-west, the country is traversed by offshoots from a kind of supplement to the above work. Besides the Transylvanian branch of the Carpathian Moun- numerous papers of an important character (nearly tains, and mostly covered with wood. Generally, 200 in all), scattered through various scientific however, B. is flat and fertile; but for want of pro- journals, he also published an inquiry on per cultivation, the land does not yield the rich seconds' pendulum for Berlin (1828, and again in returns it is capable of doing. Wheat, barley, 1837), Astronomical Researches (2 vols., Königsb. and millet are raised to some extent, as well as 1841-1842). His paper on the precession of the hemp, flax, and tobacco, fruit and wine; but the equinoxes gained him the prize of the Berlin Acabreeding of cattle forms the chief business of the demy. After a series of three years' observations, inhabitants; consequently, the greater part of the he succeeded in determining the_annual parallax land is in pasturage. The lakes in the district of of the fixed star 61. Cygni (see FIXED STARS), an B., called the Budjak, yield immense quantities of achievement honourable not only as the first of its salt; which, together with cattle, wool, tallow, and kind, but for the marvellous skill and patience cheese, form the principal articles of export. The necessary for its accomplishment. In the years manufacturing industry of B. is confined almost 1824-1833, B. made a series of 75,011 observaentirely to leather, soap, and candles. B., which tions in 536 sittings, and completed a catalogue formerly belonged to Turkey, was ceded to Russia of stars (extending to the ninth magnitude) within in 1812 by the treaty of Bucharest. the zone from 15° N. to 15° S. declination. were afterwards reduced by Weisse. In one of his lectures, delivered at Königsberg in 1840, B. indicated the existence of the new planet afterwards discovered by Le Verrier, and named Neptune; and but for the death of a favourite son, he in all probability would have undertaken the investigation of the problem. B.'s Popular Lectures on Astronomy, given at Königsberg, 1832-1844, were edited by his friend Schumacher, and published at Hamburg in 1848, two years after his death, which took place March 7, 1846. All scientific associations, both on the continent and in England, were eager to confer honour on themselves by enrolling B. as one of their members. He was a thoroughly practical man of science, never allowing himself to be carried away by any theory, however inviting, and particularly remarkable for the precision of his calculations, being satisfied with nothing less than perfect exactness.

BESSA'RION, JOHANNES, or BASILIUS, born at Trebizond, on the Black Sea, 1395, is remembered as one of the earliest of those scholars who, in the 15th c., transplanted Greek literature and philosophy into the west, and rescued the mind of Christendom from the trammels of scholasticism. B. imbibed his love of Plato's writings from his tutor, Gemistus Pletho. As Bishop of Nicæa, B. accompanied the Greek emperor, John Palæologus, to Italy; and effected, at the council of Florence in 1439, a union between the Greek and the Romish Churches, which, however, was of short duration. Soon afterwards, he joined the Romish Church, but always retained a glowing love of his native land. He was made cardinal by Pope Eugene IV. in 1439. Ten years after, Nicholas V. created him Cardinal-bishop of Sabina, and in the same year Bishop of Frascati. For five years, also, he discharged the duties of papal legate at Bologna. After the fall of

These

BESSEMER'S PROCESS FOR REFINING IRON-BESSIERES.

greater part is left still in the iron. After the blast has been on for fifteen or twenty minutes, the jets of flame which issue from the molten mass elongate very much, and continue so for five or six minutes, when they subside by degrees, till they almost cease; and in thirty-five minutes from the commencement, the process is complete. During the progress of the operation, a copious discharge of slag takes place, which mostly remains as a scum on the surface of the pure iron. The tap-hole in the crucible being unstopped by driving an iron rod into the clay-stopper, the liquid iron is run into a mould or founder's ladle. For castings which require much carbon in the iron, Bessemer first refines the iron by the above operation, and then thrusts into the molten mass some wood, bituminous shale, carbonaceous matters in general, or a stream of carburetted hydrogen, till the requisite amount of carbon is obtained. Bessemer likewise lays claim to the introduction of dry carbonate of soda and dry carbonate of potash into the molten iron by means of the air-blast, whereby the silica is more easily removed, and a slag formed.

BESSEMER'S PROCESS FOR REFINING | phorus is oxidised into phosphoric acid, and in IRON. In the years 1856 and 1857, the iron world was startled by the announcement of a new and rapid process of purifying cast or pig iron, and obtaining therefrom bar or malleable iron, and steel. The patentee, Mr. Bessemer, takes the liquid iron as it flows from the blast-furnace, receives it in a large covered ladle (see fig.) made of malleable iron, lined with loam or clay, and inserts in the molten mass a fire-clay pipe, through which air is driven with great force. In 1869 he patented his method of conducting the process under pressure. The oxygen of the air, or that of the nitrates introduced, combines with the carbon and other impurities, and carries these rapidly The ladle being tilted round, the half-purified iron is then allowed to flow into a shallow iron trough, where it cools and becomes fine metal. This part of the operation is the equivalent of the ordinary finery furnace. The plate of fine metal is now broken in pieces, and introduced into a reverberatory or puddling furnace, somewhat similar in shape to that ordinarily employed, but pierced with a number of openings at each side, through which fire-clay nozzles are inserted, and air-hot or cold-driven into or upon the iron, when it becomes molten. Steam is likewise introduced, especially at the commencement of the process. The air being thus brought intimately in contact with the half-purified iron, the remaining impurities are rapidly carried away. Where great purity is required, Bessemer recommends that the spent gases from the fire-grate of the puddlingfurnace, which often contain contain sulphurous acid, should not be allowed to come in contact with the iron; and to obviate this contamination, the iron is enclosed in retorts similar to those used at a gaswork, and the air forced through the molten metal within the retorts.

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away.

Theoretically, the process of Bessemer is a correct one. By the older and ordinary methods the impurities were only slowly carried off, because air was only sparingly admitted to the iron; but without altering the agent which accomplishes the purification, Bessemer expedites the process by thrusting air in great abundance through the impure iron. Practically, however, it does not as yet seem possible by Bessemer's process to burn away the impurities, without at the without at the same time oxidising or wasting much good iron. It is highly probable that the practical skill of our ironmasters will be found sufficient to surmount this difficulty, and that means will be discovered of admitting air in such minimum quantity, and so regulated, that, while it burns away the impurities, it will not be allowed to proceed so far as to burn the iron itself. The present system of refining and puddling iron is notoriously a primitive, time-devouring, and stationary one; and any inquiry having in view the shortening of the number of hours required, must be of advantage at all times. The process of Bessemer is far from being a perfect one, but it is a step in the right direction, which will doubtless be carried further; and Bessemer ought to receive the thanks of the iron world for having given impetus to thought on the subject.

Bessemer also suggested that the process of refining pig or crude iron should be accomplished by a single operation. For this purpose, an airBESSIÈRES, JEAN BAPTISTE, Duke of Istria, furnace is employed, in which there is placed a and Marshal of the French Empire, was born at fire-clay or black-lead crucible, capable of hold- Preissac, in the department of Lot, August 1768. ing, when three-fourths full, about seven cwt. of After serving for a short time in the constitumolten iron. Prior to the introduction of the tional guard of Louis XVI., in November 1792, he metal, the crucible is surrounded by fuel; and entered the army of the Pyrences as a private when the vessel has attained a bright-red heat, soldier. In less than two years, he had attained the the iron is run in by a funnel inserted at the upper rank of captain, and passing into the Army of Italy, part of the crucible, and thereafter the tube con- he distinguished himself greatly in the battles of veying the blast is thrust in. The air, or air and Roveredo and Rivoli. Having been made chief of steam, act on the impure iron. The free oxygen a brigade in 1798, he in that year accompanied carries off the carbon as carbonic acid, and the Bonaparte to Egypt, and made himself conspicuous water acting upon the iron is decomposed; its at the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, and at the battle of hydrogen is set free, and the oxygen combining Aboukir. Afterwards, he took a prominent part in with the iron forms oxide of iron; which oxide is the battles of Marengo, Olmütz, Austerlitz, Jena, again decomposed by the carbon uniting with the Friedland, and Eylau; and within five years (from oxygen to form carbonic oxide, and liberating the 1800 to 1805), he was made successively general of iron in the metallic condition. Besides the changes brigade, general of division, and marshal of France. enumerated, a large amount of iron is converted For his gallant behaviour in Spain, he was, in 1809, into oxide of iron by the excess of oxygen thrust created Duke of Istria In the Russian campaign, in. The sulphur present as impurity is burned he commanded the cavalry of the Guard, and during away in part as sulphurous acid, by uniting with the disastrous retreat from Moscow, the services he the oxygen of the air, and is partly acted on rendered were of the utmost importance. In 1813, by the hydrogen derived from the steam, and he received the command of the whole of the French carried off as sulphuretted hydrogen. The phos- cavalry. On the morning of the battle of Lützen, |

BESTIARES-BETHANY.

while leading on foot the tirailleurs to reconnoitre | manufactures of linen, leather, and earthenware. Pop. the field from the defile of Rippach, he fell mortally between 4000 and 5000. wounded by a bullet. The news of his death was kept concealed from the army throughout the day: Bonaparte lost in B. one of his ablest officers and his most faithful friend.

BESTIAIRES (Fr.), the name given to a class of written books of great popularity in the middle ages, describing all the animals of creation, real or fabled, and generally illustrated by drawings. They were most in fashion during the 11th, 12th, and 13th c. They served as encyclopædias of the zoology of those ages, but they had also another use. The symbolism which was then so much in vogue fastened spiritual meanings upon the several animals, until every quality of good or evil in the soul of man had its type in the brute world. It is in this way to the B. that we must look for explanation of the strange, grotesque creatures which are found sculptured on the churches and other buildings of the middle ages. There were B. both in prose and in verse, in Latin and in the vernacular. A few sentences from Le Bestiaire Divin de Guillaume, Clerc de Normandie, Trouvère du XIII Siècle (Caen 1852), may help to give some notion of the class of works of which it is a fair example. 'The unicorn,' he writes, 'has but one horn in the middle of its forehead. It is the only animal that ventures to attack the elephant; and so sharp is the nail of its foot, that with one blow it rips up the belly of that most terrible of all beasts. The hunters can catch the unicorn only by placing a young virgin in the forest which it haunts. No sooner does this marvellous animal descry the damsel, than it runs towards her, lies down at her feet, and so suffers itself to be taken by the hunters. The unicorn represents our Lord Jesus Christ, who, taking our humanity upon him in the Virgin's womb, was betrayed by the wicked Jews, and delivered into the hands of Pilate. Its own horn signifies the gospel truth, that Christ is one with the Father,' &c.

BESTUSCHEW, ALEXANDER, a Russian novelist, born about 1795, was captain in a dragoon regiment, and adjutant to Alexander, Duke of Würtemberg. Having been involved with his friend Rylejew in the conspiracy of 1825, he was degraded to the ranks, and exiled to Yakutzk, but after long entreaty, permitted to enter the army of the Caucasus as a private in 1830. In June 1837, he fell in a skirmish with the as yet unconquered mountaineers. Two years before his exile he, together with his friend Rylejew, who was executed in 1825, had published the first Russian almanac, The Pole Star. His later works, consisting chiefly of novels and sketches written under the name of Cossack Marlinski, bore the impress of his own life and adventures in the Caucasus. They excell in depicting the wilder aspects of nature and the excitements of a soldier's life, but fail in the delineation of character, and are often exaggerated, and sometimes absurd. His principal works are the tale of Mullah Nur, and the romance of Ammalath Beg, which last relates the treachery of a Circassian chief, and gives interesting pictures of the scenery of the Caucasus. Several of his novels were translated into German by Seebach (Leipsic, 1837), and his collective works appeared at St. Petersburg in 1840, under the name of Marlinski's Tales. His three brothers were implicated in the military conspiracy of 1825, and hanged by the special order of the emperor.

BETANZOS (anciently Brigantium Flavium), a town of Spain, province of Corunna, 10 miles southeast of the city of the same name. Ancient granite gateways still defend its narrow streets. It has

The

BEʼTEL, BE'TLE, or PAWN, a narcotic stimulant, much used in the east, and particularly by all the tribes of the Malay race. It consists of a leaf of one or other of certain species of pepper, to which the name of betel-pepper is indiscriminately applied, plucked green, spread over with moistened quick-lime (chunam) generally procured by calcination of shells, and wrapped around a few scrapings of the areca-nut (see ARECA), sometimes called the betel-nut, and also known as Pinang. This is put into the mouth and chewed. It causes giddiness in persons unaccustomed to it, excoriates the mouth, and deadens for a time the sense of taste. It is so burning, that Europeans do not readily become habituated to it, but the consumption in the East Indies is prodigious. Men and women, young and old, indulge in it from morning to night. The use of it is so general as to have become matter of etiquette; a Malay scarcely goes out without his betel-box, which one presents to another as Europeans do their snuff-boxes. chewing of B. is a practice of great antiquity, and can certainly be traced back to at least the 5th c. B. C. It gives a red colour to the saliva, so that the lips and teeth appear covered with blood; the lips and teeth are also blackened by its habitual use, and the teeth are destroyed, so that men of twenty-five years of age are often quite toothless. Whether the use of B. is to be regarded as having any advantages except the mere pleasure afforded to those who have acquired the habit of it, to counterbalance its obvious disadvantages, is a question upon which difference of opinion subsists. have represented it as beneficially promoting the secretion of saliva, strengthening the digestive powers, and warding off the attacks of fever: whilst others pronounce against it an unqualified condemnation. Sir James Emerson Tennent, in his valuable work on Ceylon, recently published, expresses the opinion that it is advantageous to a people of whose ordinary food flesh forms no part, and that it is at once the antacid, the tonic, and the carminative which they require.

Some

The name B. is often given to the species of pepper of which the leaves are ordinarily chewed in the manner just described, which are also called B.-PEPPER or PAWN. Some of them are very extensively cultivated, particularly Chavica Betle, C. Siraboa, and C. Malamiri, climbing shrubs with leathery leaves, which are heart-shaped in the first and second of these species, and oblong in the third. They are trained to poles, trellises, or the stems of palms, and require much heat with moisture and shade; upon which account, in the north of India, where the climate would not otherwise be suitable, they are cultivated with great attention in low sheds, poles being placed for their support at a few feet apart. Hooker mentions in his Himalayan Journal, that these sheds are much infested by dangerous snakes, and that lives are therefore not unfrequently lost in the cultivation of betel.-The genus Chavica is one of those into which the old genus Piper (see PEPPER) has recently been divided. The requisite qualities of B. are probably found in the leaves of numerous species not only of this but of other genera of the same family. The leaf of the Ava (q. v.) is sometimes used.

BETHANY, meaning a 'boat-house;' called 'Lazariyeh,' or 'Town of Lazarus,' by the natives of Palestine, in reference to the event narrated in Scripture. It is a retired spot, beautifully situated on the southern Slope of the Mount of Olives, 3 miles from Jerusalem, with a population of about 300,

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