which it is united by the Straits of Kertch or Kaffa; length about 170
miles, breadth about 80 miles; greatest depth not more than 8 fathoms. The
W. part, called the Putrid Sea, is separated from the main expanse by a
long sandy belt called Arabat, along which runs a military road. The sea
teems with fish. The Don and other rivers enter it, and its waters are very
fresh.
AZPEITIA ([.a]th-p[=a]'i-ti-[.a]), a town of N.E. Spain, province
Guipuzcoa. Near it is the convent of Loyola, a large edifice, now a museum.
Pop. 6692.
AZ'RAEL. See _As'rael_.
AZ'TECS (from _Aztatl_ (heron), and _Flacatl_ (man), 'people of the
heron'), a race of people who settled in Mexico early in the fourteenth
century, ultimately extended their dominion over a large territory, and
were still extending their supremacy at the time of the arrival of the
Spaniards, by whom they were speedily subjugated. Their political
organization, termed by the Spanish writers an absolute monarchy, consisted
of a military chief exercising important, but not unlimited, power in civil
affairs, in which the council of chiefs and periodic assemblies of the
judges had also a voice. Their most celebrated ruler was Montezuma, who was
reigning when the Spaniards arrived, about the middle of the fifteenth
century. It is inferred that considerable numbers of them lived in large
communal residences, and that land was held and cultivated upon the
communal principle. Slavery and polygamy were both legitimate, but the
children of slaves were regarded as free. Although ignorant of the horse,
ox, &c., they had a considerable knowledge of agriculture, maize and the
agave being the chief produce. Silver, lead, tin, and copper were obtained
from mines, and gold from the surface and river beds, but iron was unknown
to them, their tools being of bronze and obsidian. Metal coins were not in
use. In metal-work, feather-work, weaving, and pottery they possessed a
high degree of skill. To record events they used picture-writing, and their
lunar calendars were of unusual accuracy. Two special deities claimed their
reverence: Huitzilo-pochtli, the god of war, propitiated with human
sacrifices; and Quetzalcoatl, the beneficent god of light and air, with
whom at first the Aztecs were disposed to identify Cortez. Their temples,
with large terraced pyramidal bases, were in the charge of an exceedingly
large priesthood, to whom the education of the young was entrusted. As a
civilization of apparently independent origin, yet closely resembling in
many features the archaic Oriental civilizations, the Aztec civilization is
of the first interest, but in most accounts of it a large speculative
element has to be discounted.
AZ'ULINE, or AZ'URINE, blue dyes belonging to the coal-tar class.
A'ZURE, the heraldic term for the colour blue, represented in engraving by
horizontal lines.
AZ'URINE (_Leuciscus caerul[)e]us_), a fresh-water fish of the same genus
as the roach, chub, and minnow, found in some parts of Europe, but rare in
Britain; called also _Blue Roach_.
AZ'URITE, a blue mineral, a carbonate of copper, often occurring in
crystals. Its formula is 2CuCO_3.Cu(OH)_2, and it is also called _Blue
Malachite_. Also a name of lazulite.
AZYMITE. See _Eucharist_.
* * * * *
B
B is the second letter and the first consonant in the English and most
other alphabets. It is a mute and labial, pronounced solely by the lips,
and is distinguished from _p_ by being sonant, that is, produced by the
utterance of voice as distinguished from breath.
B, in _music_, the seventh note of the model diatonic scale or scale of C.
It is called the leading note, as there is always a feeling of suspense
when it is sounded until the keynote is heard.
BAADER, Franz Xaver von (fr[.a]nts-zae'fer fon bae'der), German philosopher
and theologian, born in Munich, 1765, died 1841. He studied engineering,
became superintendent of mines, and was ennobled for services. He was
deeply interested in the religious speculations of Eckhart, St. Martin, and
Boehme, and in 1826 was appointed professor of philosophy and speculative
theology in the University of Munich. During the last three years of his
life he was interdicted from lecturing for opposing the interference in
civil matters of the Roman Catholic Church.
BA'AL, or BEL, a Semitic word, which primarily signified lord or
proprietor, and was afterwards applied to many different divinities, or,
with qualifying epithets, to the same divinity regarded in different
aspects, describing him as an occupier of some physical object or locality,
or as a possessor of some attribute. Thus in _Hos._ ii, 16 it is applied to
Jehovah himself, while _Baal-berith_ (the Covenant-lord) was the god of the
Shechemites, and _Baal-zebub_ (the Fly-god) the idol of the Philistines at
Ekron. Baal was the sacred title applied to the Sun as the principal male
deity of the Phoenicians and their descendants, the Carthaginians, as well
as of the ancient Canaanitish nations, and was worshipped as the supreme
ruler and vivifier of nature. The word enters into the composition of many
Hebrew, Phoenician, and Carthaginian names of persons and places; thus,
_Jerubaal_, _Hasdrubal_ (help of Baal), _Hannibal_ (grace of Baal), and
_Baal-Hammon_, _Baal-Thamar_, &c.
BAALBEK' (ancient, HELIOP[)O]LIS, 'city of the sun'), a place in Syria, in
a fertile valley at the foot of Antilibanus, 40 miles from Damascus, famous
for its magnificent ruins. Of these the chief is the Temple of the Sun,
built either by Antoninus Pius or by Septimius Severus. Some of the blocks
used in its construction are 60 feet long by 12 thick; and its fifty-four
columns, of which six are still standing, were 72 feet high and 22 in
circumference. Near it is a temple of Jupiter, of smaller size though
larger than the Parthenon at Athens, and there are other structures of an
elaborately ornate type. Originally a centre of Sun-worship, it became a
Roman colony under Julius Caesar, was garrisoned by Augustus, and acquired
increasing renown under Trajan as the seat of an oracle. Under Constantine
its temples became churches, but after being sacked by the Arabs in 748,
and more completely pillaged by Tamerlane in 1401, it sank into hopeless
decay. The work of destruction was completed by an earthquake in 1759.
BAAL-ZEBUB. See _Beelzebub_.
BABA, a cape near the north-west point of Asia Minor.
BABADAGH (b[.a]-b[.a]-daeg'), a town of Roumania, capital of the Dobrudsha,
carrying on a considerable Black Sea trade; it was bombarded by the
Russians in 1854. Pop. 10,000.
BAB'BAGE, Charles, English mathematician and inventor of the
calculating-machine, born 1792, died 1871. He graduated at Cambridge in
1814, and occupied the Lucasian chair of mathematics at Cambridge for
eleven years, but delivered no lectures. As early as 1812 he conceived the
idea of calculating numerical tables by machinery, and in 1823 he received
a grant from Government for the construction of such a machine. After a
series of experiments lasting eight years, and an expenditure of L17,000
(L6000 of which was sunk by himself, the balance voted by Government),
Babbage abandoned the undertaking in favour of a much more enlarged work,
an analytical engine, worked with cards like the jacquard-loom; but the
project was never completed. The incompleted machine is now in the South
Kensington Museum. Among the many treatises he published on subjects
connected with mathematics and mechanics few can be regarded as finished
performances. Babbage was instrumental in founding the Astronomical and
Statistical Societies (1820 and 1834).
BABBIT-METAL, a soft metal resulting from alloying together certain
proportions of copper, tin, and zinc or antimony, used with the view of as
far as possible obviating friction in the bearings of journals, cranks,
axles, &c., invented by Isaac Babbit (1799-1862), a goldsmith of Taunton,
Massachusetts.
BA'BEL. See _Babylon_.
BA'BEL, TOWER OF, according to the 11th chapter of _Genesis_, a structure
in the Plain of Shinar, Mesopotamia, commenced by the descendants of Noah
subsequent to the deluge, but which was not allowed to proceed to
completion. It has commonly been identified with the great temple of Belus,
or Bel, that was one of the chief edifices in Babylon, and the huge mound
called Birs Nimrud is generally regarded as its site, though another mound,
which to this day bears the name of Babil, has been assigned by some as its
site. Babel means literally 'gate of God'. The meaning 'confusion' assigned
to it in the Bible really belongs to a word of similar form. See _Babylon_.
BAB-EL-MANDEB ('gate of tears', from being dangerous to small craft), a
strait, 15 miles wide, between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, formed by
projecting points of Arabia in Asia, and Abyssinia in Africa. The Island of
Perim is here.
BA'BER, first Grand Mogul, the founder of the Mogul dynasty in Hindustan,
born in 1483, died 1530. He was a grandson of the great Tartar prince,
Timur or Tamerlane, and was sovereign of Cabul. He invaded Hindustan, and
in 1525 overthrew and killed Sultan Ibrahim, the last Hindu emperor of the
Pathan or Afghan race. He made many improvements, social and political, in
his empire, and left a valuable autobiography (English translation, 1826).
BABEUF (b[.a]-beuf), Francois Noel, a French political agitator, born in
1764; started a democratic journal in Paris, called _Le Tribun du Peuple,
par 'Gracchus' Babeuf_, and wrote with great severity against the Jacobins.
After the fall of Robespierre, to which he powerfully contributed, he
openly attacked the terrorists, and advocated the most democratic
principles. He was accused of a conspiracy against the directorial
Government, condemned to death, and guillotined in 1797. He was one of the
pioneers of Socialism in France.
BAB'INGTON, Anthony, a Catholic gentleman of Derbyshire, born 1561. He
associated with others of his own persuasion to assassinate Queen
Elizabeth, and deliver Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot being discovered, the
conspirators were executed in 1586.
BABIROUSSA. See _Babyroussa_.
BAB'ISM, the doctrines of a Mohammedan sect whose head-quarters is Persia,
founded by Seyd Ali Mohammed in 1844. He took the name of Bab-ed-din, 'the
gate of the faith', and afterwards that of Nokteh, 'the point', as not
merely the recipient of a new divine revelation, but the focus in which all
preceding dispensations would converge. One of his most successful
disciples was a highly-gifted woman, Gurred-ul-Ayn, 'consolation of the
eyes', who perished with many others during a persecution in 1852. The Bab
himself had been executed about two years before this, and was succeeded by
a noble youth, Mirza Yahya. The sect holds that all individual existence is
an emanation from the supreme deity, by whom it will be ultimately
reabsorbed. The morality of the sect is pure and cheerful, and it shows
great advancement in the treatment of woman. Moses, Christ, and Mohammed
are acknowledged as prophets, though only mere precursors of the Bab. A
schism divided the followers of Babism into two sects, Bahais and Ezelis.
The former have carried on an active propaganda in America.
BA'BOO, or BABU, a Hindu title of respect equivalent to _sir_ or _master_,
usually given to wealthy and educated native gentlemen, especially when of
the mercantile class.
[Illustration: Family of Common Baboons (_Cynoceph[)a]lus babouin_)]
BABOON', a common name applied to a division of old-world quadrumana (apes
and monkeys), comprehending the genera Cynoceph[)a]lus and Papio. They have
elongated abrupt muzzles like a dog, strong tusks or canine teeth, usually
short tails, cheek-pouches, small deep eyes with large eyebrows, and naked
callosities on the buttocks. Their hind and fore feet are well
proportioned, so that they run easily on all fours, but they do not
maintain themselves in an upright posture with facility. They are generally
of the size of a moderately large dog, but the largest, the mandrill, is,
when erect, nearly of the height of a man. They are almost all African,
ugly, sullen, fierce, lascivious, and gregarious, defending themselves by
throwing stones, dirt, &c. They live on fruits and roots, eggs and insects.
They include the chacma, drill, common baboon, and mandrill. The chacma or
pig-tailed baboon (_Cynoceph[)a]lus porcarius_) is found in considerable
numbers in parts of the S. African colonies, where the inhabitants wage war
against them on account of the ravages they commit in the fields and
gardens. The common baboon (_C. babouin_) inhabits a large part of Africa
farther to the north. It is of a brownish-yellow colour, while the chacma
is greyish-black, or in parts black. The hamadryas (_C. hamadryas_) of
Abyssinia is characterized by long hair, forming a sort of shoulder-cape.
The black baboon (_C. niger_) is found in Celebes.
BABOUR (bae'b[u:]r). See _Baber_.
BAB'RIUS, a Greek poet who flourished during the second or third century of
the Christian era, and wrote a number of Aesopian fables. Several versions
of these made during the Middle Ages have come down to us as _Aesop's
Fables_. In 1840 a manuscript containing 120 fables by Babrius, previously
unknown, was discovered on Mount Athos.
BABUYA'NES ISLANDS, a group in the Pacific Ocean, between Luzon and
Formosa, belonging to United States. Pop. 12,000.
BABY-FARMING. The law relating to the protection of children and young
persons has been subjected to amendment and consolidation by the Children
Act of 1908, which wholly repealed the Infant Life Protection Act of 1897
dealing with baby-farming and infant life protection.
The Act of 1908 (Part I) deals with baby-farming, and requires that notice
shall be given to the Local Authority (in Scotland the Parish Council) by
the person undertaking for reward the nursing and maintenance of any infant
or infants under seven years of age apart from their parents, within
forty-eight hours after reception, unless the period for which it is
received be only forty-eight hours or less. The notice requires the name,
sex, date and place of birth of the child to be stated, where it is to be
kept, and from whom it is received. The Act also provides that such a
person shall notify any change in his residence or the removal or death of
the infant to the Local Authority within forty-eight hours. In regard to
all these matters the Act is retrospective, and necessitates persons who
had undertaken nursing and maintenance of such infants before its coming
into operation to comply with its provisions within a month after the
commencement thereof. But it exempts any person who may have given the
similar notice required by the Infant Life Protection Act of 1897, although
it does not exempt any person whose duty it was to have given notice
thereunder from any liability which such a person may have incurred
thereunder.
A duty is imposed upon Local Authorities to inquire regarding persons
willing to undertake the nursing and maintenance of infants, to appoint
infant-protection visitors of either sex in so far as it provides for
infant life protection and gives powers to such Local Authorities and
visitors for fulfilling the requirements of the Act. It is an offence for
the person undertaking the nursing to refuse to allow such visitors access
to the infant or the premises in which it is kept; and, if need be,
application may be made to the court for a warrant to enter the house in
which an infant is farmed out, and where there is reason to believe that
the Act is being contravened. It is an offence for any infant to be kept
(1) by any person from whose care an infant has been removed under the Act
or the Infant Life Protection Act, or (2) by any person convicted of any
offence under Part II of the Children Act of 1908 or the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children Act, 1904.
The Local Authority may fix the number of infants under the age of seven
years which may be kept in any dwelling, and it is an offence to keep more.
Provision is also made for the removal of an infant from overcrowded,
dangerous, or insanitary premises, or from the custody of a person unfit to
take charge of the child; and an application may be made by a visitor to a
magistrate for a removal order enforceable by the visitor or a constable.
Should the infant die, notice of the fact must be given by the person with
whom it is farmed out to the Procurator-fiscal of the district, if in
Scotland, and, if in England, to the Coroner of the district, within
twenty-four hours. He shall hold an inquest unless a certificate by a
medical practitioner specifying the cause of death shall be forwarded.
Failure to give such notice is punishable under the Act.
A person nursing an infant for reward shall have no interest in the life of
the child for the purposes of life assurance. It is not permissible for
such a person or insurance company to insure the life of such a child. To
do so renders both the person and the insurance company liable to
prosecution.
Any person knowingly or wilfully making any false statement in any notice
required to be given under the Act commits an offence under the Act.
Imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding
L25, may be imposed upon any person found guilty upon summary conviction of
an offence against Part I of the Children Act, 1908; in addition the court
may order the removal of the infant to a place of safety. All fines are
payable to the Local Authority for the purposes of the Act.
Legal guardians of an infant, as well as institutions established for the
protection and care of infants, are exempted from the provisions of Part I
of the Children Act, 1908.
BAB'YLON, the capital of Babylonia, on the left of the Euphrates, one of
the largest and most splendid cities of the ancient world, now a scene of
ruins, and earth-mounds containing them. Babylon was a royal city sixteen
hundred years before the Christian era; but the old city was almost
entirely destroyed in 683 B.C. A new city was built by Nebuchadnezzar
nearly a century later. This was in the form of a square, each side 15
miles long, with walls of such immense height and thickness as to
constitute one of the wonders of the world. It contained splendid edifices,
large gardens and pleasure-grounds, especially the 'hanging-gardens', a
sort of lofty terraced structure supporting earth enough for trees to grow,
and the celebrated Tower of Babel or Temple of Belus, rising by stages to
the height of 625 feet. (See _Babel, Tower of_.) After the city was taken
by Cyrus in 538 B.C., and Babylonia made a Persian province, it began to
decline, and had suffered severely by the time of Alexander the Great. He
intended to restore it, but was prevented by his death, which took place
here in 323 B.C., from which time its decay was rapid. Interesting
discoveries have been made on its site, more especially of numerous and
valuable inscriptions in the cuneiform or arrow-head character. The modern
town of Hillah is believed to represent the ancient city, and the plain
here for miles round is studded with vast mounds of earth and brick and
imposing ruins. The greatest mound is Birs Nimrud, about 6 miles from
Hillah. It rises nearly 200 feet, is crowned by a ruined tower, and is
commonly believed to be the remains of the ancient Temple of Belus. Another
great ruin-mound, called Mujellibeh, has also been assigned as its site.