1743. After studying at Harrow and Eton he went to Oxford in 1760, and
formed there amongst his fellow-undergraduates a voluntary class in botany,
&c. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1766, and soon after went
to Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay to collect plants. In 1768, with Dr.
Solander, a Swedish gentleman, pupil of Linnaeus, and then assistant
librarian at the British Museum, he accompanied Cook's expedition as
naturalist. In 1772 he visited Iceland along with Dr. Solander, and during
this voyage the Hebrides were examined, and the columnar formation of the
rocks of Staffa first made known to geologists. In 1777 Banks was chosen
President of the Royal Society, and in 1781 was made a baronet, and in 1795
received the Order of the Bath. He wrote only essays, papers for learned
societies, and short treatises. He died in 1820, and bequeathed his
collections to the British Museum.
BANKS, Thomas, an English sculptor, born in 1735, died in 1805. He studied
sculpture in the Royal Academy, where he obtained the gold medal for a
bas-relief of the _Rape of Proserpine_. In 1772 he went to Italy, where he
executed several excellent pieces, particularly _Cupid tormenting a
Butterfly_, which was afterwards purchased by the Empress Catherine. On
leaving Italy he spent two unsatisfactory years in Russia, and then
returned to England, where he was soon after made an Academician. One of
his best-known works is _Shakespeare attended by Painting and Poetry_.
Among his other works was a colossal statue--_Achilles mourning the loss of
Briseis_--in the hall of the British Institution, and the monument of Sir
Eyre Coote in Westminster Abbey. His bust of Warren Hastings is in the
National Gallery.
BANK'SIA (named after Sir Joseph Banks), a genus of Australian shrubs and
trees, order Proteaceae, with leathery leaves generally dark-green on the
upper surface and pale below, often cultivated in conservatories for their
peculiar foliage and flowers. They are named "honeysuckles" by the
colonists, from the honey the flowers contain.
BANKS'RING. See _Banxring_.
BANKURA', a town of Bengal, on the Dhalkisor River, healthy and with a
considerable trade Pop. 21,000.
BANN, Upper and Lower, two rivers in the N. of Ireland, the former rising
in the mountains of Mourne, County Down, and, after flowing 38 miles in a
northerly direction, falling into Lough Neagh, the latter being the outlet
of Lough Neagh, and falling into the Atlantic Ocean 4 miles below
Coleraine, after a course of nearly 40 miles.
BAN'NATYNE CLUB, a literary society instituted in Edinburgh (1823) by Sir
Walter Scott (its first president), David Laing (secretary till its
dissolution in 1861), Archibald Constable, and Thomas Thomson. It started
with thirty-one members, subsequently extended to 100, having as its object
the printing of rare works on Scottish history, literature, geography, &c.
It derived its name from George Bannatyne (1545-1609), the collector of the
famous MS. of early Scottish poetry.
BAN'NERET, formerly, in England, a knight made on the field of battle as a
reward for bravery, with the ceremony of cutting off the point of his
pennon and making it a banner. The first banneret in England was made by
King Edward I, and the last (John Smith) by Charles I after the battle of
Edgehill in 1642.
BAN'NOCK, a cake made of oatmeal, barley-meal, or peasemeal baked on an
iron plate or griddle over the fire. From a supposed resemblance the turbot
is sometimes called in Scotland the _Bannock-fluke_.
BANNOCKBURN, a village of Scotland, in Stirlingshire, 2 miles S.E.
Stirling, famous for the decisive battle in which King Robert Bruce of
Scotland defeated Edward II of England, on the 24th June, 1314. It has
manufactures of woollens, such as tartans, carpets, &c.; pop. 4103.
BANNS OF MARRIAGE, public notice of the intended celebration of a marriage
given either by proclamation, viva voce, by a clergyman, session-clerk, or
precentor in some religious assembly, or by posting up written notice in
some public place. Dissent of parents or guardians renders null and void
the publication of the banns of minors. In France the banns must be
published on two distinct Sundays, and the marriage cannot take place until
three days after the second publication. In America the practice is
confined to the Roman Catholics, although it is still recognized in the
statutes of some of the States.
BANNU, a district in the north-west of Hindustan, traversed by the Indus;
area, 3847 sq. miles; pop. 390,000, nearly half being Afghans.
BANQUETTE (bang-ket') in fortification, the elevation of earth behind a
parapet, on which the garrison or defenders may stand. The height of the
parapet above the banquette is usually about 4 feet 6 inches; the breadth
of the banquette from 2-1/2 or 3 feet to 4 or 6 feet, according to the
number of ranks to occupy it. It is frequently made double, that is, a
second is made still lower.
BANSHEE', or BENSHI', a fairy woman believed in Ireland and some parts of
Scotland to attach herself to a particular house, and to appear or make her
presence known by wailing before the death of one of the family.
BAN'TAM, a residency occupying the whole of the W. end of the Island of
Java. It formed an independent kingdom, governed by its own sultan, till
1683, and the Dutch exercised suzerainty with brief intermission until its
formal incorporation by them at the beginning of last century. It produces
rice, coffee, sugar, cinnamon, &c. Serang is its capital. The town Bantam
was the first Dutch settlement in Java (1595), and for some time their
principal mart, though now not so prosperous.
BAN'TAM FOWL, a small but spirited breed of domestic fowl, first brought
from the East Indies, supposed to derive its name from Bantam in Java. Most
of the sub-varieties have feathered legs; but these are not to be
preferred. In point of colour the black and nankeen varieties are the best.
A well-bred bantam does not weigh more than a pound.
BANTENG' (_Bos Banteng_ or _Sondaicus_), a wild species of ox, native of
Java and Borneo, having a black body, slender white legs, short sleek hair,
sharp muzzle, and the back humped behind the neck.
BANTING SYSTEM, a course of diet for reducing superfluous fat, adopted and
recommended in 1863 by W. Banting of London. The dietary recommended was
the use of butcher-meat principally, and abstinence from beer, farinaceous
food, and vegetables. See _Corpulence_.
BAN'TRY, a seaport near the head of Bantry Bay, County Cork, Ireland. Pop.
3159.--The _bay_, one of three large inlets at the S.W. extremity of
Ireland, affords an unsurpassed anchorage, and is about 25 miles long by 4
to 6 broad, and from 10 to 40 fathoms deep, with no dangerous rocks or
shoals.
BANTU (baen-toe'), the ethnological name of a group of African races below
about 6deg N. latitude, and including the Kaffirs, Zulus, Bechuanas, the
tribes of the Loango, Congo, &c., but not the Hottentots.--BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Deniker, _Races of Man_; J. Roscoe, _The Northern Bantu_.
BANU. See _Bannu_.
BANX'RING (genus Tapaia), a quadruped belonging to the Insectivora,
inhabiting the Indian Archipelago, bearing some resemblance externally to a
squirrel, but having a long pointed snout.
[Illustration: Banyan (_Ficus benghalensis_)]
BAN'YAN (_Ficus benghalensis_), a tree of India, of the fig genus. The most
peculiar feature of this tree is its method of throwing out from the
horizontal branches supports which take root as soon as they reach the
ground, enlarge into trunks, and, extending branches in their turn, soon
cover a prodigious extent of ground. A celebrated banyan tree has been
known to shelter 7000 men beneath its shade. The wood is soft and porous,
and from its white glutinous juice bird-lime is sometimes prepared. Both
juice and bark are regarded by the Hindus as valuable medicines, and the
tree itself is sacred. The banyan tree is described by Southey in his poem
_The Curse of Kehama_.
[Illustration: Baobab or Monkey-bread Tree (_Adansonia digitata_)]
BA'OBAB (_Adansonia digit[=a]ta_) or MONKEY-BREAD TREE, a tree belonging to
the nat. ord. (or sub-ord.) Bombaceae, and the best-known species of its
genus, which was named after the naturalist Adanson. Though not tall, it is
one of the bulkiest of trees, its trunk sometimes measuring 30 feet in
diameter, and as the profusion of leaves and drooping boughs sometimes
almost hides the stem, the whole forms a hemispherical mass of verdure 140
to 150 feet in diameter and 60 to 70 feet high. It is a native of the
African savannahs, and is cultivated in many of the warmer parts of the
world. The roots are of extraordinary length, a tree 77 feet in girth
having a tap-root 110 feet in length. The leaves are deep green, divided
into five unequal parts lanceolate in shape, and radiating from a common
centre. The flowers resemble the white poppy, having snowy petals and
violet-coloured stamens; and the fruit, which is large and of an oblong
shape, is said to taste like gingerbread, with a pleasant acid flavour. The
wood is pale-coloured, light, and contains a large store of water, which
enables the tree to withstand prolonged drought. The tree is liable to be
attacked by a fungus which, growing in the woody part, renders it soft and
pithlike. By the negroes of the west coast these trunks are hollowed into
chambers, and dead bodies are suspended in them. There they become
perfectly dry and well preserved, without further preparation or embalming.
The baobab is emollient and mucilaginous; the pulverized leaves constitute
_lalo_, which the natives mix with their daily food.
BAPAUME, a French town in the department of Pas-de-Calais. It has been the
scene of several battles. In 1793 the French were compelled by the allied
troops to abandon the place, and in the Franco-German war one of the most
closely-contested battles was fought there on 3rd Jan., 1871. Bapaume,
occupied by the Germans in the European War, was recaptured by British
troops on 29th Aug., 1918, the great battle of Bapaume having begun on 21st
Aug. Pop. (1911) 2917.
BAPH'OMET, the imaginary idol or symbol which the Templars were accused of
employing in their mysterious rites, and of which little is known. The word
is supposed to be a corruption of Mahomet, to whose faith the Templars were
accused of having a leaning. See _Gnosticism_.
BAPTISM (from the Gr. _baptiz[=o]_, from _bapt[=o]_, to immerse or dip), a
rite which is generally thought to have been usual with the Jews even
before Christ, being administered to proselytes. All that can be said,
however, with some certainty is that the Jewish baptism was not of later
origin than the Christian baptism. Anyhow, from this baptism that of St.
John the Baptist differed, because he baptized Jews also as a symbol of the
necessity of perfect purification from sin. Christ himself never baptized,
but directed his disciples to administer this rite to converts (_Mat._
xxviii, 19); and baptism, therefore, became a religious ceremony among
Christians, taking rank as a sacrament with all sects which acknowledge
sacraments. It should, however, be borne in mind that among many peoples a
rite is found which has considerable likeness to Christian baptism. In the
primitive Church the person to be baptized was dipped in a river or in a
vessel, with the words which Christ had ordered, generally adopting a new
name further to express the change. Sprinkling, or, as it was termed,
_clinic_ baptism, was used only in the case of the sick who could not leave
their beds. The Greek Church and Eastern schismatics retained the custom of
immersion; but the Western Church adopted or allowed the mode of baptism by
pouring or sprinkling, since continued by most Protestants. This practice
can be traced back certainly to the third century, before which its
existence is disputed. Since the Reformation there have been various
Protestant sects called Baptists, holding that baptism should be
administered only by immersion, and to those who can make a personal
profession of faith. The Montanists in Africa baptized even the dead, and
in Roman Catholic countries the practice of baptizing church bells--a
custom of tenth-century origin--continues to this day. Being an initiatory
rite, baptism is only administered once to the same person. The Roman and
Greek Catholics consecrate the water of baptism, but Protestants do not.
The act of baptism is accompanied only with the formula that the person is
baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but, among most
Christians, it is preceded by a confession of faith made by the person to
be baptized if an adult, and by his parents or sponsors if he be a child.
The Roman Catholic form of baptism is far more elaborate than the
Protestant. This Church teaches that all persons not baptized are damned,
and that even unbaptized infants are not admitted into Heaven; but for
those whose chief fault was that they had not been baptized, even St.
Augustine himself believed in a species of mitigated damnation. Protestants
hold that though the neglect of the sacrament is a sin, yet the saving new
birth may be found without the performance of the rite which symbolizes it.
Naming the person baptized forms no essential part of the ceremony, but has
become almost universal, probably from the ancient custom of renaming the
catechumen.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_ (vol. ii); S.
Baring-Gould, _Origin and Development of Religious Belief_; J. E. Hanaver,
_Baptism, Jewish and Christian_; Harnack, _History of Dogma_; article
_Baptism_ in _Encyclopedia of Ethics and Religion_; Corblet, _Histoire du
Sacrement du Bapteme_; P. Mauro, _Baptism: its place and importance in
Christianity_.
[Illustration: Baptistery of S. Giovanni in Laterano, Rome]
BAP'TISTERY, a building or a portion of a building in which is administered
the rite of baptism. In the early Christian Church the baptistery was
distinct from the basilica or church, but was situated near its west end,
and was generally circular or octagonal in form, and dome-roofed. About the
end of the sixth century the baptistery began to be absorbed into the
church, the font being placed within and not far from the western door.
Some detached baptisteries still remain in use, as those of the Lateran,
Rome (the earliest in existence), at Pisa, Parma, Ravenna, Aquileia, Siena,
Florence, &c., that of Florence being 108 feet in diameter externally, and
richly decorated. Baptisteries were dedicated to St. John the Baptist.
BAP'TISTS, a Protestant sect, distinguished by their opinions respecting
the mode and subjects of baptism. With regard to the mode, they maintain
the necessity of immersion, and with regard to the subjects, they consider
that baptism ought not to be administered to children at all, nor to adults
in general, but to those only who profess repentance and faith. They are
sometimes called _Anti-paedobaptists_, to express their variance from those
who defend infant baptism, and who are called _Paedobaptists_. Apart from
the special sect of that name, Baptists are to be found equally among
Calvinists and Arminians, Trinitarians and Unitarians. The Baptists as a
whole adopt the Independent or Congregational form of church government,
and their ecclesiastical assemblies are held for the purpose of mutual
stimulus and intercourse, and not for the general government of the body,
or for interference with individual churches. The Particular Baptists of
England (so called from believing that Christ died only for the elect), the
Baptists of Scotland and Ireland, the Associated Baptists of America, and
some of the Seventh-day Baptists, are Calvinistic. The other classes, such
as the General Baptists (who believe that Christ died for all), are
Arminian, or at least not Calvinistic. Most Baptists profess to be
Trinitarians. The Free-will Baptists, the Christian Society, and most of
the General Baptists of England admit of open communion; the other bodies
decline communion with any Christians but Baptists. The Associated or
Calvinistic Baptists long ranked in the United States as the most numerous
denomination of Christians. The Seventh-day Baptists, or Sabbatarians,
observe the seventh day of the week. The Free-will Baptists profess the
doctrine of free salvation. The Anabaptists of the Reformation period are
not to be confounded with the Baptists, by whom their principles were
expressly disclaimed. The first regular Baptist Church appears to have been
formed in the reign of Elizabeth, but we may date their first public
acknowledgment as distinct from the Anabaptists from their petition to
Parliament in 1620. The year 1633 provides the earliest record of the
formation of a Particular Baptist Church in London. In 1689 a Baptist
General Assembly, held in London, formulated a confession of thirty-two
articles and a catechism. The Baptist Union, formed in 1832, comprehends
the greater number of members of the sect in Great Britain and Ireland. In
July, 1905, a world-congress of Baptists was held in London, and the
Baptist World Alliance was constituted. The total number of members of
Baptist Churches in the United Kingdom was 405,104 in 1922, and 408,029 in
1920. There are nine colleges for training ministers, of which the chief
are: Bristol Baptist College; Regent's Park; Rawdon, Bradford; and the
Metropolitan Pastors' College. The Regular Baptists in the United States
numbered 7,504,447 members in 1922, and nearly 6,000,000 in 1920, in
addition to which there are Anti-mission Baptists, Free-will Baptists, and
Seventh-day Baptists. In Canada there are in all about 128,730
Baptists.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. C. Vedder, _A Short History of the Baptists_;
A. H. Newman, _History of the Baptist Churches in the United States_; _The
Baptist Handbook_ (annually); _The American Baptist Year-book_ (annually);
W. E. MacIntyre, _Baptist Churches, 1500-1914_.
BAR, in law, the railing that encloses the place which counsel occupy in
courts of justice; hence the phrase, _at the bar of the court_, that is, in
open court. Hence also persons duly admitted as pleaders or advocates
before the courts of England are denominated _barristers_ (see
_Barrister_), and the whole body of such barristers or advocates are called
the _bar_. The enclosed place or dock in which persons accused of crimes
stand in court is also called the bar. Near the door of both Houses of
Parliament there is also a bar, beyond which none but the members and
clerks are admitted, and at which counsel, witnesses, offenders against
privilege, &c., are heard.
BAR, in music, is a line drawn through the stave to mark the rhythm of
small portions; the notes composing these are also called a bar.
BAR, in heraldry, an ordinary resembling the fesse, stretching like it
horizontally across the shield but narrower.
BAR, CONFEDERATION OF. See _Poland_.
BAR'ABA, the name of a great steppe in the West Siberian governments of
Tomsk, Akmolinsk, and Tobolsk.
BARABIN'ZIANS, a rude, uncultivated tribe of Tartars, living on the banks
of the River Irtish, and subsisting chiefly on the produce of their herds
and on fish supplied by the lakes of the Baraba steppe.
BARAGUEY-D'HILLIERS (b[.a]-r[.a]-g[=a]-d[=e]l-y[=a]),Louis, a distinguished
French general under the first Empire, born in Paris, 1764. After serving
under Custine and other generals he joined the army of Italy, and took
Bergamo and Venice, of which he became Governor. He took part in the
expedition to Egypt, served in the campaigns in Germany and Spain, and
commanded a division of the "Great Army" in the Russian campaign of 1812.
He was entrusted with the direction of the vanguard in the retreat, but was
compelled to capitulate. Napoleon ordered him to return to France as under
arrest, but, overcome with grief and fatigue, he died at Berlin on the way,
Dec., 1812.
BARANOVITCHI, a town in Russia, government of Minsk. A battle was fought
here between the Russians and the Germans in July, 1916. See _European
War_.
BARB, a horse of the Barbary breed, introduced by the Moors into Spain, and
of great speed, endurance, and docility.
[Illustration: Barbacan. Walmgate Bar, York]
BAR'BACAN, or BARBICAN, generally an advanced work defending the entrance
to a castle or fortified town, as before the gate or drawbridge, and often
of formidable size and strength.
BARBA'DOES, or BARBADOS, the most eastern of the West India Islands, first
mentioned in 1518, and occupied by the British in 1625. Length, 21 miles;
breadth, 13; area, 106,470 acres or 166 sq, miles, about 74,000 being under
cultivation. It is divided into eleven Church of England parishes; capital,
Bridgetown. It is one of the most densely-populated areas in the world, the
population in 1917 being estimated at 186,656, or nearly 1100 to the square
mile. The climate is very hot, though moderated by the constant
trade-winds; and the island is subject to dreadful hurricanes. The surface
is broken, now without forests, and with few streams; the highest point is
1145 feet above the sea-level. There are few indigenous mammals or birds.
The black lowland soil gives great returns of sugar in favourable seasons.
The chief exports, besides sugar, are molasses and rum; imports: rice, salt
meat, corn, butter, flour, &c. Both exports and imports were over
L2,000,000 in 1918. Barbadoes has a considerable transit trade, being in
some measure the central mart for all the Windward Islands. It is the see
of a bishop and the head-quarters of the British forces in the West Indies.
There is a railway across the island, also tramways, telephones, &c. The
island forms a distinct government under a Governor, an Executive and a
Legislative Council of 9 members, and a House of Assembly of 24 members.
Liberal provision is made for education both by old foundations and by
annual vote.
BARBADOES LEG, a form of elephantiasis.
BAR'BARA, ST., according to the legend, belonged to Nicomedia, in Asia
Minor, and was beheaded by her father for having turned Christian, he being
immediately thereafter struck dead by lightning. The latter part of this
legend caused her, probably, to be invoked in storms, and to be considered
the patron saint of artillerists.
BARBARELLI. See _Giorgione_.
BARBARIAN (Gk. _barbaros_), a name given by the Greeks, and afterwards by
the Romans, to everyone who spoke an unintelligible language; and hence
coming to connote the idea of _rude_, _illiterate_, _uncivilized_. This
word, therefore, did not always convey the idea of something odious or
savage; thus a Greek character in Plautus calls Naevius a barbarous poet,
because he had not written in Greek; and Cicero terms illiterate persons
without taste 'barbarians'.
BARBAROSSA ('red-beard'), the name of two famous Turkish corsairs of the
sixteenth century, who ravaged the shores of the Mediterranean, and
established themselves in Algiers. The elder of the brothers, Aruch or
Horuk, was killed in 1518; the younger and more notorious, Hayraddin, who
captured Tunis, died in 1546. See _Frederick Barbarossa_.
BAR'BARY, a general name for the most northerly portion of Africa,
extending about 2600 miles from Egypt to the Atlantic, with a breadth
varying from about 140 to 550 miles, comprising Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,
and Libya (Tripolitania, Barqa, and Fezzan). The principal races are: the
Berbers, the original inhabitants, from whom the country takes its name;
the Arabs, who conquered an extensive portion of it during the times of the
caliphs; the Bedouins, Jews, Turks, and the French colonists of Algeria,
&c. The country, which was prosperous under the Carthaginians, was, next to
Egypt, the richest of the Roman provinces, and the Italian States enriched
themselves by their intercourse with it. In the fifteenth century, however,
it became infested with adventurers who made the name of Barbary corsair a
terror to commerce, a condition of things finally removed by the French
occupation of Algeria.