miles south-west of Skipton, with cotton manufactures and other industries.
Pop. (1921), 11,951.
BARNS'LEY, a municipal borough of England, West Riding of Yorkshire. Its
staple industries are the manufacture of linens, iron, and steel, and there
are numerous collieries in the neighbourhood. Created a parliamentary
borough in 1918, Barnsley returns one member to Parliament. Pop. (1921),
53,670.
BARN'STAPLE, a county and municipal borough in England, county of Devon,
giving its name to a parliamentary division of the county on the right bank
of the Taw, where it receives the Yeo; manufactures of lace, paper,
pottery, furniture, toys and turnery, and leather. Pop. 14,409.
BAROACH. See _Broach_.
BARO'DA, a non-tributary State, but subordinate to the Indian Government,
situated in the north of the Bombay presidency. It consists of a number of
detached territories in the province of Guzerat, and is generally level,
fertile, and well cultivated, producing luxuriant crops of grain, cotton,
tobacco, opium, sugar-cane, and oil-seeds. There is a famous breed of large
white oxen used as draught cattle. Area, 8182 sq. miles; pop. (1911)
2,032,798. The ruler is called the _Gaekwar_. The dissensions of the Baroda
family have more than once called for British intervention, and in 1875 the
ruling Gaekwar was tried and deposed in connection with the charge of
attempting to poison the British Resident. Since 1908 there is a
Legislative Council of 17 members.--_Baroda_, the capital, is the third
city in the Bombay presidency. It consists of the city proper within the
walls and the suburbs without, and is largely composed of poor and crowded
houses, but has also some fine buildings, and is noted for its Hindu
temples kept up by the State. Pop. 99,345.--Cf. E. St. C. Weeden, _A Year
with the Gaekwar of Baroda_.
BAROGRAPH, a kind of aneroid barometer, which, by means of special
mechanism and appliances, is made to furnish automatically a continuous
record of the successive changes in atmospheric pressure. The paper that
receives the record is made to move by clockwork while in contact with the
index pencil, which rises and falls according to alterations of atmospheric
pressure.
BAROM'ETER, an instrument for measuring the weight or pressure of the
atmosphere and thus determining changes in the weather, the height of
mountains, and other phenomena. It had its origin about the middle of the
seventeenth century in an experiment of Torricelli, an Italian, who found
that if a glass tube about 3 feet in length, open at one end only, and
filled with mercury, were placed vertically with the open end in a cup of
the same fluid metal, a portion of the mercury descended into the cup,
leaving a column only about 30 inches in height in the tube. He inferred,
therefore, that the atmospheric pressure on the surface of the mercury in
the cup forced it up the tube to the height of 30 inches, and that this was
so because the weight of a column of air from the cup to the top of the
atmosphere was only equal to that of a column of mercury of the same base
and 30 inches high. Pascal confirmed the conclusion in 1645; six years
afterwards it was found by Perrier that the height of the mercury in the
Torricellian tube varied with the weather; and in 1655 Boyle proposed to
use the instrument to measure the height of mountains.
[Illustration: Common Upright Barometer; Marine Barometer]
The common or _cistern_ barometer, which is a modification of the
Torricellian tube, consists of a glass tube 33 inches in length and about
one-third of an inch in diameter, hermetically sealed at the top, and
having the lower end resting in a small vessel containing mercury, or bent
upwards and terminating in a glass bulb partly occupied by the mercury and
open to the atmosphere. The tube is first filled with purified mercury, and
then inverted, and there is affixed to it a scale to mark the height of the
mercurial column, which comparatively seldom rises above 31 inches or sinks
below 28 inches. In general the rising of the mercury presages fair
weather, and its falling the contrary, a great and sudden fall being the
usual presage of a storm. The weather-points on the ordinary barometric
scale are as follows: At 28 inches, stormy weather; 28-1/2, much rain or
snow; 29, rain or snow; 29-1/2, changeable; 30, fair or frost; 30-1/2,
settled fair or frost; 31, very dry weather or hard frost. Certain
attendant signs, however, have also to be noted: thus, when fair or foul
weather follows almost immediately upon the rise or fall of the mercury,
the change is usually of short duration; while if the change of weather be
delayed for some days after the variation in the mercury, it is usually of
long continuance. The direction of the wind has also to be taken into
account.
[Illustration: Siphon Barometer; Wheel Barometer]
The _siphon_ barometer consists of a bent tube, generally of uniform bore,
having two unequal legs, the longer closed, the shorter open. A sufficient
quantity of mercury having been introduced to fill the longer leg, the
instrument is set upright, and the mercury takes such a position that the
difference of the levels in the two legs represents the pressure of the
atmosphere. In the best siphon barometers there are two scales, one for
each leg, the divisions on one being reckoned upwards, and on the other
downwards from an intermediate zero point, so that the sum of the two
readings is the difference of levels of the mercury in the two branches.
The _wheel_ barometer is the one that is most commonly used for domestic
purposes. It is far from being accurate, but it is often preferred for
ordinary use on account of the greater range of its scale, by which small
differences in the height of the column of mercury are more easily
observed. It usually consists of a siphon barometer having a float resting
on the surface of the mercury in the open branch, a thread attached to the
float passing over a pulley, and having a weight as a counterpoise to the
float at its extremity. As the mercury rises and falls the thread and
weight turn the pulley, which again moves the index of the dial.
The _mountain_ barometer is a portable mercurial barometer with a tripod
support and a long scale for measuring the altitude of mountains. To
prevent breakage, through the oscillations of such a heavy liquid as
mercury, it is usually carried inverted, or it is furnished with a movable
basin and a screw, by means of which the mercury may be forced up to the
top of the tube. For delicate operations, such as the measurement of
altitudes, the scale of the barometer is furnished with a nonius or
vernier, which greatly increases the minuteness and accuracy of the scale.
For the rough estimate of altitudes the following rule is sufficient: As
the sum of the heights of the mercury at the bottom and top of the mountain
is to their difference, so is 52,000 to the height to be measured, in feet.
(See also _Heights, Measurement of_.) In exact barometric observations two
corrections require to be made, one for the depression of the mercury in
the tube by capillary attraction, the other for temperature, which
increases or diminishes the bulk of the mercury. In regard to the
measurement of heights, the general rule is to subtract the ten-thousandth
part of the observed altitude for every degree of Fahrenheit above 32deg.
[Illustration: Aneroid Barometer]
In the _aneroid_ barometer, as its name implies (Gr. _a_, not, _n[=e]ros_,
liquid), no fluid is employed, the action being dependent upon the
susceptibility to atmospheric pressure shown by a flat circular metallic
chamber from which the air has been partially exhausted, and which has a
flexible top and bottom of corrugated metal plate. By an ingenious
arrangement of springs and levers the depression or elevation of the
surface of the box is registered by an index on the dial, by which means it
is also greatly magnified, being given in inches to correspond with the
mercurial barometer. Aneroids are, however, generally less reliable than
mercurial barometers, with which they should be frequently compared. The
illustration shows an aneroid without its case. At the centre of the
partially exhausted metal chamber is a small pillar [M], connected with a
steel spring [R]. The rise and fall of the top of the chamber, due to
changing atmospheric pressure, is transmitted by means of the levers [L],
and [_m_] to a metallic axis [_r_], and this axis carries a lever [_t_],
whose end is attached to a chain [_s_], which turns a drum on whose axis
the index needle is fixed.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Abbe, _Meteorological
Apparatus_; Marvin, _Barometers and the Measurement of Atmospheric
Pressure_.
BAR'ON, originally, in the feudal system, the vassal or immediate tenant of
any superior; but the term was afterwards restricted to the king's barons,
and again to the greater of these only, who attended the Great Council, or
who, at a later date, were summoned by writ to Parliament. It was the
second rank of nobility, until dukes and marquesses were introduced and
placed above the earls, and viscounts also set above the barons, who
therefore now hold the lowest rank in the British peerage. The present
barons are of three classes: (1) barons by writ, whose ancestors have long
sat in the Upper House; (2) by patent; (3) by tenure, i.e. holding the
title as annexed to land. The coronet is a plain gold circle with six balls
or 'pearls' on its edge, the cap being of crimson velvet.
BARON AND FEME, a term used for husband and wife in English law.
BAR'ONET, a hereditary dignity in Great Britain and Ireland, next in rank
to the peerage, originally instituted by James I in 1611, nominally to
promote the colonization and defence of Ulster, each baronet, on his
creation, being then obliged to pay into the treasury a sum of L1095,
exclusive of fees. Baronets of Ireland were instituted in 1620, and of
Scotland in 1625, the latter being called baronets of Nova Scotia, because
their creation was originally intended to further the colonization of Nova
Scotia. But the baronets of Scotland and of England have been baronets of
Great Britain if created since 1707; since 1801 all creations have been
known as baronetcies of the United Kingdom. A baronet has the title of
'Sir' prefixed to his Christian and surname, and his wife is 'Lady'
so-and-so. Baronets rank before all knights except Knights of the Garter,
the Thistle, and St. Patrick. They have as their badge a 'bloody hand' (the
arms of Ulster), that is, a left hand, erect and open, cut off at the
wrist, and red in colour.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pixley, _History of the
Baronetage_; G. E. Cokayne, _Complete Baronetage_; _The Baronetage under 27
Sovereigns, 1309-1910_.
BARO'NIUS, or BARONIO, Caesar, Italian ecclesiastical historian, born 1538;
educated at Naples; in 1557 went to Rome; was one of the first pupils of
St. Philip of Neri, and member of the oratory founded by him; afterwards
cardinal and librarian of the Vatican Library. He owed these dignities to
the services which he rendered the Church by his _Ecclesiastical Annals_,
comprising valuable documents from the papal archives, on which he laboured
from the year 1580 until his death, 30th June, 1607. They were continued,
though with less power, by other writers, of whom Raynaldus takes the first
rank; others are Laderchi and Theiner.
BARON OF BEEF, two sirloins not cut asunder.
BARONS' WAR, the war carried on for several years by Simon de Montfort and
other barons of Henry III against the king, beginning in 1263.
BARONY, a manor or landed estate under a baron, who formerly had certain
rights of jurisdiction in his barony and could hold special courts. In
Ireland baronies are still the chief subdivisions of the counties.
BAROSMA. See _Bucku_.
BAROT'SELAND, a former kingdom of South Africa, now a part of Rhodesia.
BAROUCHE (ba-roesh'), a four-wheeled carriage with a falling top and two
inside seats in which four persons can sit, two facing two.
BARQUE (baerk), a three-masted vessel of which the fore-mast and main-mast
are square-rigged, but the mizzen-mast has fore-and-aft sails only.
BARQUISIMETO (b[.a]r-k[=e]-s[=e]-m[=a]'t[=o]), a city in the north of the
Republic of Venezuela, capital of the State of Lara. Pop. about 32,000.
BAR'RA, or BAR, a small kingdom in Africa, near the mouth of the Gambia.
The Mandingoes, who form a considerable part of the inhabitants, are
Mahommedans and the most civilized people on the Gambia. Pop. 200,000. The
coast here belongs to Britain. The chief town is Barrinding, where the
so-called king resides. See _Gambia_.
BARRA, an island of the Outer Hebrides, west coast of Scotland, belonging
to Inverness-shire; 8 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad, of irregular
outline, with rocky coasts, surface hilly but furnishing excellent pasture.
On the west coast the Atlantic, beating with all its force, has hollowed
out vast caves and fissures. Large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep are
reared on the island. The coasts of this and adjacent islands abound with
fish, and fishing is an important industry. The inhabitants, about 2500,
are Roman Catholics, and speak Gaelic.
BARRA, a town about 3 miles east of Naples. Pop. 12,080.
BARRACAN', or BARRAGAN, strictly, a thick strong stuff made in Persia and
Armenia of camel's hair, but the name has been applied, by Byron and
others, to various wool, flax, and cotton fabrics.
BAR'RACK (Sp. _barraca_), originally a small cabin or hut for troops, but
now applied to the permanent buildings in which troops are lodged. Despite
the obvious evils of the quartering system, the introduction of barracks by
George III met with considerable opposition in the British Parliament as
dangerous to liberty, by estranging the soldier from the citizen, and
fitting him to become a tool of despotism.
BARRACKPUR (-poer'), a town and military cantonment, Hindustan, on the left
bank of the Hughli, 10 miles N.N.E. of Calcutta. The suburban residence of
the Viceroy is in Barrackpur Park. Pop. 31,907.
BARRACOON', a negro barrack or slave depot, formerly plentiful on the west
coast of Africa, in Cuba, Brazil, &c.
BARRACU'DA, a name for certain large and ferocious fishes of the genus
Sphyraena, and allied to the mullets, inhabiting southern seas, and caught
in abundance for food.
BARRAFRAN'CA, a town of Sicily, province Caltanissetta. Pop. 11,170.
BARRAMUN'DA. See _Ceratodus_.
BARRANQUILLA (b[.a]r-r[.a]n-k[=e]l'y[.a]), a port of S. America, in
Colombia, on a branch of the River Magdalena, near its entrance into the
Caribbean Sea, connected by rail with the seaport Puerto Colombia. Pop.
64,543.
BARRAS (b[.a]-rae), Paul Francois Jean Nicholas, Comte de, member of the
French National Convention and of the Executive Directory, born in Provence
1755, died 1829. After serving in the army in India and Africa, he joined
the revolutionary party and was a deputy in the _tiers etat_. He took part
in the attack upon the Bastille and upon the Tuileries, and voted for the
death of Louis XVI. In the subsequent events he displeased Robespierre, and
on this account joined the members of the committee, who foresaw danger
awaiting them, and being entrusted with the chief command of the forces of
his party he made himself master of Robespierre. On 4th Feb., 1795, he was
elected president of the Convention, and on 5th Oct., when the troops of
the sections which favoured the royal cause approached, Barras for a second
time received the chief command of the forces of the Convention. On this
occasion he employed General Bonaparte, for whom he procured the chief
command of the army of the interior, and afterwards the command of the army
in Italy. From the events of the 18th Fructidor (4th Sept., 1797) he
governed absolutely until the 13th June, 1799, when Sieyes entered the
Directory, and in alliance with Bonaparte procured his downfall in the
revolution of the 18th Brumaire (9th Nov., 1799). He afterwards resided at
Brussels, Marseilles, Rome, and Montpellier under surveillance. His
_Memoirs_ (in four volumes) were published in French and in English in
1895-6.
BAR'RATRY, in commerce, any fraud committed by the master or mariners of a
ship, whereby the owners, freighters, or insurers are injured; as by
deviation from the proper course of the voyage, by the captain, for his own
private purposes; fraudulent negligence; embezzlement of any part of the
cargo, &c.
BARRATRY, COMMON, in law, the stirring up of lawsuits and quarrels between
other persons, the party guilty of this offence being indictable as a
_common barrator_ or _barretor_. The commencing of suits in the name of a
fictitious plaintiff is common barratry. In old Scots law it denotes the
taking of bribes by a judge.
BARREL, a well-known variety of wooden vessel; but the term is also used as
a definite measure and weight. A barrel of beer is 36 gallons, of flour 196
lb., of beef or pork 200 lb. The Italian _barile_ varies from 7 to 31
English gallons; the French _barrique_ of Bordeaux contains 50 English
gallons = 228 French litres.
BARREL-ORGAN, a musical instrument usually carried by street musicians, in
which a barrel, studded with pegs or staples, when turned round, opens a
series of valves to admit air to a set of pipes, or acts upon wire strings
like those of the piano, thus producing a fixed series of tunes.
BARREN GROUNDS, a large tract in the North-West Territories of Canada,
extending northwards from Churchill River to the Arctic Ocean between Great
Bear and Great Slave Lake and Hudson's Bay. It largely consists of swamps,
lakes, and bare rock.
BARRHEAD', a town, Scotland, Renfrewshire, on the Levern, 7 miles S.W. of
Glasgow; chief industries: printing of cottons, the spinning of cotton
yarn, dyeing, bleaching, iron and brass founding, and sanitary ware. Pop.
11,387.
BARRIE, a town of Canada, province Ontario, 55 miles N.W. Toronto,
picturesquely situated on Lake Simcoe, a favourite summer resort. Pop.
6420.
BARRIE, Sir James Matthew, a novelist and playwright, born in 1860 at
Kirriemuir, Forfarshire; studied at Edinburgh University, graduating as
M.A. in 1882. After working on a Nottingham journal he was a journalist in
London. His first book, _Better Dead_ (1887), a satire on London life, was
followed by the highly successful _Auld Licht Idylls_ (1888), with its
sequel _A Window in Thrums_ (that is, Kirriemuir) (1889). Among his novels
and tales are _When a Man's Single_, _My Lady Nicotine_, _The Little
Minister_, _Sentimental Tommy_, _Tommy and Grizel_, _The Little White
Bird_. Successful plays are _Peter and Wendy_, _The Professor's Love
Story_, _The Little Minister_ (based on the novel), _The Admirable
Crichton_, _Quality Street_, _Little Mary_, _Peter Pan_, _What Every Woman
Knows_, _Dear Brutus_, _A Kiss for Cinderella_, _Mary Rose_. His plays on
the whole have been even more successful than his other works. He was
created a baronet in 1913, and elected Rector of the University of St.
Andrews in 1919.--Cf. J. A. Hammerton, _J. M. Barrie and his Books_.
BARRIER REEF, a coral reef, or rather series of reefs, extending for 1260
miles off the N. E. coast of Australia, at a distance from land ranging
from 10 to 100 miles. In sailing along this coast, steamers generally take
the route inside the reef, where there is a channel about 12 fathoms deep
throughout, protected by the reefs themselves; the outer channel is safer
for sailing vessels.
BARRIER TREATY, the treaty (1718) by which, when the Spanish Netherlands
were ceded to Austria, the Dutch secured the right to garrison several
border fortresses of the country at the expense of Austria, to serve as a
barrier against France. It was declared void in 1781 by Joseph II.
BAR'RINGTON, Daines, son of Viscount Barrington, lawyer, antiquarian, and
naturalist, born 1727, died 1800. He wrote many papers for the Royal
Society and the Society of Antiquaries; published some separate works, and
was a correspondent of White of Selborne, who addressed to him a number of
the letters in _The Natural History of Selborne_.
BAR'RISTER, in England or Ireland, an advocate or pleader, who has been
admitted by one of the Inns of Court, viz. the Inner Temple, Middle Temple,
Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's Inn, to plead at the bar. It is they who speak
before all the higher courts, being instructed in regard to the case they
have in hand by means of the _brief_ which they receive from the solicitor
who may happen to engage their services, and which has a certain fee
endorsed upon it as the sum to be paid for the barrister's services in the
case. Before a student can be admitted to the bar he must have been a
member of one of those societies, and have kept twelve terms there. The
examinations, which had dwindled into mere forms, have been revived and
made more stringent. Barristers are sometimes called _utter_ or _outer
barristers_, to distinguish them from the king's counsel, who sit within
the bar in the courts and are distinguished by a silk gown. Barristers are
also spoken of as _counsel_, as in the phrase _opinion of counsel_, that
is, a written opinion on a case obtained from a barrister before whom the
facts have been laid. All judges are selected from the barristers. A
barrister cannot maintain an action for his fees, which are considered
purely honorary. A _revising barrister_ is a barrister appointed to revise
the list of persons in any locality who have a vote for a member of
Parliament. The term corresponding to barrister is in Scotland _advocate_,
in the United States _counsellor-at-law_; but the position of the latter is
not quite the same.--Cf. J. R. V. Marchant, _Barrister-at-law_.
BAR'ROS, Joao de, Portuguese historian, born 1496. He was attached to the
Court of King Emmanuel, who, after the publication in 1520 of Barros'
romance, _The Emperor Clarimond_, urged him to undertake a history of the
Portuguese in India, which appeared thirty-two years later. King John III
appointed Barros Governor of the Portuguese settlements in Guinea, and
General Agent for these colonies, further presenting him in 1530 with the
province of Maranham, in Brazil, for the purpose of colonization. For his
losses by the last enterprise the king indemnified him, and he died in
retirement in 1570. Besides his standard work, the _Decadas_, a history of
the Portuguese in India (a complete edition of which appeared at Lisbon
between 1778 and 1788), he wrote a moral dialogue on compromise, and the
first _Portuguese Grammar_.
BARRO'SA, a village, Spain, near the S. W. coast of Andalusia, near which
General Graham, when abandoned by the Spaniards, defeated a superior French
force in 1811.
BAR'ROW, a river in the south-east of Ireland, province Leinster, rising on
the borders of the King's and Queen's Counties, and after a southerly
course joining the Suir in forming Waterford harbour. It is next in
importance to the Shannon, and is navigable for vessels of 200 tons for 25
miles above the sea. Its principal tributary is the Nore.