Holland, especially the island called _Batavia_, formed by that branch of
the Rhine which empties itself into the sea near Leyden, together with the
Waal and the Meuse. Tacitus asserts that they were a branch of the Catti.
They were subdued by Germanicus, and were granted special privileges for
their faithful services to the Romans, but revolted under Vespasian. They
were, however, again subdued by Trajan and Adrian, and at the end of the
third century the Salian Franks obtained possession of the Island of
Batavia.
BATCHIAN. See _Bachian_.
BATES, Henry Walter, traveller and naturalist, born at Leicester 1825,
learned the hosiery trade, but in 1847 went to the Amazon with Russel
Wallace, and remained there for eleven years studying the natural history
of the region. Returning to England, he published in 1862 his _Naturalist
on the River Amazons_, a work regarded as a classic. He was assistant
secretary to the Royal Geographical Society from 1864 till his death in
1892. A large part of his collections is in the British Museum.
BATH (b[.a]th), a city of England, in Somersetshire, on the Avon, which is
navigable for barges from Bristol; is beautifully placed among the hills,
and the houses are built of freestone, obtained from the neighbourhood. The
Abbey Church, dating from the fifteenth century, ranks as one of the finest
specimens of Perpendicular Gothic architecture. Bath is remarkable for its
medicinal waters, the four principal springs yielding no less than 184,000
gallons of water a day; and the baths are both handsome and roomy. The
temperature of the springs varies from 109deg to 117deg F. They contain
carbonic acid, chloride of sodium and of magnesium, sulphate of soda,
carbonate and sulphate of lime, &c. Bath was founded by the Romans, and
called by them _Aquae Solis_ (Waters of the Sun). Amongst the Roman remains
discovered there have been some fine baths. The height of its prosperity
was reached, however, in the eighteenth century, when Beau Nash was leader
of the fashion and master of its ceremonies. Since then, though it still
attracts large numbers of visitors, it has become the resort of
valetudinarians chiefly. Jointly with Wells it is the head of a diocese,
and since 1918 returns one member to the House of Commons. Pop. (1921),
68,648.
BATH, a town, United States, Maine, on the west side and at the head of the
winter navigation of the Kennebec, 12 miles from the sea. Chief industries:
shipbuilding and allied crafts. Pop. 9396.
BATH, the immersion of the body in water, or an apparatus for this purpose.
_Ancient Baths._--The use of the bath as an institution, apart from
occasional immersion in rivers or the sea, is, as might be anticipated, an
exceedingly old custom. Homer mentions the bath as one of the first
refreshments offered to a guest; thus, when Ulysses enters the palace of
Circe, a bath is prepared for him, and he is anointed after it with costly
perfumes. No representation, however, of a bath as we understand it is
given upon the Greek vases, bathers being represented either simply washing
at an elevated basin, or having water poured over them from above. In later
times, rooms, both public and private, were built expressly for bathing,
the public baths of the Greeks being mostly connected with the gymnasia.
Apparently, by an inversion of the later practice, it was customary in the
Homeric epoch to take first a cold and then a hot bath; but the
Lacedaemonians substituted the hot-air sudorific bath, as less enervating
than warm water, and in Athens at the time of Demosthenes and Socrates the
warm bath was considered by the more rigorous to be an effeminate custom.
The fullest details we have with respect to the bathing of the ancients
apply to its luxurious development under the Romans. Their bathing
establishments consisted of four main sections: the undressing room, with
an adjoining chamber in which the bathers were anointed; a cold room with
provision for a cold bath; a room heated moderately to serve as a
preparation for the highest and lowest temperatures; and the sweating-room,
at one extremity of which was a vapour-bath and at the other an ordinary
hot bath. After going through the entire course both the Greeks and Romans
made use of strigils or scrapers, either of horn or metal, to remove
perspiration, oil, and impurities from the skin. Connected with the baths
were walks, covered race-grounds, tennis-courts, and gardens, the whole,
both in the external and internal decorations, being frequently on a
palatial scale. The group of the _Laocoon_ and the _Farnese Hercules_ were
both found in the ruins of Roman baths.
_Modern Baths._--With respect to modern baths, that commonly in use in
Russia consists of a single hall, built of wood, in the midst of which is a
powerful metal oven, covered with heated stones, and surrounded with broad
benches, on which the bathers take their places. Cold water is then poured
upon the heated stones, and a thick, hot steam rises, which causes the
sweat to issue from the whole body. The bather is then gently whipped with
wet birch rods, rubbed with soap, and washed with luke-warm and cold water;
of the latter, some pailfuls are poured over his head; or else he leaps,
immediately after this sweating-bath, into a river or pond, or rolls in the
snow. The Turks, by their religion, are obliged to make repeated ablutions
daily, and for this purpose there is, in every city, a public bath
connected with a mosque. A favourite bath among them, however, is a
modification of the hot-air sudorific bath of the ancients introduced under
the name of 'Turkish' into other than Mahommedan countries. A regular
accompaniment of this bath, when properly given, is the operation known as
'kneading', generally performed at the close of the sweating process, after
the final rubbing of the bather with soap, and consisting in a systematic
pressing and squeezing of the whole body, stretching the limbs, and
manipulating all the joints as well as the fleshy and muscular parts.
Public baths are now common in Europe, but the first English public baths
and wash-houses of the kind now common in all cities were established in
Liverpool and near the London docks in 1844. In 1846 an Act was passed for
their encouragement, and a series of statutes, known as 'The Baths and
Wash-houses Acts 1846 to 1896', followed. The establishment of cheap
swimming-baths was authorized in 1878.
The principal natural warm baths in England are at Bath, in Somersetshire
(the hottest), and Buxton and Matlock, in Derbyshire. The temperature of
the Bath springs ranges from 109deg to 117deg F., while that of the Buxton
and Matlock waters scarcely exceeds 82deg. The baths of Harrogate, which
are strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, are also of great
repute for the cure of obstinate cutaneous diseases, indurations of the
glands, &c. The most celebrated natural hot baths in Europe are those of
Aix-la-Chapelle, and the various Baden, in Germany; Toeplitz, in Bohemia;
Bagnieres, Bareges, and Dax, in the south of France; and Spa, in Belgium.
Besides the various kinds of water-bath with or without medication or
natural mineral ingredients, there are also milk, oil, wine, earth, sand,
mud, and electric baths, smoke-baths and gas-baths; but these are as a rule
only indulged in after specific prescription.
The practice of bathing as a method of cure in cases of disease falls under
the head of hydropathy; but even when it is employed simply for pleasure or
purification due regard should be paid to the physiological condition of
the bather. In many cases cold bathing should be avoided altogether,
especially by those who have any tendency to spitting of blood or
consumption, by gouty people, or by those who have any latent visceral
disease or apoplectic tendency. Wherever the bath is followed by shivering
instead of by a healthy reactionary glow, it is undesirable; and a cold
bath in the morning after any debauchery or excess in eating or drinking on
the previous evening is exceedingly imprudent. Delicate persons and
children ought not to bathe in the sea before ten or eleven o'clock in the
morning, and in no case should bathing be indulged in after a long fast. In
cold streams and rivers additional precautions should be taken, the cold
plunge, when heated or fatigued, being frequently attended with fatal
results. Even warm baths are not wholly free from danger; apoplexy and
death having been known to follow a hot bath when entered with a full
stomach. As a rule the temperature should not exceed 105deg, and they
should not be too long continued. Frequent indulgence in them has an
enervating effect, though the majority of people need as yet no renewal of
Hadrian's prohibitive legislation in this matter. See also _Douches_;
_Thermae_.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. A. Becker, _Gallus_; J. Farrar, _Baths and
Bathing_; W. P. Gerhard, _Modern Baths and Bath Houses_; R. F. Fox,
_Principles and Practice of Medical Hydrology_.
BATH, KNIGHTS OF THE, an order of England, supposed to have been instituted
by Henry IV on the day of his coronation, but allowed to lapse after the
reign of Charles II till 1725, when George I revived it as a military
order. By the book of statutes then prepared the number of knights was
limited to the sovereign and thirty-seven knights companions; but the
limits of the order were greatly extended in 1815, and again in 1847, when
it was opened to civilians. It now consists of three classes, each
subdivided into (1) military members, (2) civil members, and (3) honorary
members, consisting of foreign princes and officers. The first class
consists of Knights of the Grand Cross (G.C.B.); the second of Knights
Commanders (K.C.B.); and the third of Companions (C.B.). The Dean of
Westminster is dean of the order. In 1917 the Companions of the order were
given the privileges and precedence of Commanders, the badge being now worn
round the neck. In 1918 the statutes were amended in order to admit
officers of the Royal Air Force to the military division. The ribbon of the
order is crimson; the military badge a gold cross of eight points, with the
lion of England between the four principal angles, and having in a circle
in the centre the rose, thistle, and shamrock between three imperial
crowns; motto: _Tria juncta in uno_. Stars are worn by the two first
classes, with additional motto, _Ich dien_, for the military members only.
See _Knighthood_.
BATH-BRICK, a preparation of siliceous earth found in the River Parret, in
Somersetshire, in the form of a solid brick, used for cleaning knives, &c.
See _Sand_.
BATH'GATE, a town, Scotland, Linlithgowshire, pleasantly situated, and
having in the vicinity the paraffin-works known as Young's, a paper-mill
and other works, and coal and iron-stone mines. Pop. (1921), 8504.
BATHOLITE, a mass of igneous rock having no visible floor, and presumed to
pass down into some region of the earth's crust where molten rocks at one
time prevailed over all others. Granite blocks, like those of the Cairngorm
Mountains in Scotland, or the long ridge of the Leinster Chain, which have
intruded into their surroundings, are regarded as batholites the crests of
which have become exposed by denudation. A batholite in its original molten
condition may exist under any large area of volcanic activity, and the
similarity of the igneous rocks sent to the surface over broad regions of
the earth, constituting what are called 'petrographical provinces', points
to the existence of very considerable continuous rock-cauldrons in the
crust.
BATHOM'ETER, an instrument, invented by C. Williams Siemens, for measuring
the depth of sea beneath a vessel without casting a line. It is based upon
the fact that the attraction exerted upon any given mass of matter on the
ship is less when she is afloat than ashore, because of the less density of
sea-water as compared with that of earth or rock.
BATHONIAN STAGE, a division of the middle Jurassic series of rocks,
including the beds between the Inferior Oolite and the Oxford Clay. The
name is derived from its excellent development near Bath, in Somersetshire,
and the most important member is the Oolitic limestone known as Bath-stone
(q.v.). The Bathonian stage includes the following beds in ascending
order:--
1. _Stonesfield Slate_, named from a village near Woodstock; a flaggy
limestone used for roofing, with remains of ferns and cycads washed in from
the Jurassic land, and of some of the earliest-known mammals, allies of the
monotremes or the marsupials. 2. The _Great_ or _Bath Oolite_, with marine
fossils, and also remains of the large reptiles known as dinosaurs. 3.
_Bradford Clay._ 4. _Forest Marble._ 5. _Cornbrash_, so called from its
'brashy' or rubbly nature, an earthy oolite yielding fair land for corn.
BATHORI (bae'to-r[=e]), or BATHORY, a Hungarian family, which gave
Transylvania five princes, and Poland one of its greatest kings. The more
important members were:--1. Stephen, born in 1532, elected Prince of
Transylvania in 1571, on the death of Zapolya, and in 1575 King of Poland.
He accomplished many internal reforms, recovered the Polish territories in
possession of the Czar of Moscovy, and reigned prosperously till his death
in 1586.--2. Sigismund, nephew of Stephen, educated by the Jesuits, became
Prince of Transylvania in 1581, shook off the Ottoman yoke, and had begun
to give hopes of reigning gloriously when he resigned his dominions to the
Emperor Rudolph II, in return for two principalities in Silesia, a
cardinal's hat, and a pension. Availing himself, however, of an invitation
by the Transylvanians, he returned, and placed himself under the protection
of the Porte, but was defeated by the Imperialists in every battle, and
finally sent to Prague, where he died almost forgotten in 1613.--3.
Elizabeth, niece of Stephen, King of Poland, and wife of Count Nadasdy, of
Hungary. She is said to have bathed in the blood of 600 young girls in the
hope of renewing her youth, and to have committed other enormities. She was
afterwards seized and confined till her death in 1614.
BAT-HORSE. See _Batman_.
BA'THOS, a Greek word meaning depth, now used to signify a ludicrous
sinking from the elevated to the mean in writing or speech. First used in
this sense by Pope in _The Art of Sinking in Poetry_ (_Scriblerus Papers_,
1729).
BATH-STONE (also called BATH-OOLITE and ROE-STONE, from the small rounded
grains of which it is composed), a species of English limestone. It is
extensively worked near Bath for building purposes. When just quarried it
is soft; but though it soon becomes hard on exposure to the atmosphere, and
is of handsome appearance, it is not very durable.
BATH'URST, a British settlement on the west coast of Africa, on the Island
of St. Mary's, near the mouth of the Gambia, with a trade in gum, bees-wax,
hides, ivory, gold, rice, cotton, and palm-oil. Pop. 8000.
BATHURST, a town in the western district of New South Wales, on the
Macquarie River, with wide, well-laid-out streets at right angles, and a
central square, tanneries, railway workshops, breweries, flour-mills, and
other industries. Pop. 9200.
BATHURST, Allen Bathurst, First Earl, a distinguished statesman in Queen
Anne's reign; born 1684. He took part with Harley and St. John in opposing
the influence of Marlborough, was raised to the peerage in 1711, impeached
the promoters of the South Sea scheme, opposed the Bill against Atterbury,
and was a leading antagonist of Walpole. He was created earl in 1772. His
name is also associated with those of the leading writers and wits of the
day. Died 1775.
BATHURST, Henry Bathurst, Third Earl, son of the second earl, a prominent
Tory statesman, after whom various capes, islands, and districts were
named. Born 1762; in 1807, President of Board of Trade; in 1809, Secretary
for Foreign Affairs; and in 1812, Secretary for the Colonies, a post held
by him for sixteen years. He was also President of the Council under
Wellington, 1828-30. Died 1834.
BATHURST ISLAND, on the North Australian coast, belonging to S. Australia,
separated from Melville Island by a narrow strait; triangular in shape,
with a wooded area of about 1000 sq. miles.--Also an island in the Arctic
Ocean discovered by Parry, E. of Cornwallis and W. of Melville Island,
76deg N., 100deg W.
BATHYB'IUS (Gr. _bathys_, deep, _bios_, life), the name given by Huxley to
what was regarded as granular slimy masses of animal matter found covering
the sea-bottom at great depths.
BATISTE (ba-t[=e]st'), a fine linen cloth made in Flanders and Picardy,
named after its inventor, Jean Baptiste of Cambrai.
BAT'LEY, a municipal and parliamentary borough of England, West Riding of
York, about a mile from Dewsbury; principal manufactures: heavy woollen
cloths, such as pilot, beaver, police, army, and frieze cloths, flushings,
and blankets. Batley and Morley unite in returning one member to
Parliament. Pop. 36,151.
BATMAN (bat'man or bae'man; from Fr. _bat_, a pack-saddle), in the British
army, a person allowed by the Government to every company of a regiment on
foreign service. His duty is to take charge of the cooking utensils, &c.,
of the company, and he has a bat-horse to convey these utensils from place
to place.
BA'TON, a short staff or truncheon, in some cases used as an official
badge, as that of a field-marshal. The conductor of an orchestra has a
baton for the purpose of directing the performers as to time, &c. In
heraldry, what is usually called the 'bastard bar', or 'bar sinister', is
properly a baton sinister. See _Bastard Bar_.
BAT'ON ROUGE (roezh), the capital of Louisiana, United States, on the left
bank of the Mississippi, with an arsenal, barracks, military hospital,
State house, State university, &c. On 5th Aug., 1862, the Confederates
under General Breckenridge suffered a severe defeat before it. Pop. (1920),
21,782.
BATOUM, or BATUM (b[.a]-toem'), a port on the east coast of the Black Sea,
acquired by Russia by the Treaty of Berlin, on condition that its
fortifications were dismantled and it was thrown open as a free port. It
rapidly grew to be the main outlet for Transcaucasia; its harbour was
enlarged for commercial reasons; an arsenal was built outside it; it was
connected by a military road with Kars; and finally, in July, 1886, the
Russian Government declared it to be a free port no longer. Its importance
as a naval and military station to Russia was unquestionably great; it is
of most importance commercially as an outlet for the mineral oil of Baku.
The water is of great depth close inshore, and the shipping lies under
protection of the overhanging cliffs of the Gouriel Mountains. Batoum was
abandoned by the Bolshevik Government in March, 1918, and occupied by the
Turks on 15th April of the same year. By the terms of the armistice
concluded with Turkey in Nov., 1918, the Allies occupied the port, and in
Nov., 1919, a military governor was appointed by the British Government. On
9th July, 1920, Batoum was evacuated by the British, and occupied by
Georgian troops. Pop. 46,000.--The province of _Batoum_ has an area of 2693
sq. miles. Pop. 186,000.
BATRACHIANS (ba-tr[=a]'ki-anz; Gr. _batrach[)o]s_, a frog), the fourth
order in Cuvier's arrangement of the class Reptilia, comprising frogs,
toads, newts, salamanders, and sirens. The term is now sometimes employed
as synonymous with amphibia, but is more usually restricted to the order
Anura or tailless amphibia. See _Amphibia_.
BATSHIAN. See _Bachian_.
BAT'TA, an allowance which military officers in India receive in addition
to their pay. It was originally given only when the officers were on the
march or in the field, but now half batta is paid when troops are in
cantonments.
BATTAL'ION, the tactical unit of command in infantry, supposed to be of the
maximum strength to be efficiently handled by one officer in chief command,
with others under him. In most armies it is about 1000 to 1100 men. The
former is about the strength of a battalion in the British army, in which
battalions now correspond to what were formerly regiments, the chief
commanding officer (in actual command) being the lieutenant-colonel. See
_Army_.
BATTALION OF DEATH, the legion of Russian women and girls, belonging to all
classes, organized in 1917 and commanded by the famous revolutionary Madame
Botshkalova. The battalion took part in several engagements.
BAT'TAS, or BATTAKS, a people belonging to the Malayan race inhabiting the
valleys and plateaus of the mountains that extend longitudinally through
the Island of Sumatra. They practise agriculture and cattle-rearing, and
are skillful in various handicrafts; they have also a written literature
and an alphabet of their own, their books treating of astrology,
witchcraft, medicine, war, &c. They are under the rule of hereditary
chieftains. In 1908 a Battak Institute was established at Leyden for the
study of the Battak country, people, &c.
BAT'TENBERG, a village in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, from which
the sons (by morganatic marriage) of Prince Alexander of Hesse, uncle of
Louis, Grand-Duke of Hesse, the husband of Princess Alice of Britain,
derived their titles of princes of Battenberg. One of them, Alexander, was
Prince of Bulgaria from 1879 to 1886, and died in 1893. Another, Prince
Henry, was married to Princess Beatrice of Great Britain in 1885, and died
in 1896.
BATTENBERG, Prince Louis Alexander of, born 24th May, 1854, in Graz, son of
Prince Alexander of Hesse. He became a naturalized British subject, entered
the navy in 1868, and in 1884 married Princess Victoria, eldest daughter of
Princess Alice Maud, Grand-Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt, and second daughter
of Queen Victoria. He became rear-admiral in 1904, was second admiral of
the Mediterranean fleet from 1906 to 1908, commanded the Atlantic fleet
from 1908 to 1910, the 3rd and 4th divisions of the Home fleet in 1911, and
was appointed Second Sea Lord in Nov., 1911, and First Sea Lord in Dec.,
1912, in succession to Sir Francis Bridgeman. In October, 1914, however, in
consequence of a campaign against alien enemies which culminated in an
attack in the _Globe_ on the First Sea Lord, he tendered his resignation to
Mr. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, on the ground that
his birth and parentage in some respects impaired his usefulness. In 1917
the king determined that those princes of his family who were his subjects
and bore German names and titles should relinquish those titles and adopt
British surnames, and Prince Louis adopted the title of Marquess of Milford
Haven, and the surname of Mountbatten. He was the author of _Men-of-war
Names, their Meaning and Origin_ (1908). He was made a Privy Councillor in
1914, and was both a Civil and a Military Knight Grand Cross of the Bath.
He died 11th Sept., 1921.
[Illustration: Roman Battering-ram]
BATTERING-RAM, an engine for battering down the walls of besieged places.
The ancients employed two different engines of this kind--one suspended in
a frame, the other movable on wheels or rollers. They consisted of a beam
or spar with a massive metal head, and were set in motion either by a
direct application of manual force or by means of cords passing over
pulleys. Some are said to have been 120 feet or more in length, and to have
been worked by 100 men. One is described as being 180 feet long, and having
a head weighing 1-1/2 tons. Smaller ones, manned by three or four soldiers,
were also frequently employed. They were generally covered with a roof or
screen for the protection of the workers. The battering-ram is mentioned by
Ezekiel (iv, 2; xxi, 22), and the Romans learnt the use of it from the
Greeks.
BAT'TERSEA, a municipal and parliamentary borough of London, in Surrey, in
a low situation on the south bank of the Thames, nearly opposite Chelsea,
with a fine public park extending over 185 acres. The district is
associated with the names of Pope and Bolingbroke, and with the
Wellington-Winchilsea duel. Battersea returns two members to Parliament.
Pop. (municipal borough), (1921), 167,693.