BEDLAM BELLENDEN, JOHN
BEDLINGTON BELLENDEN, WILLIAM
BEDLOE, WILLIAM BELLEROPHON
BEDMAR, ALPHONSO BELLA CUEVA BELLES-LETTRES
BED-MOULD BELLEVILLE (Ontario, Canada)
BEDOUINS BELLEVILLE (Illinois, U.S.A.)
BEDSORE BELLEY
BEDWORTH BELLI, GIUSEPPE GIOACHINO
BEE BELLIGERENCY
BEECH BELLINGHAM, SIR EDWARD
BEECHER, CHARLES EMERSON BELLINGHAM
BEECHER, HENRY WARD BELLINI
BEECHER, LYMAN BELLINI, LORENZO
BEECHEY, FREDERICK WILLIAM BELLINI, VINCENZO
BEECHEY, SIR WILLIAM BELLINZONA
BEECHING, HENRY CHARLES BELLMAN, KARL MIKAEL
BEECHWORTH BELLO, ANDRES
BEEF BELLO-HORIZONTE
BEEFSTEAK CLUB BELLONA
BEELZEBUB BELLOT, JOSEPH RENE
BEER BELLOWS, ALBERT F.
BEERSHEBA BELLOWS, HENRY WHITNEY
BEESLY, EDWARD SPENCER BELLOWS and BLOWING MACHINES
BEET BELLOY, DORMONT DE
BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN BELL or INCHCAPE ROCK
BEETLE BELLUNO
BEETS, NIKOLAAS BELMONT, AUGUST
BEFANA BELOIT
BEFFROY DE REIGNY, LOUIS ABEL BELOMANCY
BEGAS, KARL BELON, PIERRE
BEGAS, REINHOLD BELPER
BEGGAR BELSHAM, THOMAS
BEGGAR-MY-NEIGHBOUR BELSHAZZAR
BEGONIA BELT, THOMAS
BEGUINES BELT
BEHAIM, MARTIN BELTANE
BEHAR BELUGA
BEHA UD-DIN BELVEDERE (architectural structure)
BEHA UD-DIN ZUHAIR BELVIDERE (Illinois, U.S.A.)
BEHBAHAN BELZONI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA
BEHEADING BEM, JOSEF
BEHEMOTH BEMA
BEHISTUN BEMBERG, HERMAN
BEHN, APHRA BEMBO, PIETRO
BEHR, WILLIAM JOSEPH BEMBRIDGE BEDS
BEIRA (seaport of East Africa) BEMIS, EDWARD WEBSTER
BEIRA (province of Portugal) BEMONT, CHARLES
BEIRUT BEN
BEIT, ALFRED BENARES
BEJA (tribe) BENBOW, JOHN
BEJA (city) BENCE-JONES, HENRY
BEJAN BENCH
BEJART BENCH-MARK
BEK, ANTONY BENCH TABLE
BEKE, CHARLES TILSTONE BEND
BESKESCSABA BENDA
BEKKER, AUGUST IMMANUEL BENDER
BEKKER, BALTHASAR BENDIGO
BEKKER, ELIZABETH BENDL, KAREL
BEL BENEDEK, LUDWIG
BELA III. BENEDETTI, VINCENT
BELA IV. BENEDICT
BELA (capital of Las Bela) BENEDICT OF ALIGNAN
BELA (town of India) BENEDICT OF NURSIA, SAINT
BELAY BENEDICT, SIR JULIUS
BELCHER, SIR EDWARD BENEDICT BISCOP
BELDAM BENEDICTINE
BELESME, ROBERT OF BENEDICTINES
BELFAST (Ireland) BENEDICTION
BELFAST (Maine, U.S.A.) BENEDICTUS
BELFORT (division of France) BENEDICTUS ABBAS
BELFORT (town of France) BENEDIX, JULIUS RODERICH
BELFRY BENEFICE
BELGAE BENEFICIARY
BELGARD BENEKE, FRIEDRICH EDUARD
BELGAUM BENETT, ETHELDRED
BELGIAN CONGO BENEVENTO
BELGIUM BENEVOLENCE
BELGRADE BENFEY, THEODOR
BELHAVEN AND STENTON, JOHN BENGAL
BELISARIUS BENGAL, BAY OF
BELIT BENGALI
BELIZE BENGAZI
BELJAME, ALEXANDRE BENGEL, JOHANN ALBRECHT
BELKNAP, JEREMY BENGUELLA
BELKNAP, WILLIAM WORTH BENI (river of Bolivia)
BELL, ALEXANDER GRAHAM BENI (department of Bolivia)
BELL, ALEXANDER MELVILLE BENI-AMER
BELL, ANDREW BENI-ISRAEL
BELL, SIR CHARLES BENIN
BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH BENITOITE
BELL, HENRY BENJAMIN
BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD BENJAMIN OF TUDELA
BELL, JACOB BENJAMIN, JUDAH PHILIP
BELL, JOHN (Scottish traveller) BEN LEDI
BELL, JOHN (Scottish anatomist) BENLLIURE Y GIL, JOSE
BELL, JOHN (American politician) BEN LOMOND
BELL, ROBERT BENLOWES, EDWARD
BELL BEN MACDHUI
BELLABELLA BENNETT, CHARLES EDWIN
BELLACOOLA BENNETT, JAMES GORDON
BELLADONNA BENNETT, JOHN
BELLAGIO BENNETT, JOHN HUGHES
BELLAIRE BENNETT, SIR WILLIAM STERNDALE
BELLAMY, EDWARD BEN NEVIS
BELLAMY, GEORGE ANNE BENNIGSEN, LEVIN AUGUST
BELLAMY, JOSEPH BENNIGSEN, RUDOLF VON
BELLARMINE, ROBERTO ROMOLO BENNINGTON
BELLARY BENNO
BELL-COT BENOIT, PETER LEONARD LEOPOLD
BELLEAU, REMY BENOIT DE SAINTE-MORE
BELLECOUR BENSERADE, ISAAC DE
BELLEFONTAINE BENSLEY, ROBERT
BELLEGARDE BENSON, EDWARD WHITE
BELLEGARDE, HEINRICH JOHANNES BENSON, FRANCIS ROBERT
BELLE-ILE-EN-MER BENSON, FRANK WESTON
BELLE-ISLE, CHARLES FOUQUET BENSON, GEORGE
BELLE ISLE, STRAIT OF
BEDLAM, or BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL, the first English lunatic asylum,
originally founded by Simon FitzMary, sheriff of London, in 1247, as a
priory for the sisters and brethren of the order of the Star of
Bethlehem. It had as one of its special objects the housing and
entertainment of the bishop and canons of St Mary of Bethlehem, the
mother-church, on their visits to England. Its first site was in
Bishopsgate Street. It is not certain when lunatics were first received
in Bedlam, but it is mentioned as a hospital in 1330 and some were there
in 1403. In 1547 it was handed over by Henry VIII. with all its revenues
to the city of London as a hospital for lunatics. With the exception of
one such asylum in Granada, Spain, the Bethlehem Hospital was the first
in Europe. It became famous and afterwards infamous for the brutal
ill-treatment meted out to the insane (see INSANITY: _Hospital
Treatment_). In 1675 it was removed to new buildings in Moorfields and
finally to its present site in St George's Fields, Lambeth. The word
"Bedlam" has long been used generically for all lunatic asylums.
BEDLINGTON, an urban district of Northumberland, England, within the
parliamentary borough of Morpeth, 5 m. S.E. of that town on a branch of
the North Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 18,766. It lies on high ground
above the river Blyth, 2-1/2 m. above its mouth. The church of St
Cuthbert shows good transitional Norman details. Its dedication recalls
the transportation of the body of the saintly bishop of Lindisfarne from
its shrine at Durham by the monks of that foundation to Lindisfarne,
when in fear of attack from William the Conqueror. They rested here with
the coffin. The modern growth of the town is attributable to the
valuable collieries of the neighbourhood, and to manufactures of nails
and chains. It is one of the most populous mining centres in the county.
On the south bank of the river is the township and urban district of
Cowpen (pop. 17,879), with collieries and glass works; coal is shipped
from this point by river.
Bedlington (Betlingtun) and the hamlets belonging to it were bought by
Cutheard, bishop of Durham, between 900 and 915, and although locally
situated in the county of Northumberland became part of the county
palatine of Durham over which Bishop Walcher was granted royal rights by
William the Conqueror. When these rights were taken from Cuthbert
Tunstall, bishop of Durham, in 1536, Bedlington among his other property
lost its special privileges, but was confirmed to him in 1541 with the
other property of his predecessors. Together with the other lands of the
see of Durham, Bedlington was made over to the ecclesiastical
commissioners in 1866. Bedlingtonshire was made part of Northumberland
for civil purposes by acts of parliament in 1832 and 1844.
BEDLOE, WILLIAM (1650-1680), English informer, was born at Chepstow on
the 20th of April 1650. He appears to have been well educated; he was
certainly clever, and after coming to London in 1670 he became
acquainted with some Jesuits and was occasionally employed by them.
Calling himself now Captain Williams, now Lord Gerard or Lord Newport or
Lord Cornwallis, he travelled from one part of Europe to another; he
underwent imprisonments for crime, and became an expert in all kinds of
duplicity. Then in 1678, following the lead of Titus Gates, he gave an
account of a supposed popish plot to the English government, and his
version of the details of the murder of Sir E.B. Godfrey was rewarded
with L500. Emboldened by his success he denounced various Roman
Catholics, married an Irish lady, and having become very popular lived
in luxurious fashion. Afterwards his fortunes waned, and he died at
Bristol on the 20th of August 1680. His dying depositions, which were
taken by Sir Francis North, chief justice of the common pleas, revealed
nothing of importance. Bedloe wrote a _Narrative and impartial discovery
of the horrid Popish Plot_ (1679), but all his statements are extremely
untrustworthy.
See J. Pollock, _The Popish Plot_ (1903).
BEDMAR, ALPHONSO BELLA CUEVA, MARQUIS OF (1572-1655), Spanish
diplomatist, became ambassador to the republic of Venice in 1667. This
was a very important position owing to the amount of information
concerning European affairs which passed through the hands of the
representative of Spain. When Bedmar took up this appointment, Venice
had just concluded an alliance with France, Switzerland and the
Netherlands, to counterbalance the power of Spain, and the ambassador
was instructed to destroy this league. Assisted by the duke of Ossuna,
viceroy of Naples, he formed a plan to bring the city into the power of
Spain, and the scheme was to be carried out on Ascension Day 1618. The
plot was, however, discovered; and Bedmar, protected by his position
from arrest, left Venice and went to Flanders as president of the
council. In 1622 he was made a cardinal, and soon afterwards became
bishop of Oviedo, a position which he retained until his death, which
occurred at Oviedo on the 2nd of August 1655. The authorship of an
anonymous work, _Squitinio della liberta Veneta_, published at Mirandola
in 1612, has been attributed to him.
Some controversy has arisen over the Spanish plot of 1618, and some
historians have suggested that it only existed in the minds of the
Venetian senators, and was a ruse for forcing Bedmar to leave Venice.
From what is known, however, of the policy of Spain at this time, it is
by no means unlikely that such a scheme was planned.
See C.V. de Saint-Real, _OEuvres_, tome iv. (Paris, 1745); P.J.
Grosley, _Discussion historique et critique sur la conjuration de
Venise_ (Paris, 1756); P.A.N.B. Daru, _Histoire de la republique de
Venise_ (Paris, 1853); A. Baschet, _Histoire de la chancellerie
secrete a Venise_ (Paris, 1870).
BED-MOULD, in architecture, the congeries of mouldings which is under
the projecting part of almost every cornice, of which, indeed, it is a
part.
BEDOUINS (_Ahl Bedu_, "dwellers in the open land," or _Ahl el beit_,
"people of the tent," as they call themselves), the name given to the
most important, as it is the best known, division of the Arab race. The
Bedouins are the descendants of the Arabs of North Arabia whose
traditions claim Ishmael as their ancestor (see ARABS). The deserts of
North Arabia seem to have been their earliest home, but even in ancient
times they had migrated to the lowlands of Egypt and Syria. The Arab
conquest of northern Africa in the 7th century A.D. caused a wide
dispersion, so that to-day the Arab element is strongly represented in
the Nile Valley, Saharan, and Nubian peoples. Among the Hamitic-Negroid
races the Bedouins have largely lost their nomadic character; but in the
deserts of the Nile lands they remain much what their ancestors were.
Thus the name has suffered much ethnic confusion, and is often
incorrectly reserved to describe such pastoral peoples as the Bisharin,
the Hadendoa and the Ababda. This article treats solely of the Arabian
Bedouin, as affording the purest type of the people. They are shepherds
and herdsmen, reduced to an open-air, roving life, partly by the nature
of their occupations, partly by the special characteristics of the
countries in which they dwell. For, while land, unsuited to all purposes
except pasture, forms an unusually large proportion of the surface in
the Arabian territory, the prolonged droughts of summer render
considerable portions of it unfit even for that, and thus continually
oblige the herdsmen to migrate from one spot to another in search of
sufficient herbage and water for their beasts. The same causes also
involve the Bedouins in frequent quarrels with each other regarding the
use of some particular well or pasture-ground, besides reducing them not
unfrequently to extreme want, and thus making them plunderers of others
in self-support. Professionally, the Bedouins are shepherds and
herdsmen; their raids on each other or their robbery of travellers and
caravans are but occasional exceptions to the common routine. Their
intertribal wars (they very rarely venture on a conflict with the
better-armed and better-organized sedentary population) are rarely
bloody; cattle-lifting being the usual object. Private feuds exist, but
are usually limited to two or three individuals at most, one of whom has
perhaps been ridiculed in satirical verse, to which they are very
sensitive, or had a relation killed in some previous fray. But bloodshed
is expensive, as it must be paid for either by more bloodshed or by
blood-money--the _diya_, which varies, according to the importance of
the person killed, from ten to fifty camels, or even more. Previous to
Mahomet's time it was optional for the injured tribe either to accept
this compensation or to insist on blood for blood; but the Prophet,
though by his own account despairing of ever reducing the nomad portion
of his countrymen to law and order, succeeded in establishing among them
the rule, that a fair _diya_ if offered must be accepted. Instances are,
however, not wanting in Arab history of fiercer and more general Bedouin
conflicts, in which the destruction, or at least the complete
subjugation, of one tribe has been aimed at by another, and when great
slaughter has taken place. Such were the wars of Pekr and Thagleb in the
6th century, of Kelb and Howazin in the 8th, of Harb and Ateba in the
18th.
The Bedouins regard the plundering of caravans or travellers as in lieu
of the custom dues exacted elsewhere. The land is theirs, they argue,
and trespassers on it must pay the forfeit. Hence whoever can show
anything equivalent to a permission of entrance into their territory
has, in the regular course of things, nothing to fear. This permission
is obtained by securing the protection of the nearest Bedouin sheik,
who, for a politely-worded request and a small sum of money, will
readily grant the pass, in the shape of one or two or more men of his
tribe, who accompany the wayfarers as far as the next encampment on
their road, where they hand their charge over to fresh guides, equally
bound to afford the desired safeguard. In the interior of Arabia the
passport is given in writing by one of the town governors, and is
respected by the Bedouins of the district; for, however impudent and
unamenable to law these nomads may be on the frontiers of the impotent
Ottoman government in Syria or the Hejaz, they are submissive enough in
other and Arab-governed regions. But the traveller who ventures on the
desert strip without such precautions will be robbed and perhaps killed.
Ignorant of writing and unacquainted with books, the Bedouins trust to
their memory for everything; where memory fails, they readily eke it out
with imagination. Hence their own assertions regarding the antiquity,
numbers, strength, &c., of their clans are of little worth; even their
genealogies, in which they pretend to be eminently versed, are not to be
much depended on; the more so that their own family names hardly ever
exceed the limits of a patronymic, whilst the constantly renewed
subdivisions of a tribe, and the temporary increase of one branch and
decrease of another, tend to efface the original name of the clan. Few
tribes now preserve their ancient, or at least their historical titles;
and the mass of the Bedouin multitude resembles in this respect a
troubled sea, of which the substance is indeed always the same, but the
surface is continually shifting and changing. As, however, no social
basis or ties are acknowledged among them except those of blood and
race, certain broad divisions are tolerably accurately kept up, the
wider and more important of which may here be noted. First, the Aneza
clan, who extend from Syria southward to the limits of Jebel Shammar. It
is numerous, and, for a Bedouin tribe, well armed. Two-thirds of the
Arab horse trade, besides a large traffic in sheep, camels, wool, and
similar articles, are in their hands. Their principal subdivisions are
the Sebaa on the north, the Walid Ali on the west, and the Ruala on the
south; these are generally on bad terms with each other. If united, they
could muster, it is supposed, about 30,000 lances. They claim descent
from Rabi'a. Second, the Shammar Bedouins, whose pasturages lie
conterminous to those of the Aneza on the east. Their numbers are about
the same. Thirdly, in the northern desert, the Huwetat and Sherarat,
comparatively small and savage tribes. There is also the Solibi clan,
which, however, is disowned by the Arabs, and seems to be of gipsy
origin. Next follow, in the western desert, the Beni-Harb, a powerful
tribe, supposed to muster about 20,000 fighting men. They are often
troublesome to the Meccan pilgrims. In the eastern desert are the Muter,
the Beni-Khalid, and the Ajmans, all numerous clans, often at war with
each other. To the south, in Nejd itself or on its frontiers, are the
Hodeil, Ateba, and others. These all belong to the "Mustareb," or
northern Arabs.
The Bedouins of southern or "pure Arab" origin are comparatively few in
number, and are, with few exceptions, even poorer and more savage than
their northern brethren. Al-Morrah, on the confines of Oman, Al-Yam and
Kahtan, near Yemen, and Beni-Yas, between Harik and the Persian Gulf,
are the best known. The total number of the Bedouin or pastoral
population throughout Arabia, including men, women, and children,
appears not to exceed a million and a half, or about one fifth of the
total population. The only tribal authority is the "elder," or "sheik,"
a title not necessarily implying advanced age, but given to any one who,
on account of birth, courage, wealth, liberality or some other quality,
has been chosen to the leadership. Descent has something to do with
rank, but not much, as every individual of the tribe considers himself
equal to the others; nor are the distinctions of relative riches and
poverty greatly taken into account. To the "sheik" all disputes are
referred; he is consulted, though not necessarily obeyed, on every
question which regards the general affairs of the tribe, whether in
peace or war; there is no other magistrate, and no law except what he
and the other chief men may consider proper. But in fact, for most
personal and private affairs, every man does pretty much what is right
in his own eyes.
All the Bedouins, with the exception of certain tribes in Syria, are
nominally Mahommedans, but most pay but slight attention to the
ceremonial precepts of the Koran; the five daily prayers and the annual
fast of Ramadan are not much in favour among them; and however near a
tribe may be to Mecca, few of them visit it as pilgrims. The militant
Wahhabi have, however, from time to time enforced some degree of
Islamitic observance among the Bedouins of Nejd and the adjoining
districts: elsewhere Mahommedanism is practically confined to the
profession of the Divine Unity; among the remoter and wilder tribes
sun-worship, tree-worship, and no worship at all, are not uncommon. Some
clans even omit the rite of circumcision altogether; others, like the
tribe of Hodeil, south of Mecca, perform it after a fashion peculiar to
themselves.
Though polygamy is not common among Bedouins, marriages are contracted
without any legal intervention or guarantee; the consent of the parties,
and the oral testimony of a couple of witnesses, should such be at hand,
are all that are required; and divorce is equally easy. Nor is mutual
constancy much expected or observed either by men or women; and the
husband is rarely strict in exacting from the wife a fidelity that he
himself has no idea of observing. Jealousy may indeed occasionally bring
about tragic results, but this rarely occurs except where publicity, to
which the Bedouins, like all other Arabs, are very sensitive, is
involved. Burckhardt writes: "The Bedouins are jealous of their women,
but do not prevent them from laughing and talking with strangers. It
seldom happens that a Bedouin strikes his wife; if he does so she calls
loudly on her _wasy_ or protector, who pacifies the husband and makes
him listen to reason .... The wife and daughters perform all domestic
business. They grind the wheat in the handmill or pound it in the
mortar; they prepare the breakfast and dinner; knead and bake the bread;
make butter, fetch water, work at the loom, mend the tent-covering ...
while the husband or brother sits before the tent smoking his pipe." A
maiden's honour is, on the other hand, severely guarded; and even too
openly avowed a courtship, though with the most honourable intentions,
is ill looked on. But marriage, if indeed so slight and temporary a
connexion as it is among Bedouins deserves the name, is often merely a
passport for mutual licence. In other respects Bedouin morality, like
that of most half-savage races, depends on custom and public feeling
rather than on any fixed code or trained conscience, and hence admits of
the strangest contradictions. Not only are lying and exaggeration no
reproach in ordinary discourse, but even deliberate perjury and
violation of the most solemn engagements are frequent occurrences. Not
less frequent, however, are instances of prolonged fidelity and
observance of promise carried to the limits of romance. "The wind," "the
wood," and "the honour of the Arabs" are the most ordinary oaths in
serious matters; but even these do not give absolute security, while a
simple verbal engagement will at other times prove an inviolable
guarantee. Thus, too, the extreme abstemiousness of a Bedouin alternates
with excessive gorgings; and, while the name and deeds of "robber" are
hardly a reproach, those of "thief" are marked by abhorrence and
contempt. In patience, or rather endurance, both physical and moral, few
Bedouins are deficient; wariness is another quality universally
developed by their mode of life. And in spite of an excessive coarseness
of language, and often of action, gross vice, at least of the more
debasing sorts that dishonour the East, is rare.
Most Bedouins, men and women, are rather undersized; their complexion,
especially in the south, is dark; their hair coarse, thick and black;
their eyes dark and oval; the nose is generally aquiline, and the
features well formed; the beard and moustache are usually scanty. The
men are active, but not strong; the women are generally plain. The dress
of the men consists of a long cotton shirt, open at the breast, often
girt with a leathern girdle; a black or striped cloak of hair is
sometimes thrown over the shoulders; a handkerchief, folded once, black,
or striped yellow and red, covers the head, round which it is kept in
its place by a piece of twine or a twisted hairband. To this costume a
pair of open sandals is sometimes added. Under the shirt, round the
naked waist, a thin strip of leather plait is wound several times, not
for any special object, but merely out of custom. In his hand a Bedouin
almost always carries a slight crooked wand, commonly of almond-wood.
Among the Bedouins of the south a light wrapper takes the place of the
handkerchief on the head, and a loin-cloth that of the shirt. The women
usually wear wide loose drawers, a long shirt, and over it a wide piece
of dark blue cloth enveloping the whole figure and head, and trailing on
the ground behind. Very rarely does a Bedouin woman wear a veil, or even
cover her face with her overcloak, contenting herself with narrowing the
folds of the latter over her head on the approach of a stranger. Her
wrists and ankles are generally adorned with bracelets and rings of blue
glass or copper or iron, very rarely of silver; her neck with glass
beads; ear-rings are rare, and nose-rings rarer. Boys, till near
puberty, usually go stark naked; girls also wear no clothes up to the
age of six or seven.
On a journey a Bedouin invariably carries with him a light,
sharp-pointed lance, the stem of which is made of Persian or African
cane; the manner in which this is carried or trailed often indicates the
tribe of the owner. The lance is the favourite and characteristic weapon
of the Arab nomad, and the one in the use of which he shows the greatest
skill. An antiquated sword, an out-of-date musket, an ornamented dagger
or knife, a coat of mail, the manufacture of Yemen or Bagdad, and a
helmet, a mere iron head-piece, without visor or crest, complete his
military outfit.
A Bedouin's tent consists of a few coverings of the coarsest goat-hair,
dyed black, and spread over two or more small poles, in height from 8 to
9 ft., gipsy fashion. If it be the tent of a sheik, its total length may
be from 30 to 40 ft.; if of an ordinary person, less than 20 ft.
Sometimes a partition separates the quarters of the women and children;
sometimes they are housed under a lower and narrower covering. A rough
carpet or mat is spread on the ground; while camel-saddles, ropes,
halters, two or three cooking pots, one or two platters, a wooden
drinking bowl, the master's arms at one side of the tent, and his spear
stuck in the ground at the door, complete the list of household
valuables. On striking camp all these are fastened on the backs of
camels; the men mount their saddles, the women their litters; and in an
hour the blackened stones that served for a cooking hearth are the only
sign of the encampment. For food the Bedouin relies on his herds, but
rice, vegetables, honey, locusts and even lizards are at times eaten.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, _Notes on the Bedouins and
Wahabis_ (1831); Karstens Niebuhr, _Travels through Arabia_ (orig.
Germ. edit. 1772), translated into English by Robert Heron (2 vols.,
Edinburgh, 1792); H.H. Tessup, _Women of the Arabs_ (New York, 1874);
W.S. Blunt, _Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates_ (1879); Lady Anne Blunt,
_Pilgrimage to Neid_ (1881); Desmoulins, _Les Francais d'aujourd'hui_
(Paris, 1898); C.M. Doughty, _Arabia Deserta_ (2 vols., 1888); E.
Reclus, _Les Arabes_ (Brussels, 1898); Rev. S.M. Zwemer, _Arabia, the
Cradle of Islam_ (1900); W. Robertson Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in
Early Arabia_ (Cambridge, 1885); H.C. Trumbull, _The Blood Covenant_
(Philadelphia, 1891).
BEDSORE, a form of ulceration or sloughing, occasioned in people who,
through sickness or old age, are confined to bed, resulting from
pressure or the irritation of sweat and dirt. Bedsores usually occur
when there is a low condition of nutrition of the tissues. The more
helpless the patient the more liable he is to bedsores, and especially
when he is paralysed, delirious or insane, or when suffering from one of
the acute specific fevers. They may occur wherever there is a pressure,
more especially when any moisture is allowed to remain on the bedding;
and thus lack of cleanliness is an important factor in the production of
this condition. In large hospitals a bedsore is now a great rarity, and
this, considering the helplessness of many of the patients treated,
shows what good nursing can do. The bed must be made with a firm smooth
mattress; the undersheet and blanket must be changed whenever they
become soiled; the drawsheet is spread without creases, and changed the
moment it becomes soiled. Preventive treatment must be followed from the
first day of the illness. This consists in the most minute attention to
cleanliness, and constant variation in the position of the patient. All
parts subjected to pressure or friction must be frequently washed with
soap and hot water, then thoroughly dried with a warm soft towel. The
part should next be bathed in a solution of corrosive sublimate in
spirits of wine, and finally dusted with an oxide of zinc and starch
powder. This routine should be gone through not less than four times in
the twenty-four hours in any case of prolonged illness. The pressure may
be relieved over bony prominences by a water-pillow or by a piece of
thick felt cut into a ring. Signs of impending bedsores must constantly
be watched for. Where one threatens, the skin loses its proper colour,
becoming either a deadly white or a dusky red, and the redness does not
disappear on pressure. The surrounding tissues become oedematous, and
pain is often severe, except in a case of paralysis. As the condition
progresses further the pain ceases. The epidermis now becomes raised as
in a blister, and finally becomes detached, forming an excoriation and
exposing the papillae. Even at this late stage an actual ulceration can
still be prevented if proper care is taken; but failing this, the skin
sloughs and an ulcer forms. In treating this, the position of the
patient must be such that no pressure is ever allowed on the sloughing
tissue. A hot boracic pad under oil-silk should be applied, the affected
part being first dusted with iodoform. If, however, the slough is very
large, it is safer to avoid wet applications, and the parts should be
dusted with animal charcoal and iodoform, and protected with a dry
dressing. When the slough has separated and the sore is clean, friar's
balsam will hasten the healing process. In any serious illness the
formation of a bedsore makes the prognosis far more grave, and may even
bring about a fatal issue, either directly or indirectly.
BEDWORTH, a manufacturing town in the Nuneaton parliamentary division of
Warwickshire, England; on the Nuneaton-Coventry branch of the London &
North Western railway, 100 m. north-west from London. Pop. (1900) 7169.
A tramway connects with Coventry, and the Coventry canal passes through.
Coal and ironstone are mined; there are iron-works, and bricks, hats,
ribbons and tape and silk are made. Similar industries are pursued in
the populous district (including the villages of Exhall and Foleshill)
which extends southward towards Coventry.
BEE (Sanskrit _bha_, A S. _beo_, Lat. _apis_), a large and natural
family of the zoological order _Hymenoptera_, characterized by the
plumose form of many of their hairs, by the large size of the basal
segment of the foot, which is always elongate and in the hindmost limb
sometimes as broad as the shin, and by the development of a "tongue" for
sucking liquid food; this organ has been variously interpreted as the
true insectan tongue (hypo-pharynx) or as a ligula formed by fused
portions of the second maxillae (probably the latter).
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Honeybee (_Apis mellifica_). a, male (drone); b,
queen, c, worker.
(After Benton, _Bull._ 1 (n.s.) _Div. Ent._, U.S. Dept. Agr.).]
Bees are specialized in correspondence with the flowers from which they
draw the bulk of their food supply, the flexible tongue being used for
sucking nectar, the plumed hairs and the modified legs (fig. 7) for
gathering pollen. These floral products which form the food of bees and
of their larvae, are in most cases collected and stored by the
industrious insects; but some genera of bees act as inquilines or
"cuckoo-parasites," laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, so
that their larvae may feed at the expense of the rightful owners of the
nest. In a few cases, the parasitic bee-grub devours not only the
food-supply, but also the larva of its host.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Head and Appendages of Honey-bee (Apis),
a, Antenna or feeler.
g, Epipharynx.
mxp, Maxillary palp.
pg, Opposite to galeae of 2nd maxillae (labium).
mx, 1st maxilla.
lp, Labial palp.
l, Ligula or "tongue."
b, Bouton or spoon of the ligula.
(From Frank R. Cheshire's _Bees and Bee-keeping_.) ]
_Solitary and Social Bees._--Many genera of bees are represented, like
most other insects, by ordinary males and females, each female
constructing a nest formed of several chambers ("cells") and storing in
each chamber a supply of food for the grub to be hatched from the egg
that she lays therein. Such bees, although a number of individuals often
make their nests close together, are termed "solitary," their
communities differing in nature from those of the "social" bees, among
which there are two kinds of females--the normal fertile females or
"queens," and those specially modified females with undeveloped ovaries
(see fig. 6) that are called "workers" (fig. 1). The workers are the
earliest developed offspring of the queen, and it is their associated
work which renders possible the rise of an insect state--a state which
evidently has its origin in the family. It is interesting to trace
various stages in the elaboration of the bee-society. Among the
humble-bees (_Bombus_) the workers help the queen, who takes her share
in the duties of the nest; the distinction between queen and workers is
therefore less absolute than in the hive-bees (_Apis_), whose queen,
relieved of all nursing and building cares by the workers, devotes her
whole energies to egg-laying. The division of labour among the two
castes of female becomes therefore most complete in the most highly
organized society.
_Structure._--Details of the structure of bees are given in the article
HYMENOPTERA. The feelers (fig. 2, a) are divided into "scape" and
"flagellum" as in the ants, and the mandibles vary greatly in size and
sharpness in different genera. The proboscis or "tongue" (fig. 2, l)
is a hollow organ enclosing an outgrowth of the body-cavity which is
filled with fluid, and with its flexible under-surface capable of
invagination or protrusion. Along this surface stretches a groove which
is surrounded by thickened cuticle and practically formed into a tube by
numerous fine hairs. Along this channel the nectar is drawn into the
pharynx and passes, mixed with saliva, into the crop or "honey-bag"; the
action of the saliva changes the saccharose into dextrose and levulose,
and the nectar becomes honey, which the bee regurgitates for storage in
the cells or for the feeding of the grubs. The sting (fig. 6, pg, st.)
of female bees is usually highly specialized, but in a few genera it is
reduced and useless.
Many modifications in details of structure may be observed within the
family. The tongue is bifid at the tip in a few genera; usually it is
pointed and varies greatly in length, being comparatively short in
_Andrena_, long in the humble-bees (_Bombus_), and longest in
_Euglossa_, a tropical American genus of solitary bees. The legs, which
are so highly modified as pollen-carriers in the higher bees, are
comparatively simple in certain primitive genera. The hairy covering, so
notable in the hive-bee and especially in humble-bees, is greatly
reduced among bees that follow a parasitic mode of life.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Larva and Pupa of Apis.
SL, Spinning larva.
N, Pupa.
FL, Feeding larva.
co, Cocoon.
sp, Spiracles.
t, "Tongue."
m, Mandible.
an, Antenna
w, Wing.
ce, Compound Eye.
e, Excrement.
ex, Exuvium.
(From Cheshire's _Bees and Bee-keeping_.)]
_Early stages._--As is usual where an abundant food supply is provided
for the young insects, the larvae of bees (fig. 3, SL.) are degraded
maggots; they have no legs, but possess fairly well-developed heads. The
successive cuticles that are cast as growth proceeds are delicate in
texture and sometimes separate from the underlying cuticle without being
stripped off. The maggots may pass no excrement from the intestine until
they have eaten all their store of food. When fully grown the final
larval cuticle is shed, and the "free" pupa (fig. 3, N) revealed. The
larvae of some bees spin cocoons (fig. 3, _co_) before pupation.
_Nests of Solitary Bees._--Bees of different genera vary considerably in
the site and arrangement of their nests. Many--like the common
"solitary" bees _Halictus_ and _Andrena_--burrow in the ground; the
holes of species of _Andrena_ are commonly seen in springtime opening on
sandy banks, grassy lawns or gravel paths. Our knowledge of such bees is
due to the observations of F. Smith, H. Friese, C. Verhoeff and others.
The nest may be simple, or, more frequently, a complex excavation, cells
opening off from the entrance or from a main passage. Sometimes the
passage is the conjoint work of many bees whose cells are grouped along
it at convenient distances apart. Other bees, the species of _Osmia_ for
example, choose the hollow stem of a bramble or other shrub, the female
forming a linear series of cells in each of which an egg is laid and a
supply of food stored up. J.H. Fabre has found that in the nests of some
species of _Osmia_ the young bee developed in the first-formed cell, if
(as often happens) she emerges from her cocoon before the inmates of the
later cells, will try to work her way round these or to bite a lateral
hole through the bramble shoot; should she fail to do this, she will
wait for the emergence of her sisters and not make her escape at the
price of injury to them. But when Fabre substituted dead individuals of
her own species or live larvae of another genus, the _Osmia_ had no
scruple in destroying them, so as to bite her way out to air and
liberty.
The leaf-cutter bees (_Megachile_)--which differ from _Andrena_ and
_Halictus_ and agree with _Osmia_, _Apis_ and _Bombus_ in having
elongate tongues--cut neat circular disks from leaves, using them for
lining the cells of their underground nests. The carpenter-bees
(_Xylocopa_ and allied genera), unrepresented in the British Islands,
though widely distributed in warmer countries, make their nests in dry
wood. The habits of _X. violacea_, the commonest European species, were
minutely described in the 18th century in one of R.A.F. de Reaumur's
memoirs. This bee excavates several parallel galleries to which access
is gained by a cylindrical hole. In the galleries are situated the
cells, separated from one another by transverse partitions, which are
formed of chips of wood, cemented by the saliva of the bee.
Among the solitary bees none has more remarkable nesting habits than the
mason bee (_Chalicodoma_) represented in the south of France and
described at length by Fabre. The female constructs on a stone a series
of cells, built of cement, which she compounds of particles of earth,
minute stones and her own saliva. Each cell is provided with a store of
honey and pollen beside which an egg is laid; and after eight or nine
cells have been successively built and stored, the whole is covered by a
dome-like mass of cement. Fabre found that a _Chalicodoma_ removed to a
distance of 4 kilometres from the nest that she was building, found her
way back without difficulty to the exact spot. But if the nest were
removed but a few yards from its former position, the bee seemed no
longer able to recognize it, sometimes passing over it, or even into the
unfinished cell, and then leaving it to visit again uselessly the place
whence it had been moved. She would accept willingly, however, another
nest placed in the exact spot where her own had been. If the unfinished
cell in the old nest had been only just begun, while that in the
substituted nest were nearly completed, the bee would add so much
material as to make the cell much larger than the normal size, her
instinct evidently being to do a certain amount of building work before
filling the cell with food. The food, too, is always placed in the cell
after a fixed routine--first honey disgorged from the mouth, then pollen
brushed off the hairs beneath the body (fig. 7, c) after which the two
substances are mixed into a paste.
_Inquilines and Parasites._--The working bees, such as have been
mentioned, are victimized by bees of other genera, which throw upon the
industrious the task of providing for the young of the idle. The nests
of _Andrena_, for example, are haunted by the black and yellow species
of _Nomada_, whose females lay their eggs in the food provided for the
larva of the _Andrena_. According to H. Friese, the relations between
the host and the inquiline are quite friendly, and the insects if they
meet in the nest-galleries courteously get out of each other's way. D.
Sharp, in commenting on this strange behaviour, points out that the host
can have no idea why the inquiline haunts her nest. "Why then should the
_Andrena_ feel alarm? If the species of _Nomada_ attack the species of
_Andrena_ too much, it brings about the destruction of its own species
more certainly than that of the _Andrena_."
More violent in its methods is the larva of a _Stelis_, whose operations
in the nest of _Osmia leucomelana_ have been studied by Verhoeff. The
female _Stelis_ lays her eggs earlier than the _Osmia_, and towards the
bottom of the food-mass; the egg of the _Osmia_ is laid later, and on
the surface of the food. Hence the two eggs are at opposite ends of the
food, and both larvae feed for a time without conflict, but the
_Stelis_, being the older, is the larger of the two. Finally the
parasitic larva attacks the _Osmia_, and digging its mandibles into its
victim's head kills and eats it, taking from one to two days for the
completion of the repast.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Under Side of Worker, carrying Wax Scales.
(From Cheshire's _Bees and Bee-keeping_.)]
_Social Bees._--The bees hitherto described are "solitary," all the
individuals being either males or unmodified females. The most highly
developed of the long-tongued bees are "social" species, in which the
females are differentiated into egg-laying queens and (usually)
infertile "workers" (fig. 6). Verhoeff has discussed the rise of the
"social" from the "solitary" condition, and points out that for the
formation of an insect community three conditions are necessary--a nest
large enough for a number of individuals, a close grouping of the cells,
and an association between mother and daughters in the winged state. For
the fulfilment of this last condition, the older insects of the new
generation must emerge from the cells while the mother is still occupied
with the younger eggs or larvae. One species of _Halictus_ nearly
reaches the desired stage; but the first young bees to appear in the
perfect state are males, and when the females emerge the mother dies.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.-Abdominal Plate (worker of _Apis_), under side,
third segment. W, wax-yielding surface, covering true gland; s, septem,
or carina; wh, webbed hairs.
(From Cheshire's _Bees and Bee-keeping_.)]
Among the social bees the mother and daughter-insects co-operate, and
they differ from the "solitary" groups in the nature of their nest, the
cells (fig. 25) of which are formed of wax secreted by special glands
(fig. 5) in the bee's abdomen, the wax being pressed out between the
segmental sclerites in the form of plates (fig. 4), which are worked by
the legs (fig. 7) and jaws into the requisite shape. In our well-known
hive-bee (_Apis_) and humble-bees (_Bombus_) the wax glands are ventral
in position, but in the "stingless" bees of the tropics (_Trigona_ and
_Melipona_) they are dorsal. A colony of humble-bees is started in
spring by a female "queen" which has survived the winter. She starts her
nest underground or in a surface depression, forming a number of waxen
cells, roughly globular in shape and arranged irregularly. The young
females ("workers") that develop from the eggs laid in these early cells
assist the queen by building fresh cells and gathering food for storage
therein. The queen may be altogether relieved of the work of the nest as
the season advances, so that she can devote all her energies to
egg-laying, and the colony grows rapidly. The distinction between queen
and worker is not always clear among humble-bees, the female insects
varying in size and in the development of their ovaries. If any mishap
befall the queen, the workers can sometimes keep the community from
dying out. In autumn males are produced, as well as young queens. The
community is broken up on the approach of winter, the males and workers
perish, and the young queens after hibernation start fresh nests in the
succeeding year.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Ovaries of Queen and Workers (_Apis_).
A, Abdomen of queen, under side.
P, Petiole.
o, o, Ovaries.
hs, Position filled by honey-sack.
ds, Position through which digestive system passes.
od, Oviduct.
co.d, Vagina.
E, Egg-passing oviduct.
s, Spermatheca.
i. Intestine.
pb, Poison bag.
pg, Poison gland.
st, Sting.
p, "Palps" or "feelers" of sting.
B, Rudimentary ovaries of ordinary worker.
sp, Rudimentary spermatheca.
C, Partially developed ovaries of fertile worker.
sp, Rudimentary spermatheca.
(From Cheshire's _Bees and Bee-keeping_.)]
The appearance of the heavy-bodied hairy _Bombi_ is well known. They are
closely "mimicked" by bees of the genus _Psithyrus_, which often share
their nests. These _Psithyri_ have no pollen-carrying structures on the
legs and their grubs are dependent for their food-supply on the labours
of the _Bombi_, though, according to E. Hoffer's observations, it seems
that the female _Psithyrus_ builds her own cells. The colonies of
_Bombus_ illustrate the rise of the inquiline habit. Many of the species
are very variable and have been differentiated into races or varieties.
F.W.L. Sladen states that a queen belonging to the _virginalis_ form of
_Bombus terrestris_ often invades a nest belonging to the _lucorum_
form, kills the rightful queen, and takes possession of the nest,
getting the _lucorum_ workers to rear her young. In the nests of _Bombi_
are found various beetle larvae that live as inquilines or parasites,
and also maggots of drone-flies (_Volucella_), which act as scavengers;
the Volucella-fly is usually a "mimic" of the _Bombus_, whose nest she
invades.
The "stingless" bees (_Trigona_) of the tropics have the parts of the
sting reduced and useless for piercing. As though to compensate for the
loss of this means of defence, the mandibles are very powerful, and some
of the bees construct tubular entrances to the nest with a series of
constrictions easy to hold against an enemy. The habits of the Brazilian
species of these bees have been described in detail by H. von Jhering,
who points out that their wax glands are dorsal in position, not ventral
as in _Bombus_ and _Apis_.
With _Apis_, the genus of the hive-bee, we come to the most
highly-specialized members of the family--better known, perhaps than any
other insects, on account of the long domestication of many of the
species or races. In _Apis_ the workers differ structurally from the
queen, who neither builds cells, gathers food, nor tends brood, and is
therefore without the special organs adapted for those functions which
are possessed in perfection by the workers. The differentiation of queen
and workers is correlated with the habit of storing food supplies, and
the consequent permanence of the community, which finds relief for its
surplus population by sending off a swarm, consisting of a queen and a
number of workers, so that the new community is already specialized both
for reproduction and for labour.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Modifications in the Legs of Bees.
A. a-d, Hive-bee (_Apis_).
B. f-g, Stingless bee (_Melipona_).
C. h-i, Humble-bee (_Bombus_).
a, f, h, Outer view of hind-leg.
b, g, i, Inner view.
d, Fore-leg of _Apis_ showing notch in tarsal segment for cleaning
feeler.
e, Tip of intermediate shin with spur.
c, Feathered hairs with pollen grains, magnified.
(After Riley, _Insect Life_ (U.S. Dept. Agr.), vol. 6.)]
The workers of _Apis_ may be capable (fig. 6, C) of laying
eggs--necessarily unfertilized--which always give rise to males
("drones"), and, since the researches of J. Dzierzon (1811-1906) in
1848, it has been believed that the queen bee lays fertilized eggs in
cells appropriate for the rearing of queens or workers, and unfertilized
eggs in "drone-cells," virgin reproduction or parthenogenesis being
therefore a normal factor in the life of these insects. F. Dickel and
others have lately claimed that fertilized eggs can give rise to either
queens, workers or males, according to the food supplied to the larvae
and the influence of supposed "sex-producing glands" possessed by the
nurse-workers. Dickel states that a German male bee mated with a female
of the Italian race transmits distinct paternal characters to hybrid
male offspring. A. Weismann, however, doubts these conclusions, and
having found a spermaster in every one of the eggs that he examined from
worker-cells, and in only one out of 272 eggs taken from drone-cells, he
supports Dzierzon's view, explaining the single exception mentioned
above as a mistake of the queen, she having laid inadvertently this
single fertilized egg in a drone instead of in a worker cell.
The cells of the honeycomb of _Apis_ are usually hexagonal in form, and
arranged in two series back to back (figs. 3, 25). Some of these cells
are used for storage, others for the rearing of brood. The cells in
which workers are reared are smaller than those appropriate for the
rearing of drones, while the "royal cells," in which the young queens
are developed, are large in size and of an irregular oval in form (fig.
25). It is believed that from the nature of the cell in which she is
ovipositing, the queen derives a reflex impulse to lay the appropriate
egg--fertilized in the queen or worker cell, unfertilized in the drone
cell, as previously mentioned. Whether the fertilized egg shall develop
into a queen or a worker depends upon the nature of the food. All young
grubs are at first fed with a specially nutritious food, discharged from
the worker's stomach, to which is added a digestive secretion derived
from special salivary glands in the worker's head. If this "royal jelly"
continue to be given to the grub throughout its life, it will grow into
a queen; if the ordinary mixture of honey and digested pollen be
substituted, as is usually the case from the fourth day, the grub will
become a worker. The workers, who control the polity of the hive (the
"queen" being exceedingly "limited" in her monarchy), arrange if
possible that young queens shall develop only when the population of the
hive has become so congested that it is desirable to send off a swarm.
When a young queen has emerged, she stings her royal sisters (still in
the pupal stage) to death. Previous to the emergence of the young queen,
the old queen, prevented by the workers from attacking her daughters,
has led off a swarm to find a new home elsewhere. The young queen, left
in the old home, mounts high into the air for her nuptial flight, and
then returns to the hive and her duties of egg-laying. The number of
workers increases largely during the summer, and so hard do the insects
work that the life of an individual may last only a few weeks. On the
approach of winter the males, having no further function to perform for
the community, are refused food-supplies by the workers, and are either
excluded or banished from the hive to perish. Such ruthless habits of
the bee-commonwealth, no less than the altruistic labours of the
workers, are adapted for the survival and dominance of the species. The
struggle for life may deal hardly with the individual, but it
results--to quote Darwin's well-known title--in "the preservation of
favoured races."
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--More has been written on bees, and especially on the
genus _Apis_, than on any other group of insects. The classical
observations of Reaumur _Memoires pour servir a l'histoire des
insectes_, vols. v., vi. (Paris, 1740-1742) and F. Huber's _Nouvelles
observations sur les abeilles_ (Geneve, 1792) will never be forgotten;
they have been matched in recent times by J.H. Fabre's _Souvenirs
entomologiques_ (Paris, 1879-1891); and M. Maeterlinck's poetic yet
scientific _La vie des abeilles_ (Paris, 1901). Among writers on the
solitary and parasitic species may be specially mentioned F. Smith,
_Hymenoptera in the British Museum_ (London, 1853-1859); H. Friese,
_Zool. Jahrb. Syst._, iv. (1891) J. Perez, _Actes Soc. Bordeaux_,
xlviii. (1895); and C. Verhoeff, _Zool. Jahrb. Syst._, vi. (1892). For
the social species we have valuable papers by E. Hoffer, _Mitt.
Naturwissen. Ver. Steiermark_, xxxi. (1881); H. von Jhering, _Zool.
Jahrb. Syst._, xix. (1903); and others. For recent controversy on
parthenogenesis in the hive bee, see J. Perez, _Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool._
(6), vii. (1878); F. Dickel, _Zool. Anz._, xxv. (1901), and _Anatom.
Anzeiger_, xix. (1902); A. Petrunkevich, _Zoolog. Jahrb. Anat._, xiv.
(1901); and A. Weismann, _Anatom. Anzeiger_, xviii. (1901). F.R.
Cheshire's _Bees and Bee-keeping_ (London, 1885-1888), and T.W.
Cowan's _Honey Bee_ (2nd ed., 1904), are invaluable to the naturalist,
and contain extensive bibliographies of _Apis_. D. Sharp's summary in
the _Cambridge Natural History_, vol. vi., should be consulted for
further information on bees generally. British bees are described in
the catalogues of Smith, mentioned above, and by E. Saunders, _The
Hymenoptera of the British Islands_ (London, 1896). (G. H. C.)