[1] The crown had in 1871 appointed the Rev. W.W. Harvey (1810-1883),
a Cambridge man, to the living of Ewelme, near Oxford, for which
members of the Oxford house of convocation were alone eligible.
Gladstone was charged with evading this limitation in allowing Harvey
to qualify for the appointment by being formally admitted M.A. by
incorporation.
[2] For a detailed, if somewhat controversial, account of this
affair, see Lucien Wolf's article in _The Times_ of December 26,
1905, and Mr Greenwood's letters on the subject.
BEACONSFIELD, a town of Devon county, Tasmania, on the river Tamar, 28
m. direct N.W. of Launceston. Pop. (1901) 2658. From its port at Beauty
Point, 3-1/2 m. distant, with which it is connected by a steam tramway,
communication is maintained with Georgetown and Launceston. It is the
centre of the most important gold-field in the island.
BEACONSFIELD, a town of South Africa in Griqualand West, about 3 m. S.W.
of Kimberley, of which it is practically a suburb, though possessing a
separate municipality. Pop. (1904) 9378, of whom 2780 were whites.
Beaconsfield was founded in 1870 near the famous Dutoitspan diamond
mine. The land on which the town is built belongs to the De Beers
Company. (See KIMBERLEY.)
BEACONSFIELD, a town in the Wycombe parliamentary division of
Buckinghamshire, England. 23 m. W. by N. of London, on the main road to
Oxford, and on the Great Central & Great Western joint railway. Pop. of
urban district (1901) 1570. It lies in a hilly well-wooded district
above the valley of the small river Wye, a tributary of the Thames. The
broad Oxford road forms its picturesque main street. It was formerly a
posting station of importance, and had a considerable manufacture of
ribbons. The Perpendicular church of St Mary and All Saints is the
burial place of Edmund Burke (d. 1797), who lived at Gregories, or as he
named it Butler's Court, near the town. He would have taken his title
from Beaconsfield had he survived to enter the peerage. A monument to
his memory was erected in 1898. Edmund Waller the poet owned the
property of Hall Barn, and died here in 1687. His tomb is in the
churchyard. Benjamin Disraeli chose the title of earl of Beaconsfield in
1876, his wife having in 1868 received the title of Viscountess
Beaconsfield. The opening of railway communication with London in 1906
resulted in a considerable accretion of residential population.
BEAD, a small globule or ball used in necklaces, and made of different
materials, as metal, coral, diamond, amber, ivory, stone, pottery,
glass, rock-crystal and seeds. The word is derived from the Middle Eng.
_bede_, from the common Teutonic word for "to pray," cf. German _beten_
and English _bedesman_, the meaning being transferred from "prayer" to
the spherical bodies strung on a rosary and used in counting prayers.
Beads have been made from remote antiquity, and are found in early
Egyptian tombs; variegated glass beads, found in the ground in certain
parts of Africa, as Ashantiland, and highly prized by the natives as
_aggry_-beads, are supposed to be of Egyptian or Phoenician origin.
Beads of the more expensive materials are strung in necklaces and worn
as articles of personal adornment, while the cheaper kinds are employed
for the decoration of women's dress. Glass beads have long been used for
purposes of barter with savage tribes, and are made in enormous numbers
and varieties, especially in Venice, where the manufacture has existed
from at least the 14th century. Glass, either transparent, or of opaque
coloured enamel (_smalti_), or having complex patterns produced by the
twisting of threads of coloured glass through a transparent body, is
drawn out into long tubes, from which the beads are pinched off, and
finished by being rotated with sand and ashes in heated cylinders.
In architecture, the term "bead" is given to a small cylindrical
moulding, in classic work often cut into bead and reel.
BEADLE, also BEDEL or BEDELL (from A.S. _bydel_, from _beodan_, to bid),
originally a subordinate officer of a court or deliberative assembly,
who summoned persons to appear and answer charges against them (see Du
Cange, _supra tit. Bedelli_). As such, the beadle goes back to early
Teutonic times; he was probably attached to the moot as its messenger or
summoner, being under the direction of the reeve or constable of the
leet. After the Norman Conquest, the beadle seems to have diminished in
importance, becoming merely the crier in the manor and forest courts,
and sometimes executing processes. He was also employed as the messenger
of the parish, and thus became, to a certain extent, an ecclesiastical
officer, but in reality acted more as a constable by keeping order in
the church and churchyard during service. He also attended upon the
clergy, the churchwardens and the vestry. He was appointed by the
parishioners in vestry, and his wages were payable out of the church
rate. From the Poor Law Act of 1601 till the act of 1834 by which
poor-law administration was transferred to guardians, the beadle in
England was an officer of much importance in his capacity of agent for
the overseers. In all medieval universities the bedel was an officer who
exercised various executive and spectacular functions (H. Rashdall,
_Hist. of Universities in the Middle Ages_, i. 193). He still survives
in many universities on the continent of Europe and in those of Oxford
and Cambridge, but he is now shorn of much of his importance. At Oxford
there are four bedels, representing the faculties of law, medicine, arts
and divinity. Their duties are chiefly processional, the junior or
sub-bedel being the official attendant on the vice-chancellor, before
whom he bears a silver mace. At Cambridge there are two, termed
esquire-bedels, who both walk before the vice-chancellor, bearing maces.
BEAK (early forms _beke_ and _becke_, from Fr. _bec_, late Lat.
_beccus_, supposed to be a Gaulish word; the Celtic _bec_ and _beq_,
however, are taken from the English), the horny bill of a bird, and so
used of the horny ends of the mandibles of the octopus, the duck-billed
platypus and other animals; hence the rostrum (q.v.) or ornamented prow
of ancient war vessels. The term is also applied, in classic
architecture, to the pendent fillet on the edge of the corona of a
cornice, which serves as a drip, and prevents the rain from flowing
inwards.
The slang use of "beak" for a magistrate or justice of the peace has not
been satisfactorily explained. The earlier meaning, which lasted down to
the beginning of the 19th century, was "watchman" or "constable."
According to _Slang and its Analogues_ (J.S. Farmer and W.E. Henley,
1890), the first example of its later use is in the name of "the Blind
Beak," which was given to Henry Fielding's half-brother, Sir John
Fielding (about 1750). Thomas Harman, in his book on vagrants, _Caveat
or Warening for commen cursitors, Vulgarely called Vagabones_, 1573,
explains _harmans beck_ as "counstable," _harman_ being the word for the
stocks. Attempts have been made to connect "beak" in this connexion with
the Old English _beag_, a gold torque or collar, worn as a symbol of
authority, but this could only be plausible on the assumption that
"magistrate" was the earlier significance of the word.
BEAKER (Scottish _bicker_, Lat. _bicarium_, Ger. _Becher_, a
drinking-bowl), a large wide-mouthed drinking-cup or laboratory vessel.
See DRINKING-VESSELS.
BEALE, DOROTHEA (1831-1906), English schoolmistress, was born on the
21st of March 1831 in London, her father being a physician of good
family and cultivated tastes. She had already shown a strong
intellectual bent and considerable force of character when in 1848 she
was one of the first to attend lectures at the newly opened Queen's
College for Ladies, London, and from 1849 to 1856 she herself took
classes there. In 1857 for a few months she became head teacher of the
Clergy Daughters' school at Casterton, Westmoreland, but narrow
religious prejudices on the part of the governors led to her retirement.
In 1858 she was appointed principal of the Ladies College at Cheltenham
(opened 1854), then in very low water. Her tact and strenuousness,
backed by able financial management, led to its success being thoroughly
established by 1864, and as the college increased in numbers new
buildings were erected from 1873 onwards. Under Miss Beale's headship it
grew into one of the great girls' schools of the country, and its
development and example played an important part in the revolution
effected in regard to the higher education of women. Miss Beale retained
her post till her death on the 9th of November 1906. Strongly religious
by nature, broad-minded and keenly interested in all branches of
culture, she exercised a far-reaching influence on her pupils.
Her _Life_ was written by Elizabeth Raikes (1908).
BEAM (from the O. Eng. _beam_, cf. Ger. _Baum_, a tree, to which sense
may be referred the use of "beam" as meaning the rood or crucifix, and
the survival in certain names of trees, as hornbeam), a solid piece of
timber, as a beam of a house, of a plough, a loom, or a balance. In the
last case, from meaning simply the cross-bar of the balance, "beam" has
come to be used of the whole, as in the expression "the king's beam," or
"common beam," which refers to the old English standard balance for
wholesale goods, for several hundred years in the custody of the
Grocers' Company, London. As a nautical term, "beam" was transferred
from the main cross-timbers to the side of the ship; thus "on the
weather-beam" means "to windward," and a ship is said to be "wide in the
beam" when she is wide horizontally. The phrase "to be on one's
beam-ends," denoting a position of extreme peril or helplessness, is
borrowed from the position of a ship which has heeled over so far as to
stand on the ends of her horizontal beams. The meaning of "beam" for
shafts or rays of light comes apparently from the use of the word to
translate the Latin _columna lucis_, a pillar of light.
BEAN (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. _Bohne_), the seed of certain
leguminous plants cultivated for food all over the world, and furnished
chiefly by the genera _Vicia, Phaseolus, Dolichos_ and others. The
common bean, in all its varieties, as cultivated in Britain and on the
continents of Europe and America, is the produce of _Vicia Faba_. The
French bean, kidney bean, or haricot, is the seed of _Phaseolus
vulgaris_; but in India several other species of this genus of plants
are raised, and form no small portion of the diet of the inhabitants.
Besides these there are numerous other pulses cultivated for the food
both of man and domestic animals, to which the name bean is frequently
given. The common bean is even more nutritious than wheat; and it
contains a very high proportion of nitrogenous matter under the form of
legumin, which amounts on an average to 24%. It is, however, a rather
coarse food, and difficult of digestion, and is chiefly used to feed
horses, for which it is admirably adapted. In England French beans are
chiefly, almost exclusively, used in the green state; the whole pod
being eaten as a table vegetable or prepared as a pickle. It is
wholesome and nutritious; and in Holland and Germany the pods are
preserved in salt by almost every family for winter and spring use. The
green pods are cut across obliquely, most generally by a machine
invented for the purpose, and salted in barrels. When wanted for use
they are steeped in fresh water to remove the salt, and broiled or
stewed they form an agreeable addition to the diet at a time when no
other vegetable may be had.
The broad bean--_Vicia Faba_, or _Faba vulgaris_, as it is known by
those botanists who regard the slight differences which distinguish it
from the great majority of the species of the vetch genus (_Vicia_) as
of generic importance--is an annual which has been cultivated fiom
prehistoric times for its nutritious seeds.
The lake-dwellers of Switzerland, and northern Italy in the bronze age
cultivated a small-fruited variety, and it was grown in ancient Egypt,
though, according to Herodotus, regarded by the priests as unclean. The
ancient Greeks called it [Greek: kuamos], the Latins _faba_, but there
is no suggestion that the plant is a native of Europe. Alphonse de
Candolle (_Origin of Cultivated Plants_, p. 320) concludes that the bean
was introduced into Europe probably by the western Aryans at the time of
their earliest migrations. He suggests that its wild habitat was twofold
some thousands of years ago, one of the centres being to the south of
the Caspian, the other in the north of Africa, and that its area has
long been in process of diminution and extinction. The nature of the
plant favours this hypothesis, for its seed has no means of dispersing
itself, and rodents or other animals can easily make prey of it; the
struggle for existence which was going against this plant as against
maize would have gradually isolated it and caused it to disappear, if
man had not saved it by cultivation. It was introduced into China a
little before the Christian era, later into Japan and more recently into
India, though it has been suggested that in parts of the higher
Himalayas its cultivation has survived from very ancient times. It is a
plant which will flourish in all ordinary good garden soil. The seeds
are sown about 4 in. apart, in drills 2-1/2 ft. asunder for the smaller
and 3 ft. for the larger sorts. The soil should, preferably, be a rather
heavy loam, deeply worked and well enriched. For an early crop, seeds
may be sown in November, and protected during winter in the same manner
as early peas. An early crop may also be obtained by dibbling in the
seeds in November, sheltering by a frame, and in February transplanting
them to a warm border. Successional crops are obtained by sowing
suitable varieties from January to the end of June. All the culture
necessary is that the earth be drawn up about the stems. The plants are
usually topped when the pods have set, as this not only removes the
black aphides which often settle there, but is also found to promote the
filling of the pods.
The following are some of the best sorts:--for early use, Early Mazagan,
Long-pod, Marshall's Early Prolific and Seville Long-pod; for late use,
Carter's Mammoth Long-pod and Broad Windsor.
The horse-bean is a variety--var. _equina_.
_Cultivation of Field-bean._--Several varieties of _Vicia Faba_ (e.g.
the horse bean, the mazagan, the tick bean, the winter bean) are
cultivated in the field for the sake both of the grain, which is used as
food for live-stock, and of the haulm, which serves for either fodder or
litter. They are best adapted for heavy soils such as clays or clayey
loams. The time for sowing is from the end of January to the beginning
of March, or in the case of winter beans from the end of September to
the middle of November. The bean-crop is usually interposed between two
crops of wheat or some other cereal. If spring beans are to be sown, the
land after harvest is dressed with farmyard manure, which is then
ploughed in. In January the soil is levelled with the harrows, and the
seed, which should be hard and light brown in colour, is drilled in rows
from 15 to 24 in. apart at the rate of from 2 to 2-1/2 bushels to the
acre and then harrowed in. The alternative is to "dibble" the seed in
the furrow left by the autumn ploughing and cover it in with the
harrows; or the land may be ridged with the double-breasted plough,
manure deposited in the furrows and the seed sown broadcast, the ridges
being then split back so as to cover both manure and seed. After the
plant shows, horse-hoeing and hand-hoeing between the rows is carried on
so long as the plant is small enough to suffer no injury therefrom. The
routine of cultivation for winter beans hardly differs from that
described except as regards the time of sowing.
Beans are cut when the leaf is fallen and the haulm is almost black
either with the fagging hook or the reaping machine, though the
stoutness of the stalks causes a severe strain on the latter implement.
They are tied and stocked, and are so left for a considerable time
before stacking. There is less fear of injury to the crop through damp
than in the case of other cereals. Their value for feeding purposes
increases in the stack, where they may remain for a year or more before
threshing. Pea and bean weevils, both striped (_Sitones lineatus_) and
spotted (_Sitones crinitus_), and the bean aphis (_Aphis rumicis_), are
noted pests of the crop. Winter beans come to maturity earlier than the
spring-sown varieties, and are therefore strong enough to resist the
attacks of the aphis by the end of June, when it begins its ravages.
Field-beans yield from 25 to 35 bushels to the acre.
_Phascolus vulgaris_, the kidney, French or haricot bean, an annual,
dwarf and bushy in growth, is widely cultivated in temperate,
sub-tropical and tropical regions, but is nowhere known as a wild plant.
It was long supposed to be of Indian origin, an idea which was disproved
by Alphonse de Candolle, who sums up the facts bearing on its origin as
follows:--_Phaseolus vulgaris_ has not been long cultivated in India,
the south-west of Asia and Egypt, and it is not certain that it was
known in Europe before the discovery of America. At the latter epoch the
number of varieties in European gardens suddenly increased, and all
authors began to mention them. The majority of the species of the genus
exist in South America, and seeds apparently belonging to the species in
question have been found in Peruvian tombs of an uncertain date,
intermixed with many species, all American. Hence it is probable that
the plant is of South American origin.
It is a tender annual, and should be grown in a rich light loamy soil
and a warm sheltered situation. The soil should be well enriched with
hot-bed dung. The earliest crop may be sown by the end of March or
beginning of April. If, however, the temperature of the soil is below 45
deg., the beans make but little progress. The main crops should be got
in early in May; and a later sowing may be made early in July. The
earlier plantings may be sown in small pots, and put in frames or
houses, until they can be safely planted out-of-doors. A light covering
of straw or some other simple shelter suffices to protect from late
frosts. The seeds should be covered 1-1/2 or 2 in. deep, the distance
between the rows being about 2 ft., or for the dwarfest sorts 18 in.,
and that between plants from 4 to 6 in. The pods may be used as a green
vegetable, in which case they should be gathered whilst they are so
crisp as to be readily snapped in two when bent; but when the dry seeds
are to be used the pods should be allowed to ripen. As the green pods
are gathered others will continue to be formed in abundance, but if old
seed-forming pods are allowed to remain the formation of young ones will
be greatly checked. There are numerous varieties; among the best are
Canadian Wonder, Canterbury and Black Negro.
_Phaseolus multiflorus_, scarlet runner, is nearly allied to _P.
vulgaris_, of which it is sometimes regarded as a variety, but differs
in its climbing habit. It is naturally perennial and has a thick fleshy
root, but is grown in Great Britain as a tender annual. Its bright,
generally scarlet flowers, arranged in long racemes, and the fact that
it will flourish in any ordinary good garden soil, combine to make it a
favourite garden plant. It is also of interest as being one of the few
plants that twine in a direction contrary to the apparent motion of the
sun. The seeds of the runner beans should be sown in an open plot,--the
first sowing in May, another at the beginning of June, and a third about
the middle of June. In the London market-gardens they are sown 8 to 12
in. apart, in 4 ft. rows if the soil is good. The twining tops are
pinched or cut off when the plants are from 2 to 2-1/2 ft. high, to save
the expense of staking. It is better, however, in private gardens to
have the rows standing separately, and to support the plants by stakes 6
or 7 ft. high and about a foot apart, the tops of the stakes being
crossed about one-third down. If the weather is dry when the pods are
forming abundantly, plenty of tepid water should be supplied to the
plants. In training the shoots to their supports, they should be twined
from right to left, contrary to the course of the sun, or they will not
lay hold. By frequently picking the pods the plants are encouraged to
form fresh blooms from which pods may be picked until the approach of
frost.
The ordinary scarlet runner is most commonly grown, but there is a
white-flowered variety which has also white seeds; this is very prolific
and of excellent quality. Another variety called Painted Lady, with the
flowers red and white, is very ornamental, but not so productive.
Carter's Champion is a large-podded productive variety.
Another species _P. lunatus_, the Lima bean, a tall biennial with a
scimitar-shaped pod (whence the specific name) 2 to 3 in. long
containing a few large seeds, is widely cultivated in the warmer parts
of the world.
The young pods of another leguminous climbing herb, _Dolichos Lablab_,
as well as the seeds, are widely used in the tropics, as we use the
kidney bean. The plant is probably a native of tropical Africa, but is
now generally cultivated in the tropics. The word _Dolichos_ is of Greek
origin, and was used by Theophrastus for the scarlet runner.
Another species, _D. biflorus_, is the horse gram, the seed of which is
eaten by the poorer class of natives in India, and is also, as are the
pods, a food for horses and cattle.
The Soy bean, _Glycine hispida_, was included by Linnaeus in the genus
_Dolichos_. It is extensively cultivated in China and Japan, chiefly for
the pleasant-flavoured seed from which is prepared a piquant sauce. It
is also widely grown in India, where the bean is eaten, while the plant
forms a valuable fodder; it is cultivated for the latter purpose in the
United States.
Other references to beans will be found under special headings, such as
CALABAR BEAN, LOCUST-TREE. There are also several non-leguminous seeds
to which the popular name bean is attached. Among these may be mentioned
the sacred Egyptian or Pythagorean bean (_Nelumbium speciosum_), and the
Ignatius bean (probably _Strychnos multiflora_), a source of strychnine.
The ancient Greeks and Romans made use of beans in gathering the votes
of the people, and for the election of magistrates. A white bean
signified absolution, and a black one condemnation. Beans had a
mysterious use in the _lemuralia_ and _parentalia_, where the master of
the family, after washing his hands three times, threw black beans over
his head nine times, reiterating the words "I redeem myself and my
family by these beans."
BEAN-FEAST, primarily an annual dinner given by an employer to his
workpeople, and then colloquially any jollification. The phrase is
variously derived. The most probable theory is that which connects it
with the custom in France, and afterwards in Germany and England, of a
feast on Twelfth Night, at which a cake with a bean buried in it was a
great feature. The bean-king was he who had the good fortune to have the
slice of cake in which was the bean. This choosing of a king or queen by
a bean was formerly a common Christmas diversion at the English and
Scottish courts, and in both English universities. This monarch was
master of the revels like his congener the lord of misrule. A clue to
his original functions is possibly found in the old popular belief that
the weather for the ensuing twelve months was determined by the weather
of the twelve days from Christmas to Twelfth Night, the weather of each
particular month being prognosticated from each day. Thus the king of
the bean of Twelfth Night may have originally reigned for the twelve
days, his chief duty being the performance of magical ceremonies for
ensuring good weather during the ensuing twelve months. Probably in him
and the lord of misrule it is correct to find the lineal descendant of
the old king of the Saturnalia, the real man who personated Saturn and,
when the revels ceased, suffered a real death in his assumed character.
Another but most improbable derivation for bean-feast connects it with
M.E. _bene_ "prayer," "request," the allusion being to the soliciting of
alms towards the cost of their Twelfth Night dinner by the workpeople.
See WAYZGOOSE; MISRULE, LORD OF; also J. Boemus, _Mores, leges et
ritus omnium gentium_ (Lyons, 1541), p. 222; Laisnel de la Salle,
_Croyances et legendes du centre de la France_, i. 19-29; Lecoeur,
_Esquisses du Bocage normand_, ii. 125; Schmitz, _Sitten und Sagen des
Eifler Volkes_, i. 6; Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_
(Hazlitt's edit. 1905), under "Twelfth Night"; Cortet, _Fetes
religieuses_, p. 29 sqq.
BEAR, properly the name of the European brown bear (_Ursus arctus_), but
extended to include all the members of the _Ursidae_, the typical family
of Arctoid carnivora, distinguished by their massive bodies, short
limbs, and almost rudimentary tails. With the single exception of the
Indian sloth-bear, all the species have forty-two teeth, of which the
incisors and canines closely resemble those of purely carnivorous
mammals; while the molars, and especially the one known as the
"sectorial" or "carnassial," have their surfaces tuberculated so as to
adapt them for grinding vegetable substances. As might have been
supposed from their dentition, the bears are omnivorous; but most prefer
vegetable food, including honey, when a sufficient supply of this can
be had. The grizzly bear, however, is chiefly carnivorous; while the
polar bear is almost wholly so.
Bears are five-toed, and provided with formidable claws, which are not
retractile, and thus better fitted for digging and climbing than for
tearing. Most climb trees in a slow, lumbering fashion, and, in
descending, always come hind-quarters first. The grizzly bear is said to
lose this power of climbing in the adult stage. In northern countries
bears retire during the winter into caves and the hollows of trees, or
allow the falling snow to cover them, and there remain dormant till the
advent of spring, about which time the female usually produces her
young. These are born naked and blind, and it is commonly five weeks
before they see, or become covered with hair. Before hibernating the
adults grow very fat, and it is by the gradual consumption of this
fat--known in commerce as bear's grease--that such vital action as is
necessary to the continuance of life is sustained.
The bear family is widely distributed, being found in every quarter of
the globe except Australia, and in all climates, from the highest
northern latitudes yet reached by man to the warm regions of India and
Malaya. In the north-west corner of Africa the single representative of
the family found on that continent occurs.
The polar or white bear (_Ursus maritimus_), common to the Arctic
regions of both hemispheres, is distinguished from the other species by
having the soles of the feet covered with close-set hairs,--in
adaptation to the wants of the creature, the bear being thereby enabled
to walk securely on slippery ice. In the whiteness of its fur also, it
shows such an assimilation in colour to that of surrounding nature as
must be of considerable service in concealing it from its prey. The food
of the white bear consists chiefly of seals and fish, in pursuit of
which it shows great power of swimming and diving, and a considerable
degree of sagacity; but its food also includes the carcases of whales,
birds and their eggs, and grass and berries when these can be had. That
it can sustain life on a purely vegetable diet is proved by instances on
record of its being fed for years on bread only, in confinement. These
bears are strong swimmers, Sir Edward Sabine having found one "swimming
powerfully 40 m. from the nearest shore, and with no ice in sight to
afford it rest." They are often carried on floating ice to great
distances, and to more southern latitudes than their own, no fewer than
twelve Polar bears having been known to reach Iceland in this way during
one winter. The female always hibernates, but the male may be seen
abroad at all seasons. In bulk the white bear exceeds most other members
of the family, measuring nearly 9 ft. in length, and often weighing 1600
lb.
Land bears have the soles of the feet destitute of hair, and their fur
more or less shaggy. On these the brown bear (_Ursus arctus_,--[Greek:
arktos] of Aristotle) is found in one or other of its varieties all over
the temperate and north temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere,
from Spain to Japan. The fur is usually brownish, but there are black,
blackish-grey and yellowish varieties. It is a solitary animal,
frequenting the wooded parts of the regions it inhabits, and living on a
mixed diet of fruits, vegetable, honey, fish and the smaller animals. In
winter it hibernates, concealing itself in some hollow or cavern. It
does not seek to attack man; but when baited, or in defence of its
young, shows great courage and strength, rising on its hind legs and
endeavouring to grasp its antagonist in an embrace. Bear-baiting, till
within comparatively recent times, was a favourite sport throughout
Europe, but, along with cock-fighting and badger-baiting, has gradually
disappeared before a more humane civilization. It was a favourite
pastime among the Romans, who imported their bears from Britain, a proof
that the animal was then comparatively abundant in that country; indeed,
from reference made to it in early Scottish history, the bear does not
appear to have been extirpated in Britain before the end of the 11th
century. It is now found in greatest abundance in Norway, Russia and
Siberia, where hunting the bear is a favourite sport, and where, when
dead, its remains are highly valued. Among the Kamchadales "the skin of
the bear," says a traveller, "forms their beds and their coverlets,
bonnets for their heads, gloves for their hands and collars for their
dogs. The flesh and fat are their dainties. Of the intestines they make
masks or covers for their faces, to protect them from the glare of the
sun in the spring, and use them as a substitute for glass, by extending
them over their windows. Even the shoulder-blades are said to be put in
requisition for cutting grass." In confinement the brown bear is readily
tamed; and advantage has been taken of the facility with which it can
sustain itself on the hind feet to teach it to dance to the sound of
music. It measures 4 ft. in length, and is about 2-1/2 ft. high. Of this
species Crowther's bear from the Atlas Mountains, the Syrian bear
(_Ursus arctus pyriacus_) and the snow or isabelline bear (_Ursus arctus
isabellinus_) of the Himalaya are local races, or at most subspecies.[1]
American naturalists regard the big brown bears of Alaska as a distinct
group. They range from Sitka to the extremity of the Alaskan Peninsula,
over Kodiak Island, and inland. Their distinctive external features are
their large size, light-brown colour, high shoulders, massive heads of
great breadth and shaggy coat.
The grizzly bear (_Ursus arctus horribilis_, formerly known as _U.
ferox_) is regarded by some naturalists as a distinct species and by
others as a variety of the brown bear, to which it is closely allied. It
was said to exceed all other American mammals in ferocity of disposition
and muscular strength. Stories were told of its attacking the bison, and
it has been reported to carry off the carcase of a wapiti, weighing
nearly 1000 lb., for a considerable distance to its den, there to devour
it at leisure. It also eats fruit and vegetables. Its fur is usually of
a yellowish-brown colour, coarse and grizzled, and of little value
commercially, while its flesh, unlike that of other bears, is uneatable
even by the Indians. The grizzly bear is now rare in the United States,
save in the Yellowstone Park and the Clearwater Mountains of Idaho,
though more common in British Columbia. Several geographical races are
recognized. The Tibet bear (_U. pruinosus_) is a light-coloured small
species.
The American black bear (_Ursus americanus_) occurs throughout the
wooded parts of the North American continent, whence it is being
gradually driven to make room for man. It is similar in size to the
brown bear, but its fur is of a soft even texture, and of a shining
black colour, to which it owes its commercial value. At the beginning of
the 19th century black bears were killed in enormous numbers for their
furs, which at that time were highly valued. In 1803 the skins imported
into England numbered 25,000, but the imports have since decreased to
one-half of that number. They are chiefly used for military
accoutrements. This is a timid animal, feeding almost solely on fruits,
and lying dormant during winter, at which period it is most frequently
killed. It is an object of superstitious reverence to the Indians, who
never kill it without apologizing and deploring the necessity which
impels them to do so.
The Himalayan black bear (_U. torquatus_) is found in the forest regions
ranging from the Persian frontier eastward to Assam. The average length
is about 5 ft.; there is no under-fur, and the coat is smooth, black in
colour, with the exception of a white horseshoe-mark on the chest. It
feeds chiefly on fruit and roots, but kills sheep, goats, deer, ponies
and cattle, and sometimes devours carrion.
The small bruang or Malayan bear (_Ursus malayanus_) is of a jet-black
colour, with a white semilunar mark on the chest, and attains a length
of 4-1/2 ft. Its food consists almost solely of vegetables and honey,
but the latter is its favourite food,--the extreme length and pliability
of the tongue enabling it to scoop out the honeycombs from the hollows
of trees. It is found in the Malay Peninsula and Islands, and is readily
tamed.
Not much larger than the Malay bear is the South American spectacled
bear of the Andes (_U. ornatus_), distinguished from all the rest by the
presence of a perforation in the lower end of the humerus, and hence
sometimes separated as _Tremarctus_. It is black, with tawny rings round
the eyes, and white cheeks, throat and chest. A second race or species
exists.
The sloth-bear (_Melursus labiatus_ or _ursinus_) is distinguished by
the absence of one pair of upper incisors, the small size of the
cheek-teeth and the very extensile character of the lips. It is also
known as the aswail and the honey-bear, the last name being also given
to the Malay bear and the kinkajou. It is about the size of the brown
bear, is covered with long, black hair, and of extremely uncouth aspect.
It inhabits the mountainous regions of India, is readily tamed and is
the bear usually exhibited by the Hindu jugglers. The food consists of
fruits, honey and white ants.
Fossil remains of extinct bears first occur in strata of the Pliocene
age. Those of the great cave bear (_Ursus spelaeus_), found abundantly
in certain caverns of central Europe and Asia, show that it must have
exceeded in size the polar bear of the present day. Its remains are also
found in similar situations in Britain associated with those of an
allied species (_Ursus priscus_).